Babala, a simple logical game with elements of move strategy, has been updated to 0.4.0. This latest release implements a secure mechanism for posting players’ record high scores to Babala’s online Hall of Fame.
Download: [ Babala 0.4.0 ]
Totally tubular Guitar Hero clone, Frets on Fire, has a new version out. This version is truly rocking the house with support for importing music from the actual Guitar Hero game. It also adds support for joystick hats. I’m not sure what kind of hat is also a joystick, but that might be fun to find out. Hat Hero, anyone? I’ll be sure to talk a bit more about this after I’ve played it for our upcoming podcast. Other changes:
Frets on Fire 1.0.225: [ Download THE PURE ROCK INTENSITY OH YEAAAAAH ]
A reader wrote to let us know about the release of Neverwinter Nights 1.68 patch. The highlights include scripting updates and especially visible cloaks. The cloaks feature is a contribution from DLA who claim we are to expect news on their eagerly anticipated module Wyvern Crown of Cormyr very soon.
Sadly, this is the last official Neverwinter Nights patch from Bioware, as Atari decided to cancel all support (and the Premium Module Programme) for the orginal Neverwinter Nights in hope that this will draw NWN fans to Neverwinter Nights 2 (with prospect that however popular the game may still be a few years after the release, the support will be cancelled so that people feel more inclined to purchase Neverwinter Nights 3, etc.).
An update to the Second Life forums let us know about their latest version. This client is still alpha and various warnings apply to the client, so keep in mind that this game involves real money and enjoy! 51742 brings these changes:
Other various fixes include being able to resize the client window and graphics card memory, etc.The (51742) number you see is our internal revision. Since we are deploying the linux client separately from the mainline code now, we will be using this slightly different versioning for now.
Second Life r51742: [ Download ]
Version 0.1.2 of Mars, Land of No Mercy, a turn-based strategy game that takes places on Mars, has been released. This version has the following new features/changes:
Download: [ Mars, Land of No Mercy 0.1.2 ]
glChess,an open source 3D chess interface for the Gnome desktop, has been updated to release 0.9.6 Games can be played between a combination of local players, players connected via a LAN and artificial intelligences.
Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ glChess 0.9.6 ]
A micks with a goat, a penchant for eastern-european rock operas, and Linux Games, wrote a review for us about LGP’s Cold War:
There was a time when many of us thought Cold War for Linux would never see the light of day. DreamCatcher Games, the game’s original publisher for the Windows platform, decided they didn’t really care for the (already finished) Linux and Mac OS X versions all that much (not to mention problems arising from use of certain copy prevention software which I will get to later) and Cold War shipped with only Windows binaries included on the DVD ROM back in September 2005.
Name/Version: Childplay 0.83
Summary: Childsplay is a ’suite’ of educational games for young children. This release adds support for the new game called letterFlashcard. It’s a game to teach the alphabet to very little children.
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Childplay 0.83 ]
Name/Version: Goblin Hack 0.1
Summary: Goblin Hack is an opengl-based smooth-scrolling ASCII graphics game! Inspired by the likes of NetHack, it opts for a simple interface that appears to appeal to kids (and adults) and fires the imagination in today’s world of over-rendered games.
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Goblin Hack 0.1 ]
Name/Version: Pang Zero 0.13
Summary: Pang Zero is a clone of Super Pang, a fast-paced action game that involves popping balloons with a harpoon.
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Pang Zero 0.13 ]
Name/Version: Pioneers 0.10 build 1
Summary: Pioneers is a faithful GNOME 2 translation of the board game “Settlers of Catan”, with server-client multiplayer, AI players, and support for the changes made in the Seafarers of Catan expansion to the original board game. Changes include: Minimum required versions: Glib 2.6, Gtk+ 2.6, Does not use Gtk+ 2.8 icons anymore, Several cosmetic changes, You can now choose to connect as a viewer, Several small fixes, Visual display of the resources, New quote tab page
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Pioneers 0.10 build 1 ]
Name/Version: Rafkill 1.22
Summary: Rafkill is a vertical scrolling shoot-em up game like the original Raptor: Call of the Shadows and Tyrian.
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Rafkill 1.22 ]
Name/Version: RI-II 1.2.0
Summary: Ri-li is a arcade game licensed under the GPL. You drive a toy wood engine in many levels and you must collect all the coaches for win.You can dowload it and play indefinitely.
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ RI-II 1.2.0 ]
Name/Version: Yabause 0.7.0
Summary: Yabause is a Sega Saturn emulator under GNU GPL
Screenshots [ View ] Download [ Yabause 0.7.0 ]
A remake of the classic DOS-games stunts, Ultimate Stunts, has been updated to version 0.6.2 release 1.Changes and new features in this release include:
Download [Ultimate Stunts 0.6.2 release 1 ]
Sparklet, a 2D, top-down view space shooter, has been updated to a new release version 0.9.6.This is a quick bugfix release for the networked multiplayer game for Linux and Windows. Also more server security fixes have been addressed and a workaround for Intel915G crash for this release.
Download: [ Sparklet 0.9.6]
A new release of Wah!Cade, a front-end for the xmame arcade emulator, has been released. This release code named Search And Destroy” has a new Layout Editor and some general bug fixes.
Screenshot: [ View ] Download: [ Wah!Cade 0.12 ]
A little goat told us about the recent release of Adanaxis Rendering Demo, the second milestone in Mushware’s attempt at creating a 4D first person shooter. Wait, a 4D first person shooter? Well, yes. To quote from the explanation provided in the documentation:
“Adanaxis is a game in four spatial dimensions. The game world has the usual three dimensions (left/right, up/down and forward/back) and another, new direction in space. We don’t have this dimension in our physical world but it’s possible to imagine and simulate a fourth dimension. This game is my attempt to do this. It’s also difficult to visualise and understand a 4D world, but it’s fairly easy to navigate, much as an insect can fly to a flower without comprehending the world around it.”
Mushware is a one-man project based in the UK, with Andy Southgate being the one man. Whether the final product will be revolutionary or utterly insane remains to be seen.
Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ Adanaxis Rendering Demo for Linux source code ]
A new 2nd multiplayer network game called Wings has been brought to our attention. In this game, you fly a small and agile ship in varied maps, choosing from a wide variety of different weapons and devices to use against your opponents. The game offers several game modes with different styles of play, and supports internet, LAN and splitscreen games.This is a commercial game and the full version may be purchased for $15.00.
Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ Wings 2.10 Demo ]
Version 2.0.4 of Warzone Resurrection, an enhanced version of Warzone 2100, has been released. Warzone Resurrection’s source code was liberated in December of 2004. Changes in this release include:
Download: [ Warzone 2100 Resurrection 2.0.4 ]
Over at the shack, they’ve got news of a Penny-Arcade game coming from Hothead Games. The PR spiel notes a Linux version as well:
Penny Arcade and Hothead Games Join Forces to Create Video Games Based on the Penny Arcade Characters and Universe
Bellevue, Washington (August 25, 2006) — The creators of online ultracomic Penny Arcade have joined forces with Hothead Games, an independent and experienced video game developer, to collaboratively create video games based on the Penny Arcade comic.
“We’re really excited to be working with Hothead Games on our first electronic adventure,” said writer Jerry Holkins, his clawed feet resting atop a huge slab of granite. “From the moment we laid eyes on them, it was clear they had the technical and creative chops to execute our grim vision. Now that we have pooled our strengths, our dark work may truly begin.” Holkins then paused to eat a rat whole.
The first game, entitled Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, will be a comic adventure game initially available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, followed by a version for next-generation consoles. The game will be available by digital download, delivered in episodic format with new installments of the adventure coming out several times a year.
Vlad Ceraldi, President of Hothead Games, says this new venture feels very comfortable for the team Hothead has assembled for the project: “All our developers are industry veterans with years of experience translating characters from other media into video games, having been involved with such hits as The Simpsons Hit & Run and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. So working with Penny Arcade to create their first game is a natural fit, and we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with them.” Ceraldi added, “I’ve promised this with past games, and I stand by it: if the game sucks, I’ll eat my shirt.”
A release date for the first episode of Penny Arcade Adventures is to be announced.
Introversion Software wrote to let us know about the upcoming release of their WarGames-inspired online multiplayer simulation of global thermonuclear war, DEFCON:
“Introversion Software, ‘the last of the bedroom programmers’ and creators ofthe award-winning hit PC game – Darwinia – will be releasing their thirdtitle, DEFCON, at the end of September 2006. DEFCON will be retailed onIntroversion’s online store at £10 for download, and £12.50 for a downloadwith a boxed copy (sent by post). A fantastic pre-order offer will go livemid-September, running for two weeks, where customers will have theopportunity to buy DEFCON for £10 and receive a complimentary boxed copy ofthe game. DEFCON will also be offered in a bundle pack with Introversion’stwo previous games Uplink and Darwinia for £30.”
According to the game’s site, the Linux version should be out in November and even though the team’s confidence in this date is listed as “low”, we rely on Introversion’s resident Linux guru, John Knottenbelt, to bring us this game as soon as possible. Stay tuned for more news about Defcon on LinuxGames.com.
It’s been only a week and a couple of days since we ran our first article about The Broken Hourglass, a rather interesting isometric RPG project, and already Planewalker Games‘ Jason Compton writes to let us know about some happy news:
“[...] spurred on by the response to the article on linuxgames.com, Wes set aside a couple of days to do a preliminary Linux port. Things looked good. We did discover that Mesa drivers will be inadequate for our needs, however, so potential users will have to seek out other drivers. The target development machine used the ATI vendor drivers and all was well.”
This doesn’t sound like a huge problem as the vast majority of Linux gamers already use ATi or Nvidia’s binary drivers. The game looks really exciting, so keep that positive feedback coming!
Version 0.9.20 of Wine, a free implementation of Windows on Unix, has been released.Changes in this release include:
Download: [ Wine 0.9.20 ]
A Slovakian man with a house and a goat let us know he hates Debian users and about the latest NVIDIA Linux driver release, version 1.0-8774 (x86 README / x86-64 README). This is the release we discussed in our podcast. Some highlights:
Mednafen, an OpenGL and SDL multi-system emulator that supports Atari Lynx, GameBoy, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, NES, PC Engine(TurboGrafx 16), SuperGrafx, Neo Geo Pocket, and Neo Geo Pocket Color, has been updated to release 0.6.4. This release fixes and changes the following features:
Download: [ Mednafen 0.6.4 ]
