Unreal Engine 4 Announced With Linux Support

Source. I am really starting to wonder where all the haters are at. These facts just keep on piling up. It's incredible. First Crytek, then GOG, now Epic, all in the span of a week. Incredible.

More sweet news for Linux!

It's best to support Linux right away, rather then try to catch up later, possibly costing much more money, if SteamOS takes off.

Might start looking for Steam OS to become a serious contender.

And, people thought that I was crazy when I said that Microsoft needs to start considering releasing a stripped down, gaming version of Windows priced at $50-$60. They would survive a mass gamer exodus to Linux (Steam or Google?) in the future, but I'm sure that they would like to keep as large of a fanbase as possible...

If Linux gets enough games in the next couple years, and Windows gamers actually do start migrating to Linux, then MS will have to bring the price of a striped down gaming version of Windows down to like $10 to $20, or even free to compete with Linux, in my opinion, since Linux is completely free, and has no DRM. If it's free, then that version of Windows will have ads in it most likely.

With Unreal Engine 4 being announced, does that mean that we might see a new UT in the next couple of years?

They are already testing a free version of Windows, called Windows with Bing.

No news yet as to what it is but my guess is Bing Internet Explorer etc with maybe ads or not.

super sweet!

time for those who have been asking for this to also put their money where their mouth is now. for me, games with linux support (and that are still games i want to play of course) will be a higher priority than games with no linux support. ive built up a nice little collection now on steam :).

if GOG can also get older games working well with linux then i will also certainly be spending their also. i think witcher 2 is also coming to linux (and entry in steam was found but nothing 100% solid yet i think) so thats a perfectly good excuse to play it again :D.

That would be great, but I doubt it.

The games that ARE coming out tho are Silverstreak and Reflex (both arena, Silverstreak being by Cliffy B.).

Anyway, cool, I guess. I wouldn't switch to Linux just for gaming though since it's still quite inferior and the majority of the stuff I do is done on Windows, y'know... Cuz my PC isn't just a very expensive console.

I will rather pay 50-70$ than having ads in Windows...

Also what about all the games Windows already got? I am not changing to Linux if it means loosing half or more of my library of games. Linux do have the option to play Windows based games through something like Wine right?

^These are my sentiments, too.

Wine is technically illegal.

Several options, some work better than others.

1. If your game is DOS/Depends on DOSBOX, then Linux has a native DosBox port, so they're covered.

2. Wine. But it only emulates up to DX9 features and can struggle from game to game.

3. Resources such as PlayonLinux where the community makes scripts to allow games to be played on Linux pseudo natively. General performance however tends to be somewhat poor.

4. Projects such as GemRB(an open source implementation of the Infinity Engine). Which are developed enough to run the original games on Linux(with the exception of Icewind Dale 2 and Planescape Torment).

5. Finally, unofficial secret supported games. UT2004 having a Linux Client and Neverwinter Nights installation on Linux(Although the process is horrendous).

Not exactly the most positive, but those are your options until Native versions are released.

Sounds awful already ;)

Depends how they do it.

If there are ads all over the place then no, but if it's just branded Internet Explorer with a small ad in a non-instrusive area then it's fine.

I personally would still pay for the OS, since if you think about it, it's the CHEAPEST component of a PC. And I don't see MS releasing a free version because how are they going to make money? since all their services are free.

Those are my thoughts too, and I've already seen news sites talking about it, it'll most likely be a low cost version, not free. Either way, I ain't going back to Windows :)

Not really. And linux will no doubt get a crap ton of games in the next couple years, so nothing should stop you from atleast learning, and understanding Linux in the mean time, it really is a great, easy to use platform.

Its emulating windows, the only way that they can do that is by using their software which costs money, and wine is free. Its as illegal as having a SNES emulator without owning an SNES.

But WINE isn't an emulator, its a compatibility layer.

Semantics and hair splitting. Wine is certainly a gray area (if it needs to be discussed, it obviously is) and as such, it's always safest to err on the safe side when discussing it ;)

(In other words, feel free to discuss it, but leave personal experiences and recommendations out of the discussion. So far that hasn't been done so by all means carry on.)

It is emulating it based on the definition (reproduce the function or action of (a different computer, software system, etc.)) It is allowing games to be played on a operating system that is not actually supported, and the way they do this is arguably illegal or at least a copyright infringment. I am all for Wine personally, but it is at least copyright infringement.

Then a virtual machine with windows would be copyright infringement.

If you didn't pay for it, then yes it would be. In order to legally use a virtual box you need to have a legit copy of windows per each virtual machine running.

Doesn't the Mac OS version of The Witcher use Wine? By the logic depicted in this thread, CD Projekt RED is doing something illegal and making money off of it too, unlike random users using Wine to play Windows games they paid for. Windows gets excluded either way, but only the former party is making money from it.