LINUXGAMES

Version 0.58.2 of the multi-machine arcade emulatorxmame has been released; changes include:

• Applied a tilemap fix needed for Numan Athletics. (Phil Stroffolino)
• Fixed a bug that caused the network code to break in FreeBSD. (Stijn Hoop)
• The xfx and svgafx targets failed to build in 0.58.1 because of a core patch that was inadvertently overwritten. They now build again. (Steve Freeland)
• Applied sound fix for Final Fight and Truxton 2 and possibly other games which use FM timers; applied QSound fix for CPS1; applied sound fix for Yie Ar Kung-Fu. (Aaron Giles)
• Outrun no longer segfaults on startup. (Steve Freeland)
• Fixed several multiply-defined variables that caused link warnings.
• The OSS audio driver no longer automatically falls back on timer- based audio if the requested fragment size/numfrags cannot be obtained from the sound device.
• Fixed a few gcc 3.0.x warnings.
• The xgl target compiles again, but may have problems with vector games.

xmame 0.58.2 Source:
http://x.mame.net/download/xmame-0.58.2.tar.bz2

Ryan McGuigan let us know that he’s released an updated versionof Linux NPRQuake which fixes keyboard/mouse focus and addsSDL support. The original Win32NPRQuake added blueprint/pen/pencil sketching effectsto the Quake 1 renderer.

NPRQuake SDL Download:
Source |Binaries

OSNews.com let us know that they’veinterviewed Stephane Denisof the now open-sourced DirectX OpenGL Wrapper project, which (as the name implies)is an OpenGL wrapper for the Win32-native Direct3D 8 API. When asked about platform support,Stephane had this to say:

Actually, the sources are designed for Win32 but they will be compatible for Linux and MacOS soon.The ENSEIRB (a french engineer school in Bordeaux) are currently porting it for Linux and will probably speed up a lot the developement of the interface.

They’re also looking for developers to help in the effort, so contact them if you’re interested.

A reader sent in a link to thispress releasefrom STMicroelectronics announcing that they will be withdrawing fromthe 3D graphics accelerator card business and will be selling off that unit and its related assets, which includesthe Kyro I/II chipsets. Atlast reportPowerVR had planned to beta test Linux Kyro drivers this month; it is currentlyunknown how this development will affect the release of said drivers.

Speaking of DOOM, Red Herringpublished an articleon id Software lead coder John Carmack and the upcoming DOOM X; Linux support is briefly mentioned.Carmack also posted a comment on/. with some corrections regarding the article.

Moreover, id CEO Todd Hollenshead was brieflyinterviewed by Ferrago.co.uk aboutDOOM X, Quake IV, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Finally, id level designer Paul Jaquays wasinterrogated byQuake3Stuff about mapping.

Version 1.23b33 of the DOOM engine source modificationZDoom was released; the requisite changelogcan be found here.

ZDoom 1.23b33 Source:
http://zdoom.notgod.com/ftp/zdoom-1.23beta33-src.tar.bz2

ZDoom 1.23b33 Binaries:
http://zdoom.notgod.com/ftp/zdoom-1.23beta33-linux.bz2

Kind of off-topic (but interesting): There’s aninterview withthe creator of the Creatures series, Steve Grand, atSalon.com.Both Creatures: Docking Station (the free Creatures variant available fordownload) and the retail productCreatures: Internet Edition (being published byLinux Game Publishing) were ported to Linux recently.

Zakk let us know thatCube has been released for Linux, a 3D game engine with the followingfeatures:

• automatic LOD on the whole map allowing for configurable fps / visual quality tradeoff on any hardware.
• very high precision _dynamic_ occlusion culling.
• simplistic but effective lighting, that can do _dynamic_ soft shadows & lights.
• in-engine editing of the world in full 3D, even with multiple people (coop editing, a first!).
• no map precompilation of any kind needed.
• simplistic quad-tree world structure, with slopes (heightfields with caps) and slants
• collision detection and physics
• client/server networking
• singleplayer and multiplayer FPS game (weapons, items, game modes, monsters)

README |Screenshots

Cube Download:
http://wouter.fov120.com/cube/files.php4

NVidia has officially announced the GeForce4 GPUs, the next generation in their line of video cards. These new GPUs will power multiple version of each of the GeForce4 Ti, GeForce4 MX, and GeForce4 Go cards. For reviews and articles about the new cards, take a look at the lists from Shacknews, Blue’s, and VE.

Jeremy White from Codeweavers sent a mail to the wine-devel mailing list expressing his change in opinion as to what license Wine should be released under. He would like to see the license changed to the LGPL from the current X11-ish license. He cites that harm has been caused to the Wine project because of its use, or potential use, in proprietary products. He concludes by stating that if the Wine developers choose not to move to a new license that he will create a forked CVS tree which will hold code that will be released under an LGPL-like license.

dettus wrote in to announce that he has written a(n) ncurses-based Space Invaders clone called nInvaders (screenshot). nInvaders is currently at version 0.0.4.

nInvaders 0.0.4 source: nInvaders0.0.4.tar.gz

Jeremy Green wrote in to announce that he ported NPRQuake (screenshots: 1, 2, 3) to Linux. NPRQuake is a replacement Quake renderer that focuses on non-photo-realistic rendering (npr) and stylization.

NPRQuake source: NPRQuake.tar.gz

Alexander Bierbrauer from polyfrag.com wrote in to let us know that they have released the “final” version of the fast-paced 2D shoot-em-up Gunocide II EX. This version now uses SDL_mixer instead of FMod and you have the option to use Loki’s Setup program to install it.

Gunocide II EX downloads: www.gunocide.polyfrag.com

Several people (includeing Guillaume Cottenceau, one of the programmers) wrote in to point out a new game called Frozen Bubble (screenshot). It is a game similar to Puzzle Bobble where “you throw colorful bubbles and build groups to destroy the bubbles.”

Frozen Bubble 0.9.1 source: frozen-bubble-0.9.1.tar.bz2 (be sure to also check the dependencies.)

Version 0.7.7 of the shufflepuck game TuxPuck has been released; changes since 0.6.0 include:

• fixed crash when facing Tux, and soundcard already was busy
• removed blender scenes and TrueType fonts from sourcepackage
• settings are now saved.
• memory leak fixed
• more sounds
• new opponent
• nicer menus
• fixed bug that caused a crash when turning on FPS display
• fixed animation bug
• cleaned up code

TuxPuck 0.7.7 source: tuxpuck-0.7.7.tar.gz

Version 0.5.4 of the KDE-based chess interface Knights has been released; changes include:

• Now automatically adjusts the display depending on which army you’re playing
• All matches now use the same image cache, rather than creating it’s own. This will save you 2 meg of memory per concurrent match
• Added the ‘Resign’ option
• Bugfixes

Knights 0.5.4 source: knights-0.5.4.tar.gz

Version 1.0 of the Atomix-like game Marbles has been released; changes include:

• moved config file to ~/.lgames/marbles.conf
• rearranged the levelsets into one set with 32 levels where each level has now a move limit instead of a time limit (now you’ll have time to think)
• fixed some warnings
• profile path is no longer hard-coded
• profile directory is created if not existing
• not 100% cputime consumed
• ASCII option ( big-endian ) works again
• man page properly installed

Marbles 1.0 source: marbles-1.0.tar.gz

Version 2.2.1 of the breakout-style arcade game LBreakout has been released; changes include:

• gameplay adjustments
• new animation level for very slow computers
• ball moves back to paddle when no brick was hit within ten seconds
• bugfixes

LBreakout 2.2.1 source: lbreakout2-2.2.1.tar.gz

Version 0.4.4 of the 3D chess program glChess has been released; changes include:

• bug in SAN conversion was resolved
• file dialog for binary paths was implemented
• bug with castling, promotion, and ‘en passant’ was fixed

glChess 0.4.4 source: glchess-0.4.4.tar.gz

Version 0.73 of the Nebulous rewrite Tower Toppler has been released; changes include:

• level editor should be useful
• mission creation possible
• documentation update
• bugfixes

Tower Toppler 0.73 source: toppler-0.73.tar.gz