Blizzard Still Has a World of Warcraft Linux Client

[deanjo]

Because it's easier to believe that, instead of the more likely truth: they just don't give a fuck about linux users.

Yup, it often sounds better to create a conspiracy theory then to face the truth.

[devius]

Why would they pay to keep it from Linux but not Mac?

Because it's easier to believe that, instead of the more likely truth: they just don't give a fuck about linux users.

[Moller]

Maybe Blizzard gets anything free from Microsoft if they don't publish their Linux WoW client. If I consider that 1 developer of NGD studios worked on their Linux client (game: Regnum online), I think it can't be that hard for Blizzard technically to make a linux client which works on most linux plattforms.

Why would they pay to keep it from Linux but not Mac?

[chris200x9]

boohoohoo linux fragmentation! Give me a break there are a bunch of closed source linux games, doom3 and world of goo to name a few. Just do these two things:

1. list dependancies

2. target ubuntu

With those two things done guess what 99% of linux users will get it to work.

[Fenrin]

Maybe Blizzard gets anything free from Microsoft if they don't publish their Linux WoW client. If I consider that 1 developer of NGD studios worked on their Linux client (game: Regnum online), I think it can't be that hard for Blizzard technically to make a linux client which works on most linux plattforms.

[yogi_berra]

Well ya it is a iD game, developed out of house.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfens..._video_game%29

Thanks for the obligatory wikipedia link showing that you failed to retain the relevant parts of the "will they port discussion" before Wolfenstein was released.

It is not an iD game, it is a Raven game using iD's IP and engine that were licensed for the game.

[deanjo]

To date, the only binary package distributor that seems to get it 100% right with binary packages is Sun/Oracle, especially with VirtualBox. Their build system must be unimaginably atrocious, but they support a ton of recent distros with packages built explicitly for each distro of interest. I have yet to install a mainstream distro that they don't support. Take a look for yourself: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

Eighteen separate packages!

This is easily enough to do with a service like opensuse's build server. Current templates allow for building 22 different distro versions as well as it is able to build for multiple architectures (x86, x86-64, powerpc, arm4l, arm5el, arm7el, s390x, ia64).

[numasan]

I do get where Blizzard are comming from though. Wow has something of a mainstream audience many of whom are likely to try Wow on Linux distro of there choice. It will be very difficult to train their support monkeys for this eventuality. Linux gives you a lot of rope.

I'm not sure I completely follow this statement. A mainstream audience who also uses Linux would use a mainstream distro = Ubuntu (-derivative). Most others with a different distro of choice (because they know we have a choice) would quickly find help on various community forums, as Blizzard could say they only support Ubuntu (maybe even outsource the support to Canonical).

In any case I find it hard to believe that users of "special" distros, or even Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, would call/write Blizzard if they have minor problems like installation/no sound/etc, and not just use the internet. Heck, with a game like WoW that for me seems very technical/advanced to play (read: not Angry Birds...), I would imagine people invested in this game have the skill to fix minor problems themselves (search for answers, explore options, etc).

All in all I don't think Blizzard have anything to fear from Linux, and I'm sure they don't with their talent-base, it's just that they are lazy and find it easier to make up excuses and misconceptions.

[deanjo]

The latest Wolfenstein is not an iD game and when TTimo retires Linux ports of their games will disappear.

Well ya it is a iD game, developed out of house.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein_%282009_video_game%29

Development

Wolfenstein uses an improved version of id Software's id Tech 4 video game engine, the technology behind Doom 3 and Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars. The game was developed by Raven Software for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The modifications to the game engine include depth of field effects, soft shadowing, post-processing effects, Havok physics, as well as the addition of a supernatural realm, called The Veil. While in the Veil the player has access to certain special abilities, such as the power to slow down time, to get around obstacles that exist in the real world, or even to be able to defeat enemies that have an otherwise impenetrable shield (similar to "Spirit Walk" from the previous id Tech 4 title Prey)[11][12] The multiplayer part of Wolfenstein was developed by Endrant Studios. Wolfenstein is the only recent id Software game not planned to have a Linux port, with the person in charge of Linux ports at id Timothee Besset commenting that "It is unlikely the new Wolfenstein title is going to get a native Linux release. None of it was done in house, and I had no involvement in the project."[13]

[fjwhittle]

ABI Portability?

ABI breakage isn't really an issue, as you really can have multiple ABI versions of libraries installed for linking at run time. To take stdc++ as an example (it's a bad example, but someone used it earlier), observe the following, run on my linux (Debian) box:

$ [b]locate libstdc++ | egrep '/lib(32)?/.*\.(so|a)(\.[^/]*)?$'[/b]
/usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5
/usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5.0.7
/usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6
/usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.13
/usr/lib/gcc/i586-mingw32msvc/4.2.1-sjlj/libstdc++.a
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.3/libstdc++.a
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.3/libstdc++.so
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.4/libstdc++.a
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.4/libstdc++.so
/usr/lib32/libstdc++.so
/usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.5
/usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.5.0.7
/usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6
/usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6.0.13
/usr/lib32/gcc/i486-linux-gnu/4.4/libstdc++.a
/usr/lib32/gcc/i486-linux-gnu/4.4/libstdc++.so
/usr/lib32/gcc/i486-linux-gnu/4.5/libstdc++.a
/usr/lib32/gcc/i486-linux-gnu/4.5/libstdc++.so

That's two run-time versions, and two compile time versions, both in 32-bit AND 64-bit flavours, and as a bonus there's a compile time library for Windows software.

The best bit? The run time dynamic linker automatically selects the correct version when you run any program that uses it!
And heck, that's only if you use dynamic linking for libstdc++ (few third-party binaries do).

Any other relevant library works the same way (for various superobvious reasons, libGL doesn't have the static linking option, though).

Packaging for multiple distributions? Every linux flavour under the sun supports the most logical way to do this for third party binaries, especially games: Put the whole lot in one directory. /opt/blizzard/WoW anyone?

Not that I actually care about WoW, but any perceived platform targetting issues are expulsions from the anus of a male bovine.