Expert Opinions On Linux Gaming's Future 411
jg21 writes "Following
on from yesterday's Slashdot coverage of the idea to launch a games-based Linux
distro, LinuxWorld Magazine has held a Gaming Round Table involving Chris DiBona, Ryan
Gordon, Timothee Besset, Gavriel
State, and Joe Valenzuela about where Linux
currently stands and how it will one day become a premier gaming platform. 'It
became perfectly clear to me that most of the technological issues are already
solved, and that the others won't take too long to fix once the game publishers
really get into the mix,' reports Dee-Ann LeBlanc, Gaming Industry Editor for
LinuxWorld, who coordinated the round table. Well worth reading."
Re:John Carmak (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How can I play a game when I'm blind? (Score:4, Informative)
YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!
Nethack [nethack.org] has pretty good support for such technologies as screen readers and braille pads.
X-Plane is coming too... (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.linuxsimulations.org
engines for linux (Score:4, Informative)
I believe the major problem at the moment is definitely the difference in availability/quality of hardware accelerated graphics drivers. One ATI get their shit together, the story might be different...
Re:Where's the games at? (Score:5, Informative)
That may be true for games but as for professional 3d apps, OpenGL is king. Likely because of crossplatformability. Since those professional OpenGL cards cost so much (they make the money) and they can just apply the same technology to the game cards is another reason OpenGL is still strong for games.
A 7-syllable word that makes sense! A new personal record!
It's all about the money (mostly) (Score:5, Informative)
Most are under the impression that they shouldn't bother with anything other than Windows because there's no money in it. "95% of the market is Windows, so why bother with a poultry 5%" type attitude.
Also, added to the cost is desktop support. If you write a game for just Windows you only have to worry about Windows problems. If you write a game for Linux and Mac OS X, you have to hire, train, and then troubleshoot Linux and Mac problems.
The other problem is to convince developers to NOT design their game around proprietary technologies such as DirectX.
By the way, this information comes from the developers themselves. Personally, I think it's a bunch of crap excuses for lazyass companies trying to squeeze out every profit they can by minimizing responsibility. I'm an avid Mac user but I just recently had to buy a PC just to play games. Counter-Strike, Infantry, and Subspace are Windows only and impossible to play under emulation. However, I'd LOVE to see all my favorite games running under Linux and Mac OS X so I can chuck Windows.
If game developers can't be convinced to even write games for the Macintosh using the above excuses (especially the marketshare one), why would they be at all interested in a desktop that has an even smaller marketshare than the Macintosh?
Re:Where's the games at? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How can I play a game when I'm blind? (Score:1, Informative)
explore gamesfortheblind.com [gamesfortheblind.com]
written by a blind programmer, who's dedication and passion in the face of adversity should be supported.
Sure some of us sighted people can program well (and bad), but to it without the power of sight is truly something to awe and makes me feel rather humble.
A>S
Re:Where's the games at? (Score:3, Informative)
I know, not even close to what's available on windows, but still way more than I'll ever get a chance to play.
Morphix Game CD (Score:2, Informative)
SDL (Score:3, Informative)
SDL [libsdl.org]
It's always growing, it's open source (sort of), and it already supports many of the things in DirectX.
Re:Where's the games at? (Score:2, Informative)
One more thing, those professional 3d apps are also used to create the games. So the content creators have the chance to get familiar with Linux while developing for it.
Re:Binary Incompatibility (Score:3, Informative)
Re:GCC vs. Visual Studio (Score:3, Informative)
When I was compiling Gimp 2, it took 2 minutes to link the binary, and it was 40+ MB! I turned off debugging and it took 5 seconds or so.
Drivers, drivers, drivers (Score:4, Informative)
And I don't give a rat's arse if they're open source. I want them fast, I want them prominently available from hardware vendors and/or distributors, and most of all, I don't want to have to play a Towers of Hannoi with dependencies and command lines to get them to install and work on a stock Red Hat or SuSE system.
Oh, I know it should be simple enough, but it isn't. Google for problems with (e.g.) NVidia drivers with SuSE distros and that should give you a sample of the fun that awaits. For every twitchy zealot who'll chime in saying "Well, it just worked on my system!" (even though Linux cognitive dissonance means it probably didn't "just work") there will be someone who eventually got it to work after hours of hacking and begging for help in forums, someone who gave up on it, and someone who thinks it worked but who is still using old drivers without knowing it because they missed the "Wrong version of fleem" error in the forty screens of script output that ended with an "Install complete."
Re:Where's the games at? (Score:1, Informative)
While it's true that some HW manufacturers (like Philips) give away more documentation than they really need to, that doesn't mean Nvidia or ATI (specs under NDA == no specs at all) has to do the same. Just the bare essentials will be fine.