daemons - Slashdot User

Comment !worrying, just slow & steady (Score 1) 265

by daemons on Tuesday November 11, 2014 @01:54PM (#48361545) Attached to: Worrying Aspects of Linux Gaming

I built a steam box at about the time that Valve sent out the 300 steam machines and my experience has been one of constant improvement. Initially buggy and prone to crashes, Steam OS has improved to the point where it is very solid. The library of games that support Linux is continuously increasing, and the user experience is decent.

From my perspective the state of Linux gaming has never been better. The Humble Bundle and Valve/Steam OS have both contributed greatly to a massive increase in Linux games and are continuing to do so. It shouldn't be surprising that smaller developers are leading the charge: AAA developers are extremely conservative in part due to the massive amount of money they must invest in their games.

In conclusion: I have a Linux game box with the ease of use of a console and the power and customizability of a PC, with a large game library that continues to expand! I'm happy.

Lost Online Games From the Pre-Web Era 186

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday October 02, 2010 @01:42AM from the you-are-no-match-for-my-imperial-starship dept.

harrymcc writes "Long before the Web came along, people were playing online games — on BBSes, on services such as Prodigy and CompuServe, and elsewhere. Gaming historian Benj Edwards has rounded up a dozen RPGs, MUDs, and other fascinating curiosities from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s — and the cool part is: they're all playable on the Web today." What old games were good enough for you to watch them scroll by on your 300 baud modem?

Researchers Convert Mouth Movements Into Speech 154

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday March 04, 2010 @12:17AM from the mouthing-of-the-future dept.

andylim writes "According to Cellular News, researchers at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have developed a method for mobile phones to convert silent mouth movements into speech. As recombu.com points out, the 'potential for secret conversations just got huge.' You could pass the time by making phone calls from the cinema without disturbing anyone. In noisy places like bars and clubs you could make yourself heard without having to shout."

NYTimes Confirms It Will Start Charging For Online News In 2011 368

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 20, 2010 @11:59AM from the bad-news-bears dept.

jmtpi writes "The article is frustratingly vague, but the New York Times is confirming earlier speculation that it will start charging online readers who visit the site regularly. Occasional users will still get free access to a certain number of articles per month. Most of the key details are not yet determined, but the system is scheduled to be deployed at the beginning of next year." The Times is planning on rolling its own pay system, and it will doubtless use the rest of 2010 to look at how sites like the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times fare before deciding on specifics. How often do you readers typically hit articles at nytimes.com in a given month? We try to avoid linking to stories behind paywalls when possible, and if the Times chooses a low monthly limit, you'll probably see a lot fewer links to their site — which would be a shame.

Asus DR-570 E-Reader To Bring OLED Display 70

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 20, 2010 @11:30AM from the oled-tech-is-trouble-for-my-bank-account dept.

MojoKid writes "Reportedly, Asus will be introducing the DR-570 color eReader by the end of 2010, but it won't be just another one in the crowd. In fact, it just might be a game-changer. The reader will supposedly have a 6" screen, but rather than using e-ink like every other reader out there, this one will utilize a color OLED screen. Word is the unit will last a whopping 122 hours on a full charge. It should also be able to run Flash applications, download books over 3G to Wi-Fi, and most likely surf the web, unlike any other reader out there." Asus will be rolling out two other ebook reader models this year as well.

One Year Later, "Dead" XP Still Going Strong 538

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday June 30, 2009 @07:32PM from the killed-the-wrong-one dept.

snydeq writes "Microsoft pulled the plug on Windows XP a year ago today, no longer selling new copies in most venues. Yet according to a report from InfoWorld, various downgrade paths to XP are keeping the operating system very much alive, particularly among businesses. In fact, despite Microsoft trumpeting Vista as the most successful version of Windows ever sold, more than half of business PCs have subsequently downgraded Vista-based machines to XP, according to data provided by community-based performance-monitoring network of PCs. Microsoft recently planned to further limit the ability to downgrade to XP now that Windows 7 is in the pipeline, but backlash against the licensing scheme prompted the company to change course, extending downgrade rights on new PCs from April 2010 to April 2011."

US Lags World In Broadband Access 608

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 15, 2007 @02:46PM from the get-cracking-tube-layers dept.

An anonymous reader writes "When It Comes To Broadband, U.S. Plays Follow The Leader says a story in IWeek. Their thesis is that, while broadband access in the United States rose from 60 million users in March 2005 to 84 million in March 2006, the US is well behind countries like England and China. Indeed, what you may not realize is that the U.S. ranks a surprisingly poor 12th in worldwide broadband access, a situation which could threaten its ability to maintain its technological lead. The federal government is no help: the FCC has almost no data on the rate of hi-speed adoption, or of what the speed and quality of those services are. Broadband is more expensive here than in other nations, as well, almost 10 times as expensive by some estimates. The cost and poor quality of service aren't from population density, aren't from lack of interest, and are not from lack of technical know-how. So, what is holding us back?

Gears of War Heading To PC Someday 69

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 15, 2007 @02:40PM from the taking-cover-behind-your-video-card dept.

Mark Rein, of Epic Studios, told the folks over at Team Xbox that sooner or later Gears of War will be heading for the PC. With Microsoft's 'ownership' of both the 360 and PC platforms, it's a no-brainer that Epic's epic will make its way there eventually; the question is one of keeping quality high and satisfying fans of the franchise. They also discuss the hopeful-looking future for the game, as a part of the Marketplace download ecology and in future games. Rein states: "The big challenge is to make a game that was designed solely for the console, to take advantage of every last little corner of that console, to fill every little crack and run as many threads as we could and do as much to exploit the power of that machine, and make it run well on enough PCs to be worth releasing. That's a challenge." For another look back and forward on the game, 1up has a chat with CliffyB up on their site.

When Your Homework is to Make Good Games 24

Posted by Zonk on Thursday February 15, 2007 @01:58PM from the learning-is-fun dept.

Over on Wired's site, Chris Kohler has up a great pair of features on the growing role that game design is having in education. He had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Henry Jenkins, one of the foremost authorities in the US on games and learning, to discuss the future of game-creation education. Schools all over the country are adding game design, art, and programming courses to their curriculum, and the article also mentions several high profile foreign programs opening in the near future. While the article is primarily about education programs, Kohler also had the chance to do a one-on-one interview with Mr. Jenkins. The piece has several interesting insights into how games and learning fit together as well as they do, as well as more details on the proposed Singapore/MIT game lab. Says Jenkins, "Some have said that the games industry has become so risk adverse that only a Miyamoto or a Wright can break through the formulas and generate truly original approaches to game design. Many observers have said we need to step outside of that system and provide some place where interesting new game prototypes can be incubated."

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