LINUXGAMES

ATFW has posted three music tracks from the anticipated 3D space combat sim Terminus. As a muscian myself, I have to say that these tracks are definitely among the best when it comes to game music. The tracks are available in mp3 format and two are also in VQF format.

Terminus Theme: terminus_theme.mp3 (VQF)
Terminus Music: terminusmusic.mp3
Terminus Epilogue: terminus_epilogue.mp3 (VQF)

Version 0.0.1 of The Penguin Machine has been released. Changes in this version include:

• The GPL license is included in the archive (called ‘COPYING’).
• The SDL (8-bit) driver partially works.
• Configuration script tidied up.

Downloads:
Bziped: ThePenguinMachine-0.0.1.tar.bz2
Gziped: ThePenguinMachine-0.0.1.tar.gz

Version 3.9.31 of the open source game library Allegro has been released. Changes ijn this version include:

• input support for the OSS sound driver
• improved the X keyboard and mouse handling
• support for dithering truecolor down to paletted images
• bug fixes

Download: allegro-3.9.31.tar.gz

Loki Entertainment Software’s Bernd Kreimeier wrote in to the Linux Q3A newsgroup to comment on the .plan update id’s Robert Duffy made this evening concerning the upcoming point release (thanks Steven Pinkham):

Robert Duffy @ id:

The point release is still in progress. We are addressing several things, among them auto downloading, mod support, cheating, and a few other things. It is moving into testing now and should be done “soon”.

One area that we are working hard to improve on is releasing things for all three platforms at the same time. As we have still not released the final point releases for the Macintosh or Linux based systems, the new point release will be available in all three flavors at the same time.

b @ Loki:

We have not received anything for testing yet.
We have no ETA yet.
We do not yet know which problems have been addressed.

The next Win32 point release is supposed to work with Linux CD’s.We have not yet received a Win32 binary to test this.

Further information as it finds its way to us.

3dfx’s Joseph Kain sent in the following:

There is a new XFree86 3.3.5 release for Voodoo3 and Voodoo Bansheeavailable. This release should fix the desktop snow problem for SGRAMbased Voodoo Banshee cards. Additionally, the revision number hasbeen increased from 0.6.1 to 4 to indicate that this package is newerthan the version shipped with many Linux distributions. Note thatthis driver does not work with the XFree86 4.0 prerelease DRI drivers.

The files XFree86-SVGA_3.3.5-4.i386.rpm andXFree96-XF86Setup-3.3.5-4.i386.rpm are now available on the followingpage:
http://linux.3dfx.com/open_source/download/voodoo3_banshee.htm

Please follow the instructions on the above page to install thispackage.

This new release has the following bug fixes:

• Timings for SGRAM are fixed and should not cause snow on the 2D desktop. – Thanks to Maciej Zagorowski for this fix.
• RPM should no longer complain that a newer version of XFree86_SVGA is already installed.
• There are no other functionality changes in this release.

If your Voodoo Banshee has snow on the 2D X desktop please try thisnew release. If it does not fix your problem please email me,joseph@3dfx.com, or send mail to the newsgroup 3dfx.glide.linux.

Again note that This release does NOT work with the DRI/XFree86 4.0based drivers.

David Fauthoux has released version 1.0.9 of his Bomberman clone Bomb ô Bomb. Changes:

• A new graphical setup.
• 2 new levels: Devil level (dark ambience, dark graphics, and dark sound), and a Y2K level (lights off).
• Added rotator machine.

Bomb ô Bomb 1.0.9 Download:
http://david.fauthoux.free.fr/download.html

Development version 0.95.28 of XRacer has been released. This version includes an MPEG-2 decoder and can therefore play MPEG-2 files during the intro sequence. In regards to this new feature, Richard Jones writes:

Obviously what I’m missing now is an actual MPEG to play. If anyone is interested in submitting an intro video, I’ll put them up on the site and hold a small vote for which one goes in the game. Before starting to design an intro video, please contact me so that I can tell you some of the more technical requirements.

David Symonds has announced the release of The Penguin Machine, a puzzle game which entails building a Rube Goldberg-like device with specific objectives to accomplish. Current features:

• Only two parts available (bowling ball and bar).
• Physics only in place for collisions rectangles and circles.
• The only stable graphics target is SVGALib (SDL support is broken).
• No input is handled (currently uses getchar ()) to grab a keystroke.

Marian Krivos wrote in to announce the release of FastGL 1.82. Changes:

• updated examples (added Timer and Calc)
• updated Slovak docs
• disable linear mode for Watcom C++ – not capable on now
• fixed clipping in draw_hline()
• fixed MMX state in draw_hline() kernel proc (random FPU exceptions)
• added code for drawing arc, ellipse and fill ellipse

FastGL 1.82 Source:
http://www.tutok.sk/fastgl/download/fastgl.tgz

DGen/SDL version 1.20a, a Sega Genesis emulator ported to SDL, has been released by Joe Groff. Changes:

• Fixed a tiny problem that caused MMX to be improperly detected on some Linux boxes.

DGen/SDL 1.20a Source:
http://www.humboldt1.com/~ognir/dgen-sdl-1.20a.tar.gz

Tobias Bachmor sent in the following disappointing news regarding a Linux port of Anno 1602 (which will be released in the US as 1602 AD), a colonization strategy game that has sold remarkably well in Europe. Sunflowers Interactive Entertainment Software, the developers of Anno 1602, e-mailed Tobias this response (translation below):

doch Du bist der erste der nachfragt, leider muss ich Dir aber eine Absageerteilen. ANNO nach Linux zu portieren wäre an sich schon reizvoll,allerdings lohnt sich der Aufwand (noch) nicht.

English translation:

Actually you are the first to ask and I’m afraid I must say no. It would be tempting to port ANNO to Linux but (at the moment) it would not pay.

Development version 2.3.5 of the dungeon-hack RPG ZAngband has been released. Changes in this version include bug fixes and the mindcrafter ‘domination’ spell no longer affects quest monsters.

Download: zangband-2-3-5-src.zip

Loki has updated their news page announcing that they will be attending the LinuxWorld Expo New York this week. They will be in booth 871 and will be “giving out limited-edition Loki postcards featuring Tux climbing a certain famous New York building.” On a related note they also mentioned that they will not be processing orders from tomorrow until Feb 7 when they return from the Expo.

Matt Matthews has produced a new Linux gaming article examining a routinely discussed facet of Linux evangelization: how well does a Linux game perform when compared with an identical title for Windows? Matt benchmarks Quake 3: Arena (with a 3dfx Voodoo 3 card) on both operating systems using several driver sets, including an XFree86 4.0 pre-release snapshot. Matt concludes:

The bad news is that in practical playing situations, the more polished Windows drivers provide the best performance for playing Quake 3 Arena. And if you want the very best performance, you should use the WickedGL drivers. But, as I see it, the good news is that at 800×600 and below, Linux isn’t that far behind. Assuming that the drivers can be optimized to increase the performance at 1024×768 and higher, Linux may eventually be competitive across the board. Certainly, Linux is far ahead of where it was just a year ago, both in performance and stability. So, as I normally play at 800×600 anyway, I’ll continue playing Q3A in Linux and forego booting into Windows every time I have the desire to frag someone.

Johns has released FreeCraft (formerly known as ALE Clone) version 1.16.1 pre-release 1. Changes include:

• Many bug fixes.
• GUILE replaced with SIOD.

FreeCraft 1.16.1pre1 Source:
http://user.exit.de/johns/clone-000131.tar.gz

Telefragged’s resident news updater KungFu got word that Activision has announced Grey Matter Interactive Studios is in the process of developing a sequel to id’s classic World War II first-person shooter Wolfenstein 3-D (Linux GL source port), which is entitled Return to Wolfenstein. Return to Wolfenstein will utilize the Q3A-engine, and as Grey Matter is composed largely of former Xatrix employees (including Ryan “Ridah” Feltrin, who ported Kingpin to Linux), expect to see a Linux port of this upcoming European front commando game.

An article titled Why do a 3D mud? has been posted by the Imaginary Realities ‘zine. The article is related to the Majik 3D project in that it “tries to make clear why we [Majik developers] are doing our project, a former text-based mud, in a true 3D perspective and what made us take such decisions.”

Version 0.95.27 of XRacer has been released. This version includes a small mouse patch. The package also includes some new Blender work that has not been incorporated in to the game yet, but does show that direction that development in moving.

Download: xracer-0.95.27.tar.gz
Patch: patch-0.95.27.gz

A Talent For War has posted a HTMLized log of their 4th Space Sim Developer Chat. As we previously mentioned, developers from the Parsec and Terminus projects participated and covered quite a bit of Linux information. It is a good read if you are interested in space sims and missed out on the chat.

Infoworld has put out an article titled Linux Goes Mainstream. It is the typical run-of-the-mill intro to Linux article, but it mentions gaming as one of the indications that our OS is gaining popularity. It evens goes as far as saying that a reason that more developers are turning to Linux is the that other operating systems can’t handle the ever increasing complexity of games.