Thanks, this was hugely helpful. For some reason half the comments here made it about politics.

Interested to see where this new software actually goes.

Added bonus is that it runs MegaMek natively

This is always a fun thing to read in the wild. Keep on stompin’, MechWarrior! O7 (salute)

Gentoo might have been quite a leap! :p I wanna try it some day as a challenge but it’s def intimidating.

I run Tumbleweed on my main rig and love how crazy stable it is for being cutting edge. Endeavour OS is also cool for this. Both great communities too.

But agree with you on Mint. It’s just a really nice smooth experience. So far it’s on my “little media laptop I won’t update much, need to be reliable, and will probably hand to family on occasion”, and I can trust it’s just gonna work.

Lutris is cool! It definitely streamlines the process of running things with WINE.

It could have gone through some major changes since I’ve tried it, but I found Heroic to be just a bit more plug-and-play in the sense that it handled the fancy Galaxy stuff like auto-updates, play-time stats, achievements, and cloud saves.

Literally just click install and go, like a drop-in replacement for Galaxy.

I also like that you can choose a Linux build (if it exists) or a windows-with-Proton approach depending on the game.

The only game issue I had was Undertale’s Linux build that had a bit of dependency hell and wouldn’t start…so flipping it to EXE-with-Proton worked like a charm.

Coolest part though? You can totally have both.

I’d personally use Lutris for things like old games that aren’t from digital platforms, or for RetroArch.

I like Heroic for managing cloud saves and handling achievements with GoG titles.

Either way, both are viable and you’ll get your games running somehow! Just different approaches. No harm in seeing which you like most!

Random ProTip while we’re at it: If you couch game, you don’t need to give that up with Linux either! Steam Link can be its own separate program from Steam itself, so it runs a lot leaner. If you have an Nvidia card you can also check out Sunlight/Moonlight for game streaming.

We truly live in exciting times. Happy gaming. :)

“Hey c’mahhhn it’s my birthday, you wouldn’t delete mah account on my birthday, I’m just’a lil’ birthday boi!”

Their Galaxy client seems like it’ll never get there. Fortunately we have Heroic Launcher, and it pretty much rocks! I’m fully confident I can enjoy the vast majority of my games on Linux now.

Okay but at the end of the day it’s not like you’re Tony Stark making Jericho missiles.

Linux, encryption, the Internet, heck, computers, are so generalized as a technology that the burden of sin lies with whomever would pervert these tools against their fellow man.

I’ve heard of Palantir, now Anduril… What’s next, Saruman Ltd.? Uruk-Hai-corp? Poor Tolkien doesn’t deserve his mythology being co-opted by war profiteers. :(

And the story is set in modern times but it sounds like an 80’s arcade cabinet. Bwoop-bwoop pew pew!

Granted some people are so focused while gaming that they look like drowned salmon, but streamers have proven you can still be emotive and act whilst gaming lol.

Unless you’re Bruce Wayne, in which case when asked you might say NA NA-NA NA-NA NA-NA NA…

I’ll see myself out.

It has nothing to do with fun, they just want the carrot being dangled in front of their nose.

This might explain the marketing that seemed to start with mobile games and now infects AAA MP titles:

“PLAY NOW AND GET 34 GAZILLION WORTHLESS EMERALDRUBYGEMCOINS and a RARE DROP POPSICLE MAGIC DOMINO”

Like…a newcomer would have zero idea what the heck they’re even talking about but somehow it seems to work, to entice players with worthless free…server database adjustments?

Hardly any focus is on the games being unique or exciting (Surprise, they aren’t!) It’s all about a reward-based impulse, like training a bunch of rodents to use a casino.

WW2 again, I don’t mind learning the era but I’ve relearned the same thing over and over again

When your history class is written by the same folks responsible for the History Channel circa ~2002-2010.

Dang, I was really hoping this would be one of those stories that goes like:

“How long will that take?”

“It’s a lot of data…like a month?” (But I actually wrote a Python script that compiles and formats it perfectly in like 5 minutes.)

“You’re such a hard worker!”

I mean, a FOSS aligned company is profitable! 🔼

B-but it’s also Purism with all those customer horror stories and sketchy behavior. 🔽

I’m confused, okay!? 🔃

StarFox 64 is so perfect in that arcade-game way, where you can technically finish it in a sitting but it’s so cool to figure out different paths and stuff. :D

“Okay guys, let’s ROCK N’ ROLL!”

In case you haven’t seen it, this video might make you very happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXLmDRwxAUU

Oh sweet nobody’s mentioned it yet! One of my personal favorite “book-feeling games” is an FPS series.

Linear, tightly focused, and feels like a novel because it’s based on one:

Metro: 2033 and Metro: Last Light. (Haven’t played Exodus yet)

You play a young fella named Artyom. Living in formerly-Russia’s metro tunnels with other survivors after a nuclear apocalypse devastates the surface.

Your settlement comes under threat from seemingly psychic creatures called “the Dark Ones”, and you’re sent on a quest to go get help.

Across the way is a bit of a “coming of age” adventure. You run across really interesting and well-acted characters, sneak past hostile factions, contend with scary (and diversely behaviored) mutants, and risk dangerous excursions on the surface. This is a dark world where gasmask filters are precious and bullets are literally currency, but somehow it’s still beautiful and fascinating.

(That intro guitar melody will stay with me forever.)

Like any good hero, Artyom finds himself in one bad situation after another, and along the way if you pick up on the hints, may even come to understand the world around him and the role he plays in it.

There’s a morality system that’s more subtle than “be boyscout or be a villain”, and “ranger difficulty” is an amazing way to play because it makes gunfights feel tense and realistic.

You can only take a few hits in this mode, but unlike in most games, so can your enemies! It makes things feel much less “bullet spongey.”

Everyone begged for an “open world” experience and we got Exodus which is supposed to be awesome, but something will always stay close to me about this post apocalypse story that takes you on a focused, well paced, and at times emotional ride to save a transformed world.

And that’s just the first title mostly.

You won’t be running between towns for hours or making rubber bands and glue into machineguns. You’ll still feel like you’re surviving, but know exactly where you’re supposed to be going.

They go for super cheap on GoG and Steam all the time. Well worth the experience. :)

“Proper story’s s’posed to start at the beginning…”

“Kid just rages for awhile.”

That game is still fantastic.

That’s really cool! I put my wife on Pop_OS recently and it’s been a little bumpy, but she’s also got a bit of a specialty laptop. Glad it’s been smooth for you :).

I really like your aesthetic, btw, how the wallpaper fits with your launch bar. Really pleasant!

Wish I had some advice for you, but heck, thanks for starting the thread because (after sifting highly opinionated goofposts) I’m learning a lot too. :)

And in the end, ItDoesntEvenMat.tar

or yet another pet project no one asked for.

Here’s a fun one. The entire city is just being treated as one big pump-and-dump stonk for predatory real estate investors at this point anyway.

https://lasvegasweekly.com/news/2024/may/30/las-vegas-spaceport-seeks-to-build-space-economy/

Google did what Google does

I remember wrapping my head around “Google Wave” and being like “Hey that sounds nea–oh it’s gone already?”