What Linux Games Are Most Important To You?

[Svartalf]

Couldnt you talk to them now and see if they have changed their opinions regarding gamebryo running in linux? 5 years is a somewhat long time, linux is more widely accepted now.

NOT in the gaming space it's not. If it were, we wouldn't have the ongoing discussion we've got in the wishlist thread and we'd have things like UT3 on schedule and Vivendi wouldn't have told Blizzard to nix the WoW client for Linux. In the gaming space, we're somewhere between 3-5 years lagging behind the general acceptance. Why? Because the rest doesn't NEED apps, etc. to forge it forward. With the games space, you need sign-off from people who care about sales figures and we don't present a big enough picture for most of them to actually CARE about us either way.

However, having said this... It's not a bad thing to consider talking with them about it. Me, I'd wait a bit to see what fruits come of the porting discussion thread before going to them. Many of the AAA titles use that engine and it translates into the same level of resistance, really.

Woudlnt LGP help in supporting a linux port of gamebryo too?

Heh... Only if it was in conjunction with a major title win- like one of the Elder Scrolls ones. Seriously speaking, they're only going to allow the work if they see a real demand for Linux support (something we've basically shown our backsides to the industry with all these years- it's been a lot of "Hand it to us, hand it to us... Oh, you mean we have to BUY it again even though I paid for the Windows version? (Or, 'Oh, you mean we have to spend more than the current Windows version selling in the bargain bins?') Well, F*CK you...I'm giving myself the copy ANYHOW...") or if someone ponies up cold hard cash to be allowed to make it happen or to have them make it happen for you.

[xav1r]

Well, i just meant, if lets say the linux porting goes thru, and customers start buying, and they have a question on how to install or setup their linux game client on their linux box, would LGP be taking those calls?

[Stedevil]

Battle of Wesnoth
FreedroidRPG (Diablo/Fallout like)
UFO: Alien Invasion (X-com like)

Other than that I've been doing some HOMMV via wine lately

[kgonzales]

WINE
NWN
Enemy Territory

As an aside, I miss Loki Games. Heavy Gear II and Railroad Tycoon II took up lots and lots and lots of my time...

[Svartalf]

Well, i just meant, if lets say the linux porting goes thru, and customers start buying, and they have a question on how to install or setup their linux game client on their linux box, would LGP be taking those calls?

If they did it, YES.

Unless the original studio/publisher does the work, the ones doing it for the OS in question are the ones that're on the hook for the support. This is part of the reason why I question people wanting the Linux version for free or for cheap when someone other than the original people do the version- that money's got to come from somewhere you know... :-D

[Chris]

This is part of the reason why I question people wanting the Linux version for free or for cheap when someone other than the original people do the version- that money's got to come from somewhere you know... :-D

But as you say, the biggest cost is in the IP associated with the title. When you buy the Windows version, you buy access to that IP, so buying again for Linux where most of the cost is for something you already have...

Getting Linux binaries for free (if from the original developer) or for a fraction of the price (if from a 3rd party that ported it) seems reasonable in that regard. If all you need to buy is the support for your OS, why should you need to pay (more than) the full price of the entire game?

I imagine this isn't limitted to just Windows-to-Linux, either. How many people do you know that bought the Windows version of Halo 1 or 2 after the XBox version? Despite the PC being far superior for FPS gaming, and despite the popularity of Halo, the games didn't do terribly well. And only a portion of those sales are from people who already had the console version.

[Svartalf]

But as you say, the biggest cost is in the IP associated with the title. When you buy the Windows version, you buy access to that IP, so buying again for Linux where most of the cost is for something you already have...

The IP access is a big portion, yes, but if you think I tell everyone that it's the biggest cost, you weren't reading everything I've had to say for some time now.

Getting Linux binaries for free (if from the original developer) or for a fraction of the price (if from a 3rd party that ported it) seems reasonable in that regard.

Unfortunately, the system's NOT structured that way. You can reason through it through and through- you bought the Windows version of the game which is DIFFERENT, in the eyes of everyone other than yourself and others that think like you, than the Linux or the MacOS version. To use the analogy that you use later on- you don't see people bitching about the Windows version's price of Halo/Halo2. Either they bought it or they didn't based on what they wanted to do on their PC.

If all you need to buy is the support for your OS, why should you need to pay (more than) the full price of the entire game?

You're not buying support for your OS. When you see a game ported to Linux from Windows, it's deemed by all players involved as a different thing than the Windows title- this is because it really IS a different work, at least in part. The ONLY time it will not cost more than the Windows title is when it's simultaneously released either by the Windows studio and publisher or by a separate interest. Moreover, you don't get to move over to the other OS save by the good graces of the studio or publisher in question. You get to do this with iD's stuff because they LET you do that. Ditto Epic. This is more to do with the fact that they did the work themselves than your thinking.

I imagine this isn't limitted to just Windows-to-Linux, either. How many people do you know that bought the Windows version of Halo 1 or 2 after the XBox version? Despite the PC being far superior for FPS gaming, and despite the popularity of Halo, the games didn't do terribly well. And only a portion of those sales are from people who already had the console version.

You just answered your own question there...

[val-gaav]

Heroes of might and magic 5 Tribes of the East (WINE)
Glest
Gltron
Eisenstern (http://eisenstern.com/) Seems nice and I love RPGs ... unfortunatly it's pre production phase . I do hope it will get finished one day.

[Dragonlord]

I thought ID Software did introduce said distinction. After all you bought the game with which you bought a windows client and the right to play the game content ( and use it for modding that is ). Then you can go download the linux client ( limited support which is though okay with me ). So the client and game content had been two separate things. I know others do it differently but ID showed it works so I don't get why it is such a fuzz in the end.

[Zhick]

I know others do it differently but ID showed it works so I don't get why it is such a fuzz in the end.

The way I understand it is that the publishers care even less for a linux-client if the client doesn't bring in new sells. For iD it's okay because they've been developing both clients roughly at the same time, but if someone like LGP asks publishers to release a linux-client that works with the windows-version of the game, the publishers wont care because they already sold those game-copys.
It's actually even a bit worse because afaik LGP sells the games themselves and actually have to pay the original publisher for the rights to port the game, so they _have_ to sell linux-only versions since they wont get any money for the already sold windows-versions.

Edit: To stay on topic:

Wine (Warcraft 3, CS1.6) on lans
War$ow
And that's it. : /
I'm propably gonna get X3 since I've always wanted to try out that series, and I'm gonna buy On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Ep1 as soon as the demo works with xf86-video-ati.