1. #1

    Blizzard Entertainment Planning A Linux Game For 2013

    http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...tem&px=MTI2ODE
    Blizzard Entertainment is reportedly rumored to be planning a Linux game for 2013, although it could be fake.

    This news today also comes with news that Valve's Steam Box will run on Linux and have a full reveal in 2013.

    Thoughts?
    Last edited by Spriggs; 2013-01-13 at 01:46 PM.

  2. #2
    Legendary! llDemonll's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Washington
    Posts
    6,582
    Yellow Journalism. Don't know how reliable this guy is, but there is a large difference between "planning a game for linux" implying that they are developing a game solely for linux, and "planning a game that will be compatible with linux" implying it will run on different operating systems as well.
    "I'm glad you play better than you read/post on forums." -Ninety
    BF3 Profile | Steam Profile | Assemble a Computer in 9.75 Steps! | Video Rendering Done Right

  3. #3
    The Lightbringer barackopala's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Chile, Viña del Mar
    Posts
    3,846
    The title is completely missleading.

  4. #4
    Website with questionable credibility sites an unnamed anonymous source. I'm convinced (/sarcasm).

    Although developing games for Linux in addition to Windows (and sometimes Mac) seems to be the popular thing nowadays.

    Also, I like how he mentioned the one Blizz comment supporting Newel against Windows 8, from the personal account of one employee (an influential one, but only one). He doesn't then bother to mention that Blizzards official stance is that they support the OS and don't have any problems with it. <3 objective articles.

  5. #5
    Fluffy Kitten Remilia's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Avatar: Momoco
    Posts
    15,160
    I doubt the reliability, and as Demon said, there's a difference between solely for Linux and compatible.

    And I quote.
    One of the big problems with Linux, and this is from other game developers too, is the problem of targeting a specific version of the platform. Since everyone is free to create their own distros, they can become somewhat unstandardized. That makes "targeting linux" difficult.

    Add on that there are far fewer linux users than windows/mac users, and that you can play wow on linux using Wine... and there isn't a lot of reason to target even a specific distro.
    This is by a WoW MVP post. Which are volunteers much like mods on MMOC.
    Then they use this as a credible source that they have an in house Linux client.

    Also, it would be nice if once in a while any of their links are actually not within their own site... the Linux site.
    Reliability and information is just not there, and the massive misquotes that even Edge posted / called out.
    Last edited by Remilia; 2013-01-07 at 05:14 AM.

  6. #6
    Keyboard Turner
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Hidden, government is out to get me.
    Posts
    6
    From the sound of it they're just going to be porting a game over to linux this year

    been told at least one of their very popular titles will see a release for Ubuntu Linux this calendar year.
    Probably just means we'll see a linux port of WoW within the next year.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    If it were true, I would love to see WoW ported over to linux. I know it runs quiet well with wine already but it's always nice to see developers adding their games to linux, gives me more reason to stop using windows.

  8. #8
    I'd be thrilled if they did. I hate windows. Wine is pretty reliable, but it still doesn't run as smoothly.

    That said I don't see it happening any time soon. From a cost effectiveness standpoint it just doesn't make much sense. You're talking about an extremely small increase in sales, especially since as already evidenced in this thread, lots of linux users use Windows to play games instead of simply not gaming or more likely they use Wine when they can.
    Last edited by Abysal; 2013-01-07 at 11:15 AM.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    wont be exclusive but blizzard just like valve are clearly pushing forward with its plans for linux.

  10. #10
    If you've never heard of it, it doesn't mean it has a dubious credibility at best. Phoronix is a pretty damn popular site in Linux circles. And that dude also hinted on his tweeter that his recent visit to LA was related to Blizzard Linux activities. Also this very dude was hinting at Steam on Linux long before it became publicly know that it will see a day light some time.

    Just as usual, read the whole article before commenting on it - it's well worth it.

    P.S. Not really a rocket science to conclude that WoW will be finally made native to the Linux ecosystem.

  11. #11
    Deleted
    Phoronix isn't a questionable source. The problem is that he (M.L.) sometimes reports about non issues, rehashes content, or has minor teasers/scoops. Many news sites do this though.

    Quote Originally Posted by razorback07 View Post
    If it were true, I would love to see WoW ported over to linux. I know it runs quiet well with wine already but it's always nice to see developers adding their games to linux, gives me more reason to stop using windows.
    WoW is internally already running native on Linux. They use it for testing purposes and its great for development. They won't release WoW for Linux because their helpdesk cannot support it.

    My money is on Heart of the Swarm (because this would be a future investment for 3rd expansion). I'm not sure if it'd be released together with Windows and Mac OS X though.

    They just released Heroesofwarcraft.com or something like that. That could be WC4, or maybe the movie, or something else.
    Last edited by mmoc41a7fbf474; 2013-01-13 at 09:45 AM.

  12. #12
    I guess it would be ubuntu? I'm not sure how much sense this makes fiscally. The linux user pool is kinda fragmented. I guess the majority are ubuntu users but I'm not even sure about that. Don't get me wrong I want to see more support for open source like linux but the nature of it being open source makes this trickier.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by TonyIommi View Post
    I guess it would be ubuntu? I'm not sure how much sense this makes fiscally. The linux user pool is kinda fragmented. I guess the majority are ubuntu users but I'm not even sure about that. Don't get me wrong I want to see more support for open source like linux but the nature of it being open source makes this trickier.
    Hello all. New here and Google brought me to this forum . I was part of the Steam Linux Beta and I can tell you Steam is going to be just fine on Linux. As for fragmentation, I'm sure Blizzard will follow Steam's stance that while you can run Steam on any distro, it will only be officially supported on Ubuntu. This is how you solve the support problem.

    Also keep in mind that Linux users are used to this, and fine with it. In other words, someone running Arch Linux may seek help on the Steam Linux forums, but they would not submit a support ticket since it's known upfront that they will not get commercial support in this regard.

    Finally, if the Humle Indy Bundles are any indication, there are at least as many Linux gamers as there are Mac gamers. I would argue that acually as of the last year or so there are likely more Linux users than Mac, and that number is only going to rise. At any rate, any conversation about gaming on Linux is a welcome thing.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •