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mikeeusa is not anti-SJW, he is anti-women to the same extent that SJWs are anti-white and anti-men.

That said, there is a question of whether his personal views should have been an issue in discussing the release of a game. Code is neutral.

The reason for releasing source code as open source isn't so that you can download it for free, compile it, and have a working copy of Doom 3, it's so that people can look at the code, learn from it, port the game to new architectures or mod the source to add new features/take advantage of new technology. Several original games have been developed using previously released id source code: (Someone should really invent some kind of "Search" "Engine" for this internet thing...)
Nexuiz
Urban Terror
Tremulous

Sadly, I suspect that you won't appreciate the value of any of that, having phrased your questions the way you did.

OK, proof.

1. Go to their homepage, Allow All in noscript, watch the video.
2. Have ever played UT 2004.

In my opinion there is no way to consider that this deal was morally right, there was people who were contributing code on a daily basis for *years*, the least you will expect is to get some sort of notification if someone is about to make money out of your hard work. In other words what they done is just stealing.

Wasn't there a lot of drama about a year ago, over Nexuiz losing its only real developer/ contributor (code) due to an obnoxious and demanding community?

He can't really say that the original plan was to contact every developer, the deal was made in complete and absolute secret. Not a single developer knew about the Nexuiz deal, not a single notification was sent, most of us knew about it when we saw the the homepage was changed, only providing a small link to "Nexuiz GPL" at the bottom.

In my opinion there is no way to consider that this deal was morally right, there was people who were contributing code on a daily basis for *years*, the least you will expect is to get some sort of notification if someone is about to make money out of your hard work. In other words what they done is just stealing.

And of course they must rewrite the whole Nexuiz codebase now, that's the only way for them to prevent getting sued. Not to mention that after the deal was made public there was no dialog *at all* between Lee Vermeulen (the owner of Nexuiz) and the developers, there was no attempt at all to fix what they done (again, stealing), mostly because you actually need to talk in order to fix things.

That was the very reason because the Xonotic project was born, we as developers just can't trust Alientrap (which is only Lee Vermeulen) anymore.

It's sad that LH now makes it look like thanks to the unreasonable (ex)developers of Nexuiz now there will be no improvements flowing back to GPL Nexuiz. I don't know you but I'm getting used to his bursts of insulting statements.

Vermeulen is a hardworking individual, and has push this game (nexuiz) for more than 9 years now (And If you have work on a open source project, you know how hard is to get people moving forward).

As the Nexuiz community sees it, Lee Vermeulen has stopped contributing regularly to the project four years ago and now cashes in on the hard work of many contributors.

See the Nexuiz community statement at http://alientrap.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6079.

Looks like it does, according to an update: http://alientrap.org/nexuiz/news

• You can (at least at one point) BUY a license to the iD source code. So, no, getting iD's permission is not difficult (merely potentially expensive).
• "The Nexuiz's engine's prime developer (LordHavoc) is currently working on the Illfonic console version. The Nexuiz codebase will benefit from Illfonic's additions". Given that, I'm imagineing that they already have that person's permission.

• The only question is other sources of content and code - but there might not have been much of the latter, so it could be replaced (or the console version is a fork of an older, pre-GPL'd release, or something). Heck, this person might have actually rewritten every submitted patch to the tree to maintain his own copyright.

• And the contributed content? Well, Wikipedia says: "The game will retain the same name, while adopting a futuristic, Victorian art style." - what's the chance that the content has been chucked out too?

No, that's why they also got a license to the Quake1 engine:

Illfonic has obtained the rights to the Nexuiz's engine code, along with a license for the Quake1 engine. The engine has been licensed as non-GPL for Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, these are very closed platforms and the game had no chance of reaching them under GPL.

From here.

According to the FA, the controversy seems to concern two different but interrelated issues:

Trademark assignment and copyright assignment

The first is probably more clear cut than the second one. Trademark is controlled by the person(s) it has been assigned to. As long as Mr. Vermuelen holds the trademark to the name Nexuiz, or as long as there is no trademark assigned to anybody for the name Nexuiz, Illfonic is most likely clear on this matter.

The second, and most controversial issue is that of the relicencing of the Nexuiz/DarkPlaces codebase. Even though, according to the Nexuiz forums, Illfonic seems to have struck a deal with the primary developers of Nexuiz and DarkPlaces, I'm not sure if that would be enough. DarkPlaces is arguably not such a big change over the original GPL'd Quake engine codebase, and even if it was, I'm not really sure if copyright can be reassigned without some kind of consensus amongst most (major) developers. Does each contributor hold the copyright for his work under the GPL or do the contributions end up under a single copyright holder?

Regardless of the legal issues, this is a really crappy way to treat your community and developers. They have every right to feel betrayed. This forum thread is a great read, and proves that the community is sane about their demands towards Illfonic, Mr. Vermuelen and LordHavoc.

If you liked Quake, you'll probably like Nexuiz.

Play that for a while, and it will make you realize we don't need those bastards like EA.

You'll love Nexuiz.

When I want to pull away from MMORPG time sinks, this is where I go. Total in your face FPS action. Multiplayer as too, tho' the bots can be taxing enough.

It sucks for me, though, I hate FPS games. For my Linux gaming I've always used emulators. Install ePSXe, Mednafen and dgen, then eat your heart out on old games console titles.

It looks, plays and feels just like Nexuiz!

None of your examples are of games. There are no good, free, fun, games.

You forgot the best example of all. There is even a Mac version for jimicus and a Linux version for the rest of /.

None of your examples are of games. There are no good, free, fun, games.

Projects like Nexuiz and Tremulous exist without non-commercial variants.

And they also require expensive hardware: usually a separate PC and monitor per player, as opposed to four USB gamepads or Bluetooth pointing devices connected to one PC. Nexuiz doesn't support split screen. This is because most store-bought PCs are compatible only with high-definition monitors, and most HD monitors are 19" diagonal or smaller, too small for four people to fit around. Moreover, PC owners don't seem to feel like buying the $50 scan converter to turn VGA signals into composite or S-Video signals suitable for the 27" or bigger SDTV in the living room. So until HDTVs replace more SDTVs in the living room, games designed for in-person party settings have to be developed for consoles, which have SDTV output but ban all copylefted software.

I can't even stand the video on http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/ :-(

You know, you have made me think of a subject I have always been curious about: WTF are Linux guys even needing a decent GPU for, anyway? It isn't like you are going to game on the thing, and nearly all the GPU based video acceleration beyond Mpeg2 is proprietary voodoo that you are lucky to get working in Windows, much less Linux. And if you are wanting to play one of the few Linux games you can play it on several generations old hardware, which should be well supported by now.

So WTF ARE you going to do with relatively new 3d hardware, anyway? Not trying to troll here, I'm just seriously curious. I have never understood the point of having decent 3d hardware on Linux as its main purpose....doesn't actually run on Linux. It would be like me buying a bunch of Apple software and then complaining that it don't run under Windows. These cards are built for Windows gaming, that is their whole fricking point, and where 99.999% of the money they make on these things comes from. So frankly the fact that ATI and Nvidia have given Linux users the amount of support that they have is amazing, considering that they can't use the card for what it was actually intended for, not really. So WTF are you actually wanting to use relatively new 3d hardware FOR anyway?

Even if they only ported open source games to it, you could have 3D shooters from *this decade* such as nexuiz running on it:

http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/

Furthermore, the possibility of using this as a networked HD media player box makes it much more interesting.

My only worry is that this device may well be just vaporware. Pre-order often means "will never materialize", unfortuately.

This is music:
http://theslip.nin.com/

This is a movie:
http://www.elephantsdream.org/

This is a game:
http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/

This is software:
http://www.ubuntu.com/

Their service can be used both for good and bad. If the majority of people choose to use it for illegal sharing, that why don't they pursue those people? And, I'll tell you why - because everyFUCKINGbody does it! It's a signal to the fact the the companies producing the content have no idea how to distribute it and price it correctly and instead start this frivolous witch hunts.

Free LAN Games

Wolfenstein Enemy Territory [Download]

Cube

AssaultCube

Sauerbraten (Cube2)

Urban Terror

Nexuiz

Open Arena

More First-person shooters here

Driving Speed2

Red Alert1

Command and Conquer NOD ISO GDI ISO

Singleplayer:

Super Mario War

http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/

I thought that the control system for MP3:C was very nice, and with some refinement I think that the Wii controls could really make for some great twitch shooters!

I think playing fast shooters like Nexuiz or Q3 or UT or such would be a blast with that control scheme. I found it very fast to target things, if they sped up the spin / turn around capability when you point off screen, I think it would be the first scheme to contend with the mouse.

Actually, I think Nexuiz would be a great game to port, Wii needs a few twitch games (and better online representation).

People tend to avoid free games so here are some links: http://wz2100.net/ excelent RTS. http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/ Quake like FPS with fancy graphics. http://www.warsow.net/?page=home Fps with emphesis on acrobatics. Freespace 2 open http://fs2source.warpcore.org/install.html . http://www.wesnoth.org/ a very highly rated turn based stratagey game.

• Battle for Wesnoth, a turn-based strategy game with some great single-player campaigns.
• Vega Strike, the game Elite would have been if it had been made for today's hardware (honourable mention to Oolite, which faithfully recreates Elite but with updated graphics).
• Nexuiz, a superb FPS with completely new artwork, levels, and game design based on an incredibly heavily modified version of the Quake 1 engine.
• FreeCol (and, of course, the classic FreeCiv), open source clones of the old Colonisation and Civilisation games, with large numbers of updates (and distressingly good single player AI).
• Blob Wars: Metal Blob Solid, a complex platform game, full of gratuitous blob violence[1]. A sequel, this time in full 3D, was released last month.

With complex and polished open source games in almost every genre being available, it's quite surprising how much people spend on commercial games from companies that treat them like criminals. Wikipedia has a good list - I've not played more than a small fraction of them.

[1] This doesn't quite count as open source. The game is all GPL'd, but a number of images were things the author 'found on the Internet' and are used without a valid license. It was removed from the OpenBSD ports system last week because of this, as the author refuses to address the problem.

The really interesting statistic which they don't know is how many people won't go anywhere near their games because of the DRM shite.

I sometimes think I should explore the amazing world of computer gaming, but then I remember that a) it's infested with DRM, and b) I run Linux. Even if I was willing to put Windows on a separate computer, 'a' would discourage me from going to the trouble.

Probably just as well, keeps me safe from what could potentially be an incredibly time wasting obsession.

Now excuse me as I waste some time mindlessly playing Nexuiz

Guess I should provide links. :-) Spring is here (TA fans check it out!), and Nexuiz would be here.

Try Nexuiz http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/ 'Nexuiz is a fast paced 3D deathmatch game project created online by a team of developers'

Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of music with a free (as in speech) license out there. The only thing that comes to mind is something like the Nexiuz (or other free software) soundtrack.

Most of the "free" music out there comes under the not-so-free Creative Commons non-commercial license. It is semi-free.

Where does Nexuiz fit into this list of free games> http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/

Nexuiz is a 3d deathmatch game project, created online by a team of developers called Alientrap. It is available for download for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

This is a good list. Allow me to weigh in with a few more of my own.

• Nexuiz is a fun networked 3D deathmatch FPS.
• Sauerbraten is a great, mindless FPS for both networked and single player mode.
• You should definitely give tremulous a try. Its innovative, asymmetrical approach to team based network play is outstanding.
• You can read a review that I wrote of these games and many other FOSS projects.
• A lot of these games are on a live Linux DVD that I reviewed recently.

Or Nexuiz from http://www.alientrap.org/.

While we already have very good to excellent 3d games as Sauerbraten and Nexuiz, we still are behind commercial software companies in the graphical area. Many otherwise excellent games have poorly designed characters, maps, weapons etc. In the last two years the gap shrunk, but IMO more work is needed.

Don't forget GPL Nexuiz from http://www.alientrap.org/

With regards to the part of the article that talks about corporate customization of games for corporate or military training, I'm surprised that I didn't see anyone else here talk about this but how about turning to the OSS world for custom game mods? cube shows great potential for modification. Nexuiz looks really nice and plays sweet. Tremulous is a great example of a FPS with non-traditional FPS rules.

I would be terribly, terribly remiss not to mention http://live.linux-gamers.net/ which I have blogged

See also:

Nexuiz (Quake 3 clone) http://alientrap.org/nexuiz/

Planeshift (Still in alpha stage, but it works) http://www.planeshift.it/

Also check the package list in Ubuntu etc.

If you're looking for games that work under Wine, look no further than World of Warcraft, Oblivion, and so forth.

Nexuiz is the best first shooter game out there, IMO. And it's free too!

Tremulous is excellent and really rather addictive, i used to be a big fan of onslaught in UT2k4 but i tend to find Tremulous more interesting.

Not sure that i'd agree with the comparison of Alien Arena 2006 to CUBE, Alien arena is quite nice to look at and a fast paced deathmatcher based on Quake(2 or 3, i forget), for some reason there aren't any good screenshots of it on the homepage so http://www.ratiatum.com/img/logiciel/502/502.jpg will give you a better idea. CUBE is mildly entertaining but Sauerbraten with coopedit is more fun.

Nexuiz does a good job with a heavily modified version of the original Quake engine as its codebase, again surprisingly attractive for such an old fashioned engine http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/

Warsow is fast paced Deathmatch with a twist, and quite nicely done in a cellshaded style http://www.warsow.net/

Most of those are free software, if not they're at least linux compatible. http://www.happypenguin.org/ despite looking a little dated, is still a good place to find new games.

And the rest : http://www.icculus.org/lgfaq/gamelist.php

http://www.alientrap.org/nexuiz/
http://www.cubeengine.com/
ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/source/quake2.zip
http://www.itplaysdoom.com/

It's not like there aren't other FPSs and engines available. Am I nuts, or would someone with an interest in game design and F/OSS be better off creating derivative work from those engines?

There are a few exceptions.

Quake code source is not only maintained by separate 3rd party project, as other slashdotter mentionned,
it is also upgraded and new engines are build on top of it, like : Nexuiz witch feature additionnal eye-candy built on top of the Quake Engine.