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Why gaming lacks in Linux


Darkelve
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Here are a couple of problems I see why gaming in Linux isn't improving very fast:

 

- Cedega costs money, so in addition to paying for the game (and probably in addition to paying for a PC upgrade) you have to pay money just to be *able* to play it. Wine is free, but in some areas, not as good as Cedega (although in many, it's better).

 

- Cedega does not and cannot support games fully. Often you have to make sacrifices in quality and/or speed. Same for Wine.

 

- Cedega only caters to the very most popular titles (even though 'support older games' has been in the top 3 op most popular feature request for the last couple of months). If I want to run my collection of old adventure games under it, it won't work usually. I'm hoping Wine will be better.

 

- Copy protection gives problems with getting the game to install properly. Especially if it is 'moving' copy protection like STEAM.

 

Also a problem, not related to Cedega or Wine, is that the porting is often done half-heartedly. Plus that the installers are sometimes insane to work with.

 

So I think this is also why so few games come to Linux:

 

- half-hearted porting attempt, making the game run worse under Linux than under Windows.

 

- no simple-to-use installer is included. For an example of how it should be done, just look at Unreal Tournament, that you just have to click. How it shouldn't be done: Tar/GZ files you have to compile for source.

 

- Compatibility layers Cedega and Wine still not advanced enough. Cedega costs money in addition to running the game and Wine nor Cedega can run most titles. At least Wine admits it's still an Alpha version (0.9 comes out somewhere in September).

 

- Copy protection causes trouble when installing

 

- Linux users make uninformed buying decisions and end up with hardware not supported, or hard to get to work. Most people who got ATI cards and now try to run games on Linux are pretty much scr*wed. Nvidia is a safe bet, but you'll still have to do some research on buying hardware. I think most people don't like doing research.

 

- Games for Linux are hard to buy: you don't see game boxes on the shelves and there are only a few websites who sell Linux games online. Sometimes they don't offer shipping, sometimes they do but the shipping is expensive if you don't live in the country/continent.

 

- There is little to no advertising or promotion done. Robin Hood, Legend of Sherwood, was out on November 2004 and I've only just discovered of its existence. I really liked the demo, but now have the problem of finding out how to buy it.

 

- A lot of younger people in European countries don't have a credit card. Credit cards are kind of a status symbol here in my country; you only get them if you are well off (or want to pretend you are). Online payment methods are almost always credit card only.

 

Just wanted to give my opinion on this! I think it shows that getting games to run, getting to know of new games and finding out how to buy are ALL problems, regardless of any discussion about OS internals.

 

 

Darkelve

Edited by Darkelve
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Well even the companys that do make games for linux, the installers are bull, you often have to jump through hoops to get them installed and most people just can't be bothered (neverwinter nights is a good example)

 

There should be cd installers, is there a reason why we can't pop in the cd and let it install? Is this a linux problem or the game companys?

 

Cedega is a problem, people are scared to pay for something that might not work with the game they want to play. They should definetly have some sort of trial, so people can test if there game works then they would see it was worth buying. Linux has great chance on the gaming scene, with nvidia and ati working hard on their linux support. I think linux gaming will improve, but at a very slow rate, i'm talking years here.

 

It's not just linux gaming that suffers from lack of adverisment, but linux itself. I've never ever, seen a linux advertisment on tv or on a billboard, heck i didn't even know what linux was a year ago.

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Another thing is that Linux seems to be a moving target as far as development is concerned. Gcc, libraries, all the stuff seems to be improving at a steady rate. Compare this to Windows where nothing seems to move at all.

 

Also, the thing that makes Linux so secure (user permission, user habits, etc) makes it damn hard to install software, especially games. Just think, most games require you to have Adminstrator privileges in order to install and to play. You also see that very few Windows users login as a less than Administrator account. Heck, they don't even know there is a limited user account in the first place. In Linux, we are trained to "DO NOT LOGIN AS ROOT" from the beginning. Unfortunately, that makes it difficult to install software.

 

Also the fact that multimedia-wise, Linux is very lacking. While Windows users can boast surround sound, we are lucky if we can get stereo sound working without a conflict with arts, alsa, or oss driver.

 

Finally, it's a bit of a chicken and the egg. Nobody will develop for Linux because there is no demand. And there is no demand because nobody develops for Linux. Some brave souls tried to create games for Linux, but either they find out it's too hard so they gave up, or they fail business-wise. Game developers right now, sadly, do not have the creativity nor the bravery to try something new, especially in the age of Industry giants like today. They all want a sure thing, something that can bring out tons of sequels and expansions. Compare this to the 80s and 90s while it seems that games are fresh and fun to play, even though they don't have the whiz-bang effects of today. I heard that the Sims was almost not released at all because EA believed it wouldn't sell. Now look at it, it's a franchise with tons of expansions and sequels.

 

This is why I usually play old or emulated games in my Linux box. They are much more fun for me than playing newer games.

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DM once again another smart post. But even the old games that I like to play aren't even playable. WoW is a game that I'm looking into, another that I like very much is BF2. Now I now it's new and I know that Cedega will probably won't support it for quite a while, it's a hell of a game, i don't seem myself playing it soon.

 

On the other hand it supports the regular 1942 battlefield games, which I will buy, I've only played them like 10 hours and then never touched them again. So they will be " Out dated " to some gamers, but to me it will be new, and I will enjoy them very much.

 

Half of the games that I like ( mostly shooter ) are supported in Linux which is a good news. I don't think Linux gaming will get better faster, Until linux doesn't make it out to the world ( which I think it will start by being installed on the PS3) we will not see that much improvement.

 

Since Linux is going on the PS3 game developers are going to mess around with it, and find it's beuties :). I personally think that is where it's going to start.

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One reason, no/few commercial games.

 

No commercial games because it's not profitable.

 

It's not profitable because there arent enough installations out there.

 

Not enough installations because computers mostly still come with Windows.

 

 

And the games that are out, are because the developers or someone within the company have an interest in linux, and are willing to support linux gaming, even though there's no profit in it.

 

When there's a bigger install base, therefore it's profitable, companies will put more effort into it, installers will be improved, amount of games will be increased.

 

iphitus

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Well even the companys that do make games for linux, the installers are bull, you often have to jump through hoops to get them installed and most people just can't be bothered (neverwinter nights is a good example)

 

There should be cd installers, is there a reason why we can't pop in the cd and let it install? Is this a linux problem or the game companys?

The companys'. Loki installer can work fine if they want.
Cedega is a problem, people are scared to pay for something that might not work with the game they want to play. They should definetly have some sort of trial, so people can test if there game works then they would see it was worth buying. Linux has great chance on the gaming scene, with nvidia and ati working hard on their linux support. I think linux gaming will improve, but at a very slow rate, i'm talking years here.
Cedega should be the last choice what people use when everything else fails. Although it's may not easy but it's possible to write platform independent games like UT2k4, Doom3 etc. There are even ready libraries like SDL, ogg etc. They just have to use it.
Another thing is that Linux seems to be a moving target as far as development is concerned. Gcc, libraries, all the stuff seems to be improving at a steady rate. Compare this to Windows where nothing seems to move at all.
The permenent development does not mean that the new libraries are incompatible to the old ones. And if they are then you only have to install the old libs. They can be included in the install CDs. They are open source software.
Also, the thing that makes Linux so secure (user permission, user habits, etc) makes it damn hard to install software, especially games. Just think, most games require you to have Adminstrator privileges in order to install and to play. You also see that very few Windows users login as a less than Administrator account. Heck, they don't even know there is a limited user account in the first place. In Linux, we are trained to "DO NOT LOGIN AS ROOT" from the beginning. Unfortunately, that makes it difficult to install software.

Insatll to the home dir then. Or maybe the installer could ask it:

Do you want to use this software alone [ ]

Do you want this software be available to everyone using this computer (You will need root permissions) [ ].

Anyway it could be an easy workaround.

 

IMO the biggest problem is the small market.

And IMO two things I know of can change this:

1. PS3 as Jet2k5 wrote. Nothing really need to be said.

2. MAC switching to Intel. Some games already running on it, like World of warcraft, maybe there's a lot more I don't know. And it's a UNIX variant OS.

When big game software companies start to use platform independent libs we're already made the biggest step.

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Bah. Like Big D said up there. Seriously I don't want to pay money to play games that I don't like. Most of the games that I want to play are not supported by Cedega. So once again tell me why I would pay to play games I don't want?

 

Anyhow I'm fixing on buying windows. Yes I know .. but it's only really for gaming. Linux is still going to be my main Desktop. Although I am a game addict so I'll really never have it booted ... j/k.

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