LINUXGAMES

Desura‘s Linux client is no longer in private beta, anyone may now make an account and download the software.
The following games are available now with more titles being added regularly:

This post was submitted by Nemoder.

BOOM!

HEY THERE!

The Humble Bundle is back with the Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle.

Be sure to pay what you’d like for Frozen Synapse, an excellent turn-based strategy game for Mac, Windows, and Linux, while supporting two worthy charities. If you decide to pay above the average
price, you can also receive the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle, which includes Trine, Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds: Survivor, the Jack Claw prototype, and a Splot preorder.

It’s worth noting that this is the first time Frozen Synapse has appeared on Linux :)

The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle has concluded; all told, the venture raised $909,715.38 US, and the average Linux user’s contribution was once again larger than those from other platforms ($11.81).

Ars Technica interviewed Frozenbyte CEO Lauri Hyvärinen about the bundle:

We are really happy about the current sales though, and it’s going to help us a lot in going forward. We’ve basically been self-funding our games for a year or two, but recently we had to delay Trine 2 to late summer 2011 instead of spring to ensure it’s as great as it can be, and that caused a little bit of financial worry—luckily the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle sales have been so good that I think we’ll be good on that front.

Which is good to hear!

Frozenbyte has posted a general FAQ with a Linux section, and a Linux-specific FAQ. An initial version of Jack Claw is now available, and Trine has been updated. Moreover, Frozenbyte has released several bonuses for purchasers of the bundle: a playable teaser of Splot, an upcoming title that bundle owners will receive when completed, and the source code for Shadowgrounds and Shadowgrounds Survivor.

Finally, the Humble Bundle Inc. itself just received a windfall:

A recent SEC filing has revealed that Humble Bundle — the company that packages indie games together for charity — has acquired $4.7 million in venture capital funding.

The funding round is led by Sequoia Capital, a reliable source has confirmed to Gamasutra. The VC firm has also funded gaming companies including Pocket Gems, GameGround and Unity Technologies.

Sequoia partner Alfred Lin is the only outside director listed in the SEC filing for the San Francisco-based Humble Bundle operation, CNN’s Fortune noted in a report.

John Graham, co-founder of Humble Bundle and COO of Wolfire Games, did not immediately return request for further comment regarding details of the funding, and how it will be used.

I expect we’ll hear more about this on the Wolfire blog at some point!

The awesome developers of Wolfire Games, this time in conjunction with Frozenbyte, have created their third charity bundle (and many thanks to everyone who let us know!): the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle!

Last year, Humble Bundles raised over $1 million for charity — I am excited to announce our latest installment.

Pay what you want for three awesome DRM-free games on Mac, Windows, and Linux: Trine, Shadowgrounds: Survivor, and Shadowgrounds. Additionally, your Frozenbyte bundle includes a preorder for Splot and a prototype with source code for Jack Claw. Choose to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Child’s Play Charity at the same time.

There are thirteen days remaining to take advantage of this offer; as before, the average Linux donation is higher than all other platforms, so keep on being generous! :)

You can read more about the Jack Claw source release at Frozenbyte’s blog:

Currently the demo that is available in the bundle is only available for Windows and only playable with a controller. This will of course be changed soon. We have an outside team that is working very hard on this and will continue to support the community so we can get the game development of the ground.

The first updates will be mouse/keyboard support and Mac/Linux ports. Most of which are actually already done but we still need to test them a bit more to make sure we can publish them.

LGP announced the release of Shadowgrounds Survivor, a third-person/top-down alien-invasion action game:

As promised! Shadowgrounds Survivor is now available. We’ve had reports that some people have neglected sleep playing Shadowgrounds for the last two days, and are close to completion. We ask you please to sleep at least once before starting Survivor, yes we know the game is good, but, we don’t want anyone dying from too much Shadowgrounds goodness!

They also released demos for both games:

• Shadowgrounds Survivor demo
• Shadowgrounds demo

The LGP news is piling up. First, they released Shadowgrounds, the precursor to their previously announced next title, Shadowgrounds Survivor:

We have a surprise announcement for today! While we have Shadowgrounds Survivor due out at the end of the week, we are releasing its predecessor, Shadowgrounds, immediately, as a budget title! Get the story from the beginning today, and on Friday, find out what happens next!

Second, for the X2 & X3-related news:

A new patch is now available for X3: Reunion. This patch fixes the most serious issue reported so far, the memory leak that we have been looking for the last few months. If you have been having a problem with the X3 memory footprint, random crashes, or slowdowns, this should fix your problem.

A new patch is now available for X2: The Threat, which makes the sound pulseaudio compatible, and fixes some minor bugs.

X2 has a new version of the Demo available, with all of the improvements that the full [has]. We are also announcing a permanent price cut in X2, down from £30 to £20. Finally, we are announcing that X2 has now been added to our download catalogue. Resellers can download the files immediately, and are able to resell it as of midday tomorrow. Please see your favourite reseller for access. If you’ve been putting off checking out X2 and X3, now is a great time to take a look, with rental versions available as well as purchases!

Lastly, Majesty is back in stock:

For those that have been waiting, Majesty is now back in stock! With a new colour manual, and now with PenguinPlay support, order your new version today! If you already have a copy, and don’t want a new box, all the game features are available in the new Majesty patch which has just been added to lgp_update.

Phoronix updated last week to note that Linux Games Publishing’s private beta test for Shadowgrounds Survivor has begun.

Shadowgrounds Survivor is a third-person/top-down action game where the player takes control of three characters and faces alien invaders; there’s a teaser trailer at AtomicGamer, and you can read reviews of the Windows version at Metacritic.

Linux Games Publishing has announced a new beta:

The beta test for Shadowgrounds Survivor is now open for applications. Please apply at our betas website if you wish to join in the test.

Shadowgrounds Survivor is a third-person/top-down action game where the player takes control of three characters and faces alien invaders; there’s a teaser trailer at AtomicGamer, and you can read reviews of the Windows version at Metacritic.

Linux Game Publishing sent two press releases, the first regarding a new game, Shadowgrounds Survivor, and the second to announce the launch of their blog:

A new game is on the way! Shadowgrounds Survivor, a third person Sci-fi RPG shooter has been in the works behind the scenes for the last few months, and we are excited to announce that LGP has partnered with Igios LTD to bring this game to your collection!

In addition to excellent graphics, thoroughly satisfying gameplay, and atmospheric sound effects, Shadowgrounds Survivor is the first commercial game on Linux to take advantage of the nvidia PhysX physics library, giving new depth to the feel of the game.

If you aren’t using an nvidia card, do not despair, the game works on other cards!

We will be announcing the beta in the next few days, so keep your eye on this page, and get ready to apply!

And the second:

Like so many before us, LGP is launching a blog. We’ll be posting regular articles, both official announcements and unofficial developer postings.

We received the following press release today:

Helsinki, Finland – 13 March 2008 – Finnish game developer Frozenbyte is excited to announce a partnership with Linux specialist IGIOS Ltd to port and release previously Windows-only PC action game Shadowgrounds Survivor on the Linux platform. Shadowgrounds Survivor is a third-person/top-down action game where the player takes control of three characters and faces monstrous alien invaders.

“Linux is fast becoming accepted in the mainstream and we are thrilled to take part in delivering quality games content for the platform,” said to take part in delivering quality games content for the platform,” said Mr. Lauri Hyvarinen, Frozenbyte CEO. “Frozenbyte remains focused on great console and Windows games but the groundbreaking work of IGIOS broadens the reach of our games onto the Linux platform.”

“IGIOS is going to take up the Linux gaming world by storm,” said Tapio Honkonen, Chief Marketing Officer for IGIOS. “Linux is our passion and providing games for it our mission. The Linux community has done a remarkable job in making the platform more approachable in general and we aim to make it a formidable gaming platform. Linux gamers should be offered the same possibilities to enjoy great gaming content such as Shadowgrounds Survivor, and that is what we are here for.”

Shadowgrounds Survivor is a third-person/top-down action game where the player takes control of three characters and faces monstrous alien invaders. The acclaimed atmosphere and gameplay mechanics of the original Shadowgrounds make a triumphant return armed with a new feature set, including detailed physics simulation and many gameplay enhancements, such as the devastating Mech and special attacks like the Napalm Flame or the mighty Brute Slayer. In addition to the thrilling Campaign mode, players can try to outsmart the aliens in the Survival mode or create their own levels and mods with the included Level Editor.

Shadowgrounds, the well-received and praised original game, will also be ported to the Linux platform. Both games will be released at the same time in spring 2008 via online distribution, with exact pricing details to be confirmed.

It’s always exciting to hear about new commercial ports; there’s a teaser trailer at AtomicGamer, and you can read reviews of the Windows version at Metacritic.