Slashdot Mirror
Is id Abandoning Linux?
edv writes "In a news posting dated 10th of September, Beyond3D is reporting of an article in a German publication in which id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead discusses the upcoming id title Rage and the engine it runs on, codenamed 'id Tech 5'. Amongst other things Todd mentions that no Linux version of the game is planned at the moment, and that it will run on Direct3D on Windows platform. OpenGL version is planned for the Mac however. If true, this would be a serious blow for Linux gaming (insert jokes here) as id and Carmack have been strong proponents of OpenGL and openness in the past."
I think it is an issue you are one of the few people who do. Linux users have a strong trend of Wanting things free no matter at the cost of the developer. This trend is self destructive because it make the ability for comerical closed source software writters the make Linux non-profitable and combined with Linux still rather Low Market rate and the fact a lot of people with Linux still has Windows available. Linux has a lot of plusses wich can make it a great gamming platform but Game and Open Source models don't work to well.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Not only DirectX includes DirectSound, Directinput, Direct, but the grafical part is so much better these days that there is no comparation: it is often faster (better supported by all graphic card makers), the API is a lot more elegant and organized (IMO anyway, which have used both), and as a plus, using DirectX give you an almost automatic ticked to the XBox platform!.
I don't use Linuzz and all (and I'm not planing to) but i would like to see some project to bring DirectX to linuzzz (a'la Mono). Miguel, are you there?
It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
DirectX simply makes more sense from a developers perspective. OpenGL is underfunded and with a new age of interfaces on the horizon, DX makes that much more sense. A suite of API's, while perhaps slower does make it easy on the developers, especially when you get into code re-use.
.Net allow Linux gaming to be practical without millions of dollars of time invested.
I'm sure ID will eventually port to Linux, but don't expect it be any kind of priority. It's not as if they even get the money back out they invest to port to Linux. Considering that the latest surge of Desktop linux systems don't even come with working 3d drivers. I can see why ID is not impressed with their Linux user base. It's gotta make money folks. ID is doing no one a favor supporting Linux gaming that won't/can't support itself. Linux, at this rate, will not be a legit gaming platform until major hardware and software hurdles such as cross platform API's and perhaps
Since most native Linux games are not showing significant, if any, performance advantage, you can see why the platform is being ignored. It lacks users, development tools and any real advantage over the Win32/Xbox platform.
If you are going to write a game, and you want to make money, then DX is the platform to go with since it easily ports to XBox and that's a major cash platform to think about. MS should move to get Nintendo on DX and then their games could play on the PC. Since Nintendo can no longer realistically compete technologically their best bet is to get higher distribution numbers on their games. Games make a lot, LOT more money than platforms.
I think most Linux users that want to play games do so on console and windows, not on Linux. Cedega performance is usually horrible and the selection of native games is pathetic. Even the built in games such as solitaire just look bad compared to win32. Developers are not committed to Linux, especially in the world of highly competitive programming jobs.
Linux doesn't need games, it needs competitive development tools and suites to draw developers in via superior tools, not low cost or no cost or we just aren't MS. Those are not realistic selling points for users or developers. Perhaps that would have worked back before every piece of software was a corporate group effort, but since good programming usually requires financial backing to be a successful platform you really need a damn good reason to get developers to switch over. OpenGL is and Linux game development tools are not good enough reason to get developers to the platform.
Linux is better off waiting for more cross platform support for game developers instead of wasting developers time with inferior ideas like Wine or a chaotic web of half asses reverse engineered API's. How can you ever hope to keep up-to-date like that ? If Linux had a suite of gaming API's that were at least as advanced as DX and superior in performance you guys might stop losing game programmers. In general Linux main focus should be development tools and not just making them as good as Visual Studio, because MS has more or less made that free and serious companies or individuals are more than happy to pay for the software since it's a very minor cost compared to the entire project. The advantage of low cost becomes less and less as more and more people become reliant on the PC. I'd happily pay more money for a better Windows OS. I'm not interested however in saving money and losing features for the idealogical sake of not support a powerful American monopoly. That's tax money for American's every time a copy of Windows sells, so as much as I think MS could do better, I'm still glad the give America needed exports. Since there are more people in the world than there are people in the US Windows is pretty important as far as profitable exports go. I'd support MS just on those grounds alone so long as the competition is only marginally better or worse and it is. Linux performance is not much better in most cases. I run side by side Linux distro with Vista