I will be on the Mashed Buttons Gamecast (Podcast) tonight at 7PM EST, 4PM PST. It's a podcast dedicated to video games and the gaming community. Check it out:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mashedbuttons-gamecast

Tags: podcast, mashedbuttons

If I had to give one reason why I don't completely wipe out Windows on my desktop, I would have to say that reason is games. I am a gamer and there are still several PC games I enjoy playing.

These games are made for Windows and can't natively be run under Linux. WINE, which just released version 1.0 of its software to run Windows applications under Linux does a pretty good job at running many PC games, sadly though, it is not a full substitute for running the game on the Windows operating system. I know me personally have had mixed success with running games with WINE. Sometimes I get it working perfectly, other times it takes a little bit of work to configure to get it to even work, and there are other times where I can't get a game to work at all.

The real reason for this is that developers won't make games for Linux. It's not just a matter of making a different installer, its about programming for a different set of graphics libraries, and programming the game to run natively under a completely different system. And despite my wishes that more developers would choose to release Linux versions of their games, I can't say I don't understand their reasoning. Game companies are in the market to make money, like any business. To make more money, it only makes sense for them to make their games for the greater user base, which in this case, is Windows. Like it or not, Windows is still the operating system with the most market share, and it only makes sense for developers to target Windows for their games. Windows may be slowly declining in market share percentage, but its still at the top, and the logical platform for PC games.

Mac OS X has recently grown noticeably in computers sold and some game companies, like EA have taken notice and are starting to develop more for the OS X platform. This goes to show that if a platform becomes more noticeable in the spotlight, it could very well start being developed for.

The argument could always be placed "well game companies should make a version of the game for Linux, so us users aren't left out in the cold". And I think of that argument too, and wish that some developers would take the plunge and start developing for Linux. Some companies have. Unreal Tournament 2003 came with a Linux installer and ran natively, Penny Arcade's game also came with a Linux version. I would love to see big-name games come to Linux, I think that Linux is a great platform and would definitely pay for a game that would run natively on Linux. But again, until more market jumps on the Linux bandwagon, its not realistically profitable for game companies to use Linux as a platform.

There are a lot of pretty good games that do run natively on Linux, but not many of them are the big name titles that you see everyone talking about. To make an example, I've been playing Crysis, the first person shooter from EA and Crytek. This game is a good game with amazing graphics and some pretty good gameplay. It currently can only run on Windows XP and Windows Vista. Its support under WINE is shoddy, and even if you could get it working under WINE, the graphical aspects of it that make it what it is would be lost because WINE can't run it natively.

I'm honestly not trying to bash Wine, I love it and it does a great job with the majority of applications and games, but for those games it doesn't run or just half-runs, there really is no alternative to Windows at the moment. We can only hope Wine improves and/or developers take more notice to Linux. If I can get most of my games to run under Linux, I would be love to be able to wipe Windows off my desktop and just go with a pure Linux system.

What do you think?

Tags: opinion, opensource, tech, linux

As predicted, Zero Punctuation reviewed GTA IV. The game that I've been hooked on for 2 weeks actually seemed to survive with only some minor scathes compared to other games that he tore to bits.

Tags: review, humor, gtaiv

Kotaku just released a tidbit about an upcoming book about children and violent video games. It's noted that this book details studies that contradicts what Jack Thompson and many others try to claim: that violent video games turn children in violent, killing machines. As quoted:

Until now, the most-publicized studies came from a small group of experimental psychologists, studying college students playing nonviolent or violent games for 15 minutes. It's debatable whether those studies are relevant to real children, playing self-selected games for their own reasons (not for cash or extra credit!), in social settings, over many years. But media reports and political rhetoric often ignore that distinction.

 It's going to be interesting to see if this gets any publicity and how those with opposing views are going to react to this. and how they respond.

The Violent Gaming Book to Buy Your Parents [kotaku.com]

Tags: thoughts, news, links

So I finally beat Uncharted last night. The game was nothing short of amazing, I'd have to put it as one of the best games of 2007 and one of the best games I've ever played. It brings a lot to the table, it has great gameplay, the controls are pretty intuitive and easy to control, graphics are top-notch, and it has one of the best storylines I've seen in a while. The story is one of the biggest appeals of the game as it keeps you wanting to see what happens next. The ending was pretty good and leaves it wide open for a sequel should Naughty Dog choose to.

So, if you have a PS3 and DON'T have Uncharted, get it, its worth it.

Tags: uncharted, ps3, life