Put the wish list for porting projects HERE...

[xav1r]

No, they weren't- there's a couple of licensees. I can't remember now whom, but there were a few takers. Since they don't take the position iD does on the engines (which is when there's enough years, they go GPL no matter whom's licensed to the older tech (if you want exclusives, go get the latest engine... ) I can see them holding that position.

However... One wonders if they'd be open to having a porter help them make the engine and their new one a bit more valuable by making it a bit more cross-platform and then pass something "easy" under Ubisoft's nose... I guess Far Cry just ended up being a "maybe"- I'd thought it was a "no way" one. Interesting turn of events, that...

Should I email them again asking if they'd be interested in such a porting work? Probably with the crysis expansion pack being released soon they might be interested.

[xav1r]

speaking of which, what about the developers of one of my favorite games of all time, serious sam 2 (i know ) , Croteam? They might be interested. There was even a native linux client that reached beta stage before being abandoned no one knows exactly why. AFAIK, they own the rights to both the engine and the game.

[Thetargos]

Serious Sam does have a native port, I have it installd onto my main system. Now, Serious Sam 2 got to beta IIRC.

[xav1r]

Serious Sam does have a native port, I have it installd onto my main system. Now, Serious Sam 2 got to beta IIRC.

Yea, and it was scrapped off shortly afterwards. So in that case half the work is already done.

[me262]

In reference to my post in the QuakeCon Linux discussion, what about Warcraft III?
I know it's AAA, I know it's Blizzard/Vivendi/Activision, but it's also a fairly old title. It can use OpenGL. It's still quite popular

I still play it with my friends. Mainly for playing DOTA nowadays.
It would be a nice gateway application for Blizzard, who would see that if this is successful, may allow future games, and perhaps 0-day AAA.

Let that one marrinate a bit... The benefits may outweigh the cost.

* In case anyone hasn't picked up how I define 0-day AAA, I mean that come release day, we'll have a native linux binary. 0-day (aka release-day) is a term that's carried over into my vocabulary (much like how I use "shiny" to describe "great" or "cool" or "okay" or "fine", or how since 4 weeks ago I've found myself saying "frack" instead of cursing).
** I really should call it "Linux 0-day AAA"
*** It occurs to me that with the release of Starcraft II, there will be official support for DOTA in it, negating my need to run Warcraft 3. Play that card as you see fit. I'm too tired now to think much harder.

[Svartalf]

Should I email them again asking if they'd be interested in such a porting work? Probably with the crysis expansion pack being released soon they might be interested.

Why don't you do that since you've got the contact info and they've got a person that they've discussed some of this with? That way we can concisely place them in the right category. It'd tickle me to no end to have yet another "looking into this" title and get it scored like I'm about to get on at least one other studio's work. And it'd be a coup for us, really, if they were at least remotely amenable to something realistic for us all.

[ivanovic]

Any comments on the position of codemaster towards Linux ports? That is a possible candidate for porting *could* be the game "Overlord". Yes, it is in the AAA (or at least AA) category, *but* it has port a port to the PS3 already. So at least the graphics engine should not be too much of a problem.

No idea about codemasters position towards Linux, maybe it is possible to convince them to support Linux, at least it could be worth a try.

[RobbieAB]

The big blocker to most games is not the technical side of the port, but getting access to the IP to do it...

[Svartalf]

In reference to my post in the QuakeCon Linux discussion, what about Warcraft III?
I know it's AAA, I know it's Blizzard/Vivendi/Activision, but it's also a fairly old title. It can use OpenGL. It's still quite popular

I'm inclined to add it to the "maybe" list. We know that Blizzard semi-warmed up to us with WoW- it's my understanding that Vivendi is the one that told them "no" on the client there, even though they HAD one. Vivendi isn't hostile in the sense they're against us- they just don't see ANY money coming from Linux sales anytime in their foreseeable future (Read: next 3 or so years...). As to why I'd say that it's a "maybe"...I'll get to that here in a bit...

I still play it with my friends. Mainly for playing DOTA nowadays.
It would be a nice gateway application for Blizzard, who would see that if this is successful, may allow future games, and perhaps 0-day AAA.

I'd concur overall- it's just that I don't seeing us raising the funds to get it.

Let that one marrinate a bit... The benefits may outweigh the cost.

Heh... I will let it stew a bit- but I can tell you that we might as well pin that one to the same class of acquisition, unless they decide to give us a sweet-heart deal, of trying to get UT3 or Rage outside of the good graces of their respective studios giving us versions. You're going to need six figures, most likely, to get it. Why? Main line current version (WoW isn't the mainline version, really...) of their MAIN franchise title. They're not letting people peek at the code, much less make alternate OS versions for cheap on that sort of thing. I'm not going to say "no" and to not talk with them. If we've got a foot in the door somewhere over there right now, it'd be silly not to at least ask. If we don't, however, there's enough going on that'll position us better for getting a good deal on it or the next set of stuff out of them, that I'm going to say I'm not chasing it right at the moment.

* In case anyone hasn't picked up how I define 0-day AAA, I mean that come release day, we'll have a native linux binary. 0-day (aka release-day) is a term that's carried over into my vocabulary (much like how I use "shiny" to describe "great" or "cool" or "okay" or "fine", or how since 4 weeks ago I've found myself saying "frack" instead of cursing).
** I really should call it "Linux 0-day AAA"
*** It occurs to me that with the release of Starcraft II, there will be official support for DOTA in it, negating my need to run Warcraft

Heh... I got the semantics. I'm almost at the same point you are in terminology, but I've not taken to calling them that.

3. Play that card as you see fit. I'm too tired now to think much harder.

It's moving to the "maybe" category- but it's a long-shot right now, for the time being as it's just not something on my radar because I certainly can't front four figures very easily, let alone six.

If you can get our foot in the door at least as good as we appear to have with Crytek on at least Far Cry, I'll revise that position and put a little more effort to it.

[Svartalf]

Any comments on the position of codemaster towards Linux ports? That is a possible candidate for porting *could* be the game "Overlord". Yes, it is in the AAA (or at least AA) category, *but* it has port a port to the PS3 already. So at least the graphics engine should not be too much of a problem.

No idea about codemasters position towards Linux, maybe it is possible to convince them to support Linux, at least it could be worth a try.

I've contemplated contacting them. They'd be a possible. However...

I've got the workings of at least one initial deal that'll be good for us, niche though it is, and the workings of another niche play that's started but not far enough to call it all but closed. If someone wants to ping them, go for it- while they're publishing AAA titles, they're the low play on the totem pole compared to Vivendi or EA. They might be not so against things if they can be shown we will only present a minimal risk to them and a good upside potential. If someone doesn't go do it, I'll get to it in a little bit.