Linpus Linux 1.9 "Lite"

Linpus Linux 1.9 "Lite", a desktop Linux distribution featuring a customised GNOME 3 desktop with HTML 5 widgets and support for touch screens, has been released: "Linpus, a leader in the field of open-source software in the consumer space, announced the release of the latest version of their Linux distro, Linpus Lite. Linpus Lite has both full touch-based and mouse and keyboard-style launchers that can be easily swapped between through a menu item on the top bar or a touchpad gesture. Both look and user experience are designed to match whether you want to interact with the device through touch or through your keyboard. In addition, for key applications multi-touch behavior has also been added. Linpus has also worked very hard on web app integration in several ways. Anyone with a Chrome webstore account can login and automatically sync their Chrome applications to the launcher." See the press release for more information. Download: Linpus-Lite-1.9.1-x86_64-LiveCD.iso (516MB).

See you soon Cyber-Cowboy…

Blendo Games, the developers of Atom Zombie Smasher, has an upcoming game that’s TURBO-RAD looking, Quadilateral Cowboy. Set in an alternate 20th century, the game uses the Doom 3 engine to create it’s hacker mercenary narrative. The venerable Rock, Paper, Shotgun interviewed Blendo’s Brendon Chung about the title last year:

As for why I chose to make Quadrilateral Cowboy, a lot of games have hacking minigames where you match colors together or whatever. But I’ve always wanted to just type commands into a terminal. That’s a very risky and niche design choice, so it’s understandable why people don’t do that. But I figured that I can do what I want, so I might as well give it a shot.
Second reason is that I felt like there hasn’t really been a game that really, really deep dives into pure cyberpunk. I mean, you have Deus Ex with really strong cyberpunk themes and tones, but I wanted to make a game based completely on cyberpunk [activities].

I can’t wait to punch deck.

Anodyne

Anodyne, a retro-themed top-down adventure game which received praise from various quarters, including the IGF, has been released:
Anodyne is an adventure game that focuses on immersing the player through a combination of 16-bit era visual and audio aesthetics, Zelda-esque action/adventure gameplay mechanics, and exploration of the human Young’s dream world, which contains urban, natural, and abstract themed areas.

You can also vote for the game’s inclusion on Steam at Greenlight.

Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods

Paradox Interactive has announced another expansion for Crusader Kings II:

NEW YORK — February 4, 2013 — Paradox Interactive, a publisher of games and a proponent of all religions, and Paradox Development Studio, today announced a new expansion to the world of Crusader Kings II, the critically acclaimed RPG strategy title. The forthcoming expansion, titled Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods, will add a number of widely requested features to the game, including the ability to play as a Pagan or Zoroastrian ruler, expanding empires through war, pillaging, and ruthless brutality. Players will also be able to begin their in-game reign as far back as the year 867 AD, making The Old Gods officially the Paradox title that spans the longest period in history.

The base game and its current expansions/DLC are available for Linux on Steam.

Morning Miscellany

• Vendetta Online has launched a campaign Greenlight to bring the game to Steam; head over to give your support if you want the space combat MMO to be able to integrate the community and achievement features from the platform.
• TTimo has posted his thoughts on his last years at id Software, Linux support, and Wine over at Reddit.
• I really need to play Crusader Kings 2.
• Heroes of Newerth has hit version 3.0!

Parsix GNU/Linux 4.0r2

Alan Baghumian has announced the availability of an updated build of Parsix GNU/Linux 4.0, a desktop distribution and live DVD based on Debian's "testing" branch: "To celebrate our 8th anniversary, we decided to release an updated version of Parsix GNU/Linux 4.0 code name 'Gloria'. This version ships with a brand-new kernel based on Linux 3.2.37 and merges Debian testing updates as of January 30, 2013. Parsix 'Gloria' is the project's first release with the GNOME 3 series and it ships with LibreOffice productivity suit by default. Gloria has a brand-new software package manager. Highlights: GNOME 3.4.2, X.Org 7.7, GRUB 2, GNU Iceweasel 18.0.1, GParted 0.12.1, Empathy 3.4.2.3, LibreOffice 3.5.4, VirtualBox 4.1.18. The live DVD has been compressed using Squashfs and xz." Read the rest of the release notes where you can find more information and upgrade instructions. Download the live DVD image from SourceForge: parsix_4.0r2-amd64.iso (1,033MB, MD5).