LINUXGAMES

The Apolyton Civilization Site is reporting on this forum thread which indicates that the source code to Civilization: Call To Power 2 may be released at some point in the relatively near future. The original Civilization: Call to Power was the first game published by the now-defunct Loki Games in May 1999 (see our Loki Timeline for more details). The sequel in question was only published for the Windows platform.

Over at GameRankings it has a 73% average rating from the listed reviews. The user rating is in line with that number, at 7.4 out of 10.

If this source release happens, it could enable the spread of this game to previously unsupported platforms, like Linux, MacOS X, and any of the BSD family.

Regardless, we will always have Freeciv.

Version 1.0-4496 of the NVIDIA display drivers havebeen released for x86/IA32. The release highlights are listed as:

• GeForce FX 5900 support
• support for Active Stereo + TwinView
• initial support for APM power management
• improved OpenGL performance when rendering to multiple buffers
• bug fixes since 1.0-4363

Additional information can be found in the readme.

Christoph Reichenbach wrote in to let us know the following:

Seth Robinson, author of Dink Smallwood (and, as it happens, LORD), hasreleased the full source code to Dink Smallwood under a BSD-ish license.A project trying to clean it up, port it and extend it has only justbeen started at http://dink.sourceforge.net.

Dink Smallwood is a rather tongue-in-cheek RPG developed for Win32 in 1997,designed to be Zelda-style in appearance. It has since gathered a hugefollowing, with numerous fan-made quests (D-Mods) being available fromthe Dink Network.

I know a lot of people have been hoping for a port of this game for a long time. The website mentions some code that needs to be replaced, but I hope that someone gets a Linux version up and running soon.

iGames Publishing and S2 Games have issued apress release officially anouncing the Linux client ofSavage. The PR states that a release date is set for August 25th and that “The Linuxversion of the game will be identical to the Windows version and will install from the same retail CD-ROM when it ships.” Thisreinterates the previous news stating thatthe Linux binary is on the CD and in the box.

Here’s a little collage of Neverwinter Nights news items:

• First off, Dana Olson wrote in to let us know that the Neverwinter Nights LinuxGuild is running a competition:
  

  We have a couple of Neverwinter Nights posters to give away, so wefigured it would be the perfect opportunity to get some communityinvolvement going with this site. So, here is our first competition!

  Create a wallpaper for the Neverwinter Nights Linux Users Guild. Thedesign is totally up to you, but it must represent the Linux Users Guildin some manner.

• Secondly, I’d like to point out the NWN FAQ written by theabove-mentioned Dana Olson. I’ve been struggling getting NWN running on SuSE 8.1, actually, and I’ve found the FAQ to be helpful at times.
• Lastly, A.T. Hun from The Haus wrote in to let us know about hisreview of NWN.

TransGaming has announceda beta testing program to begin in the fall. The testing will be for new versions of their WineXand Point2Play products.TG subscribers will be the only people accepted in to the beta testing program and an application for will soon be posted totheir part of the TG site.

TG has also issued their Development Status and Voting Reportfor July.

Daniel James, CEO at Three Rings Design, Inc., wrote in to announce that theirpirate-themed puzzle MMP game Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates(screenshots) has gone in to the beta testing stage:

Avast ye! I wanted to give ye the scoop on our big news: we went Beta!This means that folks can turn up at puzzlepirates.com and play rightaway. It also means that we’ll be launching soon, hopefully soon tobe followed by a shift away from the ramen diet.

For those of you who need refreshing, Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates is aPirate-themed massively multi-player game in which Puzzle games occupycenter stage. PP has been rock-solid stable in alpha testing for nigh onnine months.

Three Rings is a small independent team with a focus on fun gameplay. ThePirate movie timing is just coincidence, but Puzzle Pirates being more funthan other MMPs is not.

…

Arrr!

And for tonight’s “Is it Friday yet?” list…

New Versions:

• Advanced Strategic Command 1.13.7, a multiplayer turn-based strategy game: changelog, screenshot, download
• Armagetron 0.2.4, a 3d Tron clone / lightcycle game: changelog, screenshots, download
• Attal 0.7, a turn-based strategy game project: changelog, screenshot, download
• Crimson Fields 0.3.4, a tactical war game similar to Battle Isle: changelog, screenshot
• Critical Mass 0.98, an SDL/OpenGL space shoot’em up game: changelog, download
• D2X 0.2.5, the Descent 2 source port: screenshots, download
• Dark Places 20030607, a Quake source modification: screenshots, download
• FooBillard 2.8, an OpenGL billiards game: changelog, screenshot,
• GtkRadiant 1.3.9, the Q3A/RTCW level editor: download
• LBreakout 2.5 b3, : changelog, screenshot, download
• The Linux Game Launcher 0.6, : screenshot, download
• noeGNUd 0.7.1, an alternate ascii/2D/3D UI for nethack: screenshots, download
• OSS 3.9.7k, the commercial implementation of the OSS/Free kernel sound drivers: changelog, download
• Slash’EM 0.0.7E2, a graphical Nethack variant: changelog, screenshot, download
• VGBA 2.0, a Game Boy Advance emulator: download
• Vendetta Test 3.2.11, a space MMORPG: screenshots, download
• Wine 20030709, a free Windows implementation: download

Articles / Misc News:

• Howto for NVIDIA_kernel with Linux-2.6 from blight
• Tribes 3 / Linux thread whereThrax from Sierra states “When linux becomes an actual market expect us to be there.” (thanks JollyRogers)
• Virtual Jaguar, an Atari Jaguar emulator, has been released under the GPL (thanks Olivier Cahagne)
• WineX 3.1 Review @ Gamers With Jobs: “Right now, WineX is the best solution for gaming under Linux.” …eh?

Caspian Rychlik-Prince from Puppy Games wrote in to announce version 1.3 of their arcade shoot-em-upAlien Flux(screenshots: 1 | 2 | 3)which includes support for Linux. The game is Java-based and, apparently, utilizes OpenAL.The game retails for roughly $20US and the press release is avilable for more details.

Alien Flux 1.3b demo download: @ www.puppygames.net

Ryan Gordon updated his plan to announce that he is, in fact, working on a Linux portof Postal 2 (warning: chicks currently on their splash page):

Yes, I’m working on this. Running With Scissors announces a Mac and Linux port, and the world scratches their head and goes, “WHO COULD BE DOING THIS?” Yeah, yeah…

Game is running on Linux, crashes in Karma libraries during Monday’s level load. Most textures aren’t rendering for some reason, and skeletal meshes aren’t rendering at all, so basically I get to hear the Postal Dude mouth off to his woman as the camera spins around the untextured trailer park before it takes a dump while he’s marking his TODO list.

Still, it’s progress.

Postal 2 is the followup to the original Postal, which was ported by Loki.Both games are from the developer Running With Scissors.

Also worth mentioning is the disclaimer that the Postal 2 site includes at the bottom of their page: This site contains content not approved for consumption by children, senators, religious leaders and/or other easily damaged psyches, those seeking to enhance or establish political careers and/or possessed of delusions of grandeur.

As announced on Uplink‘s news page, the dev CD (previous news) is now finished and will beavailable starting Wednesday. It will cost roughly $45US (including shipping) and comes with an updated license, the details ofwhich haven’t been released to the public (yet?).

Secondly, the first total conversion / mod for Uplink has been released. It’s called, simply, Uplink: The Mod. It includes all new graphics, sounds, music, etc. Screenshots to comelater (maybe).

Uplink: The Mod downloads: @ themod.crazie.co.uk

linmagau.org has published an Interview with John “overcode” Hall, best known in the Linux gaming world as the (co)author of the Programming Linux Games book. The interview is mostly about general Linux game development issues. (thanks Indy Neogy)