July 1, 2002 02:00 pm, Ronald J. Hall wrote: <snip> > OTOH, I'd love to see every new game be ported to Linux. What do you think > it would take to make that happen? Transgaming closing up shop? I don't > think so. More presence in the desktop (home) market? Absolutely. I > honestly believe that day will come. I'm really looking forward to the new > releases like DOOM and Neverwinter Nights... > > IIRC, Hyperion Software released Shogo: Mobile Armor Division for Linux, > then after dismal sales, said they would not release any more - but would > still continue to port games to the Amiga - because they sold more games on > the Amiga than Linux... Think about that. If thats true, then its obvious > there needs to be a much larger game playing user base under Linux to get > these companies attention and hold it. > > I'll be the first to celebrate when that day arrives! :-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not quite sure how I feel about it, but I am a Transgaming subscriber (annual) even though I don't play games. I believe in what they're doing even though, in my opinion, it's a stopgap/transitional solution.
My 17 year old son is a game nut, but also has been developing an allergic reaction to anything that says Windows. Possibly he's been exposed to a bad influence? :-) At last count he, and his mother's husband, have over 50 games between them. Since the computer they play on belongs to the ex's hubby it's hard for him to justify (nigh impossible) adding Transgaming's WineX and Mandrake just 'cause he hates MS. He's working and saving his shekels so we can build a system for him (and his sister occasionally) to play on without having to worry about it. That's one perspective. A few friends; and many acquaintances of mine, are avid gamers as well, with 30 to 75 games each. Unfortunately some of them are of the "but it (GNU/Linux) is free, so it should all be free!" mindset and wouldn't pay for an emulator. Or the games. A few won't even pay for a certain OS that runs their games natively but that's their problem. I'm not condoning it, but 'ignore' is still in my vocabulary, and the number is low enough %agewise that I don't feel it necessary to do more than call them thieves. To their faces. Many of those people that do actually buy things (the vast majority) would probably be willing to buy the games if they were ported/released for GNU/Linux; but wouldn't buy a subscription to play. They aren't sick enough of MS yet maybe. People that don't have any emotional "investment" in MS (read as borderline hatred or worse) aren't usually interested in a different way to do things, since they generally just don't care one way or the other. As long as they can start and play their games, surf the 'net, read their e-mail, they're happy. It may have to do with me never having been interested in games so I don't relate well to them. Or just possibly another example of the "what's in it for me?" mindset that I see too often everywhere on the planet. The rest? Hate MS; many (18) are dual booting Mandrake with a version of Windows, but would prefer not to have to reboot to play a game. Most aren't convinced enough yet to go whole hog, and the fact that many games still won't run, or won't run seamlessly, is a stumbling block. Major one in fact. Especially those running (9) MS Crash 2001 (aka Windows XP) since the damned thing has a tendency to complain about nothing and/or eat it's own "certified drivers" for no apparent reason and like all versions before it the only way to recover is to reinstall. MS R&R. The field (home user desktop) is more open than it was three years ago because of changing public perceptions. The potential is here _now_ for a distribution to become *the* most popular desktop OS, (the 'next big thing') since BillyG keeps shooting himself in the foot. Mandrake is the one that I hope takes advantage of this. To the game developers I can only offer (steal) a quote from a book/movie; "Build it and they will come." In "informal poling" *they* amounts to 30 people. That I know of. -- Charlie Edmonton,AB,Canada Registered user 244963 at http://counter.li.org A wise man can see more from a mountain top than a fool can from the bottom of a well.
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