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186 Comments
- inactive, on 01/13/2009, -8/+41I hate to be the one who says it, but it's just not profitable.
Also, developers love DirectX too much to leave Windows. - fandyboy, on 01/13/2009, -10/+39" glory of the GNU/Linux operating system take hold as the prominently used end user platform for computers everywhere."
And then you woke up. - Dumbledorito, on 01/13/2009, -5/+30FTA: "Over the next 1 to 3 years, and beyond, we are set to see the glory of the GNU/Linux operating system take hold as the prominently used end user platform for computers everywhere."
So the next 1-3 years will be the years of the Linux desktop.
Also, either the author said "prominently" so as not to have to make some kind of claim to actual numbers, or they meant "predominant" and are just a tad optimistic, if not a bit fanatical as evidenced by the use of the word "glory." To the author: It's an OS, not a religion. - ArthurSucks, on 01/12/2009, -9/+34Truth be told I'd buy more games for Linux. Doom3 is still an epic game.
- sathias, on 01/13/2009, -2/+24It won't happen without someone pouring money into OpenGL. Microsoft have invested very heavily in DirectX for a reason, to lock gamers into their platform. Without someone taking the initiative and matching the level of investment into OpenGL, this is just a pipe dream.
- cquinnd, on 01/12/2009, -2/+24>> Better free software games will mean people won't buy games anymore.
No, it would just mean more options for games to play, but if there is a killer game out there that is considered a "must have" by its fans; then simple capitalist principles will allow that many people will still rather purchase that game than seek another that doesn't offer the same experience.
Just because a game is developed on GNU/Linux does not preclude its creator from selling their work. - greenx, on 01/12/2009, -4/+25I believe there should be more communication from end users to the makers of all products.
Keep up the heavy lifting. - iradel, on 01/13/2009, -1/+21Doom3 is an engine in search of a game.
- omgwtflawl, on 01/13/2009, -0/+17Because we all know that Che brought freedom to his people, like a stream of hot lead from a firing squad into the chest of a political dissident. Oh wait, that wasn't actually freedom...
- dcxx20, on 01/13/2009, -10/+26the great niche market of people who don't want to pay for software....
- inactive, on 01/13/2009, -1/+17Not a bad idea but since so many of us use ATi now (4850, 4870). OpenGL support is garbage, its either broken or totally inferior to Nvidia's extensions and support. ATi knows D3D and thats about it.
- unorthodoxor, on 01/13/2009, -2/+14Windows PoS game = Linux's Epic game.
- fandyboy, on 01/13/2009, -1/+13You can recreate the Doom3 experience by sellotaping a torch to your face and then putting a paper bag over your head.
- mardraum, on 01/13/2009, -0/+11don't forget the monster closets, so trick a fat girl into hiding behind the door or something.
- toxictonic, on 01/13/2009, -1/+12My latest game has these sale stats so far:
Windows: 2,342
Mac: 7,830
Linux: 26
If doing the Linux port wasn't easy, I wouldn't bother in the future. - krellor, on 01/13/2009, -7/+17I dunnu why the linux base is always trying to grab converts. I have enough trouble with family calling me asking me for computer help as it is. Throw them on linux and next thing you know I'm trying to walk through some cousin how to apt get. But oh wait, it is having an issue because it needs to remove some packages before continuing so then I get to over the phone them through synaptic. Fabulous. Seriously, dunnu why linux always wants more grandma users. You see the behavior of the average gamer lately? I had some kid keeping popping idle on l4d the other day because he had to "check his myspace page for messages". Is that who you are trying to pitch your OS to?
- zeebo, on 01/13/2009, -4/+14Desktop linux users are a relatively small market, composed of people likely to play games, and who have almost no one marketing anything to them. Niche market + Virtually no competition == $$. Now with countries like China cracking down on illicit windows use, Linux versions of mainstream games might make that much more sense.
- Aleut, on 01/13/2009, -1/+11"Over the next 1 to 3 years, and beyond, we are set to see the glory of the GNU/Linux operating system take hold as the prominently used end user platform for computers everywhere."
Things that happened the first year I heard that it would be "the year of Linux on the desktop":
President Bill Clinton denies that he had "sexual relations" with Monica Lewinsky.
The first XML specification is released.
The film Titanic wins 11 Oscars.
The FDA approves Viagra
KDE 1.0 is released.
Google, Inc. is founded in Menlo Park
The DMCA is passed.
Iraq announces it will no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
Jesse Ventura is elected governor of Minnesota
Daimler-Benz merges with Chrysler Corporation to form Daimler-Chrysler
The Sega Dreamcast is made available in Japan. - miralize, on 01/13/2009, -5/+15The PCs getting Linux at the moment are netbooks which are too small and not powerful enough to play games. Until Linux gets a reasonable share of the market, there is no reason to switch just yet. I'm all for open source but these are the facts and if you dont believe me your in denial.
- inactive, on 01/13/2009, -5/+15I've been using Linux since about 1996, on and off, and sadly, I have heard the "This is the year of Linux!" every year since then. I would be fine with that, but I don't think it's coming any time soon.
I stuck the Windows 7 ISO in VMWARE, and pushed "GO" and it basically installed with no interaction. When it came up, it ran beautifully, even on VMWare under XP. I think Microsoft may have finally gotten it right with this latest release, and Linux will be pushed by the wayside yet again. - werries, on 01/13/2009, -2/+11Thats what keeps people away. The developers think linux users wont pay for games.
But a huge majority of us will. - theragu40, on 01/13/2009, -1/+10Oh who are you kidding??
- jull1234, on 01/13/2009, -1/+10Doom 3 was made by id.
- Tynan, on 01/13/2009, -1/+9You're totally correct.
I'm a pro game designer on AAA shooter games. I hear discussions at work about platform support. It's widely known at this point that releasing for the PC at the same time as consoles can actually depress your sales. For example, CoD4 sold almost 10 million on consoles and just a few hundred thousand on PC. However, there were millions of copies pirated on the PC. It seems likely that they might have sold even more copies overall if they didn't release a PC version because the PC piracy wouldn't have been cannibalizing sales from the consoles.
Of course, we're not sure what might have happened without the PC version. It just means the benefits of a PC release are very uncertain - especially considering the development cost. Ports aren't easy. Game balance and interface change when you change resolution and control interface (mouse/keyboard vs gamepad = significant design differences).
Seeing as most of us aren't even bothering with Windows any more, it's not realistic at all to think that we'd bother with Linux and it's terribly fractured technological base. Plus Linux users are very tech-savvy and even more likely to just pirate the games than windows users. They're used to thinking software "wants to be free", after all.
The only types of games Linux has a chance of attracting at this point are small indie and casual games. If the Linux people want to get ahead with this, they might start trying to forge relationships with Valve to see if they can hook Steam into Linux and start getting some of the more popular small Steam games to support Linux.
Other than that, it's not gonna happen any time soon, especially with Windows 7 looking like it's actually going to be a good OS. - Tynan, on 01/13/2009, -0/+8It wasn't bad, but it didn't advance the art at all, really.
Carmack's a great programmer, but we've surpassed him in terms of narrative and gameplay design. - mechanisma22, on 01/13/2009, -1/+9If there was Steam games for Linux I could drop windows all together
- cfuse, on 01/13/2009, -3/+10Why would anyone pour cash into a tiny install base with systems with video drivers that suck balls? Buried as Linux fanwank.
- earthforce1, on 01/13/2009, -3/+10It does, it is called OpenGL.
- 99butcher99, on 01/13/2009, -10/+17 No it will not.. never will. give it up fan boys. Linux is still not user friendly enough for the general public. Until you figure out that that popup command box has to go and installs have to be made foolproof, and that your grandma should be able to just log in and run stuff like she can on windows linux will never fly.
Tried it over and over. TRIED to like it. It is still just not as easy as windows or mac. - shutz, on 01/13/2009, -3/+10With only a few prominent exceptions, there are way fewer big-budget PC games coming out, even for Windows. Game publishers have all but abandoned the platform, due to all the problems it entails. Apart from WoW, show me 1 AAA game that came out in the last 12 months that didn't also come out on one of the big consoles, where it sold way more copies than on PC?
Apart from a few hardcore stalwarts, most gamers own at least one of the three main game consoles, and end up playing more games on those consoles than on their PCs.
Where the PC still shines is in the casual gaming area: it's easier to create a little casual game for PC, as opposed to consoles, because there are no hoops to jump through for certification, no costly devkits to purchase, etc. That's why companies like Popcap are doing so well.
If Linux could have had more commercial games published for it about 6-8 years ago, it might have made a difference in its adoption and become a lot more popular. But the thing is, games aren't the main "killer app" for PCs anymore. Find 1000 regular PC users, and ask them what they spend the most time with on their computer, and you'll get only a small percentage who spend significant time playing video games. For most users, it's social networking sites, Youtube, email, chat/IM, and other, similar social experiences. That's what they spend the most time on. And for those people, Windows "just works" whereas Linux is still a hassle and an unknown for them.
I feel sad saying this, but the only way Linux is going to gain more acceptance is when most schools switch to Linux (which would definitely be a sound financial decision!) and especially when more offices also switch. As long as people are taught to use Windows first, and as long as it's what they use most of the time at work, they're not going to switch by themselves, and Linux will remain a "geek niche" alternative. - MCJackhammer, on 01/13/2009, -1/+8Let's be honest...does ANYONE'S grandma just "logs in and runs stuff"? Regardless of the OS?
People have just gotten accustomed to Windows, not because it's that much easier. - radu79, on 01/13/2009, -2/+8It is pretty profitable for us. Making a multi platform game is not that hard, so long as you don't use DX.
And the fact that not many games are made for Linux works for us, because there are many millions of Linux users, and few games. There are billions of Windows users, but the market is over saturated, to the point that very few Windows games actually pay off. - iradel, on 01/13/2009, -2/+8It's hard to take this thing seriously when the first sentence has grammar mistakes.
- TheSilentNumber, on 01/12/2009, -10/+16More games ported to Linux will lead to more gamers switching. More gamers on linux will increase awareness of free software games. More awareness of free software games will lead to better free software games. Better free software games will mean people won't buy games anymore. Sounds good to me =]
- inactive, on 01/13/2009, -0/+6hence iD is the only company that still uses OpenGL over D3D which might be why it "just works"
- mardraum, on 01/13/2009, -1/+6too true, that's why I love what iD do.
- LeviTheSmith, on 01/13/2009, -0/+5wat u talcking abowt?
- fandyboy, on 01/13/2009, -0/+5Willis?
- maz2331, on 01/13/2009, -0/+5I use it because I plug my machine into a lot of other people's networks regularly, and hate having to deal with the aggrivation of local vs. domain logins and profile changes.
And I can mount client shares via SMB, CIFS, and NFS just fine, thank you.
Some of us do REAL work with our laptops, not "desktop user" *****.
Thus, my machine is running Fedora 10. - TheFinaleofSeem, on 01/13/2009, -3/+8Linux is going to be the prominent OS on desktop computers? I think the guy writing this article is way too optimistic. Linux has a low single-digit market share as an end-user OS. Servers have much more, but homebodies? Not much. Developers would be much more likely to port to Apple before they port to Linux. The guy writing this article is grotesquely deluded. But let's take a look at this list, shall we?
"Jeff Rosen (a game developer at Wolfire Games - makers of the crossplatform(including Linux) game "Lugaru") outlines 5 good (and profitable) reasons games ported to GNU/Linux will do well"
So a guy who has written some games that few people have heard of says it's profitable. That's not going to convince developers. Even if they are profitable, the margins are very slim and likely not enough to warrant the effort. That's the same reason few games have been ported to OS X until recently. Sure, they'd be profitable, but not enough for most companies to care.
"This forum at linuxquestions.org has 80 pages of names of games that people would like to see "ported" to GNU/Linux:"
STOP THE PRESSES! People on a forum want something ported! That doesn't mean a damn thing. If that list had tens of thousands of people posting in it, developers might take note. However, it's a wishlist on a forum. How in the hell is that supposed to convince anyone to port their games?
"This blog with an experimental test of searching websites with the term "linux" shows that many people are searching for "linux client" versions of games:"
He links to his own site for this one. Basically, his findings are that there are always people asking about Linux versions for games. Great. For all developers know, those are the same 3 dozen people or so. It proves nothing. The guy is also grotesquely out of touch if he thinks that Linux ports will make games develop even faster. Maybe if they were exclusively written for Linux, but that's not going to happen outside of a few tiny FOSS developers who probably don't care about making any real money.
"See the popularity of this digg article concerning gaming on GNU/Linux as a means for user adoption :"
Wow, a few hundred comments! How convincing! Newsflash: Digg is not a valid cross-section of the average user. Digg is mostly geeks or wannabe geeks.
"Search google using the following search term and you will find lots of articles concerning porting games to Linux:"
The FOSS community is pretty vocal. Again, IT PROVES NOTHING. Sure, you'll find articles, but until Linux actually has the numbers to back it up, developers will look at market share and figure that Linux users can either boot into Windows or use WINE if they want to play the games.
In short, this guy is an idiot who does not live in reality. He lives in some pie-in-the-sky land where Linux will catch on any day now and then crush proprietary software in a few years. Nope, not gonna happen. Linux may gain some ground in the desktop arena over the next three years, but don't expect massive, dramatic upswings in the numbers. All we have here is yet another open-source zealot who couldn't figure out reality if it crammed several pineapples up his ass. - kmoed, on 01/13/2009, -1/+6These Linux Fan Boys need to stop waiting for everyone else make their dreams come true.It's the problem with the entire Linux community and Linux in itself.
It's open source so you can change it to your liking, if it does not do something you want it to do you have the ability to change that. It's the whole bloody point of having access to the SOURCE!!!
Stop whining , start doing, if you can't do, learn or stick to Windows. MS isn't waiting around for a bunch of whiners to make changes to their OS.
Stop Digging and go make JOEBLOW OS that runs all the DX games in the world and is free.
But chances are you wouldn't want to do all that work and not get paid. Right?? - radu79, on 01/13/2009, -0/+5OpenGL is still pretty powerful though. And while DX is more updated, most of the indie developers do not have the resources (moolah) to take full advantage of all the DX features anyway.
- Tynan, on 01/13/2009, -0/+5Perhaps you should try to "leran" English.
This reminds me of "how is babby formed" to be honest. - MCJackhammer, on 01/13/2009, -3/+8Right. Because Windows users just LOOOVE to pay for software.
- dkoon, on 01/13/2009, -2/+7OSX has about 8.6% market share, and Linux has only 0.8%. So I guess it only make senses to start making games for Linux immediately, because "over the next 1 to 3 years, and beyond, we are set to see the glory of the GNU/Linux operating system take hold as the prominently used end user platform for computers everywhere." You know! The third biggest OS in the world! OMG!
- radu79, on 01/13/2009, -0/+5Well, you have SDL, OpenAL.. I find them easier to use than DX.
- MCJackhammer, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4Would've been better if it had the stencil of Tux.
- bhalo05, on 01/13/2009, -1/+5"Over the next 1 to 3 years, and beyond, we are set to see the glory of the GNU/Linux operating system take hold as the prominently used end user platform for computers everywhere."
First written in 1995. How is that called? Zero credibility? - srg13, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4With a bit of careful planning from the start, you can write a game that runs on Windows, Mac OS and Linux, the Xbox 360, and PS3 with little extra cost. Therefore it makes a lot of sense to develop them in a cross platform way, because then they have a wider marketshare...
- BalooUrsidae, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4If Microsoft cared about the PC gaming experience, they wouldn't turn up the bling level higher with every new release of Windows by default.
Microsoft doesn't care about you. -
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