With Valve On Linux, Has LGP Lost All Relevance?

[dredhammer]

Only three games i ever purchased from LGP, X2, X3 and Sacred Gold, and all three of those games i didnt purchase @ full price but at discount during one their rare sale events via tux games. As more and more indy devs and big name publishers start releasing games for linux whether they are new or ports, LGP will continue to become irrelevant sad to see considering they were one of the first , sad to see them go unless they strike back with something big whether its with actual original games for linux or ports that are either modern or lower in price but i dont believe this last one will occur , i remember a few years ago in the gaming forums there was a discussion on why their games were so expensive the reason given was in order for them to make a profit after paying the publishers for the rights to port the games they had to sell them @ so high a price.

[jhansonxi]

The Linux Game Tome (happypenguin.org) hasn't been updated in quite a while either. As I recall, they were sharing a server with LGP.

[TobiSGD]

Games have no relevance, hence game companies (any) also have no relevance.

You are right, the multi-billion dollar gaming market is simply irrelevant. So irrelevant that people funded a game-console project on Kickstarter with over 5 million dollars in the first ten days.
Really irrelevant.

[Larian]

Emm... why are we even talking about such a "company"?

A "company" that can't even produce a bearable looking home page, seems like a completely dead horse, promises vaporware and is a disgrace to the public image of Linux? Ok sure, they did some stuff in the past but that was like EONS ago, somewhere in the stone age. They've done nothing since.

The sooner LGP vanishes the better for everyone. I hope they never ever publish anything again. All the stories about "broken hdds" prove that they are either a) too amateurish to handle any porting and publishing at all or b) are blatantly lying. In either case no one should trust them or hope that they ever produce anything.

Valve and Desura are currently the only somewhat credible parties that are able to assist Linux desktop becoming a reality. We still have a heap of crap to climb over (like getting rid of Xorg, finally working drivers, rid of horrible quality distro bundled tools that crash both in Fedora and Ubuntu etc.), but at least they are a good start.

LGP, burn in hell

This seems kind of poorly thought out to me. Why would you wish a game publishing company to explode? Personally I'd love to see LGP and any other publishers crank out quality titles every month or so, because, games.

And what's all this I keep hearing about Xorg being crap? In the six years I've been using X11 I've always managed to get it to behave reasonably well in a desktop environment. Then again I'm not doing crazy stuff like trying to composite six e-ink displays as a monitor either. Sure, I get occasional windowing bugs, but I get that in Windows from time to time too.

[Larian]

You are right, the multi-billion dollar gaming market is simply irrelevant. So irrelevant that people funded a game-console project on Kickstarter with over 5 million dollars in the first ten days.
Really irrelevant.

I think what he's trying to say is that he's a troll. But on the off-chance that's not it, he's saying that both entertainment and art have no lasting value.

[gbudny]

A "company" that can't even produce a bearable looking home page, seems like a completely dead horse, promises vaporware and is a disgrace to the public image of Linux?

Seriously? Alternative Games do not produce a bearable looking home page, but they are still porting games to Linux and OS X:

http://alternativegames.net/

"these old titles generally run fine already under Wine/CrossOver so they're not really bringing anything originally new to Linux"

You can't buy Hyperspace Delivery Boy! for Windows.

Candy cruncher, NingPo MahJong fo Windows/OS X are outdated.

[Larian]

If you're worried about a "bearable looking homepage" I suggest you avoid icculus.org. Because everyone knows the lack of desire to screw around with HTML is a direct reflection of your ability to code and/or port games.

[Hamish Wilson]

LGP does have the problem that it's competition has gotten stiffer. I mean, Desura is directly offering several titles that LGP has (Postal 2, Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds: Survivor) with updated Linux builds for far less than LGP is asking for, not to mention they ship without the ridiculous DRM measures. There is also the fact that Indie games and LGP are often in the same niche (since LGP ported a lot of older Indie games), meaning that they are facing a lot more competition from in-house Linux developers than they ever did before. They do have to up their game now. It is not just them playing in the sandbox anymore.

[gbudny]

LGP does have the problem that it's competition has gotten stiffer. I mean, Desura is directly offering several titles that LGP has (Postal 2, Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds: Survivor) with updated Linux builds for far less than LGP is asking for, not to mention they ship without the ridiculous DRM measures.

LGP don't sell Postal 2 with DRM.

"Games published
Currently, LGP has published nine games that contain their DRM technology:
Title DRM
Box version Digital version
Ballistics No None
Ballistics (r2) None Yes
Jets'n'Guns Yes Yes
Majesty Gold No None
Majesty Gold (r2) Yes Yes
Sacred: Gold Edition Yes Yes
Shadowgrounds Yes Yes
Shadowgrounds Survivor Yes Yes
X2: The Threat No None
X2: The Threat (r2) None Yes
X3: Reunion Yes Yes
X3: Reunion - Special Edition Yes None"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Game_Publishing

DRM created by LGP is very useful:

"Some features includes0
LGP copy protection does not require internet connection to install or play the game.
This system does not require user to keep the disc inside the CD drive while playing games.Owners of a game license can transfer the licence to someone else, download a replacement disc image and allow people to see that the licence is valid if they buy your game. Owners can retrieve lost keys and forgotten passwords. Buyers can check to see if they are buying a game with a valid license"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Game_Publishing

[schmidtbag]

LGP would be relevant and a lot more successful if they try joining with a game developer before a game is released. They probably wouldn't have to pay as hefty of a license fee and games could be charged at full price without linux users' whining about it. As another idea, game companies should demand a certain % of the profit instead of asking for money in advance. Seriously, what is their goal in charging LGP? It accomplishes nothing, it's basically just assuming they'll get $X in profit if the game is re-sold under linux. If the game is old, they're not going to make get any more sales so if letting a small independent company might bring in a little more cash, what's the problem with that? You can't expect them to do a good job when you're asking them for money they don't have.


As for some people on these forums, seriously, what's up your ass this morning? Some of you are treating LGP as though they should be put out of business, as if they were doing something wrong or embarassing.