Gaming

[apjone]

will gaming manufactures ever take on bored that most linux users still wanna play there games and start to support linux justr as they support windows and Mac

[Malphas]

There's no real benefit for them to do so, Linux users are still a tiny minority. Hopefully as more people adopt Linux for their desktop, third party software developers will increasingly start creating Linux native programs (and games) and in return more people will be inclined to ditch Windows in favour of Linux. Another problem for game developers and software developers in general is that there isn't just one Linux operating system like there with XP, every distribution is its own OS and there are hundreds of distributions to take into consideration. The GNU/Linux community could probably ease the problem through more efforts at standardisation (like LSB and Freedesktop.org, neither of which seem to be really going anywhere) but even without them the scene seems to keep snowballing along and progressing at a great rate.

[kelsey23]

There are still a lot of games for GNU/Linux, but most of them are not commercial, instead they are liscnesed under GPL. Try the Linux Game Tome (I forgot the URL, use a search engine for it).

[xequence]

Many games already have a native linux installer.

Ok, now... What are the 4 most popular first person shooters? Unreal Tournament, Quake, Doom, and Half life. (Or maybe halo instead of half life, but I dont know much about it.) 3 of those 4 have linux installers, and the last one (half life) I dont know if it has a linux installer.

EDIT: Nope, half life 2 doesent have a linux installer.

[BWF89]

I refrain from buying PC games anymore because I know that it'll only make it harder to switch to Linux in the future.

[psoleko]

I only play PC games, which makes a total switch impossible. Easy solution for me was to build 2 computers, one I dedicate to games, it runs ofcourse minimal Windows XP, it also runs other proprietary apps. My main productivity is done on Ubuntu. I fiddled with Cedega and it's far too much work to get sub-par performance for games. Some GPL games are fun to play, and infact can be better than rehashed sequels. But, I am a gamer at heart and even though I love my software free, I have never seen anything that compares to the upcoming Elder Scrolls Oblivion on Linux.

[Brunellus]

I have never seen anything that compares to the upcoming Elder Scrolls Oblivion on Linux.

I hate to be pedantic, but if it's upcoming, you haven't seen either, strictly speaking.

[Brunellus]

I'm not sure I understand the OP perfectly, but:

Linux users have a nasty reputation for being cheapskates.

[BWF89]

I'm not sure I understand the OP perfectly, but:

Linux users have a nasty reputation for being cheapskates.
I thought it was Windows users who were the cheapskates? Who do you think pirates the most software? How many people do you know that actually have a legitiment copy of MS Office?

[xequence]

I thought it was Windows users who were the cheapskates? Who do you think pirates the most software? How many people do you know that actually have a legitiment copy of MS Office?


Windows users accept propriatory software, and propriatory software that costs money.

You try to take a non open source program and make it really popular in the open source world. Not that easy. People dont accept it very well, though there are some exceptions. There is really nothing to pirate in the linux world, with the exception of cedega and crossover office.

[psoleko]

I've seen a few game that aren't out yet ;)


I hate to be pedantic, but if it's upcoming, you haven't seen either, strictly speaking.

[Malphas]

Windows users accept propriatory software, and propriatory software that costs money.

You try to take a non open source program and make it really popular in the open source world. Not that easy. People dont accept it very well, though there are some exceptions. There is really nothing to pirate in the linux world, with the exception of cedega and crossover office.
Which is unfortunate, and games are just one example of a market sector where a non-free, proprietary model works better than free, open source. Fantastic as it would be if every single piece of software cost nothing and was open source, there are areas where this just isn't practical and the sooner people accept that and it becomes easier for developers to create commercial, proprietary software for GNU/Linux, the better.

[xequence]

Which is unfortunate, and games are just one example of a market sector where a non-free, proprietary model works better than free, open source. Fantastic as it would be if every single piece of software cost nothing and was open source, there are areas where this just isn't practical and the sooner people accept that and it becomes easier for developers to create commercial, proprietary software for GNU/Linux, the better.

Yes, I have to aggree. Linux users need to be more accepting of propriatory software, and even if it costs money. Id hate it though if it got to the point where windows is - Every little program costs money. Alchohol 120% for CD burning is a prime example. Its 55$. There are thousands of little speciality programs like that, that cost 20-60$.

Its very hard to get the perfect balance of propriatory and open source.

[blastus]

Games have an entertainment factor and people don't mind paying for entertainment. Some people don't want to spend a pile of money on a computer and then have to buy software (like firewall, antivirus and antispyware) on top of it just to use it or do basic stuff like word processing.

I don't see the value in buying such software especially when I may only use 5% of its features, and I have to continually upgrade it, and every new version gets more and more complicated and bloated with junk I'll never use, and every new version costs more than the last, and every new version requires more powerful hardware than the last, and I have to accept stupid license agreements, enter in stupid key codes, and/or have to activate the software.

On the other hand, some people like buying software. Some people will even spend $40 on a web browser, $20 on a popup blocker, $15 on a ad-blocker, and don't mind shelling out hundreds and hundreds of dollars on office software. Some people like blowing money just for the sake of blowing money--these kinds of people probably just like shopping in general.