floydius

I think I heard a hallelujah chorus somewhere when I saw this.

Thank goodness.

In case you didn’t know, I advocate using open source software whenever possible. The most famous example is probably Mozilla’s Firefox. Among other constituents are my beloved WordPress, as well as various operating systems that use the Linux kernel. If you use any variants of MS Windows, don’t worry; there are plenty of options for you as well.

I also enjoy computer gaming, and on that point my love for Linux finds a challenge. Unfortunately, most big gaming companies do not port their titles for Linux (or Mac, for that matter). If you remember, I posted before that some of this may be changing. In any case, two large companies have held a consistent dedication to providing Linux ports for their titles: id Software and Epic Games.

Epic’s latest blockbuster title for the PC is Unreal Tournament 3, and their VP, Mark Rein, committed to a Linux client at least as far back as August, 2007. Unfortunately, there have been delays to that client, apparently due to legal issues. Ryan “Icculus” Gordon is the programmer responsible for porting a large library of titles to Linux, and he is the man in charge of porting UT3, as well. I’ve been following this saga on his UT3 mailing list, and both Ryan and Epic have been quiet regarding the release for some time now. I actually bought the game soon after it was released in November 2007 on the understanding that the Linux client was coming, so I’m very much looking forward to it.

I e-mailed Mark Rein himself, and was pleasantly surprised to receive a prompt response. I posted this to the mailing list, and now yours truly has made it (in a round about way) onto Phoronix, a popular Linux gaming site. I feel like a rock star.

1 Source Engine coming to linux?

2 If 1 = True
3 Then print ‘awesome.’