Version 0.5 of 3D Pong (screenshots), an old X11 hack written in somebody’s college days, has been released. A man-page was contributed, so rather than just tar’ing it together and calling it a ‘release,’ a few things were cleaned up.
3D Pong 0.5 Download: newbreedsoftware.com/3dpong/download
Foobillard, free OpenGL-billard game for Linux with realistic physics, has been updated to release 3.0. Changelog for this release and release 3.0 include the folllowing:
Download: [ Foobillard 3.0 ]
TransGaming sent in the following press release last week (hey, you try navigating my inbox in a timely manner sometime! :( ):
TransGaming Technologies and Lindows, Inc. Partner to Bring Access to “Triple A” PC Games to Linspire CustomersToronto, Canada / San Diego, California- April 22, 2004 - TransGamingTechnologies and Lindows, Inc. announced today an agreement to distributeTransGaming’s WineX to Linspire customers through Linspire’s softwareWarehouse. WineX is a unique portability product which provides users withthe ability to play “triple A” blockbuster PC games on their Linspiredesktops seamlessly and transparently.
TransGaming and Lindows have been strong supporters of each other’sinitiatives for some time. TransGaming is a leading cross-platform softwareportability specialist. Lindows is the developer of Linspire, a Linux-basedoperating system bringing affordability and ease-of-use to homes, schoolsand businesses. The two companies complement each other’s efforts in makingsoftware choice available in the computer market.
“I feel Michael Robertson has done a commendable job in establishingLinspire in the desktop Linux market. His customers have been seeking theability to play games on Linspire and now, with WineX, their experience willbe further enriched. With the growth of the global Linux market bothorganizations felt this was the most opportune time to formally partnertogether,” remarked Vikas Gupta, Co-CEO and President of TransGamingTechnologies.Technologies.
“WineX allows users to realize the benefits of desktop Linux without havingto give up favorite gaming programs,” said Michael Robertson, chiefexecutive officer of Lindows, Inc. “TransGaming’s innovative product bridgesthe gap for computer gamers looking for an alternative to Microsoft Windows,and is now available with just one click.”
TransGaming’s WineX will be available to Linspire users directly through CNR(short for click and run) in the Linspire Warehouse(www.linspire.com/warehouse). CNR technology is built into every copy ofLinspire and enables one-click download and installation of software fromthe Warehouse onto Linspire computers. The Warehouse currently includesmore than 1,800 programs, easily searchable by keyword and browsable bycategory. The Warehouse also offers drag-and-drop personalized softwareaisle creation for any user to create individualized groups of favoriteprograms. WineX has been especially optimized to deliver the bestperformance and game play experience on Linspire computers.
A reader submitted a report concerning this emulation project:
For those of you who aren’t aware, DosBox is a DOS emulator that is specifically designed to allow you to play DOS games on your Unix/Linux/BSD/Win-something-or-other machine. As with all emulators, it isn’t perfect, but it does reasonably well with most games, and includes mouse, sound (via ALSA) and graphics support (via SDL). Head over to their downloads page to grab the latest version, or check out the list of games to see if your favorite works.
Version 0.1.0 of raw, a rewrite of Eric Chahi’s engine used in the game Another World/Out of this World. The original game’s datafiles are required; sound is also unsupported at present.
raw 0.1.0 Download: [ lycos.fr ]
GarageGames has announced the release of the Torque Network Gaming Library under the GPL license. This is the same technology that is used in the
From a reader:
DevMaster reports: CrossCut Games has released the source code and a fully unlocked playable version of RuneSword 2, a Windows based “CRPG designed to appeal to ‘pen and paper’ role-players. The game comes with two full-length adventures, a number of smaller adventures, and a completely flexible construction set.” The project can be found on SourceForge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/runesword/. It appears to be written in VisualBasic. Time for a C port? ;)
One of the games we have previously reviewed, Triple A, has released a more stable version with their non-optional rules included. For the unknowning, TripleA is a clone of the popular Axis and Allied board game.
Download: [ TripleA 0.4.1 ]
Our friends over at DoomWorld have informed us that a new release of Doom Legacy has been announced. Changes in this release include:
Download: [ Doom Legacy 1.42 ]
GTetrinet, a very highly addictive tetris clone, is the subject of our latest review done by Cybrid. This review goes against our ‘no Tetris rule’ but we felt an exception was in order for this rather fun and addictive game.
A reader sent in a link to the following petition, intended to show fan support to Blizzard for a Linux port of World of Warcraft, their upcoming MMORPG:
The developers of Attal sent in the following:
A new version of Attal is now available for your pleasure! The Attal’s team is pleased to present the release 0.8.As you should know, Attal is a turn-based strategy game. Singleplayer (against AI) and multiplayer (LAN or Internet) modes are available.
Some of the new things are:
- Animation of creatures in fight mode (moves only)
- Management of tiles diversification in editors
- New Client Interface
- Some artefact management
- Improved connections management
- Sell of internal buildings
- Bug fixing (a lot)
For further details, visit our website: http://www.attal-thegame.org
Attal 0.8 Download: [ sourceforge.net ]
Final Frontier Trader, an 2D single player space strategy, combat, and trading game has been updated to version 0.65.Various changes have occured in this release including support for multiple scenarios with 4 included in this release. Also the ability to go to a station to buy or sell cargo, weapon bays, and heatseeking missiles has been added. Various GUI enhancements have been included also.
Download [ Final Frontier Trader 0.65 ]
As I noted a few days ago, I contacted Vivendi Universal Games about the Starsiege: Tribes and Tribes 2 giveaway. I have received an official response: VU will not be giving away Tribes2 for Linux. I have asked for more details so that we might understand the basis for this decision, and I will post such information as I receive it.
While this sequence of events is unfortunate, I would like to urge the Linux community from expressing anger at VU for its decision. We do not know the full details at this time, and may never know the full details. It is quite possible that they have legitimate legal reasons, stemming from Loki and its collapse, for withholding the Linux client, even if they have the full, final codebase available to them.
Since our last update, Neverball has been updated to version 1.2.1. For the uninitiated, Neverball shares some similarities to Super Monkey Ball (for the Nintendo GameCube) and the arcade classic Marble Madness (by Atari): you guide a ball through a sequence of devilishly designed levels. The catch is that you don’t control the ball directly. Rather, you control the tilt of the floor under the ball, thereby inducing it to move. Without a light touch, things can get out of control quickly, and the levels present an increasing sequence of challenges. I recently installed this when it appeared in one of the Fedora yum repositories, and lost a good hour or two when I should have been doing work.
This new version also includes a new map set and Neverputt, a multiplayer putting game with the same engine.
Since Neverball is Free software and uses cross-platform technologies, namely OpenGL and SDL, it is available not just for Linux but also for Windows 2000/Windows XP, FreeBSD, and MacOS X. Building Neverball requires GCC 3.1.
Download Source: [ Neverball 1.2.1 ]
A reader let us know the valiant Ryan “icculus” Gordon has released an unofficial UT2004 patch for the kintersect crash issue under Linux:
Linux/amd64 users should use this until there’s an official patch:
http://icculus.org/~icculus/tmp/ut2004-linux-amd64-utsecurefix.tar.bz2Linux/x86 users should use this until there’s an official patch:
http://icculus.org/~icculus/tmp/ut2004-kintersect-fix-2-x86.tar.bz2
The initial release of Freebooters, a free clone of the Sid Meier classic Pirates, has come to life. Check out some of the screenshots of this clone that was written using C++ and SDL.
Download: [ Freebooters 0.1 ]
As you may have read on Slashdot, Vivendi Universal is giving away Tribes and Tribes 2 in the near future. This is a free-as-in-beer release made available either on a DVD included with Computer Gaming World magazine or via download through FilePlanet, both on 4 May 2004.
I contacted a VU PR representative today to inquire about the possiblity of a release of the Linux version of Tribes 2. As you may know, Tribes 2 is sold out at TuxGames, so obviously anyone wanting to play it now is mostly out of luck. If and when I receive a response, I will post news here. If anyone else manages to get a response via other means, please post your information in the comments below.
Editorial comment: When Free Isn’t Free Enough.
RPGDot recently conducted an interview with two developers from ClownKeep about their Torque-based project Chronicles of Ny. Questions cover the episodic release format and Torque’s cross-platform codebase.