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Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory Public Source Released
DeadBugs writes "According to Blue's News: 'The public source code for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is now available from id Software, Activision, and Splash Damage (the developer working on Doom 3's multiplayer content), offering modification authors the resources to create mods for the free multiplayer shooter.' First they release a free game, and now free source code for it - there are download links at Splash Damage's files section."
The way I understand it, they make their money by creating the multiplayer part of ID's games. That is where their money is. Now, giving away the source code to ET will only create great mods, great community feelings and positive publicity.
The cost? An aging engine. They are working on DOOM 3... Unlikely that they (Splash) will be selling any more games based on the old engine. This is a win(the community)-win(splash for free publicity)-win(splash for possibly finding new talent in the community a la CounterStrike) situation.
As the wise Justin Timberlake once sang, "Cry me a river." They totally and 100% gave the game away. No charge. Gratis. If you are unhappy with the product please cease playing the game immediately, uninstall the application, and return it to you point of purchase for a full refund.
Ungrateful bitch.
P.S. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory includes punkbuster so if cheating ever becomes a problem, use the methods outlined on Evenbalance.com to report your findings and complain to them. OR since the mod source is out, write your own anti-cheat. Or you know what, keep whining on random internet message boards, I'm sure that might help too and will definitely encourage other companies to give games away.
That is, all the widely available ones. Cheaters who keep their hacks private are unlikely to ever be detected unless fingered with the PB screenshot facility.
If Half-Life set any example for the cheating community, the cheaters will start (or already have) releasing the source to the cheats, which essentially puts a lot of custom cheats out there. Hopefully PB's adjusted their detection (and screenshot) methods significantly in the last couple of years to make it a lot harder for cheaters to bypass it.
-PainKilleR-[CE]