QuakeLive on Linux
Quake III Arena was, as for many other gamers of my generation, my first First Person Shooter, or FPS. Over the last ten years the FPS market has been dominated by the consoles and the Windows platform. Whilst Linux has played its part as the server operating system of choice for game servers, few games have been ported to Linux. Today, I experienced QuakeLive on Linux for the first time.
QuakeLive entered the Beta testing stage of its development process six months ago. I was becoming increasingly disaffected with EA/DICE's Battlefield 2142 and its habit of crashing my computer, so I hopped on the bandwagon. The instant playability enthralled me, and the retro environment combined with GPU power I could only have dreamt of 10 years ago had me hooked.
As Windows Vista's public image grew to echo that of the tragic Windows ME, an increasing number of enthusiasts have sought refuge in other operating systems. Apple's Mac OSX occupied the premium market, with its usability and BSD-sourced stability. Some chose their netbooks based on their ability to run OSX and become Hackintoshes. Linux picked up the majority of the switchers, Ubuntu being a popular choice amongst those averse to command line controls.
It is against this backdrop that Id Software have posted the browser-based QuakeLive to Linux and MacOX, although only Firefox and Safari are supported at present.
I gave it a go on my own PC, with a recent Ubuntu 9.04 install and Firefox 3.0.13. Processing grunt was provided by an AMD Athlon 4200+ with an ATI HD3870 providing the visuals. The visual experience was pretty much identical to that of a Windows XP user, albeit with minor font differences. In-game, I experienced some lag-pauses caused by fluctuating network latency but nothing I could pin on Linux.
With gaming facing a possible turn towards alternative platforms, maybe this is when enthusiasts choose the free alternative rather than paying hundreds for Windows 7.