Expert Opinions On Linux Gaming's Future

jg21 writes "Following on from yesterday's Slashdot coverage of the idea to launch a games-based Linux distro, LinuxWorld Magazine has held a Gaming Round Table involving Chris DiBona, Ryan Gordon, Timothee Besset, Gavriel State, and Joe Valenzuela about where Linux currently stands and how it will one day become a premier gaming platform. 'It became perfectly clear to me that most of the technological issues are already solved, and that the others won't take too long to fix once the game publishers really get into the mix,' reports Dee-Ann LeBlanc, Gaming Industry Editor for LinuxWorld, who coordinated the round table. Well worth reading."

Comments

Re:Where's the games at?

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, I haven't rebooted since I upgraded my kernel to 2.6.3...which was 3 weeks ago

No offense, but I haven't rebooted my XP system in months. I've changed more settings, upgraded more system files, and installed/removed more programs than the average user does in his/her lifetime. No reboots.

Forget Game Clients, create a Server Distro!

[Jonah Hex]

First a bit of Linux history reiterated, just to set the scene... Linux has gained the widest adoption in the server arena, probably the largest segment being dedicated Internet/Firewall boxes. Running without a GUI or even headless (without attached monitor/etc), configured via Web interface, even using "lower end" hardware. These are perfect canidates for adding more server software to, in this case we'd add a simple way to install and configure game servers.

The advantages are obvious, we can sidestep the entire issue of "does Linux support the latest games" since most modern games come with a Linux server component that is superior to running a server/client at the same time on your Windows box. (added server overhead usually only if you are serving the game of course)

Considering the wide variety of dedicated firewall distros out there (my own favorite) and how easy they are for even Linux newbies to setup, there isn't much of a leap to create such a distro. One of the main issues of course is getting the needed copyrighted content from the game CD to the Linux box, something that is both a manual and painful process in many cases.

I've discussed this project with a few friends who are familiar with Linux firewalls/game servers also, but unfortunately we haven't had time to do more than brainstorm on it. If we do end up putting together a basic distro like this you can be sure I'll submit it to /. games section. Anyone super interested can email me.

Jonah Hex