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Win a copy of Red Orchestra, we have two copies to give away!
By , 3 April 2013 at 6:39 pm UTC

Hey, just want to say I've been watching you and I think you do some good things. I actually bought a bundle for my brother to help move him into Linux and have thought about buying a bundle and trying to give it away to help new people on Linux, so thank you and keep up the good work!.

Win a copy of Red Orchestra, we have two copies to give away!
By Superuser, 3 April 2013 at 5:53 pm UTC

Heh, I hope I don't embarrass myself in front of all my real-life non-nerdy associates. :) Retweeted!

Win a copy of Red Orchestra, we have two copies to give away!
By , 3 April 2013 at 4:06 pm UTC

I just noticed that Darkest Hour Europe '44-45 is installable in steam.  Kul!

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By Hamish, 3 April 2013 at 3:52 pm UTC

It is interesting to see xerenas claim I am too young to understand how the game industry works, as xerenas himself seems to be the one ignorant of past events himself. DRM free gaming did not start as a reaction to DRM, but rather it was the norm for most of the industries history (just as Indie gaming was once the norm, especially when PC gaming was dominated by shareware). DRM free advocates are very much like free software advocates in that they are actually a reaction to unwelcome changes to the industry, rather than people who are actually trying to force a new separate change on it. His claim that DRM free gaming never truly existed is simply laughable.

Second, this has nothing to do with "open source" or the Linux Game Tome. The Linux Game Tome is not a DRM free site; in fact it's hosting was supplied by a company that extensively uses DRM in it's products. What about it's unfortunate closure has any bearing on this debate at all? Same thing with the debate about hobbyist gaming versus professional - that has nothing to do with this discussion. Saying I want to support DRM free gaming is not akin to saying I do not believe in professional game development. By claiming I am you are doing a disservice to your argument and biting off way more than you can chew when it comes to the discussion.

There is no solid evidence that DRM improves sales, or that it prevents piracy. You do not need it to earn a living. Professional game developers worked quite happily without it for decades before it's great rise about eight/nine years ago. We are not proposing something that is pie in the sky or even never attempted - we just want the industry to be like it was before game publishers decided to start persecuting their own customers.

Third, let us discuss the morality of it, especially with regards to the Humble Bundle. It is simply a joke to suggest their was no moral component in it, or at the very least the suggestion that it was all done for a good and ethical cause. That is why that example hurts the most, as they aspired to loftier goals and then soured on them right when they were milking in the true fruits of their success.

Finally, there may or may not be morality in "business", but there certainly is in human endeavour, whether business types wish to see it or not. Just because you are running a business does not give you the right view yourself as being above your obligations to society, it does not give you the right to treat others any worse than any other member of society, and it does not give you the right to spy on your customers and abuse their own rights and freedoms in the name of illusory profits.

In more philosophical terms, businessmen are bound by their social contracts to society just as much as anyone else is. This is true of anyone who works in a society, benefits from a society, and is protected by a society. The fact that we live in a world where people are convinced that they are somehow outside and above it goes to show why we have so much problems in this world, which go far beyond DRM.

In short, you can support what you want, but please, never accuse me of being too young or too ignorant. I know of what I speak and flailing your arms about and attacking strawman with cliches is not going to change that.

Win a copy of Red Orchestra, we have two copies to give away!
By shaunix, 3 April 2013 at 3:33 pm UTC

Well maybe when I get a chance tonight I shall make a Twitter account for this exact purpose if it hasn't already been won.

I can get away with going on this site while at work, but Twitter might get me in the soup :(

Win a copy of Red Orchestra, we have two copies to give away!
By , 3 April 2013 at 3:22 pm UTC

Quoting: shaunixdammit, I don't have Twitter....
I opened just for this :)

Dysis a real time strategy game with a difference!
By avarisclari, 3 April 2013 at 3:12 pm UTC

Oh god, so much want, so little time!
Edit:
Why does the greenlight link take us to youtube first?

Win a copy of Red Orchestra, we have two copies to give away!
By Liam Dawe, 3 April 2013 at 3:11 pm UTC

Quoting: shaunixdammit, I don't have Twitter....
In future we will run a G+ one too ;)

Win a copy of Red Orchestra, we have two copies to give away!
By shaunix, 3 April 2013 at 3:07 pm UTC

dammit, I don't have Twitter....

Legends of Aethereus an MMORPG in closed beta that's coming to Linux
By , 3 April 2013 at 2:35 pm UTC

Hello Linux-folks!
My name is Maria, and I work with ThreeGates (the guys who are making Legends of Aethereus).
I just wanted to confirm that Dimko did indeed ask permission from us before posting screenshots, and he's in no kind of trouble from our end. ;)
Also, I wanted to let you know that we started our Multiplayer-Beta a short while back, fixing a lot of the old problems in our beta, and that we'll be updating the Multiplayer-Beta again shortly. Thanks for the word! :)

Best regards;
MariaG

Win a copy of Red Orchestra, we have two copies to give away!
By , 3 April 2013 at 2:25 pm UTC

Yey this is cool !!

I hope I'll win !!!

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By , 3 April 2013 at 8:35 am UTC

Sadly, I think xeranas is right. But, I also think it is good to fight for what we believe, especially when it seems legitim.

Natural Selection 2 should still be coming to Linux after all!
By Cheeseness, 3 April 2013 at 6:09 am UTC

Has it ever been said that a Linux version wouldn't happen? So far as I'm aware, it was always the intention to do a native release someday.

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By xeranas, 3 April 2013 at 6:03 am UTC

Quoting: HamishA lot of people promoted the arrival of Steam to people like us by saying that we would get other non-direct benefits from it, but so far it seems like we received a whole bunch of games we can not play unless we bend our principles,  which has actually caused a lot of people to do just that, including game developers, which is the greatest shame.
You know The Linux Game Tome will shut down on April 13. Yea because actually nobody care even maintaining one of DRM-Free game site. It's easy to blame game developers, but you need remember that they programming not for hobby but for living if they fail - they bankrupt, lose jobs. Even greatest HB sales would be nothing to AAA game company. To be fair how many money people in most cases spend on HB.. yea not much mostly lover than 10$ for let say for 5 games. What I trying to say DRM-Free in gaming industrial never really existed. Yea there was some exceptional cases but mostly because A) They were small and want free advertise (DRM-Free is great marketing buzzword) B) They really don't care any more, because game was launched long ago so it basically nothing to lose (who wanted game - already purchase or pirated). And no.. there no "C)". If you ever think that game company made game DRM-Free because of morality you are very wrong, or too young to understand how business work (hint: there no such thing like morality in business). Now if we take a look to greatest hobby-based games (I'm talking about open source games) like tux-racer it still sucks more than "crash bandicoot racing" (13+ years old PS1 game). That means that open source games evolving freaking slow. Easy to guess why.. because lack of donations, people just don't bother to spend money for game which they can download for free.

Kinetic Void 3D space adventure will be heading to Linux
By Cheeseness, 3 April 2013 at 5:56 am UTC

Fantastic :D

What's the best way to get alerts of stuff so that we can get the word out when it's time?

Natural Selection 2 should still be coming to Linux after all!
By , 3 April 2013 at 4:34 am UTC

Well they promised a Linux server for the initial release so a don't believe anything they say about a port coming soon.

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By Hamish, 3 April 2013 at 1:46 am UTC

Well, I in fact do "still use tux racer" if by that you mean keep playing and buying non-DRM games (it has admittedly been awhile since I have played Tux Racer itself though). 

The real problem here though with regards to the main topic of discussion is that the Humble brand used to stand for more, and back in the day they sold it as such, which is part of the reason why it initially got so much support. Now their message is meaningless since they themselves are not really willing to follow it and are seemingly willing to ignore what they stood for on the merest of whims. They used to be taking a stand for something, and now whenever they do something akin to their past principles it seems more like a half-hearted attempt to keep people like us buying their bundles.

The other problem for me is that Linux used to be a bastion for progressive DRM free gaming (which actually used to be the norm, but sadly that is no longer the case, mostly due to people like you who are willing to accept it) and now that is far from being the case. A lot of people promoted the arrival of Steam to people like us by saying that we would get other non-direct benefits from it, but so far it seems like we received a whole bunch of games we can not play unless we bend our principles,  which has actually caused a lot of people to do just that, including game developers, which is the greatest shame.

If you really think that is the best choice you can make by all means do it, play your Steam games and buy from these sales, but do not begrudge us mourning what once was and trying our best to maintain a gaming climate we can still ethically feel we can support.

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By , 3 April 2013 at 12:41 am UTC

DRM...OH.NO.....Whatevs. I got tired of playing supertux and frozenbubble. 99% of my Linux OS is DRM free, its not like using steam to launch your only DRM software is a big deal. Its not even inconvenient, why so much hate for steam. I mean if you dont like it you can still use tux racer if you want?

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By Hamish, 2 April 2013 at 11:52 pm UTC

Quoting: IvancilloWhat an obscure future for DRM Free gaming on Linux since Steam started on it.

My greatest hope there is Kickstarter since most games there specify that they are going to be DRM free (alongside Steam releases.)

But yes, it does have to be said that while Steam has brought a lot more games to Linux and a lot more attention to it, it has been damaging the DRM free cause, especially now that the Humble Bundle is a lot less reliable when it comes to that point (most of their main bundles will still be DRM free, but that means a lot less now than it used to.) :(

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By , 2 April 2013 at 10:52 pm UTC

Oh no, Steam not again.

What an obscure future for DRM Free gaming on Linux since Steam started on it.

Natural Selection 2 should still be coming to Linux after all!
By Superuser, 2 April 2013 at 10:41 pm UTC

Yay! I was the person who made the original post that led to that chain of replies by the way.

This is investigative journalism* at its finest, you've just been added to my RSS reader. :)


* Or, err, whatever the heck it's called anyway. ;)

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By , 2 April 2013 at 10:23 pm UTC

I agree, they will evolve and eventually have a lot of Windows only and Mobile only deals I predict, along with DRM. We'll just have to use whatever small start-up comes along to replace it. It probably wouldn't be out of the realm of predictions to say that we will never see a Linux only bundle, of course it would be a good chance to prove ourselves as worthy. =)

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By Hamish, 2 April 2013 at 9:16 pm UTC

Actually, I was writing that before you posted. I just took longer. ;)

Soul Capture 2.0.0 has now been released
By Hamish, 2 April 2013 at 9:06 pm UTC

YOU sir? 

Anyways, these are Gambas generated packages, and I am not going to go to more trouble than that as Gambas should take care of most problems. Worse comes to worse you can just use the Autotools package or load up the Gambas project in the IDE, so I somehow doubt this is a huge problem.

And when it comes to multiple distros, I just built these on Arch and Fedora. You just need the RPM or deb build tools installed to make the packages from Gambas. The real problem is that far too few distros actually offer glc packages.

Bumadar, I have now re-uploaded the OpenSUSE RPM with the correct "glcapture" dependency. Thanks for the heads up. :)

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By Liam Dawe, 2 April 2013 at 8:55 pm UTC

Quoting: HamishThe reason is that the Humble sales always promoted a moral message which was against DRM and promoted cross-platform release. This is like a chemical company supporting environmental charities while at the same time dumping their products into the nearest river (although obviously considerably less egregious than that).
You just had to beat me at the analogies didn't you :P

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By Hamish, 2 April 2013 at 8:51 pm UTC

The reason is that the Humble sales always promoted a moral message which was against DRM and promoted cross-platform release. This is like a chemical company supporting environmental charities while at the same time dumping their products into the nearest river (although obviously considerably less egregious than that).

Soul Capture 2.0.0 has now been released
By Superuser, 2 April 2013 at 8:42 pm UTC

YOU sir need to use the Open Build Service instead of fiddling with all those Linux distros and having them installed. The openSUSE Build Service is a public instance that works for all major distros.

And now you know how to distribute the latest versions of your software for different distributions the right way!

The Humble Weekly Sale featuring Tripwire
By Liam Dawe, 2 April 2013 at 8:38 pm UTC

Quoting: n30p1r4t3This isn't the humble bundle though, so are they really changed their ways? I appreciate sales  like  this.
It's the same company, so to me yes.

It would be like a "we love the earth" company, making a side company to ruin the earth...i know bad analogy but you get my meaning.

Kinetic Void 3D space adventure will be heading to Linux
By , 2 April 2013 at 8:34 pm UTC

Hey all, thanks for the mention. I am Sean the lead developer of KV, we are working on a UI overhaul right now and hope to have it ready within the next two weeks, after that we will be pushing our Linux build live on Steam.