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Games Entertainment

BioWare Porting to Linux? 70

Posted by Hemos from the please-give-me-baldur's-gate2 dept.
infodragon wrote to us with the news that BioWare is going to be porting games to Linux. Linuxpower has an interview with them talking about porting Neverwinter Nights, and /possibly/ Baldur's Gate 2. I promise I'll be good if they port BG2. I promise.
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BioWare Porting to Linux? More

BioWare Porting to Linux?

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  • Porting to Linux (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    When I started at BioWare they were just talking about MAYBE porting some of our titles to Linux. I was a big supporter of that move and am glad to see that we now consider it a viable OS for games. Dave Chan Sound Guy at BioWare
  • Ok, Hemos will be good...but will Rob ? Seriously, if there's a commitment for a timely porting of BG2 to Linux (and henceforth other games), Windows may be looking at a up and coming reformat at home. I currently have Debian and Win/98 (yes, I admit..I'm weak and like to play games sometimes). I seldom boot into Win98 (twice a month or so...and always to play like BG). This is VERY GOOD news to me....thanks for the person who submitted the article!
  • Will the linux versions come out at the same time or a year later when the game has allready been played out and shelved by me?
    Hence I will not buy a seperate copy of a game later on that will play slower just because it is
    in Linux.
    A linux version for a dedicated server I can stick on the box in the datacenter possibly.
    Beos/intel ports would be nice aswell.
  • Sure, it was popular, but if you were playing back then, you'd almost certainly agree, after contemplation, that many many many of the servers offered terrible performance. It was popular IN SPITE of the bad server performance, not because of it.
  • Well, I'm one of the few who want to know what's going on, to watch closely what an installer is doing to the system. I don't like Windows setup procedures where the only user interaction is asking if they accept the stupid EULA, then some filenames (if any information is displayed at all) rush over the screen, and then the thing is done (probably after a reboot). On the other hand, it's still better than some Linux installations, where I have to compile first and often download additional files (so I get a small package, great, until I realize I need a dozen of required library packages or whatever). Anyhow, when I'm really anxious to play a game, I'd not like to be bothered by some other stuff (like OS mechanisms). I want to get the thing installed, fast (but still be in control of the procedure - at least ask if I want Desktop shortcuts), without any distractions (no, do not install trailers for other stuff, I only want what I install myself). In the end, the KISS approach is probably best, and even if it places shortcuts on my Desktop I can live with it. It's better to have powerusers remove it manually than force newbies to look for the file and place desktops on their own. It might be a pitty, but let's face it, the times when people knew and managed exactly what was stored (and where it was) on their harddisks are over. Just like most of us computer geeks have not much of a clue regarding car engines, and it's already hard enough to pick the proper type of fuel, if all you want to do is drive somewhere. And admit it, you don't care about how it works, as long as it takes you where you want to go. Different people have different interests and priorities.
  • Why?

    Do you put a footnote for every typo you correct?

  • Re:PSX (Score:1)

    by syntax ( 2932 )
    There are more than several issues to consider here. The primary oen being that dedicated hardware always beats out nondedicated. The computer is designed to do several things, but we exchange speed for versibility. Also, keep in mind, because it is dedicated hardware, all of the chips and layouts are usually custom. That is, don't expect to be able to run these things natively. I would belive that many of the parts of the games are hardcoded for the hardware, hardcoded links for video ram, etc, which would not fly under the system at all. The only way to accomodate this would be to emulate the entire system, which connectix has already done with VGS. But, if we are emulating, then whats the point?
  • #Off Topic Rant Follows

    This will probably get moderated down...but...does it annoy anyone else when the /. editors et. al. make changes to the page and fail to make any note of it? The head line use to read Posting to Linux now reads Porting to Linux.....just an "Opps I made a mistake" update would be nice....ah well...

    #Off Topic Rant Ends

  • Alright...I'm sorry...it's a monday *growl*

    But still...it's not the mistakes that bother me, it's the...fixing them with out acknowledging them. The feeling of "What misspelled word?" *click click click" "I see no misspelled word here".

    Eh...regardless....thanks for the reality check.
  • I will buy it tell me where to sign up. PLEASE!! port BG2 to Linux!!! It would be neat to see a little competition and have Diablo II also.... Dave
  • Where are the naysayers now that a company is porting a game to linux (besides ID Software) simultaniously with windows?
  • I'm glad to see that games are being ported onto Linux. It's always good to see the market for something that interests me, being expanded.

    But that "interview" had significantly less real information than the average corporate press release might have. There was no substance to it at all.
  • I don't feel the need to explain myself to you.

    (insert quote from some l33t orwell novel i read in high school hmm.. four legs good, two legs bad!)
  • Hear! Hear! Hurray for BioWare of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada! :-) I am really glad that they are doing so well, and indeed, the people there are really nice, and I am lucky to know one of them personally (John W.). Keep up the great work! :-)
  • Don't forget BeOS..

    This has been known [benews.com] for awhile now.

    It is my personal belief that BioWare rocks!
  • What? are you saying that there are meaningful comments that stick to the point on slashdot? What website am I reading?
  • Duh! Where have you lived in the last three months? Tha neverwinternights is going to be released on Win, Linux and BeOS is widely known.

    How about posting News when they are new?
  • Now maybe my memory is fault, but I'm pretty sure that Apple II's had color monitors available before DOS-based PCs. And there were plenty of games for them. Apple's biggest failure has always been the corporate workspace, not the home user.

    I would argue that the average user will get a home computer based on what they have at work or school, because that is where most people learn to use computers. So, if they learned and have been primarily exposed to a Windows PC at work, then that is what they will probably get for home.
    That's an oversimplification, but I think that it is largely true.

    >>Let's face it, the measure of viability of an OS as an end-user client is the games it can play. Since the dawn of IBM PC-compatibles (measured by how well they could run MS
    >> FlightSimulator), games have measured the success of the PC. Even before that, Commodore and Atari won the early markets for home PCs by offering games. Apple and TRS
    >> never had a chance with their monochrome monitors.

  • So, let me get this straight -- gaming under Linux is so unimportant from your point of view that you are not willing to support the gaming scene, because it isn't already as good as/better than the Windows gaming scene?

    RANT ON

    Linux games are improving by leaps and bounds. I mean, there are what, 10? 12? commercial titles out now! More just around the corner! (SC3000, SOF, SMAC, Terminus, NWN, Descent 3, Anarchy Online)

    But you are one of the people who is so impatient that they can't be bothered to support Linux gaming!

    If we don't buy the Linux games, they won't continue making them! If you care about Linux as a gaming platform, buy the games that are important to you. I'm serious. If you don't, then you haven't voted for the platform. In fact, if you buy the Windows version, you are continuing to fund the continued dominance of games under Windows and actively undercutting Linux gaming.

    Geez. It's like the people who couldn't wait TWO DAYS to get Quake 3, so they bought the Windows version then whined that Loki wouldn't immediately give them the Linux version. C'mon, folks. Actively taking money away from the Linux game companies hurts the commercial game scene under Linux.

    THIS IS THE REASON THAT IT'S SO HARD TO GET COMPANIES TO PORT!

    I mean, if you're gonna buy it anyways, why port, right?

    Write Xatrix if you bought Kingpin because there's a Linux client. Ditto for Epic and Unreal Tournament. But more importantly buy the Linux ports if you want to see more Linux games. No money == no reason to port.

    RANT OFF

    The future of Linux gaming is bright, but only if the Linux community supports it.

    (BTW, the above comments really don't apply to the free software games, a la freeciv, Tux:AQFH, Pingus, etc., which rule and should be developed too.)

    Currently available/within a week of shipping titles: Quake 1, Quake 2, Quake 3: Arena, Civilization: Call to Power, Myth 2: Soulblighter, Railroad Tycoon 2: Gold Edition, Eric's Ultimate Solitaire, Heretic 2, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Heavy Gear ][ (shipping this Friday, I think), Hopkins: FBI, Krilo, Kingpin (download client), Unreal Tournament (download client)

  • Baldur's Gate II is due out in Q3 or Q4 of 2000 (ie. this year). The game is the sequel to Baldur's Gate (duh :) and is probably the best and most complete (in my mind and others as well) 'port' of the Pen and Paper AD&D 2nd Edition rules to a CRPG.

    They started by implimenting a subset of the rules (just basic classes, no specialty classes except mages, only spells through 4th level). They added more to their 'imported' beastiary and to the spells imported (they finshed up 4th and 5th level priest/mage) in the BG expansion pack Tales from the Sword Coast. In BG2 they are completing the spell lists, refining the weapon proficiencies (they had it set up so you would apply a proficiency point to a type of weapon vs. a particular weapon and they hadn't included weapon styles yet),they are also adding 'kits' for other classes besides specialty mages, they are extending the experiance CAP so you can hit i think anywhere from 18th to 20th level, they are including familiars/pets, they are including quests so you can aquire a stronghold once you've hit the apropriate level. I believe they are also adding another race of character you can play (previously Human, Elf, half-elf, halfling, dwarf was available, I think they are adding half-ogre but I can't remember off the top of my head).

    Definately a lot of fun, especially for those of us who don't always have the time to get together with a gaming group and go at the pen and paper version.

  • Baldur's Gate is named after a famous pirate in the AD&D world. He was the founder of the city. It has nothing to do with the Asgardian gods.
  • First of all your-welcome.

    Second of all, right now I have moderator acess and it is just getting too tempting to manipulate this descussion the way I want it to go. So I am posting to restrict myself while I have the strength to do so.

  • As an anti-social, misanthropic loner, I prefer single player games. I can point you to some good ones.

    I'm pretty sure that most Looking Glass studios games are heavily single player (like Thief and System Shock II). There was a rant about the whole multiplayer thing in Next Generation online before it got destroyed and absorbed by the vapid Daily Radar.

    Anyway, check into the Looking Glass games, they are attractive and deep (and even though SS2 has a multiplayer mode, it is cooperative... what a concept!).

    I've read about success using these with Wine, but I haven't seen it myself. I also signed a petition to get SS2 ported to Linux at Tux Games [tuxgames.com].

    I find Heroes of Might and Magic III to be fun to play single player, too, and it's a native Linux app.

  • You know, if you just take the FreeBSD Ports Collection way of doing things (my asbestos underwear is on, Penguinistas!), the absolutely most ideal way to install your fancy-dancy new game with all the lastest libraries, drivers, bells whistles and gongs is like this:

    homebox:/mnt/cdrom/install# make install

    Don't re-invent the wheel, lords and ladies. The system for maintaining your system's collection of packages and libraries is out there. Now some motivated Penguin Wrangler just needs to sit down with about a weekend free and a fridge full of dark ale and make what works flawlessly elsewhere, work flawlessly on Linux. Assuming, of course, that this has not already been done.
  • FYI: The "Baldur" referred to in the game "Baldur's Gate" is completely unrelated to the Norse god with the similar name.

  • NWN will be primarily a client/server game for totally different reasons than most FPS games. NWN will follow the old style, in person role-playing game format closer than any other game ever (unless you could DM Assistant and things like that as games :\). While computer AI is nice, it could never make a decent DM. So either it is you DMing a bunch of computer players (which would be odd...to say the least) or a human DMing more human players which incidently we are now set up very well for :)
  • Bah, call me redundant or whatever. But this isn't porting so the title of this newspost is way inaccurate.
  • I don't feel the need to explain myself to you.

    Then your argument is not worthy or presentation. For an argument to be truely useful you have to have a good, solid, rigorous explanation of what it is that you are trying to say.

    What logically dosn't make sence is saying that someone is greedy in wanting to dual boot something. If you have already bought a computer with windows on it why throw away money that you paid to get windows on it? (This is in the form of increased costs for windows. If you really don't believe me just check pricewatch or another wholesaler for prices on say a barebones OEM version of a computer and one with windows you will definately see a difference.

    (insert quote from some l33t orwell novel i read in high school hmm.. four legs good, two legs bad!)

    I have not idea what in the hell that's supposed to mean about wheather a person is bidedal or a quadraped I can only say that I choose things based on simplicity and beauty not on popularity.
  • um, shouldn't be linux kept for sysadmin/networking issues? i mean, it is BUILT for them, right? doh...i just play games, and i am quite as happy doing it on a windoze maShine. my linux can (box, whatever) is for networking
    only because it takes shitloads of time to set it up efficiently. do you agree?

    Networking is boring and theoretically not terribly useful without applications to back it up. Who cares if you can transmit and receive data without being able to do anything useful to that data in the first place. This is why other things are important. Games have infultriated your "pure" OS already. Look at any mud and see what OS they are running most likely some unix dirivitave (ie. linux).

    I for one would like some games on my machine because the computer that I have linux on is my one and only machine.
  • ...I'm right in the middle of playing the first Baldur's Gate myself, so I recognized the name immediately. Call me slow, but I knew I didn't have the time to engage in what I accurately predicted would be a obsessive game when I first received it for Christmas. You know, I was right. Problem is, I still really don't have the time, what with helping to organize North Carolina's biggest LAN party [doublenegative.com] and all.
  • If you'd read the article you'd have seen:
    How do you plan to distribute the Linux version of NWN, will it be sold in its own box or will you make a CD containing both Windows and Linux (and Mac) binaries?
    Our goal is to put everything in one box. But the details on this would become clearer when we get closer to ship, and this would be something that we would discuss with our publisher, Black Isle/Interplay.
    So no it's not out yet
  • Actually, it's video conferencing software compatible with, and as good as (or better than) NetMeeting.

    My wife is from a different country, we conference with her family there. They use Windows 98 and NetMeeting, and, for the time being, so do we. I can't ask them to change to suit me.


    ----------

  • For all that is sacred in the world of gaming,
    bring BG2 to Linux, I will sell my soul to whoever
    wants to buy it. I will cash in my college
    education, I will sell my unborn children, well
    ok, I probably won't have the chance, but I would
    if a chick would just sleep with me.

    PLEASE.

    As the saying goes...In the poker game of life, Women are the rake, they are the F****** rake.
  • While NWN is primarily a multiplayer game, the guys at Bioware have included a single player game. The purpose of this is to give prospective DM's an example on how to program your own games. This is because the aim NWN is not to create a big online world such as UO and Everquest. Rather, NWN is intended to be played by a small group of people (eg. 5-10) with one person taking the role of the DM, just like in paper and pen D&D. The DM has to create the maps and the entire adventure and program it. However, it is possible to create permenent online world with NWN.
  • not really my experience here in the UK.
    Mind you I did spend most of the time a 2Mbps link
    Most of the main Uk servers - barrys, demon, evil.to, can't remeber more names but there were plenty offered great connectivity and were always full.
    I used to run two servers on our 2M link. they were so popular I would ramp them up to 26 players each. Even though they would sometimes crawl there were always, always full. When TFC hit the stands we were overwhelmed. From 7pm to 5am they were full. For weeks. And one of them had friendly fire turned on! Sometimes I had to kick ppl just to get a 5ping game (slap my wrist!)
    .oO0Oo.
  • yeah you're right. My 'nix box is for networking things - servers of all kinds.
    Maybe my client machine should be more streamlined.
    It's the mainframe / terminal argument all over again. PC's brought power to the desktop.
    The Web kind of put it back in the power of the server again.
    Maybe what we need is a kind of thin client for games and the like. Just because it's a Turing machine doesn't mean it should try and do _everything_.
    And we should call it the TuX-Box and get it out the door before the beast of Redmond make's theirs!
    .oO0Oo.
  • >the server availability for Half-Life was abysmal until Sierra finally got the server port out, and now it's the most popular game online.

    Such utter rubbish. Multiplayer HL was mega popular for ages before the Linux server came out.

    It's popular because it's a good game not because of server ability. It became a best seller partly due to the userID you needed to play online - unlike fps's before it so for the most part buying your own copy was easier than getting a pirate to keep working.

    The probable reason the Linux servers became more popular was because when the Win version falls over it just gives a dirty error message box. There's no way to automate it restarting. (Well we did manage it with a hardware resetter polling the game for activity). On the Linux version crashed games don't tend to hang around in the process list so looking for their PID and spawning another copy if not present and writing fails to a log is a good way of maintaining server up time.
    Well that and performance. The linux server responds quicker than the NT server and consumes less resources.

    Whatever the reason you are still confusing the client with the server. I've not seen Half-life for Linux down at PC World.


    .oO0Oo.
  • I'll stick to my dreamcast. Thanks.

    Shameless plug: http://www.lostbrain.com [lostbrain.com]

  • .. about 6 or so years ago, every kid was trying to get there parents to but the fastest computer they could for 'homework'(read as games). At that time I would of agrees with your comments about games being THE driveing force.
    2 things have change since then:
    1. you don't need to have a top of the line computer to run the newest game. Most Min. requirments these days is around 200-300 MHZ. every time a new game came out I used to have to upgrade to one of the faster cpu's and more RAM. I bought a 450 over a year ago, And I still don't need to upgrade just to make the min requirment.
    2. The internet. A larger percentage of computer buyers today are more interested in the internet then games.
    Remember, many people who buy computers today aren't "into them" or "geek". where as a few years ago, the only people who got them where because they where "geekish" in nature.
    I remeber when every pc you saw was used for games to some extent, now I know people who own computers and Have no interest in games.
    I would like to see the next super hot game be linux only.
  • Heh. There's this thing called "self-motivation" you might have heard about... it's where you go and do work even when you're distracted by something else.
    ---
    I can't wait for proper speech-recognition.
  • If it's just a misspelling, why bother noting the change? It's not that freakin' important.

    --

  • Seems to me that the big holdup is the lack of good drivers for high end graphics. (NVIDIA?)

    What are the chances that the average pc is going to have the magic combination of hardware they need to get hardware 3d in linux?

    You either have to be pretty savvy with pc hardware or damn lucky to be able to play games in linux right now. (3d ones anyway)

  • posting? Articles? I'm just here for the CmdrTaco bar...
  • I wasn't referring to that message, I was referring to a reply to that message. I must have screwed up when I was replying. This is the last of the pointless, meaningless and off-topic posts I will ever make on Slashdot.
  • Wasnt the PSX based on a Linux kernal?? well the PSX was the equivilent of a p100 and the way PSX games run compared to a windows p100(or even a p200) is a LOT different maybye if some of the PSX were ported to linux.. well just a thought
  • True but a basic linux kernal with only the drivers loaded would run faster than a box running a whole windows waste of cpu/ram stuff. plus with linux being open source could probably be optimised for the job
  • um, shouldn't be linux kept for sysadmin/networking issues? i mean, it is BUILT for them, right? doh...i just play games, and i am quite as happy doing it on a windoze maShine. my linux can (box, whatever) is for networking only because it takes shitloads of time to set it up efficiently. do you agree?
  • errrr.....make that BioWare *slapping hand* Next time use the preview button...I know, I know...
  • How many people first wondered who BioStar was, and then why it was newsworthy that they were posting? *LMFAO*

    Seriously though, nice to see another one...maybe I can stop dual-booting one day if this keeps up...

    Sgt Pepper
  • No, it wasn't. You're also way overestimating the power of the PSX - it run on a MIPS R3000 with the FPU removed (!) at 33 MHz (!!!). There is no data cache (not even L1). Optimistically this gives it the raw power of a 486/33. How do games play fast on it? No bulky operating system AT ALL (Win, Linux, anything), and really good hardware transform and lighting from day 1 (in 1994, for those of you thinking nVidia is an innovator).
  • Baldur's Gate was the prototype of the engine. Torment was the game. I quit BG in disgust before even *getting to* Baldur's gate, because I got so SICK of hearing the same music and blurbs. I think I just went for the delete about the 10,000th time I heard "I need a SWIG of some STRONG, DWARVEN ale". And the narrator's voice, it just struck me as ... juvenile for some reason -- I think hearing a second-person narration helped that along. All in all it struck me as endless hack and slash with no hope for plot or even good character writing.
  • I wouldn't worry ... as long as there are people who want a well-crafted and immersive story, who are willing to give up a little control over their character (you look like this, your history is this) then games of that nature will be designed by anyone with the skills who wants the same thing.

    The ultimate future of gaming, in say, 50 years, will be virtual worlds that will stand alone as well as come together to form a larger, more complex world ... That's the time to wring your hands, when one can construct fully immersive fantasy and pick and choose the pieces of reality to enhance it with.... God banished us from Eden, we may well banish ourselves back into it.
  • I think it's cool for any company to port their games to multiple OSes. What I would like to see is a single CD with multiple binaries on it. Games could easily use the same media files and such and only need different binaries for each different OS. Take for example Quake 3, the three binaries are written specifically for each OS but the game's media files are all basically the same. CDs are pretty large things and could easily store the necessary files to have multiple binaries, if the game had a good deal of media developers could package an installation CD with all the binaries and then have different CDs with just media on them. I figure this would save game producers a penny or two as they would be only physically producing a single CD that would be purchased by everyone.
  • This is great news, because BioWare doesn't just make games, they make the game engine as well. Planetscape: Torment [planescape-torment.com] (from Black Isle), another great RPG, used BioWare's Infinity Engine, and Black Isle is currently developing another game using it. With luck, Linux support for these games will "trickle down" just like many Quake licenses have made Linux versions of their games.
  • This was also mentioned by him (Greg Zeschuk, the Pres of Bioware) in an article [firingsquad.com] about the X-Box at Thresh's Firing Squad [firingsquad.com]:
    "Greg: We would absolutely consider developing for X-Box. And Playstation 2 and Dolphin! We're already doing PC and Dreamcast for MDK2, as well as PC, Mac, Linux and BeOs for Neverwinter Nights.


    One of BioWare's goals is to develop for all platforms internally. We want all of our games to appear on every platform imaginable."
    Mike
  • That just about does it for me. Baldur's Gate is the one remaining reason that I have for having winblows on my system (well and uploading to my rio, soon to be rectified with 2.4 kernel and usb support =). Quake III almost did it for me, but I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of Baldurs Gate. If they port baldur's gate 2, well, that just about does it. If they could port BG1 while they're at it, I would greatly appriciate it (just give the job to loki). Neverwinter Nights has been porting to linux since they started making the game, so that's no big suprise.

    ~Jester

    Bye-bye winblows
  • Usually I don't get too fired up when stuff is ported to BeOS and ignored. Yet, this one pisses me off. The port of NeverWinter nights was announced for BeOS quite some time ago, and is pretty far along. Like I said I really could care less if /. put it up, but ignore the BeOS port and post the Linux port?
  • Porting? According to this link:
    http://www.neverwinternights.com/about.html
    Neverwinter Nights is be developed as a platform independent project for Linux/Mac/Windows. How does that require porting?
  • Then linux might be able to achieve some gaming capabilities on par with that of a circa-1996 windows box. If you want to serve web pages, run linux. If you want to play more than 2% of new pc games, run windows. Dual booters
    are just greedy.

    Explain exactly how a person is greedy in wanting to get something to work that they paid for?
  • Bioware has planned a Linux port of Neverwinter Nights right from day 1. NWN being primarily a client/server multiplayer game (and apparently a really interesting one too) I think it wasn't really an option not to support Linux.
    Why you ask? Because the platform statistics for FPS servers is currently something along the lines of 70% Linux, 30% Windows, the difference being even bigger in Europe (Can't remember an exact reference, but check the
    Bluesnews archives). All the big known dedicated servers run on Linux. As an example, the server availability for Half-Life was abysmal until Sierra finally got the server port out, and now it's the most popular game online (mainly
    because of the Counterstrike mod).

    Where are these stats comming from? Where do these people get the time? Can this game be played by yourself without a network connection?

    I get really scared of what the future of games might be like. Not everyone has a net connection at their home, and not everyone wants to have to play games with others. I made a feeble attempt to play things like starcraft multiplayer and got massacred each and every time :(

    I would like the use of network play to be an option not the basis for the entire game. Multiplayer games introduce an ammount of shall we say unfair competition. When I play a game I expect to have a fun time and enjoy an experience that I can feel good about. Not like I was just humiliated by some 10 year old kid.
  • Ok, Hemos will be good...but will Rob ? Seriously, if there's a commitment for a timely porting of BG2 to Linux (and henceforth other games), Windows may be looking at a up and coming reformat at home. I currently have Debian
    and Win/98 (yes, I admit..I'm weak and like to play games sometimes). I seldom boot into Win98 (twice a month or so...and always to play like BG). This is VERY GOOD news to me....thanks for the person who submitted the
    article!

    What precisely makes this game so good? I assume that Baulder's Gate II is already out for other platforms right? What is this about?
  • >Baldur's Gate is the one remaining reason that I >have for having winblows on my system >(well and uploading to my rio, soon to be >rectified with 2.4 kernel and usb support =). Actually, if you're willing to, you can use your rio now. I'm using 2.3.99 (pre2), and have had no problems whatsoever uploading to my 500. You just need to go to Freshmeat and get the program rio500.
  • Otherwise we'd have had to call the DOJ to bust up their Linux games monopoly.

    Games are good. It's one of the two things keeping Windows on my home computer.


    ----------

  • Interesting to note the positive tone of the reply when asked about open sourcing the older projects:

    We haven't considered that yet - but it might be an interesting way to keep interest in our games high for future years.

    Now, with several companies starting to put their older games out into the open source community (Descent 1 & 2, Doom, Quake I, Marathon 2 to name a few), how do we go about convincing some more of the software companies that releasing source code to old classics is a worthwhile thing to do? Which ones would people most like to see - I note several attempts at producing clones of games like Warcraft and Ultima 7, so there must still be interest in these games? Is it only multiplayer games that are worth upgrading or revising or are there some single player ones which would benefit from smarter AI or better collision detection?

    Cheers,

    Toby Haynes

  • The Guys at BIOWARE Rule! (Score:3)

    by Gothland ( 34482 ) on Monday March 27, 2000 @06:56AM (#1167636) Homepage
    This goes out to Dave, Carl, Andrew, and all the coders, designers and QA guys at Bioware in my home town.

    I have lunch with them occasionally at the Billiards Club across the street from their studios in Edmonton, and these guys are great. They put a tonne of work in. My favorite QA guy Carl came to lunch one day after a 30 hour shift, and he had been doing that all week. And you should have seen the grin of relief on the face of David when he came in last week (after MDK went gold).

    You guys all know the drill. If you buy games for Linux, they will keep making games for Linux. And if you need additional motivation, I consider BioWare to be a personal friend of mine, in addition to being a Kick-Ass games shop.

    And they're Canadian, and proud of it!

  • Start of end user viability (Score:3)

    by john_many_jars ( 157772 ) on Monday March 27, 2000 @07:14AM (#1167637) Homepage
    Let's face it, the measure of viability of an OS as an end-user client is the games it can play. Since the dawn of IBM PC-compatibles (measured by how well they could run MS Flight Simulator), games have measured the success of the PC. Even before that, Commodore and Atari won the early markets for home PCs by offering games. Apple and TRS never had a chance with their monochrome monitors.

    People (as in, most people who purchase home PCs from electronic superstores), do so not to have security, 99.9% reliability, high speed, cheap computers but to have one to that does extremely simple things (word processing, web surfing, _SIMPLE_ spreadsheets, etc.) and plays games. Lot's of games. The sheer size of games sections vs other sections of software at these superstores is a testament to that fact.

    Picture your typical uninformed sales clerk at B*st B*y conversing with a typical computer purchaser at that store:
    sales clerk: This is 600 MHz, with yada yada..
    customer: (stupified) Can I download the internet with it
    sales clerk: Yep.. 56k guarateed connection.. (insert more incorrect information..) AOL, MSN, your choice! The latest technology with Win2k.
    customer: (hesitant) So, this will get me on the internet?
    clerk: of course
    customer: Does this have financial software? (*NOTE: Linux needs to make headway here. Been working on a package for myself, but have a long way to go to get anything useable by anyone else)
    clerk: Free with this is MS M*ney, Qu*cken, etc.
    customer: How fast is the computer (xlate: can it handle games, since the last several tasks can be performed by a 386SX with 2mb of RAM, need a 486DX & 20MB if you want Java* stuff. ActiveX is a way to let the M$-Intel Cartel control obsolescence of hardware WRT the internet.)
    clerk: (continues spiel..)

    So.. more games == more acceptance. Maybe a game-oriented distro needs to be put together. Small foot-print, no ports open under 1k without knowing how to turn them on, a 100% WM like KDE, plus OSS added in the purchased version.

    Of course, there is a chicken-egg paradox here. Need install base to support games. Need more competent programmers to port successfully (xlates to more expensive in some cases), to handle security issues. etc.. In other words, need a large enough market to support a game that costs tens (hundreds?, thousands?) of thousands of dollars to produce that sells at US$50.

  • Simple DirectMedia Layer (Score:3)

    by Dhericean ( 158757 ) on Monday March 27, 2000 @07:14AM (#1167638)
    Sam Lantinga, Lead Programmer for Loki Entertainment Software has created a toolkit called the Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) [devolution.com]. This is open source (available under GNU LGPL) and provides an increasing amount of the functionality for DirectX style work.

    As well as Linux it is currently on BeOS and Win32, with the potential for MacOS, IRIX, Solarix and FreeBSD (unofficial or in progress).

  • It's a plot! (Score:4)

    by mOdQuArK! ( 87332 ) on Monday March 27, 2000 @11:14AM (#1167639)
    Folks, we have a problem. The companies which are porting their games to Linux are NOT your friends! They are working for MICROSOFT!

    See, the REAL reason that Linux developers write so much code and find bugs so fast, is because they don't have any GAMES to hamper productivity!

    By secretly financing the porting of these Windows-only games, with well-known addictive qualities, to Linux, Microsoft is hoping to destroy the productivity of all Linux developers.

    No longer will the diehard Linux developer be able to boast that they commonly do the work of 10 Windows developers - between lack of focus & sleep, they'll be lucky if they can TALK intelligibly, much less write good code.

    Save yourself, before it's too late!

  • Bioware is smart (Score:4)

    by Majix ( 139279 ) on Monday March 27, 2000 @07:10AM (#1167640) Homepage

    Bioware has planned a Linux port of Neverwinter Nights right from day 1. NWN being primarily a client/server multiplayer game (and apparently a really interesting one too) I think it wasn't really an option not to support Linux. Why you ask? Because the platform statistics for FPS servers is currently something along the lines of 70% Linux, 30% Windows, the difference being even bigger in Europe (Can't remember an exact reference, but check the Bluesnews archives). All the big known dedicated servers run on Linux. As an example, the server availability for Half-Life was abysmal until Sierra finally got the server port out, and now it's the most popular game online (mainly because of the Counterstrike mod).

  • I've known for some time, and I suspect most people reading this have as well, that Linux won't gain major acceptance in the home until there are some games for it.

    So news like this is always welcome.

    However, Linux as a gaming platform is only one piece of the pie. We also need to work on usability for new users. The GNOME and KDE projects are a very good start for this.

    After many years of working with "clueless newbies," it's become my opinion that most of them are willing to learn only what they need to know to get done whatever it is they want to do. Sometimes even less.

    What needs to happen is this: New users should be able to learn what they need to know as they go. For instance, you have to update a whole bunch of things to get Quake III Arena installed. It's my opinion that all these drivers should have been included on the CD and the installation process included them, and these presented in a manner that users would learn what a shared library is, what X is, what X toolkits are, what the kernel is, what kernel modules are, how all this ties together, and why they are all important, in a quick, easy to follow format.

    If the collective knowledge of all of us UNIX people can be placed in the hands of newbies at just the point where they're most receptive to it (e.g. the installation process of a game they really want to play) then I believe the number of "clueless" newbies will drop.

    Anybody who wants to work on systems to make this sort of thing possible, or knows of any in progress, can feel free to contact me.
    ---

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