Hi Thomas, Definitely an interesting read. Best Regards, Hayden
-----Original Message----- From: gamers-boun...@audyssey.org [mailto:gamers-boun...@audyssey.org] On Behalf Of Charles Rivard Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 12:32 PM To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Linux and Gaming was debates that go nowhere Interesting stuff! Thanks. --- Shepherds are the best beasts! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Ward" <thomasward1...@gmail.com> To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org> Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 11:12 AM Subject: [Audyssey] Linux and Gaming was debates that go nowhere Hi Charles, Ah, as for the the Linux name that is a simple enough answer. Back in 1994 a computer programmer in Finland by the name of Linus Torvalds wanted to create a low cost Unix-like operating system that could run on a home PC rather than a big corporate or college network server. So Linus began writing his own free Unix-like operating system and since he couldn't call it UNIX he took his first name, Linus, and crossed it with Unix, and came up with Linux as the name of his new operating system. Within a year or so of the first release of Linux various programmers around the world began developing their own distributions of the software and began marketing to companies, home users, etc. One of these small outfits was owned by a Husband and wife team Debi and Ian and they called there distribution Debian. Another outfit formed up, took a corporate mottle, and called themselves Red Hat. Over the years dozens of small and large Linux outfits have come and gone, but there are some like Debian, Red Hat, Suse, Ubuntu, etc that have remained and become leaders in the Linux community. I think one of the greatest and saddest chapters in Linux history is what happened to Loki Games. A programmer named Sam Latinga and a few other programmers got together and founded a game company called Loki Games. They purchased the Quake Engine, Doom Engine, and various other engines from mainstream software companies like ID Software and began creating ports of Doom, Quake, Civilization, and other big game titles to the Linux platform. They also single-handedly created and started a DirectX-like API for Linux called SDL that is now released under the GPL, but was initially a private game API owned by Loki Games. All of that was a great idea, might have done well now, but back then the general public wasn't that interested in Linux. So Loki Games went bankrupt, went out of business, and they released SDL and some of there original projects into the general open source community. While their legacy lives on through software like SDL their failure has pretty much scared companies like ID Software and other companies they held licenses with into believing that Linux products are doomed to fail commercially. Personally, I believe what went wrong with Loki Games is that they were doing the right thing at the wrong time. They had the right idea to increase the Linux user base by porting big name titles to the Linux platform, but during the late 90's Linux support wasn't as big as it is today. Not many home users actually used it, and the main supporters of Linux back then were computer techs and your all around computer geeks like me. It wasn't a household product, and most people didn't even know it existed when Loki Games was around which doomed them to failure more than anything else. I don't think anyone quite realized how much Linux would grow in the past ten to twelve years. These days Linux is a highly graphical user environment with your choice of desktop Gnome, KDE, etc. I've been told that the KDE 4 desktop is easily equal to Windows XP in terms of graphics and animation and is the desktop many sighted Linux users tend to pick. Although, Gnome isn't bad with graphics and animation either, and happens to be screen reader friendly. So right there Linux is able to compete with XP in terms of a highly functional and decent looking graphical user interface. Then, Linux does have equal gaming potential with Windows. The OpenGL graphics library alone is an easy match for Microsoft's Direct3D technology and has been used to render some extremely detailed graphics in games like Doom 3. The OpenAL library has virtual 3d support for 5.1 and 7.1 sound cards so easily can compete with DirectSound or XAudio2. With these two gaming libraries alone Linux is primed to create some truly great games equal with Windows, but has virtually been ignored by the PC gaming market. Although, that is certainly changing. Most gamers that go out and buy a Play Station 3 probably aren't aware the core of that game console is Linux based. Not only that the high-end graphics they see in MK Verses DC, Tomb Raider Underworld, etc is all rendered through the OpenGL graphics API. What I'm saying that the Play Station alone should give game developers and customers alike a good idea of what is possible with Linux, and that it has some extreme gaming potential if the mainstream PC game developers would explore it commercially again. One recent advancement in Linux gaming technology that might help bring some companies over to Linux is the Cedega Project created by Transgaming. They basically have created a game engine/game emulator that allows commercial game developers to rapidly port Windows PC games to Linux. Some game developers like EA Games have already licensed Sedega and have ported several of their big name titles to Linux. It hasn't caught on big yet, but what I can say is that those games run just as well on Linux as they do on Windows PCs. So if Transgaming can make this some kind of financial success for EA Games and others Linux could equally catch up with Mac and Windows as a game platform to take seriously. Especially, since products like the PS 3 have proven it has the potential to go far for game developers and gamers alike. I don't think Linus Torvalds had any idea his creation would or could come so far so fast. As for myself I'm a Linux user, and certainly want to see more games become available for Linux. I want to create some accessible games for the platform, but am essentially in the same boat as EA Games and all the rest. Which is 99% of my customers use Windows, XP, Vista, or Windows 7. When I took a poll earlier this year only 6 people responded they would buy games created specifically for Linux. That is a dismal outlook for an accessible game developer that's for sure. There is nothing technically wrong with me creating Mysteries of the Ancients 3D for Linux other than the fact there really isn't any money in it. However, that said that doesn't mean I have abandoned the idea either. I think the best I could do is begin with some simple games like Monopoly, Uno, Hearts, and perhaps something like STFC to get things moving in that direction. While not Shades of Doom or something it would begin opening up that platform for future game development, and such games wouldn't be overly expensive to create. They also would be fairly easy to port to Mac since it too uses OpenGL, OpenAL, SDL, etc. So Linux is certainly able to be a serious game platform if there is interest in going that way. Smile. On 7/10/10, Charles Rivard <woofer...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > Linux. What does that stand for, anyway? I don't remember. As for the > kidding goes, I figured that someone would respond, and I was right as to > who at least one of them would be. (grin) > > --- > Shepherds are the best beasts! --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
