[GLLUG] Computer gaming

[Richard Houser]

Commercial games running on Linux IS part of Linux gaming.  In fact, 
many games ship with commercial Linux support, including the Unreal and 
ID Software lines.  When we say commercial Linux games, that typically 
means native binaries are available (in some rare cases, it means the 
vendor maintains an official "port" using wine).  Reading between the 
lines, duke4 is supposed to support OpenGL, so paired with the source 
release of duke3d, I would expect a Linux release to happen at some point.

Like major movies, most modern video games require a ton of development 
that just isn't feasible on a large scale from a purely OSS philosophy. 
  Often, these titles consume several million dollars in development 
costs.  The bulk of the work in typical games today is in graphics, 
animation, levels, etc.

Some of the community developed games like Planeshift even restrict the 
use of the graphics and game data files, while still leaving the game 
engine under a more traditional OSS license.  Crystal-Space is a 
relatively full game engine that is completely OSS (and available to 
work with commercial content, etc).

There really is nothing wrong with content being proprietary (which is 
the only part that ALWAYS remains proprietary) as long as the underlying 
code to use it stays open.  ID software (which makes it's money on 
engine licenses, NOT game sales) typically releases previous-generation 
engines as OSS once the newer engine is available and has been widely 
adopted, etc.  3D Realms released the source to Duke Nukem 3D sometime 
around a year ago (which is why I just bought a copy), and many other 
companies have been convinced to open source the game engines for 
previously Windows-only games (freespace, freespace2, avp, etc.).

With the exception of some titles on my (personal) already supported 
list (which in general, were before Linux had good 3D drivers), I don't 
mess around with Windows games through Wine/Cedega/etc.  Even then, I 
don't have a problem demonstrating other people's Windows games through 
Cedega as long as the install is relatively straightforward.  Gaming is 
currently one of the major roadblocks to home users moving to Linux.

Showing users that they don't need to abandon all their favorite Windows 
games to make the switch IS important and will only increase the 
platform market share to the point where the compatibility layers like 
Wine are only needed for old software.  In such an environment, open 
engines are much more likely to flourish, consolidate, and eventually 
displace the commercial gaming engines, preserving the accessibility of 
the game content and allowing OSS developers to add features or fix bugs.


Eduardo Cesconetto wrote:
> again, I thought we where focusing on Linux gaming, not Linux supporting 
> commercial games..
> 
> Eduardo Cesconetto | eduardo at cesconetto.com | (517)507-5966
> 
> On Feb 24, 2008, at 4:52 PM, Richard Houser wrote:
> 
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>> Chick Tower wrote:
>> | Maybe next year we can have Duke Nukem Forever.  I read that it's 
>> coming
>> | out real soon now.
>>
>> I heard that too, but I've also heard this referred to as the third sign
>> of the tech. apocalypse,  The first sign already arrived:
>> http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/.
>>
>> Seriously though, if that arrives with Linux support and can run on the
>> hardware we'll have, I'll pick up a copy :).  Heck, I've already got the
>> theme song for it in Frets on Fire :).
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