Plasma, the desktop environment from the KDE team has a big new upgrade coming with the release of Plasma 5.21 Beta and it's looking to be a thing of beauty.

Their current aim with Plasma 5.21 is to finely polish the experience overall, with the KDE team saying it pulls in "many improvements into Plasma’s design, utilities and themes, with the aim of providing end users with a more pleasant and accessible environment".

Plasma 5.21 will bring with it a redesigned application launcher, theme improvements, a brand new UI for the Plasma System Monitor, Plasma Firewall settings added to the overall system settings to let you configure both UFW and firewalld, plenty of UI cleaning done on system settings and much more.

It's big in many areas, not just design tweaks, with a big plan in progress to have KDE push for first-class Wayland support with KWin. They say that Plasma 5.21 "makes great headway to reach that goal". KWin, the compositor, has been "extensively refactored" and so you should see reduced latency throughout the entire stack.

Also available are mixed refresh rate setups with Wayland and Plasma 5.21. So now you can have one set at 144HZ and another at 60Hz and things won't bug out on you, and they say that early support for "multiple GPUs was also added on Wayland". Other Wayland interactions got improved too like virtual keyboard supporting GTK apps, along with many other Plasma components and KDE apps being more ready for Wayland.

Love a mix of dark and light themes? They have you covered there too with the introduction of Breeze Twilight as an official theme. It will give a dark theme for Plasma directly while mixing in light styles for applications. I must admit, it does look pretty good in they shot they showed off:

See the release announcement here .

Combining elements of the Wolfenstein 3D classic first-person shooter with the rolling gameplay of Super Monkey Ball, what could go wrong? Return to Castle Monkey Ball is quite hilarious. Pointed out by a reader earlier this week, it's a web game you can play on itch.io right in your browser so there's no downloading and the idea actually works quite well. Amusingly so and it's pretty challenging too.

The idea here is that you're rolling your way through some cramped hallways, while soldiers are trying their best to shoot you. Smash into them to hurt them, keep rolling and collect bananas to boost your score and hopefully make it out alive. Probably one of the most unique mashups I've seen lately. Check out their trailer:

Watch video on YouTube.com

"Fight your way through eight procedurally generated floors to escape the fortress! Collect bananas and treasure to maximize your score and defeat guards for time bonuses! Just get to the end before the timer runs out! Lose all three of your lives and it's game over for you.

Are you tough enough to take on this challenge and break free from the grips of your captors?"

The developer mentioned they're taking no money from it and it shall remain free.

Do give it a go on itch.io if you need a good laugh.

If System76 aren't your preferred Linux hardware vendor we also have TUXEDO who just recently announced the TUXEDO InfinityBook S 15 powered by the latest Intel hardware.

This new system actually sounds very familiar, and if you're feeling a bit of déjà vu you would be absolutely right - you've pretty much seen this before with the System76 Darter Pro . In fact, they're mostly the same. The main advantage is probably shipping, since System76 are based in the USA with TUXEDO in Germany and also support times / returns depending on where you are.

With a base configuration of the TUXEDO InfinityBook S 15 coming with a Full HD IPS display, Intel Core i5-1135G7 with Intel Iris Xe Graphics, 8 GB 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM, and a 250 GB Samsung 860 EVO. Their starting price is €937 EUR, compared with the $1,099 USD from System76.

With TUXEDO, you also get access to their fancy custom-built TUXEDO Control Center which allows you to get a full slick dashboard of your computer specifications. From here you can adjust performance profiles, fan tables and more depending on the model you buy from them. You also get their sweet looking backlit TUX super-key to replace the Windows logo you usually see from other vendors.

Here's some of the options you can get with it:

Operating system options are: TUXEDO_OS 20.04 LTS 64Bit (based on Ubuntu), Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 64bit or openSUSE 15.2 which you can pick between desktop environments for across KDE, Gnome and Xfce.

They said that the first deliveries will start at the end of February 2021 with pre-orders are available now. If you're interested you can take a full look at the TUXEDO InfinityBook S 15 here .

Remember the classic Sensible World of Soccer or the original Sensible Soccer? Classics from the 90s and Ballsy! World Cup 2020 is a wonderful take on it. Note: key provided by the developer.

I have seriously fond memories of SWOS, playing endless hours on the Amiga a long time ago. Ballsy really does feel like it both mechanically and visually although naturally it's more modern and looks a lot cleaner. After originally releasing in October 2020, the developer decided to port it in December 2020 to Linux.

"Tired of these sluggish, scripted modern football games? Still like some physics momentum in your retro footy game? Search no longer! Ballsy! offers that fluent feel for flowing football fans. The European football, that is, so, not handegg. Though truth be told, the term 'soccer' was actually invented by the English, so it doesn't deserve all the hate it gets."

Watch video on YouTube.com

A genuine surprise that it feels so great, if you've been after a simple pick up and play retro Football game, this is easily worth picking up. Play against AI, friends / family in local multiplayer and it also supports Steam Remote Play Together.

You can find Ballsy! World Cup 2020 on itch.io and Steam .

Ready for a new adventure? Set in the far future on an abandoned planet Earth, Mutropolis is now confirmed to be launching on February 18.

"It is the year 5000, and the greatest achievements in human history are forgotten. The pyramids, the Mona Lisa, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air – forgotten.
Forgotten by everyone except Henry Dijon and his ragtag team of archaeologists. They left Mars to dig up lost treasures on the wild and inhospitable Planet Earth. Life is sweet, until Henry’s professor is kidnapped, and thing start to get... weird."

Watch video on YouTube.com

This is the debut game from Madrid-based artists Beatriz Gascón and Juan Pablo González who make up Pirita Studio. Mutropolis will combine together classic point and click adventuring, with a modern interface.

Feature Highlight:

• 50+ hand-drawn scenes, crammed with cute, weird characters.
• Full voice over in English, text localizations in Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
• Archaeological puzzles with a sci-fi twist.

At release on February 19 it will be available on GOG and Steam . There's also a demo up on Steam until January 25 for the Big Adventure Event.

Note: the Steam page currently for me says February 19 but the publisher mentioned February 18 as the confirmed date on Twitter .

Got a slow weekend ahead? Well now it might be a little busier as there's a good few developers participating in The Big Adventure Event which is now live on Steam.

What's this all about then? Organised with help from indie developer and publisher Hitcents, it's a celebration of the classic adventure game genre. They've packed the event with demos, new games, livestreams and more. The event takes place from now January 21 until January 25.

It's a genuinely good event too, looking over there's a fair few titles I had totally forgotten about or had just never seen before. Plenty have a Linux demo too, which is wonderful to see.

Here's a few random upcoming picks of what to take a look at that I'm excited for:

Born Punk - "A former combat hacker, a corporate CEO and a malfunctioning android get possessed by mysterious, otherworldly entities and must band together to save themselves and uncover the entities' origins. Talk, puzzle and explore your way through this (often humorous) cyberpunk thriller."

Growbot - "A point-and-click adventure about a robot saving her home from a dark crystalline force. Set upon a biopunk space station bursting with fantastic plants and aliens."

Kathy Rain: Director's Cut (only just announced today!) - "Award-winning adventure Kathy Rain returns in the Director’s Cut, featuring an extended story with more puzzles to solve and new areas to explore. Witness the rise of an iconic detective as you uncover a dark and sinister truth hiding behind the calm exterior of a small rural town."

One Dreamer - "Help Frank, a burnt out indie game developer, rediscover his love for video games while struggling to release his debut title. Reprogram objects, fix bugs and solve coding puzzles as you journey through the English voiced story of One Dreamer."

Rosewater - "Rosewater is a thrilling Western adventure set in an alternate 19th century. Harley Leger and her ragtag posse embark on a harrowing journey across Western Vespuccia, encountering bandits, rebels, visionaries, eccentrics, and many more friends and foes on their quest for fame and riches."

Slender Threads - "Slender Threads is a point-and-click thriller adventure where unseen forces bind the fate of an unremarkable traveling salesman to the peculiar town he one day arrives in."

The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark - "Delouse your room with sage and pack up your travel-sized ouija board, it’s time to enter Twin Lakes - America’s 34th most haunted city. Join Detective McQueen as he puzzles his way through six chilling cases, risking life and pixelated limb to solve the macabre mysteries that plague this poor town."

The Drifter - "A Pulp Adventure Thriller - A drifter, murdered, finds himself alive again seconds before his death. Struggling to maintain his sanity, can he unravel the conspiracy surrounding his condition and those hunting him?"

See the full event page here .

Be sure to comment on anything you play that's worth a look to let your fellow GOL readers know.

Looking to power up your Linux computing on the go or for around the hose? System76 have refreshed the Darter Pro with a brand new build powered by the latest tech.

Just like a lot of their recent hardware, it's coming filled with some great open source software too. System76 hooked up their new Darter Pro with their Open Firmware . This gives you coreboot and the EDK bootloader with System76 Firmware Apps. So say hello to fast boot times, better security and easy firmware updates from within the operating system.

"The Darter Pro has long been a customer favorite," says Sam Mondlick, VP of Sales. "We’re excited to reintroduce our users to this extremely versatile laptop with features that make it noticeably better than its already fantastic predecessor."

System76 claim it's a highly versatile machine for working on the go, with up to 9 hours battery life. Reasonably light too for moving around at 3.84 lbs / 1.74 kg. If you choose the option with Pop!_OS, the Linux distribution made by System76 then you also get all their built-in enhancements like the fun Auto-Tiling.

Here's some of the fancy tech specs for you:

Pricing starts at $1,099 and you can find the Darter Pro here .

Kathy Rain: Director's Cut is the upcoming expanded and improved enhancement over the original that launched in 2016 and the developer has confirmed Linux support too.

"Set in the 90's, Kathy Rain tells the story of a strong-willed journalism major who must come to terms with her troubled past as she investigates the mysterious death of her recently departed grandfather. Armed with her motorcycle, a pack of cigs, and a notepad, Kathy delves into a local mystery surrounding her hometown that will take her on a harrowing journey of emotional and personal turmoil."

Check out the announcement teaser trailer:

Watch video on YouTube.com

Speaking about the announcement, Clifftop Games mentioned this was created from the ground-up in a modern up-to-date game engine so it's not simply a patch disguised as a new edition. It's going to be quite big too, with lots of new features and improvements. The original was quite highly rated too!

What to expect from this:

• Extended storyline with a prolonged ending, hundreds of lines of additional dialogue, and multiple new areas to explore.
• Several new major puzzle chains along with many small additions and tweaks of existing puzzles.
• Enlarged game environments to fill up the entire screen without any black bars on the sides.
• Countless visual improvements, such as more character animations, better lighting/shadows and extra weather effects.
• Streamlined mouse controls with an intuitive single click interface.
• Controller support done right. Lean back in your chair and take smooth direct control of Kathy, with no messy cursor getting in the way.
• Expanded and remixed soundtrack by the original composer, Daniel Kobylarz.
• Five brand new motorcycle designs to unlock and customize the Katmobile with.

You can wishlist / follow Kathy Rain: Director's Cut on Steam .

Gabe Newell of Valve Software (Steam) recently spoke to 1 NEWS in New Zealand about everything that has been going on and teased a few fun details. For those who didn't know, Newell has been staying in New Zealand since early 2020 and decided to stay after a holiday when COVID-19 got much worse.

Newell continues to talk very highly of New Zealand, even somewhat jokingly mentioning that some Valve staffers appear to strongly want to move their work over there now too. Newell mentioned why there's no reason other game companies couldn't move to New Zealand, and joked how they're a producer of "not-stupidium" seemingly referring to how well New Zealand has dealt with COVID-19.

The real juicy details though come when, as expected, questions were asked about upcoming games. Newell said very clearly "We definitely have games in development that we're going to be announcing — it's fun to ship games," and that "Alyx was great — to be back doing single-player games, that created a lot of momentum inside of the company to do more of that.".

When asked about Half-Life 3 and the other usuals, joking about Valve being afraid of the number 3, Newell said directly "I've successfully not spoken about those things for a long time and I hope to continue to not talk about them until they are moot questions. Then we'll move on to a new set of questions," and that the "nice thing is, by not answering those questions, I avoid the community coming up with new, equally-difficult-to-answer questions.".

It's good to know that the game development fire has been lit under Valve once again. Nice to see they continue to keep Linux in their sights for games too with all their recent games (Artifact, Underlords and Half-Life: Alyx) all having Linux builds, although Alyx is not directly mentioned on the store page for Linux it is available .

What are you hoping their next game announcement will be?