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Transgaming Releases WineX 3.2

Posted by simoniker on from the war-payne-world dept.

Beolach writes "Transgaming today released WineX 3.2, their subscription-download tool which 'brings the hottest Windows titles to devoted Linux gamers', now including support for Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and Homeworld 2, among others. The release announcement also quotes Markus Maki, Development Director of Remedy Entertainment as saying: "TransGaming's unique ability to enable Max Payne 2 to run on Linux without any access to the source code is quite impressive. We're extremely pleased that TransGaming is broadening our reach to new audiences and that the Linux community continues to enjoy our products thanks to TransGaming's outstanding work." In other words, this is all Linux gets for Max Payne 2."

65 comments

  1. translation... by shweazel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "TransGaming's unique ability to enable Max Payne 2 to run on Linux without any access to the source code is quite impressive. We're extremely pleased that TransGaming is broadening our reach to new audiences and that the Linux community continues to enjoy our products thanks to TransGaming's outstanding work."

    Translation:
    "Holy shit they ported our game for free!"

    Seriously though, why are gamers stuck funding these ports?
    Instead of gamers paying transgaming, and then deciding which games are ported, why arent the developers/publishers paying transgaming to get their game onto the "supported" list? This could be a lot cheaper than a full-fledged port.

    1. Re:translation... by MMaestro · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Because developers don't want to fund something that does not guarantee a financial success. A developer can make the greatest game of the decade, but they're not going to pay a $250,000 in time and resources porting the game into Linux in return for a $100,000. They are in the business to make MONEY, not "to be different" and support Linux because they don't like Windows for X reason.

      Until the Linux MARKET, not community, succeeds in proving itself to be a market to be recognized, Linux is just like the early Mac gaming market. Overlooked, because so few people used it.

    2. Re:translation... by shweazel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A developer can make the greatest game of the decade, but they're not going to pay a $250,000 in time and resources porting the game into Linux in return for a $100,000.

      You're missing the point. It costs transgaming much, much less than $250,000 to get a game working well under winex, because they're not starting from scratch every time.

      Most new games already "sort of" work under winex, even if they're not on the supported list, so all transgaming has to do is fix whatever bugs exist. Much cheaper than a full port from scratch, and takes no resources from the developers.

      So why can't the developer fund transgaming instead of the consumer?? This could be an excellent compromise for companies that don't have enough faith in the linux market to do a full port.

    3. Re:translation... by Acidic_Diarrhea · · Score: 3, Interesting
      No, you're missing the point. (Notice how rude it is to start a post by telling the parent is missing the point?) The exact numbers don't matter at all. Sure, it costs less than $250,000 to get a game supported. Would the charge to the company be less than this? Probably. But does that matter? No, and here's why - the cost of getting the game on the supported list is obviously greater than the return, otherwise companies would be doing this. You notice how game support for Linux isn't exactly universal? That's because the most amount of money can be made sticking with Windows.

      It may be cheaper for Transgaming to fix the bugs but what is being suggested here is that the development company pay Transgaming for this work. It's a nice idea but not exactly revolutionary. If the market dictated that this would be profitable, it would have already happened. That answers your final question as to why the developers are not funding Transgaming - it would hurt their profit too much - very, very simple economics. But you don't seem to get it.

      --
      I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
    4. Re:translation... by shweazel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Notice how rude it is to start a post by telling the parent is missing the point?

      No, YOU'RE missing the point. (Yeah OK I probably should have left that part out.)

      All I'm saying is, maybe instead of releasing half-assed linux ports a year after the game comes out (I'm looking at you Neverwinter Nights), maybe it'd be easier to throw a couple bucks to transgaming. Sure it's not always as good as a native port, but it'd be out faster, and it'd be cheaper. But you don't seem to get it. (Notice how rude it is to end a post by telling the parent he just doesn't get it? :P)

    5. Re:translation... by Mike+Hawk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Acidic is right, and I really hate agreeing with that guy. You think they havent thought of every possible way to make money off of a game? If it was profitable, they would do it. That is the point and the only point. Most developers dont release a half-assed port, they don't release one at all. (What did someone say once? Developers, developers, developers, developers, etc.)

      And you both have forgotten something that would happen uniquely if they made winex officially "supported". Who would handle the CS calls when it doesnt work? IE more money out of the developer's/publisher's pocket when it might be transgaming's fault.

      Nope, winex is staying unofficial for lots of good reasons.

    6. Re:translation... by Directrix1 · · Score: 3, Funny

      All I have to say is: I'm glad I switched away from Microsoft to avoid the Microsoft tax of $100 every 2 years, so I can now pay the Transgaming tax of $5 per month * 12 months/year * 2 years = $120.... doh!

      --
      Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
    7. Re:translation... by Directrix1 · · Score: 1

      Also, doesn't anybody else wonder why these game companies aren't just using SDL, OpenGL, and MinGW environment. There would be almost nothing to port.

      --
      Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
    8. Re:translation... by xSauronx · · Score: 1
      couldnt be for the effects of DX9 and the fact that they dont _need_ to care about porting because Windows has 95% of the dektop market and theres almost never enough demand for a game on anotherplatform (Mac or Linux etc) that its worth their time and money (and later, support) to port a game that will sell fewer copies worldwide than they sell in the first few days?

      no, i don't wonder. i wish that dx wasnt the necessity it is...but thats only because i dislike Microsoft (as is standard here) and would prefer linux as my desktop choice.

      Thing is, im a gamer. A PC gamer. Im not into consoles at all, and if im going to be much of a pc gamer, i have to use windows.

      XP isnt as bad as 98 was (in fact i rarely have crashes of any sort and between a firewall/antivirus and keeping the patches on I havent gotten a virus yet. The product isnt really a bad one, but I dont like the company and the way it does business + licensing terms and othe restrictions that get worse and worse by the year.

      --
      By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
    9. Re:translation... by AllUsernamesAreGone · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They aren't using SDL because it doesn't offer anywhere near enough features - it is at best a bare-bones framework that needs a lot of additional work to be really usable. OpenGL is rather more low-level than Direct3D and, even if you can avoid problems with vendor-specfic extensions (which you can't), you then hit the problem that Windows OpenGL implementations tend to suck, seriously suck, because everyone on Windows concentrates on writing Direct3D drivers rather than well-written OpenGL implementations. So you then end up writing openGL and Direct3D...

      Or, put another way, why go to the expense when you can just get a copy of VisualC++ and the DirectX SDK? (BTW, I am a Linux user, and would love to see more companies behaving like ID, but I'm also under no illusions about how likely that is given that publishers are only staffed by beancounters and lawyers these days)

    10. Re:translation... by Bazouel · · Score: 1

      Well, at least they could contribute a little bit ! Are they so greedy to not technically help TransGaming a little bit and maybe give ~1000 $ ? It's not like Linux market is THAT small after all ...

      --
      Intelligence shared is intelligence squared.
    11. Re:translation... by Directrix1 · · Score: 1

      They would barely need to care about porting with SDL, MinGW, and OpenGL either. Also, iD really drives the quality of OpenGL. OpenGL 2.0 support is in Doom3. Expect widespread OpenGL 2.0 support very soon in windows (although OpenGL 1.4 with Shading Language, is about as powerful).

      --
      Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
    12. Re:translation... by Directrix1 · · Score: 1

      What more does a game need from that layer (SDL/DirectDraw layer), besides Framebuffer access? Also, I always thought OpenGL is a bit higher level than Direct3D since Direct3D quit promoting Retained mode operation for Immediate mode (unless they have done a reversal on this, I haven't checked the API docs since 7). And as far as the expense goes, you can just download a copy of Dev-C++ (MinGW C++ IDE) and SDL. And develop nice cross-platform capable apps.

      --
      Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
    13. Re:translation... by AllUsernamesAreGone · · Score: 1

      DirectX is a lot more than Direct3D and DirectDraw. Sure, SDl provides input handling, but not at the level of DirectInput, it doesn't provide anything even close to DirectSound (yes, there's OpenAL, but that's another dependency, and the Linux branch is pretty much stalled) and even DirectDraw is more than just framebuffer access. There's video codec handling and graphics loading in there.

      And you're confusing cost of software with cost of development. Sure, you can go out and dowload DevC++, SDL, openAL.. but then you have to get a team of keyboard monkeys working on bringing the libraries up to scratch, checking your additions work properly on all platforms and generally catching up to the stuff that you would already have if you paid for VC++ and DXSDK - buying the latter is going to be cheaper than getting the software for free but emplying people to fix everything up.

  2. Great quote by jvmatthe · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Sorry, but this just leaves me breathless:
    "Our groundbreaking portability development continues to keep pace with the industry's recent and most challenging games written for Windows," remarks Peter Hunnisett, Manager of TransGaming's Linux Development Team. "Dynamic sound, rich graphics and riveting game play are matched and, in some instances, surpassed with our WineX technology." [my emphasis added]
    I take that to mean that the Windows game plays better under Linux using WineX than it does under Windows. I know people will say things like "no BSOD!" to be funny, but doesn't this strike anyone else as a lot of malarkey? What runs better...Mine Sweeper?

    Ok, flame on!

    --
    Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
    1. Re:Great quote by ActiveSX · · Score: 1

      While I have seen instances of Windows applications running faster under Wine (I havent touched WineX) than Windows, I believe they're probably just tooting their own "0mg l33t" horn.

    2. Re:Great quote by s0rbix · · Score: 1

      i could understand maybe an opengl game running VERY slightly faster if the conditions were just right, just because linux has better memory management and is better in general. its possible, but very improbable.

    3. Re:Great quote by Beolach · · Score: 5, Informative

      A game I play fairly often performs better under WineX than under M$ Windows. You may have heard of it: WarCraft III.

      Under Linux/WineX I run it at 1280x1024, under Windows I can't stand the performance at any resolution higher than 1024x768.

      --
      Join moola.com, play games to earn money.
    4. Re:Great quote by Aliencow · · Score: 2, Interesting

      When RTCW was released about a year ago (I think) , there was no Linux single player version at all... I had a dual boot, and under Windows with my crappy Geforce 2MX the framerate would go between 30 and 70 all the time, with slowdowns when there was a lot of action... under WineX it ran at a steady 50FPS..

      I heard starcraft also runs faster in Wine but any computer faster than 200mhz probably won't notice :)

    5. Re:Great quote by Timeburn · · Score: 1

      Actually, I've had an even better experience.

      On my desktop machine (AthlonXP2000+,GF4Ti), the original Homeworld simply refuses to run properly under WinXP, or even 98. It'll start up, get to the main menu, and just freeze up.

      Switch to linux, start it up in winex, voila! Runs like a dream, cranks all the way out to 1600x1200x32, and even gets along nicely with the Dual-head setup.

      YMMV

      --
      "Not one shred of evidence points to the notion that life is serious" -- Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain
    6. Re:Great quote by theCoder · · Score: 1

      Huh... I've had exactly the opposite experience. I don't play games very often, but every once in a while, I like to play a game of Total Annihilation. It works fairly well off my older CVS version of WineX (before Gentoo took it out of portage). It doesn't work in regular wine (a null pointer deference relating to sound). However, it does take all 2.4 GHz on my main computer. And it's still a little jumpy at times. Keep in mind that this is a game that plays just fine on my 350MHz Windows 2000 machine (that is usually off).

      It could be something that TA is doing that Wine(X) doesn't handle well, and I'm not running the official WineX (and probably never will after they forced Gentoo to pull the ebuild), but I've definitely not seen a performance increase of games with it.

      --
      "Save the whales, feed the hungry, free the mallocs" -- author unknown
    7. Re:Great quote by MrKinkade · · Score: 1

      I play Ultima Online alot. And while, you might recognise that the 2d client of UO may not push any envelopes when it comes to graphics, it DOES play alot better on linux with wineX than it does on Windows.

      Not strictly in a graphical, look and feel sort of way either. I experience SIGNIFICANTLY less lag playing this way than I did on Windows. In crowded areas, where there are alot of people gathered in one spot, UO on windows will stutter, start and stop movement. On linux, funnily enough, this is nearly completely GONE.

      Like I said, UO isn't the most demanding game on the market, but it plays a hell of a lot better on Wine than windows. It's nice. Really nice.

    8. Re:Great quote by Divine_Entity · · Score: 1

      I agreed I also play Warcraft III under winex 3.1 and get better performance then I do under windows. Max Payne is * almost * just as good but not quite. But some games ( 1942,Baldurs Gate ) are considerably slower.

    9. Re:Great quote by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 1

      Oddly enough a graphical 2D text adventure game I wrote back in the day is actually running better in WineX than WindowsXP. In XP some sound problems have sprung up which I can't fix thanks to a closed source wrapper. Works fine with WineX though.

      --
      Everything will be taken away from you.
  3. Did anyone save the CVS version by EvilSporkMan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    right before release? I know they make CVS available free, or used to...surely someone's got it frozen @ 3.2.

    --
    -insert a witty something-
    1. Re:Did anyone save the CVS version by GreyWolf3000 · · Score: 1

      They do so in order to comply with Wine's licensing. I doubt they took it down.

      --
      Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
    2. Re:Did anyone save the CVS version by Curtman · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, they aren't required by Wine's license. And the CVS hasn't gone anywhere, it just doesnt have the copy protection stuff needed to play these commercial games. For reasons explained here

  4. Why do we even bother? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    I really thought this was a great idea when they first came out... then started relising it really sucked(pay a fee to get your games running at the worst possible level? i think not!). Then I had one of them there light bulby ideas. I'm a geek, why don't I just make a small windows partition to play my windows games? Then if I could do that, why don't I just buy another hard drive, just for windows? Christ, I must be a genius.

    1. Re:Why do we even bother? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
      I agree, to some extent.

      I used to use HD docks for my various OSes. It made running NWN very simple (as the damn thing wouldn't run at more than 10fps unless it had a special OS build just for it). Also, with a USB/Firewire external 5.25 enclosure housing another dock, I can access the HD even if I didn't boot off it.

      But after a while I just started to use VMWare more and more. Now the HD swapping is only for games.

      I have become really addicted to the docks and VMWare and can't imagine a computer without them. Next PC is definatly going to have 2 docks and as much RAM (for VMWare) as possible.

    2. Re:Why do we even bother? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Another benfefit, I never throw out old working HDs. That 4GB drive, perfect for running old DOS games. Cost $7 for the tray.

      Need a ZIP drive, pop in a tray w/ a zip installed.

    3. Re:Why do we even bother? by t0ny · · Score: 1

      Some people must find it fun to fit the sqare peg in the round hole, apparently. Ever wonder why Windows users arent trying to get Linux games to run on their machines?

      --

      Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.

    4. Re:Why do we even bother? by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 1

      Ever wonder why Windows users arent trying to get Linux games to run on their machines?

      Too busy trying to get Linux compilers working well there?

      --
      Everything will be taken away from you.
  5. Transgaming is rad by Kurin · · Score: 1

    My 3 month subscription ($5/mo) just ended, and I think I'm going to renew it. Paying a small amount of money to fuel the research for a DirectX compatability layer for Linux is cool with me. I want to get away from Windows.

    1. Re:Transgaming is rad by Mike+Hawk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Wait wait wait. Let me get this straight. People pay $60 per year to get Windows games to work under linux?

      One can purchase a completely legit copy of Windows 98 (mine has served me well over the last 4 odd years) for less than that. Turns out, Windows games run natively under Windows AND they work on day 0, not when some third party decides to make them work. Rad indeed! Logical...not so much.

    2. Re:Transgaming is rad by GreyWolf3000 · · Score: 1

      1) You can use cvs to build winex for free (I have).
      2) Windows 98 sucks. Something fierce.
      3) Windows 98 doesn't fully support my hardware (think dual processors)
      4) You can buy a months subscription and discontinue it if the games you want to play already work and you don't feel like building cvs. 5) Precisely what's wrong with this business plan again?

      --
      Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
    3. Re:Transgaming is rad by Spoing · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Wait wait wait. Let me get this straight. People pay $60 per year to get Windows games to work under linux?

      Yes, though it's $5/month, so if you want to pay for part of a year WineX won't all the sudden stop working. You just don't get updates forever for $0.

      One can purchase a completely legit copy of Windows 98 (mine has served me well over the last 4 odd years) for less than that. Turns out, Windows games run natively under Windows AND they work on day 0, not when some third party decides to make them work. Rad indeed! Logical...not so much.

      After spending thousands over years on computer equipment, why reset a perfectly functioning machine each and every time I want to play a quick game of CivIII? That's a waste of time and a unnecessary hassle. Besides, it would take the web servervices down.

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
    4. Re:Transgaming is rad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      5.) You can dual boot a linux partition with Windows 98 just for gaming and free.

    5. Re:Transgaming is rad by Mike+Hawk · · Score: 1

      I'm taking to mean that you would dual-boot to play CivIII. Well if you have spent thousands of dollars over the years, why not put some of the spare parts together and make a windows only box? Seems like the most logical move. It doesn't even need to be connected to the internet to play CivIII. Winex just doesnt make sense.

    6. Re:Transgaming is rad by Mike+Hawk · · Score: 1

      I'll enterain you're poorly thought out points...

      1) My point wasnt that it is free, but that someone would pay for it.
      2) Good point? Very well thought out, I'm totally convinced. What are you 11?
      3) Not my problem. You can use whatever inefficient setup you want, but the games dont support it anyway.
      4) How very selfish of you. Redundant with point 1.
      5) What business plan? Are they running a business? I think they could have fooled most of us if they think they are.

    7. Re:Transgaming is rad by GreyWolf3000 · · Score: 1

      How arrogant. I'll entertain your kneejerk reactions.

      1) Well, it seemed like you were saying "why would anyone pay for this?" I was simply saying that you don't have to (you do miss out on copy protection code).
      2) I don't feel the need to explain why the Windows 95 line of operating systems sucks. Even most Windows apologists I know agree on this. I really don't care if you think I haven't "proven" anything. I'm not here to argue the technical flaws of Windows 98 (of which there are many). Anyways, if someone thinks Windows 98 is "cool," then they aren't buying winex anyways, now are they? You're asking why people who have switched over to Linux from Windows don't just buy Windows to play games, and I'm saying you're the one with the poorly-thought out points.
      3) Inefficient? To say that my system is inefficient without knowing what I use my system for (primarily) is ridiculous. Besides, I believe that Quake 3 supports SMP.
      4) Ad hominem. The sign of a poorly thought out response. Whether I'm selfish or not, no one has to pay 60$ to use WineX, so when you say that a copy of Windows 98 will be cheaper, you are basing your price assertion on a flawed view of what WineX actually costs. Hell, a 5 year subscription of WineX costs 300$....does that mean it costs 300$ to play Windows games in Linux?
      5) Charging 5$ a month for a subscription that grants the user access to their binaries is their business plan. Even if they're not in it to make money, you're still mincing words.

      --
      Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
    8. Re:Transgaming is rad by Spoing · · Score: 1
      1. I'm taking to mean that you would dual-boot to play CivIII.

      No, it's just a game. I'd just play another if that one wasn't available.

      1. Well if you have spent thousands of dollars over the years, why not put some of the spare parts together and make a windows only box? Seems like the most logical move. It doesn't even need to be connected to the internet to play CivIII. Winex just doesnt make sense.

      I have a half dozen working machines and a barrels worth of parts -- what self-respecing geek doesn't? :-}

      That said, installing Windows on any of them is not interesting since the lesser machines just aren't as nice as my main system. There are plenty of other games to play, even without WineX. Savage is my current favorite, though Neverwinter Nights is also up there.

      --
      A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
  6. Why doesn't Transgaming do whay Aspry does? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why don't they get a license from a game company to do a Linux port. That's what Aspry does for the Mac, so why doesn't Transgaming do it for Linux, sure I'd only expect them to do A+ rated titles first.

    1. Re:Why doesn't Transgaming do whay Aspry does? by theIG · · Score: 1

      remember loki? nuf said

    2. Re:Why doesn't Transgaming do whay Aspry does? by aaronli · · Score: 2, Informative

      They've already stated, to a qualified degree. Check out.
      http://www.transgaming.com/webstore.php

      So far they
      - Marble Blast
      - The Sims
      - Kohan: Immortal Sovereign (Orignial & Special award edition)
      - Kohan: Ahriman's Gift

      These ports work by being sold with a custom modified version of winex suitable for that game to get maximum performance for it.

      While these are not native (ie, use Linux libraries over wine reimplementations) it seems a reasonable alternative to to costly sytem ports until the Linux market can be proven. Hopefully avoiding yet another Loki-like embassment for the community.

    3. Re:Why doesn't Transgaming do whay Aspry does? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oooh Marble Blast and Kohan. Those were such great games and were big sellers. I've only seen Kohan (the original) in the stores. Maybe ebgames might sell the other two (in stores) but I wouldn't count on it.

      Kohan just plain sucks. The Sims, fine, but we don't even get the expansions do we?

    4. Re:Why doesn't Transgaming do whay Aspry does? by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 1

      I downloaded the demo of Marble Blast Gold last week, and had no idea that it was using WineX. I'm not sure if I should be impressed or a little scared by that! In any case I think it's another reason for me to buy the full version - to show that there are Linux customers out there for future versions that might be done nativly.

      --
      Everything will be taken away from you.
  7. Put your money where your mouth is by Screaming+Lunatic · · Score: 4, Insightful
    We're extremely pleased that TransGaming is broadening our reach to new audiences and that the Linux community continues to enjoy our products thanks to TransGaming's outstanding work.

    Remedy should put their money where their mouth is if they are so pleased.

    They should license WineX, throw it on a CD with Max Payne 2 and shrink wrap it. It should be sold at the same price as the Windows version. It's the least they could do for a company that is "broadening their reach to new audiences". In other words, helping Remedy sell more units.

    1. Re:Put your money where your mouth is by zoward · · Score: 2, Insightful
      They should license WineX, throw it on a CD with Max Payne 2 and shrink wrap it. It should be sold at the same price as the Windows version.

      While I'd love to see it happen, it won't. It would save the company the cost of development of a Linux version, but they would then be on the hook for support of Max Payne 2 running under Winex3 and Linux, which may very well erase any profits they would get from having it there in the first place. They could put a disclaimer ("here's Winex3, you can use it if you're l33t, don't call us if you can't get it to work."), but if it's on the CD people are going to expect to be able to call if it doesn't work, and they would then have to turn away those callers, which wouldn't win them a lot of friends in the gaming community.

      --
      "Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
    2. Re:Put your money where your mouth is by Cipster · · Score: 1

      Well why not add a disclaimer to the EULA or the manual:


      "WineX is a third party product. It comes with no support or warranty use at your own risk.. blah blah blah.

      Heck provide a forum maintained by the WineX people for issues workarounds etc. It would cost them very little money and it's not like the Linux community is not used to getting their support from forums, IRC and other "unofficial" channels.

    3. Re:Put your money where your mouth is by Patoski · · Score: 1

      emedy should put their money where their mouth is if they are so pleased.

      They should license WineX, throw it on a CD with Max Payne 2 and shrink wrap it. It should be sold at the same price as the Windows version. It's the least they could do for a company that is "broadening their reach to new audiences". In other words, helping Remedy sell more units.

      If Remedy wanted support for Max Payne 2 on Linux then they should just pay Transgaming to support May Payne 2. It only cost Disney $15,000 to get Codeweavers to get Photoshop to working *very* well utilizing Wine. This is a very nominal expense that I would think gaming companies could recoup between $0-15,000 in sales easily while generating some goodwill/publicity in the Linux community at the same time.

      -Jason

      --
      G. Washington on Government "it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
    4. Re:Put your money where your mouth is by Screaming+Lunatic · · Score: 1
      They could offer a LiveCD version that was tested across common hardware (Nvidia,ATI,Creative). And not offer any tech support on top of that.

      And it's not like Linux users would call tech support even if it was available. They would check forums, newsgroups, irc, etc. I don't call my ISP when I can ping their server but can't get my email working. I RTFMs and try to figure it out.

      So support would not be that big of a deal.

    5. Re:Put your money where your mouth is by Mike+Hawk · · Score: 1

      Speaking from experience, you are so very wrong. My favorite is when someone is running a game under Wine and tries to hide the fact. They do call, the lie about it, and they are long calls that cost alot of money.

  8. Yes, but.. by tananda · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They still have yet to get any of The Sims expansion packs to work, after making such a big deal out of providing The Sims for the Mandrake Gaming Edition. Furthermore, The Sims Online seems to have been completely forgotten by the project as a whole.

    --
    I used to think Peter Shipley was cool. Then I aged past 16.
    1. Re:Yes, but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Furthermore, The Sims Online seems to have been completely forgotten by the project as a whole.

      And also forgotten by everybody else...
      That game was a gigantic flop.

    2. Re:Yes, but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh how I love it when people feel the need to go Well, I don't like x, so x sucks and anybody who likes it is a moron

      For the record, while I agree that its playerbase isn't meeting expectations, I'd hardly call it a flop. It has its dedicated players, and all rumors of them taking the game down have been squelched. Furthermore, new players are constantly coming in. As they continue to work on the code, more and more players will stick around after they pass the 'newbie' period.

      The problem with the game is (as all the founders have said) that they pushed the December launch date, when the game wasn't fully-functional yet. However, the idea is a good one, and as one should remember with all online games, it's constantly improving.

    3. Re:Yes, but.. by __aaitqo8496 · · Score: 0

      Furthermore, The Sims Online seems to have been completely forgotten

      just put a period there. nothing more to say

  9. Re:FP for Washington University by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, that post was directed at you Abhi, I just got laid, by a GIRL. Unlike what I am sure you are used to at that shitty 21 ranked liberal university which you attend.

  10. Very few games by k8to · · Score: 1

    For a 5$ a month service, WineX supports very few games fully. A new release after some six months and .. three new games?

    This just isn't very impressive.

    At least you can effectively buy WineX for a small fee and skip out on the upgrades.

    --
    -josh