Transgaming Releases WineX 3.2

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."

translation...

[shweazel]

"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."

Translation:
"Holy shit they ported our game for free!"

Seriously though, why are gamers stuck funding these ports?
Instead of gamers paying transgaming, and then deciding which games are ported, why arent the developers/publishers paying transgaming to get their game onto the "supported" list? This could be a lot cheaper than a full-fledged port.

Great quote

[jvmatthe]

Sorry, but this just leaves me breathless:

"Our groundbreaking portability development continues to keep pace with the industry's recent and most challenging games written for Windows," remarks Peter Hunnisett, Manager of TransGaming's Linux Development Team. "Dynamic sound, rich graphics and riveting game play are matched

and, in some instances, surpassed with our WineX technology." [my emphasis added]

I take that to mean that the Windows game plays better under Linux using WineX than it does under Windows. I know people will say things like "no BSOD!" to be funny, but doesn't this strike anyone else as a lot of malarkey? What runs better...Mine Sweeper?

Ok, flame on!

Did anyone save the CVS version

[EvilSporkMan]

right before release? I know they make CVS available free, or used to...surely someone's got it frozen @ 3.2.

Re:translation...

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

No, you're missing the point. (Notice how rude it is to start a post by telling the parent is missing the point?) The exact numbers don't matter at all. Sure, it costs less than $250,000 to get a game supported. Would the charge to the company be less than this? Probably. But does that matter? No, and here's why - the cost of getting the game on the supported list is obviously greater than the return, otherwise companies would be doing this. You notice how game support for Linux isn't exactly universal? That's because the most amount of money can be made sticking with Windows.

It may be cheaper for Transgaming to fix the bugs but what is being suggested here is that the development company pay Transgaming for this work. It's a nice idea but not exactly revolutionary. If the market dictated that this would be profitable, it would have already happened. That answers your final question as to why the developers are not funding Transgaming - it would hurt their profit too much - very, very simple economics. But you don't seem to get it.

Re:Why do we even bother?

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree, to some extent.

I used to use HD docks [sanmax.com] for my various OSes. It made running NWN very simple (as the damn thing wouldn't run at more than 10fps unless it had a special OS build just for it). Also, with a USB/Firewire external 5.25 enclosure housing another dock, I can access the HD even if I didn't boot off it.

But after a while I just started to use VMWare more and more. Now the HD swapping is only for games.

I have become really addicted to the docks and VMWare and can't imagine a computer without them. Next PC is definatly going to have 2 docks and as much RAM (for VMWare) as possible.

Re:Great quote

[Aliencow]

When RTCW was released about a year ago (I think) , there was no Linux single player version at all... I had a dual boot, and under Windows with my crappy Geforce 2MX the framerate would go between 30 and 70 all the time, with slowdowns when there was a lot of action... under WineX it ran at a steady 50FPS..

I heard starcraft also runs faster in Wine but any computer faster than 200mhz probably won't notice :)

Yes, but..

[tananda]

They still have yet to get any of The Sims expansion packs to work, after making such a big deal out of providing The Sims for the Mandrake Gaming Edition. Furthermore, The Sims Online seems to have been completely forgotten by the project as a whole.