AMD/ATi + Blizzard

[RobbieAB]

think about it - if there was a linux edition of e.g. world of warcraft or warcraft 3 with a linux (e.g ubuntu) install cd in the box, or even blizzard's dedicated distro. wouldn't that be cool?

What about the other software many gamers would run in the background? like the Voice Chat?

Admittedly, this could offer major benefits for them in terms of debugging: We provide a LiveCD to run the game for users, if the problem doesn't occur there, it's not our problem...

I don't think that many "casual" gamers would be willing to reboot for a game though, and the hardcore would complain about lack of functionality.

[yoshi314]

We had a Linux version early on for compatiability purposes, but have no plans to make the final game for Linux.

that sucks. as usual game gets developed on linux/unix and ported to windows :/ ( i believe most id games were developed on unix and then initially released for windows ). blizzard might be concerned about copy protection issues on linux and the fact that the os is a fluid platform (frequent api changes etc), where windows provides more stable ground.

but if it comes to online gaming most money comes from monthly account fees, not from the actual game sales.

i can think of one huge advantage of linux based game - you can box it together with an operating system :]

think about it - if there was a linux edition of e.g. world of warcraft or warcraft 3 with a linux (e.g ubuntu) install cd in the box, or even blizzard's dedicated distro. wouldn't that be cool?

[sundown]

What happened to the possiblity that Mark Shuttelworth will try to push Blizzard into doing their games for Linux?

[Thetargos]

I think Vivendi is just the publisher, otherwise we would have been seeing a Vivendi Universal logo in the company movies, instead of an inconspicuous spot on the box.

Not according to Vivendi, however Blizzard's own profile would suggest otherwise. Strange.

[me262]

Alas, Blizzard is "property" of Vivendi, and now with its new name will have even greater exposure and pressure)

I think Vivendi is just the publisher, otherwise we would have been seeing a Vivendi Universal logo in the company movies, instead of an inconspicuous spot on the box.

[Thetargos]

Heh... Are YOU going to tell one of the mainline Independent studios that can self-publish if they so saw fit, take it to ANY publisher they see fit to do so, that they CAN'T do what they've done? I wouldn't, even if I was Vivendi. It's just not a good thing to do.

I know, what I meant (before I read how was the whole deal) was that if several of these studios under the same roof could take the hint from those other bigger studios and experiment with Linux releases and stuff... Seeing as how the deal was played out, I seriously doubt it that even if one such [independent] studio did so, they'd still block it all the same (like they did with Blizzard... And look who is it we're talking about! Alas, Blizzard is "property" of Vivendi, and now with its new name will have even greater exposure and presure)

[Svartalf]

Being seen as ungrateful, hackers, and people who want everything for free. There are people like that, but it's a stereotype in my eyes. I certainly don't fit that profile. Most people that play commercial games don't.

"As far as I'm concerned, we paid for it, it's ours to f*** with." (Author Unknown)

Heh... Guess what...that's what they view us as. That's WHY we have some of the issues that we do finding people willing to give us commercial games. When you have more pirated copies of LGP titles than they've sold, it confirms that in their minds.

[Svartalf]

Now those are some news, indeed! Activision is also the publisher of choice for id and they don't mind them releasing their games commercially for Linux (nor their engines as GPL code)

Heh... Are YOU going to tell one of the mainline Independent studios that can self-publish if they so saw fit, take it to ANY publisher they see fit to do so, that they CAN'T do what they've done? I wouldn't, even if I was Vivendi. It's just not a good thing to do.

[me262]

It is undeniable that there are markets where Linux is much stronger than what it is in the American contient: Europe and China are two big and reacurring examples, but there's also other markets like India and some Latin American countries with developing economies. IMO the biggest problem with Linux-related software is the fact that Linux users are regarded most of the time as ungrateful bastards who want it all for Free (as in beer... perfect example of the abiguity of the term in colloquial English)... And as demonstrated by the motivation behind why LGP is incorporating DRM in their latest games, some users actually confirm these worst fears of Linux users being a bunch of pirates, and Open Source being a means to violate IP.

Now I was looking for some information about this news of Vivendi and Activision, and it would seem as if Vivendi actually bought out Activision (or a big chunk of it, and called for merger)... This doesn't necessarily looks good towards Linux support in the future from the new venture called Activision Blizzard

That is slightly disturbing. I guess we'll see when iD releases Quake 5. Then again from the blog post "Blizzard isn't easily swayed", so I'd think if Blizzard really wanted to do it, Activision Blizzard may let them.

I do find it odd that it's the other way around. Activision has been around for way to long to let that happen. I remember when they split from Atari! It's probably the reason Vivendi let them keep the name actually.

While I do appreciate the free software, I do recognise the need to keep some software under wraps. When I get into game design, I'll be the same way, because releasing the code just allows for other people to make their own forks (look at how many there are for Q1 and Q2!), meaning the forks have to change their netcode around, or people can cheat with a modified program. There's also the copy protection issue though, and I think the license key works well for online, but it's inadequate. There needs to be some kind of new optical media that can be tested for authenticity, but whenever there's protection, there's always someone that breaks it.
Being seen as ungrateful, hackers, and people who want everything for free. There are people like that, but it's a stereotype in my eyes. I certainly don't fit that profile. Most people that play commercial games don't.

"As far as I'm concerned, we paid for it, it's ours to f*** with." (Author Unknown)

[Thetargos]

You mean Activision. They recently bought Vivendi.

Now those are some news, indeed! Activision is also the publisher of choice for id and they don't mind them releasing their games commercially for Linux (nor their engines as GPL code)

Blizzard definitely isn't hostile if they made a early linux client. In fact WoW supports OpenGL, and that's the beginning. Blizzard does work with the Transgaming developers, so the "want to" is there. Take a look at how many Blizzard games run with Wine/Cedega (What's that? All of them?)

Actually Blizzard has been adding OpenGL render paths to their games, not out of "portability" as such, but rather for the Mac market, which they consider to be much bigger than Linux is [rant](my only concern being that for most American companies some times the "world" is located between the Great Lakes and the Big River; and between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, sometimes the northern border moves up to the Yukon, though)[/rant].

[Edit]

It is undeniable that there are markets where Linux is much stronger than what it is in the American contient: Europe and China are two big and reacurring examples, but there's also other markets like India and some Latin American countries with developing economies. IMO the biggest problem with Linux-related software is the fact that Linux users are regarded most of the time as ungrateful bastards who want it all for Free (as in beer... perfect example of the abiguity of the term in colloquial English)... And as demonstrated by the motivation behind why LGP is incorporating DRM in their latest games, some users actually confirm these worst fears of Linux users being a bunch of pirates, and Open Source being a means to violate IP.

[/Edit]

Hopefully Activision is more friendly to the Linux cause.

There has been a record of gmes originally published by them that DO have Linux ports (id games like Quake & Doom series, Raven games like RTCW, SoF, Quake IV, etc.

Now I was looking for some information about this news of Vivendi and Activision, and it would seem as if Vivendi actually bought out Activision (or a big chunk of it, and called for merger)... This doesn't necessarily looks good towards Linux support in the future from the new venture called Activision Blizzard

Ohh, I almost forgot about this Blog post: link