Porting TW2 to GNU/Linux using eON doesn't say much about any commitment. Any game ported using these new wrapper technologies are most probably experiments and maybe it's just VP trying to demo and sell their product.

Reading some say that anything is better than no port at all about TW2 makes me wish TW3 turns out to be like a crappy 8bit era game that you can waste your time on while you repeat the mantra "anything is better than nothing". :D

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This game played very well for me from the start despite being non-native, native should be even better.

Even in this nice case the wine wrappers still have a potential problem. It's an additional (big) layer of complexity that will fail at any moment even when it's been carefully packaged. I like to keep my games to play them again after some years. Wine games are more prone to stop working and they'll be harder to fix.

To those thinking that wrappers are good, I'd suggest developing only for GNU/Linux, then wrap the games for Windows. That way they can have the best of both world in Windows. We don't need so much goodness, just the native.

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: omer666Isn't OpenGL FOSS? Isn't it possible to improve it?

No, OpenGL is not FOSS. It's not even software, really, it's a standard. It's not truly even open anymore, as there are components that are patent encumbered.

While OpenGL isn't a software project, MESA is and it's opensource. It should get a lot more attention from developers and card vendors.

OpenGL supports extensions as a means to improve it. It certainly is more open to participation and innovation than DirectX.

I don't think the problem is the OpenGL design as much as it is the fact that MS has a monopoly that nowadays benefits many in the industry. But like any monopoly this would change when the competition is gone, see what happened to IE.

I'm not saying OpenGL shouldn't be improving to stay competitive and a good API but I think the critics are going overboard and mistakenly blaming OpenGL for everything.

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So Windows is shipping with graphic drivers that have OpenGL support stripped out? MS has always been very smart when it comes to protecting their interests. The current anti-OpenGL campaign seems to be in the very same line. Developers complaining that it's OpenGL's fault that MS strips OpenGL support out from their graphic drivers, how absurd that is?

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It makes feel bad seeing that opensource is likely to be attacked (lobbied?) while non-opensource alternatives seem to be favored by these same critics.

#1. Any cross-platform graphical low-level API that isn't? Being platform-locked is better? Sure it is for someone but then you don't mind fragmentation.

#2. The fault is in the drivers/manufacturers, not OpenGL, and it's because of a monopoly these critics are helping to.

#3. This is the only point where criticism can be taken, but DirectX sure also has its faults, some versions were really bad and still held monopoly.

Criticism helps to improve, but some criticism feels ill-hearted because of #1 and #2, and even more because OpenGL is treated like it also had the worst non-mentioned DirectX defect that is being locked by the vendor.

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Prices will be falling while the supply exceeds the demand.

http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.de/2014/05/the-indie-bubble-is-popping.html [External Link]

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This is a great rogue-like for the phone, the only one I like. I was looking forward to this.

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I hope this time they test the package before uploading to Desura. Having to wait one year to get the missing files is awful, even for an alpha release.

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I think a line should be drawn to differentiate Id Software's history from that of Zenimax. Id Software ported games to GNU/Linux, Zenimax didn't but it's now making decisions on Id Software's games.

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Quoting: Hamish

Quoting: liamdaweTrouble is they never actually sold Linux versions just offered them as a download, so he was talking out of his ass.

Well, there was the whole retail Quake 3 debacle, and the fact that they evidently were not happy with the amount of Linux players on Quake Live. Neither of those are terribly good metrics, but it was not completely made up.

Granted, the whole stance of id on Linux now is simply a reflection of Zenimax's policy of not allowing unsupported binaries of their games, which is what actually sank the Linux port as that is how the id Tech 4 ports were handled. Carmark claimed that he could only lobby for either Source Code releases or Unsupported binaries, and in the end he decided (rightly) that Source Code releases were more important.

...of course with Carmack no longer at id they will probably just quietly drop that as well.

Good summary. The Quake3 metric is specially bad since most people would just buy the Windows version and download the GNU/Linux binaries. And Quake Live alone isn't very representative.

I don't recall Carmack ever putting economic profit as a reason to do the ports, until Zenimax came in. Instead, I remember him saying the ports were a good way to improve the engine and that it helped them catch and fix hidden errors. As easy as it was for them to do the ports, and beneficial for testing, I highly doubt the reason for stopping doing them was the money.

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