Full Circle Magazine FR

I was first introduced to Linux six years ago when I began using Ubuntu as a result of a broken Windows XP desktop. I was immediately fascinated by everything that Ubuntu had to offer. I was also mesmerized by the concept of Free Libre Open-Source Software, and the myriad of gifts that came bundled with Linux such as the GPL, Richard Stallman's visionary philosophy, Linus Torvalds and his very colorful rants, the freedom to modify whatever software I wanted, etc. The GNOME desktop environment at the time made more sense to me – coming from a restricted Windows environment. The ability to get any piece of software from the Ubuntu Software Center was the most brilliant idea ever at a time when the Apple iOS App store and the Android Play Store were just getting started. But then my smile turned into a frown when I looked into gaming on Linux and discovered that Tux Racer was the most exciting game available. There was also the Windows Emulator, WINE, but I didn't have a good experience with it at first, and, for the most part, I've been able to live without it for the last six years. Eleven Ubuntu releases later, I am more than ecstatic to say that the future of Linux gaming looks as promising as ever. I began using Linux at a time when Linux gaming was beginning to undergo its most critical changes since the inception of Linux back in 1992. I've been able to not only see the fruit of those seeds blossom, but I've also had the pleasure to report back my findings through Full Circle Magazine. It's been a wild ride so far, and I'm willing to bet we're bound to travel to unforeseen places which at one time might have only seemed like a dream or an illusion. Full Circle Magazine's 100th anniversary couldn't have come at a better time. Where we've come from, where we stand, and where we're headed could very well be a video game, and you, the reader, are player one. Let's play.

On m'a d'abord présenté Linux il y a six ans quand j'ai commencé à utiliser Ubuntu à la suite d'un crash de Windows XP. Je fus immédiatement fasciné par tout ce que Ubuntu avait à offrir. Je suis également fasciné par le concept de Logiciel Libre Open Source gratuit, et la myriade de cadeaux qui était livrée avec Linux comme la GPL, la philosophie visionnaire de Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds et ses coups de gueule très colorés, la liberté de modifier le logiciel que je voulais, etc. L'environnement de bureau GNOME à ce moment là était ce qui avait le plus de sens pour moi, venant d'un environnement Windows restreint. La possibilité d'obtenir un quelconque logiciel du Centre de Logiciels Ubuntu était l'idée la plus brillante jamais eue à un moment où l'App Store de l'iOS d'Apple et le Play Store d'Android ne faisaient que de débuter.

Mais alors mon sourire s'est agrandi quand j'ai regardé quels pouvaient être les jeux sur Linux et découvert que Tux Racer était le jeu le plus passionnant du moment. Il y avait aussi l'émulateur Windows, Wine, mais je n'a pas eu de bonne expérience avec, au premier abord, et en général j'ai pu vivre sans pendant les six dernières années.

Onze versions d'Ubuntu plus tard, je suis plus que ravi de dire que l'avenir des jeux Linux semble aussi prometteur que jamais. J'ai commencé à utiliser Linux à un moment où le jeu sous Linux commençait à subir ses changements les plus fondamentaux depuis la création de Linux en 1992. J'ai pu non seulement voir le fruit issu de ces graines, mais j'ai également eu le plaisir de pouvoir en parler sur Full Circle Magazine. Ça a été une course folle jusqu'à présent, et je suis prêt à parier que nous allons devoir traverser des endroits imprévus qu'il fut un temps où il n'étaient qu'un rêve ou une illusion. Le 100e anniversaire de Full Circle Magazine ne pouvait pas tomber à un meilleur moment. D'où nous venons, où nous en sommes et où nous allons pourrait très bien être un jeu vidéo, et vous, le lecteur, êtes le joueur numéro 1. Allons-y, jouons.

When I first began using Linux, I was using a Dell Precision 360 PC pre-installed with Windows XP that was about six years old – Windows 7 having just been released. Although the computer was a workstation, due to its age (and graphics card) it couldn't play most AAA games available for Windows at the time. When the PC broke down due to a virus (viruses being a common nuisance for ALL Windows users), I had to wait about two weeks for Dell to kindly send me the re-installation discs. I eventually got two discs, one to install Windows XP, and the other to install the outdated drivers which took me a couple of days to update. However, being that I needed a working computer, and having heard of Linux through a friend, I decided to look further into it. After a day's worth of research, I opted to install Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, and I was immediately in love with my PC. That old piece of junk was now a pristine workstation, faster and more efficient than anything I'd ever used up until then. How could I not love that? Everything was greener on this side of the hill. Everything except for the quality and quantity of video games available for Linux. Sure, there were some games available, but compared to Windows it was like David v. Goliath. Little did I know that all of this was beginning to change. Having used Ubuntu for about a year or so helped me with some basic understanding of the relationship between hardware and software, and I was able to build my own PC for the first time ever. Because of work-related software, I had this PC dual-booting between Windows 7 & Ubuntu 10.10, but the games on the Linux side of the fence still weren't too appealing. For about a year, whenever I was using Windows I found myself doing a lot of gaming, but, while using Linux, I was actually getting work done and learning more about how Linux works.

Quand j'ai commencé à utiliser Linux, je me servait d'un Dell Precision 360 pré-installé avec Windows XP qui avait environ six ans; Windows 7 venant tout juste de sortir. Bien que l'ordinateur soit un poste de travail, en raison de son âge (et de sa carte graphique), on ne pouvait pas jouer à la plupart des jeux à la mode disponibles pour Windows à l'époque. Lorsque l'ordinateur est tombé en panne en raison d'un virus (les virus étant une nuisance commune à TOUS les utilisateurs de Windows), j'ai eu à attendre environ deux semaines pour que Dell m'envoie les disques de ré-installation. J'ai finalement obtenu deux disques, l'un pour installer Windows XP, et l'autre pour installer les pilotes obsolètes qu'il m'a fallu quelques jours pour mettre à jour. Cependant, ayant besoin d'un ordinateur pour travailler, et après avoir entendu parler de Linux grâce à un ami, je décidai de creuser plus loin. Après une journée de recherche, j'ai choisi d'installer Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, et je tombis immédiatement amoureux de mon PC. Ce vieux morceau de ferraille était maintenant un poste de travail vierge, plus rapide et plus efficace que tout ce que j'avais jamais utilisé jusque-là. Comment pourrais-je ne pas aimer cela? L'herbe était plus verte dans ce jardin là. Tout, sauf la qualité et la quantité de jeux vidéo disponibles pour Linux. Bien sûr, il y avait quelques jeux disponibles, mais par rapport à Windows, c'était comme David contre Goliath. Je ne savais pas que tout cela commençait à changer.

Utiliser Ubuntu pendant environ un an ou deux, m'a aidé à obetnir une certaine compréhension de base de la relation entre le matériel et le logiciel, et je suis en mesure de construire mon propre PC pour la première fois. Parce qu'ayant des logiciels liés au travail, je devais avoir un PC dual-boot entre Windows 7 et Ubuntu 10.10, mais les jeux du côté Linux de la barrière n'étaient toujours pas très attrayant. Pendant environ un an, à chaque fois que j'utilisais Windows, je me retrouvais à beaucoup jouer, mais quand j'utilisais Linux, j'obtenais effectivement mon boulot fait et j'en apprenais davantage sur le fonctionnement de Linux.

Eventually, I discovered the Humble Indie Bundle. With the purchase of Humble Indie Bundle V, suddenly I was positively overwhelmed with eight of the best games I'd played in years, not just on Linux but on any system or console. Eventually, all of these games were made available for Linux. Amnesia: The Dark Descent, arguably one of the best and scariest horror games ever conceived, was the main reason I bought this Humble Indie Bundle (it has since changed its name to simply the Humble Bundle). Playing Amnesia on Ubuntu only a couple of years after it was released for Windows PC gave me hope that the tide was changing and Tux the Penguin was about to ride the incoming tidal wave. The game played exceptionally well on Linux, almost as if it had been made exclusively to scare Linux geeks. But this was just the tip of the iceberg. I also discovered Bastion, a funny and delightfully entertaining platformer which was compatible with my game controller and had the most exquisitely colorful, cartoon-like graphics. The soundtrack could stand on its own as a music album. The game's narrator and his funny, oddball comments still remain as one of my favorites. Then, there was Limbo, a black-and-white platformer with no tutorial nor explanation – which quickly became somewhat of a sleeper hit with its minimalistic approach and mind boggling puzzles. Limbo was one of the first games I played that used real pencil drawings as backgrounds throughout the game. A screenshot of it is included here. Linux sales figures from the early Humble Indie Bundles let the gaming industry know that there was money to be made by catering to Linux gamers. On average, Linux gamers were paying almost twice as much for early Humble Indie Bundles as their Windows counterparts. Indie game developers and distributors took note of this and so did bigger game distributors, like Valve. Thank you Humble Bundle.

More than anything, Humble Bundle's contribution was that it let the world know that there was money to be made from Linux gamers. All we needed now was an established brand to pay attention and lead the way. Was there any company that would risk gambling on a system that had a <1.0% user base? Then it happened, Microsoft handed us Steam on a silver platter by releasing Windows 8, one of its most hated operating systems ever. Microsoft's dreams of an Apple-like controlled jail in the form of the Microsoft Store motivated Valve's owner, Gabe Newell, to bring the Steam game engine over to Linux. Now, there was no looking back. It was a slow change at first. A handful of games began to be ported over to Linux. However, some of these games had already been huge Valve hits, like Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Left 4 Dead 2. These Linux ports proved to exceed everyone's expectations of what Linux games had the potential to be. With the announcement that SteamOS would be based on Ubuntu, this meant that Steam's game library might someday become available on Linux. This has proven to be something that has helped more than just gamers. One of the biggest hurdles we've had to overcome has been the poor quality of proprietary graphics drivers for Linux. Although the free, open-source drivers are perfect for most of our day-to-day uses, that's not the case when it comes down to gaming. Unfortunately, in order to enjoy PlayStation 4 quality games, it is a necessity that your system be equipped with the latest proprietary graphics drivers. Since Steam first became available for Linux, Nvidia and AMD quickly realized that a significant enough portion of their consumers were running Linux at home, and they would not benefit from ignoring this growing minority. Alas, proprietary graphics drivers for Linux began to rival the same manufacturer's drivers for Windows and Mac OS X. That's when we knew that dreams do come true. It was also then that many dual-booting gamers began to completely nuke their Windows partitions as there was no longer any need for it.

The Linux release of games such as The Witcher 2, Dota 2, Borderlands 2, Dead Island and more recently Bioshock Infinite and Borderlands:The Prequel was proof that Valve was staying true to its word on the SteamOS and Steam Machines plans. Although Valve was plagued with delays through most of 2014 and the early part of 2015, we are now only a couple of months away from the official release of the Steam Machines and the official SteamOS. In fact, I've already pre-ordered my Steam Controller and I should be getting it delivered sometime during October according to my receipt. At around the same time, there should be an ample amount of Steam Machines available ranging from around $450 USD up to $2,000+ depending on what kind of horsepower you want and how much you're willing to shell out for it. Although Dell, HP, Lenovo, System 76 and others have been selling Linux PCs for a while, this is the first time I've ever seen a wide advertisement, promotion & sale of PCs pre-loaded with Linux. Always an innovator and a leader, Valve was willing to gamble on Linux so it was bound to happen that other companies would eventually follow. It is now common news to hear of new game developers, distributors, resellers, etc, bringing their games over to Linux. Warner Brothers has recently released Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor for Linux, and are supposed to be bringing Arkham Knight to Linux by November. We are currently witnessing the greatest paradigm shift in the history of Linux gaming. Thank you Valve.

Although the Humble Bundle and Valve's Steam have been pivotal in bringing AAA games to Linux, like everything open source it's been the Linux community that has played the biggest role in bringing about this long-sought-after change. The financial support that the Linux community has invested into Linux gaming has been the big game changer. As soon as Humble Bundle began to release bundles with Linux games, it became evident that Linux gamers were willing to spend more than their Windows & Mac OS X counterparts. As you can see in the chart I've provided of Humble Indie Bundle V's sales numbers by platform, the average Linux purchase is $12.47 against Windows' average of $7.98 which is a common thread shared by Humble Bundles with Linux games ever since. Which leads me to my closing thought for all of you gamers out there. Let's all do the best we can to improve Linux gaming by financially supporting Linux games. If you still dual-boot with Windows, and are about to buy a game to be played on Ubuntu or any other Linux distro, please restart your PC and make the purchase while using Linux. Each and every Linux sale counts. However, a sale of the same game bought through Windows (or Mac OS X) is yet another number against us. Also, support as many distributors as possible. I've been buying my games not only through Steam, but also through Humble Bundle, GOG, and at times from the developer if at all possible. I've also financially backed games through www.kickstarter.com. However, if you're going to go through that route, I advise that you give your support only if you are given a Linux-playable demo that ensures your money will not go towards a game that will be available only on another operating system and not on our beloved Linux. Gaming, or lack-thereof, has kept the Linux user base at around 1% worldwide since the inception of the Linux kernel. Money talks, and a vote with your wallet not only buys you a great game, but it also helps the overall ecosystem of your favorite operating system. It helps by letting hardware manufacturers and software providers know that ignoring Linux is not profitable for them, which, in turn, makes Linux-compatible hardware/software more widely available, easier to work with, and its quality greatly improved upon. So for what's been done and what's to come, I say to you, the Linux user, thank you for helping Linux be all that it is and all it will be. The future looks bright and we all share the spotlight.