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LGP brings back Loki, Kind Of
michaelsimms writes "Linux Game Publishing has announced a publishing deal with Epic Interactive to publish Northland for Linux. What's this about Loki, you ask? Well, Northland is a game featuring the Norse god Loki, and a group of heroes battling to save the world in the time of Odin and the gods of Nordic myth."
Anyone remember them playing Loki on Nick Arcade? I do :(
...so I can figure out if I can finally buy a copy of the Alpha Centauri port. Thanks kids.
Hate me!
Hell, I'd settle for them releasing a 'best of lokisoft' collection. I can't find a damn copy of alpha centauri / alien crossfire other than the used copy selling for $145 on amazon.com.
Anybody got a copy they're not using? Please?
I hadnt hear of Loki ever !
Is is by any chance similar to Black and White (without the creature of course) or is it more like Warcraft ??
Since it has been established that the title does not refer to the recently-deceased Linux game porting company, where is it exactly that this Loki has been brought back from? Age of Mythology?
Don't bend over backwards next time trying to conjure a clever title. You either got it or ya don't.
"Linux != commercial games"
Linux does not equal commercial games?
Yeah, that's insightful. Next time you'll be telling us that Linux does not equal tasty fruit.
"Linux != tasty fruit"
How well does WineX work in allowing Windows-platform games to work on Linux? What are the limits of this program? And finally, how much do you have to pay for it?
"Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect" -- Linus Torval
Anyone remember shareware "Thor: God of Thunder?"
That was rad.
Do you love freedom??? Do you love freedom!!! DO YOU LOVE FREEDOM!!!!!!!!
Loki is the Norse "Trickster" god. Full fledged greater deity.
Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
well, he was a mortal, and he went by the name of stanley ipkiss, but when he put on his mask he became a super-mortal...
and if you see me strut, remind me of what left this outlaw torn...
Had me excited there for a minute...I thought they were going to reserect http://lokigames.com
BUT NNOOOOOooooo!!!!
It's a game featuring the Norse God, Loki...Next time someone pulls a posting stunt like that, they should be drawn and quartered!
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
I haven't played Northland, or even heard of a game of that name for that matter, but the initial description reminds me of RUNE...
Anyone else get that feeling?
Sig currently under construction. Mind the gap....
Last time I was at tuxgames.com that had Alpha Centauri and the Expansion pack in stock. Trying to get there now but tuxgames (which is slow under the best of circumstances) is crawling right now...
The heat from below can burn your eyes out
I guess it's true...mention ANYTHING to do with Linux and it's hailed as newsworthy here.
This just in. Books have been written about Loki.
This just in. A movie has been produced about Loki. (the Mask)
I don't normally whine about goofy blurbs, but fer chrissakes!
Don't park drunk, accidents cause people.
I haven't played mine in several months, and YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!
BWA! HAHAHAHAHAA!
Sort of off topic, but anyone know the status of Angry Pixels, the LGP sponsored linux game development company? Their site, www.angry-pixels.com, is down, and haven't heard any news in a LONG time...
Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups.
That would of been great...too bad they had it completed but couldn't release it because of some minor licensing issues...then LokiGames went under =(
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
Although this is obviously a troll, there is a little truth to it (at the very least, truth in the minds of game publishers, where it counts most).
However on the other hand, there are countless thousands of tech-smart gamer kids out there who would not hesitate to give Linux a try if only they could play games on it. So the argument is really invalid, since the demand for Linux games is not constant (presumably too low a constant to justify Linux game production, although this might be arguable too), but in this case directly related to the supply.
And besides, I don't know what this other guy is talking about; Linux is some damn tasty fruit if you ask me.
Loki?
No, waitaminute...
Loki?
That's not right...
Ah, here we are! Loki!
Chris Mattern
Actually, he is a giant, not a god, although giants can be considered to be "evil gods".
Real life is overrated.
True, Linux!=tastyFruit.... but you do know that Linux.equals(tastyFruit), right?
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
Not really. He was technically a giant - the giants as you should know were the Aesirs nemises - even though he mingled with the gods in Asgard. Also, I wouldn't exactly call him the Norse "trickster god" since unlike the rest of Asgard's population he wasn't worshipped (being responsible for the greatest betrayal* in the entire mythology and all that)... he was more like the Norse bad guy :)
* the slaying of Balder
I can see it now Knoppix Northland! This is what everyone was talking about a year ago: Bootable Linux game CD's.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
But does anyone know whatever happened to the Angry Pixels group? Did they dissolve?
The distinction between Norse gods and giants is really blurred. Odin (and his brothers Vili and Ve) were created from a frost giant. Odin went on to become head of the AEsir, Vili and Ve faded away.
:)
Traditionally Loki isn't really a god. He's Odin's blood brother, which is why he's allowed among the gods, even though he will play a central role in their downfall.
And indeed, all gods are actually mortal. At Ragnarok, the gods are killed. Odin by Fenrir, Thor by Jormungand, Tyr by Surt... Balder's already been killed by Hod, although that was really Loki's fault.
But though they're mortal, they can come back from the dead, as Balder will do after Ragnarok. So being immortal isn't as useful as it may seem..
I'd have to give this post a +0, Ironic myself...
He's actually a giant, a character of mischief and faslehood. He is the 'evil' of the norse mythology. One of the things he did was to convince the blind Hoeder to shoot an arrow made of a certain type of wood at Baldur, the son of Odin, thus killing him.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
"Northland.... tells the story of Bjarni the Viking." I know this guy... he's that purple dinosaur-like mascot they use in the Metrodome for the Minnesota Vikings... ...
any word on whether "Ratatusk, the Squirrel Tale bearer" made the cut?
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
Linux is not a viable platform to sell games if the games are only for Linux, but If developers took it into account beforehand and developed in opengl they would have an easy 2 (osx, linux) decenctly sized platforms to sell copies on without a _huge_ ammount of effort. It seems to be working for Epic. In fact epic licenses their engine by platform, Windows/OSX/Linux are considered a single platform for pricing
"The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." - Bush 05
If you left a good Email I would sell you mine. I don't play it and can easily let it go for a small fee.
This SIG pulled due to lack of funding. (This damn war is costing too much!)
Hel is the one who really messed up the whole Baldr situation (by not letting Baldr of out of the underworld until after Ragnorak.)
I'd say that makes Loki a bad guy (or at least a bad parent :-)
His kids were brats who eventually destroyed the whole world!
I got through - they seem to be sold out. Sorry - rough luck. I don't want to part with mine, makes great entertainment on my aging Thinkpad....
The heat from below can burn your eyes out
This may or may not be what you want to hear but Deus Ex works fine under Wine with full OpenGL support.
It needs no special configuration, it just runs. I've nearly played it half way through again and only come across one little bug.
Before another Wine thread kicks off, then forget it. If you like the game and want to play it you can.
How about actually reading the title? LGP != GPL
Which begs the question: is it immoral to pirate a game when you can no longer buy it legally? (because the publisher went bankrupt)
And, is it legal? (who's going to come after you for doing it?)
I got mine for $10 in the discount bin before Loki officially went under. $148, you say? Perhaps it's time to put mine up on ebay.
I was looking forward to a flood of game ports to Linux. I guess one more is better than no more. Why companies don't release executables for Linux (like Id for quake(1-3) and Bioware for NWN)? Most of the games today are datafiles anyway (ie. pictures and sound that would work on any platform). Are game companies so locked in to using Microsoft's APIs like DirectX that they can't program a game to be portable anymore?
Electronic arts probably pisses me off the most as they make a few changes to Id's engines (MOHAA) and neglect to release binaries for Linux. Yes, I am aware of the port on icculus.org, but EA could have done a port of MOHAA long ago.
Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire is the only reason I'm not going to put Linux on my laptop. I've been playing that game since 2000, on and off, and although I want to convert my desktop box to Linux, I'm not even going to try with the laptop. All my good games (AC, Homeworld...) run on it ;-)
(well, that and I need a Windows machine to do my coursework...)
"It is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." -- Zork
I know I'll probably regret this when my spam level goes up 400%, but my e-mail's now publicly viewable. If you'd still like to unload it, make an offer.
Thanx to John Carmack (Quake, Doom & co) i can prove you're wrong : There ARE commercial grade games available to linux. Not many, i confess, but not crappy ones too !
Btw, he induces a lot of work, support and enhancements into the 3D-cards manufacturers' driver, whether it be for linux or windows. Partly because of the popularity of his games, OpenGL keeps being available on many OS, which may not be the case otherwise.
Linux link getting ./ed
Offical Site: Here
Blurb:
The overall gameplay element from Cultures 2 that still exists in Northland is in the "Godsim" style of play.
You are responsible for watching over and assigning professions to your Viking civilians and building their culture up.
-I can't believe my boss pays me to do this... *SNAP* (@$^#ing daydreams)
While Linux users do not make up the majority of computer users, I would make a wild ass guess that the majority of Linux users are very probably gamers. To make an even more totally wild ass guess, if we say there are several hundred million computer users out there, and 2% are Linux users, this would make a few million potential gamers to sell to.
Mind you, these same people probably also have Windows boxes, XBoxes, etc. as well. However if commercial interest in selling to Linux users grew, we would probably find more drivers and utilities produced for Linux in order to support the games. After all, it is my humble opinion that games were one of the main drivers of home PC technology for a long time. Granted other new software required more horsepower, but heck, you really needed a monster computer to get the graphics and AI of the new games! :-)
NOTE: I refuse to let facts get in the way of this conversation
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
Actually, Epic did recently say that GNU/Linux sales account for fewer than 1% of client sales, so they don't produce cross-platform clients for commercial reasons.
... even if it doesn't make you money." And "our feeling is we can't give them a Linux server and not give them a Linux client... that wouldn't be fair."
Rather, according to Epic's Mark Rein, "Sometimes you've just got to do the right thing
The mistletoe was the only plant or animal that hadn't promised not to harm Balder. Though how you make an arrow out of mistletoe, I don't know ...
Well it wasnt really completed, but most of the porting was done. There was a major bug that made the game unplayable, and would have been fixable if they could have gotten the source for the "game code."
The future of Linux gaming is in the hands of the original developer of the game. Epic, Bioware, ID, etc. Those guys put out excellent Linux releases. Maybe the execution was botched on a couple but Epic LEARNED alot with UT2003 and the UT2004 port is being perfectly done. You gotta cut developers some slack on their first try at Linux. (ie. stop mouthing off in forums like you know what your talking about)
FYI: It's a different Epic. The company that the thread is about is Epic Interactive, who specialiazes in a lot of lesser-known (but good) games. Recently, they've been doing Linux and Amiga (and MorphOS) games in addition to their Windows and MacOS publishing.
;)
Epic will be bringing Divine Divinity (GameSpy runner up for PC RPG game of 2002) to alternative operating systems as well. Here's hoping that LGP gets to publish it.
Of course not. It's a troll because it is inflammatory and phrased in order incite angry replies. But although I question the intent of the poster, this has nothing to do with the truth of his (or her) facts, nor the validity of his argument.
The original AC didn't express "an opinion [I] don't like," he raised a true point about the lack of a Linux gaming market.
What is out there as far as native Linux games (commercial or not) that are actually good?
Is there a list of commercial game publishers that make native Linux games?
This is a very, very misleadingly titled article. Shame on you editors!
Vote for global prefs bug
Now, when many people convert to FreeBSD.
Is it really that difficult to make a working port for systems which are really good for desktops?
I wonder how different Mac OS X and FreeBSD really is and if it's just a matter of compiling a 3D-shooter on the proper platform.
The spam armoring really does help a little bit. At least I haven't got any more spam to this account since that twit AC decided to post my address unobfuscated on /. a few months back.
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.
Make Slashdot obfusciate the email address, the option's in the user page somewhere. I've never read anything about its efficiency at keeping bots from harvesting them, but I'd guess it's fairly good at it.
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
Commercial or not commercial... good and several kind of games are important for Linux spread between young (and old) people :)
I predict they will have to stop publication of this game, because Mythic Entertainment (the creators of Dark Age of Camelot) owns all the rights to Norse mythology.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
Loki wasn't always the bad guy guy in Norse Mythology. In many instances he came through to save the day(most of of the time he caused the trouble that put all the gods in jeapordy in the first place.)But obviously he did have a nefarious side his children Fenris(the wolf), Hel(goddess of the undeworld) and the midguard serpent. Loki also had "human" children. Inerestingly enough the only gods that are supposed to survive Ragnarok(Norse equivalent to the Apocolypse) are some children of Loki and Thor.
It's all Politics
Oh, go ahead and troll. I'm still not convinced Loki Games was a fair trial.
I HATED, HATED, HATED the version of their website I saw. The Elfin-friendly woodland green text on brown of equal chroma was so impossibly hard for me to read, I actually navigated their site by lynx browser to read game descriptions. I should try the wayback machine to see whether I can archive a copy of one of their pages as an example of how _not_ to be a web designer.
The ports themselves were another issue......
Sorry for the upset, but no it isn't legal.
Remember that the consumers are not the only people who "lost" in the dissapperance of Loki. Loki's investors were also harmed, and although they will have better luck getting water from a stone, they feel that even a dollar from Loki's residual property should be made, it should go to them. The footed the bill for Loki's downfall, and they should reap any (even a miserable) profit.
Morally it is less decided, but legally you are still depriving Loki's investors of money they lay claim to. But these guys won't want to loose another dollar in ressurecting Loki, they are holding out for a (phantom) company to realize what they have is valueable (and buy it off of them for millions).
The main reason this hasn't happened yet is probably because what they have isn't nearly worth what they want. In other words, they're dreaming.
on the moral side of things, you're not depriving them of any money because there's no way for you to buy the game from them.
That's similar to the argument that downloading 10,000 songs when you are broke is costing the industry $30,000 (I don't know how much cd singles cost, I only buy vinyl), clearly it's not because the money for them was never there in the first place, and as it's a copy there is no product being stolen.
Everyone's boat floats in some kind of water, but Northland's kind of water doesn't float mine.
::tardcasm:::) I'd put my 2cents towards UT2K4.
The game is a case study of the effects of extreme co-dependency. All the villagers need you too badly, they need you to tell them to get shoes, where wood is, where tools and weapons are, takes a few hours just to get the tech-tree up enough to be able to survive some battles.
Detailed to the nth degree, but I don't think having some things being autonymous would of been so bad. Like let them find their own mates instead of the player being forced to play cupid, things like Populous were successful in achieving that. Have a Norse god cast a decree "Go forth and hump like rabbits!" to have more children. Instead of telling each female in the village to produce an offspring.
I played the demo for a few weeks, it's not a bad game, just too tedious for my tastes.
If you only buy one game for linux this year (you're lucky, you've got more than one to choose from this year
He was also the mother of Odin's horse - mythology can be REAL WICKED :)
Real life is overrated.
The mistletoe was the only plant or animal that hadn't promised not to harm Balder. Though how you make an arrow out of mistletoe, I don't know ...
I'm still wondering how one gets a plant to promised anything.
Hm, it's true that he was not one of the Aesir, but you don't actually _have_ to be Aesir to be a god -- Njordr, god of the sea, was one of the Vanir.
In Snorri Sturluson's well-known version, Loki is satan-like and Baldr is Christ-like, but that is by no means the only version... and even then there are places where Loki is honest and gets ripped off by the other gods.
I'd agree that Loki is worshipped only by a small group of very, very pathetic people whose web pages have black backgrounds and who spell 'magic' with a 'k'
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
Yes, I know... Don't be posting mod requests...
While I can't verify either side of the story- the parent presents a different side to things from the Angry Pixels' apparent demise...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Maybe once Linux users think about *paying* for Linux stuff, then this can be viable.
Undoubtedly, there will be someone on slashdot who pays the Debian/Redhat/Whatever membership and thats great, but its probably a small percentage of Linux users.
Of course not. People own intellectual property and can do with it as they please. You don't get to decide for them whether or not their property is magically public domain simply because they're not selling it.
Case in point, for years people pirated old NES games with the notion that Nintendo wasn't making money off the NES anymore anyway. Nintendo made their stance on emulation very clear...and now you see them porting NES games to the Gameboy Advance (i.e., Metroid in Metroid Zero Mission). So you see, owners could at any time decide to begin reselling those games.
But like I said, it's irrelevant whether or not they're selling them anyway, you can't just pirate whatever the hell you want because you didn't find it in your local store...
"Sufferin' succotash."
It's a combination of things...
Some of it is using Microsoft API's.
Some of it is using things like Bink, which didn't have a version for Linux until recently and it will cost you another $2k or so to provide a Linux version for sale or download (Both of which was the reason there were no in-game cutscenes for NWN...).
Some of it is that they have to provide testing and, at minimum, deal with support calls even if they explicitly state that it is unsupported.
Some of it is that there is a perception that writing to Windows is cross-platform enough since it's "portable" to the X-Box. (Which is flatly wrong...)
Some of it is that there's the perception that writing to just Windows is easier and that writing cross-platform code is more difficult because it requires careful dilligent work to make the game work on all platforms (using the argument that there's different capabilities on each of the same and you have to code for each... Again, all of which, is pretty much wrong...)
With all the obvious and percieved expenses, most of the publishing houses don't really see any profit in producing Linux versions of anything. In the case of Id, Bioware, S2 Games, and Epic (not to be confused with Epic Interactive of the main subject...), they are studios going out on a limb and taking extra risks because they believe in Linux or they think that it's got some potential.
We can't fix the real expenses and risks- the studios and publishers will have to weigh those risks against potential profits and decide if they're going to do the version, let someone like LGP handle it for them, or not do one at all.
I'm endeavoring to talk to the percieved expenses and risks that are opposite to the way things really are. I'm scheduled to be giving a 30-minute talk this month at GDC on the subject.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
In norse mythology you find several gods which are almost duplicates Thor/Tyr and Frigga/Freya/Frey. Some historians claim that the same goes for Loki/Odin. A theory states that these doubles appeared as two Germanic peoples mixed into one at some point in prehistoric Nordic history. As the people merged, their pantheons also merged into one. This merge is said to be the origin of the story of the war between the asa and the vana. As the pantheons merged, new roles were invented for some of the gods. Freya became the Goddess of love, whereas Frigga became the goddess of mariage. The male god Frey also got a place in the resulting religion.
The following story is said to support the view that Odin and Loki originate from the same god: A norwegian king had chosen Loki as his God instead of Odin. A young hero went to the cave where Lokis was chained to check him out. He saw that Loki was a hideous creature, and to prove this point he stole a hair from Lokis beard. He took the hair home to show it to his king. Seing the hair the king got so angry and disappointed that his stomach opened. This became the death of the norwegian king. After that day the norwegians followed Odin.
The story is supposed to originate from the point where Odin was replacing Loki as the leader of the pantheon. In other words it was originally a propaganda story. A few centuries later Jesus was replacing Odin, the same story was reused with Odin on the roles of Loki. A young hero went to pick a hair of Odin.. etc
Don't know if it works or is legal but you can download the loki installer. Google "smac-install-alpha.run", doc says you just need alpha centauri cd mounted. I would assume any retail version would be fine.
"There's too much blood in my caffeine system"
Ah, crap! That's the worst type of BAIT AND SWITCH.
Bastards.
You can see a full listing of their up-coming games (including Divine Divinity) here...
p rojects.html
http://www.epic-interactive.com/english/projects/
In my own Viking tongue, Swedish, it's Loke and Oden, not Loki and Odin. Thor is called Tor and Frey is Frej or Fro. Tor's horse is called Sleipner and his hammer Mjolner. And so on. Just to set the record straight. ;)
The 'alpha' in 'smac-install-alpha.run' means Alpha as in DEC Alpha, like 'ppc' in 'smac-install-ppc.run' means PPC as in PowerPC.
I'd also wager that's a game binary with no data. It's only 24Mb after all.
Yours Sincerely, Michael.
I'm not sure how they're measuring that (survey maybe? thats just asking for inaccuracy), since the Linux client was included on the Windows disks for UT2k3, was a downloadable patch for UT, and will be included on the disks again for 2k4.
Urge to cringe overridden by... resentment of sucker punch.
True! The day publishers start developing games (not just porting) the user based for desktop linux will increase exponentially. That would be the best challenge to the other monopolies on the desktop.
I would give my left testicle... and a kidney for a Linux client of Battlefield 1942.
Shit, over half the servers are on Linux server anyway.
No really, that's gotta be my favourite tale about Loki!
Where Odin's horse Sleipnir came from
I used to think that Loki was pretty much a rat-bastard, but after reading a bit more mythology, he did have a good side, and was definately more of a trickster God.
Also, the events leading up to Ragnarok are necessary, as Ragnarok is fated and necessary.
All the dead Gods will be reborn...
---- I've fallen, and I can't get up.
What? Sure, people pirate Windows products, but are you honestly trying to say that Windows is not viable (which I infer to mean "economically successful")?!? What kind of a market share do you think they need, man?
I'm not saying windows is good or bad, but I think it's obvious that it's been successful thus far.
Just then the floating disembodied head of Colonel Sanders started yelling Everything You Know Is Wrong!-Weird Al
Fuck you.
It's nothing like that at all because there is clear and evident damage being caused to her.
How is copying a game that can't be bought damaging the copyright holder?
How would they be any better off if you didn't copy it?
Stealing 10,000 CDs is damaging to a company. Downloading them and continuing to buy the CDs you'd have bought anyway means they are not losing anything.
Twat.
It wasn't wood that killed Balder, but the plant 'Misteltein' (anyone got the english name?). That plant lives on trees though...
I was lucky enough to beta test for Loki on Tribes 2 and the most frustrating thing was the release. No it wasn't that we had problems making the deadline and getting all the bugs worked out for release, it was that Loki wasn't allowed to release at the same time as EA. We were ready before the windows release. We had better performance and stability then the win guys.
I remember reading the listservs and hearing all the win guys bitching about frame rates and how they had to turn everything down while I was running everything maxed and had a comparatively old system.
So when the release day came, all of us linux testers where sitting there with our beta accounts laughing at the win guys bitching about performance. It was a shame to because they ended up taking a lot of cool features out in the name of performance but on the linux side we already had no problems. Seems to me we had to wait at least a month before Loki was able to ship out the linux copy, and all we did during that time was check the patches that kept us compatible with the windows version.
I think the game you're thinking of is Toki - it was released for the NES and (I think) the Genesis and starred a little monkey with a big head who could spit fireballs. Loki was the head villian in Enix's "Valkyrie Profile", though.
Not really. Yes, there are many tales of conflicts between the Aesir (especially Thor) and the Jotunar (giants), but they weren't always at one another's throats. The simplistic way to explain it would be that they are of the same species, just different tribes. There are many accounts of Aesir taking a Jotun bride, or adopting a Jotun into their family (as was the case with Loki).
even though he mingled with the gods in Asgard
He was Odin's blood-brother, so it was a little more than mingling.
being responsible for the greatest betrayal* in the entire mythology and all that
* the slaying of Balder
/. isn't really the place for deep discussion of mythology and religion. :)
As someone who has a great passion for Norse mythology, I've gotta say that this is a bit simplistic. Loki did not kill Balder, that was Hodr. Loki contributed to his death maliciously, but I would say he did it out of vengeance more than anything else. But then,
My basic line of reasoning here is that if copyright is prepetual and the copyright holder can simply stop selling the copyrighted material than it can easily be erased from existance. Disney, for example, would probably dearly love for their movie "Song of the South" to be erased, Soviet Union style. There are several very good reasons why it is a bad idea to let things fall into the memory hole. I think the idea of offering the simple choice: sell it, or let it become public domain, is fairly workable. Obviously there are details to work out, but I can't see a real horrible problem with the basic idea. Can anyone poke holes in it?
"Mission Accomplished" -- George W. Bush May 1, 2003
Well, as i recall Loki did it out of jealousy, not vengeance. And I would say that getting a blind guy to throw the ONLY thing that could kill Baldur at him was a little bit more than contributing to his death.. but that's just me.. :
I guess that explains why Neverwinter Nights never sold any copies too. I don't think Doom 3 will ever sell any copies either.
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
I'm curious. On my 1GHz system, Deus Ex ran like shit on Windows. Do you think that on a 2GHz system it might run reasonably through Wine? Or still like shit?
Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
Respectfully:
Fuck legality. The law ain't always right.
If nobody's going to give you a legally-permissable avenue to satisfy a demand, go ahead and satisfy it "illegally," as long as it does not infringe on anyone's life, liberty, or physical(1) property(2), and do so at market value. In matters of trivially-replicable things (like bit patterns), this cost is naturally negligible.
If it's matter, it's physical; its recipient-owner can do with it what he wishes. If it's conceptual, and it is released to the world, by natural right it becomes part of the commons; however, we allow, under the law, a contributor to receive compensation for a limited period of time (ya hear that, SCOTUS!).
The law is a set of guidelines that exists to enumerate the natural rights of man and the artificial rights of man, corporation, and government. It is not the end-all and be-all.
So if Loki's investors haven't been getting their act together, it's their fault. They fail to meet your demand with supply. Seek an alternate source.
(1):---Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
All applicable to physical things, none applicable to intellectual things (arguably save art).
(2): I consider the consideration of "the pursuit of happiness" as a fundamental right to be an authoritarian idea; said pursuit has the potential to be contrary to others' life, liberty, and property (as defined above) and therefore must be given second precedence.
-------------
As a bonus, I'll even throw in this mega-rant about money!
Money is an artifice born of convenience. A natural economy is by barter; unfortunately, this gives rise to the necessity of a double coincidence of needs (you need to have something they want) for a transaction to take place. Money therefore provides a useful circumvention of this problem.
However, money creates very much overhead in its usage.
First of all, money undergoes inflationary pressures. When inflation is controlled, it is a necessary and endurable evil; when not, it brings a society reliant on money to its knees.
Furthermore, let us consider the depreciation of a physical object; the inflation of money is like permanent depreciation of the currency---each dollar (or whatever) is worth less. However, with a physical object, we can make a new object; on the other hand, it is much more difficult to introduce a new currency to replace the old, near-worthless one.
Another overhead encountered is distribution of wealth. It is easy to accumulate wealth when it is formless and unsubstantial. You need not do anything, in some cases, to earn money.
Most money now days is worth something because a government says it is, and people believe them. The economics suggests that this fiat money is better than precious metal standards.
(Aw, I've run out of steam. A delay of three hours right in the middle of a rant sure defuses it...)
I am not suggesting that the world drop the concept of money; that is simply irrational. But I do suggest that promoting the barter for small-scale transactions makes for more efficiency and less of a strain on the natural freedoms (even though I haven't said anything about that).
Just because Loki is gone doesn't mean that all who distributed its wares are out of stock. They paid for their legitimate copies and have a right to recover their investment. Respect people who invest in Linux.
OK, the object of the game is to traverse a window-facing hall while avoiding the cellphone yappers. If you bump one wearing a tie, you're fired. If you bump one wearing a hawaiian shirt, it just slows you down. You get the idea.
Call it Nokia-Lokia??
If you're willing to deal with a Windows version, there's a boxed set called [url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/- /B0000CE1L7/qid=1079028421/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-0 524318-5144849?v=glance&s=videogames]"The Laptop Collection"[/url] that includes SMAC, Alien Crossfire, Red Alert and Tiger Woods golf. It costs $15 - $20 and can be found at Walmart and Babbages, among other retailers.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
Whoops. Wrong forum type.
Fixed link
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
If you have a stable desktop multimedia platform, you have a stable gaming platform.
The "-1 Troll" mod is just the result of a few crybabies who think Linux is above criticism. I'm sorry, but once you improve the desktop, only then will companies start porting their games to it. I thought that point was obvious, but I'm currently being modbombed by some anonymous, cowardly trolls.
"Sufferin' succotash."
And the reason that you go uncontested most of the time with your ridiculous assertions these days is that people are tired of refuting you over and over again. So please, enough with the 'I'm not a troll' schtick. Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that you are.