Transgaming Releases WineX 3.2 65
Beolach writes "Transgaming today released WineX 3.2, their subscription-download tool which 'brings the hottest Windows titles to devoted Linux gamers', now including support for Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne and Homeworld 2, among others. The release announcement also quotes Markus Maki, Development Director of Remedy Entertainment as saying: "TransGaming's unique ability to enable Max Payne 2 to run on Linux without any access to the source code is quite impressive. We're extremely pleased that TransGaming is broadening our reach to new audiences and that the Linux community continues to enjoy our products thanks to TransGaming's outstanding work." In other words, this is all Linux gets for Max Payne 2."
Re:translation... (Score:5, Insightful)
Until the Linux MARKET, not community, succeeds in proving itself to be a market to be recognized, Linux is just like the early Mac gaming market. Overlooked, because so few people used it.
Re:translation... (Score:2, Insightful)
You're missing the point. It costs transgaming much, much less than $250,000 to get a game working well under winex, because they're not starting from scratch every time.
Most new games already "sort of" work under winex, even if they're not on the supported list, so all transgaming has to do is fix whatever bugs exist. Much cheaper than a full port from scratch, and takes no resources from the developers.
So why can't the developer fund transgaming instead of the consumer?? This could be an excellent compromise for companies that don't have enough faith in the linux market to do a full port.
Re:translation... (Score:2, Insightful)
No, YOU'RE missing the point. (Yeah OK I probably should have left that part out.)
All I'm saying is, maybe instead of releasing half-assed linux ports a year after the game comes out (I'm looking at you Neverwinter Nights), maybe it'd be easier to throw a couple bucks to transgaming. Sure it's not always as good as a native port, but it'd be out faster, and it'd be cheaper. But you don't seem to get it. (Notice how rude it is to end a post by telling the parent he just doesn't get it?
Re:translation... (Score:4, Insightful)
And you both have forgotten something that would happen uniquely if they made winex officially "supported". Who would handle the CS calls when it doesnt work? IE more money out of the developer's/publisher's pocket when it might be transgaming's fault.
Nope, winex is staying unofficial for lots of good reasons.
Re:Transgaming is rad (Score:3, Insightful)
One can purchase a completely legit copy of Windows 98 (mine has served me well over the last 4 odd years) for less than that. Turns out, Windows games run natively under Windows AND they work on day 0, not when some third party decides to make them work. Rad indeed! Logical...not so much.
Put your money where your mouth is (Score:5, Insightful)
Remedy should put their money where their mouth is if they are so pleased.
They should license WineX, throw it on a CD with Max Payne 2 and shrink wrap it. It should be sold at the same price as the Windows version. It's the least they could do for a company that is "broadening their reach to new audiences". In other words, helping Remedy sell more units.
Re:Put your money where your mouth is (Score:3, Insightful)
While I'd love to see it happen, it won't. It would save the company the cost of development of a Linux version, but they would then be on the hook for support of Max Payne 2 running under Winex3 and Linux, which may very well erase any profits they would get from having it there in the first place. They could put a disclaimer ("here's Winex3, you can use it if you're l33t, don't call us if you can't get it to work."), but if it's on the CD people are going to expect to be able to call if it doesn't work, and they would then have to turn away those callers, which wouldn't win them a lot of friends in the gaming community.
Re:translation... (Score:3, Insightful)
Or, put another way, why go to the expense when you can just get a copy of VisualC++ and the DirectX SDK? (BTW, I am a Linux user, and would love to see more companies behaving like ID, but I'm also under no illusions about how likely that is given that publishers are only staffed by beancounters and lawyers these days)
Re:Transgaming is rad (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, though it's $5/month, so if you want to pay for part of a year WineX won't all the sudden stop working. You just don't get updates forever for $0.
One can purchase a completely legit copy of Windows 98 (mine has served me well over the last 4 odd years) for less than that. Turns out, Windows games run natively under Windows AND they work on day 0, not when some third party decides to make them work. Rad indeed! Logical...not so much.
After spending thousands over years on computer equipment, why reset a perfectly functioning machine each and every time I want to play a quick game of CivIII? That's a waste of time and a unnecessary hassle. Besides, it would take the web servervices down.