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Games Entertainment

Heretic II for Linux 63

Posted by justin++ from the go-loki dept.
whoop writes "Loki has up on their page that they are now working on Heretic II by Raven Software. That's number 5, three to go for this year... " That reminds me - I still need to buy Civ:CTP. I'm glad to see Loki doing so well. With any luck, a press release will be up soon.
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Heretic II for Linux More

Heretic II for Linux

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  • Check it out here [ihug.com.au].

    I haven't tried it yet, but it looks pretty cool.

    James

  • Loki Portal Site! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I run a website dedicated to bringing you news about Loki! We have Message-boards, Faqs, Links and all the news you can use about Loki and the games they port! Check us out! Loki Portal Page [linuxgames.com]
  • We are not amused.

    Sincerely,

    Steve Balmier
    Microserf
    P.S.: Please lowball our profit estimates so we can wow them again and drive the stock price up. I want to buy Micronesia and turn it into a theme park.







  • It has anything to do with my barcoding the purchase of a few Linux servers and a whole bunch of software, including Civ:CTP for Linux, recently.

    Since I'm one of those Neilsen Home Shoppers ...


  • Wow. I have to ask: where is your store, and what is the clientele like? It'd be fantastic to hear that you cater to the mainstream, and still manage to sell a lot of Linux dists.
  • Aw, damn. It cancel the moderation. Well, now I know.

    kmj
    The only reason I keep my ms-dos partition is so I can mount it like the b*tch it is.

  • I saw that too! I was amazed CompUSA carrying Linux!

    But they had them piled up in a corner by a doorway, way off to the side. What was really amazing was they had 4 versions of Linux! It was great! Red Hat, Mandrake, Open Linux and S.U.S.E! Now if they could just get those games out of the corner!

  • I didn't find CTP in EB in the mall, so I asked the clerk. Turned out it was on a different shelf. So they had it after all.

    Another customer overheard me asking for a Linux game and said "Wow! I didn't they were coming out with Linux games! This is great! I run RedHat at home." Then the clerk said "Yeah, me too! It's great!"

    Three Linux users in EB in the mall. Now THAT'S success.
    ---
    Put Hemos through English 101!
  • There has been a lot of talk lately in the press about Red Hat going public. This company centers around a new technology developed on the Internet called Linux. Linux is an operating system developed by Linux Torvalx.

    I know there has been a lot of positive press, but just forget about it because Linux is a rehash of the old Share-ware concept, plus it [Linux] is Unix, a non-standard, fragmented operating system that no one uses and nobody wants that.

    Selling Linux will do no good anyway because the product is too unstable and causes blindness in laboratory tests with Mac users.

    Businesses will not buy Linux because there is no one to sue. Ignore the fact that anybody who has tried to sue Microsoft has typically ended up bankrupt, and wishing they had attempted something less risky such as using the money to purchase lotto tickets. End users don't want Linux because it is too hard to use, so it's generally a bad investment.

    Besides, everyone who competes with Microsoft fails. Linux is just like the OS/2 thing and we all know where that ended up. Billy crushed it like a bug! He's going to do the same thing to these companies, just you wait. Never mind that under-cutting a free product is impossible. Billy will find a way to pay people to take Windows, and still make money.

    Linux has failed to make serious inroads into the corporate marketplace. Just forget those fortune 500 companies that IDC [idc.com] surveyed. Forget that Linux had over 200% growth in 1998 [news.com]. Those International Data Corp. guys can't be trusted because they aren't independent like Mindcraft.Moreover, the system lacks the applications - graphics, word processing capabilities, databases - to compete with Microsoft's personal computer business.

    People won't develop these applications anyway, because they will pay too much for the development tools.

    Don't believe the stuff you read over at freshmeat.net [freshmeat.net]. There's a lot of false Linux propaganda on that site that you can't trust. Also forget you saw Wordperfect, Star Office, The Gimp, Oracle, Informix, DB2, and a million other productivity and mission critical applications, free or proprietary.

    You're obviously a Religious Open Source Cult member if you buy any of that stock. Never mind that I'm probably selling most of my Microsoft stock as we speak, and putting it in mutual funds because keeping it is getting too risky.

    If you have comments or suggestions about this article, please feel free to flame^H^H^H^H^Hemail me at HERE [mailto].

    - greg [mailto],

  • What's to stop you from doing it too? Loki in various interviews have said there's plenty of games out there to go around.

    I guess the hardest part would be getting the foot in the door, getting that first company to fork over the source code to you. Then you can prove yourself.
  • They were progressing, from what the site said at least, quite nicely- but then suddenly, the site ended up being totally empty. Now, the thing has his resume (like he's looking for work maybe?) and has his current Open Source projects listed. A couple of nice widgets and database connectivity tools (Unix ODBC and admin tools).

    Shame too- GC seemed like a cool strategy game.
  • . Oh, and we also sell way more Linux CDs Vs (Windows98 || Office) combined.

    Color me unimpressed. Remember back in 1994 when OS/2 Warp was outselling Windows at retail? When all was said and done, those millions of OS/2 CDs translated into very few permanent OS/2 desktops and servers. I think we're seeing a similar phenomenon with retail Linux CDs.

    Here's my theory on what's going on: There a huge base (probably millions) of low level techies and power users out there (think of the legions of Win95 desktop support people!) - people who just like dinking around with computers. The next gigantic Windows upgrade has been delayed for sometime, and there's no real joy in installing DirectX 9 or Service Pack 6. So people's hands start getting itchy and when they hear about this super cool new OS, they just have to go and install it.

    But once they get through the Linux install, and surf around a bit with Netscape, and maybe install and run a game or two, interest is going to cool. Fighting with the Exchange or Notes e-mail system at work, too many damn Word documents, and slow graphic performance will eventually push many of these folks back to Windows. When Win2000 gets out the door, it will just be the next latest and greatest thing to fiddle with.

    Note that this process is not bad for Linux in any way. People are getting their eyes opened to the free software culture and Unix. Some of the I'll-try-Linux crowd will end up as permanent Linux users (just as with OS/2). Many of these Win95 techies will eventually end up as server admins somewhere. They'll have knowledge of the alternatives and they'll be more open to non-Windows solutions. Plus, RedHat and SuSe get some quick cash to build up the software with.

    Just don't make the mistake believing that x boxes of retail Linux sold ~= x Linux desktops. It's a mistake that many OS/2 supporters made, and when it really came down to the line, the user's weren't there for OS/2.
    --
  • heh, yeah I heard that lyle lovett song - pretty weird, huh?
  • But, sadly, it seems that the effort passed into that good night without so much as a demo from the "company" working on it. Seems that the person who owned the company's not doing any of that anymore and there's no sign of Galactic Civilizations or what happened on CodeByDesign's site [codebydesign.com].
  • This could actually be the first linux game I buy. I already have CTP (I was really unimpressed), Railroad Tycoon II (found it just isnt my kinda game) and Myth II (which is nice). Id continues to be a driving force in the gameworld, and they're linux friendly. When quake3 comes out, that should be the final proof of concept. Then it just needs proof of sales, or Linux will continue to be getting "second runs" of games.

    I'll note that CompUSA has the double-width value-packs for quake1 and quake2 for linux, adding up to a not insignificant amount of shelf space.
  • If you really knew who I am, you would understand that "IT'S A JOKE" I am using the ANTI-IPO HOW-TO.

    Come-on people get a life and realize when someon is pulling your leg.

    Take a look at this [netcom.com] and SEE.

    - greg [mailto]
  • In response to where other people found it:
    I saw it on the shelf right next to the MS-Win copy of CTP. Made me gape. Then cheer.
    ---
  • Linus himself suggested educational software for his kids be ported by Loki to Scott Draeker, so odds are ports of edutainment titles aren't too far off...
  • You have a good point, although to most people I talk to (they usually are confused as hell when chosing distros), I quickly describe them the Linux GNU GPL licence, and refer to most my local LUG (Linux-Quebec)

    They also pretty much all know it's free, and prefer buying the RedHat box at 115$ CDN rather than the InfoMagick kit at 40$ or so, because they want the phone support and want to install it on their company's server.

    I agree we must not be blindly happy about Linux's growth, and avoid the same failure as OS/2. Although people are already spreading lots of FUD about Windows 2000 (ironic..), and I believe it's time to be confident about Linux. I trust the development model we have right now, rather than the one OS/2 had.
  • I once E-mailed Brad Wardell about a Linux port of Entrepreneur. He said they really weren't considering Linux. I forget the reasons. That was well over a year ago. I bet they're reconsidering by now.

    Too bad... Entrepreneur is about the only thing I still boot into that other OS (OS/2) for...
  • This rocks!

    Now if they only port Elite: Final Frontier to Linux, I'm going to trash my Windows forever.

  • I propose a different goal (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    How about one nice _3d_ title that you can give to kids? I will of course buy Heretic II just as I have bought Quake II, but I can't give either to the young'uns. Hence, Linux remains completely uninteresting to them :-(

    I don't really have a specific title in mind, maybe someone can think of a good one and we can suggest it to Loki.


  • Depends what you mean by a Linux Desktop. I've got Solaris 7 x86 installed as one of the 5 OSes on my machine. Occasionally I'll dink with it to to try to teach myself how to do something under Solaris.

    Does that mean I have a Solaris desktop? I guess by your definiton it does - but by mine defintion, and by the defintion any company investigating the Solaris x86 market it certainly does not.

    (At least I can get my work Notes Mail under Solaris x86, which is more than I can say about Linux. Which reminds me to try setting up wine one of these days.)

    I don't know how Microsoft calculates it's marketshare, but a safe bet might be all non-server x86 PCs minus ~5-10%.
    --
  • Isn't that 6 years old game ?
  • Actually, having played Heretic II on "that other" platform, I can tell you that it *does* have a "Violence" setting that goes all the way down to "no blood" and "no gibs". Granted, you're still running around thwacking stuff with a bladed staff, but at least you won't see any of that "disturbing" red stuff. :)
  • Nice pic. I am feeling free to re-distribute with credits.
  • What can we expect next, King's Quest IV? Oh well, at least id is releasing some games for Linux that are still relevant.
  • Yeah, the folks at Loki are kickin' booty. Civ:CTP is a marvelous port. Picked up my copy and LinuxExpo and have spent mucho time with it since. If Linux games are all like this, it's a Good Thing. :)

    Also of note, there's an interview with Loki in the latest copy of Linux Journal.

  • Maybe you're thinking about a different game.

    Heretic II is a fairly recent title (well, less than a year old), and uses the Quake II engine.

    Are you thinking of Heretic, part one?
  • Hell, Loki's better off being a privately-held company (from the standpoint of their execs, anyway). They can already port a good number of games a year (five announced so far, and it's only the end of July) and they gotta be making money hand-over-fist unless the market is a *lot* smaller than I think it is.

    They don't need to raise a bunch of money.

    ----

  • Weren't supposed to announce (Score:3)

    by Fizgig ( 16368 ) on Friday July 23, 1999 @05:47AM (#1787953)
    If you go to linuxgames.com you can see that Loki didn't actually want to announce this yet. Some guy at Raven announced the server for Linux and off-handedly mentioned that some company named Loki was going to be doing the client port. A few hours later, Loki announced it officially. Oops!

  • IPO? (Score:1)

    by Aiantes ( 35663 )
    When's Loki going public???
  • I sort of meant that as a joke. Especially after the anti-linux-IPO template. Sorry.

  • Wasn't CodeByDesign [codebydesign.com] porting one of Stardock's titles (Galactic Civilizations?) to Linux? Anyone know what happened to the port? There isn't any information on those pages any more.

  • Well. Thats a shock. I always get,
    "Sure, we have CTP"
    "Is it for Linux?"
    "Umm... Nope."

    Was this a new stack? Maybe they got on it here finally.
  • I should have thought of this.

    With a few decent libraries and some pretty good coders, it can't be that hard to port games from Windows over to Linux (as evidenced by the fact that Loki's working on number five for the year).

    This is a hell of a way to make money; is anyone doing it for the Mac? Look, you don't have to worry about if your game will be a flop or not, you don't really have to deal with major production delays (Romero.. Oh, excuse me), and you don't have to sink that much cash into getting the game out the door.

    Instead, you license the hits of other companies and port 'em over to a popular platform. You make money, they make money, and everybody wins (assuming the game companies don't catch on and start porting their hits by themselves).

    So, how long until we see Alpha Centauri for Linux, damnit?

    ----

  • There's a company called Westlake Interactive (sorry dunno the URL) that ported Unreal to the Macintosh, and I believe they were involved in the Duke Nukem ports and a bunch of other games.

  • Re:Wow. (Score:1)

    by mewn ( 70848 )
    Well, 1 or 2 years old for a quake like it's great : know you have more chance to have such hardware to really enjoy the product with graphics option pushed to the limit.

    My Heretic box sleep in my room and i've to take them from the dust. I hope that the Loki port would be compatible with the old MS product pak.

  • "Me too!"

    I saw the same thing at an Electronics Boutique -- in a mall fer goshsakes.

    world domination must be just around the corner ;^)

  • I work in a computer store, who's been recently making lots of publicity for Linux in the store, and the Civ::CTP version of Linux has been selling more copies than the windows version. Our main problem was that people didn't know stores actually carried the Linux version. Oh, and we also sell way more Linux CDs Vs (Windows98 || Office) combined. *grin*
  • Oh, and we also sell way more Linux CDs Vs (Windows98 || Office) combined. *grin*

    Well, yeah. Let us not forget, impending world domination or no, nearly every consumer computer shipped still comes with RedmondWare, and an increasing number of those come with Office apps too. So people don't need to buy those MS CDs, they already have 'em.

    How many of those people who buy Linux comment "but I thought this was free!"?

  • Just to point out that CTV hasn't shipped in Europe yet. I ordered a copy from a mail order company in the UK around 6 weeks ago. While we over here read glowing reports and stories of people playing through the night, SuSE claims to have shipped their CDs a week ago, but they hadn't arrived at the mail order people when I spoke to them yesterday. They are pissed off at SuSE, who originally said they would be shipping in the middle of June, because the MO company now has legions of annoyed customers asking where their Civs are.

    So, GO SUSE indeed, but they could stand to go a little quicker. It's not such a problem for long-standing Linux people like me and the MO company, but if they're trying to sell to the more traditional retailers they're gonna find themselves with problems.

  • I picked up my copy of CTP at MicroCenter and I am really enjoying it. I'm not much of a gamer and I have never played a turn based game(oops.. I guess Wasteland on my C64 was turn based) but I thought I would give it a try and I'm glad I did. The quality is excellent and the game has been more fun than I anticipated.

    I really feel it's important for the Linux community to support products like this. at >$50 it's a drop in the bucket and it will encourage others to release Linux based apps (games as well as other applications) IMHO it will go a long way to legitimize Linux to the general public when they see Linux apps in retail stores.
  • I don't even think there are any mainstream titles that fit this (for the PC, anyways; there are lots of console games that would work).

    That being said, I realised that I was wrong: Tux: A quest for herring [woodsoup.org] will probably match up properly when it's finished, as the author's aiming for a Mario64-esque game. I personally haven't played it, but it might be what you're looking for, and what's more, it's Free Software!

  • Most of the distribution logistics have been worked out. For CTP, the online ordering was pretty good and quick (I got mine from Game Cellar), but the brick and mortar stores took much longer.

    Now, however, with the lessons learned with CTP and the distribution channels established, and the obvious sucess of CTP for Linux (Heck I even saw it in our local Hastings bookstore!), the distribution of future Linux by Loki to mass distributors should be much faster, both in the US and Europe (GO, SUSE!)

    "Breaker, this here is the Rubber Duck, and we got ourselves a convoy!"

    jf
  • Just an idea, but instead of getting your kids interested in Linux just for 3D games, how about showing them some other aspects of Linux. Get them into programming, show them why Linux is good. Teach them how to use it. Don't just sit them in front of a game and declare them "interested in Linux." because that would be inaccurate. They're interested in the game, not the OS.

    Computers aren't just for games, people. You want games only? Buy a console.

    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • How dare you attempt to be humorous!

    Just who do you think you are?

    :) I'm testing to see if it'll let me post after moderating

    kmj
    The only reason I keep my ms-dos partition is so I can mount it like the b*tch it is.

  • There has been a lot of talk lately in the press about Loki going public. This company centers around a new technology developed on the Internet called Linux. Linux is an operating system developed by Linux Torvalx.

    I know there has been a lot of positive press, but just forget about it because Linux is a rehash of the old Share-ware concept, plus it [Linux] is Unix, a non-standard, fragmented operating system that no one uses and nobody wants that.

    Selling Linux will do no good anyway because the product is too unstable and causes blindness in laboratory tests with Mac users.

    Businesses will not buy Linux because there is no one to sue. Ignore the fact that anybody who has tried to sue Microsoft has typically ended up bankrupt, and wishing they had attempted something less risky such as using the money to purchase lotto tickets. End users don't want Linux because it is too hard to use, so it's generally a bad investment.

    Besides, everyone who competes with Microsoft fails. Linux is just like the OS/2 thing and we all know where that ended up. Billy crushed it like a bug! He's going to do the same thing to these companies, just you wait. Never mind that under-cutting a free product is impossible. Billy will find a way to pay people to take Windows, and still make money.

    Linux has failed to make serious inroads into the corporate marketplace. Just forget those fortune 500 companies that IDC [idc.com] surveyed. Forget that Linux had over 200% growth in 1998 [news.com]. Those International Data Corp. guys can't be trusted because they aren't independent like Mindcraft.Moreover, the system lacks the applications - graphics, word processing capabilities, databases - to compete with Microsoft's personal computer business.

    People won't develop these applications anyway, because they will pay too much for the development tools.

    Don't believe the stuff you read over at freshmeat.net [freshmeat.net]. There's a lot of false Linux propaganda on that site that you can't trust. Also forget you saw Wordperfect, Star Office, The Gimp, Oracle, Informix, DB2, and a million other productivity and mission critical applications, free or proprietary.

    You're obviously a Religious Open Source Cult member if you buy any of that stock. Never mind that I'm probably selling most of my Microsoft stock as we speak, and putting it in mutual funds because keeping it is getting too risky.

    If you have comments or suggestions about this article, please feel free to flame^H^H^H^H^Hemail me at HERE [mailto].

    - greg [mailto]

  • You have to LOOK don't bother asking the clue imparied sales people. I too have seen Quake I/II and CTP on the shelves.

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