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Valve releasing Dota2 for Linux
- spleeder 13y agoOh man, this is terrific news!
- mtgx 13y agoI hear both the Cryengine and Unreal Engine 4 game engines are going to support Linux. Hopefully this will accelerate the momentum for Linux support.
- qznc 13y agoBlizzard is the big missing player for me. While their games work quite well in Wine, native would be nice.
- dubcanada 13y agoBlizzard has Mac OS support, I don't see it being too much work for Linux native. The main problem is the massive amount of Linux distros. But they could support ubuntu and their offsets fairly easily.
- broodbucket 13y agoThey've had an internal Linux build for WoW for ages, it has full OpenGL support (which SC2/D3 do not, only GLSL)
- TheMakeA 13y agoI wonder how much Sam Lantinga is responsible for the existence. As far as I know he joined Blizzard after coming off of porting games to Linux at Loki Software. Interestingly, he's now at Valve.
- tedajax 13y agoEh... a few years ago I would have agreed with you but based on their recent releases and the kinds of statements their designers make I get the distinct impression that whatever magic Blizzard had that allowed them to make games like Warcraft 1/2/3/Frozen Throne, WoW (Vanilla and BC), Broodwar, and Diablo 1/2 has faded. Most of the original key people responsible for those games are no longer there and Blizz seems to be favoring a blander mass market approach.
- binarycrusader 13y agoWhat I'm really waiting to see is the day that Unity and other engines actually support the editor on Linux as well. The engine is nice, but until I no longer have any need to boot into Windows, I'm only mildly impressed.
- krsunny 13y agoMaya and photoshop also need to support linux.
- iso-8859-1 13y agoMaya runs on Linux. CS2 runs on Linux (Wine).
- neona 13y agoMaya already has linux support, afaik. Photoshop though...
- binarycrusader 13y agoMaya already supports Linux: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=15458252&linkID=9242258 http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=12311... But even then, ignore Linux for the moment, and just pretend I said Mac OS X instead. My point definitely applies there even with the pre-requisite you have for running Maya and Photoshop. However, you're right that for some members of the asset pipeline, they may continue to use Windows. But for the developer who is debugging in-engine scripts and/or engine problems, being able to build and debug on the same platform would be a huge win. My guess is that if you can get the editor running on Linux, you can also have it on OS X and vice-versa.
- pdknsk 13y agoI won't play the game, because DOTA and its many clones probably have the most unfriendly players in all of gaming, but it's great news for Linux.
- shazow 13y agoIt's true, and of all the clones, I've found Dota 2 to have the friendliest community by far and it's is constantly getting better. It's night and day from what I remember it being six months ago. Valve's commitment to tweaking behaviour through player feedback has been surprisingly effective. You can read a bit about it here: http://blog.dota2.com/2013/05/communication-reports/ http://blog.dota2.com/2013/05/communication-reports/
- delluminatus 13y agoIt's a curious phenomenon, isn't it? As a long-time DotA player myself, I maintain a separate "DotA Persona" which I fall into when playing. It's basically an offensive response to assholes: also be an asshole. I think it essentially comes from the nature of the game: as an individual, you're suddenly stuck with a bunch of other people you have to cooperate with. It's not like tf2 or CS. The teams are smaller and the stakes are much higher. People care about winning games in DotA a lot more than they do in most FPS games, where the journey is the destination. In DotA, the win is the destination and it's the validation of your abilities (k/d ratio doesn't cut it). You would think having the win be so important would make it easier or better to work together, but the fact of the matter is most DotA players suck. Even people who consistently win public games still suck. Players hold everyone else to incredibly high standards and get frustrated when they feel like their team "drags them down." This is compounded by a feeling that, if you're doing badly yourself, you should scapegoat a team member in order to shift the blame. DotA 2 is actually a lot better. I'm not sure why exactly, and it depends on your level. Maybe there's hope.
- mkr-hn 13y agoRelevant: http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/toxicity http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/toxicity
- 13y ago
- gnufied 13y agoFor the uninitiated: Dota2 is a massively popular AAA game created by Valve which just came out of beta yesterday. The game is known to be difficult to play and master. Why Linux release is important: Valve released Steam for Linux couple of months back but apart from TF2 and other Valve titles, Steam for Linux is picking up pace very slowly. Even games like TF2 and L4D are more or less last generation titles. Dota2 on the other hand is brand new, it uses all the new features from source engine and hopefully is capable of pushing Gaming on Linux like no other title.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jeltz 13y agoDota2 is also the by far currently most played game on Steam, being 4 to 5 times more popular than any other. See the link below for some statistics. http://store.steampowered.com/stats/ http://store.steampowered.com/stats/
- shurcooL 13y agoHow does it compare to League of Legends?
- kevingadd 13y agoLeague of legends is probably the most mass market online game running right now when considered worldwide, except perhaps for World of Warcraft - and at this point I think it probably easily dwarfs WoW. "As of October 2012, Riot Games claims League of Legends has over 32 million registrations and averages 12 million players worldwide per day;[5] global concurrent users online regularly peak at over 5 million players, as of March 2013.[6] In July 2012 Xfire released a report stating that League of Legends was the most played PC game in North America and Europe, with 1.3 billion hours logged by players in those regions between July 2011 and June 2012.[48]"
- cli 13y agoLeague of Legends has about an order of magnitude greater number of players. However, Dota 2 has until recently been in open beta, and League of Legends came out years earlier. Although the beta keys are essentially obtainable for anyone, the extra step in obtaining said keys may be enough of a disincentive for many people to not play. Source for LoL numbers: http://www.riotgames.com/articles/20130312/700/league-legends-players-summit-new-peak http://www.riotgames.com/articles/20130312/700/league-legend...
- avolcano 13y agoAnd yet, no news on the OSX front, even though the Source Engine has worked on Mac even longer than it has on Linux. Really was hoping they'd have at least a Mac beta by the time they started the rolling launch of the Windows version :(
- radge 13y agohttp://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=96877 http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=96877
- dubcanada 13y agoIt'll come, they already said it would. I suspect the thing is that Linux users are generally more testing types. Mac users, like windows want an already finished/polished product.
- adamors 13y ago> I suspect the thing is that Linux users are generally more testing types That may be the reason, but I think it's the upcoming Steam console/PC that is driving all these linux releases.
- endianswap 13y agoBoth OSX and Linux versions of our test client should be available today.
- jkw 13y agoIt looks they're also releasing Dota 2 for Mac: http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=96877 http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=96877
- xentronium 13y agoYeah, just checked. Test client is there, but it's entirely different shard, almost without any players.
- bdz 13y agoAlso, look at the traffic! http://i.imgur.com/L8u15PV.png http://i.imgur.com/L8u15PV.png (though that's because of the general Dota release)
- chc 13y agoNitpick: The title is kind of misleading. They are putting Mac and Linux support in Dota 2 Test, which is a separate client with separate servers from the real Dota 2 that they use to test new features. It's not actually being released in the sense of being able to play Dota 2 with normal Dota 2 players. The actual release will come at some indeterminate point in the future.
- avree 13y agoGenerally we see about a two to four week rollover time between DotA 2 Test and the main DotA 2.
- YellowOnion 13y agoSorry but you're mistaken, it's generally 1-2 days rollover and only is it stalled if bugs persist.
- avree 13y agoYeah, you're right. I meant to type "days" but for some reason typed "weeks".
- orng 13y agoFor those interested in the MOBA genre but looking for a friendlier community and a bit more casual, yet faster, gameplay, I can really recommend the 2d-platform version: Awesomenauts. It is available for all three major platforms: Windows, OSX and Linux. It was part of a recent Humble Indie Bundle, so you might already have it. It has been the first online game that I've really become hooked upon since my old days of playing Warcraft 3 custom maps.
- jdjb 13y agoAbsolutely +1 for awesomenauts. I'm usually not a fan of this genre but I started playing this and I'm already high lvl 40's. So addicting yet casual!
- RKoutnik 13y agoAgree 90%. I picked up Awesomenauts in the HIB, and it's been a pleasant overall experience so far. However, their matchmaking leaves a bit to be desired. After a half-dozen games, we were matched with a tier 3 prestige'd player who single-handedly destroyed us.
- orng 13y agoYes the matchmaking can be incredibly frustrating. However it's a hard problem to solve with such a small player-base. I also don't think it's enough to ruin the game. I currently have 170 hours logged into the game according to Steam and I plan to add many more. Hopefully more people join so that we can get better matchmaking and have even more fun.
- hardwaresofton 13y agoDoes anyone remember the thread where people weren't sure whether steam releasing games for linux would be definitive in advancing linux? Pepperidge Farm remembers
- Pxtl 13y agoI'm actually really sad that these take off so well, because imho the DOTA format is the worst thing to happen to online gaming. The game is feels deliberately brutal to newbies in so very many ways. The whole genre seems utterly dysfunctional for any kind of player who doesn't have a tight, committed clan to play with. Long high-commitment match-ups make it bad for people with other committments, a hyperlong list of powers and heroes makes for a tremendous amount of trivia to learn, there's the various play mechanics that make you hate the weakest man on your team (and can examine his failings in detail), and the way DOTA2 embraces counterintuitive hardcore tweaks that were eradicated in other iterations (like killing your own troops to deny the opponents XP). I like the pro gaming circuit, but a truly good game is one that's approachable, friendly, and deep.
- whywhywhy5 13y agoSo I'm guessing you hate LoL too? MOBA games aren't really that hard to get into. Millions of players find it rather easy to get into. In fact, if numbers are anything to take into account, MOBA games may be the easiest type of competitive game to actually get into.
- jafaku 13y agoActually the difference between DotA and LoL is precisely that (or so I've been told by a friend who plays LoL; I play DotA): LoL creators realized the problem with DotA was that it was terribly newbie-unfriendly. So they created LoL trying to do the opposite. Dota2 seems to be a lot more newbie-friendly than the original DotA. Eg: you get hints on which items to buy and how to combine them to create better items. But I would still put it in the newbie-unfriendly category. Nothing, nothing can generate so much hate and rage as a DotA match. I have lost IRL friends to it. Just to be clear, I love the game and I still play it when I want some adrenaline.
- Pxtl 13y agoLoL does some things I like, such as fixing creep-denial (a bug that becomes popular to exploit is still a bug, I don't care what the pro-gamers say), but it still has the fundamentally grief-oriented play I loathe. To be clear, my complaint is not about skill-intensive gaming. My problem with the DOTA format is that it makes you hate the weak teammates in so many different ways, and putting together a single match requires such a large commitment of time from so many players. Compare vs. TF2 where the 6v6 pro circuit exists but casual players still have access to 12v12 pubs where nobody cares if you suck or you drop. Or compare vs. StarCraft where there's an extensive single-player campaign and a 1v1 community online, and the only person who hates you if you screw up in 1v1 is yourself, and at least when you fail in a 1v1 starcraft game the end will come blissfully swiftly. And nobody would say that SC or TF2 are low-skill games.
- neona 13y agoTo be perfectly honest, I like the basic idea of the format that DOTA games present, I just find the execution to be quite awkward, and that's what kills it for me. It controls like an RTS since it came about as a Warcraft III map, and that continues to limit it. Alternative takes on it tend to be fun for me (things like MNC), and I really feel like the genre would work a lot better with a more action-oriented control scheme. Something like a GW2 sPvP mode with a dota-style objective/flow would be quite excellent, in my opinion.
- larrik 13y agoSounds like you'd like the game Smite, then. League of Legends doesn't play like an RTS so much either, though.
- BookPage 13y agoI just want to say, there was a time once when I was overly addicted to playing dota. One of my workarounds whenever I felt I had binged too much was to whipe my windows install and go with Ubuntu. It kind of worked, but eventually I'd just go back. I even went so far as throwing my windows license in the bin and snapping my install disc. Time and time again I'd just download a cracked version and burn a new disc... Eventually I overcame the addiction by replacing the habit with going to the gym 4-5 times a week. Now I spend my time in windows playing with the directx sdk instead of on Dota. Not really sure what value this comment adds, but I guess soon even Linux won't be a semi-safe-haven for Dota addicts (p.s. I have an ATI card so wine wasn't an option for me).
- donniezazen 13y agoI would really love to see Civilization come Steam for Linux.
- mtgx 13y agoCivilization VI at least.
- skriticos2 13y agoThis. And Elder Scrolls 6. And maybe a reasonable successor to Supreme Commander and Homeworld 2. Planetary Annihilation looks interesting.
- BillyMaize 13y agoIf there even is an elder scrolls 6. As a fanatical fan my biggest fear is they will stop producing the single player games once the MMO comes out.
- EtienneK 13y agoAnd iOS, please.
- dmead 13y agostarcraft 2 still windows/mac only :(
- ameen 13y agoAs a Dota 2 player, this is underwhelming > Dota 2 Linux Minimum System Requirements: > Ubuntu 12.04 > Dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz > 4GB RAM > 4GB Hard Drive Space, > nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2600/3600 (Graphic Drivers: nVidia 310, AMD 12.11), OpenGL 2.1 > OpenAL Compatible Sound Card I run Dota 2 at 720p on my Windows 7 PC with substantially lower spec hardware - A Core 2 Duo clocked at 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, Intel IGP GMA X4500 (G41 chipset) This proves that the Source Engine on Linux isn't exactly efficient as its Windows counterpart as Valve claimed a few months back.
- alecthomas 13y agoIt may not be quite as dire as you suspect. Firstly, system specs in games are always specced higher than you need in reality. Secondly, Linux OpenGL driver quality varies wildly, which is why they list only the two big vendors. IIUC Intel Linux drivers are actually quite good, so you may be in luck. I would reserve judgement.
- ameen 13y agoIt's just that the hardware that I'm currently running the same game on fell short of the minimum system requirements sort of put me off. Guess I'll have to report back after checking it.
- ssw1n 13y agoNow, the last reason tying me to Windows is (about to be) gone ....
- X4 13y agoNow I just need a Laptop with Nvidia Graphics that works on Linux. :( :( Is there even one? I have to use vgaswitcheroo to disable my discrete ATI 4550 card, because it causes artefacts and crashes and consumes too much power. The proprietary driver doesn't even work at all.