A mixed welcome for Unreal Tournament 2003 on Linux (LinuxWorld) [LWN.net]

Joe Barr doesn't think the Linux version of Unreal Tournament 2003 from Epic Games is quite ready for prime time, in this LinuxWorld article. "The rest of the news about the Linux port of UT 2003 is not so good. There are issues. And there remains in my mind a big question: why has the Linux release been slipstreamed into something of a stealth release? There is also one big issue that you need to be aware of before you rush out to buy the boxed version, but I'm getting ahead of myself."

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A mixed welcome for Unreal Tournament 2003 on Linux (LinuxWorld)

Posted Oct 29, 2002 18:08 UTC (Tue) by errorlevel (guest, #1803) [Link]

I absolutely love the fact that there exists a native Linux version. I actually ended up buying a new GeForce4 so I could play it at higher framerates. My GeForce2 MX didn't quite give me the framerates I was used to in other games.

Also, the installer was a bit odd with how it referred to the CDs. If I remember correctly, one of the CDs was referred to as the Play disc (though none of the CDs have it printed on them.) Also, the installer seemed to have a problem with my having more than one type of removable media drive but after commenting out the other entries in my /etc/fstab the installer worked fine.

The game play is wonderful and I haven't experienced any bugs. If I have, they must be minor bugs because I didn't notice.

Jared Lash

A mixed welcome for Unreal Tournament 2003 on Linux (LinuxWorld)

Posted Oct 30, 2002 16:39 UTC (Wed) by bach37 (guest, #7255) [Link]

This article is ridiculous. UT2003 for linux is amazing. This is the first big game besides Quake which has been ported for Linux, out of the box. It is no big secret that UT works only with Nvidia cards in Linux. UT worked with Nvidia in making the game look great. I think whoever wrote this article was looking to double click something and install UT2003 in Linux. That's typical of windows users who don't understand Linux. UT2003 has a warm welcome to the Linux gaming world, and we Linux users hope that many other companies will follow likewise with Linux ports of their games.
The only "issues" are with the person who wrote the article. He has issues with understanding how to install one of the easier programs to install in Linux. UT2003 is fabulous- don't let him trick you.

-Scott

A mixed welcome for Unreal Tournament 2003 on Linux (LinuxWorld)

Posted Nov 1, 2002 13:55 UTC (Fri) by piyo (guest, #3075) [Link]

I found Joe Barr's little article interesting but nontheless uninformative. Read the comments section in the article to see ATI cards are supported via a commercial binary-only driver, and some more information about the history of the port.

The major reason (IM uninformed O) that a Linux port of the client exists is because Epic Games/Digital Extremes consider it very important to create a Linux server version of the game. The success of the game depends on the "UT community": organized fans that run the server version for free to host the online gamer. The server version is basically the client version with the graphics support stripped IIRC, so it's not too much more work to get that Linux support. BTW, Linux-based systems probably host most of the online games right now.

If Joe Barr wanted to deliver a pertinent argument that Linux users are getting "short-changed", he should have mentioned that the creation tools (modeling software, terrain/map editors, Maya Learning Edition, etc) are mainly Windows only. Epic/DE sells you not only a game, but includes enough tools so that you can create your own game. I'm sure that creating the Linux version of the tools would increase the fan base.

Personally I play Unreal Tournament and Unreal Tournament 2003 on my Windows 2000 PC, but the idea of playing it under Linux is intriguing. Also the Gentoo Linux Live-CD which included the UT 2003 demo can only be good press for both Epic/DE and the Gentoo folks.

- Clifford "piyokun" Caoile