Gentoo Games

TheSurfer writes "Today, Gentoo announced the creation of Gentoo Games, 'a gaming technology company created to deliver innovative Linux-based game technologies to the public'. They also released a GameCD with the full version of America's Army. For more information, see the threads in the forums here and here."

Comments

I would have read the article

[Neophytus]

but I cann't seem to find one! A couple forum threads about the game doesn't really count.

Anyone got more information about the company?

Is this the answer?

[steelerguy]

For some reason I just don't think this is going to make that much of a difference to your Linux user/Gamer. Unless they can get the game developers to actually develop Linux ports at the same time they are doing their Windows design then we will just continue to see a few old games ported over. By old I mean like 1 year of course.

I think this is a great idea, and I love Gentoo, but I know I will be keeping a Windows partition around to dual boot until more companies like id (read Valve!!!) release for both Windows and Linux at the same time.

America's Army

[anarchima]

Anyone else find that America's Army game kind of sick? Sort of glorifies the horrors of war by caricaturing it through a cartoon-like portrayal. Plus, it makes it look like war is a cakewalk for a teenage audience. Reality is people dying, not losing 20 points off your health.

Re:Recruiting Tool

[Elderly Isaac]

I don't know about "cunning ploy." They are pretty open about the purpose of the game, especially as they have to justify the cost of its creation to the taypaying public. Recruiting is needed to run a volunteer army the size of America's; this is not any markedly different from TV or mailing campaigns.

I suspect the government (and parents who buy their kids the game) see it this way: if kids are going to play violent games anyway, why not get the kid a game where violence is at least being carried out for a "positive" goal, as opposed to games like Postal or Grand Theft Auto which depict criminal acts, or games like Quake and Unreal where the violence is mindless and the only point. There are other objectives in America's Army, and, while there may be some discrepencies, it is not a totally inaccurate and unrealistic idea of military service [i.e. you can't take 40 hits before dying]. Most Americans respect members of the armed forces, whether you agree with it or not, and see it as having a positive influence. Any good parent would have a serious talk with their child about the armed forces before their kid decides to march into the local recruiting office based on a video game.

I suspect most of those who play are quite immune from the propagandizing effect anyway, and simply enjoy the game.

Re:Games on Linux

[Glock27]

What I don't get is why spend time/money on games like America's Army. Is the game free software?

Free as in beer. I don't think it's open source. It is well-done, from what I've seen.

And why such blatant propaganda for militarism?

It's the American Way. (The American Way apparently consists of lots of violence along with minimal sex.;)

Flamebait: I wonder what Joe Lieberman thinks about the US Army being involved in creating violent video games. Of course, far be it from a Democrat to actually take a stand on something. :)

America's Army takes the wimpy way out - no blood etc.

It really ought to use Doom 3 type graphics to really educate people about war and the military - but no.

As to Lieberman...who cares? ;-)