Michael Simms of LGP and TuxGames

jvmatthe writes "The scene for native Linux games has been sleeping for months now, given the demise of Loki. Now LinuxGames has posted a very interesting interview with Michael Simms, who leads both TuxGames and Linux Game Publishing (LGP), which details his views on where Linux gaming has been, where it stands now (including comments on WineX), and where it may be going in the short and long term."

Comments

Gaming on an essentially business platform?

[fruey]

Serious gamers are always going to be looking for a platform that can satisfy their needs. Consoles work as 99% of the people who buy them want pure gaming satisfaction. Thus, hardcore gamers are generally console owners. PCs can add to the gaming experience in the multiplayer over network gaming, but consoles are catching up with ethernet, wireless and modem options. Given that a PS2, XBox or Gamecube doesn't cost as much as a decent enough specced PC to play games, then the market is clearly in that court. The richer end of the market probably prefers top spec PCs, and they will probably run Windows.

Most Linux users are there for stability, because they believe in it, etc. Thus the Linux gaming market will be mainly for people who are not hardcore gamers - just programmers, geeks, etc who are looking for the occasional game. I find it hard to believe the market will really rumble, since on the same hardware most people can install and run Windows games on their M$ OS of choice. There are exceptions of course, but I'd put my money on them being few and far between.

However, as implied in the interview, the key is predicting the future. Getting in on the ground, becoming a respected name in Linux gaming, could be a good strategy ready for one of several possible events:

• Linux getting market share in the PC market and becoming a viable gaming platform in its own right (it sure isn't now, and I'm not talking about being able to develop games on the platform, but being able to sell large quantities of them)
• Consoles having Linux embedded in them (cue the PS2 Linux kit... that's an interesting move which seems to want to attract developers to the console via a Linux interface, and see if they come up with interesting stuff, since they can work on other machines too and get stuff going)
• Mac OSX games, easier to port to Linux (perhaps not... machine code optimisations won't run on Intel clones... but OpenGL and installers etc may be re-usable to an extent)

I think the second point is most likely what Linux gaming could be all about. The console market is shifting towards a more "Home Entertainment System" with DVD and networking. Add a hard drive, get TiVO-esque services, run Linux for an OS and push Intel/Microsoft aside with a decent, lower cost alternative to the PC. Plenty people I know have VCRs, DVDs, HiFi etc without ever thinking they'll need a PC, but might like a games console that does all the above. The lines between devices are blurring more and more, and Linux could be the heart of some of the newer generation devices.