LINUXGAMES

Matt Matthews, with the help of the rest of the LG staff and some ex-employees of Loki, has put together a Loki timeline. The timeline is an attempt to document every major event in Loki’s past, starting with the announcement of SDL and the Launch of the Loki Website, through today, when Loki is officially ceasing operations. If you have any additions or corrections to the timeline, please email us so we can make the timeline as accurate and comprehensive as we can. Thanks to all of the contributors for their great help in making this possible.

Update (by Matt) For those of you having difficulties reading the page, I have created an alternative page for older or non-compliant browsers. Currently I am trying to redirect Netscape 4.x and IE that is older than IE 5.5. If you are still having problems, please let me know. Browser detection script from the Mozilla project.

Loki Software wrote in with the following update regarding the details of their imminent closure, which is taking place tomorrow:

We’d like to update our customers on a few items as we prepare to closedown.

1) The Loki webstore will remain open until 12:00 p.m. P.S.T. January 31st,2002. All orders placed on the webstore will be filled. Even though we areofficially closing on the 31st, several of us are going to be in the officeto make sure all orders ship.

2) Many of you have asked about support and maintenance for Loki products.We have taken the following steps:

a) all patches, FAQs, newsgroups and other online support services willcontinue to operate with a third party host. The Loki domains will beredirected to point to the new host, so you won’t need to make any changesto continue to use these services.

b) all source code has been returned to the respective licensors. Althoughwe cannot guarantee that each licensor will continue to support the Linuxversions of their titles, we have made certain that they have all thenecessary tools to do so. Don’t be shy about letting them know yourthoughts on the matter.

3) Finally, some have asked about the actual process of closing down. Asyou may know, Loki filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition on August 3, 2001.We will be filing a motion to convert the case to a Chapter 7–aliquidation. At that time all of Loki’s assets will be transfered to a U.S.Trustee appointed by the Court. The Trustee’s job will be to sell thoseassets to the highest bidder.

Thank you for your support these past three years.

Best wishes,
The Loki Software team

Sony Computer Entertainment America hasannounced that it will bereleasing its PS2 Linux Kit in the North American market:

As announced at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo 2002, the leading event focused exclusively on Linux and open source solutions, “Linux (for PlayStation 2)” will for the first time allow developers in North America complete access to the PlayStation 2 runtime environment and system manuals. The “Linux (for PlayStation 2)” Release 1.0 kit includes:

• Internal hard disk drive for PlayStation 2 (HDD) with 40 GB capacity
• Network Adaptor (Ethernet) (for PlayStation 2) with 100 Base T Ethernet interface
• Linux Kernel version 2.2.1 (with USB device support)
• “Linux (for PlayStation 2)” Version 1.0 software distribution on two DVDs
• gcc 2.95.2 and glibc 2.2.2 with VU assemblers
• XFree86 3.3.6 with PlayStation 2 GS support
• Computer monitor adaptor (for PlayStation 2) (with audio connectors)
• USB Keyboard and mouse (for PlayStation 2)

In addition to the “Linux (for PlayStation 2)” kit, users must have a standard North American PlayStation 2 (SCPH 30001, SCPH 30001R, SCPH 35001GT), a Memory Card (8M) (for PlayStation 2), and a VESA monitor. The graphics output requires a high-resolution computer display, with standard output set as XGA (1024 x 768 resolution); home televisions cannot be used as monitors. Computer displays supporting “sync on green” are mandatory.

There’s already SDL project filesat the official site; there’s also community forums and mailing lists. Thanksto CDX for the news.

dcsmrgun wrote in to point out that the Magic Online FAQ states that Magic Online will “run on Linux.” One wonders if they intend to produce a native client, or if they think using a compatibility layer (Wine) constitutes running on Linux. I have written to Wizards asking for a clarification. The game’s target release date is this coming spring.

Update, 17:31CST: I just received this “clarification” from the tech support department at Wizards:

Unfortunately at this time there is not a port for Magic to Linux. We do nothave any information whether it will be ported or not. For any informationregarding this you can watch our website at: www.wizards.com.

Update, Jan 31, 13:16CST: I just received one more clarification from the tech support department. This one sounds a bit more informed:

Unfortunately that FAQ was written back in the early days of development of thegame and the Linux version had been dropped since then. The creation of aLinux version (as well as Mac) may be revisited in the future. I will (onceagain) inform the web people to change that text to reflect the facts.

SteveC wrote in with the following announcement regarding the COG Engine Project:

The COG Engine Project is a software suite aimed at simplifying the creation of video games. No prior programming experience is necessary. The project’s goal is to make building a video game easy enough for a motivated child to understand, while remaining as flexible and powerful as possible for the advanced user.

COG Engine Project 1.0 downloads: cogengine.sourceforge.net/downloads.html

Version 0.19 of the Nibbles-like game Heroes has been released; changes include:

• Brazilian Portuguese translations
• computer players will stop and speed up (thanks Ingo van Lil!),
• Alt+Enter toggles full screen mode when using SDL
• `-G not8′ will work around a bug in GGI

Heroes 0.19 downlaods: heroes.sourceforge.net/download.html

Version 0.43 (final) of the QT-based XMame launcher Qmamecat has been released; changes include:

• bug-fix: missing word-wrap in default-font sample when using Qt 2 (no fix needed for Qt 3)
• Qt’s built-in sort-indicators are used for the gamelist-header now
• minor changes to the column descriptions
• the options dialog now contains all directly configurable options

Qmamecat 0.43 downloads: www.mameworld.net/mamecat/mamecat_main.html#Downloads

Version 0.6.0 of the SDL-based Abuse port Abuse-SDL has been released; changes include:

• rebuilt the make and configure scripts, including patches
• gamma.lsp now stored in the ~/.abuse directory
• sound is disabled if no sound files are available
• tweaked timing routines
• improved mouse handling, should be more responsive on slower systems
• the binary can now be in a different location to the datafiles
• fixed -fullscreen command-line option
• fixed pressing both mouse buttons being ignored if “Emulate3Buttons”
• is enabled
• fixed the size of the volume settings dialog
• fixed to compile on BigEndian systems
• added scaling
• added a man page

Abuse-SDL 0.6.0 source: abuse_sdl-0.6.0.tar.bz2
Data Files: abuse_datafiles.tar.gz

Version 1.08 of the turn-based fantasy strategy game Dominions has been released; changes include:

• inanimate units are no longer affected by regeneration items
• Sphinx costs 100 design points
• one new god and larger nagas
• 3 new independent provinces (rare ones)
• 7 new unique magic items for independents
• variable fear strength, also cummulative with magic item fear
• awe strength is displayed and is now cummulative with magic item awe
• C’tis High Priest cost changed from 180 to 120 gold

Dominions 1.08 demo downloads: www.illwinter.com/dom_downloads.html

Dominions Ordering Information : www.illwinter.com/dom_order.html

Kai Sterker from the free RPG project Adonthell wrote in to announce Adonthell 0.3:

At long last Adonthell v0.3 is finished! Together with the RPG engine, asmall demo game is available: Waste’s Edge. Due to the early state of the engine it resembles an Adventure game rather than a RPG, but it is fully playable and should keep you busy for an afternoon at least. Have a look at some screenshots first, then download.

The main purpose of this release is to attract new programmers, artistsand writers in order to shorten the time until the next version. So if youhave experience in C++ (and optionally Python), or if you are good atcomputer graphics or writing we would like to hear from you. Please have a look at our development site for further details.

Version 1.2.3 of the Q3A-engine level editorGtkRadiant has been released byid Software’s TTimo and his team; this release adds support forRTCW mapping. Information aboutdocumentation can be found at the main editor page; there’s also info in the applications Help menu.

GtkRadiant 1.2.3 Download:
http://www.qeradiant.com/mirrors.cgi?directory=/qeradiant/GtkRadiant/&filename=linux-radiant-full-1.2.3.x86.run

Several readers wrote in to point out that BioWarehas announced thatthey have reached a settlement with their former publisher Interplay, whom they had recentlysued.The highly anticipated multiplayer AD&D gameNeverwinter Nights will be published byInfogrames Entertainment when development is completed; a Linux version of NWN is beingworked on alongside the Win32 builds, and it’s possible (depending on Infogrames’ say on the matter) that the Linux binaries could ship with the retailversion.

Another reader let us know that Borland hasannounced that they will be portingBorland C++ Builder to Linux; the lack of Builder on Linux has been ashowstopper for portingthe toolset portion of NWN, which allows the creation of new adventure modules.

Emanuele Gesuato wrote in to announce that Nextgame.it has posted a review (in Italian) of Uplink. The review gives a background on the game and includes some criticisms of the game as well as a bunch of screenshots.

Version 1.04 of the RPG system Hephaestus has been released; changes include:

• display is faster
• better sound controls
• can change the background color and image
• building maps is much easier

Hephaestus 1.04 source: hephaestus.zip

Matthew Johnson wrote in to let us know that he has written a Review of Creatures Internet Edition. The review includes information on gameplay, some of the theory behind the game, and some screenshots.

comrad from Holarse wrote in to let us know that they have posted two new (German) articles:

• BridgeBuilder: holarse.wue.de/index.php?content=bridgebuilder
• Pontifex: holarse.wue.de/index.php?content=pontifex

The Register has posted an article entitled Linux Quake3 rocks Win-XP Quake3 on new P4 which compares Q3A performances on the Northwood 2.2gHz 0.13-micron P4. The article offers a few benchmarks and acknowledges that this is only a preliminary test.

Version 1.5.0 of ePSXe, a Sony Playstation emulator, has beenreleased for Linux:

This version comes with the same features and compatibility as windows,but lacks the following stuff:
- Internal sound plugin.
- Support for external cdrom plugins.
- Support for joysticks, mouse, analog joysticks and force feed back.
- Assember optimizations.

Thanks to all the people that wrote in about this.

ePSXe v1.5.0 Download:
http://www.epsxe.com/files/epsxe150lin.html

Shawn Gordon ofThe Kompany let us know thatyou can now order Loki Software’sport of Eric’s Ultimate Solitaire from them forjust $5.00 US (plus shipping and handling).

Also, Tux Games still has several Loki titlesin stock and should have enough for the forseeable future; however, Civilization: Call to Poweris sold out and is now an unavailable game as Loki cannot replace their stock before operations cease.

Activisionannounced thatthe Online Gaming League will be conductinga multiplayer tournament for Return toCastle Wolfenstein calledBattle on the Beachhead. The tournamentwill consist of 64 7-man teams locked in combat on a single-elimination ladder for variousprizes. The rulescan be found here; the ladder has filledup rather quickly, and the OGL’s Zay let us know that 51 teams have been approved to play, with still more eligible and awaiting approval.