Slashdot Mirror
Half-Life 2 - A Linux User's Lament
jvm writes "If you're a gamer with a pulse, you've probably heard about the impending release of Valve's Half-Life 2. As a gamer and a Linux user, I always get a little stirred up about the whole Half-Life situation, where we have a dedicated server but no client. So here's my reflection on the sad situation, past and present. How will the rest of the Linux gaming community react to the release of Half-Life 2? Boot into Windows? Wait for WINE or WineX support? Get the Xbox version? With so many Half-Life servers running on Linux, will the same be true for Half-Life 2?"
Linux has a strong hold in the server market, but not so much with clients. It would seem be holding true here too, but not for the same reasons.
Reminds me of the Doom for OS/2 debacle back in the early-mid 90s. IBM contracted a developer to port Doom to OS/2. IBM demoed the game in action at some trade shows. A private beta version was eventually leaked to the Internet, but the finished game never saw the light of day.
Similar situation happened with Lemmings for OS/2. A developer was contracted by Sony/Psygnosis to do the port. The developer became active on comp.os.os2.games recruiting beta testers. Public betas were made available. The game worked perfectly with the 5 or 6 demo levels that were in the beta, and then suddenly everything disappeared.
I sometimes think that Linux users have forgotten that, for many of us, this sort of situation isn't new. I swore off Windows completely back in 1993, and saw this same sort of thing over, and over, and over, and over again. I'm seeing the same thing now with Linux (and, as you point out, it's often been an issue for Mac users as well).
I wish I had a solution (I wish I had a solution 8 years ago for that matter). I don't like the situation anymore than anyone else here does, but, as they say, it is what it is.
Yaz.
The key for linux gaming is to use something like Knoppix! That way you bypass all the normal Linux troubleshooting issues and get straight to playing. This would turn the PC into a giant console! Granted, you would have to create a really clean API for forward and backward disc compatibility and store part of the drivers/swap files on a HDD for speed and future hardware/patches, but it could work quite nicely. With all the viruses and worms affecting hi-speed users, and PS2/Xbox going online, everyone should have basic network connections to the net thru hardware routers/firewalls real-soon-now.