Civ5 for Linux

[Solver]

Thanks for linking to that article MoonWolf, I had missed the news about Source coming to Linux. I'm very pleased, it's a great engine too. On the other hand, I find that Valve games are already in the small group of games that run perfectly or near-perfectly on Linux for me - but it's still a very good step.

Most companies won't even consider porting games to Linux now which is also largely understandable due to Linux's overall small market share. If there are going to be changes then there have to be a few big companies that show the way. iD has always had great Linux support, it's be great if Valve joins them, they're one of the most influential game companies at the moment.

[Harovan]

Are Linux users still pimpled nerds in pizza stained t-shirts?

[Solver]

Not me, I don't eat at my computer.

[TriMiro]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Are Linux users still pimpled nerds in pizza stained t-shirts?

Interesting concept. All the Linux users I know are either computer science students or computer science professors. If you call that pizza nerds then I guess yes. However, all of the above mentioned people make quite a good amount of money.

Another point is that Firaxis does not have to make a complete Linux port in order for Civ IV to work. All that Firaxis has to do is tweak the game to make sure it works properly with wine (i.e. clean the few glitches), they can even work with the wine people. That would be a small expense and it would open a whole new platform.

[okblacke]

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Are Linux users still pimpled nerds in pizza stained t-shirts?

Some of 'em, I imagine.

Plenty are just average computer users, or people with Linux-loving friends who don't really know one system from another.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Solver
Not me, I don't eat at my computer.

I do, but never pizza.

Originally posted by TriMiro
Interesting concept. All the Linux users I know are either computer science students or computer science professors. If you call that pizza nerds then I guess yes. However, all of the above mentioned people make quite a good amount of money.

I should know. I do Linux programming for a living.

Another question, do Linux nerds still have difficulties to communicate with the opposite gender?

[TriMiro]

Another question, do Linux nerds still have difficulties to communicate with the opposite gender?

I did communicate well enough to get married. All of my friends computer scientists are either married, engaged or in a serious relationship.

[McCrea]

Linux would be nice. Only 5 years left to replace XP, I'm not at all confident MS will pull it off for me. Portability is one of python's highlights, but yeah, the graphic issue (DirectX) makes it more difficult. But me, I don't know why they're using 3D for 2D games. That is my biggest critique of this game, and I do rate CivIV as the best produced current game. Anyway, I'm just old and senile. I'd play it in ASCII if I could.

[nbarclay]

Proper planning can make it much easier to port software to a different operating system than it is to port it after the fact. The key is to develop an interface layer that acts as an intermediary between the application code and the operating system. Then, to port the code to a different operating system, you make whatever changes are needed to the interface layer, but if all goes well, the application code doesn't have to change. Unfortunately, this approach wouldn't solve the problem of DirectX being Windows-specific.

[TriMiro]

nbarclay, I wonder how many of the real programmers in the developing studios want to create such compatibility layer and how many of them are simply suppressed by the CEOs that can only see Windows = largest OS therefore use windows only.

A possible temporary solution is wine, for a trivial expense any company can get their windows software to work under Linux and maybe even Mac, but the underlying problem of MS monopoly would be hard to solve. A lot of people simply do not understand that there are alternatives to paying >$200 for windows just to play your game. People don't think that they can spend those money on a better video card for example.

[Supr49er]

Originally posted by TriMiro ... underlying problem of MS monopoly ...