LINUXGAMES

One of our most sharp-eyed readers, vadi4, sent in the following:

Interesting article by Jeff of Wolfire games about supporting Macs and Linux. Includes a very nice cake.

Wolfire developed the third-person action title Lugaru for Linux; the blog entry mentions that the Linux port generated additional interest in the game, and that Linux users made up 5% of their sales (which is pretty much unchanged from the Quake III sales over 10 years ago if I recall correctly). Wolfire’s next game is a sequel to Lugaru, Overgrowth. You can find more info about it on Facebook.

We missed this one for quite a while: Out of the Park Baseball 9, the latest installment in an award-winning series of baseball management games, has been released for Linux. Features:

• Multiple styles of play
• Solo or online
• Realistic statistical engine
• Complete general management
• Unparalleled customizability
• Play-by-play model

You can try the game in a demo mode, then purchase the full version online. Also, there’s a holiday sale price lasting until January 1st (two days from this writing).

Download: [ ootpdevelopments.com ]

We received the following announcement for a new PyChess build:

The release is named after Howard Staunton, who is regarded as the world’s strongest player from 1843 to 1851. And while we are still using the old theme for the chess pieces, we hope to get a real Staunton theme before going final.

The release contains a lot of general improvements, but the two most important changes in this release are the possibility to play different variants of chess, as well as chat on the online chess community, FICS.

Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ gnomefiles.org ]

A new version of S.C.O.U.R.G.E., the popular open source rogue-like game, has been released. Changes in this release includes the following items:

• The storyline is complete; the game can now be finished and you can upload your final score.
• Substantial frame rate improvements in all areas of the game. Scourge should now be playable on low end systems, too.
• Monsters and NPCs actively fight each other.
• Full Spanish translation, in addition to German and Italian.
• New icons, textures, item models and music.
• More outdoor themes, and new house models for outdoors.
• New inventory-like container UI.
• New “Call for Help” spell (summons a monster).
• Loads of bugfixes and optimizations.

Download: [ S.C.O.U.R.G.E. 0.21.1]

We’d like to wish everyone reading a Merry Christmas. If you’re looking for something to spend that Christmas cash on, we found Enemy Territory: Quake Wars for $4.99 at Circuit City via the CAG forums.

The latest development release of Wine, which gives you the ability to run Windows binaries under Unix, has been release. This 1.1.11 release has the following changes:

• Numerous fixes for IE7 support.
• Support for 64-bit cross-compile using Mingw64.
• User interface support for crypto certificates.
• Better support for MSI installation patches.
• Various Direct3D optimizations.
• Various bug fixes.

Download: [ Wine 1.1.11 ]

TORCS, The Open Racing Car Simulator, a highly portable multi platform car racing simulation, is now at version 1.3.1. It is used as an ordinary car racing game and as research platform.

The new version features reworked and new tracks and cars, and the requisite bugfixes.

Download: [ torcs.org ]

revearek sent in word that on the Myst Online URU Live main site there is a news item about releasing the source code for the servers, client and tools:

So, Cyan has decided to give make MystOnline available to the fans by releasing the source code for the servers, client and tools for MystOnline as an open source project. We will also host a data server with the data for MystOnline. MORE is still possible but only with the help from fans.

This is a bit scary for Cyan because this is an area that we have never gone before, to let a product freely roam in the wild. But we’ve poured so much into UruLive, and it has touched so many, that we could not just let it whither and die. We still have hopes that someday we will be able to provide new content for UruLive and/or work on the next UruLive.

This is also a bit scary for the fans. We realize that this could turn UruLive into the “wild west” and lead to many fractured and diverse MystOnline servers. But it is our hope that with the help of dedicated core fans (if you are reading this, it probably means you) that a safe and secure MystOnline server set (many servers from around the world working together as one) can be created that will let people explore and live in UruLive.

We also are pretty sure that releasing MystOnline will result in some pleasant surprises for us. Our fans have always been so innovative, creative, and resourceful!

A Linux client would have to be developed, but with source available I’d expect a community project organizing to that effect in short order.

vadi4 pointed out that exosyphen studios posted on the Ubuntu forums to announce an upcoming Linux client for Hacker Evolution: Untold:

The game is for Windows, but it installs and runs perfectly using WINE under Ubuntu. A native linux build will also be available shortly.

The game seems similar to Introversion’s Uplink, so I look forward to checking it out.

A few readers let us know about Polychromatic Funk Monkey:

Help the eponymous monkey of funk to bring order and rhythm to his chaotic land; arrange blocks into towering staircases to reach the sky and beyond.

Polychromatic Funk Monkey is powered by Tuxcap.

Download: [ tweeler.com ]

LordsAWar version 0.1.4, a clone of the turn-based strategy game Warlords II, has been released with the following changes:

• added new road, bridge and signpost imagery (by J. W. Bjerk).
• roads now fade out at their ends, instead of ending abruptly.
• now connecting bridges with roads on randomly generated maps.
• now displaying a log of the hero’s activities in the hero information dialog.
• added bigger explosions for city battles.
• fixed shortest path algorithm to consider boat loading/unloading movement penalties.
• fixed crashing bugs wrt quests and dead heroes.
• fixed bug wrt changing players from human to computer, and vectored units not showing up.
• fixed bug that caused giant worms to be purchased when pegasi was intended.

Thanks to the contributors who made this release possible by reporting bugs on the bug tracker.

Download: [ nongnu.org ]

AMD has released their monthly Linux ATI Catalyst display driver package for their graphics cards; the requisite release notes delineate the bugfixes in this build.

Download: [ amd.com ]

The Savage 2 website has been updated with the news that game is now free. However, it appears that their new business model is one of offering premium accounts ($9.99 USD):

Savage 2: A Tortured Soul is totally free to play, but you have the option of creating a Prime account for just $9.99. There are multiple advantages to a Prime account, such as two additional inventory slots, unlimited play as Hellbourne units, access to player statistics both online and in-game, and the ability to download a replay of every Savage 2 match ever played! Spread the word, help the development community by supporting companies that want to make unique and innovative games.

The side scrolling shoot ‘em up Jets’n'Guns by Rake in Grass, which Linux Game Publishing agreed to publish just in October, went Gold last tuesday and is expected to be released in two weeks.

To showcase the game, they have also released a demo of Jets’n'Guns today.

Screenshots: [ View ] Download: [ linuxgamepublishing.com ]

Ryan “icculus” Gordon updated us with the news that 3D Realms and Human Head’s portal crawling FPS Prey is now available for Linux users who own any version for Windows:

We have released the retail version of Prey for Linux. You will need our downloadable installer, a valid and unique CD key, and a copy of the game. You can use either the three CD-ROM version, the Collector’s Edition DVD-ROM, or a preinstalled copy of the Windows version, such as you would download from Steam.

There is no boxed version for Linux, but any existing Windows version of the game disc will work.

We have also updated the demo installer with fixes for all reported bugs.

Details and downloads are here.

Prey 12/07 Demo: [ Atomic Gamer | icculus.org ]

Prey 12/07 Retail Installer: [ Atomic Gamer | icculus.org ]

The latest development release of Wine, the Windows emulator for Unix, has been released. This release has the following new features and fixes:

• Support for virtual memory write watches.
• Workarounds for the WINAPI compiler bug on Mac OS.
• Several fixes for the 64-bit build.
• Some more GdiPlus functions.
• Various bug fixes.

Download: [ Wine 1.1.10 ]

Linux Game Publishing has finally, after a week of delay, announced that X³: Reunion and X³: Reunion Special Edition (including a T-shirt, the book Farnham’s Legend and all copies signed by his majesty Michael Simms) have arrived today and are now shipping.

X³: Reunion is a space combat and trading simulator developed by Egosoft. X²: The Threat was previously ported to Linux by LGP.

Nexuiz, an open-source first-person shooter based on the DarkPlaces engine, sent in the following news:

Like FPS games and Open Source? Nexuiz project is looking for developers, modelers, artists, etc!

The Nexuiz project is looking for new contributors to join its growing community. Nexuiz is a fast paced futuristic FPS (First Person Shooter) that redefines cool. The project seeks:

Engine developers
QuakeC developers
Animators/3D player animations
Skin modeler
Concept artist
Others community members

If you want to be involved in a cool Open Source project that RULES, Nexuiz is for you!

You can also check out this forum post for additional info.

Vulcando Games sent in a new update regarding their upcoming massive multiplayer game Celetania:

All of the ships within the upcoming 4X MMOG Celetania, which will be released by Vulcando Games on February 13th 2009, are going to be designed in a comfortable and tactically sophisticated toolbox.
Important parts of the constructions are the individual modules which offers special abilities to the space ships.

The S.E.C.C.T.S. will be relying on exactly these space ships when they leave their shipyards to start their campaign of plunder but also to defend themselves from enemy combatants.

You will find videos and detailed descriptions for all modules if you follow this link: http://www.celetania.de/featurette_seccts_modules.php.

Announced in their latest newsletter is the launch of A Tale in the Desert 4 and their open beta which will begin on December 6th (thanks Nemoder!):

“As always, there are a ton of new things to discover in our next Tale. You’ll notice significant improvements to the user interface and graphics. The mining system is all new: Mining Iron is now very different from mining Copper, Copper is quite different from Gold, or Silver, and so on. Ecology now plays a more prominent role throughout the game. The cooking system, perhaps already the most sophisticated in any online game, has been further refined.

And there are tons of little touches that you’ll notice – a whole new system for the use of character stats, dramatically faster run speeds, and new approaches to many Principles.

And finally the Tests. Seven all-new Tests, designed by our Oracles, and released throughout the Tale. Many of our old favorites will be making a return, often with some new twists. Also, expect additional technologies, surprising events, and whole new challenges.”