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Games Entertainment

Linux Sin Demo 79

Jacek Fedorynski writes: "A playable demo of Sin, the first person shooter originally by Ritual, has been released by Hyperion Entertainment. It weighs about 40 MB." It looks good. I haven't gotten the mouse working yet, but I've only been futzing with it for a few minutes, so it's probably just me.
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Linux Sin Demo

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  • by isorox ( 205688 ) on Saturday November 25, 2000 @07:43AM (#602339) Homepage Journal
    For linux to be accepted by the main stream it needs a load of good games. But not only that, these games need to work first time. Put in the CD, click, click and wait for the pretty installer (see Red Alert 2).

    Once thats finished click, click, load up the game. People dont want to have to change their config files to get the mouse to work! If a slashdot editor cant get a game working within a few minutes, how long will it take joe luser?

    Dont get me wrong, I love linux, I have a couple of loki games, and play tuxracer every day. I havent been to windows for weeks, and that was so I could watch some asfs.

    On the bright side:
    The point a year ago, or even a few months ago, is the general public wont use linux until games are ported, and they wont be ported until people use linux.

    Now it's:
    People wont use linux until there are good games that are easily set up.

    Unfortunatly there still isnt much gping on in many publishers eyes. A few days ago I got this from Hasbro, with regard to Civ 3.


    Development of this product has not yet began. The developers are at this
    time only finalising concepts and design functions. There are no plans for
    any Linux versions and no current plans to allow outside companies to
    publish Linux editions of any of our catalogue titles - sorry.

    Which is sad.

    Also, I noticed that CTP2 was nearly out now. I havent heard a work about it from loki, even though they ported CTP.

    Its a sad fact tha game on linux, although very fast now with xfree 4, arent ported on time and arent set up as easily as their windows counterparts. The only exception is Quake 3. (I havent managed to set up UT yet). Apart from them, gaming is a loss on linux. For now.
  • by Yoho ( 91635 ) on Saturday November 25, 2000 @08:30AM (#602340)
    > If a slashdot editor cant get a game working
    > within a few minutes, how long will it take
    > joe luser?

    Eh, 20 seconds maybe ...

    ;-)

  • I was/am a beta tester for SiN and Shogo under Linux. Personally, I found Shogo to be more enjoyable (or at least, more my kind of game. Anyway, you can download the Linux version of Shogo: Mobile Armor Division here:

    http://www.hyperion-software.com/_linux/news_00110 4.html [hyperion-software.com]

    Enjoy!

    The wheel is turning but the hamster is dead.

  • CTP2 *is* out, and is pretty amazing. I got it, and I have to go to windows everytime to play it, which is pretty annoying since I have to shutdown all of the services and tasks just to restart them on linux to play CTP2. It's a great game, although VERY easy.
    -Nimster
  • What I'm waiting for is the moment Linux binaries will be shipped with the official version of games at the same release date.

    The only problem witth the "all or nothing" mentality is that it will always be "nothing" unless smaller steps are successful. Most game developers aren't going to support the latest versions of their games without some incentive. They are for-profit companies. You have two basic choices:

    • Buy the games that come out for Linux
    • Forget about commercial support at all
    If you don't subscribe to #1, then your choice is #2, which may be just fine (I don't imagine RMS is losing any sleep over this). But please stop whinning about the current situation -- either buckle in and do something to support these Linux game companies (Hyperion could use all the support they can get; they are a very small group) or just forget about it.

    The wheel is turning but the hamster is dead.

  • If we really want gaming for linux to take off we need to have linux-only games.

    While I like Linux as much as the next guy, a commercial Linux-only game doesn't make good business sense and an open source one will most likely get ported by someone else if it's that fantastically popular (and, of course, it's a moot point if the game is unpopular -- you don't see people lining up aroudn the corner to play /usr/games/mille).

    And there are a number of open-source games, some of which have been mentioned on Slashdot [slashdot.org].

    One interesting project that hasn't is Star Control: Timewarp [star-control.com]. Unfortunately, the current development is DOS-centric and there are some brain-dead coding practices, but I did manage to get it up and running on my Linux box with some fiddling.


  • You know what black people can read, play PC games(I kick ass in Quake 3) and program software. Now I know what you think... Black people can do all this and what could I do about it? Nothing but let it happen, because if you hate black people then you know what black people hate you. I don't care what you do but you are offtopice and you are posting some offensive stuff.
  • It should not be too hard to attract at least some graphic artists and designers for such projects.

    Sure. Pay them fair wages and they'll make a Linux game for you (they won't do it for free after all since if they're any good they can work on paying Windoze, Sony, Nintendo, Sega and even Mac jobs).

    Oh damn. I don't know any artists that use Linux.
  • I have total respect for the people who have invested their time into writing window managers and desktop environments for XWindows, but holy shit we really need to dump it and start from scratch with a lean and more modern setup. No more hacks or tricks to get wheel mice working. It's a serious problem, and I don't think we'll ever be as good as non-Linux OS's until we get this kind of stability. My mouse shouldn't feel different because I changed window managers... I mean, I love the idea of having the ability to run whatever manager pleases you, but the X world is so fragmented...apps that only work for KDE, or only work with this manager, etc. Choice and variety is nice, but damn. This is why I say we should have one GUI, with a highly customizable themed interface, and installable device drivers like Windows. Promote Allegro or SDL and MESA as your *official* alternatives to DirectX. Win9x might be EViL(tm), but there's some good lessons to be learned. We're the ones in control here, yet we stick with this ancient fractured mess trying to appeal to everyone. Please feel free to suggest positive reasons to stick with X, but leave the word "choice" out of it. Choice is nice. Clutter is not. Sometimes you just have to put your foot down and let people adapt, kicking and screaming. And be gentle: I'm a devoted command line guy with a natural bias against GUI's. :D
  • Actually only the dedicated server for half-life was ported. I run one and it's a helluva lot more robust than trying to run a server on Windows 98. I hear HL runs under wine pretty well though.
  • HG2 has been ported, and that's a damn fine game IMO.

  • They only released a dedicated server, not a client.

    There is no half life on linux (unless wine is further than I thought).

  • I have a dozen computers at home, of which only one dual-boots Windows (a laptop - some settings, like power management, can't be changed under Linux), and I've bought Q3, SoF, Civ, Heavy Gear 2, HoMM3, even Railroad Tycoon f'chrissakes.

    Would you like to retract your statement?

  • Linux - for all those old crappy FPS games you love.

    Seriously. SiN came out how long ago and we're JUST getting a DEMO of the thing? Why do companies even waste the money paying developers to produce such stuff? If you want to make a Linux game, put it out the same time as the Windows game. Don't pay your developers to produce a demo version of an old game. This is counter active to the whole Games for Linux "movement". These companies are losing money making old games for OS' a small minority use, and games a small minority plays. Assuming SiN for Linux full version was released, can anyone truthfully tell me it has an audience big enough to break even on it's production?

    Your mouse doesn't work. I'm so surprised. Not. Even this DEMO doesn't work right. This is why Linux will not be a gaming operating system anytime soon. If something as trivial as the mouse doesn't work out of the box, the average person who had trouble enough figuring out how to load the CD-ROM into the drive isn't going to fix it.

    I'll agree with the majority of posts here, X is the root of all problems. In grand UNIX tradition, we've taken technology and kept slapping stuff on top of it to make it look modern. X needs to go, and pronto. It's too modular for it's own good. Layer upon layer upon layer is too SLOW. Someone needs to come up with a GUI of sorts where the UI is integrated into the Windowing system. Make it infinitely skinnable and you'll still get all the customization you want.

    Then again, what do I know.

    I'm just a user.
  • If a piece of software doesn't work perfectly right after instalation, its not finished.

    Jeez... I don't think I've ever bought/seen a piece of finished software.

    Sorry, couldn't help myself.

  • No.

    And I think if you knew much about what this stuff can really do, you'd see why I said what I did. Unfortunately, it's more glamorous for people to invent the wheel than do the reading it takes to see what's already there.

  • Allowed to download and use, but clearly marked as for testing only, not general use.

    Ha ha, if we followed that rule there would be no "general use" of Linux at all. It's a rare application where "not broken"=="no futzing necessary".

  • This is just complete self-righteous bullshit.

    I know Linux apps have some problems with setup, and that many configurations require an editor.

    That said, it is simply total and complete bullshit that desktop thingies always install and work better on Windows.

    Examples:

    Myth2, ported by Loki, came with an installer that is a piece of cake to use, and it worked perfectly on my system. I did absolutely nothing except put in the CD, choose the install option, and play the game. Loki *really* has its shit together.

    Baldur's Gate, which I installed Win98 exclusively for, was a total nightmare to get working correctly. And it's all fucking DirectX insanity. Apparently, my Matrox Millenium (which is an awesome card, even though it's old) isn't fully supported by DirectX (not a single version!). I had to turn on software rendering for several things. Microsoft and the developer of Baldur's Gate just blame Matrox. Typical!

    Also, my setup is totally vanilla because I built it myself. It's a bit old, but I'm not trying to use any brand-new software on it.

    PS: Does anybody besides me remember how much work it took to get most DOS games to work with sound, joystick, and mouse??!!

  • You'll be waiting for several more years (until Linux has a large *paying* user base). I say paying because while, for example, Mac users are a relatively small userbase the vast majority of them are the type of users who have the pay-for-product mentality.

    Besides, other than Carmack most developers don't have the time and manpower to put towards a Linux port (well, maybe a game server). With time to market an incredibly important part of the development cycle for gaming you just won't see much effort to do it unless significant monetary gains are a "sure thing".
  • by Rew190 ( 138940 )
    When this bad boy came out for PC (I think it was about two years ago or so), it was a great game content-wise, but it was riddled with some pretty horrendous bugs. If it weren't for all of them, Sin probably would've been a much more well-known game in it's time. I wonder if they patched things up for the Linux version to give it a real second chance.
  • So what was Terminus from Vicarious then? Vicarious should be applauded for their multi-OS release. I don't know if they've considered it a successful experiment, but I for one am grateful they made the effort. I was happy to support them with my retail purchase, and I'm hopeful that we'll see other releases like Terminus in the future. In the meantime, I'm still gobbling up most of Loki's releases. Since I don't run any MS boxes at home, all these "old" titles are new to me.

  • To late©©©I'm black and play games on Linux all the time© I guess you need to go to BeOS 5©0 and try to make that a White only OS©

    Damn loser!

    =
  • I AM the "darkside" and will never give up linux. As for VMWare...got it. You cannot play any games thru it, however. It is OK is you want to run Office or some other doze app without rebooting, but then, many of the major apps are now runnable under wine or VERY close (including office).

  • Jeez, that's worse than goatse.cx! Hiss!
  • Hoi ! Well, we've got Unreal Tournament, Soldier of Fortune and Quake 3 for Linux. And now they brought out a Sin Demo. This Game was released (i don't remember exactly) over 1 and a half year ago. Sorry, but then I prefer one of the other Games. But when it's free (or for a small price) it's ok. cyas
  • Possibly because its publisher is more open-minded. Consider what happened to Half-Life for the MacOS. It had been in the works for much of a year, but when the game got into beta, its publisher, Sierra, got cold feet and canceled the game. Despite this failure, there is a Dreamcast version in the works, though it has been taking a long time to appear; there is also a Linux dedicated server for Half-Life. But why a server and not a client?
  • I'd love to see more games for Linux (and of course more newer games) but it's really depressing that the comment about the mouse not working is the first thing everyone (especially the anti-Linux zealots) will see.

    I could have understood if it had been a problem with an obscure or out of date graphics card driver, but the mouse seems such a fundamentally simple, integral part of the system that for it not to work seems crazy.

    (I'd try SiN out myself, but it's a bit big to download over my modem)
  • Hmm. I got it working, but the multi-user stuff didn't work too well. Couldn't find another site to play with. Any thoughts on that??? (no -- no firewall problems here!)
    --
  • The demo has been out for 3 or so days. The post was on linuxgames.com.


    The willingness of humanity to follow without question is the fall of them.
  • The one that talks with the female EVA. She explains the install instructions. Now, that would be perfect!

  • Lets put it this way: Windows never works perfectly 100% right after installation. I usually have to spend about a hour (sometimes two or thre, depending on the hardware) tweaking things, installing drivers, and figuring out why something has mysteriously decided to commit suicide. Windows programs are about the same. Especially Windows games. My install cycle for a Windows game usually averages about 30 minutes, including patch hunting, driver updating, and all the other things required to play games.

    Remember that most hardcore (or moderately hardcore) gamers are almost as big-time techies and perfection nuts as Linux users, and almost as diverse. No install program's going to satisfy all of them by a long shot.


    -RickHunter
  • The real problem is not X.

    X is well-designed, well-functioning, excellent technology. In fact, it is very well capable of handling games like this.

    Why doesn't it, you ask? The main problem is that no one actually uses the technology that's there. How often do you see 3D games using GLX or PEX? You're not supposed to draw all the damn pixels manually! That's what GLX and PEX are for... if people did that, 3D over X would be fast and responsive. How often do you see programs using XIE? If programs like Netscape and GIMP used XIE, they would run much, much faster. The list goes on.

    The other problem is that XFree86 has been notoriously faulty and unfriendly, and people attribute this to X. This is not X at all, but one implementation of X.

    As far as toolkit standards, GUESS WHAT THERE IS A TOOLKIT STANDARD. It's called Motif, and it's actually very good technology--but again, most people who knock it really don't know the full extent of what it can do, and don't know how to use most of its technology. Motif is far better IMO than Qt and Gtk, and it is actually the standard GUI for UNIX and VMS. Furthermore, THERE IS A STANDARD DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT. CDE is also an excellent technology with the ability to do really impressive things--the distributed object model of ToolTalk, the Information Manager, the help system, the spartan interface--it's really the best there is, and it's also the standard for UNIX and VMS.

    The problem is not X. The problem is that people don't educate themselves as to what X, Motif, and CDE can really do. Trust me, if people did, 99.99% of programs would work hugely better and faster. There would be no problem with games if people actually USED GLX and/or PEX for their 3D rather than this DRI bullshit. X is really, really good technology.

  • Yea, but we're not talking Windows just the game. Your install cycle for Windows is too long because

    A) You don't keep your system up to date to begin with. If none of the drivers on your system are older than 30 days, you'll be a happy man in Windows-land.

    B) You play crappy games and/or on crappy hardware. If anything from ATI is on your system, or your game developer's name has Sierra anywhere on it, please do us all a favor and try some decent games/hardware before complaining. My hardware is Dell conservative: Intel, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Altec-Lansing, Creative Labs. The most oddball thing I have on my system is Linksys. If you buy anything with less than 50% market share (or a nice relationship with MS) then you deserve any problems you get. (Sad, but true.) To tell the truth, Linux is hard to install no matter WHAT hardware you use. Futzing is just something that has to be done.

    C) Install programs can and do satisfy gamers. People don't cralize that gamers aren't into tweeking, they're into playing. They CAN tweek, but don't want to.

    You shouldn't have to tweek to play a game. In Windows, you generally don't have to. I get the MaximumPC disc that comes full of demos every month. I can tell you that at least a dozen games go on and off my harddrive in the space of a few days. I have yet to have to futz to install any of them. Install patches yes, but unless the developers are monkeys, installing them takes 5 minutes (on a DSL line ;) Plus, patches are part of the experience on all non-console OSs. (Which is another reason why a harddrive is such a dumb idea for a console.)

    If Windows sucks that badly for you, then you're doing something wrong.
  • If they games were free the developers couldnt justify the time spent..

    Knowing Hyperion I would guess that they woudl have the cheeck to sell it for £40 ($60) like their other recent ports.
  • Let me guess, you're a member of WWF's RTC (right to censor) ?
  • I bet it starts with the same bank robbery scene? I really liked this game because it let you shoot stuff from a hellocopter and and play with an ATM.

    If you get far enough into the demo, you should get to the serectry mainframe. They emulated it to look a lot like a DOS termial. YOu can type in stuff and look through directors and stuff. It was pretty limited though, it wouldn't let me reformat it ;-).
    --

  • Im to tired to type so i'll just say that your an idiot

    Oh, so I'm an idiot because I can't fucking stand how X is set up? (Or rather, XFree86, which a previous, and much more tactful and intelligent poster enlightened me to.)

    So, please, when you're not so tired from a long hard day of sucking cock, please feel free to join the discussion under your shield of anonymous cowardace.

  • Yes, I do. Having been the one in my family back in the days of DOS who wound up having to piece together configuration files... BTW, I think you'll find that many hardcore gamers now were hardcore gamers back in the Days of DOS. So they can't be THAT adverse to tinkering with things.


    -RickHunter
  • And was reminded when I saw a DVD of an animated movie based on it.

    I bet lots of other people forgot about sIn too. Too little, too late. The game's, what, almost 3 years old? It's nice to see games getting ported, but as has been said many times here on /. and elsewhere, timing is everything. Or, in this case, nothing - because that's about what sIn on Linux is going to gain "us."

  • The real problem is not X. X is well-designed, well-functioning, excellent technology. In fact, it is very well capable of handling games like this.
    Quake 3 runs great for me, with the exception of firing the railgun while zoomed in using both mouse buttons (have to hit CTRL to fire it). It's the little things like that, that bug me. Where this problem comes from, I'm not sure...(and come to think of it, I haven't tried it again after getting a new PS/2 mouse (had serial previously)). I'll have to give this one another shot.

    Why doesn't it, you ask? The main problem is that no one actually uses the technology that's there. How often do you see 3D games using GLX or PEX? You're not supposed to draw all the damn pixels manually! That's what GLX and PEX are for... if people did that, 3D over X would be fast and responsive. How often do you see programs using XIE? If programs like Netscape and GIMP used XIE, they would run much, much faster. The list goes on.
    I've definately noticed that horrid 'trudging through the mud' feeling when using visually complex apps (Netscape, etc). Makes me run to Lynx very fast. :)
    The other problem is that XFree86 has been notoriously faulty and unfriendly, and people attribute this to X. This is not X at all, but one implementation of X.
    This is where I think I made my mistake...juding all of X based on this one system...:/
    X is really, really good technology.
    This is what I wanted to hear, deep down. :D

    I think I'll take a peek and see what other X implementations are like...

    Much tnx.

  • A) You don't keep your system up to date to begin with. If none of the drivers on your system are older than 30 days, you'll be a happy man in Windows-land.

    I keep my Windows system as up-to-date as can be expected for a university student whose primary OS is Linux. None of my drivers are older than thirty days, except for maybe the SoundBlaster driver. Without an autoupdate (like, oh say, apt?) or scanning the developers' websites every week, you can't expect much more.

    B) You play crappy games and/or on crappy hardware. If anything from ATI is on your system, or your game developer's name has Sierra anywhere on it, please do us all a favor and try some decent games/hardware before complaining. My hardware is Dell conservative: Intel, NVIDIA, Microsoft, Altec-Lansing, Creative Labs. The most oddball thing I have on my system is Linksys. If you buy anything with less than 50% market share (or a nice relationship with MS) then you deserve any problems you get. (Sad, but true.) To tell the truth, Linux is hard to install no matter WHAT hardware you use. Futzing is just something that has to be done.

    The Windows install on this thing was a total and complete pain, as it kept committing suicide because of something it didn't like with the (standard) powersaver features or something else on the motherboard. Linux installed fine first time, with considerably fewer problems than Windows. Yes, I still had to download 3D and audio card drivers, but as you said: you've got to do the same in Windows.

    As for hardware... Ok, Windows is good... If you buy from the small fraction of hardware that has both a 50%+ market share and whose manufacturer has a good relationship with MS. Doesn't start sounding much different than Linux with its hardware compatbility lists and such, does it?

    As for what games I play, they include: Independence War (had the least problems with it of anything), Deus Ex, Homeworld, and Baldur's Gate.

    C) Install programs can and do satisfy gamers. People don't cralize that gamers aren't into tweeking, they're into playing. They CAN tweek, but don't want to.

    Every gamer I know tweaks obsessively. Optimum 3D card driver config, optimum control layout, optimum level of patching, optimum windows config... The only reason they don't do more is because (gasp!) Windows won't let them.

    You shouldn't have to tweek to play a game. In Windows, you generally don't have to. I get the MaximumPC disc that comes full of demos every month. I can tell you that at least a dozen games go on and off my harddrive in the space of a few days. I have yet to have to futz to install any of them. Install patches yes, but unless the developers are monkeys, installing them takes 5 minutes (on a DSL line ;) Plus, patches are part of the experience on all non-console OSs. (Which is another reason why a harddrive is such a dumb idea for a console.)

    No, I generally don't have to tweak. However, if I want to get anything even starting to approach optimal performance out of my hardware, I do have to tweak. As for patches, part of the non-console gaming experience they may be, but unless you define "not tweaking" as "something not everyone does", they are still tweaking things to work better.


    -RickHunter
  • So did I.

    Needless to say, in their rush to beat Half Life to market, they released a load of buggy crap. With the tons of patches which followed, the game got much better.

    It was a pretty good game and is definately worth buying.
  • by be-fan ( 61476 )
    An old crappy game gets ported! Seriously though, when are some GOOD games going to get ported? Freespace, AOEII (ha ha, that's funny!), something out of Jane's games, or the ever popular Half Life!
  • Like I said, if you don't use hardware that doesn't have 50% market share, don't come complaining. Windows is very finacky about hardware, that's just the way it is. I don't like it, but if you use the right hardware, it isn't nearly as bad as everyone says it is. Your Matrox Millenium does NOT classify as the right hardware. Its 3D features are hideously limited, I'm not sure if it can do texturing, and if you turn on more than one 3D feature at a time, it breaks. The reason you had to turn on software rendering is because you basically have a 2D-only card. Its a good 2D card, but developers like MS cannot be expected to support crappy hardware. The fact that they support it at all is a miracle.
  • Was it called sIn or was it named something else?
    --
  • What I'm waiting for is the moment Linux binaries will be shipped with the official version of games at the same release date.

    I think that until then, many people won't even bother trying them. Not that it refrains me from trying, ofcourse :-)

    I've been told that RedHat 7 (deluxe edition or whatever it's called) includes some popular games ported by Loki, which is cool for mainstream acceptance I think.
  • Also, I noticed that CTP2 was nearly out now

    Well, no. It was out last week. It was with grim glee that I went out and bought it for Winblows after also seeing no mention of a port from Loki. But, then again, my experience with them and CTP wasn't very good either, but that's beside the point.
  • ..dont like each other.

    My shogo demo (1st and the 2nd) didn't render anything exept for the sky. 2nd did a zbuffer troubled map but still no models.
    Parsec also still doesn't work, no weapon models/eye candy /ship models are rendered.

    hell, dri is in developement, but a year after pro linux matrox' g400 release one would expect at least something workable....well NOT.

    Q3a and qforge runs ok btw.
  • If we really want gaming for linux to take off we need to have linux-only games. It's all very well porting the last greatest thing to linux, but why would your average Joe switch to linux for something he already has under windows. Simply put, he won't.

    Now you often hear that open source development is great except that it only attracts people to glamourous projects. If this is the case, how come there aren't developers springing up all over the place to create open source games. It should not be too hard to attract at least some graphic artists and designers for such projects.

    Hell, maybe these projects already exist. If they do they need some attention... Slashdot articles :)

    Anyway, enough random rambling.

    not_cub

  • Um, I'm pretty sure Half Life *was* ported, and has been for a while. There are a LOT of Linux-based Counter-Strike [counter-strike.net] servers.
  • Loki seems to do native linux versions of their games, instead of porting them using wine. I've been playing Balder's Gate 1 on linux since it caim out, but Loki, or anyone else, has not bothered to do a commercial port. Sin is another game that has been working perfectly for me for over a year, but no one bothered doing a commercial port using wine. As far as I can see, they have missed their chance on several easy ports that would have made money, if they kept their eye open.
  • A group of my friends and I have invested several hours playing multiplayer Sin. We all agree that although it's not the best first person shooter (that honor goes to UT), it is probably one of the most under-rated first person multiplayer games.

    The weapons are great. It's got the self-guided rocket (similar to what you can do with the Redeemer's secondary fire in UT except it's just a standard rocket), the 'nuke', sniper rifle, concussion gun, and many others I just cannot remember (It's been a while since we've played). In fact, many of the cool features found in UT were features available in Sin. Coincidence?

    Also available is a power-up that turns you into an incredibly fast and mean beast that can tear your enemy to pieces in no time flat. Most weapons have an alternate mode (my biggest complaint of all of the Quake games). And in several of the CTF maps you have access to the same mounted machine guns found in the helicopter in the first level of single player mode. Very cool.

    Oh yeah, and you can also punch and kick in the absence of a weapon. At times, we would just say "Ok, just fists!" and all run to a certain point in a level and just duke it out. It kicked ass!

    But probably the coolest thing of all is in the add-on pack 'Wages of Sin' (hopefully this will be ported to Linux also). In several of the Wages multi player levels there were hoverbikes! You could hop on one of these vehicles and 'fly' around the level about 1-2 feet off the ground shooting rockets, lasers, or dropping mines for anyone following you. You could ram each other, shoot each other off the bikes, or shoot the bikes out from underneath someone (credit one frag for that feat!). You could jump off the bike and get to a high spot and just snipe the bikers if you wanted to. The possibilities are limitless. I have not seen anything like those hoverbikes in any other first person shooter. And I don't know why. They were so much fun. And they weren't unbalanced like it thought they might be a first. If someone was just dominating on a bike, hop on one yourself. Or if the bike is slowing you down, jump off.

    Ahhh, the days of sinning. Looks like I'm going to have to get the gang together again;)


    "Beware KingShit!"
  • One thing I dislike about SiN is how it tried to make Elexis Sinclaire into some sort of sex symbol, with her strategic-covering outfits and all that. I think that a more appropriate outfit for her might be (say) an expensive-looking pinstriped pantsuit.

    I note in this context that the Tomb Raider series has had two villainous businesswomen in it, Jacqueline Natla in #1 and Sophia Lee in #3, and both of them were much more appropriately dressed. And although that series has gotten a lot of criticism for the proportions of its lead character, her outfits are actually fairly reasonable if sometimes too little, and not too different from what many women nowadays wear. There certainly has to be something to be said about a female character whose main footwear is hiking boots instead of high heels.

    So dressing women reasonably can certainly be done in a computer game -- what reason would there be to do otherwise other than gratuitous sexploitation?

  • Well said.

    I consider it a privilege to support developers who are in turn supporting Linux. It's for this reason that I buy copies of my Linux distribution of choice and purchase applications that are offered.

    My coding expertise is rather specific (read not easily applied to developing Linux apps), so I'm not in a good position to contribute to the OS movement as I'd like. However, one way I can encourage the growth of Linux as well as free OS software is by purchasing commercial software offered for the operating system. I appreciate the altruism of so many OS software developers, but one of the things that will help Linux gain critical mass and broader acceptance is by attracting companies to develop software for profit.

    We won't see "current" titles regularly offered up for Linux until the software houses (and their bean counters) can see a true incentive for putting in the extra work. The only way for that to happen is for us to buy what IS available.
  • exactly. The mindset says if its on linux, is good. period.

    Looks good? Nigga please. That piece of shit didn't look good when it was new.

  • I haven't gotten the mouse working yet, but I've only been futzing with it for a few minutes, so it's probably just me.

    Serioulsly, who among us wants to spend the time downloading a 40 meg game, then have to "futz around with it" for it to work? I don't think I would ever bother, let alone average Joe windows user. Until Linux developers realise that most PC users don't get as much joy out of messing with ther PC's as they do, Linux will remain as a non-majority OS.

    If you developed a piece of software for windows, and after installation, the mouse didn't work, most people wouldnt try to "futz around with it", theyd take it back to the store and say its broken. Which is totally correct, because it IS broken. If a piece of software doesn't work perfectly right after instalation, its not finished.

    The Open Source community really has to work harder at hammering down "final" versions of products and making sure that developer releases are really developer releases. Allowed to download and use, but clearly marked as for testing only, not general use.

    ---There is no spoon....---

  • Actually have you ever tried playing commercil games under linux? I guess you haven't.

    Because they are NOT harder to install (well you have to start the installer manually, oh MY GOD) than Windows games.

    The hard thing to set up is 3D acceleration. Reason: It is too new and the distributions have not yet automated the configuration. I have tweaked my system until it ran all 3D games and I can get any (precompiled commercial) Linux game to run in no time.

    I have bought: Civilization CTP, Quake3, Soldier of Fortune.

    CTP was very easy to install : no 3D

    Quake3 was hard to install, because I had switched to X 4.0 and my Matrox MGA G400 was not supported correctly / good enough. So it meant compiling my own DRI -X (dri.sourceforge.net)

    SoF was a breeze, as my system had already a working accelerated GL X Server.

    I have since installed several demos of other games (descent, ...) Never "futzing" around anymore.

    I just finished Diablo 2 with my necromancer under wine. No problem there either :-)

  • Isn't this game older than dirt?
  • i see many ppl saying how important it is to port games to linux so that more ppl would use linux
    well , i use only windows and i really dont play games that much
    but i did download some free games from places like zapspot.com ir ingava.com
    and linux dont have that too
    got the point
    some ppl will use linux unless it got such and such ...
    and other ppl wont use linux until it get other such and such
    and some ppl will just never use linux
    but other ppl will use linux because it do such and such and even more such and such
    so .. i see linux more as a tool on a multiboot system ...and not as a real full complete OS since ...well its just not that ...windows is way more complex and popular
    and windows will get far stable before linux get far popular
    and yes i know what i said aint exctly new
    but heh ..
    linux is a tool
    think of it as a tool ..built it and improove as a tool
    and the more usefull that tool is the more ppl will use it
    anyway ...linus trovald build linux
    a dozen programmers build windows
    dont underestimate windows ..it aint smart
    it like sayin usa will be poor and africa will rule ..and all that shit
    MS makes nice software ..IE 5, office , some games ...MS project manager ...
    and even nice hardware ...mices , xbox
    lets wait and see how stable the whistler will be cause it just might linux coffin
  • the dc ver of half-life is more than a port. They replaced the models with higher poly versions. The game is more of a companion to half-life like opfor than a dc version of half-life.

    The sin port, is just that. A port. The new linux biniary will read the old datafiles. Nothing more.

  • well yeah I am lazy and stupid about some stuff, does this mean that I shouldn't use computers?

    Computers were created to make life easier for stupid people, suddenly smart people are using dumb computers.
  • People say that linux can replace windows in the desktop market if there are office apps, games and other software and its easyer to install but I think the problems are much deeper rooted then that.

    I have 3 computers on my desk in front of me right now, one windows 98 desktop, one windows 2k laptop and one linux console box(ie. No X). I have these 3 differnt machines in front of me(and use them) because each one fill's its own little niche. The windows 98 desktop machine is my gameing, mutimedia and web machine, I use windows here because there arn't many games out for linux yet, linux can't do full screen playing vcd's and linux web broswers are slow. Also I don't run win2k on it because win2k like linux dosn't support my 3d card(ati AIW rage 128) in 3d mode and none of my ati software tv, vcd, dvd player work in win2k either. I run win2k on my laptop because I keep alot of my school notes and assigments on there and that requires the box to be stable and compatible with our school networks(for printing, file sharing, jumping domain's and ip's, etc...), (and yes, win2k is quite stable, I have had this laptop for 3 months now and not a single crash, only problem is this svchost.exe that keeps poping up using 99% up power once and while killing my battery that I can't kill so I gota reboot). And finaly my beloved linux box, which I do not run X on, I use it for my email, IRC, coding, telnet, etc... Linux belongs in console mode thats where is dose its best work. Linux lets me use crap hardware todo most of my work writing code for websites, robotics projects, or what ever else I happen to be working on that requires alot of unformatted text.

    The X window system seems to be the root of all of linux's problems. Its slow and it dosn't feel solid as say qnx or windows. There is something about the way the color's are or the menu's and widgets feel in X that dosn't feel solid or responsive. Also I find the colors are not a strong or sharp as in windows(and no its not my video card or montior, I have noticed this on many machines). Even the speed at which menus come up and the movement of the mouse dosn't seem quite right. Another problem I can see with X is that it dosn't seem to allow games to change to full screen mode with a diffrent resolution.

    Alot of people say that linux is too hard to install or some other bs like that. Last time I installed linux on my desktop box I installed mandrake and it was one of the easyest installs I have ever done of an OS.

    What linux needs if it is to gain market share in the desktop market is a faster, smoother, better looking gui and to put an end to this kde/gnome battle and come to some standard simple interface like the windows start bar.(there are alot of other things, I just can't think Of them at the moment)
  • I've just tried this, and the game works under NetBSD 1.5/i386. I don't have see a problem with the mouse, but no sound - but then I didn't really investigate that either.

    - Hubert
  • Like making an OpenGL rendering layer to a DirectX engine. After all, that's what Hyperion did with the Monolith LithTech engine. The Shogo:MAD demo plays as well as the Windows version and at the same speed. Running under the WINE layer would make it slow compared to a Windows game (like it would be under the WINE emulation app...) and since games are all about speed and interactivity- that's going to go over like a lead balloon.
  • It was my understanding that anything other than Voodoo support was still a "developer's release"- that could be wrong (and any of the VA Linux team working on it right now are more than welcome to correct me! :-). Developer's releases aren't guaranteed to do anything- they might sit there and do nada and they might just melt down your entire system.

    As for Shogo, try with the +GLZReverse 1 option in the advanced settings- I had the same problems with it on my G400 and RagePRO machines until I plugged that in.

    By the way...

    The reason why the drivers all seem to work for Q3 and qforge is that all of the G400 code was written with Q3 as a reference app (I know, I bought a copy with that in mind when I was working up to doing RagePRO and other chipsets under Utah-GLX!) so it's going to work cleanly under these. Other applications stress the OpenGL layer differently and might find untested/incomplete pathways in the drivers. It's why I've been trying to work with the companies that are working on getting games out- to see where the holes are in Utah... Right now, I'm snowed under with work, personal obligations (performances in a play, etc...), and a raftload of bugs that Loki handed me on a platter recently.
  • That is not true. What platform do you think all the Unreal Tournament and Counter Strike servers run on? Not windows. I am part owner of a gaming company and we would not even dream about running them on a windows server.

    Linux will always rule the server / gamer market

  • The point is I did'nt buy those games, I have been playing numerous games under wine for ages, these games (particularly BG) run flawlessly for me, and any company that had bothered to look at running them under wine would have had an easy job of porting them over. But since they did not I had to buy the windows version, so Loki lost a sale, and likely a many more.
  • Ths full game is available for preorder from Tux Games [tuxgames.com] for $26.
    The expected release date is mid-december
  • I personally can't wait for wolfenstein 3d and the sierra kings quest/space quest series.
  • Okay I'll bite.. how *DO* I recompile my Windows 98 kernel? :-)
    --
    Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
  • a mediocre 2 year old Windows title has hit linux. guess what -- linux will never rule the desktop / gamer market, sorry. get over it.

    pezpunk
    Internet killed the video star,
  • If you're like me and I didn't know what Sin is about:

    Prepare yourself for a whole new type of action game coming from Hyperion thanks to Activision and Ritual. Always expect the unexpected. With levels and characters that change depending on the decisions you make and the path that you choose. Never before has a 3D action game ever been produced with this level of reactive technology and innovation. Sin uses the best of the Quake II engine to offer great sensations and gorgeous 3D graphics levels. Get ready for a new era in 3D action gaming. Get ready for Sin.

    The story...

    Ten years ago in 2027, the city of Freeport was on the verge of collapse. The inefficient and under-manned police forces were losing in the long, hard battle against crime. The city needed help, but the overburdened government could no longer cope with maintaining peace on the streets. The government proposed a new bill giving individual corporations the right to form their own private security forces, called sec-forces. These sec-forces would be able to provide private protection to the corporations and citizens of the cities. This bill was passed and a new order of law enforcement was born.

    Several well respected sec-forces emerged and one hard hitting group calling themselves HARDCORPS led the way in crime prevention and elimination. The chaos slowly subsided as the sec-forces brought peace and order back to the city.

    Colonel John Blade, the owner of HARDCORPS, and his sec-force teams are currently investigating the source of a highly addictive drug called "U4". This drug has been around for some time now, but lately, strange things have been happening to its users. It is up to Blade to figure out who or what is behind this unexplained phenomenon now plaguing the streets and put a stop to it.

    The elaborate puzzle slowly unfolds and points towards the brilliant biochemist Elexis Sinclaire. Elexis is an enigma, a maverick in the business world who shows no mercy behind those gorgeous features. She works in the shadows at times and this mysterious vixen is attempting to push the evolution of mankind ahead by a thousand generations and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

    Forgive me Father, for I have Sinned...

  • by Hadlock ( 143607 )
    Yeay the fact that another (semi)mainstream game is being ported to linux, but... I bought my copy of Sin in the CompUSA bargain bin for $5..Usually by the time it hits the bargain bin, it's considered long outdated software. Not to mention they needed to solve the load time bug/problem, which in my opinion really detracted from an otherwise good game. Has it really taken them 3 or 4 years to convert this game? I thought it was just 3 or 4 .pak or .id files (with whatever extension they wanted to use when making their own). Wasn't this game just a professionally done mod?

    anybody ever have problems opening the doors in sin? as a consequence, I never really got that far in my 5$ game, guess for $5 it wasn't worth more than an hour of my time, the training facility was fairly badass though.
  • "Those graphics blow the PC version away. "
    bweheheh ow cum on, with the same textures and engine modifications on the pc version it would
    look the same on pc. or better with higher res.

    The DC framerate was kinda...BWAHAHAH.
    DC is no 3dfps platform btw. (although mice and keyboards are on the way I believe)
  • No doubt. I've spent the past two weeks (nights only:) in front of my 98 machine playing Red Alert (yes, the first one) and I'll be in front of it for the next two with RA2. These games (and most RTS) aren't 3D, so they should be MUCH easier to port. I guess. I'm not a programmer either.

    (BTW, got C&C:RA2 Spec. Ed. at www.ebworld.com for the same price as the regular edition.)

    It shouldn't be too much longer. Eventually, Linux will surpass MacOS on the desktop (hell, it did on mine, and I used to bleed six colors) and we might be seeing games at least as early (late?) as the Mac versions.

    Now if only Quicken2000 were available on Linux...
  • Real nice. A slashdot editor/writer can't get it working properly. I download it and decompress it and try it, as per the readme that comes with it, and it totally dicks up my X session. No mouse, no keyboard (except Ctrl-Alt-Bkspc so I can restart my X session). Some linux game...wont even run on linux.

  • That no one has made a humorous comment on the "qui tollis peccata mundi" thing yet. Like the fact that someone on the /. staff knows a Latin phrase...or the fact that someone on the /. staff can spell it. &ltgrin&gt
  • That guy kicks ass. I bought the source to DR-DOS from him, back when he was working out of his van.


    All generalizations are false.

  • SIN Screenshot [hyperion-software.com]

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