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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."
"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"
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
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.
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
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 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.