Great times for GNU/Linux gamers
The Humble Indie Bundle
With Wolfire Games’ very recent introduction of The Humble Indie Bundle which lets you pay what you want for the following 6 indie games:
It’s looking really great for the GNU/Linux gaming domain. Even better yet is that Wolfire Games decided shortly after they introduced The Humble Indie Bundle to open-source their game Lugaru HD. Additionally the other game developers participating decided to release the source code of Aquaria, Gish and Penumbra Overture aswell.
Everyone who is familiar with the general GNU/Linux folks and their spirit knows what is to follow: Many contributions and improvements to the released source code. Lugaru HD has already had many contributions within its first day of being open source and I’m sure once the other games have their source code released they will get just as much contributions. Even if not yet shown on The Humble Indie Bundle page you can find the source code for Penumbra Overture here.
I’m already getting my hopes up for a multiplayer version of Lugaru HD – even if it doesn’t look like much it’s unbelievably fun. What I could also imagine is that some people decide to use Penumbra Overture’s physics engine to create some kick-ass shooter or something in that spirit.
Valve’s Steam for Linux
Also currently creating uproar is Telegraph’s article on Steam for Mac where at the end is mentioned that “Valve has also confirmed that it will make Steam available to Linux users in the coming months”. Shortly after that Phoronix says it’s official and with that also mentions more possible proofs regarding the GNU/Linux Steam client.
I’m still a bit skeptic regarding all that though – there wasn’t a “real” official announcement directly from Valve after all, so I’ll keep my joy restrained for now.