Pillars of Eternity: March 26th Release Date - Linux, Mac and Windows simultaneous release

Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity is due to be released on 26th March 2015 on Linux, Mac and Windows, distributed via +GOG.com - DRM-Free Games and +Steam.

Main features:

• Play as any one of six races: Human, Aumaua, Dwarf, Elf, Godlike and Orlan.
• Utilize five core skills to overcome any situation: Stealth, Athletics, Lore, Mechanics and Survival.
• Deep character customization: Build a character as one of eleven classes such as Barbarian, Chanter, Cipher, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Ranger, Rogue and Wizard.
• Sculpt your own story: Side with various factions using a reputation system, where your actions and choices have far reaching consequences.
• Explore a rich and diverse world: Beautiful pre-rendered environments laced with an engaging story and characters bring the world to life.

The game is inspired by the likes of Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment, and was funded through crowd funding (it raised $3,986,929 and became the highest funded crowd sourced video game on Kickstarter at the time). This model has allowed the developers at Obsidian to make the game the way they wanted, rather than be restricted by publisher demands, as +Joshua Sawyer explains in a Reddit AMA with with Obsidian, here.

Whilst unashamedly based upon the aforementioned classic games, such as a pausable real-time system and fixed isometric gameplay with 2d pre-rendered backgrounds, it will not be based on D&D rules and will have an original plot and setting, all thanks to the freedom that Obsidian had as a result of the crowd funding model.

I think this game could do really well in terms of Linux sales alone, and I'm pleased to see it has a simultaneous release on all three major PC platforms.

Will you be buying it on release day?

Steam Controller - will it be love or hate?

So, the folks at +Valve and +Steam have listed the Steam controller in all its glory on the Steam Store and the Steam Universe site.

According to Valve, the controller will be available from November 2015 for $49.99. 


Some tech journalists have had a try out and reported mixed feelings. The consensus seems to be that it's a bit, well, unusual. Whilst I've not picked one up yet, I have to say that I do fear that they might only succeed if the games are designed around the controller. Harking back to the Nintendo64 (what do you mean you weren't born then!?) with it's new-fangled, tri-pronged, analogue/digital hybrid gamepad this took some getting used to, but N64 games (e.g. Super Mario 64, Goldeneye, Pilotwings 64, Turok) felt like they had been designed with the N64 gamepad in mind (in fact, some had been). Soon, it felt like this gamepad was the most natural way to control a game, especially Super Mario 64. In my humble opinion, it's the best controller I've ever used, but let's not get on to that now. If you revisited Super Mario 64 on the Wii with the Wii's classic controller, you'll know how it just didn't feel right - this demonstrates how important it is for the game to fit the controller.

It takes practice and perserverance to get used to a new control input, particularly if the new design is radical. The change from digital d-pads to analogue sticks took some getting used to but of course, all console makers were on the same band-wagon, so it created its own momentum, and was unlikely to fail - everyone wanted the new generation of 32 or 64-bit consoles back in the '90s, and the new analogue gamepads that came with them.

My concern is that regardless of how good the design is of the Steam controller, and of how much potential it might have for better control than the Xbox360 controller, I believe its success (i.e. how many are sold) depends as much upon first-rate marketing as it does AAA games being designed specifically for the Steam controller.

If players feel the Steam controller is restrictive, either before buying or after, and revert to keyboard and mouse, then it's doomed.

I really hope that as we draw nearer to November we hear the media singing this controller's praises, and developers announcing they have built their game control mechanics around the Steam controller.

I, for one, am hoping this is the successful birth of a new generation of control pads, as we saw in the 1990's with digital to analogue.

Bioshock Infinite now available on Linux

Following the recent news that Steam for Linux now has over 1000 games in its catalogue, Linux gamers can now buy the acclaimed Bioshock Infinite from Steam.

Ok, so it's two years old, having originally been released for Windows, PS3 and Xbox360 in 2013, but nonetheless this is great news for Linux gamers, adding yet another AAA title to the roster of available games.

The Linux version runs in a wrapper as explained here at Boiling Steam which means it has been made to run on Linux in a similar way that The Witcher 2 was. By the look of early reports it appears as if it has been very successful and even modestly specced machines should be capable of running the game at a fair whack.

Steam lists the minimum requirements as needing an NVidia/AMD OpenGL 4.1/DirectX 10.0 level compatible video card, with an Intel Core 2 DUO 2.4 GHz / AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHz processor.

Recommended specs are an Intel Core i5 3GHz (or similar AMD processor) and
NVidia/AMD OpenGL 4.2/DirectX 10.1 level compatible with 2GB of video RAM.

Elite: Dangerous appears on another platform. Linux next?

Metro UK: Elite: Dangerous exclusive to Xbox One; Windows 10 Cross Buy announced. http://google.com/newsstand/s/CBIw4o-WuyA

Linux kernel updates break TBS TV Tuner driver

Each time the Linux kernel updates, my TBS driver stops working. To get it back in action I need to rebuild it, which takes only about 10 mins, but is a real faff when kernel updates happen regularly.

To prevent this from happening I've placed a hold on kernel updates. So all other security and software updates will still take place, but the kernel will remain on same version. This is fine as long as all your hardware works in the current version of the kernel - for the vast majority of people this will be the case.

Here's what I did to place the hold (Debian-based systems only such as Ubuntu, Mint etc):

(You may need to type sudo su first to run commands with superuser privileges )

Into a terminal enter:

dpkg -l "*$(uname -r)*" | grep image | awk '{print $2}'

This should give you a list of packages e.g. linux-image-3.16.0-29-generic

linux-image-extra-3.16.0-29-generic

Now enter

dpkg -l "*$(uname -r)*" | grep header | awk '{print $2}'

 For each one of those packages and headers you need to do:

echo <PACKAGE> hold | dpkg --set-selections

Change <PACKAGE>  with your package that was output from the first step above, one at a time.

Now type

dpkg -l "*$(uname -r)*"

and you should see output similar to

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name           Version      Architecture Description
+++-==============-============-============

hi  linux-headers- 3.13.0-46.77 amd64        Linux kernel headers for version
hi  linux-image-3. 3.13.0-46.77 amd64        Linux kernel image for version 3.
hi  linux-image-ex 3.13.0-46.77 amd64        Linux kernel extra modules

The  "hi" before the image and header lines, indicate that the kernel updates will be help, not updated, when you accept security and software updates from your package manager as usual.

Thanks to Tony at http://itslinux.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/how-to-prevent-packages-from-being.html for this tip. 

HTC Vive Linux compatibility

The HTC Vive VR headset has recently been announced.

Until further details arrive, we do not know its full specifications. Some headline features are listed at http://www.htcvr.com/ such as:

• A 1,200 by 1,080 pixel screen in front of each eye
• Refresh rates of 90 frames per second
• Wide field of vision
• Headphone jack on headset
• Gyrosensor, accelerometer, and laser position sensor combine to precisely track the rotation of your head on both axes to an accuracy of 1/10th of a degree
• Ergonomic VR game controllers in each hand allow you to use virtual objects and interact with the virtual world
• HTC and Valve have partnered with Cloudhead Games, Dovetail Games and Fireproof Games
• Expected consumer release date: Holiday 2015 (I've no idea which holiday HTC refers to, but I'm assuming July/August)

What hasn't yet been confirmed is the Vive's Linux compatibility. Of course, assumptions abound when devices such as this are released with partial specs (free advertising anyone?), but part of the fun is guessing how things might work.

At present we know that the headset will use the SteamVR API. As Steam VR supports Windows, Mac and Linux, it's reasonable to assume that the Vive will work with all platforms.

VR-compatible games however are another issue. Each game will still need to be available for the underlying platform. So, for example, Dovetail Games Fishing is, at present Windows only. So this isn't playable on a VR headset plugged into a Linux PC running Steam. Half Life 2 will be though, as this has a VR mode, and is available for Linux.

It will be interesting to see which, if any, currently Windows-only VR games will be released on Linux in the near future. If Steam still has commitment to SteamOS it would be surprising if a good proportion new VR titles aren't released for Linux.