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Sun Sponsors Java Game Development Competition
Sim9 writes "Sun (among others) is sponsoring a $50,000 Java games competition, with the competition page explaining: 'With Java technology, developers are enabled to simplify their development process and create richer games reaching across a multitude of devices and platforms.' In my humble opinion, Java still has a ways to go in the gaming industry, but the competition could greatly help if skilled people enter."
What the crap!? I was contemplating how cool it would be to make a game to enter into this and maybe win some money... but there is no money. The first place "Prize" is as follows: Grand Prize: One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive a full GameSpy SDK license for one title and one (1) ABS Computer System and a copy of the Java Desktop System. Approximate Retail Value: $45,000. The only cool prize here is the glory of winning the their damned contest. It reminds me of the joke: Q: What is better than winning the special olympics? A: Not being retarded!
Sun is apparently trying hard to prove that Java works well in all areas by getting some proof-of-concepts in gaming. The problem is that, really and honestly, for most genres, Java is a really lousy choice.
Performance matters in games.
Memory usage matters in games.
Bugs are more acceptable in games than in any other genre of software. I might learn to live with a painfully slow backup system if I knew that it was rock-solid, but with a game, "painfully slow" is unacceptable. I can live with having to reopen a game three times over the course of playing it, even if I don't like having to do so.
All this is going to do is drive home to people how poorly suited Java is for most game development. It hasn't worked well for horizontal-market app development either. Java is *already* big in custom and vertical market work, where it shines. I just don't see the point in Sun doing marketing when they *don't have the product to fill the need they're aiming at*.
May we never see th