Slashdot Mirror
Desura Linux Game Client Goes Open Source
An anonymous reader writes "The Desura game distribution client for Windows and Linux and developed by ModDB is now open source software. The open source version of the client is called Desurium and is hosted on GitHub."
Is -ium the new suffix to describe the open source project of commercial products?
by Cyphase ( 907627 )
some would argue that no one games anymore, period because modern 'games' are really little more interactive movies designed to create 'wow' moments as backdrops to social communication (audio chat mostly).
Im guessing that they do want to support Linux as a platform but the maintenance of the thing is killing them. Linux gamers exist but for the small numbers they provide I but the upkeep of the client is killing them time wise. Open sourcing the client makes sense if this is the case, otherwise why bother?
Procrastinating life a way at a rapid rate of speed.
Nobody games on PCs anymore
That is completely correct, Mr. Sony. Desura must be losing a lot of money on this, soon they will have to close down like Valve did because of Steam.
Some people obviously don't actually play modern 'games'. I'd love to see some definition of what made classic games more 'game' than things like Battlefield, Portal or Minecraft.
Portal (2007) is retro gaming at its finest.
you can backup local game files in steam either manually or using their own backup function.
steam is incredibly well built in this regard, you can even throw _some_ game files into the corresponding directory, and steam will recognize them and skip them for download...
for example, i installed steam on wine on a linux partition, and then copied game files manually from a windows installation in the same box, and voila, steam did not complain about anything, and all games worked fine.
Or anything else, other than a surrender of a right, and a public sharing of it. A bit testimonial sounding here, so I apologize, but this is a doorway to getting game developers to start taking linux seriously. I just started using the Desura client and found that it runs faster on Ubuntu than on Windows. Just sayin'. Installing and purchasing are painless too. If you game, I wish you'd help promote it. Take it seriously and try not to be so flippant and judgemental. I'm going back to porting one of my projects to SDL now.
I think for me, gaming in the retro-ages were a bit more exciting since well, the social aspect is much different than it is today. For instance, I have fonder memories of playing games at the arcade or on the home console, in person with the other players. As in, we weren't playing with anonymous people we didn't know. We also had a certain code of conduct of how you acted when playing with friends or even people you didn't know at the arcade. You would show good sportsmanship (most of the time), something that you don't see online much of anymore. It was actually a healthy thing back in the days of the atari, nes, snes, n64 because you *were* being social. You were hanging out with your friends in front of the tv/arcade machine. Now it's practically anti-social. You lock yourself away in front of the tv or computer alone, you don't give a crap about the person you are playing with, and you hear nothing but people just being flat out rude. I think this is why things like the Wii sold so well. It encouraged family and friends to come together and play together. Bringing back that old social aspect. Parents playing with kids, kids playing with their friends, etc. A reason why people were all loving games like Guitar Hero/Rock Band was getting 4 friends in the same house playing together. Same with how successful the Halo lan parties used to be. A room full of people all playing at once brought much excitement. Like the Successful Daytona USA series having 2-8 arcade machines all linked together for some exciting competition with a room full of energy. Something that is missing today really with online gaming. The energy, the spark, the togetherness. Another thing that made the games exciting was back then, hardware was evolving FAST. Something that is pretty stagnant now. I mean, from the Nes/Master System to the Snes/Genesis/NeoGeo to the Playstation/N64/3DO/Saturn/CDX then to the PS2/Dreamcast/Xbox we saw HUGE advances in hardware and game quality, but the last few years have been pretty boring. PC wise it has been fun (6 core cpu's, 32gigs of ram in a system, 2-3 video cards in SLI, terrabytes of hard drive space, multiple monitor setups with huge resolution), but the games aren't coming out that utilize the full potential of such a system. So well, we just wait, bored, for the consoles to catch up so we can get some more ports, while they want to carry on with the same old hardware for another decade to save money on R&D. Every once in a while we get a gem like Skyrim or Rage to keep us busy for a week, then we sit bored again just playing some crappy mmo for a while.
yea but by the time I download it, archive it, use my discs .... is it really any less effort than driving to walmart and getting a boxed copy on a stamped disk?
It depends on how drunk/stoned you are.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Nobody games on PCs anymore
Nobody the whole internet on PCs anymore
The major change I have seen is that games have gone from focusing on physical technique or strategy to focusing on the story. I place games like half life, mass effect, and homeworld on the same level as my favorite books or movies when it comes to an ability to move me emotionally.
While I remember older arcade games from my childhood fondly, they lacked the narrative depth of more modern games, and were basically a challenging distraction. I sometimes wonder if the video game will become the 21st century's most distinctive art form.
You sound like one of the more loosely attached life support tubes hooked to PC gaming. Unless you utterly lack a living room, just switch and be much happier.
Let me know when the Humble Bundles hit the consoles.
yeah, 1€ = 1$ ... come on, guys, really ?
Prices expressed in € generally include VAT. Prices expressed in $ generally do not; sales tax is either added as a line item (for sales in person or mail order sales within one state) or payable to the state government at the end of the year (for interstate mail order sales).
I'd love to see some definition of what made classic games more 'game' than things like Battlefield, Portal or Minecraft.
Well that's simple. Elitism and snobbery!
To those people, the definition of a game is pretty straight forward:
"If I don't like it, then it is not a game at all"
"If I do like it, and so do others, it is a pop game"
"If I do like it, and others don't even know it exists, then it is a true game"
Seems to fit perfectly with the GP comment too.
Of course the true definition of a game is "Something you do to have fun or compete at" ;}
But don't let the game snobs hear you say it, you might get mauled
Portal and Minecraft are very old-school games, the very example you reply to is wrong.
What makes classic games classic? Emphasis on gameplay over anything else. Quick games you can start in less than 5 minutes without sitting through options or too much story. Yet complex enough to last a long time and relying on skill rather than invested time (except RPGs of course) (and as opposed to random, dime-a-dozen-note the emphasis, that means "not the good ones"- iOS/Android games that are extremely shallow). Minecraft exhibits such characteristics, Portal does, but also has a nice story on top at the same time (a brilliant game in short). Battlefield might not be my favorite title but it's pretty old-school if you think about it, it just happens to be mostly online stuff.
But where Portal and such do it right, there are plenty of games where gameplay is a mere afterthought.
Also those were the worst possible examples ever, really. I don't think any old-schooler/hardcore gamer can complain about Portal, and never saw it happening myself. I did see complaints about Minecraft but mostly because its former lack of an "end" (and I haven't seen any other complaint in that style since it got an actual End).
I hate to sound negative about any software being open sourced, but so many companies use open sourcing as a marketing ploy or as a way to cut thier support costs, (...)
Companies use business practices and marketing to increase their revenue? Run for the hills!
... but why did the user interface have to be a blatant rip-off of the steam platform? Could they not think of a different color palette at least?
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar was an open ended role playing game designed with an "ethically-nuanced, story-driven approach", and it came out in 1985 for the Apple II. The objective of the game is to lead a virtuous life, and become the spiritual leader of the world of Britannia.
Yeah there are monsters and stuff, but all of the quests are ethical dilemmas and you get points for doing things like helping the poor...
Dungeon Tactics : Free Open Source SRPG