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Descent 3 for Linux Announced
GehRehmee writes: "Heresay's been floating about for some time now, but Loki has officially announced its intent to release the Linux version of Descent 3 "By July 2000". Quotables: "We're excited to see the Linux market growing and we're very happy to be a part of it," said Matt Toschlog,
president of Outrage. Jeff Slutter, who programmed the Linux version for Outrage, said, "We originally released a
dedicated server version of Descent 3 for Linux and are very pleased that Loki will now bring to market the full
client version." "
Floating in a maze
Twisty chasms of mayhem
Blast haywire robots
Lots of people don't want games ported to Linux or desktop apps in general. They think it will "dumb down the OS. However there is a purely selfish and logical reason to demand, request and even encourage these things. Here is the chain of reasoning.
1. The biggest problem facing the experienced Linux user is limited choice of hardware. You walk into a shop and of 20 devices for a particular use, anywhere from 5 to 18 don't support Linux.
2. Manufacturers don't bundle Linux drivers or contribute them to the Kernel simply because they don't think there are enough users to make money off.
3. The more applications run on a platform the more users it will attract. There is simply no way the person who bought a computer to play a particular game or run a specific program will use an OS that doesn't support that.
Therefore, by increasing the pool of applications we increase the userbase and by increasing the userbase we increase hardware choice. Already It has got the stage where I have not seen a new SCSI or Network card that doesn't support Linux ( with Linux specific instructions and/or drivers in the box ) for over a year now. Port more games and the same will be true for video cards, sound hardware and controllers.
As for Decent specifically. I didn't play it much before and probably won't start now. However there are people playing the old version on Windows who will at least experiment with the New version under Linux.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
87 Megs
Mirrors:
ftp://ftp.lokigames.com/pub/ demos/sof/sof-demo-x86.run
http://www.3ddownloads.com/s howfile.php3?file_id=87646
:wq
Anyone know how many boxes Loki games have been selling ? I certainly hope they do well. Hell, I might just buy one to show my support ( probably a strategy game since my TNT doesn't seem that well supported )
Bzzzztt. Wrong!
Support for the TNT/Geforce family has taken a big turn for the better with the current beta drivers from Nvidia for Xfree84 4.0. While the drivers are closed sourced for Intellectual Property reasons (supposedly to do with SGI technology), they almost on a par with the Windows drivers. Given that Xfree86 4.0 is still pretty new and that these aren't even v1.0 NVidia drivers yet, this is pretty encouraging and we may in the future see Linux drivers showing a few % improvement over the Windows drivers.
So anything you would consider playing under Windows on your TNT is probably playable on Linux now at similar performance levels. And since Loki distribute demos, you can try before you buy.
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
Descent 1 and 2 are open source. Check freshmeat.
Old Sierra games can be played with FreeSCI and Sarien (again, check freshmeat).
--ryan.
(The guy who's working on Descent 3: icculus@spamsux.lokigames.com)
Don't say, "don't quote me," because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying.
Did Loki or Id ever say anything about the separate binary strategy they pursued for QIII? IIRC, they said that they were going to package the two versions separately so that they could get a better idea of what the size of the market was for Linux games. But that was months ago, and I never heard hide nor hair about the actual results of that experiment. Does anyone who follows games or Loki more closely know what happened? My gut feeling is that if we haven't heard by now, it is a bad sign, but maybe I'm just paranoid. Anyone? Anyone?
IAAL,BIANLY
Descent 3! Nice!
:o)
You know what would be REALLY cool? Port some of the oldies! The original Descent, maybe Warcraft, the old Sierra games like Quest for Glory. I don't think the companies would mind--hell, more revenue for free never hurts, huh?
If I could properly waste my time in X as well as I do in windows, then screw Billy Gates!
-S
http://students.washington.edu/steve0/
steve0@u.washington.edu
- - - - - - - -
Don't worry, being eaten by a crocodile is just like going to sleep in a giant blender.
The company involved (sierra or valve) has specicially stated they will not port it because they are worried that the port will be of inferior quality (and that this will reflect badly on the company?)
it is unfortunate, as myself and many of the people I know are playing counter strike a lot and it will not be possible to play this under linux.
Descent 3 is a great game, I already own the windows version, but sadly I rarely play it, as it requires booting to windows. I'd love to be able to play it under Linux
--------
I know this may sound strange but even though Descent on Unix is great and all, I would just like to see other games ported to Linux/Unix like my favorite, "Age of Empires". Admittedly, this is a microsoft product but it is definetly a great game. Microsoft could start another surge of game sales and unload a tonne of these games if they would just port it to Linux. I would definetly buy it for $49.99 or whatever the going price might be.
Linux has made great progress but it still has a long way to go to get into the gaming market. Come on developers... come to your senses!
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
NPS Internet Solutions, LLC
www.npsis.com
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
A nameless evil company (read: Microsoft) is behind a huge conspiracy to produce games for Linux-based operating systems. They try to get us free software hackers to waste all of our time shooting down Humunculi as they sit back and laugh, watching the kernel fall apart. Do not fall in to this pernicious trap!
| Ceci n'est pas une pipe.
The client (the graphical-fly-around-with-a-joystick-and-sound-and -motion-sickness) version is what Loki will be releasing. It even supports a gaming chair (The RockNRide).
I've got it all running here.
Screenshots are here.
My big white ass on the RockNRide.
--ryan. (icculus@lokiSPAMSUXgames.com)
Don't say, "don't quote me," because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying.
What it said:
Quotables: "We're excited to see the Linux market growing and we're very happy to be a part of it," said Matt Toschlog, President of Outrage.
What I read:
Quotables: "We're excited to see the Linux market growing and we're very happy to be a *port* of it," said Matt Toschlog, President of Outrage.
Scarce, scared, scarred, sacred... -Col. Bruce Hampton
I think that this may be one of the key points in the new, developing Linux games market. Three dimensions and 360 movement (the combination of the two) has been missing from the Linux games market, and now this means the introduction of a quality, modern product that has everything needed to move Linux gaming into the twenty first century.
It's also great that more companies are joining in on the Linux gaming market. I think that with the additional stability and power provided by Linux, gaming can become an even more enthrilling experiance. Soon I hope to be able to never again see a BSOD while playing Half-Life or Tiberian Sun.
I think that this is one of the many steps that the new Linux gaming market is taking toward Linux becoming an equal competitor with Windows as a gaming platform. When that happens, what will you need Windows for again? This could be the final blow that crushes Microsoft once and for all. Except that Microsoft isn't paying attention. While Microsoft is tied up in the antitrust hearings, the Linux community may have finally achieved total superiority over Windows in all aspects. Or very near to it. This is a very exciting time. We may be ready to actualize the prophecy and take over the world.
Yeah, but will they ? If the developers from Loki can do the port cheaper, faster, and more effectively, then why would they want to do it internally ? I mean, if company (X)'s developers have never used Linux before, then would it be cheaper for them to port say a Direct3D game, or would they hire the experts ? And Loki are certainly making a name for themselves as experts when it comes to porting games.
Do I get to just download the Linux version?
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power