UT3 Linux Client Is "In The Works"

[Licaon]

/offtopic:
@Svartalf: maybe you should rethink that anti-buying-a-Windows-version thing that you keep repeating, since you're not offering a viable alternative saying that something is bad is useless, you are not answering the question that follows: "OK, i won't buy the Windows version, where from do I buy the Linux version?"

maybe it makes you feel good to show everybody the truth, that buying means accepting, but that good feeling that you have does not replace the games that we all missed playing in Linux or in the ( wonderful but ) broken WINE

and repeating that does not make it any better, actually it makes me mad/sad

/ontopic: 9 months already? the time is up, time to give birth to the Linux version guys/gals

[ivanovic]

@Svartalf: maybe you should rethink that anti-buying-a-Windows-version thing that you keep repeating, since you're not offering a viable alternative saying that something is bad is useless, you are not answering the question that follows: "OK, i won't buy the Windows version, where from do I buy the Linux version?"

That is simple:

Do not buy it (and thus play it) unless there *is* a Linux version. Once the Linux version is available, either via pointrelease or "real port" by a different company, buy the game. Best would then even be to buy it in a "linux shop". There are several of those out there, eg ixsoft.de or tuxgames.com.

maybe it makes you feel good to show everybody the truth, that buying means accepting, but that good feeling that you have does not replace the games that we all missed playing in Linux or in the ( wonderful but ) broken WINE

It is basically every players own choice. Either wait until a linux binary is out (yes, it might be "forever") or buy a Windows title which is only available for Windows and support this market.


Let's make it a simple calculation from the publishers point of view:

If you saw that you have many sales of your product, why do create a Linux port? Why do this while there are many Linux users buying it to play it via wine? Why invest the money needed for the port? Yes, if those were not buying at all, this might be a starving market where I could gain a lot of profit with little effort, but why should I do so when 70% of the users buy my Windows version, too, without me putting a single dollar in it?

The harsh truth is that wine actually is hurting the Linux market for many native products though the software itself makes lots of sense. So if you wanted to explicitly support Linux gaming, you would just buy and play those having a native Linux version. (For example you could try to open source shooter or, to have something different, a turnbased strategy game in a fantasy theme, more commonly known as "Battle for Wesnoth" [/shameless advertisement]).

[niniendowarrior]

@Svartalf: maybe you should rethink that anti-buying-a-Windows-version thing that you keep repeating, since you're not offering a viable alternative saying that something is bad is useless, you are not answering the question that follows: "OK, i won't buy the Windows version, where from do I buy the Linux version?"

maybe it makes you feel good to show everybody the truth, that buying means accepting, but that good feeling that you have does not replace the games that we all missed playing in Linux or in the ( wonderful but ) broken WINE

and repeating that does not make it any better, actually it makes me mad/sad

Svartalf doesn't offer a better solution, other than keeping your dollars in your wallet, but, in my opinion, this simple truth does not seem to sink into a lot of folks. No matter how much that makes you feel sad, it doesn't change that fact and that there's still a contingency of Linux gamers that go the WINE/Cedega route for whatever reason. I can't speak for him, but those many reiterations, in my opinion, are necessary. It's the kind of repercussion that Linux gamers do not realize. And everyday, you find new folks talking about how they play using Wine, etc.

The buying of those Windows copies, in the long run don't help. They hurt much more in a grander scheme of things.

Knowing the root cause of the problem is the first step of finding the real solution.

[deanjo]

Until I see a game that says that advertises "Runs under Wine or Cedega" on the box I can't consider either solutions being a factor in a companies decision to port to linux or not.

[Svartalf]

Until I see a game that says that advertises "Runs under Wine or Cedega" on the box I can't consider either solutions being a factor in a companies decision to port to linux or not.

Heh... Unfortunately many do.

[Malikith]

Svartalf doesn't offer a better solution, other than keeping your dollars in your wallet, but, in my opinion, this simple truth does not seem to sink into a lot of folks. No matter how much that makes you feel sad, it doesn't change that fact and that there's still a contingency of Linux gamers that go the WINE/Cedega route for whatever reason. I can't speak for him, but those many reiterations, in my opinion, are necessary. It's the kind of repercussion that Linux gamers do not realize. And everyday, you find new folks talking about how they play using Wine, etc.

The buying of those Windows copies, in the long run don't help. They hurt much more in a grander scheme of things.

Knowing the root cause of the problem is the first step of finding the real solution.

Yeah, this is a major problem. What puzzles me further is that some people use wine to play games such as Quake 3 or UT 2004 or some other game that has a native port already. It seems they are completely unaware that there are native solutions to some of the games they actually already play. I honestly don't care if people want to play Windows games, its just that if you want to play Windows games, just use Windows. I don't understand why people grab Linux and then install about 30 games through Wine and not even have a single native game on their machine. That just seems like a waste of time.

[Thetargos]

From that link I understood that a previous unreal editor was ported entirely to linux. Is that true? And if so, which editor? the one for ut2k4?

Dunno if you have had an answer on this, but now that you mention it... Might that be the cause of the delay (wishful thinking), we broke our heads about the client, but no one thought about the Editor. So it happens that UT3 is suypposed to be the first Unreal to have available for Linux the whole set of modding tools (map editor, models, static meshes, physics, UnrealScript, etc). Supposedly (as per Ryan saying) the tools had been ported for the most part, and that was thanks to the Epic devs using WxWidgets rather than GDI to code the UI (IIRC), at any rate the tools only go so far as the engine itself as they hook to it, and use it as backend. At any rate, UT3's editor would be the one ported. Not (as far as I know) UE2.0 editor.

[Chris]

Do not buy it (and thus play it) unless there *is* a Linux version. Once the Linux version is available, either via pointrelease or "real port" by a different company, buy the game.

But if Linux users don't buy it, won't we just be telling them that Linux users won't buy their stuff? Then why bother porting to an OS for users that won't buy it? After all, just *saying* we'll buy it if there's a Linux version doesn't mean anything. We have to *show* them that we'll buy it.. but we can't do that if we don't.

And if they do see a drop-off in sales, will it be attributed to "those Linux users" or "the decline of PC gaming"? I'd wager that if studios see a significant decline in PC game sales, they'll just focus more on consoles, not alternative OSs.

[niniendowarrior]

You can argue about that, but buying Windows copies still won't help.

Think of it as buying a Windows copy sets back Linux gaming by ten years. lol.

On a side note, we should make an effort to get back on topic, though my stance on UT3 on Linux is still 'indifferent'. I'll be happy when I see it out. Let's see if Epic makes good with their promise.

[deanjo]

Heh... Unfortunately many do.

Such as? Give some examples.