Games Archive

It is no secret that the vast majority of current game titles will never see the light of day on Linux. With Loki dead and gone, and their old stock quickly running out, some would go as far as to say that Linux gaming is dead as well. However, in recent days, Linux users have been getting more titles than one would think, and many more are on the horizon for later this year. Which games will be coming out? Who is releasing them? Is this the start of something big?

IncaGold GmbH and Hyperion Entertainment VOF announced that they entered into a comprehensive license agreement which will see many of IncaGold's current and future entertainment software titles converted for the Amiga, Linux and Macintosh platforms.

One of the coolest 3D OpenGL games written for the Mac 8.x/9.x, WaterRace, is now GPL and it would be great if developers would port it to other platforms that support GL.

Nintendo has announced that a new Gameboy version will be introduced in March. This version will include a front-lit screen, a rechargeable lithium-Ion battery and opens and closes like a mini-laptop. Since the Gameboy introduction in 1989, there have been over 120 million units sold. Of the most recent version, the Game Boy Advance, almost 12 million units have been sold since its June 2001 debut. Update: Gamespot.com has revealed that they have learned that a blue-colored and black-colored version will be available upon release in Japan on the 14th of February.

This download contains DirectX 8.1b plus some DirectPlay fixes related to performance and connectivity issues exhibited with some online multiplayer game titles. This release of DirectX is not recommended for general installation. You should only consider installing this release if you have an online gaming problem that has been identified as being fixed with DirectX 8.2. This version of DirectX can replace all previous released versions of DirectX.

Sony is dropping some hints about the product's likely lack of shape--it's looking into installing an OS that could run game programs in various home appliances.

XP-Erience.org carries the news about the release of an in-game footage of Doom III. The 37 MB video is in the DivX format (captured by a camera, so the quality is not great, but it is more than enough to show the impressive lighting effects in the game). Real screenshots can be found at Avault. ExtremeTech reported that the demo was running on a Pentium4 2.2 GHz, with an unreleased ATi graphics chip, codenamed R300. In other graphics news, Microsoft has just released the SDK of DirectX 9 Beta 1 to their beta testers.

"For the software publishing industry, video games are a numbers game. And for now, Microsoft is on the losing end. That's the upshot from the Electronics Entertainment Expo, the game industry's main trade show, where new games for Microsoft's Xbox have largely been limited to "me too" titles--games already appearing on other consoles. Microsoft has said it expects to have more than 200 games for the Xbox by the end of the year, but less than two dozen of those will be exclusive Xbox titles from third-party publishers." Read the story at ZDNews.

The source code for ID Software's Quake 2 is now available for download, and is also released under the GPL license. The .plan file for John Carmack has the details. If you know working mirrors for the downloaded archive, please post about it on the comments section of this story.

"Xbox and GameCube both have gamers slathering, and for the same basic three reasons: games, games, and yes, games. Content is what decides which console succeeds and which one augers in, and both Xbox and GameCube look strong out of the gate. So the game-based buying decision will come down to a matter of game preferences, and how addicted you are to Miyamoto-designed games, which can only be had on the GameCube. But let's look past the games for a bit. Who's got the better hardware design? Whose is more forward-looking? Which is more likely to run out of gas first? For the answers to these and other vexing techie questions, read on." Second part of the very interesting three-part article over at ExtremeTech. First part of the article can be found here.

"Microsoft will make its first move into the cutthroat business with the Xbox on Nov. 15. Three days later, Nintendo plans to start U.S. sales of the GameCube, its first new console since the 1996 launch of the Nintendo 64. Meanwhile, market leader Sony has built a strong bunker against the interlopers, having shipped more than 20 million PlayStation 2 machines since its debut last year." Never in the history of the $20 billion video-game industry have two home consoles made their debuts in the same week. It's shaping up to be a battle royal between Microsoft and Nintendo.

"Competitor Scott Draeker isn't impressed with TransGaming Technologies' plan to use its version of Wine to get Windows games to work on Linux. Not so fast, says Draeker, whose Loki Entertainment has been the flagship company of that "traditional" approach. Draeker has doubts about games running on Wine working as well as games actually made to run on Linux. Although Loki filed for bankruptcy back in August, the company has continued to release games, including Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns in late August and Postal Plus 'coming soon.'" Read the rest of the article on NewsForge.