Quake 4 Linux

Crusader writes "id Software has released the Linux client and server for Quake 4. There's a FAQ page with installation instructions, notes, and download links."

Comments

quake 4 linux

[scythe000]

It's wonderful to see such a big name company releasing for the open source crowd. I hope others will follow their lead.

Re:quake 4 linux

[andy_shepard]

It isn't open source. It's an i386-only binary.

Re:quake 4 linux

[big_groo]

Praise is good, but your wallet speaks louder. Don't forget to let them know *why* you purchased the game.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Ucklak]

I bought Quake 3 on CD that was the Linux version. Not the Windows version then run a Linux installer like UT.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Krach42]

This just didn't work. They released Quake 3 and RTCW on Linux also, but hardly anyone bought those. Sure it's good to let them know you support their Linux clients and servers, because then they'll keep doing the support that they are doing, but it's not going to make other people "wake up" and support Linux or even Mac OS.

Loki tried to market Linux games, and I bought just about every title that they had released, but it didn't save them, because there weren't enough people like me, who were willing to put their money where their mouth was.

Anyways, as much as I appreciate id for releasing Linux binaries and I love Blizzard for supporting the Macintosh, at the same time, don't think that just because some big name is porting their code to a particulr platform that you really love, isn't going to make other people do the same.

If it did, then this would be old news because Linux and Mac *would* have the same games that Windows has now. But fact is that these big names have supported Linux/Mac for a long time, and there's still very little more support now than there was before.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Sadly, if developers started out with portability in mind (SDL and OpenGL), then porting to different machines wouldn't be such a big deal. Apparently Q4 for Linux uses SDL + OpenGL, though this sort of implies that they didn't use SDL + OpenGL for the windows version (which would be sorta strange).

Re:quake 4 linux

[GiMP]

Yeah... because ID has never supported Linux on any of their products before. ;-) But you're right, it is nice... and I must admit that having a Quake port essentially sold me on Linux (otherwise I would've needed to keep DOS around!)

The first time I saw Linux, my friend demonstrated rendering the original Quake in a window, while running Netscape 3, and an xterm. Of course, seeing all of that, I was hooked... I ran home, fired up xmodem, and started downloading my first slackware install ;-)

Wow.. I'm feeling old ;-)

Re:quake 4 linux

[Krach42]

Yeah, I totally agree.. that's why Blizzard can actually publish Macintosh title at the same time as their Windows titles, because they write portable games.

It's actually *not* that unusual that id would releaase two seperate graphics engines for Windows and Linux once you learn how they tend to work. They tend to write very highly optimized code-paths for anything that would benefit from this. Considering that Windows Vista will seriously damage OpenGL performance, and actually Windows OpenGL performance is massively less optimized than DirectX performance, it only makes sense that id would release a DirectX code path to support Windows as fast as they can.

id kind of takes a different approach to portability. They don't really so much write portable code, but write fast code for each ported OS, and video card. Yeah, I know it's weird, but it allows them to have some of the best performance in games than just about anyone else, and it works for them.

Re:quake 4 linux

[X0563511]

More than likely an i586 optimized i386 compatible binary. But what are you trying to run Q4 on non-x86 hardware for? (couldn't help it... i don't actually feel that way)

Re:quake 4 linux

[slugo3]

yeah I remember playing team fortress mod for quake 1 on my slackware 3.6 box, it ran a lot smoother than in win 98. ID GPL'd quake1 besides having a linux client for every game they have released since so theres no doubt they are OSS friendly.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Breakfast Pants]

Id didn't release a DirectX codepath; what the hell are you talking about? Q4 is OpenGL only on both Windows and Linux.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Trigun]

Did you have to run around the house looking for like 50 disks to install all the packages?

I swear I burned out three floppy drives getting Slackware on my 386.

Re:quake 4 linux

[dchamp]

You could only buy the Linux version of Q3A online from Loki. I don't believe there was ever a version available at mainstream retailers. Most linux users probably didn't know you could buy it, or would rather just buy the Windows retail version and downloaded the Linux client.

I don't think you can say "it didn't work". Id obviously knows about us Linux users, or they wouldn't keep releasing Linux versions, would they?

I purchased the Windows version (in the spiffy tin box), then later bought the Linux version from Loki. Oh, and the Dreamcast version. Dang. Carmack should be sending me xmas cards or something.

I will give Id feedback thanking them for the Linux version. And the Doom3, and the OSS release of their older stuff...

We should also remind those humps over at Valve and Dice that Id and Activision are giving us linux clients, and not just servers.

Re:quake 4 linux

[snuf23]

Server. The key word is server. We used to run a Quake server on our huge multi processor sparc in the '90s. The server was way over specced for the work it was doing, it just hurt seeing those processor cycles go to waste.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Krach42]

http://www.planetquake.com/quake4/info.shtml

English version of Windows 2000/XP
Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or Athlon XP 2000+ Processor
512MB RAM
8x speed CD-ROM drive and latest drivers
2.8GB uncompressed hard-drive space, plus 400MB for Windows swap file
100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 16-bit sound card and latest drivers
100% Windows 2000/XP compatible mouse, keyboard and latest drivers
DirectX 9.0c included
3D Hardware Accelerator Card required
100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 64MB
Hardware Accelerated video card and the latest drivers
[snip]
Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) Supported
Internet play requires broadband connection and latest drivers
LAN play requires network interfaces card and latest drivers

If Quake 4 doesn't use DirectX, why would it COME with DirectX? Why would it REQUIRE a DirectX compatible video card?

Quake 4 for Windows can run with OpenGL drivers, and it can run with DirectX drivers, but it's DirectX by default.

Re:quake 4 linux

[mrseigen]

If it's not using Direct3D for the renderer, it may be using DirectSound or DirectInput which are both major components of DirectX. I believe the DX9 standard claims a minimum amount of shader support, which is likely the easiest way to tell if your card is OK (most vendors don't tell you what billions of GL extensions their card supports on the box).

Re:quake 4 linux

[LikwidFlux]

This is definately a good move, both for ID and for the linux community.

Re:quake 4 linux

[hammock]

There are other components to DirectX than 3D. DirectPlay, DirectInput, DirectSound... the list goes on.

All these same questions came out when Quake 2 was released.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Vapebait]

The parent didn't say it was open source. He said it had been released for "the open source crowd".

Re:quake 4 linux

[DudemanX]

Maybe it requires DirectX because DirectX is a lot more than a 3D API. The Windows version of Quake 4(and Doom 3, Quake 3, Quake 2...) uses OpenGL for graphics, DirectSound for audio, and DirectInput for it's control interface. The Direct3D API is never used. I'm sure the requirements mention a DX9 video card just to help eliminate confusion, although you snipped out the part where it lists every supported card.

So yeah, Quake 4 for Windows uses BOTH OpenGL AND a subset DirectX, but it never uses Direct3D.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Quake 2 and 3 source is out now too!

Re:quake 4 linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Eeuh! Don't be so harsh with him!

Re:quake 4 linux

[JFitzsimmons]

That is just used as a benchmark. If they were to say "OpenGL 1.5 [or whatever they use] compatable", nobody would have any idea what they were talking about.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Krach42]

read the bolded text in my post:

"100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 64MB"

What does this refer to if not a video card?

Quake 4 runs in Direct3D on Windows by default, same as Quake3, same as RTCW. For that matter, same as Doom3. Why would Quake 4 be any different, huh?

Are you guys idiots in thinking that: hey, he's wrong, id doesn't just pump out code, they write portable games that's what they do!

No, id pumps out fast code paths to make their games the fastest. They work heavily with nVidia, ATi, Microsoft for DirectX *and* Direct3D, and OpenGL reference sources. They make every code path the fastest code path that they can.

Blizzard also has DirectX code path in WoW, and Warcraft3, that's because there's no getting around the fact that in Windows, the most efficient fastest, and feature-rich 3D library to build towards is DirectX.

If you all don't believe me, then go ahead and live in your fantasy world, because you're idiots.

Re:quake 4 linux

[slycer]

Yes, you could buy it at retailers.

I picked mine up in the "hard" silver box from Compusmart. The only thing that says it's a linux version is the penguin on a black stripe.

Re:quake 4 linux

[BinLadenMyHero]

It isn't open source. It's an i386-only binary.

Just wait for some months after the release of the next generation engine.
Now that Doom 3 is out, Quake 3 is already GPL'ed, as happened to the previous games.
Maybe they are the only big game company that does that.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Lucractius]

overspeced servers are fun :) lots of cycles to spare and no one ever notices the proccesses.

shame theres no game servers that you can run on em anymore... well suppose you could compile a Q1, Q2 or Q3 server for one now its all open source... but still id like them to make a sparc binary myself seeing what those new suns are like. Oh hell yeah. Saturating a gig ethernet connection with network traffic anyone? Who can resist the idea of having multithreaded server apps running in parralell, and when sun break out the 10 gig eth late next year. *drools* No finer multithread box on earth my freind :P

*begins pondering the threadedness of the q4 server*

anyone got a clue if its multithreaded... not half assed multithreaded (2 thread only) or fully multithreaded (scaling to any number of threads within performance boundaries)

So if you have a dual, dual core Opteron like one of those Tyan Boards, would it go to 4 threads?

Re:quake 4 linux

[GiMP]

Of course! Ah.. such fond memories ;-)

Re:quake 4 linux

[Lucractius]

whats interesting is that once Vista locks in the GFX framework as part of the Avalon interface, there wont be any DirectX Updates untill the next "Service Pack" (read: Download of crud equivalent to a full sized OS) id expect. And because DirecX doesnt have any methods to enable Vendor based card optimisations and extentions, Like OpenGL 2.0 does. Vista is gonna get the short end of the Stick against Linux Machines. If nVida or ATI get off their rears and realise theres a big opportunity on the rise here we may just see "solid" linux drivers finaly arrive for the cards, as in equal, or better performance than the windows ones since they wont be held back by the inability to make use of OpenGL 2.0 Hardware based Extentions.

Re:quake 4 linux

[xaque]

Software and MP3s are not a birthright.

Depends on what country you're born in.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Anonymous Coward]

find something to do with direct3d then :)
http://www.ausgamers.com/files/details/html/18206

Re:quake 4 linux

[brundlefly]

Even if you didn't buy it for Linux, you should still let id know how much we appreciate their effort.

Personally, I've never played a game on Linux and have zero plans to do so in the next ten years. But I do love the idea of a triopoly of software platforms instead of a monopoly. So I'm willing to call up/write a software vendor in favor of Linux even if I never use it.

Re:quake 4 linux

[McCarrum]

Epic measure their Linux UT uptake based on their master server logs.

Can't for the life of me remember where I read that, but I do remember it being an official source.

Re:quake 4 linux

[niteice]

id has *always* used OpenGL ever since they started writing hardware-accelerated graphics engines. A DirectX 9-capable video card would support OpenGL 1.5 as well, which is what Doom 3/Quake 4 needs. But most average gamers have never heard of OpenGL, so saying "OpenGL 1.5-compatible video card" would confuse users to no end.

Re:quake 4 linux

[jrockway]

How do you make someone a foe that's already your foe? I mean, if you don't have mod points...

Re:quake 4 linux

[IntlHarvester]

> I don't believe there was ever a version available at mainstream retailers.

Actually, Quake3 for Linux was a bargain bin classic. "Works with Windows with website download!" said the stickers on the huge stack of forlorn $15 tins.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Krach42]

There's no reason to think that DirectX wouldn't update except on Service Packs if it's integrated to teh GFX framework.

Microsoft can service any binary that they've released. So why would they not update DirectX outside of Service Packs? Especially if there were a security flaw?

Re:quake 4 linux

[Lucractius]

the deployment of the Aeroglass interface across Vista for ALL applications is the "reason" they built their crippled OpenGL and locked it to 1.4 so any programs written to use it would be the same on All copies of Vista. They want the thing to look the same for everyone. They may update the back end partialy in case of emergencies i expect, but theyre building their whole damn GUI, and Programing interfaces ontop of this thing, its going to be no trivial task to update it to enable a multitude of hardware vaugaries the way OpenGL 2.0 does through its ability to use hardware based extentions.

The WGF is going to be the entire GUI API set. do you even want them to change that often?

Re:quake 4 linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, that's just zeatlory BS.

"Ran more smoothly" my ass. Basically, Quake on Windows 9x/Me runs in kernel mode as opposed to Linux where it runs in user mode - which simplified means on Linux it has to work its way through additional layers in the OS than on Windows, resulting in worse performance (but in Linux you don't bomb the entire OS if the game crashes!)

dr.g.

Re:quake 4 linux

[sumdumass]

with interesting advancments like this one here it might be possible for a OpenGL layer to bypass microsofts attempts to cripple it.

It wil be interesting to see what is in store for OpenGL. There are alot of big name backers that have alot of money invested to let microsoft depreciate it because they want to make sure it is dificult getting game makers to support other platforms. I wouldn't doubt that OpenGL doesn't get implementd in a different way allowing it to bypass microsofts efforts. If microsoft does somethign to stop it again, it might be even easier to stop them from anti competetive monopolistic practices.

Now some might look and say but microsoft has the right to do whatever they want with thier operating system. Sure they do but, to disable a third party "competing" program when you allow other third party non competing programs to run would sparc the entire netrscape issue again. This time there would be a history and historical damages wich would help any remedies availible. The big difference in this might be the blatently obvious crippling of the competing technology instead of hints to it in the background. Do what they did to OpenGL in vista because of interoperability isn't the same as doing it after that issue is fixed.

Re:quake 4 linux

[houseofzeus]

Err no. DirectX is more than just 3D, it includes sound and input as well. The Doom3 engine uses opengl for rendering 3D graphics, it does not use Directx for this. The reason it says Directx 9 compatiable video card on the box is because that's easier for people to understand than listing off the 20 or so equivalent opengl extensions the card must support.

Re:quake 4 linux

[wolrahnaes]

Sorry dipshit, but Doom 3 is OpenGL. So is Quake 4. They both also use OpenAL for 3D audio support. DirectX is only used on Win32 for input as far as I can tell.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Anonymous Coward]

No. We're thinking hey he's wrong because you don't know that DirectX isn't just 3D and we know damn well that the Doom3 engine does ONLY use Opengl for rendering. DirectX is used on windows platform for the DirectSound and I assume DirectInput capabilities, on linux SDL handles this. Thanks for giving us all a laugh though.

Re:quake 4 linux

[cloudedone]

What the heck, they are suppost to give away their games free? Much less let you download a $50 game free just because you use nix? Seriously, they are not going to give all the main game data on a download, especially when its sold on DVD-ROM. You're getting a binary, not the whole game! I agree with other posters that it would kick ass if they included the nix binaries on the game discs. Then they could include Mac binaries and everyone would be happy.

Re:quake 4 linux

[halleluja]

Wow.. I'm feeling old ;-)

Doom, Irix, netscape 2 :-)

Re:quake 4 linux

[pureevilmatt]

Doom 3 Engine is OpenGL, not direct 3D. Quake 4 runs using the Doom 3 engine, and also thus also uses OpenGL. I suppose the reason they require a "100% Direct X9.0c compatible 64Mb" videocard as the minimum is because any videocard that supports DirectX 9.0c also is physically capable of supporting OpenGL, t&l, and the various shader unit extensions that the Doom3 engine requires.

Re:quake 4 linux

[pureevilmatt]

we're all idiots, but you're fucking clownshoes.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Dunkirk]

Loki ate itself from the inside out. It was a failure of their management, not of their business model. Every time this comes up, I have to say this, one, to dispel the myth, and, two, hoping that someone, somewhere will try again. Story.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Overly Critical Guy]

It's common for Slashdotters to cover their ears when confronted with an argument they can't refute.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Breakfast Pants]

I realize that, but the guy was talking about video--I didn't feel it was necessary to mention that I was only talking about video as well.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Krach42]

Is anyone willing to provide me proof?

I mean, not just random spoutings of "blah blah blah, it's OpenGL only, because I heard it is."

Obviously, my "It's DirectX because I heard it is." is wrong. So where's the evidence that I'm wrong?

Re:quake 4 linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone like Linux Game Publishing?

Re:quake 4 linux

[jrockway]

I think the rationale for downloading music is that since the RIAA is screwing everyone so badly, we're allowed to screw them in return. I haven't found any decent music on P2P for years, though, so I get most of it from iTunes and listen to stuff that's freely available anyway. Once in a while I buy a CD, but it sure as hell isn't a RIAA CD.

As for downloading TV shows, I don't feel bad about that either. It's broadcast directly through my skull 24/7 so I don't see why I can't get it from BitTorrent if I want to. Sure the ads aren't there, but I go the bathroom during ads (with the volume muted), so I don't see them anyway. So I don't see that as "copyright infringement" or "stealing".

I think a lot of slashdotters agree with me.

And the reason they feel that they shouldn't warez quake 4 is because id is making a legitimate effort to HELP us. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, or something. The RIAA is fucking us over, so they deserve to be fucked over too. id is helping us, so they deserve help in return. You reap what you sow.

As for your original comment (and sig), you KNOW that you're just trying to upset people. That's called trolling or flamebaiting, and ... it upsets people. I know that's the point, and that's why I wish I could make your posts completely disappear. Make sense now?

Re:quake 4 linux

[wolrahnaes]

Well the first hint would be the GL_ lines in the config file.....

Then there's this. Note that Doom 3 and Riddick are used as OpenGL performance benchmarks.

And finally, this, particularly the quote "The Doom 3 engine is important to the gaming community as it continues id Software's commitment to OpenGL."

If I was in front of my desktop right now, I'd take a look at what libraries Doom 3 and Quake 4 link to for further proof, but alas, I'm on my Tablet PC which has no hope of even running Half-Life 1 at a decent framerate.

Re:quake 4 linux

[Krach42]

Well, the "gl_" cvars can be explained by being short for "graphics library", which I suppose it would be even if it was just short for the GL in OpenGL.

But the other information is very interested, and I'm eating my words. Though the libraries that it links to would still be nice. Thanks for your patience, and proof. It's much more appreciated than "STFU n00b, its totally teh OpenGL, umbs!"

Re:quake 4 linux

[slugo3]

I saw an increase in FPS running in Linux vs. 98 and if it crashed it didnt bring down the OS.
Zeatlory? Sounds more like your spreading FUD or are you speaking from experience like I am?

Sweet

[Anonymous Coward]

I am really looking forward to this. ID makes quality software, and even better, it can run on Linux. Frag away

Re:Sweet

[StonedRat]

I believe the game was developed by Raven Software, who also did the Soldier of Fortune games as well as Hexen 2 and Heretic 2. I'm not sure how much id had to do with the actual development of the game other than the engine of course.

Re:Sweet

[demonbug]

Not to mention Heretic 1 and Hexen 1 (though they didn't have the '1' after them originally). Sorry, just thought it was sort of funny that you specifically said Heretic 2 and Hexen 2 (actually, wasn't it HeXen or something?) when they were also responsible for the originals.

Re:Sweet

[BinLadenMyHero]

Raven basically did the production. The engine is from Doom 3, which was already ported to Linux.

Re:Sweet

[Lucractius]

im laughing my ass off, my brother saw the trailer on the net for it and he was complaining it wasnt as good as he was expecting, said "it looks like Soldier of Fortune"

oh how true he was... just not how he thought...

I have to say it, Is it just me or are games these days either doing one of three things when they get "better", theyre getting Bigger with no real improvement to graphics, their getting shinnier with no plot, or their getting faster with no attention paid to graphics or game size.

Re:Sweet

[snuf23]

They also did Jedi Knight 2 and Jedi Academy as well as Star Trek Elite Force. All pretty good quake engine based shooters.

Re:Sweet

[Jesus_666]

I don't care about graphics anymore. When I see a game with nice graphics it only takes a few minutes until some smoke cloud appears (from an explosion or whatever), gets in contact with a surface and clips halfway through it and it's obvious that it's just a bitmap floating through the air. That completely destroys the illusion for me - which IMO makes the game look worse than what we had ten years ago. I don't want ultra-pretty graphics most of the time, I want consistency. Eiother make the whole game look perfect or make it look like Quake 3. If the graphics are not consistent they are ugly - F.E.A.R. is a good example. As soon as I saw a preview I knew that the game looked like ass. Because it tried to build an illusion that was easily destroyed by a smoke puff clipping therough the floor.

I'm still waiting for the day when all 3D games will use volumetric fog for every single smoke puff etc. Maybe then they will look as good as they did in 1994. Unfortunately it will take years to get this far; until then I'll happily stay three generations behind and play the few games that focus on gameplay instead of graphics.

Wait

[temojen]

I've been living under a rock... is Quake 4 out yet for other OSs?

Re:Wait

[gunpowda]

Yeah, I felt compelled to check this too. From ID's official site:

We are pleased to announce that QUAKE 4 for the PC is done, and will begin shipping on Tuesday, October 18th! The game will be arriving at retailers beginning Wednesday, October 19th.

Re:Wait

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently we've both been living under a rock. I didn't realize until now either. Yet here we are. Go figure.

Re:Wait

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't you mean go here?

They even changed the ship on their homepage as a tribute ;)

Re:Wait

[SkjeggApe]

God, I hate when games for linux are only available two full days after their windows counterpart. If linux is EVER going to be a viable gaming platform, we need to demand that it's available at the same time as for windows..

Ahhhhh, one day I'll be able to make a statement like that with a straight face....

great job, id!!!!!

Re:Wait

[dada21]

I was at Best Buy this morning, and noticed 40 $10 "prebook" copies of Q4 along the top row of an entire aisle. I asked the kid in blue when it was coming out and he pointed to rows 2-4 of the same aisle.

Doh.

Re:Wait

[Chris Burke]

Well, the sad side of that coin are the linux users who really can't wait a whole two days to get a game. They're the bastiches that made the Quake3 linux sales suck so badly, because they couldn't wait a whole two weeks.

Then again, maybe by now the lustre has worn of id and they aren't the heroin addicts to id's smack that they used to be.

Yeah, great job id. I didn't even know Q4 was out at all. :)

Re:Wait

[Feyr]

hell, i wasn't even aware they were MAKING a quake 4!

Re:Wait

[Mjlner]

"I've been living under a rock... is Quake 4 out yet for other OSs?"

My reaction exactly!
Man... A new Quake version!!??
And I didn't even know they were making one...

GOD, I'm old...

Re:Wait

[PGC]

God... I'm also getting very very old -_-; ... I was thinking the exact same thing; heck I didn't even think it was in production yet... till I saw the Edge lying on my desk with Q4 on the cover... I HAVE to cut back on the coffee...

Re:Wait

[Pxtl]

Judging from the replies, you're not alone. I didn't know it was out either. Personally, I think this is a sign that Id's slipping - after Doom 3, nobody's even taking the flagship brand (Quake) seriously anymore.

Plus, it's a Raven game. Raven makes games that are interesting and solid... but somehow fall short of actually being "fun". This will be like Quake 2 but with graphics we've already seen (in Doom 3) and without the kickass deathmatch maps - in short, a reasonably good, artisticly interesting, and thoroughly dull game. The last creative thing Raven did was Hexen, and that game was so frustratingly difficult they changed their policy to be as bland as possible.

Re:Wait

[jasongetsdown]

There's still no word on a Mac realease and you're griping that they waited two days for a Linux client?! Every game in the series, including Doom 3, which is the engine its built on, was released for Mac and they put out a Linux client first.

Re:Wait

[fodi]

Yeah, well I didn't even know you could get Quake on computers !

Re:Wait

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you totally missed the sarcasm and wit there. Maybe you should read the entire post, or... uh, thoroughly finish high school level english perhaps. The first responder obviously got it, though I see you failed to grasp it there as well.

Re:Wait

[sydb]

What's Quake? I'm still playing Wolfenstein 3D.

Re:Wait

[Anonymous Coward]

For those that are living under rocks, and given the name, maybe some linked donations to Pakistan/India/Kashmir? Occurred to me when I saw http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4358902.stm

Lot of people hungry, plenty more things to care about than computer games.

Re:Wait

[karnal]

Aw, come on.

Don't cry.

You still have Breakout and Super Breakout!

And Photoshop!

Re:Wait

[jasongetsdown]

Photoshop is awefully fun, but I prefer the exciting games that come with my Mac, Nanosaur 2 and Marble Blast Gold!!

Seriously, breakout would be welcome compaired to this shit.

Re:Wait

[BinLadenMyHero]

That's what illegal copies are for. Download with your favorite p2p program, and by the Linux version when it's avaiable.

Re:Wait

[phlegmofdiscontent]

Shit, I didn't even know it was out for Windows yet. Where the hell have I been?

Re:Wait

[Cylix]

Hey now...

I bought Q3 for linux and I didn't even have drivers for my card at the time.

Had to download the windows binaries for the sucker to work....

3 months later I had accelerated opengl in linux!

Re:Wait

[platypus]

Me too!

I first read it as "Quake 4 Linux", then thought, oh that's wrong,
it's l44t speak for "Quake for Linux", then, realizing that Quake
running on Linux is seriously old news, I was totally confused.

I'm getting old.

Re:Wait

[Fred_A]

Not only that, but this time, it doesn't seem to be Quake with a better engine (like quake 2 was) or with an even better engine (like Quake 3) was. According to the trailer (which isn't much to go by) there's actually a plotline, vehicles, goals, new critters and stuff.

I know I didn't bother with Doom 3 (just tried the demo) because... well because I'd already played that game years ago as plain Doom. Granted it was ugly and pixelated (although fun at the time) and the lighting model sucked, but a better engine isn't enough to make a better game.

So maybe (just maybe), Quake 4 might be worth looking into.
Worst scenario, it might be worth it just for the mods (which are usually ugly but at least inventive).

Re:Wait

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

Eh, you'd hope so, but no.
Recipe for Quake4:

1 Part doom3
2 Parts shiny graphics
One regexp of s/demons/Strogg/;
Mix, Hope for the best.

Its just quake2 story on a doom3 engine, done by ravensoft so you can't even expect a good multiplayer :(

Oh well, back to quakeworld.

Re:Wait

[Fred_A]

Right. Well, I'll stick to Battlefield and wait for reviews of mods. Then I'll see if it's worth it (and if it even runs on an AMD64).

Re:Wait

[CastrTroy]

I don't think that its the fault of id, or anyone else to do with Quake 3, that you didn't have proper video card drivers. I think your beef is with your video card manufacturer.

Re:Wait

[Anonymous Coward]

Wonderful insight, moderators.

Re:Wait

[avhell]

lol. nice. i would almost run out and buy 2 copies or more of q4 just to support id bringing this client to us. any company that has the foresight and open mind to bring their product to alternative systems deserves as much of my money as i can reasonably afford to give them. no doubt. and i hope one day you will be able to say that with a straight face! :)

Re:Wait

[iabervon]

Well, in this case they're only selling Windows versions in stores, so it doesn't matter much. To run Q4 on Linux, you buy the box in a store, and you download the Linux binaries. (Or, if you just want to run a server, you just download the Linux binaries). Activision is responsible for putting the box in stores, and they're only doing the Windows thing.

Personally, I miss id games having a free first section, such that people don't buy the CD for the binaries, but only for the cross-platfrom data files. And you can test whether the game is going to work before you buy it, by playing the intro; maybe they should have a downloadable total conversion level in which you're in a computer store, and you have to find the Quake 4 box and leave, so that you can see if the binaries you've downloaded are working right before you actually buy the game.

Re:Wait

[poopdeville]

Check out pop-pop. It's my favorite breakout clone ever.

Re:Wait

[Anonymous Coward]

Well F@$* imagine how I feel. I just read all this now. Lets get the ooh so surprised hype rolling and linux binaries for client and server out ... now maybe. Then I am living in Korea right now. Uber Doom3 engine in multiplayer mode here we go ...in seems like only 6 months ago they were putting this together. I cant believe it's ready

Quake 3 install troll

[Mad Merlin]

Does this mean that the copy and paste troll about installing Quake 3 in Linux vs Windows will have to find a new troll to copy and paste?

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[Spy der Mann]

Just replace "Quake" for any other app with heavy dependencies. It won't be that hard...

*ducks flying tomato*

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[Tim C]

I don't recall QUake 3 being hard, but I remember UT being an absolute bitch. I had to install stuff from CPAN using some arcane command line perl shell.

Thankfully, installations have gotten jsut a tad better since then...

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[i.r.id10t]

Strange, I usually had to just make sure my CD was at /mnt/cdrom (and mounted of course) and doing something like

sh ut-goty-installer.run

or

sh q3a-test.run

Or whatever their file names were...

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[Anonymous Coward]

UT was easier to install on linux than on windows.
The installer even came with the No-CD crack included :)

Joking aside, the loki installer was a simple as InstallShield or anything on else like that on windows. The loki games typically came with all dependencies included.
You're linux install would have to be seriously hosed to have problems with UT.

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[Anonymous Coward]

Surely, they'll just s/3/4/g ?

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[EpsCylonB]

And this is why gamers prefer windows...

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[Vorondil28]

Hey, shutup! I have to type that out every time!

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[genooma]

Well, you could always double click it with your prefered file explorer.

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[Anonymous Coward]

One tool commonly advocated to assist smaller sites in bearing the load of a Slashdot effect is the Coral P2P Web Cache, designed at New York University. However, the Coral caching system does not rewrite intrasite links, nor does it rewrite image URL's, so a Coral-ized link from Slashdot will still usually deal a crushing blow to an unprepared server.

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[Lucractius]

Id like to point out that command line scripts are a lot less arecane than you think. :P

*points to Emerge* the most useful peice of python ever invented :)

Shame they cant put the copywrited type stuff in there even just installer helper things to do it for us from the disks :(

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[Anonymous Coward]

No, because that troll is actually technically accurate.

Re: Quake 3 install troll

[Anonymous Coward]

So, I wanted to install Quake 4. I use Linux a lot. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty comfortable with it. I've heard Windows was great for people who want to play games with no hassles. I knew microsoft made it, so I pointed konqeror at microsoft.org, and away I went. Ooops. MS is a company, not an organisation. Microsoft.com! Okay, so I tried to search the website for an .iso, so I could install Windows. Nothing! I realised that it was Commercial Software. I should have known this upfront, but I'm no windows expert. So, for the privelige of *playing games,* I went down to a local computer shop and invested over a hundred dollars in a copy of Windows. (I guess there are a lot of hard core gamers who wouldn't have a problem with putting down hundreds of dollars just to play games, but it isn't something I normally do.)

Installation was pretty smooth. I had to download nvidia binary drivers to get fully accelerated OpenGL, just like Linux. Windows is a supported platform for the drivers. I had to reboot the whole OS after installing them, because Windows won't let you easily drop back to a command line mode and just restart the GUI. No worries - I didn't have a server running on the machine, and it only takes a bit longer to reboot than to just restart a GUI.

Caution - Windows only comes with a special limited feature browser that doesn't support tabs, or anything. It is apparently only provided so you can download the latest version of a real browser after you install Windows. Windows doesn't come with a lot of useful stuff that you expect from a Linux distro...

So, I start reading docs to find out how you install apps on this new OS. I was having a pretty good time. Then, I learned that there is no equivalent of apt-get. If there is free software you want to download and install, you have to do it manually. So, I used the funny miniature "IE" browser to get the Quake 4 source online.

Ooops, bad idea. Windows doesn't come with a compiler. You can download a free version, but the full featured "Visual Studio," costs a lot of money. I didn't feel like investing the effort to understand the differences. I decided to just get binaries. Again, there is no tool to automatically download and install an app, so I had to manually google for windows binaries. Thankfully, Quake 4 is a very popular game, so it was very fast and easy to find, but still, it is an extra layer of inconvenience.

After a flurry of clicking "next" and eventually "finish," I finally had the game installed. Hooray. I tried to run it and I got a "BSOD." (Crash error screen) Of course, I already pointed out that Windows comes with no development tools, so it wasn't like I could try again with the debugger to see what happened. I had no way to see exactly what the issue was. What's worse, I couldn't get back to the system. This *game* had caused the equivalent of a kernel panic. It wasn't just the app that had crashed, but the whole system! this, from a system that is supposedly really great for games! It lets a game kill it!

Okay, so I rebooted into Linux. I already knew of a website with binaries for Quake 4, so I went there in Konq (Which came installed by default! I didn't have to go and download it!), downloaded a package, and that was all there was to it. This "Windows is great for games" garbage is just horrible propaganda.

Re:Quake 3 install troll

[ArsonSmith]

You must be using Linux. I can't seem to figure out the copy and paste stuff either. When in a web site and coping is it ? middle-click? -V? I can never keep all these things straight. I just try each one and see what comes out. They usually pick something I've used in the last 10 minutes and sticks it in the text box. rearly is it what I was looking for.

Linux

[utnow]

When I first saw this I was all like "quake in awe of mighty linux!!"

http://www.utnow.com/

Re:Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

You're, like, an idoit.

God, I Hate Flash.

[saudadelinux]

I'd just like to read the info, not have to figure out over-designed interfaces :(

Re:God, I Hate Flash.

[Anonymous Coward]

AAARGH!. I'm cant even use the over-designed interface becuase I'm stubbornly waiting for a 64 bit flash for linux.

Re:God, I Hate Flash.

[welshsocialist]

From what I've been told, God hates Flash as well. So I guess you're not alone there. :)

(This post is meant as a joke.)

Re:God, I Hate Flash.

[msh104]

install a 32bit chroot...

https://alioth.debian.org/docman/view.php/30192/21 /debian-amd64-howto.html#id271960

it works wonderfull, surely it is a workaround, but it is not as bad as not being able to use 32bit programs at all.

Torrent

[Vapebait]

Torrent

that was quick

[endersadvocate]

jee wish they could release linux clients for other games this quick... would be a godsend to the "linux gamerz". and could make x/wine useless. but microsoft would never let this happen lets be realistic

Re:that was quick

[lowe0]

What say does Microsoft have over studios releasing Linux clients for their games? One of MS' biggest Xbox 360 partners, Epic, has been releasing Linux binaries for years.

Re:that was quick

[Nataku564]

I would imagine it depends how big the studio is. Microsoft darent fsck with id Software. If they released on Mac first, I would go out and buy a mac.

Re:that was quick

[lowe0]

What would it matter if it was a smaller studio? What's MS really going to do to them?

Re:that was quick

[Nataku564]

Buy your employees away and/or buy you out from your parent company.

Re:that was quick

[Anonymous Coward]

>What's MS really going to do to them?

Not publish the game. (Duh.) Publishers are the people that finance the creation of games, not the developers.

Re:that was quick

[lowe0]

We're talking about PC games though. Suppose Microsoft doesn't want to publish you. Guess what? Activision, VUG, EA, Ubi, etc. are still out there, and if you can't pitch to them, there's always JoWood.

Seriously, what recourse does Microsoft have against a developer or publisher who produce a Linux version of their game?

(As I see it, the answer is none - but I'm not the one who suggested it in the first place.)

Now if only..

[inkdesign]

...these things started happening the day a game is released.

Re:Now if only..

[Roguelazer]

As opposed to one day later? The game got to retailers yesterday, man.

Re:Now if only..

[ragnarok]

It was released yesterday. What more do you want?

Re:Now if only..

[Anonymous Coward]

Why, thank you for explaining GP's joke to me.

Re:Now if only..

[i.r.id10t]

Quake3 test release was for Linux first, then Mac, then Windows. Not sure about the others or the final "gold" releases - linux was probably later.

On the same note though, I wish developers would stop doing Linux server ports if they aren't doing a client port too. And I wish server admins wouldn't run a linux port for a server for a game that has no linux client.

And dammit, I still havent bought enough machine to run Doom3 - now it looks like I'll really have to upgrade.

Re:Now if only..

[xouumalperxe]

well, even if it is "one day later", it's not the UT2004, binaries in the DVD, sort of quality for a linux release. So I think the GP has a point there.

I mean, one says "Linux and Windows users are equals in our eyes", while the other one goes "We're all for Windows, and Linux comes as an afterthought." As a Linux user, guess which one I like better?

Re:Now if only..

[Lucractius]

What i'd realy like is if they stoped making these crufty bloated x86 only binary servers.
( Im pointing my Finger squarely fscking at you EA and Dice. Damn you and your Stupidly high Requirements for the BF2 server, BS you need a 1.7Ghz box to serve a 16player game in dedicated server mode, Bull Fscking S*** )

Re:Now if only..

[Anonymous Coward]

It was released yesterday. What more do you want?

Umm....he already answered this in the original statement. He wants them out on the same day. Thank you for playing.

YESSSS!!

[Ride Jib]

I can finally get rid of my Windows partition!!

Re:YESSSS!!

[Darius Jedburgh]

I bet you say that every time anyone releasse a game for Linux.

Re:YESSSS!!

[Ride Jib]

... that's the part that makes it funny...

Re:YESSSS!!

[dknj]

haha mod parent funny!

mod this post insightful

4 ALREADY!? :(

[Spy der Mann]

And I just purchased Quake 3... damn!

Re:4 ALREADY!? :(

[dtfinch]

That makes two of us. It may be a couple more years before I meet the hardware requirements of Quake 4, and find it at Walmart for only $9.95.

Re:4 ALREADY!? :(

[m50d]

Where did you find it? Seriously, I've been looking all over for a legit copy.

Re:4 ALREADY!? :(

[Tibor the Hun]

i don't want to make a "me too" post, but i just beat quake 2 last night. :)

Re:4 ALREADY!? :(

[karnal]

With or without cheats?

Re:4 ALREADY!? :(

[Tibor the Hun]

without, of course.
wasn't too hard, i got lost on the second to last level, so i found an invulnerability and quad damage right before i got to duke it out with the final boss. he didn't even lay a hand on me...
i got it a few weeks ago in preparation for ET: Quake Wars

Re:4 ALREADY!? :(

[Snaller]

Q3 is better, so don't worry :)

Re:4 ALREADY!? :(

[krakrjak]

You think you feel bad. I have gentoo and I just got done compiling Quake3. I wonder how long until the Quake4 ebuild is ready so I can start compiling it! It might finish before Quake5 is out.

Quake 4 is out?

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn, either I've really gotten out of the loop, or this has been one of the stealthiest release campaigns for a major game that I've ever seen.

Re:Quake 4 is out?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a fairly hardcore FPS gamer and I had no idea it had been released either.

What are they hoping for? Word of mouth sales?

Re:Quake 4 is out?

[dastrike]

Perhaps they wanted to avoid the kind of anticlimax that Doom 3 had?

I didn't really hear anything about Quake 4 before it was released either, beyond knowing that it was in the makings.

Re:Quake 4 is out?

[Lisandro]

Ditto. I love iD games, specially the Quake series, and had no idea Q4 was out already.

Re:Quake 4 is out?

[Jekler]

I'm in the same boat. I had no idea Quake 4 was out or that it was even being made. I'll have to check it out.

Re:Quake 4 is out?

[kalirion]

It's made by Raven though (Heretic/Hexen, Soldier of Fortune, STV:Elite Force), not id.

Re:Quake 4 is out?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah I bet my friend my Americas Army account that it wasn't being released on the 18th (Win version), needless to say I lost and am now out of a pretty high honour account :(

Portage...

[Kaylo]

Now, is it better to get things written for OS X, or is it better to port things for the extra 'cool' factor?

Re:Portage...

[Krach42]

Jon Caramack is generally a pretty wicked Apple fan. So expect a client for OSX at some point sooner rather than later.

Re:Portage...

[TTimo]

It is definitely better to write portable code from the ground up and be able to run and debug it on multiple platforms. The GNU/Linux market share alone would not justify the time I spend on it.

This said, I'm much happier doing my developement on Linux when it's possible. Debugging isn't as easy as MSVC, but the environement just feels right for me.

TTimo

Re:Portage...

[Massacrifice]

1) It's spelled Carmack, not Caramack.
2) From what I read in previous posts, Q4 is using a derivative of the Doom3 engine, and was built by Raven, not id soft. So Carmack probably isn't there to push for a port to OS X, although I concede it should be quite easy if they already have it running on Linux. Unless they are heavily x86 dependent in which case a PPC port could mean a few more months of coding and optimization. They'd probably make more money out of it too than the Linux version since Mac people are more willing to pay for software than OSS people.

Re:Portage...

[Anonymous Coward]

ID didn't port the Doom 3 engine to OS X themselves, they outsourced it to Aspyr. So we 're going to have to wait for Aspyr to port Quake 4, if they choose to do so.

Re:Portage...

[hobbesx]

Wait... Port to OSX? ::sigh::

[goes to re-pack Apple II]

id software...

[imboboage0]

Just because you were (and I say still are) a great innovator in the world of gaming (namely FPS), doesn't mean your site can't be slashdotted.

Need RAM!

[JhohannaVH]

Damn, I knew I was checking RAM prices this morning for a reason! :D **WOOOT** I'm rebuilding my PC with a dual boot Linux/XP system (can't VPN in from Linux), and will love it love it love it! :D YAY!!

Re:Need RAM!

[jspraul]

What VPN support do you need?

MS PPTP? http://pptpclient.sourceforge.net/ (recommending Suse 10.0)
Cisco has a client which is included in Knoppix.

Just trying to help.

Re:Need RAM!

[JhohannaVH]

Thank you!! Right now, I can only get in via Cisco VPNWorks, and then of course, use Exceed to get the Tru64 servers. BUT!! Now that I have this, I will be able to use native Terminal support, and that's cool! :D YAY! I am still rebuilding, so I'll include this next week. Thank you *so* much! :D

Re:Need RAM!

[Pii]

I realize that this isn't really the topic, but Cisco produces a Linux version of their VPN client . Just download it from their site.

Re:Need RAM!

[Anonymous Coward]

What about CheckPoint VPN-1 SecureClient? You have a solution for that one? You'll be my hero if you do.

There are OpenSwan docs to connect, but they assume you're authenticating with a public key. There seems to be no option to authenticate with a username and password, which is what my work requires.

Re:Need RAM!

[Anonymous Coward]

The Cisco VPN client requires you to disable all security though. Or did last time I tried.

Thank goodness your Cisco VPN box is set up to allow MS PPTP too. Let the MS people have the trouple with the Cisco crap.

(That just sounds wrong... MS people using Cisco software and Linux people being happy about the MS software).

Re:Need RAM!

[JhohannaVH]

This will be really good! Thanks for reminding me of that. :) I am finishing up my dual boot system this weekend, and I'll put it on there. Then I'll get to have all the fun of learning how to use more of my Unix skills. :D What better way to learn, huh? Well, thank god I'm not still learning, but I can definitely use some refinement. :)

Buy Windows, use on Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

FTA: A licensed copy of Quake 4 retail for Windows(r) is required

Interesting...

Re:Buy Windows, use on Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah, not really interesting. You buy the CD to get access to all the data the game requires. Artwork, sounds, character meshes, etc. The binary executables are a very small part of the Quake experience.

Re:Buy Windows, use on Linux

[AuMatar]

The cd likely has the artwork to keep the download small, and the cd key of course. Basicly you need to buy the cd, then you can dl and use the linux client.

It also gives ID firm numbers on how many actually use the linux version. So if you bought the game, please dl it.

Re:Buy Windows, use on Linux

[GiMP]

I believe that with Quake 3, every time you quired the master servers, it would authenticate with your key and your OS. ID stored a hash of all keys with the most recently used OS. Of course, you could find out for sure by simply looking at the source... http://www.icculus.org/quake3/

Re:Buy Windows, use on Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

That's for the same reason as using the Windows CD for Quake 3 with the Linux version. The maps, textures, and all the data files required by the game are the same for both versions, the client and server executables are the only change. So you install the client/server on Linux and it prompts for the CD so it can copy all the files. Remember that pak0.pk3 in Quake3 is like 400MB.

Exciting news...

[ScislaC]

BUT, couldn't they have made a regular website instead of a flash app that has ridiculously long transitions? I was all interested in checking it out, until I lost interest due to the wait for basic information.

Re:Exciting news...

[Terrasque]

Same here.

Anyone got link to review/screenshots?

Re:Exciting news...

[Ride Jib]

Agreed. I was anxious to see what their website had to say about all this, only to get stuck for 5 minutes on a "loading" screen. And then every time I hit "back" after viewing something, it had to go through the ENTIRE animation sequence again. Quite annoying.

Re:Exciting news...

[Anonymous Coward]

lol... some people are NEVER satisfied.

A major game release comes out for Linux DAYS after the Windows counterpart. Sure, it'll take a few hours to get all the drivers configured on your system to actually run the game, but you're too impatient to navigate the game's website?

Man.. focus on one crusade at a time please.

Re:Exciting news...

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't get past the first "page," I saw a bunch of unlabeled buttons, and some mention of the trailer. I decide it wasn't worth my time figuring out which button would tell me what I wanted to know (when was this released, I'd heard about quake 4, but assumed it was still months off).

Re:Exciting news...

[Anonymous Coward]

You hit "back"??? Are you a retard?

Re:Exciting news...

[Ride Jib]

You didn't visit the site, did you? The flash show has "back" buttons built into it, and there is no way around them.

Re:Exciting news...

[Coneasfast]

just because a game is out for linux, doesn't mean everyone should lower their standards.

people abuse shockwave too much, the website is hard to navigate (i need to roll-over all the links), it's slow to load, and it's way too flashy.

luckily, the web designers are not the same people as the game designers.

Re:Exciting news...

[kv9]

gamespot sez its `great'

Re:Exciting news...

[Anonymous Coward]

Quake 4 can't be played in lynx, so you wouldn't be interested anyways.

Re:Exciting news...

[FuzzyBad-Mofo]

Same here. Visited the site, got a huge <flash click here to play> button and a respawning popup. Not a shred of info about the game, where to buy it, system specs, anything. Oh, well.

Yup

[temojen]

You need a retail boxed Q4 windows, but it doesn't have to be installed.

Amen

[Anonymous Coward]

nt

Demo?

[dadragon]

It's great that they've released this. I hope to be able to play a demo before I buy this game. I've purchased Quake, Quake 2, not Quake 3, hopefully this will be better than Quake 3.

So, how long to people think it will take before there's a playable demo?

Re:Demo?

[Norfair]

These days they're called torrents.

Re:Demo?

[ne0n]

you mean like on a.b.warez.0-day.games? 0r here?

Woulda made sense to get the demo out before ppl want to warez the full version instead. Isn't much point to buying it untested if you've got a marginal system like mine.

Q4 webpage

[Kaptain Kruton]

Just a note: The quake 4 webpage is flash based. So if you try to access it, either have a broadband connection (and you will still have to wait), or a lot of patience with a modem. Also, if you block pop-ups with firefox, you won't be able to access anything but their main page unless you turn off the pop-up blocker.

One more thing... if a company already has a patches section with the words "Coming Soon" before the game is released, is that suggesting something about the quality of the product?

-Kruton

Re:Q4 webpage

[thesnarky1]

What software has ever not needed patches? I think its good web development, if you know something's coming, this informs the viewers that they can expect it and won't have to dig when they need it.

Re:Q4 webpage

[Anonymous Coward]

One more thing... if a company already has a patches section with the words "Coming Soon" before the game is released, is that suggesting something about the quality of the product?

It's practically impossible to release a perfect piece of software the first time. Thus, patches.

Often times, the patches will also contain additional content, which is pretty cool.

Re:Q4 webpage

[Anonymous Coward]

agreed. this is taking a while on my 36k connection. I wish I had enough money to get a nice speedy satellite connection. I guess I'll buy this game because it has a linux port. I really wasn't thinking about it before.

About the patches section, it seems like a given these days, doesn't it. Games take so long to develop and they are so intricate these days that either you have public beta's or patches.

Re:Q4 webpage

[MaXiMiUS]

Since when? FlashBlock allows you to play flash vids just by clicking on a little icon in them when it blocks one.

Re:Q4 webpage

[SirSlud]

> One more thing... if a company already has a patches section with the words "Coming Soon" before the game is released, is that suggesting something about the quality of the product?

No. Name me one game that didn't have patches. (Nevermind that patches frequently add new features in addition to potentially fixing bugs.) Thats a pretty niggly and invalid (nevermind cliche) point you're hinting at.

Re:Q4 webpage

[Bob The Cowboy]

Perhaps it suggests that they acknowledge that most non-trivial software has bugs, and that they're willing to up front about their imperfection?

Re:Q4 webpage

[Kaptain Kruton]

Relax, yes, I know software needs patches. I was just joking around a bit... I just found it a bit interesting they had that on a promotional site, aimed at drawing people to the game, before the game was out. Nothing wrong with it (it will make it easier for them to add the patches when they need to). I do a lot of programming and software development. I know how it is nearly impossible to release something that large without bugs. I was just joking around a bit with that comment. -Kruton

Re:Q4 webpage

[Anonymous Coward]

Lesse now, I have a shelf full of PS2 games that didn't need patches.

Re:Q4 webpage

[Anonymous Coward]

Duke Nuke em forever ... of course

Re:Q4 webpage

[Kaptain Kruton]

Lesse now, I have a shelf full of PS2 games that didn't need patches. I would just like to point out to you that PS2 games run on a set architecture with predefined specifications allotting a set ammount of ram, processor speed and architecture, etc. There are fewer variables to work with. No 'driver compatibility' issues... No 'stupid user' errors...etc. PC's have multiple OS's (Linux, Windows XP, 2K, FreeBSD, etc), many different specs (ram, cpu speed, cpu type, video, etc). This is why games have options menu's that allow users to change resolutions and video quality. But allowing variations allows bugs to appear that wouldn't appear otherwise. But don't get me wrong saying that they should allow the software to go out with levels not working and such...... I am just saying a few bugs are to be expected. Besides, many patches I have seen are performance improving patches instead of the 'major flaw' patches. If the developers want to make the game run better, then they can be my guest. -Kruton

Re:Q4 webpage

[supun]

or if your running a 64bit Linux, you'll get nothing since there is no 64bit version of Flash for Linux yet.

Re:Q4 webpage

[Anonymous Coward]

no, it doesn't.

Re:Q4 webpage

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

I'd also like to point out that there are plenty of bugs on those PS2 games, and you'll NEVER have them fixed.

Re:Q4 webpage

[Anonymous Coward]

But I don't even have flash installed (and if you are on a 64bit box, you can't see the flash website, even if you would like to).

What happend to id software and free standards? :-(

Tels

Re:Q4 webpage

[McLoud]

And they have sound in the page too ffs! The volumn was at maximum, I scared the hell out of my work mate when I opened it.

Re:Q4 webpage

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you a developer??? Have you never developed massive amounts of code?? Particularly a game??

I'd be more concerned if there wasn't a patch section.

Have you not realized that there are gamers out there whose soul purpose of playing the game is to find tricks/cheats/hacks???

HELLO!!!!!! PATCHES!!!!

Give the Mods some coffee. The trolls are on the lose again.....

Re:Q4 webpage

[blindbat]

What a crappy slow boring stupid ignorant website. Just to get a few screenshots and info you have to slog through crap crap crap flash crap.

Re:Q4 webpage

[Chandon Seldon]

The real webpage is at http://quake4.ravengames.com/...

Re:Q4 webpage

[cobras2]

On the other hand, everyone knows it will need patches, so I think their admitting it instead of pretending the patches won't be needed is a good sign :)

Review - to see if it's Linux worthy

[RUFFyamahaRYDER]

Here is the IGN review which might help you decide if it's worth putting on the Linux box. http://pc.ign.com/articles/658/658263p1.html

Re:Review - to see if it's Linux worthy

[pl1ght]

There are reviews praising and panning quake 4. They are quite varied. All i can say is that fi you are a quake fan, you will love it. The MP owns. If you only like CS/BF type MP u probably wont.

Re:Review - to see if it's Linux worthy

[AlexMax2742]

I'm not a big fan of review sites right now. How someone could possibly think that Doom 3's lackbuster single player and fucking terrible multiplayer deserved a better overall score than Quake 4's pretty awesome (though no Half Life 2) single player and safe but great multiplayer (it's essnetially quake 3 with shaders and slight tweaks here and there).

Never has there been a more overrated game since Black and White.

Oh by the way, Quake 4 is awesome, go buy it.

Can't get to any of it....

[HoodCrowd]

I can't get to any web page, the flash will not let me submit my age. Debian, mozilla, flash, every other we flash-page works but Id's. Oh well no time for games./.

Re:Can't get to any of it....

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Develop game for Linux.
2. Make download site incompatible with Linux.
3. Implode at the irony of it all.
4. Profit or Doom? (pun intended) Who knows?

Re:Can't get to any of it....

[atomic-penguin]

Profit or Doom...
Doom, that is something I can apt-get.

Using same thing as parent poster, and the flash page in question works fine for me.

Sinister Voiceover

[Anonymous Coward]

Quake 4 Linux Version! IMPRESSIVE!

Requires Windows Version! HUMILIATION!

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[temojen]

windows version does not have to be installed.

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Anonymous Coward]

But beware! It carries a terrible curse.
Oooh, that's bad.
But it comes with a free Frogurt!
That's good!
The Frogurt is also cursed.
That's bad.
But you get your choice of topping.
That's good.
The toppings contain potassium benzoate. ...... That's bad.
Can I go now?

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not sure if I should feel disturbed that this was the same thing that came to my mind... or that someone else also came to the same conclusion.

Someone else feeling disturbed for the same reason(s) would probably make me feel better about it.

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently the moderators didn't feel the same.

It's just a shame I couldn't get those lines to integrate with the parent.

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearly you play too much KOTOR II. =) Those HK-units are too funny.

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Boogaroo]

The quotes are from the Quake 3 announcer for when you perform actions such as killing someone with the melee glove.

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Tsunayoshi]

What the hell are they supposed to do, let you download a $50 game for FREE just becuase you run linux? They are not going to provide all of the critical game data files off of a download, expecially since they come on a DVD-ROM. You are just downloading the binaries for linux, not the whoel frickin' game.

I agree with other posters that it would rock if they included the Linux binaries on the game CDs. Then they could include Mac binaries and everyone would be happy.

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Anonymous Coward]

What the hell are they supposed to do, let you download a $50 game for FREE just becuase you run linux?

What's wrong with letting us BUY the Linux version, like (some of us) did with Quake 3? You know the concept? Hand over some money, and get a the game in return?

Instead now we'll have to find someone with the Windows version, to grab a copy of the game.

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, I understand... you would prefer two separate versions, this way when you buy the Windows one you can't play Q4 under Linux, and when you buy the Linux one you can't play under Windows. That's a good idea but sorry, I prefer having only one version that can work under both systems.

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with other posters that it would rock if they included the Linux binaries on the game CDs. Then they could include Mac binaries and everyone would be happy.

And the game would come on 15 DVDs and also include binaries for BeOS, OS/2, Microsoft Bob, TRS-80, Intellivision and the Commodore Vic-20.

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[aquabat]

I think that's what he really meant to say.

He doesn't want to have to download something extra, just to play on linux.

He wants the box he buys to be ready to go on linux. He may or may not care if it is ready to go on Windowstm also.

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[NCG_Mike]

MacOS X Version: DENIED!

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[AlexMax2742]

What are you talking about? What is wrong with getting the Windows version and downloading Linux binaries?

Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Tsunayoshi]

My point was that the parent post was complaining about having to buy the Windows version in order to play the linux version he downloaded. Of course you have to pay for some version of the game in order to play it. Currently the only way to get the data files is buy purchasing the Windows boxed copy. Just to play the linux version you are also required to download the linux binaries. You need the game data from the disc(s) you actually purchased.

I would love to be able to buy a game where the box said "Supports Windows, Macintosh, and Linux" on the cover and the binaries for all versions were in the box, vice having to download the binaries for anything other than Windows. I have broadband, so am not really concerned with downloading the files, but if you have dial-up internet access and want to play on linux, odds are you need to find some other location to download the files.

However, I can't see the whole game being much larger than say a Fedora Distro, so I also don't see why you couldn't purchase the linux version online and then download the files via BitTorrent or something. I am sure people are already serving the data files this way anyway, so as soon as someone figures out how to hack the license keys, people will have free copies of this game.

Heh

[thesnarky1]

I know what my roommate's gonna be hearing all tonight "Quad Damage!" Seriously, thanks id for this onderful (I hope, haven't tested yet) release, and as many others have said I hope others companies might see the response to this and do the same. And you might want to send id an email, or post on a forum thanking them because, hey, who doesn't like praise for good work?

Don't forget to register your Linux version!

[Just Some Guy]

Be sure to let id know that you bought the Windows package in order to install it on your Linux box. I know id are good guys (as evidenced by how quickly this came out), but it never hurts to let them know exactly how much we appreciate it.

Re:Don't forget to register your Linux version!

[Jonny_eh]

I think informing their publisher would be more helpful! ID has been a leader in making Linux ports, it's time that the suits at the publishing companies told their developers (and paid them) to make Linux ports too.

Re:Don't forget to register your Linux version!

[line72]

I'd love to, but going to activision.com and clicking on quake4, they ask for your birthday and a valid credit card to even view the site!

Re:Don't forget to register your Linux version!

[Somegeek]

What are you talking about?

Yes it asked for a birthday - duh - don't give them an accurate one....

but cc? Nooo.....

Re:Don't forget to register your Linux version!

[DeathPenguin]

I forget whether this was UT2004 or Quake 3, but one of the devs was saying in an interview that the best wya to show your support for Linux ports is to simply play the game on-line. This is because the master servers keep statistical information, including client version (Which has OS info in it). So the more Linux gamers show up to play on-line, the more the developers know we play their games too.

You have your homework, now get to it!

Re:Don't forget to register your Linux version!

[xgamer04]

Or you could buy the game from somewhere like Tuxgames

In Other News...

[OneByteOff]

Jack Thompson today publically voiced his opinion against Linux and against Quake in all shapes and forms... quoted specifically he said :

"Any group of people who advocate giving a Penguin a helmet and a rocket launcher are a bunch of sick fucks..."

News at 10!

Re:In Other News...

[mike_quinlivan]

latter he revoked his comment stating it was meant as "satire", and not meant to be taken seriously

~ill trade you my nickle for a dime~

'Cause we all know what the /. crowd wants...

[Anonymous Coward]

Here you all go:

http://www.torrentspy.com/download.asp?id=442388

The path to increased market share...

[RingDev]

is through games. This is a great boon to Linux as it would seem that anything built on the Q4 engine should be easily ported to Linux.

-Rick

Re:The path to increased market share...

[ninja_assault_kitten]

The Q4 engine is the Doom3 engine.

Re:The path to increased market share...

[ninja_assault_kitten]

Additionally, I'm not sure how this could be construed as a boon to Linux. After all, you still need a Windows system to actually play the game.

Re:The path to increased market share...

[Anonymous Coward]

Which part of "linux client/server" do you not understand? Oh wait, I guess it's the client part.

Re:The path to increased market share...

[Breakfast Pants]

You don't need a windows system to play the game. It is the client and the server.

Re:The path to increased market share...

[rholliday]

"A licensed copy of Quake 4 retail for Windows(r) is required You will copy the assets files from it and use the CD key ( a CD key is not required to run a dedicated server )"

You have to buy the game, yes. Amazing how that works. :)

Full review and screen shots

[Billly Gates]

I was wondering if I was living under a rock since I never heard of quake4?

Turns out Raven software made the port and modified the doom3 engine. For the older slashdoters who remember doom1 and doom2, raven developed heretic and then hexan on the doom1 and doom2 engines and added multiplayer capability. I forgot all about these guys.

A full review and screenshots are here. I find it pecuilar that Raven ported this classic level of quake3 to quake4. ... or commonly known as the level where the cheaters with auto-aim and the rail gun whip your butt in.:-)

Re:Full review and screen shots

[Chicane-UK]

Cheating aside, 'The Longest Yard' was one of the best Q3 maps ever. I used to play it ALL the time. And, i'd like to point out, sans-autoaim! Was great fun if you could place rockets at peoples feet just before they landed.. they'd just take a crap load of damage and skip off the map into oblivion :)

So glad thats in there. Its almost inspired me enough to go and pick up a copy of Quake IV now.

Re:Full review and screen shots

[PsychicX]

Since I'm friends with a member or 3 of the Q4 dev team, I just want to point out that this is not a "port" of Doom 3. There has been major under the hood work between D3 and Q4 -- Raven would like people to license the Q4 engine instead of the D3 engine. The new engine is far more powerful but also efficient, which allows them to have a lot more lighting, shadowing, etc. effects while maintaining the same basic performance characteristics. That's why, unlike FEAR, it doesn't bring a 7800GTX to its knees.

Re:Full review and screen shots

[Planky]

Raven didnt add multiplayer capability, it was already there.

Re:Full review and screen shots

[KanSer]

2 words. Bounce pads.

Re:Full review and screen shots

[elknco1]

raven also made games using the q3 engine, like the elite forces series and others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_Software

Re:Full review and screen shots

[karnal]

"Super Pants" and "HotMale" in that screenshot...

Why oh why.... young whippersnappers.

Re:Full review and screen shots

[jonabbey]

Yeah, yeah, optimization, performance, blah blah blah. In Quake 4, your weapons come with _flashlights_ attached! That's got to be the biggest improvement over Doom 3, right there.

Re:Full review and screen shots

[Billly Gates]

But in smog it will be easier for snippers to see you.

I kind of like hiding in a dark corner and waiting for someone to walk by

Re:Full review and screen shots

[Anonymous Coward]

It's only on the machinegun and regular blaster. You are still forced to do the constant switching for all your other weapons.

Am I the only one who's known about Quake 4?

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw the reserve boxes at Best Buy months ago. I thought about buying it back in August, but I went with the already-released Battlefield 2.

Ha!

[Liam Slider]

And the numbskulls say Linux doesn't have gaves, or doesn't get new games.

Re:Ha!

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, we have like 5 games ALREADY RUNNING (incl. Quake, Quake 2, Quake 3, Quake 4), and maybe two more to come in the next 5 years! w00t!

Take *that* you Bill Gates!

How does one get to the torrents?

[frovingslosh]

I followed the link on http://zerowing.idsoftware.com/linux/quake4/ to the BitTorrent tracker, but it wants me to "log in" to their site and asks my username and password. Since I have none I can't get in. But I can see that tere are 20 leechers, so a few people must have solved this problem? I would much rather use BitTorrent than FTP, how do I get to the torrents?

Re:How does one get to the torrents?

[TTimo]

There is no login, you just need to click on 'DL' on the torrent page to get the .torrent and start downloading..

Re:How does one get to the torrents?

[Anonymous Coward]

You dont need to login. Direct link: http://zerowing.idsoftware.com:6969/torrents/96f04 284cd4fb77e6e8f55d43beaa5939914f780.torrent

Re:How does one get to the torrents?

[PenGun]

Seeding ........ the torrent

Adrain Carmack fired

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been trying to get this posted here for days so I'll post it here...

It's semi off topic, but id stuff is posted a lot here, so here it goes:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid= 11868
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/09/27/news_61345 36.html

Adrian Carmack (one of 4 founders of id software) was fired over some stock despute (RTFA). What's more interesting (depends how you take it) is that Activision tried buying id for $105 million dollars. Read the rest in the links.

Re:Adrain Carmack fired

[TrappedByMyself]

Wow,
Anyone know why id is worth 105 million?
If they are bought out and the main dudes retire, where does the future income come from? I know they license the engines, but that plus sales of current games can't be more than a few years of diminishing sales.
Anyone think the name alone will sale enough products in the future to make it worthwhile?

Re:Adrain Carmack fired

[alnjmshntr]

If you RTFA id as a company is only worth 15 mil, rights to doom, quake and wolfenstein is valued at 90 mil. I guess the brands not the id name are worth a bunch...

Re:VERY COOL!

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't feel too bad, you're not alone man!

(I have been WAY too busy with work to even know about it myself, & only found out last Friday or so that Quake 4 even hit the software stores as a release this week etc./et all... I too, found out VERY late imo!)

That just tells ME how long I have been "out of it" as far as the 'gaming scene'. I'll be back in now though... these guys put out my fav games since 1992 & the joint Apogee/IDSoftware original Wolf3d!

* :(

APK

P.S.=> And, YES, it is very cool that IDSoftware & Raven do this porting to other platforms etc./et all other than just Windows imo... it's part of what separates them from others out there in that industry in this field imo!

(In fact? It wouldn't surprise me to find out that J.C. & crew develop on Linux first... but, I depend on others to fill me in here regarding that speculation on my part!)... apk

So

[Trogre]

When's a demo coming out?

Re:So

[termos]

This is a good question, been wondering the same myself. I guess all we're going to get it a gameplay video which doesn't really demonstrate much. I'm certainly not going to buy I game I've never tried.

Where are the Linux/Win Demo versions?

[t35t0r]

For those of us who don't want to pay for a game that probably won't run very well on some of our systems, when will the demo be released?

Re:Where are the Linux/Win Demo versions?

[lewiz]

So... the game won't run on your machine and... you're asking for the demo?

Re:Where are the Linux/Win Demo versions?

[Nick Harkin]

He said /probably/ won't run, i.e. he wants a demo to find out if it will run before paying real money for the game.

Too bad the installation is failing for people...

[daVinci1980]

A lot of people (myself included) are having issues with the second installation disc. It basically just won't read in any CD drive I can get my hands on. And I'm not alone.

If this turns out to be a result of SecureROM, I'm going to send my box back to Activision with a piece of poo inside.

Re:Another review site

[B5_geek]

Mod parent up....

There is obviously an idiot-angry teenager with mod-points to burn just wanting to be a pain in the ass.

I actually buy id games, worth it :)

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't have much money to blow on entertainment, software, etc. I pirate and all that, run linux too. But I do try to support good art and companies that make stuff that totally kicks ass. It looks they did it again. That trailer has me drooling. I may need to charge a new PC and get another job. I found a great way to save up a little extra cash, try starving yourself 1 or 2 days a week. It adds up! Anyways, I guess I'm an ID fanboy, bought my first PC because of Doom, and on an on. I have to say Id, damn you and thank you :)

Fantastic

[Phantasmo]

It's nice to see id still supporting Linux. Bioware produced a very nice Linux client for Neverwinter Nights but since they started making Xbox games their new engines are based on DirectX. UT-UT2004 also had excellent Linux versions, but UT2007's target platforms are PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows. Who knows if that will hit Linux in the end.

Re:Fantastic

[Daix]

Nah, Epic said they were continuing their 'legendary support' for the Linux platform (I'm pretty sure they phrased it like that on the video).

Epic aren't going to throw a good portable codebase away for some flashy effects they could create themselves. Hell, last I heared Namco decided to build their next-gen arcade machines using Linux and Valve were porting stuff for it!

Hope all this turns out to be true *fingers crossed*

Hey ID Software!

[Sweetshark]

Nice, that you are using a Opensource-Wiki (MoinMoin). However, it is completly locked and Moinmoin has localized Frontpages - so with intl.accept_languages="de-de, en-us" I get this page http://zerowing.idsoftware.com/linux/quake4/StartS eite when I click on this link: http://zerowing.idsoftware.com/linux/quake4/
Also it would be nice to have some possibility of feedback other than posting on /. ....

Re:Hey ID Software!

[TTimo]

I use a wiki because it's an easy format for me to edit and update wherever I am. I have no intention to make it writable - god we're getting enough feedback as it is :)

Thanks for pointing the language issue though. Would you know how to force a single language maybe?

Re:Hey ID Software!

[Sweetshark]

I use a wiki because it's an easy format for me to edit and update wherever I am. I have no intention to make it writable - god we're getting enough feedback as it is :)

Would you know how to force a single language maybe?
You either have to deleted the Templates for alternative FrontPages: (StartSeite, PageD%27Accueil, P%C3%A1ginaPrincipal ...) or change "page_front_page" in the configuration to something moinmoin cant autotranslate (almost everything but FrontPage) and move you Frontpage there.
See "System pages, including FrontPage" on http://moinmoin.wikiwikiweb.de/HelpOnLanguages?hig hlight=(language)
I would propably just go and kill any template I dont need on the wiki - problem solved.

Thanks for the great game BTW and keep up the good work!

Sweetshark, who will buy Quake 4 for his linux-only machine as a reward for finishing his diploma next week ....

Speaking of Open-Source : GFX Cards.

[DrYak]

Speaking of open source :
Which 3D card do you know have decent open-source support ?
And of them, which are open source encouraged by card maker vs. open source alternative to binary that was developped by reverse engeneering because card maker refuses to make specs available ?

Card I know of :
- ATI Radeon up to 9250 - working opensource drivers, some specs from ATI (with NDA restriction).
- ATI Radeon up to 9800 (and somewhat up to X850...) - developpment of opensource drivers, without ATI support (not available).
- ATI Matrox - opensource only up to g550, developped using refs. from Matrox.
- XGI Volari - heard once that they made their linux drivers opensource but I haven't heard much from them since. Any one has news ?

(And for the real dynosaurs :
- 3DFx Voodoo up to 5 - opensourced drivers by 3dfx. no SLI support
but that's what i'm using right now)

What are your exprecience with 3D cards and open-source drivers ?

Re:Speaking of Open-Source : GFX Cards.

[Lucractius]

Hrm that bodes well then for me. Both my cards are on that list :) god bless secondary PCI gfx cards

Thats one thing Voodoos are good for now. cheap extra monitor cards. way easier to get a Voodoo for it than hunding down a PCI based ATI or nVida card, and cheaper than paying for a Matrox card.

Re:Speaking of Open-Source : GFX Cards.

[jp10558]

Not hard to find a PCI nVidia card - Best Buy sells them as well as Newegg. They are a crappy FX 5200 though and cost ~$50

Re:Speaking of Open-Source : GFX Cards.

[Lucractius]

So it costs extra money to get something good enough to use for something your never going to botehr to use if for ? :) *sticks with the Voodoo, just enough power for gui effects no real power for games since its a secondary*

Re:Speaking of Open-Source : GFX Cards.

[jp10558]

I was just saying it's not particularly hard or expensive (as video cards go) to get a PCI interface nVidia card, contrary to the parent poster.

Re:Speaking of Open-Source : GFX Cards.

[Anonymous Coward]

3dfx Banshee/Voodoo3+
ATI Rage 128
ATI Radeon (low to mid level)
Matrox g200/g400
SiS video cards
Via unichrome video cards

Have their respective dri drivers as part of the kernel source tree. So with these cards you can still have full 3D-acceleration without running a modular kernel. I myself am using a radeon 7200 and have great framerates running a monolithic kernel with the built in radeon dri modules.

Re:Another review site

[Anonymous Coward]

Parent link is goatse, just so you know.

mnb Re:Sinister Voiceover

[Anonymous Coward]

...melee glove

Gauntlet.
Turn in your badge.

Re:mnb Re:Sinister Voiceover

[PenGun]

My daughter's favorite weapon, after she heard "HUMILIATION" she would use it any time she could, favorite tactic was to rocket, carefully, a crowded room then run in and HUMILIATE as many as she could, cackling maniacly ths whole time. Some of you may remember "Lucretzia" ;).

    PenGun
  Do What Now ??? ... Standards and Practices !

Patches

[phorm]

One more thing... if a company already has a patches section with the words "Coming Soon" before the game is released, is that suggesting something about the quality of the product?

Sometimes patches add features instead of just fixing them. They might also add functionality for future video cards, etc that aren't out yet. Add-ons etc also sometimes fall under patches... so really it's a good idea to have such a section.

Demo in a good long while

[thepotoo]

Remember how long it took the Doom 3 demo to come out?

It was about 2-3 months. Expect the same release time, with no demo, ever, for linux.

I've been playing this game for about 4 hours now, the single player fully justifies the purcase price (it's some of the best gameplay ever, IMHO, and the graphics are amazing).

If I were unsure about whether or not I could run the game, I'd (1) read the requirments (2.0ghz, 512ram, 64video IIRC), (2) if still unsure, wait or torrent it. Games come down in price, as do upgrades. Torrent can be used to see if a game runs, but BUY THE FUCKING GAME so id will continue to make games for linux.

Re:Demo in a good long while

[Minna Kirai]

Expect the same release time, with no demo, ever, for linux.

Linux Doom3 had a demo.

And, in the case of Doom3, waiting 3 months was a clever marketing decision. If a demo had been out before commericial release, many customers would've been off by knowing that 80% of the game was spent squinting at blackness.

No such file or directory

[Fahrvergnuugen]

ncftp ftp.idsoftware.com
NcFTP 3.1.9 (Mar 24, 2005) by Mike Gleason (http://www.ncftp.com/contact/).
Connecting to 192.246.40.185...
ftp.idsoftware.com

Welcome to ftp.idsoftware.com

Connection from 24.195.181.250 logged
You are user 102 of 100 available connections.

Average throughput for this server is 1347.912 KBps.
37581 people have visited this site in the last 24 hours.

Please e-mail xian@idsoftware.com if you encounter any problems.

Logging in...
User logged in, proceed.
Logged in to ftp.idsoftware.com.

ncftp / > cd idstuff/quake4/mac
Could not chdir to idstuff/quake4/mac: server said: /idstuff/quake4/mac: No such file or directory.
ncftp /idstuff/quake4 > echo doh
doh

Re:No such file or directory

[Fahrvergnuugen]

30% overrated? 20% troll??

Mods are a bunch of haters! :P

Wow that is interesting.

[pavon]

More so that most of the news posted here.

How long has Adrian been such a greedy bastard? He has gotten over $3 million a year the last several years, and was offered a $20 million dollars to buy back his stock when he wanted to sell out to Activision. But no that wasn't good enough.

I am glad that the rest of id voted against Adrian on the Activision sale. It sucks that they had to fire him but if I were the other founders I certainly wouldn't want someone that intended to sell out the company holding a 40% share. Although the bit about not paying out dividends and not firing him outright is a crock.

Re:Wow that is interesting.

[voxel]

You miss something. 41% of the company is HIS.

He can do whatever he wants with HIS company as long as the rules allow him.

How would you feel if you owned something worth alot and you couldn't sell?

In this case, he didn't have majority share. But if he did, there is NOTHING wrong with selling your company, even if its not what the lesser-share-holders want. If you own majority (or others vote with you), then Its YOUR decision to do what you want with YOUR company. Period.

Re:Wow that is interesting.

[dnaumov]

Not accepting 20 million when you can get 40 million for your shares is called common sense, not greed.

Re:Wow that is interesting.

[Reapy]

This was posted as it's own story on slashdot a little while back. I think there were actually 2 stories, I don't recall.

Recommended Hardware to play?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know it was a mistake going to all the official sites and looking at 4 or 5 different reviews. I must be completely blind. Can anyone please post minimum hardware requirements to play? and optimal hardware recommendations to play? Thanks.

Re:Recommended Hardware to play?

[tezbobobo]

This is what I found for requiremnets. Add GNU/Linux in there.

English version of Microsoft Windows 2000/XP
Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or Athlon XP 2000+ processor
512MB RAM
8x Speed CD-ROM drive and latest drivers
2.8GB of uncompressed hard disk space (plus 400MB for Windows swap file)
100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 16-bit soundcard and latest drivers
100% Windows 2000/XP compatible mouse, keyboard and latest drivers
DirectX 9.0c (included)
3D hardware accelerator card required
100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 64MB
Hardware accelerated video card and the latest drivers
          ATI Radeon 9700
          ATI Radeon 9800
          ATI Radeon X300 series
          ATI Radeon X550 series
          ATI Radeon X600 series
          ATI Radeon X700 series
          ATI Radeon X800 series
          ATI Radeon X850 series
          Nvidia GeForce 3/Ti Series

Multiplayer requirements:
Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported
Internet play requires broadband connection and latest drivers
LAN play requires network interface card and latest drivers

Re:Recommended Hardware to play?

[jouva]

> 2.8GB of uncompressed hard disk space (plus 400MB for Windows swap file) Darn lack of Windows swap file support for Linux.

Re:Too bad the installation is failing for people.

[leathered]

I had the same problem with UT2004, the DVD would not read properly so I had to go download the warez version from Usenet and use my key to install the game. It's ironic that you have to turn to the pirates because you can't legitimately install the game yourself because of a copy protection that is intended to deter piracy!

Re:Another review site

[antiMStroll]

On Slashdot!!?!?!

For the command-line crowd...

[Anonymous Coward]

wget ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake4/linux/quak e4-linux-1.0.2147.12.x86.run

This suggests a great Linux-boosting strategy

[cpu_fusion]

Hypothetically, what if a heavyweight like Id released the Linux version of their game for free, but made the Windows version cost the regular price? If the game was in hot enough demand, it might encourage a large number of gamers to install Linux in some form. It would also create quite a buzz about Linux among people who might otherwise not install it because "they play games". Obviously this would cut into retail sales, so it would be a sacrificial move of sorts, but for a game company sufficiently already rolling in the dough, with an established franchise, it might not be too hard to take the hit of losing a chunk of sales. Again the plan is: 1. Release game for free on Linux, regular price for Windows. 2. Create buzz, get people installing Linux, make your game company less dependent on Microsoft. 3. Profit (*) (*) At least in karma, definitely in publicity, and over the long haul, probably in $ too.

Re:This suggests a great Linux-boosting strategy

[3vi1]

How is this a great Linux boosting strategy? It's a great strategy to make less money... but not as good a strategy as releasing the Linux version first (but still charging for it).

If the Linux version were free and legal. People would boot a Linux live CD when they wanted to play that one game: making you no money on the game and gaining no Linux converts.

Re:This suggests a great Linux-boosting strategy

[Sweetshark]

Or release something "big" you wanted to give away for free anyway first for Linux and a bit later (like two weeks) for Windows. Could have been done with Enemy Territory ...

Re:This suggests a great Linux-boosting strategy

[snuf23]

What exactly is the reason why id would sacrifice sales to promote Linux?
What benefit would id receive from this action?

Re:This suggests a great Linux-boosting strategy

[patio11]

So they can convince other developers that there is no market for payed software on Linux, thus gimping the number of games available even further, and giving them the monopoly! BRILLIANT!

Re:This suggests a great Linux-boosting strategy

[Anonymous Coward]

What benefit would id receive from this action?

Microsoft frequently make rumblings about getting rid of OpenGL. id recognises that forcing Windows developers (including id themselves) to use DirectX will create lock-in that will tie their products to Windows forever. id should consider Microsoft a threat, and OS diversity to be a good thing. Providing their games for Linux increases its viability as a home OS, and writing their games for OpenGL decreases the possibility that Microsoft can yank it from Windows.

Remember, a Microsoft monopoly benefits only Microsoft in the long run. id are smart enough to recognise that.

Re:This suggests a great Linux-boosting strategy

[snuf23]

And seeing as id is the developer of one of the most popular engines used for multiple games throughout the industry, as long as they keep using OpenGL Microsoft is going to find it hard to just get rid of it.
Honestly, supporting the Mac would make more sense to me from the standpoint of diversity (and I'm sure Q4 will most likely hit Macs at some point, seeing as Doom 3 did).
Supporting Linux the way they do now, with a client and server release directly over the Internet to Linux users makes sense as the current Linux user base is a very net-savvy and tech savvy group of people.
I think it's very cool that id does this, I think it would have been even cooler if the client had been included on the in store CD. It may not have been because the distributor doesn't want to deal with technical support issues for Linux users. That's the biggest difference between a full blown Linux release and a "stealth" one like with Q4.

Re:Too bad the installation is failing for people.

[TTimo]

It appears that there is a number of badly pressed CDs. You should be able to exchange them at the store :)

Re:Too bad the installation is failing for people.

[Anonymous Coward]

The game uses SafeDisc, and the pressings for CD2 were bad. No underhanded ploy here.

i wonder...

[KillShill]

if the copy "protection" (prevention) works in linux...

securom/starforce/etc restriction technologies require a driver be installed and running at all times in order for them to prevent copies being used on windows.

ironic that people who download copied games have a much easier time playing than people who run out, give the companies 50 bucks and come home to an unplayable game due to onerous restrictions.

too many games nowadays each install their own "driver" and if you have many games installed like many do, you exponentially increase your chances of instability (more so than usual), conflicts and downright crashes.

another thing that's absurd is that most new games will complain after being installed and not run or will not install if you have nero or other cd recording programs installed. also if you have alcohol 120% or daemon tools.

didn't it ever occur to publishers, that having those tools installed would only screw over the people who bough the games legitimately? because infringers would never have to deal with that bullshit. they go out of their way with time and money to introduce these offensive, unstable "protection" technologies yet vehemently argue that it prevents "piracy"? yet, "pirates" are the ones who are the least inconvenienced and hindered...

something just doesn't add up.

pissing off your paying customers is one of the few things you don't want to do... i wonder where they went to business school?

Re:i wonder...

[Minna Kirai]

if the copy "protection" (prevention) works in linux...

It didn't back in Doom3. You just install the separately-distributed Linux executable, copy a directory from each of the CDs onto your hard drive, and play from disc henceforth.

Currently, securerom-style copyprotection on Linux would be a waste of effort. There are many Windows customers who don't know how to install no-cd patches, but nearly everyone running Linux has that level of technical skill.

Re:i wonder...

[wiremind]

You really are completely right.

Not even much i can add to that.
They are only hurting legal (ordinary) paying customers.

Anyone with the technical skill to pirate the game, has the technical skill to go around the problematic protection schemes.

-----

The only reason I can see them using a protection scheme is so they can say 'were trying our best, its not our fault its being pirated'.

-----

Sequence of events on new game purchase:
ISO all the CD/DVD's
Locate the NO-CD crack
Store the game(box & disks) in a safe place.
play game from the iso's

-----

If I wanted to steal the game it would be easy.
I pay for the game because I'm a developer and I believe its the right thing to do.

Kyle

Re:i wonder...

[IntlHarvester]

Not really ... securerom-style copy protection relies on device drivers, which are quagmire of compatibility issues on Linux. not to mention simply defeated.

Re:i wonder...

[MadJo]

Sequence of events on new game purchase:
ISO all the CD/DVD's
Locate the NO-CD crack
Store the game(box & disks) in a safe place.
play game from the iso's

which would be illegal, at least here in the Netherlands, because this type of 'personal use' backup is apparently only legal for movies and music discs.

but indeed it seems the best way to go. Until the game producers don't learn that this way of doing business is hurting their customers, it is best to do this.

Re:i wonder...

[wiremind]

my personal backup is probably not legal.
But Game CDs and DVDs are just so easy to scratch.

Its the same reason i copy my Movie DVDs to my pc.
Movie dvds even when trying to be gentle would be un-playable within months.

As a result I have created a very large file server on my system which stores every cd and dvd i own in iso format.

And its WONDERFUL!!!

Pick a movie, Pick a game, Pick some music, all from ONE Networked location.

And it makes the area so much cleaner. With all the DVD Movies, and Computer games, and CDs I own, they would take up multiple bookshelves if I had to have the hard copy available all the time.

I HIGHLY recommend this configuration to anyone who can afford the Harddrive space involved. (terabytes)

You like?

[Bushido Hacks]

"You like? I don't care if you like!" --line from the TV ad for Quake II Best video game ad ever.

Re:You like?

[Anonymous Coward]

Classic. I think that was for the Genesis or Dreamcast port. Someone must have a video clip of it somewhere...

I'll stick with the Windows version...

[OMGtehRed]

It's easier to install and play.

Re:I'll stick with the Windows version...

[blixel]

It's easier to install and play.

The Linux version is harder to play? Is it stuck in Nightmare mode?

Re:Another review site

[Anonymous Coward]

Bullshit. It went to some stupid online newspaper, not goatse

Re:Too bad the installation is failing for people.

[aliquis]

Yeah, but atleast you can rest sure noone will STEAL (copy..) it!

Or wait...

Seriously, why do they use their stupid copy protection mecanism? Have they ever worked? Quake4 was cracked within a day so what is the use for it? I guess the best alternative is to make it the Blizzard way requireing a valid key to connect to their game servers, and if you play their games you will want to.

The torrent "they" don't want you to see!

[Anonymous Coward]

QUAKE.4.DVD-DEViANCE
http://www.torrentspy.com/download.asp?id=442388

Mac version

[jaysones]

Any news on the Mac version? Will there be one?

How is this any different from Steam?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm glad to see Linux acknowledged, and I hate to be a party pooper, but I can't stand this sort of on-line product activation thing. It will cause me NOT to buy this game. I like to play games offline, in single-player mode, on my PC.

When I bought Unreal Tournament 2004 to play on Linux (I have never installed it on Windows) I was able to buy the box in a brick and mortar store and install it without an Internet connection. It installed easily, and played great.

But I avoided Half Life 2 because of Steam. How is this any different from Steam?

Re:How is this any different from Steam?

[Jorg1_80]

Why is every slashdotter always bashing on steam? I could never make myself understand that. Sure they had some stability issues back in beta, but those are all fixed now.

There are two ways game makers can distribute their products today:

1. Coders/management > Huge expensive distribution system > Consumers

2. Coders/management > Online cheap distribution system > Consumers

Now the huge expensive distribution system has a lot of power and infuence today, but in the future thay will be gone, replaced by cheaper and more consumer friendly systems. It's only a question of time. It might not be steam, but it will be something like it.

Now there are probably still people out there who really want that box and that disk to go with their game, but I honestly don't miss it anymore. I never have to worry about scrathed disks, serial keys or funny copy protection systems that get in my way. All I need is my steam logon, and I can play my games anywhere in the world, on any computer.

Now I'm waiting for some competition for steam, they could use that. We need better online distribution systems for all kinds of software, not only games.

Star Trek parralels...

[bgibby9]

Is it just me or does the story line for Quake 4 seem somewhat similar to ST:TNG where Picard was assimilated by the Borg?

Plus the Strogg being a civilisation that goes through space assimilating any culture in it's path is another dead giveaway.

I'm not saying it's not a bloody awesome story tho! Well done id!

Re:Star Trek parralels...

[Cheapy]

The guys who made Quake 4 also made a Star Trek game.

No kidding

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone's marketing department needs to be (collectively) lined up against a wall and hosed with a nailgun. I work in the industry and I'd never heard of Quake 4 before this.

Re:Q4 software quality

[Anonymous Coward]

Since the game is based on the Doom3 Engine which was has been released a couple months ago this does only mean that ID is still working on Doom3. By the way, Raven Software is releasing Quake 4 not ID. They just sold them the Doom 3 Engine.

ID's server

[l0rdpestilence]

Ok who wuped up on their server with a quad dammage? I smell a humiluation kill. "3 frags left...linux, linux is the quake master, of disaster" -

Boogaroo needs food, badly!

[Anonymous Coward]

AC shot some food!

Playing the Devil's advocate

[TopherC]

If the Linux version were released before the Windows version (an interesting thought), would any stores carry it?

Perhaps, but the even bigger problem is that this move would be very expensive -- probably more so than giving away the Linux version for free. Any number of days the Windows version is not on the shelves will be a large opportunity cost to ID.

Also, many companies don't develop a Linux version of their games because the development costs exceed the profits from selling it on that platform. Linux users love to play games, but they don't like to pay money for software. So the idea of them giving away a Linux version for free seems rather remote, since that even takes away a small chunk from their Windows sales. Right-thinking individuals would get warm, fuzzy feelings about this sacrifice to promote Linux, but share-holders would not. And heck, there may even be technical reasons not to have a free version. It may well up more possibilities for CD-key cracks in the retail versions.

In spite of all that I think there are genuine merits to the idea. If it were to happen on a big scale with a big game like Quake 4, major Linux distributions should be prepared ahead of time to make sure things "just work" as much as possible. They will get a host of Linux adopters that want to jump into the action and will immediately forget how much Windows installation sucks the moment their sound cards, wireless newtorking cards, and video cards don't perform right on the first try.

but look at the first line...

[Anonymous Coward]

but look at the first line:

"English version of Windows 2000/XP"

obviously they copied and pasted the windows requirements

Re:but look at the first line...

[Krach42]

My assertion was that "on Windows" it uses DirectX. Yes, this has nothing to do with the Linux system requirements.

I'm already willing to accept that I'm possibly wrong, I'd just like to see some proof somewhere with respectability, from someone of authority that Doom3 is using OpenGL only on Windows, and there is no Direct3D code path.

This isn't Quake!

[green pizza]

Who cares? Seriously. Quake 4 dosn't have a metal / NINish soundtrack, you have to reload your weapons, and there aren't as many hidden secrets and powerups. Sounds more like Doom3 and less like Quake to me.

Re:Too bad the installation is failing for people.

[LarsWestergren]

SecureROM seems like an awesome product. The guys at Penny Arcade had been looking forward to F.E.A.R. for a long time, and last update said "Well, we would love to tell you if it is any good, but since it refuses to install... I guess we will just have to play something else". Some really great marketing there!

Mod this up, this is insightful

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod this up, this is insightful

Correct system requirements

[techefnet]

The previous system requirements posted here was not correct, these are the ones for linux: Minimum System Requirements - GNU/Linux system - Pentium(r) 4 2.0 GHz or Athlon(tm) XP 2000+ processor - 512MB RAM - Kernel 2.4, 2.6 is recommended - glibc >= 2.2.4 3D acceleration ( not required for dedicated server ): - SDL >= 1.2 - latest OpenGL drivers, correctly configured - ATI(r) Radeon(r) 9700 - ATI Radeon 9800 - ATI Radeon X300 series - ATI Radeon X550 series - ATI Radeon X600 series - ATI Radeon X700 series - ATI Radeon X800 series - ATI Radeon X850 series - Nvidia(r) GeForce(TM) 3/Ti series - Nvidia GeForce 4/Ti series - Nvidia GeForce FX series - Nvidia GeForce 6 series - Nvidia GeForce 7 series Audio ( not required for dedicated server ): - sound card with OSS or Alsa support, stereo and surround sound are supported wth both APIss Alsa >= 1.0.6 is required for alsa sound backend Multiplayer: - Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported - Internet play requires broadband connection

OS X version?

[thijs_w]

Will there be an OS X version released anytime soon?

Quake3 is not OSS!

[BestNicksRTaken]

I downloaded the GPL Quake3, and well, it's not as if it will just run.

You have to compile it first, which I don't believe is straightforward, it still pretty much needs porting, then you have to already have a Windows version to get to the .PAK files etc.

So you certainly can't download Quake3 (or RTCW) for Linux and just play it.

Releasing the source to a game ENGINE but forcing you to buy the Windows version to play it is not OSS.

Making a Linux client for a game that requires a Windows version to play it is not OSS.

Making a Windows game and not even making a Linux installer but forcing the user to copy around .PAK files from a pre-installed Windows version (not even straight off the CDs) is not OSS.

I'll buy Quake4 when they release the Linux version in the same box as the Windows version with a proper installer.

Re:Quake3 is not OSS!

[thehunger]

Are you dense?

Releasing a great game engine that runs on Linux under the GPL
has the potential to spawn a lot of new games that run on Linux.

Not only that, but the game engine will likely start improving
under the open source community process.

Which part didn't you understand?

Re:Quake3 is not OSS!

[Anonymous Coward]

but forcing the user to copy around .PAK files from a pre-installed Windows version (not even straight off the CDs)

Actually if you read the FAQ you would know that the PK4 files come from the CDs/DVD

I just bought a copy just to see how it runs in linux.

I installed Mandriva 2006 Powerpack with the linux ATI binaries on my rig
  http://hazerig.hobby-site.org/

Out of the box it works perfectly.

Good Job ID

Re:Quake3 is not OSS!

[Jesus_666]

In fact there already are games using the Q3A engine. In know of an X-Com clone, for example. Digging around on SF should turn up more projects using the engine.

Re:Quake3 is not OSS!

[Anonymous Coward]

You have to compile it first

That's the whole idea of open-source. I'm sorry if to you, "open-source" means "free lunch".

Releasing the source to a game ENGINE but forcing you to buy the Windows version to play it is not OSS.

And what other part of the game other than its ENGINE can you release the source to?

id software is doing what many other OSS-supporting companies do - releasing the source code to their products for free, but offering "added value" products to make a profit with. For some, it's services such as technical support. For id software, it's the artwork, level design, music etc.

Re:The path to increased market share... Unreal?

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, this is not true. I'm an experienced Unreal engine licensee, and the engine is perfectly able to be compiled on Linux too. However, in my knowledge only Epic released Linux versions of its games, not of the licensees did it.

So while I hope gaming will move to Linux more and more, I'm afraid it won't happen in the near future.

Re:Too bad the installation is failing for people.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll bet the the warez version works great. Lotsa seeders, so it must be pretty good.
fscking copy prevention shit.

Re:Too bad the installation is failing for people.

[Anonymous Coward]

lol what? All commercial games are copy protected, usually with an off-the-shelf product like Safedisc or SecureROM. Which the crackers have standard crackers and unwrappers for, hence Quake4 being pwned in a day. It's pointless and counter-productive IMO, since the casual copying it prevents is balanced by the hassle it causes legitimate customers, but the publishers insist on it.

A valid non-warez key is required for online play on ID's servers, but that's nothing new either and not really DRM.

GOATSE ALERT

[a.different.perspect]

The link itself leads to an innocent-looking city paper site, but the story on "Quakerism" from that site is goatse. "Definately" [sic] not worth a look, I assure you.

Patches are crack for gamers

[Just Some Guy]

It's an acknowledgment that gamers love their patches. You l4m3 if you're not running client v4.5235.432.2minutesago. Want gamers to check your site early and often? Hint that they might be able to find patches there at some nebulous future date and they'll make it their homepage.

One word...

[BinLadenMyHero]

Err.. one URL:

http://www.icculus.org/quake3

I just grabbed it and 'make' just worked. Works perfectly.

Quake4 and DRI

[Jacek Poplawski]

Can anyone test Quake4 with DRI (r200 or r300)?
I wonder is it working on Open Source drivers.
Because in FAQ Radeon 9700 is required....

Re:Quake4 and DRI

[vdboor]

Can anyone test Quake4 with DRI (r200 or r300)? I wonder is it working on Open Source drivers. Because in FAQ Radeon 9700 is required....

It's not going to work with the OSS drivers. The OSS drivers only support the r200, the r300 driver is being worked on at http://r300.sourceforge.net/

If you want 3D support for your Radeon 9700, you need the ATI proprietary drivers.

Quake 4, Who Knew?

[CastrTroy]

Seriously, there's been a lot of stuff coming out that lacks some serious marketing. If people don't know your product exists, they're less likely to buy it. And you have tell people about your product. You can't just assume they will know. I know that the Quake franchise is legendary, but you can't expect a product to sell itself, no matter how good it is. This is why apple sells so many iPods. They make you want it. You hardly ever see ads for sony music players, yet there are a ton of them, it's a major part of their business. Yet nobody ever thinks of Sony when they think of portable music. Just because they invented the walkman, doesn't mean they never have to advertise another product ever again.

Re:Quake 4, Who Knew?

[poopdeville]

If people don't know your product exists, they're less likely to buy it.

Understatement?

Casual Pirates

[zippthorne]

There is a certain amount of social pressure to copy games for your friends. (You're making me buy this? what are you some kind of prick? c'mon it's just copying.)

Games that are not easy to copy or are naturally averse to copying (such as those that don't allow duplicates to play on the same server) or otherwise require more effort than "insert disk, burn, give to friend" will feel less pressure.

Frankly, it's a bit of a relief to people don't participate in the copyfest if their friends know it "can't" be copied. (obviously there are still "cracked" versions, but those can be dismissed using the spectre of malicious code)

Re:Casual Pirates

[wiremind]

We definitely have a different set of friends.

All my friends share my views on buying software.
no peer pressure ( that died back in 8th grade when i stopped having IRL(in real life) friends , ha ha )

it's a popup

[dovetail3]

There's an small html form, in a popup box, that you submit your age in. It's not part of the main flash page. Check that you have popups enabled, or that it's not behind your browser.

Re:WHAT??

[p5]

My pirated DVD-R version is working great!! ;)

Easy there Romero!

[mindaktiviti]

Maybe they'll give you a discount on the Doom 3 engine?

Re:Too bad the installation is failing for people.

[Reapy]

It's the reason I couldn't play doom3 without cracking it. I don't know why I even bothered spending money on it, it would have worked much better to download it. I had similar issues with fear. I was finally able to get it running using SR7.Stop which worked great at hiding my virtual drives so my retail products could run.

blah blah

[Flunitrazepam]

I think Half Life 2 pretty much explored every option of making a game immersive, other than just making it "pretty". Q4 just looks like more of the same shoot reload repeat crap that I got over after I beat Q1.

We need holographic displays or entirely new input interfaces, not more polygons.

HL2 was the climax of "3d on a flat screen", I don't think it is going to get any better until it becomes cost effective enough to do some form of VR. Until then we get more marines in space, with slightly higher framerates and anti-alias passes.

Gaming sucks right now.

Re:blah blah

[Scudsucker]

I think Half Life 2 pretty much explored every option of making a game immersive

They didn't try making the game into something other than a damned rat tunnel. Being forced to follow a single 10 foot wide path through the game worked in the first Half-Life, because you are in a partially collapsed underground base. The second game takes place almost entirely above ground, so the rat tunnel ruins any sense of immersion.

Re:blah blah

[Flunitrazepam]

Good point.

So let's say a game comes out with all the great parts of half-life, and all the open-ended gameplay of Morrowind (or better).

I guess my point is we are getting to the end of the 3d-on-2d era, and no one seems to have the balls to do anything really innovative. Innovative immersion right now is translated to mean better physics, improved AI (har) and more photorealistic graphics. This fails to address the fundamental problem-- that we are still sitting in a chair staring at a flat surface, barely moving even our wrists.

In summary, where is my god damn holodeck.

Re:Too bad the installation is failing for people.

[Curly]

> You should be able to exchange them at the store

Worked for me. 2nd CD bad, store exchanged it, Windows install went fine, I'd forgotten how much fun Quake can be. It rocks.

Now, if I could successfully install it on (64-bit) Linux and not get segfaults, that would be nice. (And a native 64-bit version would be REALLY nice.) But no conspiracy theories are required to explain why disc 2 wouldn't install.

Re:Too bad the installation is failing for people.

[daVinci1980]

My new disks work. Here's hoping you guys required high standards from Raven. I've been a big fan of the Quake brand pretty much forever.

Re:The *other* Torrent

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't pirate games. Game developers aren't your personal slaves, making games just so ungrateful fuckers like you can rip them and not give anything in return.

I'm waiting for QuakeWars - Enemy Territory...

[AugstWest]

..and it'll be the first game I've bought on launch days since.... Well, since the GTA games, but other than that, since... Well, Quake.

I'm sick to death of everything FPS has to offer, and I gave up years ago, although I'd test the waters once in a while....

But ET just sucked me in like nothing I've ever experienced. I just can't get enough of the game, I lay awake at night thinking about it, what, 2 years later?

QW:ET had better kick ass. Because if it doesn't, well, I guess I'll just continue to play Wolf:ET.