Porting Windows games to GNU/Linux.

[kinematic]

Hey guys, my brother and I are working on a business plan to port Windows games to GNU/Linux, basically we want to remove any risks involved for the big games developers and we need some hard info as to wether or not you'd be willing to pay for all of the popular games if you could play them natively on GNU/Linux. Keep in mind tho that this would not involve opening the code as that's simply impossible. We would also like to know the price you'd be willing to pay.

[cardinals_fan]

I might buy Big Kahuna Reef. Otherwise, I'm happy with greed, Shredder Chess, gtktetris, and online games.

[eragon100]

Hey guys, my brother and I are working on a business plan to port Windows games to GNU/Linux, basically we want to remove any risks involved for the big games developers and we need some hard info as to wether or not you'd be willing to pay for all of the popular games if you could play them natively on GNU/Linux. Keep in mind tho that this would not involve opening the code as that's simply impossible. We would also like to know the price you'd be willing to pay.

www.linuxgamepublishing.com <-- especcially this one!

www.runesoft.com

You will be in for some tough, established, and popular competition!

[toupeiro]

http://www.lokigames.com/about/

There have been companies that tried this in the past. Wishing you the best of luck!

[Namtabmai]

Good luck with the venture!

I voted yes, but then realised I wasn't sure if you meant do I want to pay for a game (obviously) or do I want to pay extra to get a Linux port?

If you're asking if I'd like to pay extra for a Linux port can I change my vote to no? While I'd like to seem more developers and games supporting Linux I really don't see why I should have to pay extra on top of the already ever-increasing high price of games.

[kinematic]

There have been companies that tried this in the past. Wishing you the best of luck!

Yes, we know but we will be using a different approach. And ask yourself, what is it that any company want to do besides making money.....that's right, make more money.

[kinematic]

I voted yes, but then realised I wasn't sure if you meant do I want to pay for a game (obviously) or do I want to pay extra to get a Linux port?

Just the game.

[wmcbrine]

If proprietary software vendors "know" one thing about Linux, it's that it's used by people who don't like to pay for software. If they're a little more sophisticated, they may understand Free Software... which is still antithetical to their business model. So, market share aside, you've got a real uphill battle.

[cookieofdoom]

I don't buy many games (not because I get them illegally, but because I only play a few games), but if a game I was interested in buying was available for Linux I'd buy it.

[jimi_hendrix]

i use windows for gaming...less of a pain...ya it takes a while to boot up...but if i am going to spend a while gaming than a few minutes wont matter

[kinematic]

If proprietary software vendors "know" one thing about Linux, it's that it's used by people who don't like to pay for software.

And if there's one thing Linux users need to understand it's that you can't get the highest selling games for free. In fact, one of the factors holding the Linux gaming market back are users crying about a lack of high quality games for Linux while at the same time they think those games should be free.

[Namtabmai]

And if there's one thing Linux users need to understand it's that you can't get the highest selling games for free. In fact, one of the factors holding the Linux gaming market back are users crying about a lack of high quality games for Linux while at the same time they think those games should be free.

In the words of wikipedia "Citation Needed". Exactly where have you seen Linux users demanding that the latest games like Crysis, Left 4 Dead etc should be free?

[Frak]

You guys should take some advice from Ryan "Icculus" Gordon and Tony J. White. Icculus is paid to port games to Linux then (usually) give the executable away for free (as in beer) over his site or include it with the packaged media. As long as the person already has the game, the executable asks for the textures and goes on it's own way. His latest game ported was Prey (http://icculus.org/prey/).

[jrusso2]

Hey guys, my brother and I are working on a business plan to port Windows games to GNU/Linux, basically we want to remove any risks involved for the big games developers and we need some hard info as to wether or not you'd be willing to pay for all of the popular games if you could play them natively on GNU/Linux. Keep in mind tho that this would not involve opening the code as that's simply impossible. We would also like to know the price you'd be willing to pay.

I hope you know something the big guys don't know how like to port Direct X games to Open GL when there are not extensions on Open GL that support what your trying to do. Open GL is many years of work behind Direct X.

[Kvark]

Windows users ignore licenses and pirate software without thinking about it. Linux users respect software copyrights and cry loudly when they see a license violation.

It's possible that those who get upset about GPL violations are a tiny but loud minority while most Linux users don't care. It's also possible they're hypocrites who care about copyright on GPL'd software but not about copyright on other software. But I think Linux users really do have more respect for copyright and licenses on software than Windows users.

To answer the topic I buy 1 to 3 Windows or Linux games per year and I wait until they release a cheap edition that includes the expansions. If a random Windows game that isn't one of the few must haves I would buy anyway is ported to Linux that won't change my mind into buying it.

I don't think there are many who really want to play lots of fancy games but can't because they refuse to use a Console, Windows, Wine or Cedega. Most who would buy games for Linux probably already buy them for another platform.

[Matthewthegreat]

I would buy if I could play muliplayer with windows users and didn't cost too much more then the windows version.