Valve’s Left4Dead: DirectX Curse

Valve has dropped DirectX 8 support for new games. My wallet is now closed. Go in peace.

Valve Software has released their latest game, Left4Dead. This is a zombie thriller game and I’d like to give it a try. I love Valve games and I love zombies, so this should be my favorite game of the year, right? Well I won’t find out, possibly for years to come. I play Valve’s games under Linux (unsupported) via WINE. WINE’s DirectX support is pretty solid through DirectX 8 and I can play Team Fortress 2, Portal, Counter-Strike: Source, HL2 + Episodes, etc. They run just fine on my system and I have fun. As of Left4Dead, Valve has dropped DirectX 8 support. I look at the game on the WINE AppDB and the word is it runs fine, but slow as a dog. So I don’t buy it. This is an example of sales prevention. Valve already chooses not to support Linux as a gaming platform; their choice. But now they are cutting off the ability to play their new games via WINE. Also their choice, but a choice which means that I won’t be giving them my money until I read on the WINE AppDB that things have improved. And for the record I’ve bought pretty much every Valve game since Half-Life. I would love to continue to do so.

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10 thoughts on “Valve’s Left4Dead: DirectX Curse”

By elizabeth
From 29 December, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I bought this game for lee. Apparently it’s awesome… maybe you should reconsider your open-source, equal rights principles. Capitalism!
=0
Reply
1. By hobophobe
  From 30 December, 2008 at 1:43 am
  It’s not that the game isn’t awesome. I’ll just wait (as I’m apt to do) for the content to be accessible to me. This is no different than with movies: I don’t go see them in theaters, and then after a year or so they are shown on TV.
  I have a vested interest in seeing freedom win.
  In the meantime I can still play other games or read books or something :)
  Reply
By elizabeth
From 29 December, 2008 at 8:44 pm
p.s. Thank you for fixing your website so you can comment on the main page. =)
Reply
By elizabeth
From 29 December, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I bought this game for lee. Apparently it’s awesome… maybe you should reconsider your open-source, equal rights principles. Capitalism!
=0
Reply
1. By hobophobe
  From 29 December, 2008 at 7:43 pm
  It’s not that the game isn’t awesome. I’ll just wait (as I’m apt to do) for the content to be accessible to me. This is no different than with movies: I don’t go see them in theaters, and then after a year or so they are shown on TV.
  I have a vested interest in seeing freedom win.
  In the meantime I can still play other games or read books or something :)
  Reply
By elizabeth
From 29 December, 2008 at 2:44 pm
p.s. Thank you for fixing your website so you can comment on the main page. =)
Reply
By Jan
From 14 July, 2009 at 11:55 am
Just stop whining a play the game on Windows, thats whats its made for… Always the same with linux users, uuuhh my games dont work.
Reply
1. By hobophobe
  From 27 July, 2009 at 12:35 am
  I don’t have Windows installed on any computer anymore.
  The WINE AppDB suggests performance is improving anyway, so I’ll probably just wait a little longer.
  Reply
By Jan
From 14 July, 2009 at 5:55 am
Just stop whining a play the game on Windows, thats whats its made for… Always the same with linux users, uuuhh my games dont work.
Reply
1. By hobophobe
  From 26 July, 2009 at 6:35 pm
  I don’t have Windows installed on any computer anymore.
  The WINE AppDB suggests performance is improving anyway, so I’ll probably just wait a little longer.
  Reply

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