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

Possible legal problems?

[borgdows]

Their logo looks very like the Nintendo Gamecube logo.

The description is very vague

[defile]

1. Are they going to produce a super optimized distro for games?

2. Are they planning to aggressively port popular games to Linux?

3. Are they planning to develop games from scratch?

From the announcement, it suggests that they're doing 1 and/or 2...

Re:The description is very vague

[stratjakt]

I've always thought that was a cool idea, and I've made some of my own bootable game cds, with emulators and other stuff on 'em. It works great for the little PC I have setup on the TV.

I also have a mini-distro on a HDD that will load up quick, and play a VCD/DVD on bootup if one is in the drive. (I like the Mini-ITX boards with DVD software in firmware, I'd love to be able to have a real PC mobo with that capability)

Anyways, the only real problem is the drivers and the ever evolving hardware. I replace my video or sound card, and all of a sudden my old game cds are useless.

They're easy enough to recreate, but it's enough that it can never really turn a PC into a playstation.

Re:The description is very vague

[Apreche]

Are they going to make it easier to install their operating system? Gamers aren't going to go through the mind numbing process of installing gentoo when they can install windows by pressing enter twice.

I see the future of gaming is boot cds and boot dvds. Take a knoppix type hardware detection base add a light weight graphics front end, the nvidia driver, the ati driver (who seriously uses a different card?), and a surround sound library. Load the whole mother into RAM and go for it. Read fmvs and load levels and maps from disc.

No matter what your OS you'll be able to game. Lower system requirements will also be possible. It takes a processor of power X to run doom 3 and windows at the same time. With a minimal os boot off a disc it will take power X - some.

Excellent!

[xchino]

Daniel Robbins and the rest of the Gentoo crew have done an amazing job with Gentoo as a Linux distro, and even though it's a relative new-comer, it has exploded onto the scene as a force to be reckoned with. I really believe that they will be as huge a success in the game industry as they were in the Linux distro field, they are competent coders and they know what the average Linux user wants, because they ARE your average Linux users. Also, I've had a few chats with drobbins in #gentoo on freenode. When was the last time you saw the head of your favorite distro kick it wif da homies on #IRC. He was even providing basic support for total newbs. Maybe that's why there's so many of us Gentoo zelouts who just won't shut up about it :)

Bootable CD

[awakened tech]

How does this work? Ideally it would the CD would have the following: - A micro kernal with just the services needed by games (LAN, video, sound, disk management, not much else). This would install itself on your HD for future use, auto-update if the one on the CD is newer. - Smart driver finder (searches the disto currently installed on your machine for the necessary drivers) - Game files (obviously) This would have a number of advantages, from console like loading (stick the CD in, turn PC on, quick boot and run). To optimizing the operating environment (no unnecesary services running, should be easier to agree to standards for a micro-kernal like this). Could also be run in UML so you don't have to reboot. Hopefully this would give games developers at common target to aim at whilst also making the games easy to install and run (would only really use HD space if needed, shouldn't be a problem at all) Quick, I'd better patent all that ;o)

I only game on Linux now, and my Linux is Gentoo

[dougnaka]

I play UT2003, and Neverwinternights. Both run amazingly well on my 2.4.20-gaming kernel with the latest Nvidia drivers.

But the main reason I love gentoo is a good, working BSD style ports system. I've uninstalled Windows on my desktop, which was the last place I had it running... thanks Gentoo, and everyone in the Linux community. I will only buy games that have a native Linux port, and since UT2003 and NWN will last me a long time if nobody ports, I'll keep my money, and donate some to Gentoo and others who are advancing the cause of Freedom.