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Loki Goes Postal
xwred1 writes: "Loki has announced a new port today, up to now known as "Secret Project Q": They are going Postal! Press release is here, and the game product page/overview is here. Seems to be a healthy sign of life from Loki, they are obviously still getting good things done despite the chapter 11."
the linux hype has gotten considerably less prevelant, and i'm willing to bet there are fewer people running it as their main home OS than in recent memory and that number is only going down.
I recently broke down and got a computer for home (I work with/on them all day, and have resisted for years). I set it up with Linux because I don't feel like giving MS any of my cash, and I believe that pirating their software is hypocritical. Part of this decision was that I felt that Linux has gotten to the point where it was useable as a main home OS.
When I first set up the system, my son wanted to know how we were going to run Red Alert on it. My wife wanted to know how we were going to do word processing, etc. on it.
Then, just in the nick of time, along comes the StarOffice 6.0 beta, and Loki ports some of their games!
OK, StarOffice has some bugs, and the Loki games aren't all necessarily the ones that my son wants to play, but it is a move in the right direction. My family is now far less sceptical about Linux, and are starting getting enthusiastic about it. Keep it up Loki and Sun. I can feel the momentum starting to build up...
1. Postal is good, but not THAT good.
2. Postal is 20 minutes of fun, after that you switch to the expansion pack, which is another 20 minutes of fun.
3. Postal is even older that Loki itself.
4. Postal has an interresting engine that runs on pentium 166, meaning it's worthless. Nobody ever re-used that crap. Or somebody did and he's an idiot.
5. Tribes 2 is a lot more interresting and it still doesn't fuckin work on Linux + Matrox G450.
Conclusion: Loki makes games and 5 minutes later, they don't care about what they made. So you know what, maybe i don't really care Loki anymore or maybe i don't really care about playing games under Linux.
Linux = 'For Workin'.
Ouindoze = 'For Playin'.
"Part of Loki's problem is the intentional segregation. It was originally impossible to patch Quake 3 Windows to the Linux version, and the Linux and Mac versions were sold separately. Loki's tactics were intended to get them the money they were due and to gauge Linux support. However, it didn't work - Linux copies sold a tiny fraction of the number sold. Loki blamed it on most Linux users also being Windows dual-booters and that they settled on the Windows version and could wait for the patch. "
Originally impossible? Yes and no. The Q3A Windows versions weren't patchable until the Linux version shipped. When it shipped, Id offered the downloads- and it was all she wrote for the Linux version. Had they NOT offered a "patch" (or delayed it even further...), while it was not in keeping with their philosophy with prior games, it would have helped the sales of the game on the Linux front.
Also, as an attempt to gauge Linux gaming support, it was a failure, less due to there not being support and more due to the patch being out and a severe lack of physical avaialability of the game in the storefronts. When it shipped, I tried to purchase the game- in one of the largest software markets in the country and one of the largest Linux userbases in the country and in the world (Dallas, TX). I couldn't- at least not off of a store shelf. Why? Because the retailers that were supposed to stock it on the shelves didn't. The ones that did deliberately choked off sales by not stocking anywhere near enough (6-10 copies on the shelf of a release such as this doesn't cut it and insisting on taking pre-paid orders for more isn't any better) and by the time one of the stores had enough in stock (Fry's) the damage was already done.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
>that's almost certainly due to the original authors not being interested in a linux version.
I think it depends on how the license/port is arranged financially, who assumes the risk and who pays who for what, no?
If the original author (publisher, really) hires Loki at a fixed price to make a port, and then assumes the risk of making a return on that expense by selling x copies of the Linux version, then yes - I agree with your point. (and Loki would have a much more successful business as they would get paid for their work regardless of how successful a Linux version was).
However, that isn't what I read into the way they do business from the article on thier bankruptcy filing a little while ago. I seem to recall that they pay a fixed licensing fee to the owner/publisher of the game, then they port the game and take the risk of selling x copies in order to make a profit on the money they have laid out. (Carmack said a lot of the money Loki owes is to id).
In that case, the high cost of obtaining a license for current titles such as Diablo 2, warcraft 3, etc is going to prevent Loki from taking on a port, not the author's interest. (afterall, the author gets paid up front.)
Just noticed that CivIII went gold today (press release [Firaxis]).
Personally I think that this title would be very popular on the Linux platform, a 3D accelerator is not even required. I don't know how well SMAC did on Linux, but this title would be a logical step for turn-based strategy fans.
The slated platforms are WIndows and Mac, I hope Loki will consider a port for this title.