Check out our Monthly Survey Page to see what our users are running.
Latest Comments by CatKiller
Historical 4x strategy game Old World - Behind the Throne DLC brings plenty new
29 May 2024 at 8:39 pm UTC

It's been on my wishlist for a while, but with the ability to comfortably power through games on the Deck my scope for games that require a big time commitment of being at the desktop has been very much reduced. I've still got some, but new ones will have to wait till I've got through the ones I've already got.

Besiege: The Splintered Sea is out now with a free major sound system update
27 May 2024 at 6:30 pm UTC Likes: 2

In case anyone else is also considering it for a younger audience, according to the discussion pages there is an option to disable the blood.

Steam Deck hits 15,000 games rated Playable and Verified
26 May 2024 at 9:14 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: Mountain ManI can remember the early days when there was only a handful of native Linux games in Steam. How far we've come.

The only thing that bothers me is that Linux gaming is essentially synonymous with Steam. I was really hoping that other developers would be inspired by Valve to support Linux directly, but it has been left to Valve to do all the heavy lifting, and as much as I appreciate what they have done for Linux gaming, it makes me nervous having all the eggs in one basket, as the saying goes.
Especially because the big motivation for Valve to put resources into Linux - Microsoft has the power to lock games distribution into their own store - affects all the others just as much as it does Valve. Sony, EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar, Epic all want to avoid being beholden to Valve, but they won't avoid being under Microsoft's thumb.

Steam Deck hits 15,000 games rated Playable and Verified
26 May 2024 at 3:39 pm UTC Likes: 3

Also Shadowrun Dragonfall should have the same Playable rating (KB/M controls, no automatic keyboard, and small text; fair enough) as the other two Shadowrun games. They're all similarly great on the Deck.

And the achievements in Kona don't work on the Deck despite the green tick, so that's not "all game functionality."

Steam Deck hits 15,000 games rated Playable and Verified
26 May 2024 at 2:59 pm UTC Likes: 5

QuoteDo you have any issues with the Steam Deck Verified rating on something? Let me know in the comments.

I platinumed Horizon Zero Dawn on the Deck, and it played well and looked amazing on the OLED, but it hung on exit every single time. It definitely detracted from it being a "seamless, comfortable experience." Valve have provided a force-close function, but it would be better if games with the green tick didn't need to use it.

Nightdive Studios confirm Linux and macOS ports of System Shock are cancelled
22 May 2024 at 4:58 pm UTC Likes: 11

Quoting: finaldestI think the Linux gaming community needs to make a push for official support using Proton as an option. I don't like relying on Proton simply because the publisher can simply wash their hands and claim no support was guaranteed unless on windows. I have no problem using Proton but I want official support should a problem arise.

FWIW, although it's currently not that common, "official support and testing for the game in Proton" is the second-highest-paying tier of my "more Tux, more bucks" hierarchy. Quick précis of the tiers, since I've laid out the full reasoning here enough times that people are probably annoyed by it.
Full price: native games
Half price: games with official support for Proton
75% off: Deck Verified Windows-only games
90% off: game happens to work in Wine (for now)
Won't pay anything: game doesn't work on Linux at all.
The more a game dev supports me as a Linux gamer, the more financial support I'm willing to give them in exchange.

EA SPORTS WRC is adding EA anticheat, breaking another game on Steam Deck / Linux
20 May 2024 at 8:54 am UTC

Quoting: Purple Library GuyIt's certainly the preferred solution. But I dunno, if cheaters can get around anticheat, which as far as I can make out they can, I don't see why Wine/Proton couldn't. It'd have to be an unofficial version, ideally developed in some country/ies where it is not illegal to circumvent blah blah blah. So there would be problems with distributing it. But it could surely be done.

Then they'll just check for Wine & Proton and ban anyone they detect using it. That's not a solution.

That's why you need the developers & publishers on board, and for that you need market size.

EA SPORTS WRC is adding EA anticheat, breaking another game on Steam Deck / Linux
18 May 2024 at 5:58 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: westurnerWhat are some solutions to anti-cheat on
Linux?

Grow Linux so that it's too big a market for anyone to decide to just ignore. That's it; that's the only solution.

Proton Experimental improves Halo Infinite, Call of Juarez: Gunslinger and more
17 May 2024 at 3:44 pm UTC Likes: 2

QuotePlus they're also now limiting the CPU cores seen by Call of Juarez: Gunslinger as well to make it playable on high core-count CPUs. They did the same fix for Command & Conquer and The Covert Operations in a previous Experimental update.

It's weird that this keeps cropping up as an issue. High core-count machines have been around for quite a while now, and dev machines tend to have more cores than gaming machines, so you'd think that this was the kind of thing that would be spotted and fixed by game devs themselves.

Ghost of Tsushima single-player only on Steam Deck due to PlayStation Network features
16 May 2024 at 4:43 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: GuestI think at this point, I’m worried that at some point PlayStation is going to start charging money to play their games online on PC.

Why would they?

They copied that idea from Microsoft since Microsoft got away with it for Xbox. Microsoft haven't done that for PC games (although they do offer a subscription service).

Sony have always had a fully-loaded foot gun, but this doesn't seem like a realistic fear at all.