Windows 7 & Windows 8 vs. Ubuntu 13.04 & Fedora 18

[Vim_User]

And releasing steam on linux doesnt mean much

Actually it does mean much, namely that Valve considers Linux to be a viable gaming platform that pulls in enough revenue to get back development/porting costs. Not to think about that Valve announced the Steambox to be Linux based, which would be a funny move if they consider Linux not to be a gaming platform. The same is true for Blizzard, announcing a MMORPG with a Linux client (again, they wouldn't do that if they wouldn't think the money is well spent) or Dell/Alienware selling Linux gaming systems.

[startzz]

Well, there is some benchmarks, but again, there would be no point in "1 fps vs 2 fps" benchmarks, you want some 1.5D benchmarks, that would ran higher than 1 fps on intel graphics ? . And releasing steam on linux doesnt mean much, look at mac, how long it has steam and how "big" it is.

[curaga]

there is no way to calculate or guess if game quality is equal on all platforms.

I'll only respond to this, since Vim_User covered the rest.

If the game is using GL on both platforms, and the driver is known to have very similar framerates (for example: Nvidia's blob) on all platforms, then you can easily measure the quality of the port. If the performance varies a notable amount, the port is badly done.

[Vim_User]

2) I know, directx rocks and puts opengl to dusts

May be hard to understand for you, but if Direct3D is slower or faster than OpenGL is totally irrelevant if you want to compare driver performance on different OSes, you need a game that can use the same render path on both OSes.

well, with that in mind, linux gaming is doomed, because almost no one is making free good games, even super mario on nintendo wasnt free.... or even more, two shitty things, that makes sure, that linux will stay in shadows forever, because its not the way this world is running around the sun - free, open source. If you are against it, then must be in one of those "most wanted - rewards for location info" lists

Did you even understand what was written in the post you answered to? No one is asking for free games, what is needed is a free benchmark. For example, Devil May Cry 4 or Resident Evil 5 both have free benchmarks available, but that doesn't mean that the games are free.
Even funnier is that you, a random Windows user, can determine from this that Linux gaming is doomed, while multi-million dollar companies that have much more insight to the market, like Valve, Blizzard or Dell/Alienware, think the opposite.

[startzz]

Please list all those newer games that

a) have equal-quality linux ports
b) use OpenGL on all platforms, to have an equal comparison
c) are free as in beer to benchmark, without requiring one to buy something

FFS, Michael listed these requirements in more than one article recently.

Good words, but :
1) there is no equal quality multiplatform games, there is only multiplatform games, there is no way to calculate or guess if game quality is equal on all platforms.
2) I know, directx rocks and puts opengl to dusts
3) well, with that in mind, linux gaming is doomed, because almost no one is making free good games, even super mario on nintendo wasnt free.... or even more, two shitty things, that makes sure, that linux will stay in shadows forever, because its not the way this world is running around the sun - free, open source. If you are against it, then must be in one of those "most wanted - rewards for location info" lists
4) a little bit more about testing - there is no way to test only one thing. When you test games, you are testing the whole system - drivers, os, games and other things.

[curaga]

I am sure it won't run great initially but consider on the Windows and Mac side of things the Intel integrated graphics are capable of playing quite a bit of newer games on low resolutions and settings. It just requires some experimentation to find newer games that test well. Anything would be better than the selection they are using now.

Please list all those newer games that

a) have equal-quality linux ports
b) use OpenGL on all platforms, to have an equal comparison
c) are free as in beer to benchmark, without requiring one to buy something

FFS, Michael listed these requirements in more than one article recently.

[TheEmissary]

But anything newer would run poorly on Intel hardware to begin with.

I am sure it won't run great initially but consider on the Windows and Mac side of things the Intel integrated graphics are capable of playing quite a bit of newer games on low resolutions and settings. It just requires some experimentation to find newer games that test well. Anything would be better than the selection they are using now.

[GreatEmerald]

But anything newer would run poorly on Intel hardware to begin with.

[TheEmissary]

There are plenty of better games that have both native linux, windows, and mac ports for benchmarking purposes. Technology has moved on in places like general purpose shaders and has moved away from the fixed pipeline. All the benchmarks are showing off is how the drivers are handling the older version of OpenGL. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the current driver progress is in the post OpenGL 2.x ie. OpenGL 3.x-4.x API.

I think you should consider using something like Unigine technical demos or comparing the source engine games or practically any of the recent linux ports.

[apholux]

can we see results from other benchmarks? Lightsmark, furmark, Unigine Heaven, Unigine Tropics, Unigine valley, OilRush? C4 engine?