[KLUG Members] Re: TransGaming Releases WineX 2.0

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Thu, 2002-04-18 at 09:45, W Guy Finley wrote:
> FYI for the Linux gamers out there.  I just installed the latest RPM but 
> haven't fired it up with any DX8 games yet to see how it works in real life.  
> Seems to be a significant release from TransGaming though which is 
> encouraging since Loki went under.

I have no need for DirectDOSMemoryMap (aka DirectX) on UNIX nor NT-based
Windows.  We had OpenGL before Windows 95 was on the map and the only
reason DirectDOSMemoryMap existed is because they couldn't get OpenGL to
run well on Windows 95.  Now we have a world of video cards and
extensions where incompatibility is supreme.

Native apps are best and OpenGL is the key.  Convincing vendors to make
Linux ports is the key.  There is a DirectX 8 to OpenGL API wrapper and
SDL maps to most other DirectX functions.  The man-hours required to
"tweak" an "emulator" for a title and just actually "port" the title
from the source code is about the same.

It's too bad Loki's gone, but it was far too thin of a profit model to
do on their own.  Fortunately, former Loki developers are still signing
NDAs to port games!  E.g., Serious Sam and Operation Flashpoint are
being ported to UNIX (because they actually were developed on OpenGL,
even if they use DirectX).  Unreal Tournament 2 is also going to be
available for Linux (largely because it's developed on Linux!).

-- Bryan

-- 
If consumers are liable to "correctly" license someone's IP, why aren't
IP holders held liable when they unjustly force the same consumers to
license the same IP more than once?  "Piracy" is a double-edged sword.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryan J. Smith, SmithConcepts, Inc            mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org
Engineers and IT Professionals             http://www.SmithConcepts.com