I cannot overstate the importance of these two titles for Linux gaming. As most of you know, the expirmental retail Linux release of Quake 3 was, by publishing standards, a failure. Linux Tribes 2 is the most high-profile port since Q3, and rest assured both industry developers and publishers will once again be watching to determine if Linux is worth their time. Furthermore, Loki cannot continue to port titles if the ones they do publish are not purchased; so spread the word (many Linux users were unaware Loki had ported anything beyond Civilization: Call to Power) if you want Linux gaming to be a viable option. It's even more difficult for Linux porters (Loki, Tribsoft, Hyperion) to make a profit on their work considering they have to mark up the retail price to recoup the inherent losses that go with filling a niche market (Win32 titles can sell for much lower due to established publishers, retail chains, customers, etc.)... it's a vicious circle, but the only way to break it is to support what's out there now to forge the foundation for later growth.
In short, holding off Linux game purchases because the releases are not timely (i.e., on par with Windows) or cheap will ensure that they will always be neither.
Btw, as has been stated elsewhere on this story, Linux Tribes 2 is being released only 2 weeks after the Win32 version, which is hardly a significant period of time.
The difficulty with encrypting everything at this point is that I communicate frequently with people who don't really feel inclined (at least, not yet) to get PGP or GPG; that and most of my e-mails aren't terribly confidential.
However, by signing everything, it may encourage people to find out for themselves what digital "signatures" and encryption involve after they repeatedly see "BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE" at the bottom of all my correspondence, in addition to the direct benefit of having some form of verification for e-mails.
Someone kept pestering me to watch the re-runs of B5 on Sci-Fi (I missed the entire original run), and I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality and cohesiveness (it helps that it was almost entirely written by JMS instead of an army of vying authors). I've never liked DS9 or Voyager very much, and this new series doesn't sound promising either:/.
There's a report that the 13 Crusade episodes are getting shown on Sci-Fi (which JMS has apparently confirmed), as well as a possible new B5 movie (which is more realistic than Crusade itself being picked up as a production series I think).
I guess my point is that people looking for good sci-fi on TV don't have to settle for Star Trek or the dreck in Sci-Fi's original shows... (I also found it very amusing that TNN is getting the Next Generation re-run rights).
... and within a reasonable time frame. Loki Software's Linux port of Heavy Gear II port was a D3D -> OGL project.
Just for additional background, Michael Vance (Linux HG2's lead coder) had this to say about the process:
Converting from Direct3D involves a few different things--accounting for the different coordinate systems, the rigidity of the Direct3D data structures, the use of DirectDraw surfaces for textures in D3D, etc. Luckily OpenGL is very flexible and allows you to get around lots of these issues elegantly.
...
The difficulty depends on the depth to which the original code base was tied to the rendering API, and the particular paradigm of rendering which was used (ie, full transformation, rasterization only, etc.).
It'll be interesting to see how the program will develop as they run through the prototype airframes/AI... since they're saying they're just initially targeting SEAD as a program goal, it seems that Boeing doesn't feel their air-to-air capabilities are viable in a dogfight yet (which translates to human fighter escorts for the strike wing).
Also, with the pilot removed, the UCAV can perform very high-g maneuvers (probably just for evasion of SAMs/AAMs and what not)... does anyone know if the current generation of unmanned reconnaisance aircraft have complex evasion routines, or are they oblivious to air defenses?
Despite how I would like things to turn out, I still find it difficult to believe Indrema can compete with the Microsoft/Nintendo/Sega/Sony marketing machines for share of what will likely be a saturated console market in 2001/2002 (Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, and XBox).
Moreover, I am perturbed that Indrema has yet to announce anything with regards to developers or titles that will be available at launch.
I wish them the best of luck, but don't hold your breath for a miracle.
If I recall, Carmack was thinking about making id tools Java-based during Q3's initial development. Although that never panned out, work is being done (by TTimo's team at QERadiant.com) to make the existing Q3 tools cross-platform with a common code-base by porting the Linux GTKRadiant port Loki developed back to Win32 (they just recently made their first Alpha release).
Incidentally, this will all be moot with the next Doom title as far as id engines go, as the rendering/level architecture will allow the editor to be built into the game executable.
Still, it'd be nice if GTK+, QT, or some other cross-platform widget lib gained acceptance among developers for home-grown utilities. Hell, it'd be even better if applications in general used cross-platform libs more often (how difficult are Win32-OSX ports now?), but that's probably years away at best.
I'm incredibly wary of Indrema as well... to echo someone else's evaluation: "it will be hard to take Linux seriously as an entertainment platform if someone is running around selling rotting lemons with Linux painted on the side."
Which makes Red Hat's endorsement of Indrema all the more disturbing... sigh.
A 200 knot torpedo/missile (that's not even designed to make drastic course changes at all, much less 180 degrees) has a minuscule (read: impossible) chance of taking out its launch platform once launched.
Far more likely is the theory that K-141's standard torpedoes detonated in the exercise, probably while still in the tube or weapons racks.
The Bellona Foundation has posted their analysis here, and the venerable folks at Jane's have their's up as well.
Finally, the effect this will have on Naval funding and deployment was discussed at STRATFOR.
Fair enough... I suppose some last minute problem could crop up and they would have to choose between shipping the Windows/Mac releases and ditching Linux or waiting to fix a Linux build issue (in which case there would be no choice at all, I couldn't see BioWare delaying the Win release more than necessary under any circumstances).
Hopefully in such an eventuality they would be able to get around to releasing Linux binaries, depending on how serious the problem was.
Depending on how well Neverwinter Nights sells for Linux of course (for those who don't know, BioWare is porting NWN, a highly anticipated multiplayer (not massive) AD&D RPG that's meant to capture the tabletop AD&D gameplay in a modern comp game, to Linux internally). This may be difficult to gauge, as the binaries for all supported platforms (Linux, Mac, and Win) are supposed to be in the box, but if they get a lot of positive feedback, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Star Wars RPG released for Linux as well (granted, it probably won't be available until late 2002/2003, so speculating now is rather moot).
Although the points raised by Carmack (rudimentary 3D support; high learning curve) did impact the Linux sales of Quake III: Arena, one other factor should be considered: the disparity between Win32 and Linux Q3A's release dates. The Win32 version shipped on December 5th, while the Linux version didn't begin shipping to retail stores until just before Xmas on around the 23rd. Furthermore, as stated in a.plan update by Carmack, it was known that Linux binaries would be made available at a later date for those who purchased a CD for a diffferent OS. I think its fair to say that many of the hardcore gamers who would've otherwise purchased a Linux version bought the Win32 retail CD upon release instead of waiting for the Linux box to ship. Additionally, a Linux dedicated server binary was released on the 5th, so Linux server admins were able to again purchase the Win32 release without fear of not being able to run a multiplayer server. Ironically, this situation was one Carmack (and Loki for that matter) had wanted to avoid:
We should be handing off the masters for all three platforms
within a day or two of each other, but they aren't going to
show up in stores at the same time. Publishers, distributers,
and stores are willing to go out of their way to expedite the
arrival of the pc version, but they just won't go to the
same amount of trouble for mac and linux boxes.
THE EXECUTABLES FOR ALL PLATFORMS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE FOR
DOWNLOAD UNTIL AFTER CHRISTMAS. This means that if you want
to play on the mac or linux, don't pick up a copy of the pc
version and expect to download the other executables.
Our first update to the game will be for all platforms, and
will allow any version to be converted into any other, but
we intend to hold that off for a little while.
We are doing this at the request of the distributors. The
fear is that everyone will just grab a windows version,
and the separate boxes will be ignored.
A lot of companies are going to be watching the sales
figures for the mac and linux versions of Q3 to see if
the platforms are actually worth supporting. If everyone
bought a windows version and the other boxes sold like crap
in comparison, that would be plenty of evidence for most
executives to can any cross platform development.
I know there are a lot of people that play in both windows
and linux, and this may be a bit of an inconvenience in
the short term, but this is an ideal time to cast a vote
as a consumer.
I guess the hope is that sales of Loki's (and Hyperion's, and whoever else begins shipping Linux ports or original software) titles which are available as stand-alone Linux retail releases only (without the possibility of an upgrade from a Win32 version) will gradually improve to the point where more retailers and developers will give Linux a look. Upcoming in-house Linux titles such as Anarchy Online and Neverwinter Nights will also need to show stronger sales to make our presence known to the bean counters. Solidarity with $ is all the executives which run the PC gaming industry understand, and although it'll take time and a considerable amount of effort, I think it can be done. The inherent strengths of Linux as a consumer (yes, consumer) platform, which are only just now beginning to be tapped, should allow Linux to carve out a penguin-sized niche in the market, but once again it's up to the Linux users themselves to make it happen... the industry just isn't going to start serving games to you on a silver platter.
Not from what I can tell... I bought Logitech's optical mouse last week out of curiousity, and although it's far more precise than the old mouse ball (and I'm just using the legacy PS/2 adapter under Linux), the CCD still goes nuts if I try and move the mouse across the pad too quickly.
I've adapted to it in Q3A; it was just a matter of jacking up the sensitivity high enough to where fast twitches across large pad areas weren't necessary. In the end, the positives (not having to clean a mouse ball, precision) outweigh the negatives of not being able to track rapid movements with much success.
Be sure you're using a mousepad or surface with irregularities (wood grain, patterns, etc.) so the CCD can differentiate between different portions of whatever you're using it on.
Slashdot Mirror
The US Air Force has been working on the Interactive Datawall (http://www.rl.af.mil/tech/programs/ADII/adii_dw.h tml), which includes laser pointer tracking and voice recognition among other things.
Eventually they hope to have a portable version so various mil units can just cart them around to whatever theater they're needed in.
We've come a long way from LeMay's old "Big Board"...
Long time, no post... Welcome back Oog.
I'm distinctly reminded of this:
. htm
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/nazsov/nonagres
... and possible series (as mentioned in other posts):
0 3/20/15.20.sfc
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-sfc.html?2001-
There's also a fan site with more info (spoilers on the B5 character appearing, etc.):
http://www.b5lr.com/
Sci-Fi has said that the new series will launch if the movie looks/does well.
A) It's not meant for use with your TV, it has a VGA adapter. B) It's a dev kit. You use it to make PS2 games. That's about it.
I cannot overstate the importance of these two titles for Linux gaming. As most of you know, the expirmental retail Linux release of Quake 3 was, by publishing standards, a failure. Linux Tribes 2 is the most high-profile port since Q3, and rest assured both industry developers and publishers will once again be watching to determine if Linux is worth their time. Furthermore, Loki cannot continue to port titles if the ones they do publish are not purchased; so spread the word (many Linux users were unaware Loki had ported anything beyond Civilization: Call to Power) if you want Linux gaming to be a viable option. It's even more difficult for Linux porters (Loki, Tribsoft, Hyperion) to make a profit on their work considering they have to mark up the retail price to recoup the inherent losses that go with filling a niche market (Win32 titles can sell for much lower due to established publishers, retail chains, customers, etc.)... it's a vicious circle, but the only way to break it is to support what's out there now to forge the foundation for later growth.
In short, holding off Linux game purchases because the releases are not timely (i.e., on par with Windows) or cheap will ensure that they will always be neither.
Btw, as has been stated elsewhere on this story, Linux Tribes 2 is being released only 2 weeks after the Win32 version, which is hardly a significant period of time.
Same here.
The difficulty with encrypting everything at this point is that I communicate frequently with people who don't really feel inclined (at least, not yet) to get PGP or GPG; that and most of my e-mails aren't terribly confidential.
However, by signing everything, it may encourage people to find out for themselves what digital "signatures" and encryption involve after they repeatedly see "BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE" at the bottom of all my correspondence, in addition to the direct benefit of having some form of verification for e-mails.
Agreed.
:/.
Someone kept pestering me to watch the re-runs of B5 on Sci-Fi (I missed the entire original run), and I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality and cohesiveness (it helps that it was almost entirely written by JMS instead of an army of vying authors). I've never liked DS9 or Voyager very much, and this new series doesn't sound promising either
There's a report that the 13 Crusade episodes are getting shown on Sci-Fi (which JMS has apparently confirmed), as well as a possible new B5 movie (which is more realistic than Crusade itself being picked up as a production series I think).
I guess my point is that people looking for good sci-fi on TV don't have to settle for Star Trek or the dreck in Sci-Fi's original shows... (I also found it very amusing that TNN is getting the Next Generation re-run rights).
err...
:|
"Loki Software's Linux port of Heavy Gear II port"
should read:
"Loki Software's Linux port of Heavy Gear II"
*goes to get more caffeine*
Just for additional background, Michael Vance (Linux HG2's lead coder) had this to say about the process:
Yes, it's that Bad_CRC. He also runs a Linux Tribes site @ http://www.tribalwar.com/linuxtribes/.
Lopster also features excellent integration with OpenNap, superior to Gnapster's in my opinion.
There's an open-source game similar to Worms, except for the fact that's it real-time as opposed to turn-based:
http://nil.sourceforge.net/
It'll be interesting to see how the program will develop as they run through the prototype airframes/AI... since they're saying they're just initially targeting SEAD as a program goal, it seems that Boeing doesn't feel their air-to-air capabilities are viable in a dogfight yet (which translates to human fighter escorts for the strike wing).
Also, with the pilot removed, the UCAV can perform very high-g maneuvers (probably just for evasion of SAMs/AAMs and what not)... does anyone know if the current generation of unmanned reconnaisance aircraft have complex evasion routines, or are they oblivious to air defenses?
Despite how I would like things to turn out, I still find it difficult to believe Indrema can compete with the Microsoft/Nintendo/Sega/Sony marketing machines for share of what will likely be a saturated console market in 2001/2002 (Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, and XBox).
Moreover, I am perturbed that Indrema has yet to announce anything with regards to developers or titles that will be available at launch.
I wish them the best of luck, but don't hold your breath for a miracle.
If I recall, Carmack was thinking about making id tools Java-based during Q3's initial development. Although that never panned out, work is being done (by TTimo's team at QERadiant.com) to make the existing Q3 tools cross-platform with a common code-base by porting the Linux GTKRadiant port Loki developed back to Win32 (they just recently made their first Alpha release).
Incidentally, this will all be moot with the next Doom title as far as id engines go, as the rendering/level architecture will allow the editor to be built into the game executable.
Still, it'd be nice if GTK+, QT, or some other cross-platform widget lib gained acceptance among developers for home-grown utilities. Hell, it'd be even better if applications in general used cross-platform libs more often (how difficult are Win32-OSX ports now?), but that's probably years away at best.
I'm incredibly wary of Indrema as well... to echo someone else's evaluation: "it will be hard to take Linux seriously as an entertainment platform if someone is running around selling rotting lemons with Linux painted on the side."
Which makes Red Hat's endorsement of Indrema all the more disturbing... sigh.
Wrong. Try again.
A 200 knot torpedo/missile (that's not even designed to make drastic course changes at all, much less 180 degrees) has a minuscule (read: impossible) chance of taking out its launch platform once launched.
Far more likely is the theory that K-141's standard torpedoes detonated in the exercise, probably while still in the tube or weapons racks.
The Bellona Foundation has posted their analysis here, and the venerable folks at Jane's have their's up as well.
Finally, the effect this will have on Naval funding and deployment was discussed at STRATFOR.
Fair enough... I suppose some last minute problem could crop up and they would have to choose between shipping the Windows/Mac releases and ditching Linux or waiting to fix a Linux build issue (in which case there would be no choice at all, I couldn't see BioWare delaying the Win release more than necessary under any circumstances).
Hopefully in such an eventuality they would be able to get around to releasing Linux binaries, depending on how serious the problem was.
Thanks for the SITREP.
That would seem to contradict both the official FAQ and a May interview with BioWare's Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka. Can you substantiate your claims?
Thanks!
Depending on how well Neverwinter Nights sells for Linux of course (for those who don't know, BioWare is porting NWN, a highly anticipated multiplayer (not massive) AD&D RPG that's meant to capture the tabletop AD&D gameplay in a modern comp game, to Linux internally). This may be difficult to gauge, as the binaries for all supported platforms (Linux, Mac, and Win) are supposed to be in the box, but if they get a lot of positive feedback, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Star Wars RPG released for Linux as well (granted, it probably won't be available until late 2002/2003, so speculating now is rather moot).
Not from what I can tell... I bought Logitech's optical mouse last week out of curiousity, and although it's far more precise than the old mouse ball (and I'm just using the legacy PS/2 adapter under Linux), the CCD still goes nuts if I try and move the mouse across the pad too quickly.
I've adapted to it in Q3A; it was just a matter of jacking up the sensitivity high enough to where fast twitches across large pad areas weren't necessary. In the end, the positives (not having to clean a mouse ball, precision) outweigh the negatives of not being able to track rapid movements with much success.
Be sure you're using a mousepad or surface with irregularities (wood grain, patterns, etc.) so the CCD can differentiate between different portions of whatever you're using it on.
Yeah, but the in-game player doesn't work :/
Oh well, there's always next release