Linked by Debjit on Mon 23rd Aug 2010 21:16 UTC
A rumor has been going around for about four months now that Valve is coming out with a Linux version of Steam and had a lot of people in the Linux community very excited. However Valve have officially killed the rumor. And it is not what people wants to hear - there is no Linux version of Steam in development.
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Member since:2009-08-26
Just look at id software. They managed to release all their major games without any trouble (they have only one guy responsible for Linux porting in their team).
Funny how you mentioned iD because it was Loki that brought Quake 3 to Linux and they later went bankrupt trying to sell games to Linux users.
I understand that for a major publisher there is marginal business sense in supporting the Linux platform. It's just not for technical reasons but for how the OS market currently works.
So Linux is just as easy to target as OS X?
Just because Linux occasionally gets a port does not mean that the often complained about technical issues do not exist. Testing alone is a major issue with Linux due to all the different disros and versions. Packaging / static linking is also a major issue when compared to OS X.
I think a blog post from a developer who brought his game to Linux gives better insight:
http://www.hemispheregames.com/2010/05/18/porting-osmos-to-linux-a-...
or the infamous Braid post on porting to Linux:
http://braid-game.com/news/?p=364
Member since:2006-01-16
Loki went bankrupt because their business model failed. Their ports did not have technical problems. However, they had to do a lot of work from which people still profit today: Namely the libSDL.
I talked about iD as they continued to provide their state-of-the-art games for linux after the demise of Loki. With the one developer I mentioned.
Look at the outstanding performance of Doom 3 in Linux, and how it smoothly runs everywhere. See what can be achieved: without much hassle, as iD hat stated before it wouldn't see it worthy to get through much hassle. They only announced the linux version when they already had seen that it can be done with very reasonable efforts.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!More Features »
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Member since:
2006-01-16
I see that the market is not relevant to the publisher. Almost all linux users who want to play just bite the bullet and boot Windows (which as we all know is just available on any machine).
What is incorrect, however, is the belief that there would be significant technical reasons hindering Linux as a gaming platform. The infamous distro argument is just one of them that is easily understood and sounds convincing by/to outsiders but in fact is not relevant.
I don't need to go into technical details either to prove my point. Just look at id software. They managed to release all their major games without any trouble (they have only one guy responsible for Linux porting in their team). I never heard any complaints about "Quake does not run on Distro XY" or "Quake is unstable", "Quake runs only with lib version XY" or "Don't install Quake after installing another program/lib" anything like that. It is just no issue. It is just not.
Another example would be Ryan Gordon (Icculus), who ported a lot of games including the UT series just by himself, on a contract basis. I also never heard that UT would run on Distro X but fail on Distro Y.
Thing is, there is no technical reason why a game should not satisfy Linux customers as well as it would Windows customers. The windows platform has all its problems in itself for games. Read about the "install latest drivers" comments all over the net.
Still I understand that for a major publisher there is marginal business sense in supporting the Linux platform. It's just not for technical reasons but for how the OS market currently works.