CG on 2003′s Gaming Disappointments
December 9th, 2003 by AlkiniMatt posted some curmudgeonry at CG on what he considers to be some of the gaming disappointments for 2003. Topping the Linux gaming-related list are the TransGaming/Aspyr Partnership and the lack of a successor to Loki. What do you guys think — did the TG/Aspyr deal do anything to change your previous opinions of TG? How well is LGP filling the Loki void?
December 9th, 2003 at 8:29 am
I think that LGP don’t fill the Loki void, it’s sad but true.
If I remember Loki correctly… they were much faster to port games (maybe not the same quality as LGP though) and much more games in diffrent generes (correctly spelled?).
Oh well, hopefully LGP will port more successfull games like Loki did, in the future…
Regarding TG I cannot tell anything because I’m not that into the story about them.
December 9th, 2003 at 9:15 am
all lgp does is port games that were out 2 or 3 thousand years ago. If they really want to help the linux gaming scene, they have to port games that have just gone out, or that are still in development.
hell, they had a chance to port worms 3d for linux while it was still in development, however we haven’t heard a word since they said they were doing “talks” with team 17.
December 9th, 2003 at 10:06 am
yeah this news about TG is ‘clear’ evidence of their deceit to linux…taking poor linux peoples money, giving their sub-standards working winex garbage and then porting mac/PC titles..yup thats a company serious about linux gaming..NOTTTTTTT
we’ve gotten ‘better’ support from:
s2games.com
go savage and s2games!!!
( everyone dont forget about the level design contest as the prize surely is SWEET) ;-)..
if my pocketbook was a bit more full atm I’d be buying ballistics and a few other titles but I just can’t atm….but there are several titles at LGP that look very promising and I think in time they will start filling void with titles such as ballistics and gorky17 and software tycoon sounds intriuging..there are several others of course and I hope they do well.
December 9th, 2003 at 10:33 am
I never even heard of this about TransGaming.
Was that done just after the 3.2 release of WineX?
Coz i personally thought that was one hell of a release, what with Max Payne 2 and all.
December 9th, 2003 at 10:37 am
In my eyes is that they have failed to deliver on any of their promises. The only reason I subscribed in the first place was to see the WineX fork merged with Wine. But as time goes on, the original Wine looks better and better, and Transgaming has given back only a limited amount of code.
Noone seems to be asking the question though: what happens if transgaming goes out of business? Do all of the subscribers loose out on there investment? Transgaming has made no promises that they will keep the CVS open, or that they will give back the changes the community is funding after they close their doors, or are bought, etc.
I’d really like to see more polished psuedo-ports from transgaming (like Kohan), and would actually pay money for them.
December 9th, 2003 at 11:29 am
Why, oh, why? If you people are really that obsessed with bankrupt companies, I can suggest a much more interesting scene.
December 9th, 2003 at 12:27 pm
When Loki closed it doors, it looked pretty bleak for Linux gaming. But I don’t want to see another Loki rise from the ashes, consume a ton of money, pump out a few great games and go bankrupt. In the long term, the best thing that the linux gaming scene can do is PROVE that linux gaming can be viable for a commercial company to support.
LGP is doing a good job of the “play it softly, don’t overstep the mark” mode of operation. Yes – the games they are porting are not the ultra expensive big bang games of this year. But they are porting games which have no comparison in the linux gaming scene. Ballistics is sorely needed – there are NO commercial racing games for Linux. Gorky 17, Knights and Merchants (which I’m currently beta testing) and others fill gaps which have no comparison in the current FPS-heavy library.
Ultimately, what I want is to see LGP do well, pay the bills, build a team of people who can port linux games well and advance the cause of linux gaming in general. If I’m anxious for Halo: Combat Evolved or Final Fantasy X-2 to appear on the Linux platform, well – that doesn’t help. At least for a couple more years we have to accept that the games which do appear on the Linux platform will not be as numerous as those on the consoles or PC. Nor will they necessarily be huge budget extravaganzas (although Doom 3 is in that category and Unreal 2004 will probably be joining the Linux collection too). Patience and a willing wallet helps here. For myself, I haven’t bought a Windows game since Black & White and I’m not changing that now. Given by the numbers of hours I’ve spent playing Knights and Merchants, it’s pretty damn good and it’ll be something new for us to get our teeth into.
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
December 9th, 2003 at 12:47 pm
LGP:
Taking the slower approach, that way they hopefully won’t be another bankrupt company that brings Linux gaming a bad name, still have quite a few people who troll saying Linux is not viable.
TransGaming:
Hype not meeting reality, to be honest only ever used it for EverQuest (be nice to have a nativ binary of this!). Did have Black and White running until it suddenly stopped working…
December 9th, 2003 at 2:14 pm
Somewhere, Loki2 will show-up from nowhere. Led by none-other that the Pres of Loki. With one minor difference, eagerly named Loki2 and not liable to any past Debt.
HA!
December 9th, 2003 at 3:39 pm
Linux gaming is not going to come from an LGP or Loki. Its going to come internally from development studios. Just like they have people doing the Xbox and PS2 ports, there will be people who are doing the Linux port. When the demographics say Linux is a viable way to increase return on the investment of developing a game then you will see Linux ports start to pop up all over the place.
December 9th, 2003 at 4:35 pm
LGP is doing great. I think they are lving up to their word. They are always upfront and honest and produce solid product.
Now TG….. Check the game list. How many “5′s” are there? 5, and 2 of them are so called “ports”? All this time and they only support a lousy 3 games? Forget it. I never played a game in WineX that worked. I wish they did better, but I haven’t subscribed in about a year, and I won’t anymore. Winex just doesn’t work very well. Certainly not when compared to playing NWN, UT3K, Devastation, T2, Uplink, Savage, Majesty, or any one of a couple dozen other native games.
December 9th, 2003 at 5:49 pm
Somewhere (I think it was here in fact) I saw that LGP was goign to port Divine Divinity, or was I just imagining things again? This would be a great one. (Played it awhile on a friend’s windows machine)
December 11th, 2003 at 2:35 am
Just how big/small is the linux market? I have not bought a windows game for quite some time (age of empires 2 was the last i think). And I have bought several linux games since.. Understanding that loki burned its candle at both ends, I’m very curious as to how many boxes constitutes an insane number. They obviously calculated the need to sell x+1 number of boxes to breakeven+1 on production of said box. So, what does a given game sell like in say the first year of its being released? Take alpha centari (a game i purchased) for an example. Tuxgames lists it as the overall best seller. How many of these boxes were indeed sold? In the first year (or whatever time frame people use to deem a title a success)?
December 12th, 2003 at 5:58 am
I’m very proud to have LGP around (thx msimms!) now that Loki is history. Sure, they don’t port/publish big AAA titles like Loki, but they have the heart in it. I’m sure will see big titles eventually if LGP keep doing their stuff :)
That said, I can’t afford to buy games in general (not now, anyway) so no matter how much I want to support LGP, I won’t buy all linux-games. We all have our different tastes ie I prefer Quake3 over UT2k3. [i]If[/i] I end up buying UT2k3, it’s because I see it for 100kr. (~$15) in some shop, sad but true.
I really enjoyed the Majesty demo, and I promised myself to pick up a copy from Tuxgames one day, but the next game i definately buy from there is Ballistics! Gorky17, K&M and Software Tycoon I’ll skip, sorry, not my kind of games. It’s not LGP’s fault they can’t satisfy my taste, but me being picky.
“Inhouse” ports like Savage, DooM3 and UT2k4 may take away some highlight from LGP, but I think it’s important for linux-gaming to grow beyond the niche, keep people from dual-booting and attract new users/gamers. The more the marrier, I’m sure LGP wouldn’t mind :)
Oh, I’m in LGP’s target marked also! :)
December 12th, 2003 at 3:34 pm
I just tried the Mac demo of “Indiana Jones and the emperor’s tomb”.
Sad but true: one of the intro animations shows the TransGaming logo and the “Frameworks” subdir is stuffed with wine-related binaries…
December 15th, 2003 at 8:09 pm
It’s a shame that LGP says nothing to this topic.