Steam for Linux

While Nvidia has been publishing very good graphics drivers for Linux for a very long time, AMD released its graphics drivers very sporadically and often in a poor state in the past. This has changed dramatically since the release of Steam for Linux. Today, the company publishes its graphics drivers regularly with a lot of improvements and has almost caught up with the graphics drivers for Windows.

While Nemesys Games is going to release its racing game Ignite for Linux only after releasing it for iOS, the developers of SCS Software have already started the closed beta of Euro Truck Simulator 2 for Linux. The game was voted on Steam Greenlight for inclusion in the Steam games catalog by the gamers community.

The graphics card manufacturer NVIDIA has released a new beta version 319.12 of its graphics driver. The new version includes a lot of new features and improvements. Probably the biggest feature is the initial support of the Optimus technology, which allows dynamic switching between a mobile NVIDIA graphics card and an integrated graphics chip, like one from Intel.

Dell has started selling the Alienware X51 gaming desktop with Ubuntu on it. The X51 series is particularly an eye-catching device due to its compact size which is comparable with the dimensions of the current consoles. Dell advertises Ubuntu with the slogan „Simple and Stylish“. Moreover, the Steam Big Picture Mode on Ubuntu is billed as the ultimate gaming solution for the living room.

The game developer Wildfire Games has recently released a new version of the free real-time strategy game 0 A.D. Magadha. The new alpha version includes a variety of improvements and so achieves a further milestone on the way to the final game release.