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Hyperion to Bring IncaGold Games to Linux

An Ominous Cow Erred writes "Just wanted to let everyone know that Hyperion Entertainment will be bringing IncaGold's game lineup to Linux (as well as AmigaOS and MacOS), starting with Midnight Racing. On a personal note, I'm happy we're giving Linux another shot, being a devout Gentoo user myself! (I should also point out that while the Linux section of the website is kind of old and crusty, there should be more info on the new titles soon!)"

163 comments

  1. So when are we talking? by Blaine+Hilton · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Yes I would consider having the latest news dated at August 12, 2001. No Mac section, and what looks like a more up to date Amiga section. I sure hope their games are better then their website content.

    The Midnight Racer game looks good. Are there any tentative pricing information or timeframes though?

    Go calculate something

    1. Re:So when are we talking? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Blaine you sucker, you could have had FP if you never wrote so much. In the land of the First Posts, he writes the least is King. Unfortunately for you Blaine Hilton, you are just a Joker.

    2. Re:So when are we talking? by deadsaijinx* · · Score: 3, Insightful

      just a bit outdated ^^.

      now, to veer a tad. It's great that companies are releasing titles for Linux, it really is, but I want more and more of the brand-spankin-new games to run natively on Linux. Sure, I know, there are more and more FPSs coming out for Linux, but I want more than that. OTOH, It probably wouldn't kill anyone to keep a 10gig partition on their machine for running the latest and greatest (as well as all the old) games. I understand that you don't want to pay the MS tax, but that's what emule is for (not that I'm suggesting you dl a copy of win2k or winxp [wink, wink]).
      Now, I'd be interested if a big player in the game industry said something to the effect of "all future titles will be released under linux." Now that would be news for nerds.

      --
      YOU SUCK BALLS!
    3. Re:So when are we talking? by samdu · · Score: 1
      Give 'em a bit of a break. They ARE in the process of porting a 680x0 operating system to PPC. :)

    4. Re:So when are we talking? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This may be happening soon not that more and more development platforms that allow a single codebase for multiple O/Ses.

    5. Re:So when are we talking? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hi!

      Well, a big famous "first range" title won't happen before a smaller title was a success... Linux and games is a bit of a chicken&egg situation. Still we'll give it
      another shot with the IncaGold game-Ports :)

      Game ports for multiple OSes is never a technical question BTW - it is a financial question. And for more games hitting Linux the games which ARE getting Linux version have to sell good.

      Steffen Haeuser
      Hyperion Entertainment

  2. Wow by stratjakt · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sure a handful of third rate bottom of the barrel unknown games will rocket linux to desktop superiority!

    One thing you cant find in the gaming aisle of Best Buy: complete shit.

    My karma burn for this fine tuesday. Enjoy it mods.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    1. Re:Wow by fafaforza · · Score: 3, Informative

      If I remember correctly, that Midnight Racing game was bundled with TNT2 video cards to show off the graphics, pretty much. It was bottom of the barrel, bargain bin demo-ware when it was released however many years ago.

      But it was good for a few hours ofmindless racing with little in terms of physics. Decent graphics, pretty colors, so there might be some value to it.

    2. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you fucking kidding me? there is lotsa shit at best buy. BURN KARMA BURN!!!
      --- inventor of the FRP ---

  3. erm... by lingqi · · Score: 4, Funny
    An Ominous Cow Erred writes...

    That has to be about the most creative name I have ever heard. I do wonder if some chemicals were involved (inhaled, possibly?) during its creation, though. =)

    --

    My life in the land of the rising sun.

    1. Re:erm... by Goalie_Ca · · Score: 1

      It's amazing that this is the only +5 so far. I think the ominous cow erred when it decided to give you guys mod points!

      --

      ----
      Go canucks, habs, and sens!
    2. Re:erm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ummm... That user has been here a long time idiot.

      http://slashdot.org/~An%20Ominous%20Cow%20Erred

      Welcome to last year.

    3. Re:erm... by Unominous+Coward · · Score: 1

      That has to be about the most creative name I have ever heard.

      Well then you haven't heard of me before, have you?

      --
      "Smoking helps you lose weight - one lung at a time" -- A. E. Neumann
    4. Re:erm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He said creative, not lame.

    5. Re:erm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know nothing, Tanto!
      ---- Eat my Arrow Custard!

    6. Re:erm... by An+Ominous+Cow+Erred · · Score: 1

      Only caffeine and sugar...

      Seriously, I was just trying for something that sounded cute and funny. Of course, nothing shows up my nickname for being as stale as it is like the best nickname on Slashdot. :-)

    7. Re:erm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You suckum heap big cock, paleface.

    8. Re:erm... by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 1
      That was as classy a response as I've ever read on Slashdot.

      (I'm rather partial to my nickname, though)

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
    9. Re:erm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Where will white man's lies end?

      Macon, GA.

  4. AmigaOS by tmark · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Forget targeting MacOS and Linux, and let's assume doing either or both is viable. But AmigaOS ? That's a business plan gone seriously awry and I have to conclude this company is doomed to failure. And I write this as a guy who is looking at a working Amiga 1000 on his dining room table right now...

    1. Re:AmigaOS by SimonKeogh · · Score: 3, Funny

      Apparently they sell more Amiga ports then they do Linux.

    2. Re:AmigaOS by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Forget targeting MacOS and Linux, and let's assume doing either or both is viable. But AmigaOS ?"

      It's a brilliant business plan. Mentioning AmigaOS is a surefire way to get free advertising on Slashdot.

      Here are a few other phrases that'll earn you Slashvertisements:

      - "...battle with Microsoft.."
      - "...support for Ogg Vorbis..."
      - "...AMD...
      - "...ported to Linux..."
      - "...Mozilla..."

      All you have to do is work any of these phrases into the marketing literature for your product, and BOOM your site gets ground to a halt.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    3. Re:AmigaOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LET ME TRY:

      This man is using the portability of mozilla to expand the popularity of ogg. He has even optomized the code to run 20x as fast on an AMD as he continues to fight Microsoft! This is what Linus has to say about the (w)hole thing!

    4. Re:AmigaOS by lsd · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'd think twice before stipulating that Linux is a viable market, and that AmigaOS isn't...

      Hyperion have been making AmigaOS ports of PC games for a while now - when Loki was around, Hyperion were seen as the Loki of the AmigaOS world. The difference between the two companies is that one is a small but successful company that continues to produce and sell products, and the other is very, very dead.

      Hyperion have ported games to Linux before, namely Shogo: MAD and SiN. They decided not to do any more after those though, since they sold poorly compared to the AmigaOS versions. I'm glad to see that Hyperion are giving Linux another shot though, even though I spend a lot more time gaming on my GameCube than my PC these days...

    5. Re:AmigaOS by NeoChichiri · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually...the Amiga is not dead...not anymore anyway. AmigaOS looks very good these days and if I had the money for it I'd probably get one. If only they'd make it for the x86 platform...but I guess that's what WinUAE, Amiga Forever and the like are for. (WinUAE works pretty well actually...I forgot how good Shadow of the Beast was for its day. heh)

      --
      NeoChichiri
      http://www.neochichiri.net
    6. Re:AmigaOS by samdu · · Score: 2, Informative
      AmigaOS 5 (due when it comes out) is supposed to be platform agnostic. They're taking things one step at a time. First, port the OS to PPC, then make any changes necessary, then make it totally portable. It'll take some time, but that's the plan.

    7. Re:AmigaOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Beneath what I read to be the sarcasm is a success story. Firms target marketing at the Linux crowd only if we're considered a profit centre. It means Linux is arriving.

    8. Re:AmigaOS by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

      Amiga's are still alive and well in Europe, and there are plenty of people looking to upgrade there to the next Amiga. More importantly, AmigaOS has a chance to make it in the small embedded market, i.e. palm computing and the like. Yeah, this company isn't going to be the next EA by targeting Amiga, but if they can pay there bills at the end of month and have fun coding, more power to 'em.

      Besides, with the right coding methods, ports are easy. Especially if your game doesn't need to compete with Doom III and can get by without assembly code.

      --
      Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    9. Re:AmigaOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hyperion have ported several games to Amiga in the past including Shogo: M.A.D., Freespace, Heretic II and Quake 2.

      They have been at a consistantly high level of quality.

      They are also first and foremost Amiga developers. They have already tried to port to the Linux market, but found out that the Amiga market was more viable. The Mac market is naturally even more so.

      Besides this they are also developing AmigaOS 4.0...

    10. Re:AmigaOS by Mike+Bouma · · Score: 4, Informative

      Hyperion is the company who is leading the AmigaOS4 project. They are very passionate about the Amiga platform.

      After the demise of Loki Games, Hyperion is probably the most important commercial Linux game developing company left on the market today. They now have a really impressive list of Amiga (and Linux/Mac) licenses and released products (Heretic2, Descent Freespace, Shogo, SiN, Soldier of Fortune, Majesty, Worms Armageddon, etc, etc!), but have been pretty quiet lately due to their top programmers leading the AmigaOS4 project, as well as being hired by Mai Logic for developing the AmigaOne/Teron firmware ROM.

      http://amigaworld.net/modules/news/article.php?s to ryid=278

      Considering their expertise in many different fields the "Entertainment" part of Hyperion's name is a bit misleading though. For instance they also have a AmigaOS4 license for porting Real3D, a great professional 3D Raytracer. They changed their name from Hyperion Software to Hyperion Entertainment simply because there was another company with the same name already.

      Keep up the excellent work Hyperion! :)

    11. Re:AmigaOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well... you might take into account that Hyperion is the company developing Amiga OS4 for Amiga Inc. That might explain why they have an interest in getting games ready for that platform :)

    12. Re:AmigaOS by master_p · · Score: 1

      You forgot the evil bit!!!

    13. Re:AmigaOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least usually Amiga games still sell 4x better
      than Linux games :) Still we'll give Linux "another chance".

      And what has an Amiga 1000 to do with doing current-time Amiga Software? Recent Amiga programs do not run on an A1000, the machine does not even have a PPC CPU which is required by most recent Amiga Software.

      Of course when the term "Amiga" comes up all sort of clueless morons feel like they have to comment.
      Usually you inform yourselves on an issue before commenting on it... instead of just putting out some unqualified comments. Not when the term "Amiga" is involved, of course.

      Steffen Haeuser
      Hyperion Entertainment

    14. Re:AmigaOS by downix · · Score: 1

      What the heck are you smoking there Mike?

      Might I point out Hyperions port of Shogo to the Macintosh? Things behind objects would be rendered in front of them! Yeah, high quality work, can't even do z-buffer removal.

      --
      Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
    15. Re:AmigaOS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Steffen Haeuser
      Hyperion Entertainment


      Nice anonymous posting, dumbfuck !

    16. Re:AmigaOS by POds · · Score: 0

      Hyperion not only develop games for AmigaOS, they're also developing AmigaOS4 to run on the new hardware AmigaOnes from Eyetech!

      --


      Giving IE users a taste of their own medicine since 2005 - http://pods.-is-a-geek.net/
    17. Re:AmigaOS by vortexau · · Score: 1

      What a brilliant insight you have .... a non-Palladium, non-spying-on-the-user, non-virii inflicted, non-Backdoor for the NSA, non-exorbinant licencing terms, non-subject to the whims of BG OS is doomed?

      Please! I'll continue on with Free Computing on PPC.
      I NEVER went over to The Dard Side!

      (This 68060 A2000 running Amiga OS3.5 enabled my reply)
      ,

      --
      (David Bowman, EVA near HUGE Monolithic Win-PC in orbit around Jupiter) "My God - its full of Malware!"
  5. Filling out the linux lineup by incom · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This oughta add a couple more genre's to the native linux market. Comercially speaking of course.

    --
    True genius is grasping a situation like a peice of fruit, and peircing it just right so that it drains dry.
  6. wow, good for IncaGold..... by Malor · · Score: 2, Funny

    Great move for them. Now they can break into the big leagues of Linux Gaming by releasing blockbusters like "Bowling USA" and "Family Collection", both 1 AND 2. Oooh.

    Me, I'm holding my breath for "Paintball Heroes".

    1. Re:wow, good for IncaGold..... by mtnharo · · Score: 1

      I personally hope that they do some tandem development and bring This one to Linux as well. Then they can be in the Big Leagues.

    2. Re:wow, good for IncaGold..... by mtnharo · · Score: 1

      Ah hell, fscked up my html. Not enough coffee tonight. That said, they need to bring This game to linux. Sorry bout that.

    3. Re:wow, good for IncaGold..... by dolson · · Score: 1

      Is it just me or do all of those screenshots look the same? (404s)

  7. Article says the Windows version will be faster. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  8. woo by nomadic · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I want to risk our company's future by supporting the Linux platform; it's not widely used, and the few people who do use it don't like paying for stuff."

    "Sounds a little bit too safe for me. Let's support AmigaOS too, and we'll be SURE to fail!"

    "Great idea, Bob!"

    1. Re:woo by Call+Me+Black+Cloud · · Score: 1

      Thank you for that post...I needed a good laugh. For that effort I proclaim you the winner of today's funniest post award. Your check is in the mail.

    2. Re:woo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      cheque, you stupid american
      get with the rest of the world

    3. Re:woo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      ``... and the few people who do use it [linux] don't like paying for stuff.''

      We like Free as in FreeDooM3? Right guys?

    4. Re:woo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The remaining Amiga users, though, actually do pay for software, and thus, in monetary terms, the amiga gaming market was found by hyperion to be larger than the linux market.

    5. Re:woo by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 1
      You obviously don't grasp reality.

      Unless you are a huge mega-corp with a heavy thumb on the distribution chain, you HAVE to take risks to survive.

      Henry Ford was considered crazy for making cheap cars.

      DuPont was hedging that the U.S. was actually going to win the war of 1812 when he set up a gunpowder factory here.

      Drake was drilling for Oil at a time when coal was king. He was within a few feet of his investors picking up stakes and leaving had he not struck oil.

      --
      "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
      --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
  9. Linux gaming is alive and well... by Toasty16 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Truly this is the dawn of a new era of interactive entertainment for Linux. I mean, how can you not be *ahem* bowled over by Bowling USA! Or if tossing heavy balls is not your thing, then try your hand at every podunk dweller's favorite pastime (not including watching NASCAR) with Paintball Heroes!

    Seriously, is this truly front page news? This seems more like a press release than a real story, and it's not really news to announce the Linuxification of Family Collection 1 and 2. And the last *real* game released by Hyperion for Linux was the poorly selling Shogo. It's gonna take more than a couple of B games to sprout a thriving Linux game community. Maybe the real starting point for Linux gaming is the distro for the PS2? At least I know one thing for sure: this is not it.

    1. Re:Linux gaming is alive and well... by British · · Score: 1

      Truly this is the dawn of a new era of interactive entertainment for Linux. I mean, how can you not be *ahem* bowled over by Bowling USA! [incagold.com] Or if tossing heavy balls is not your thing, then try your hand at every podunk dweller's favorite pastime (not including watching NASCAR) with Paintball Heroes! [incagold.com]

      Troy McClure of the Simpsons should be doing radio commercials for this. (you may have seen me in such films as...)

    2. Re:Linux gaming is alive and well... by An+Ominous+Cow+Erred · · Score: 2, Interesting

      (I should note here that all of this is just my personal opinion, and has nothing to do with Hyperion's position on anything.)

      Unfortunately I think that the days of people like Loki (and us for that matter) shelling out massive amounts of money to license absolute-top-tier games for Linux are over for the forseeable future. Loki did this and crashed and burned. We were burned hard by the Linux market as well. I think it says something when Amiga games outsell Linux ones.

      What you see here is Hyperion trying a different tack. IncaGold targets the "casual gaming" market. They don't produce epic RPGs or multi-million-dollar budget extravaganzas. Interestingly enough, these "casual" games in fact do quite well, at least in the 'doze market. Now I know the Linux market is different, but certainly Midnight Racing is a nice alternative to TuxRacer (which is not to say that I don't enjoy TuxRacer -- my favorite course is "Who Says Penguins Can't Fly?" :-).

      The only way I think you will see break-the-bank games released on Linux now are when the originating company produces its own port. Look at NWN, Doom 3, etc... These games are simply too expensive for license by a third party porting house like Loki (R.I.P.) or Hyperion.

      Look at it this way, now you have some fun, casual games you can use to play while you're bored. :-) And c'mon, doesn't "Paintball Heroes" sound fun to you?

  10. AmigaOS by obotics · · Score: 1

    Wow! That is really cool that there is someone still developing games for AmigaOS. Ah... those were the days :-)

  11. That's right, this ALMOST... by Kinryuu · · Score: 2, Funny

    . . . makes a dent in the PC Gaming market. IncaGold, publishers of such classics as Midnight Racing and . . . what else exactly? This is about as newsworthy as me deciding to port my SHA1 hasher utility to Linux. It will mean a whole new world opening up for hashing on Linux! Yeah, we almost care.

    1. Re:That's right, this ALMOST... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if you've got some good hash, then i know some parties where you will fit in very well - this might be the beggining of your social life

  12. Mindnight Racing is a terrible game by recap · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While it's nice to see Linux and even my old favorite Amiga OS get some new software Midnight Racing is a terrible game.

    I picked it up for the equivalent of about $2.50 US and felt thoroughly ripped off. While the screenshots look fine it plays like it was written by someone who's never been in a car much less driven one! On the bright side the DVD style case could be reused after throwing the game out.

    I hope their other titles are better but given Autobahn racing looks like it uses the same game engine I don't hold out much hope.

    --
    Cheap DVDs - Amazon with all the crap filtered out
    1. Re:Mindnight Racing is a terrible game by madmarcel · · Score: 2, Funny

      I distinctly remember three things about this awful game:

      1) It didn't matter which track you drove, they were all exactly alike. Lengths varied, but if you've seen the screenshots on the website...well...that's it. That's all you will see throughout the entire game. A highway at night. No change of scenery whatsoever.

      2) You steal the cars you drive. This is shown by means of a black screen...with some strange clickety-click sounds coming from the speakers...right.

      3) Whilst racing your monstrous beastly eh...not quite ferrari, not quite lamborghini car down the highway, with the engine roaring...you could hear birds singing in the trees and you could hear crickets in the grass along the highway...
      (Well...I think that's were they were hiding.. - maybe they were driving the other cars ;^)

      Hmmm...indeed a very bad game. Had some issues with the graphics as well IIRC, the lights on the cars that came towards you would change colour at random. Or all the lights would just dissappear.

  13. Interesting? Maybe not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Its nice to see some games coming to linux - however they are clearly bargain bin games. Thats fine and all but lets hope they stay priced as bargain bin games.

    Perhaps making these games open source might be a good idea. If Incagold really want to encourage interest in these games I think the interest will lie in modifying the engine to people's own devices.

    Otherwise we're just looking at a sad indication of the fact that our choices are so few that people who make hasty, poor quality games can envision taking advantage and profiteering with this.

    I digress though, no offence to Incagold, I'm sure they have talented coders who could write good stuff if they had the unlimited budgets and timeframes of some game houses.

  14. Linux and games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Linux and (good) Games.
    A contradiction in terms.

    Trolling aside, I must say this is a good thing. We're getting tired of Tuxracer...

    1. Re: Linux and games? by nova20 · · Score: 1
      Trolling aside, I must say this is a good thing. We're getting tired of Tuxracer... amen to that. I think it's horribly short-sighted and possibly elitist to say that linux is not widely used... sure, it's not as widely used as windows, but I'd never say it's "not widely used". More and more I see schools switching to linux because of licencing issues with micro$oft, or just because of a distain for the company in general. Schools that use linux breed linux users. Also, at tech schools (like Georgia Institute of Technology), I'd say at *least* half the student population runs linux... probably more since there's at least one class that all but requires you to run linux. And who plays computer games? computer nerds. Techies.

      I've read *too* many posts on /. forums (of all places) that say linux is "insecure" or "not widely used" or just a bad OS. I'll grant that linux is not for everyone, but it does have a large group of supporters! And if linux is "insecure", then you should take a hard look at an unconfigured windows server.

      Well, that's my $.02. Then again, I didn't install linux for the games (tuxracer *is* getting pretty old), but I would like, for once, to be able to play a decent game without having to reboot to windows.

      /tim

    2. Re: Linux and games? by Azureflare · · Score: 1
      And NWN and UT2003?

      Come on, games aren't nearly as bad as people make out for linux. We've got something at least ^^;

    3. Re: Linux and games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      kekekeke ^^;

      <("<) <(` ')> (>")>

  15. Please bring it to SunOS and Unicos. by phat152kk · · Score: 0
    Please bring it to SunOS and Unicos.
    Some of us have real computers and generate reality like at www.matrix4.net - so please open the doors a little more and port this amazing software to more higher end machines.

    -- Amy

    --
    ---- Matrix 4 http://www.matrix4.net
  16. Not much of a lineup sadly. by mrseigen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic that Linux is getting more games. I love games. It's just that your average Joe definitely isn't going to jump on with Linux if the entire game collection consists of clones of other games and very few "big-name" games will run on it.

    Porthouses like Hyperion need to start talking to the developers that make big-name games, considering that the publishers certainly aren't taking a chance on it. Simplistic? Yeah. Idealistic? Definitely. But it needs to happen.

    1. Re:Not much of a lineup sadly. by Ami+Ganguli · · Score: 1

      You have to start somewhere.

      I think there a lot of people (like me, for example) who aren't really into games, but wouldn't mind being able to do some laptop racing on a long flight. FreeCiv used to fill that role for me, but I'm bored with it. Something like Midnight Racer could keep me entertained for a while.

      --
      It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow
    2. Re:Not much of a lineup sadly. by nova20 · · Score: 3, Funny
      switching to linux because of the games is like deciding to be a gas-station attendant for the money.

      /tim

    3. Re:Not much of a lineup sadly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think Linux is getting more games, there are basically just a handful. Sometime go look in a game store or check out Amazon.com, Amazon shows about 10 games, few hundred for the Mac, and everything for Win32. Companies & Linux people need to get with commerce and $ :-) Anoth poing is having to run a game under Wine does not make it a Linux game, they just ignored Linux again and Linux people have to suffer by trying to get a Windows program to run.
      I think games companies and game stores are scared to provide any kind of support and are a scared of intelligent Linux people.

    4. Re:Not much of a lineup sadly. by idries · · Score: 1
      >Porthouses like Hyperion need to start talking to the developers that make big-name games, considering that the publishers certainly aren't taking a chance on it. Simplistic? Yeah. Idealistic? Definitely. But it needs to happen.

      Why? I'm a programmer, working in a game studio, and I'd like to know why everyone expects this to happen. In my previous career (internet/database programmer) I was a big user and advocate of Linux in my workplace(s) because there was a clear cost saving to my employer(s) and a number of other plus points to going the Linux route. I just don't see this for games tho'. There is no commercial reason for us to port our games to Linux. The only extra sales that it gives you are customers who

      1. Have a PC
      2. That meets your min spec
      3. That has Linux (and a version of linux that u can support).
      4. That does not have a version of Windows installed as well (or access to another windows machine).

      Now, consider that taking time out to do a Linux port will essentially mean taking features out of the Win32/Console version(s) of the game (or leaving bugs in ;) I just don't see the commerical logic here at all. When the market is there (i.e. there are enough Linux users who want to buy games, who don't have Windows machines, to pay for the extra time required to perform/support/test the port) then studios will consider it seriously, until then, why should we bother?

      BTW - I think that doing a Linux/Unix version of the server components of a multiplayer game is a good thing, my doubts don't extend to that.
    5. Re:Not much of a lineup sadly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think this average Joe/joe sixpack guy is an idiot.

      I mean seriously, he doesn't like linux? wtf? I say get rid of him.

  17. Ah very impressive... by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Three of these things belong together
    Three of these things are kind of the same
    Can you guess which one of these doesn't belong here?
    Now it's time to play our game!


    Now let's play our game!

    "Half Life 2"

    "Doom 3"

    "Midnight Racer"

    "GTA3 Vice City"

    --
    "Derp de derp."
    1. Re:Ah very impressive... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would have to be GTA - the one that makes you feel seasick when the framerate drops to around 10 fps.

    2. Re:Ah very impressive... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GTA 3 -- It's the only one that's been released (well, MR is released, but not for linux, which is the point of the article. Oh, and slashdot's "you must have this much content to enter" filters suck).

  18. And in other news... by fireman+sam · · Score: 5, Funny

    AMD is in a battle with Microsoft to force the version of Mozilla with support for Ogg Vorbis to be ported to Linux.

    Damn, this is front page stuff!

    --
    it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
    1. Re:And in other news... by Zakabog · · Score: 1

      But the Ogg Vorbis support that was ported to Linux won't work on AMD processors due to a legal battle with Microsoft involving Mozilla.

  19. Hollow Victory by mojowantshappy · · Score: 1

    Ok, I do think it is great that anyone is porting ANY games to linux... but... Midnight Racer? I mean, who cares?

    --

    This page was generated by a Barrel of Circus Midgets, and that is the way I like it!!!

  20. Oh boy! by sabNetwork · · Score: 1

    OMG You mean I'll be able to play all those popular games on my Linux box? No way!

  21. Midnight Racer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I grabbed the "demo" before the site got slow. It's just a scripted movie, nothing interactive. There's still a fair number of rendering defects, and they seem to be preoccupied with lens flares. I've seen better.

  22. Re:What kinda Gentoo user plays games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Debian being the most stable OS, is probably the most favored, specially the almost non-existant adminstiration after installation. Ofcourse you are not qualitifed to reply to this post if you use SID or testing.

  23. MR - graphics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I downloaded the PC version of Midnight Racer and the graphics are pretty lame. Definitely not on par with the most current round of EA's NASCAR and F1 titles. More like GT:2 for the PS1.

  24. EA's NASCAR? Please. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    EA has NEVER been able to approach Papyrus' NASCAR Racing series, even in their wildest dreams. And if you're not interested in running Bills's OS but want to play a NASCAR simulation, get NASCAR Racing 2003 Season for Macintosh (read Unix). In addition to the stock CD material, you'll have access to 1000s of usermade drop in paint schemes from the Windows version, and hundreds of additional tracks made from scratch and converted from previous games.

    Learn about the OSX versions of these games here.

    However, not everyone enjoys sim racing. For quality arcade racers, the consoles are a better platform for that.

    1. Re:EA's NASCAR? Please. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      EA has a large(18%) interest in Sierra.

  25. B Game? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shogo: MAD is a great game! Just try it, you can get it for $10 at many places (of course for Windows). The only reason it was poor selling is because it had to go up against Half Life, which was released at about the same time. I wouldn't be surprised if Half Life is still one of the top selling FPSs compared to more recent FPSs. If you're under an NT based OS, you might have problems getting the game to run with hardware 3d acceleration. Just type fpsmax xx where xx is your monitor's refresh rate. Of course you need to have some type of program that fixes NT's refresh rate bug.

  26. Re:What kinda Gentoo user plays games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Hardcore gamers are quite different from Joe Sixpack, the extremes they will go to for a "few fps more" include things like physically hacking their motherboards and/or video cards.

    Gentoo seems like a distro made for such people, just don't tell them to
    emerge --update nethack

    or you might not hear from them for weeks.

  27. Re:What kinda Gentoo user plays games? by yem · · Score: 1

    Its this kinda elitist garbage that scares people away from linux, they try it once and think its hard to use because someone recommends Gentoo.

    The poster did not recommend Gentoo. Read it again. Or do you simply resent the fact that he chose Gentoo at all?

    Go back to your winex trolling.

    --
    No, I did not read the f***ing article!
  28. Re:Go ahead and rate me off topic if you want but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    personal experience:
    Mandrake 6.1 to 8.2:
    Easy install hell once you used rpm, broke rpmdrake
    RedHat 8.0:
    Easy install, not impressed, cheap apt-get imitation, but much better than rpm -i ... by hand
    Gentoo:
    havent tried, dont have time to bother with it.
    Debian:
    Not as pritty install, intimitating questions not as easy. Maintain is easy as heck and if a WinBlows user cant point and click on what packages he wants (kpackage/synaptic) then i dont see why Windows is easier. Once installed, i find Debian apt-get very easy to use and have done things a WHOLE lot faster than i did in winblows. Looked for 30 min for a sound editor for winblows, free trial for 30 days or featurs missing. Debian i "apt-cache search sound | grep editor" and bing choose one. 5 min (on 56k :-( ) and I was editing music. "...how the newbie who can barely use Windows needs to compile all their own drivers..." dont know about Gentoo, but .deb is a LOT better than .rpm and your sentence implies you think .rpm is the only package manager!

    again this is just my experience, and i am a college programmer anyhow but it was that last sentence that bothered me.

  29. And all the Linux elves rejoice! by grolschie · · Score: 1

    Its nice to see some games coming to linux - however they are clearly bargain bin games

    But they' will soon be "our bargain bin games".. **cough** **cough** I mean, who's complaining, they've gotta be better than "trophy", "race", "rallyx", right? I am just glad it's not yet another tired rpg or fps.

    I am glad to see more companies supporting GNU/Linux. Yay!

  30. Yes, but is the game as good as "Pitstop 2"? by grolschie · · Score: 1

    Someone tell me that I can now put away my C-64.

    1. Re:Yes, but is the game as good as "Pitstop 2"? by WWWWolf · · Score: 1
      Someone tell me that I can now put away my C-64.

      PCs just don't have all the good games, I don't think we can get rid of C64 yet... Some nice PC titles have surfaced on genres that are difficult to implement on C64 (large RPGs are really cool on PC, without the constant floppy swapping, and the graphics are finally starting to get better than some of the best C64 titles...)

      did you know they haven't even produced a single fun soccer game for PC? EA is rumored to push some garbage for the unsuspecting masses (thus has it always been, and thus it shall always be!), but that's about that, nothing as good as the good ol' Commodore's International Football. Sad. Really sad.

      (This message was 85% serious. =)

    2. Re:Yes, but is the game as good as "Pitstop 2"? by grolschie · · Score: 1

      There was an excellent C-64 soccer game called "Microprose Soccer". It had an outdoor and an indoor version. Both had amazing gfx and 2 player gameplay! It had a in-the-sky-looking-down view, and the ball got bigger as it was kicked in the air towards the camera. The world cup tournament rocked - gave Oman a thrashing every time!

      http://s64.emuunlim.com/maps/microprosesoccer/micr oprosesoccer.htm

    3. Re:Yes, but is the game as good as "Pitstop 2"? by WWWWolf · · Score: 1
      There was an excellent C-64 soccer game called "Microprose Soccer".

      Oh, yeah, Microprose Soccer, how could I forget. Nice enough playability and I particularly liked the cool and very authentic looking replays, looked like real videotape rewinds and all =)

      I was never a big fan of top-down sports games, though (not sure why), International Soccer was isometric side-view...

  31. Quality-not quantity. by Martigan80 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That about says it all; sure we want more games on Linux but I think we want to see quality games. Sorry but with the hardware we have these days we should expect more from a game. The graphics from this game look a bit dated. What worries me is how much do they want to charge for this product? If they even think about $20 they will have one heck a battle in the sales department. Yeah, yeah I know they don't have the big teams like ID, EA, or anyone else. This doesn't excuse one of putting out a crappy game. For those people that want to prove Linux is better than Windows in every aspect-don't show them this game.

    --
    This SIG pulled due to lack of funding. (This damn war is costing too much!)
    1. Re:Quality-not quantity. by blixel · · Score: 1

      That about says it all; sure we want more games on Linux but I think we want to see quality games.

      I agree about quality being are more important than quanity. I bought a GameCube just so I could play Metroid Prime. (And I went ahead and got a few other games too since I had the console. But Metroid Prime is the reason I bought it.)

      Actually I'm about done with PC gaming. I like the idea of tossing in a disc, pressing power, and being "off to the races". As soon as consoles get up to par with Network gaming including Internet and LAN gaming, I doubt I'll ever install a PC game again.

      And just think of the money I'll save on hardware!

  32. Re:Linux gaming is alive... Shogo was a GREAT game by filledwithloathing · · Score: 1

    Shogo was a GREAT game. It was very FUN to play. I'd recommend you try it if you can find a copy cheap.

    --
    Are you a VF grad? Check out the VFMA Alumni Forums VFMA Alumni Forum
  33. What about FreeBSD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Will this be ported to FreeBSD too? That's what I run on my desktop now.

  34. Re:What kinda Gentoo user plays games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Someone has to lead the way. Gamers more than any other subgroup are behind the technology's dizzying upward spiral. They're also the most technically literate non-professionals out there, happily scripting away game binds and running servers. Gentoo's new gaming kernel is chock full of low-latency patches for your gaming pleasure and will provide a much, Much, MUCH better impression of the platform's potential than Redhat or Mandrake, both fine distros themselves.
    First the best, then the rest will follow.

  35. Honestly by rsilvergun · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Linux doesn't need that many games, just a few key titles. Sure, the hard core gamers are constantly looking for something new. But for us casual gamers, things were perfected around the time of Starcraft, Half-Life and Unreal Tournament. Yeah, it's nice to have new levels and graphics, and a few new play modes. I for one don't need yet another deathmatch game. But for the most part older games are just fine. Now if we could just get some OEMs to start including decent graphics cards and maybe bundling some games...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or perhaps a few good shooters? Not that there aren't a few ok ones, I suppose Chromium BSU is ok, Pom Pom's games are nice and it's been fun to play Raptor once more. Perhaps something like (wink wink, nudge nudge) Radiant Silvergun? Or Ikaruga? Though I doubt Treasure will ever even consider Linux.

      On that thought, perhaps a Gunstar Heroes re-make with current gfx would be nice also.

    2. Re:Honestly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Linux doesn't need that many games...But for us casual gamers, things were perfected around the time of Starcraft ...except that Starcraft doesn't run on Linux. Blizzard have always been pretty clear that they have no interest in the Linux market what-so-ever.

  36. Re:erm... HAHAHAHA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Burn!!

  37. Re:It all gets erased by the mods anyway... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It doesn't get erased. It simply disappears off the radar of fools who browse above -1.

    I can't see why anyone would browse any other way than "-1 flat"

    anon

  38. Re:It all gets erased by the mods anyway... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Tux racer is all Linux should be allowed to have..
    Bastards want to be known as Gamers?

    Then DONT USE LINUX

    and before you give me that crap about linux needs games to get more popular, therefore get more games.. Ill reply with this.
    It aint a Fucking X-box.. at best its an Email server.. or a hobby toy.. but for games.. get serious.

  39. Re:What kinda Gentoo user plays games? by An+Ominous+Cow+Erred · · Score: 1

    Jeez, I DON'T recommend Gentoo to Joe Sixpack. Actually, when a total newbie asks me about Linux, what I've done lately is hand him a Knoppix CD. Knoppix is easy-peasy to use since it requires no installation, and as long as the user has enough RAM (pref 256 megs or better) it runs decently.

    Later on I point them to Red Hat or Mandrak or SUSE or some other easy-to-use distro.

    Gentoo is what I run on my personal machines. For a user who wants all the latest stuff running at its optimum speeds on a custom system, Gentoo is simply the bee's knees. It's also incredibly easy to maintain, despite its relatively involved installation process. I love Gentoo.

    That said, this evangelizing is kind of off-topic, but I felt the need to explain myself. :-P

  40. Re:Blaine...you should talk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They dont.. thats the editor's hound dog with unlimited Mod points and M2 immunity.. eat your censorship and like it

  41. Are YOU going to pony up the cash? by Svartalf · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Titles like Tropico, GTA, etc. cost large sums of money just to get the privilage to port them. This is part of the reason why Loki went under in the first place- too many top titles too soon. You probably won't see a port of Tropico unless one of the LGP people win the lottery in their respective locations as the publisher and studio want way, way too much (which is their right, afterall) for it to be economical to port it. The same goes for Warcraft (and anything else from Blizzard), any part of the GTA franchise, sports games from EA, etc...

    To be sure, while I'm glad Hyperion's back in the Linux porting business, I'm a little confused as to why they're working with what is basically a valu-soft style company. However, if they're priced accordingly, they'll probably do okay at it all the same.

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  42. Well... by dolson · · Score: 1

    It can't be as bad as that free game called Racer... Unless they've fixed it in the last three months, I remember driving off a track, trough the wall, and into the big blue nothingness. TuxRacer is gonna be hard to beat though...

    1. Re:Well... by fafaforza · · Score: 1

      Sure, Racer may not be as polished as your run-of-the-mill arcade racer released by an entire development team, but at least it strives to achieve something commendable: creating an auto simulator that allows for easily made add-on cars and tracks. I am sure there are many more features as I haven't followed it that closely. It is based on ODE, an open source rigid body dynamics library and is being written by one person who is more concerne with the physics than making another arcade racer, selling a few copies and having the game totally forgotten within 3 months. Racer might go the way of Grand Prix Legends, which, 5 years after being released, is still being actively updated by the community and is THE greatest racing simulator available today ( next to NACAR{2002,2003} ).

      TuxRacer will disappear into the oblivion and Racer, like GPL, might be THE shit as far as 6 years from now.

    2. Re:Well... by dolson · · Score: 1

      Racer isn't under the GPL, if you're trying to say it is (http://www.racer.nl/legal.htm).

      Either way, it needs a lot of work. I mean, it's not really playable when you fall off of the world...

  43. Re:What kinda Gentoo user plays games? by HanzoSan · · Score: 1



    I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about these fools who offer Debian to complete newbies then wonder why we have newbies saying Linux is so hard and they cant use it.

    --
    If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
  44. Tired RPG?? by dolson · · Score: 1

    Oh my, we have Neverwinter Nights now, I guess that's too many RPGs for Linux!

    We'd better get one racing game and then we're all set. No more games ported after that please. One of each genre is plenty.

  45. AmigaOS? by elixx · · Score: 1

    Are you sure this isn't a repost from, say, several years ago?

    --
    No, Beowulf clusters can't imagine in Soviet Russia.
    1. Re:AmigaOS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Despite what you may think, the Amiga is very much alive. =p

  46. I'm really glad... by dolson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...that all the Linux users keep on shooting down all the games that Hyperion considers porting. I mean, why should they bother? No one has anything good to say about it, and the same jokes are being said over and over again.

    We could have had a port of Tzar, but no, everyone had to complain about it, and now we could get a racing game, but it's not good enough...

    I recommend Hyperion to just go the way of Tribsoft and forget they ever considered Linux.

    1. Re:I'm really glad... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      That's because the titles they're porting are the same jokes being released over again. Either bring out something new with linux support at launch time, or bring out something old but seriously classic, immortal as it were, and not already copied by everyone a zillion times. Otherwise, who cares? When you port a game that's so crappy that you might as well rewrite it anyway, something that ended up in the ninety nine cent rack of software etc more often than not... Who can muster the effort to cheer? Port something good fer chrissakes.

      (Note: Shogo counts as something good, but that game was outdated when it was released. It's not a top-shelf game, and it never was. The way shadows stick out into open space is a disgrace.)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:I'm really glad... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but it's not good enough...

      Get freaking real dude. I'd rather see yet another good Quake mod than the crap they are porting.

    3. Re:I'm really glad... by Zathrus · · Score: 1

      I'm really glad you can't see a total freaking joke when you see one. It's so much easier to separate a fool from his money.

      Look at IncaGold's website. Just look at it. I don't care how old and crusty Hyperion's website may be, IncaGold's is downright dead. They're thanking people who dropped by their booth at E3. That's great. But know what? This year's E3 hasn't happened yet (it's May 22-24), so they're referring to LAST YEAR. They talk about licensing Traitors Gate, which they think will be a big seller in 2002... uh... we're already in 2Q03.

      So pardon me and other Linux users if we don't jump in joy over games that are old, never sold well, and don't appear to have a living company behind them. After all, if we want that then there are a few thousand games available via MAME.

    4. Re:I'm really glad... by dolson · · Score: 1

      Suit yourself, but when Hyperion calls it quits for good, it won't be a wonder.

      I'm still amazed to see how the Linux community can feel good about killing off two porting companies like that.

    5. Re:I'm really glad... by Zathrus · · Score: 1

      Why should I feel bad about watching a stupid business model fail?

      I mean... really. They're not porting anything that a significant number of people are interested in. And somehow this is our fault that they fail? Hey... you know what? If you port something people actually want then you might succeed! Of course, doing that costs money, while I suspect that Inca gave Hyperion the code for free with royalties on sales - after all, it costs Inca nothing to do it in that case and they may actually get some revenue from it. But it's still a stupid move on Hyperion's side, because there's no way they'll recoup costs. Period. End of story.

      Frankly, porting is a hopeless business in the game world. You won't recoup costs. If it's not available for Linux at release then most people are going to buy the Windows version and dual boot, play on another machine, or whatever. By the time you release a Linux version the game will be old, and you certainly won't be able to sell it at full price to recoup costs. Most of your market will have already purchased it and so has it already, presuming they haven't tired of it.

    6. Re:I'm really glad... by dolson · · Score: 1

      >

      So then you do agree with Hyperion and Tribsoft's opinions that Linux users aren't loyal to Linux. Why are we arguing?

      Go Linux users, go!

  47. i cant by m1chael · · Score: 0

    believe some of you people are saying. they are porting their games to linux because they feel like (for some reason i dont know) and you dont have to play their games if you dont like them. i dont see how this is a bad thing even if there are old games, its not like they are bundled with your kernel.

    --
    I know you are psychotic, but please make an effort.
  48. Re:What kinda Gentoo user plays games? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did you steal all the bee knees again...
    I was wondering where they all went.

    --Bee knee-keeper

  49. Linux Game Publishing? by Svartalf · · Score: 1

    While I won't say that Hyperion's not important, isn't what LGP doing something of similar importance? I'd hate to think I was working for nothing now... :->

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
    1. Re:Linux Game Publishing? by An+Ominous+Cow+Erred · · Score: 1

      (Again, I should mention that anything I say here is my own opinion, not Hyperion's.)

      I think Mike's just being enthusiastic. :-) LGP certainly has a stronger commitment to Linux than Hyperion does, so "most important" probably isn't exactly correct.

      Plus, that doesn't take into account first-party developers who do Linux ports like Bioware. It's very important for Linux gaming that developers continue to want to do ports of their games.

      That said, there's not exactly a lot of third-party publishers left. It's not too hard to be the most important, or the second-most important. :-/

      Anyway, all game-related stuff aside, I have to bow in respect to Svartalf, who has a much lower/cooler Slashdot ID number than I do. :-)

    2. Re:Linux Game Publishing? by Mike+Bouma · · Score: 1

      Well, I did state "probably". It's just a personal judgement based on all the high profile game licenses they we able to acquire.

      But I believe the Amiga and Mac markets are likely far more important to Hyperion. Mac as a good sales platform and Amiga for their future ambitions and passion.

    3. Re:Linux Game Publishing? by An+Ominous+Cow+Erred · · Score: 1

      Oops watch the posts pile up that can lead to misunderstaning. By "Mike" I mean Mike Bouma, not Simms. :-) Mike Bouma is an enthusiastic supporter, and it's cool that he thinks so highly of Hyperion, but LGP has a few more Linux releases under its belt, so they would probably qualify as the "most important", at least among the third-party developers.

      I enthusiastically await Disciples 2. ^_^

      (Incidentally, did people complain about Candy Cruncher because it wasn't some epic RPG or million-dollar budget FPS? :-)

    4. Re:Linux Game Publishing? by Svartalf · · Score: 1

      (I know this is not up on the main area, but I'm posting it as an aside, just in case you're following your posts)

      To my knowlege, I don't think anyone is complaining about Candy Cruncher- or really even commenting about it. Surprising, really.

      --
      I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  50. I don't believe it was Hyperion for Tzar... by Svartalf · · Score: 1

    Michael Simms is the CEO of LGP and he was the one that was asking about it on LinuxGames. I know, I was one of the ones that responded in the negative (This was before I signed on with them- they actually had a better game in the process of being approved, Disiples 2...). Tzar was an okay game, but not okay enough in my opinion to bother with it.

    Racing games, eh? I'd have thought that Ballistics would count for that category.

    As for the stuff Hyperion's porting, more power to them. I'll probably buy certain titles from them because they're a short diversion worth $10 or so.

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
    1. Re:I don't believe it was Hyperion for Tzar... by dolson · · Score: 1

      LGP was going to publish it, but Hyperion was going to port it.

      And Ballistics isn't even in beta yet, so does it really count?

    2. Re:I don't believe it was Hyperion for Tzar... by Svartalf · · Score: 1

      Didn't know Hyperion was going to be doing the porting- I'd assumed that Michael was going to do the same thing he's doing with Ballistics, etc. To be honest, the LGP people were split down the middle on it and it just didn't look like as much of a game compared to Disiples or Majesty. And, I'll make the observation that LGP not publishing it isn't the killer for this game- Hyperion could still produce it with a different publisher. One should note that I don't see a burning demand (Though I suspect there will be one shortly) for this sort of thing. People are whining for things like DooM 3, Unreal 2, EA's Sports games, etc.

      As for Ballistics, it's no different than the other game. "It's not even started yet, so does it really count?" I think you already know the answer to that question.

      --
      I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
    3. Re:I don't believe it was Hyperion for Tzar... by dolson · · Score: 1

      And just how many other Linux game publishers are there? Come on now, be for real. Who would touch a Linux port by Hyperion?

      People whining for things doesn't help anything. We're not getting EA Sports games, we're not getting Unreal 2, we're not getting BF1942. At this stage, we should be glad we get anything.

      Ballistics is a racing game, sure, but it doesn't have cars in it. It's more like Wipeout XL or something. You or I may not care, and we just like the fact that we're getting a racing game, but some people don't think it's the same... And I can see their point.

  51. Surprised is the word I have in mind... by Svartalf · · Score: 1

    It's a change from what you all had been doing. Not a bad change, mind, just that it's completely different. Midnight Racer, if priced right, might well be a good alternative to TuxRacer. There's a few other games (Paintball Hero's not one of them, though... :-) that might fall under that category (Something like that Soccer game might be nice... :-)

    Anyhow, it's GREAT to see you back in the Linux game market- let's hope it's better for you this time around than last time around.

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  52. I can hear it comming now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Woohoo! ... Now I never have to boot to Windows again!

  53. Linux == Terrorism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How can they expect a terrorist to play Midnight Racer? We want Doom3 god damn...

  54. Traitor's gate could be fun by LarsWestergren · · Score: 2, Insightful

    People don't seem to be too impressed with the quality of the games. I haven't heard of most of them, so I can't comment on them, except on Traitor's Gate. The Swedish company Daydream did a game called "Safecracker" way back. A very addictive little puzzle game, you had to crack all the safes in a house with a time limit. One or two of the safes were based on real safes, others were logic, mechanical or cypher puzzles. The game wasn't true 3d but used the Quicktime system where you can stand still and look around 360 degrees. When you click to move forward on one of the hotspots it plays a little movie until you reach the next place where you can stand still and look around.

    Traitor's Gate seemed to be a bit updated version of it with a bit more action. There were guards, and you had some Thief style non-lethal ways of dealing with them, but if you were spotted it was game over. The few people who noticed it gave it quite decent reviews.

    --

    Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die

  55. Re:What kinda Gentoo user plays games? by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 1
    That and who can forget the bootable unreal tournemant CD listed along with the Stage-3 ISO images.

    Ever since switching to Gentoo, I have actually been using my Linux partition MORE for gaming than I ever did before. Granted, part of that was FINALLY getting my ATI's all-in-wonder tv-tuner to work with X so I could plot my PS/2 on screen...

    But hey, just think of how many people drop buckets of clams on the latest and greatest video card and then have it hobbles by 2-bit drivers, or worse, DirectX.

    I really think the Gentoo source based approach is the way to go. I spend less time compiling than it ever took me to futz with binaries to get my box optimized. I never knew what a powerhouse my Athlon-XP was until I finally had an OS compiled properly for it.

    My god, I want to go out an buy an opteron now...

    --
    "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
    --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
  56. Ooh, I know! I know! Me me me! by paulcammish · · Score: 1
    Its Doom 3 - its one only one that will require a PC from 3 years after its released to run at a decent speed!

    (Anyways, arent these game jokes supposed to have Duke Nukem Forever somewhere?)

  57. Game Titles by StormReaver · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm not a big game player, so I'm not that upset with the limited game selection on Linux. However, I do like to play them sometimes. I bought the tin-box Linux version of Q3A, bought UT and downloaded the Linux installer, and bought RtCW for Linux.

    Last year I bought a PS2 to satisfy my non-FPS gaming desires. Since then I've bought about eight games for it (GTA, GTA/VC, Spiderman, ATV Offroad-whatchamacallit, and a few others I can't recall right now). I mostly play them with several cheats enabled to bring them down to a level where they're fun. I'm not a gaming purist. I have games to pass some time and divert my attention for a while, not to forge a new lifestyle (which is why I won't buy or play NWN or participate in any MMORPG).

    The point of all this? I'm more than willing to pay for quality games that I'll only play every now and then, and they don't necessarily have to be big blockbusters.

    Two of the most enjoyable games I've been playing recently aren't even commercial. I've been playing FooBillard off and on for a few weeks, and I love the game (I'm not even a pool fan). Same thing with Kolf. They're quite simple (from a playability perspective) and a great way to recharge my brain after (or while) working.

    High quality doesn't have to mean expensive or big name. Too many game designers are focusing heavily on visual effects and too little on re/playability. Castle Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake were brilliant (I am quite impressed with Carmack and co.) in terms of both replayability (I still fire them up from time to time) and uniqueness.

    But now everyone and his brother (and including Carmack and co.) keeps pumping these rehashes out. When I had first heard of RtCW, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. After playing it for a while, though, it quickly dawned on me how repetitive and uninspired it was. It just just another Quake with different graphics and a new storyline. The gameplay was the same old stuff. Like Star Wars and Star Trek, it's time to let these franchises take a vacation.

    I know that John, for example, is capable of great gameplay insights, and I'm still greatful that he is allowing for Linux versions of ID games (and releasing old games under the GPL!). But I just can't bring myself to buy yet another FPS or common rehash.

    I remember from years ago, a company called MVP [Software | Games] made a very simplistic but incredibly fun game based on the 1991 gulf war. I had no money back then, but I would have bought the full version if I could have. Now that was different and fun. It was shareware, and would have been well worth the money.

    Now that I've been gainfully employed for a few years, I have discretionary income that's looking for fresh outlets. If shareware game makers would use OpenGL/SDL and exercise creativity, I'd be happy to pay for their products. As it stands, games have become mostly monotonous and trite over the last couple years.

  58. Re:What kinda Gentoo user plays games? by xchino · · Score: 1

    I'm a gentoo user and I play tons of games on my box. It's probably easier for a gentoo user to get a gaming system up and going because WineX is in the portage tree. There are also a ton of games and game servers in the portage tree including quake,q2,q3, ut2k3, and servers for them. Don't forget Gentoo is the distro that releases a live boot cd with the nvidia drivers and UT2k3 demo on it. People who say Linux isn't for games, just don't know how.

    --
    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
  59. Windows selling for US$2.50 by grolschie · · Score: 1

    2nd hand auction for Windows version can't find a bidder at US$2.50 (NZ$5.00). LOL

    http://www.trademe.co.nz/Gaming/PC-games-Action/au ction-3657085.htm