Unigine Announces The Three New Linux Games

[smitty3268]

I wouldn't buy a sports game for Linux (or Windows) anyway. That genre seems better suited towards consoles, at least IMO. The proposals here seem somewhat interesting. It's a little tough to really tell much at this point because we are so light on the details. The results will be evident in a year or two when the games actually come out (or don't).

[deanjo]

I'm the opposite, I find the PC better suited for sports games. The graphics look so dated on consoles plus the PC offers a lot of customization that the console versions usually lack.

[Mr_Alien_Overlord]

Damn! I *really* wanted to be excited for these games, but...

Kot-in-action: They made Steel Storm... which was extraordinarily repetitious and rather slow for the genre. I played a few levels through, just because I kept *hoping* the next one would be better... but finally gave up.

Gamepulp: "a puzzle/platform adventure game". *Yawn* Like we need Unigen for that?

MED-ART: Their last game "Painkiller: resurection" got terrible reviews (although the art looks decent). Their plan to do better this time? "doesn't say what MED-ART's proposal is for using the Unigine game engine". Doesn't really inspire confidence in the amazingness of the proposal...

I really hope to be proven wrong, but I have to agree with the previous poster. Sounds like a bunch of $5 bargain bin releases to me. Personally, I'd hand it over to 2D Boy (makers of World of Goo), a couple of lads that have shown they a) do Linux, b) get creative gameplay and most importantly c) SHIP.

If there is a God, please let these games be better than this announcement makes them sound... :/

[binstream]

It's a bit naively to expect avalanche of AAA titles on Linux in a moment, it will take some time to create the viable market, which will appeal big players like EA, Activision and so on. But to get there, we need to make steps towards this direction. This competition is a single step towards better gaming on Linux, that's it. Anyway we will keep going this direction, but please be patient.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." (c) Mahatma Gandhi

[Apopas]

Puzzle games I used to like, classics like Zork, Myth, etc so I don't think you can call me biased.

You like the genre but yet instead of saying "I wish/hope the adventure they say to be like Zork or Myth (Myst I suppose you meant)" you say it will be an unimressed one from the very beginning without knowing anything about it at al.
That's bias.

[Apopas]

One other genre that has next to no representation at all in linux is a freaking sports game.

Indeed we don't have anything. But still what kind of?
American football? The rest of world doesn't care about it. Similar for baseball.
Normal football? (ie soccer): North America doesn't care about it.
Hockey? Only in North America and Scandinavia.
Basketball? North Europe and most of Asia doesn't care about it.

Linux gamers are already too fragmented and few to fragment them even more.
The only kind of sport game that has hopes to sell is rally.

[deanjo]

Indeed we don't have anything. But still what kind of?
American football? The rest of world doesn't care about it. Similar for baseball.
Normal football? (ie soccer): North America doesn't care about it.
Hockey? Only in North America and Scandinavia.
Basketball? North Europe and most of Asia doesn't care about it.

Linux gamers are already too fragmented and few to fragment them even more.
The only kind of sport game that has hopes to sell is rally.

Yet sports games are one of the best selling genres.

[deanjo]

The only kind of sport game that has hopes to sell is rally.

BTW Rally is about as popular outside of Europe as womens lawn bowling. Outside of Europe you would be hard pressed to find someone on the street that can answer a simple question about rally such as "Name one rally driver?". With hockey, baseball, basketball if you were to ask that same type of question you would more then likely get a legitimate name in response. Sure it maybe the most overused name such as Gretzky, Babe Ruth, or Micheal Jordan but the recognition is there. Every game you can come out with with alienate some group, there is no preventing that but sports games have the benefit of being a genre that a lot of people can relate to in real life.

Now onto the puzzle games. Using unigine for puzzle games is a bit of a waste. Puzzle games are pretty static in nature when it comes to what you see on the screen. The have to be to allow the player to scratch their head. When it comes to those types of games a solution like flash will usually suffice. Also with a puzzle game, to achieve the greatest market saturation you should have it on a solution that can be easily brought over to multiple platforms. Puzzle games are a great genre for devices like smartphones and the likes and don't require a crapload of hardware or software requirements. Limiting a puzzle game to two platforms is shooting oneself in the foot.

[deanjo]

One other advantage that sports games has as well is that they are easily "updated" to the latest sports development (rosters, teams, stats) and are often sold as a new product the next season (such as NHL 07,08,09) and they have a high replay value.

[V!NCENT]

In the left corner we have the "OMG everything must evolve, everything else is a bonus"-crowd and in the right corner we have people who like to play games.

It is obvious that the left corner crew up with a Pentium 4 and pop music.

Painkiller, together with Serious Sam and Half-Life, are the only worthwhile FPSes since Quake 3.