I'd say gaming on Ubuntu LTS (if not Linux in general) is quite easy provided you stay in the safe haven of games that natively support the OS, which to be fair is a pretty solid selection of games these days albeit one which is pretty much a strict subset of the games on Windows. As soon as you go outside that area and start messing with Wine or whatever all bets are off, though.
Agreed! I play a lot of games on Linux, bought via Steam or GOG, occasionally with help of WINE but mostly without. I excluded gaming because if one thing is likely to cause more problems than on Windows, it's games. But yes, I use Ubuntu even for gaming.
The fact I can install Steam and play an AAA like Mad Max or Shadow of Mordor mostly seamlessly makes me wonder why people still claim Linux on the desktop is a no-go.
>The fact I can install Steam and play an AAA like Mad Max or Shadow of Mordor mostly seamlessly makes me wonder why people still claim Linux on the desktop is a no-go.
Because they and few others are exceptions? Can you play the latest CoD? GTA V? Assasin's Creed maybe?
I think you're missing the point. I'm not arguing that Linux is the best platform if your use case is primarily gaming. Nothing beats Windows -- or a console! -- if gaming is the most important thing to you.
> GTA V?
I honestly don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me if I could using WINE. A huge library of Windows AAA games work on WINE.
> Assasin's Creed
I don't know, but Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor are pretty much the same kind of game as Assassin's Creed, following the same kind of gameplay and using the same kind and complexity of 3D graphics/engine.
In any case, these are not exceptions. I forgot to mention the XCOM remake, Alien: Isolation (this is interesting because it has tons of graphics effects, including chroma aberration -- it looks awesome on Linux), SOMA, Victor Vran, Warhammer 40K Dawn of War II, L4D2, and many others. There are tons of Linux games on GOG and Steam, many of them AAA games. If you count indie games or 2D platformers there are literally thousands of them, but I guess that's not what you're after.
My point is that you can't run most AAA games actually, and many of those you can - will give you enough problems (like frame drop or some graphical features unavailable).
And I really don't understand what's the point of being able to run some games. I want to play the games I'm interested in, not the ones that 'are playable'.
>I don't know, but Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor are pretty much the same kind of game as Assassin's Creed, following the same kind of gameplay and using the same kind and complexity of 3D graphics/engine.
No sure what's your point here. You can't replace one with another just because they have similar mechanics.
Steam\GoG has many games that run on linux and macos (by the way), but most of them are indie platformers or things like that. People don't play random games just to kill some time (well, some do), they play TITLES.
> I forgot to mention
more exceptions. They will stop being exceptions when you will be able to run 80% of titles without any issues and not sooner than that.
Gaming is not important to be, I'm a PS4 guy ever since macos switch, just pointing out that games are still has little to do with linux unless we are talking about rare AAA titles and indie scene
My point is that Linux is a valid gaming platform with many AAA titles and tons of indie games, not that it's the best or ideal gaming platform. Of course Windows is better for gaming.
> And I really don't understand what's the point of being able to run some games. I want to play the games I'm interested in, not the ones that 'are playable'.
With this definition neither Windows nor the PS4 are valid gaming platforms, since not every game can be played on them.
> They will stop being exceptions when you will be able to run 80% of titles without any issues and not sooner than that.
So now it's 80% when before it was "a few exceptions"? Sorry, I'm uninterested in discussing your arbitrary definitions with you. Nice try moving the goalpost.
PS: re: "without any issues", back when I used Windows for gaming, there was always some issue. The graphics card, drivers, config issues. I guess Windows is not a gaming platform either then?
