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."

Comments

Re:Postal sucks and Loki is screwed

[Svartalf]

"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.