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A couple of old Sid Meier classics were released on Steam, more precisely Sid Meier's Colonization, Pirates! Gold Plus and Sid Meier's Covert Action.
The titles have been made to work with Linux using emulation (DOSBox) by Tommo Inc. and Night Dive Studios. These classics have been available on GOG for Linux for a while already but now they've made their way onto Steam. Instead of reporting all of them separately, I figured I might bundle them together into a longer article.
Official About
Pirates! Gold Plus
You'll criss-cross your way along the 17th century Spanish Main in search of all-new adventures.
You'll lead a crew of hot-blooded buccaneers into rollicking harbour towns. And risk your booty and your life plundering enemy ships!
Hunt for magnificent treasures! Unravel the mysteries and clues of your adventure! Even battle your way through enemy waters on grueling rescue missions!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyM_7YGofEI
Will you win your rightful place in history? Or will you end up shipwrecked on a distant island? The answer can only be found in the swashbuckling Pirates! Gold.
Sid Meier's Covert Action
In the 1990's our national nightmares are haunted by wild-eyed political extremists, greedy and ruthless drug lords, and lunatic military dictators. For too long we have felt powerless to stop them.
But now, award-winning game designer Sid Meier takes us around the globe with super-spy Max Remington to challenge these threats and neutralize their shadowy schemes of terrorism, smuggling and extortion. A seasoned veteran of modern, hi-tech undercover operations, Remington always obeys the two main rules of Covert Action: 1. Use your intelligence. 2. If Rule one fails, use your other weapons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxXCk3zHAas
Game Features:
Sid Meier's Colonization
The New World lies before you with all its peril, promise and infinite possibility. Your colonists anxiously follow you to shore. The treasures of an entire continent await you.
Finally, the much-anticipated follow-up to Civilization is here! Sid Meier's Colonization takes you into the Colonial Era to discover, explore and colonize vast territories that promise both danger and reward.
Play one of four colonial powers as you set sail to discover the New World. Explore new lands and strategically plant your first colony. Direct its growth, manage its resources and establish lucrative trade routes. Balance economics, political and military strategy to create your own powerful nation.
But beware of your enemies! Angry natives and rival powers can encroach upon your territory. You'll have to overcome your foes with superior military strategy and wily diplomacy. Only then can you launch your revolution and declare your independence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_sXwtmVY3w
Colonization, The newest strategy game from Sid Meier continues the great tradition of Civilization.
This is not the first time old games have shipped on Steam using DOSBox. For example, we've seen Wizardry 6 and 7 and the original Wasteland use DOSBox to work on modern operating systems. I'm quite happy to see that these old games are still being made available to us easily and that we don't have to go through abandonware websites to find these gems. I'd especially like to see the original Sid Meier's Civilization DOSBoxed and shipped for Linux on either GOG or Steam.
What are your thoughts on “ports” like these that use emulation software (i.e. not compatibility layers)? What other retro games would you like to see made available to us? Discuss in the comments!
Pirates! Gold Plus: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327380/
Sid Meier's Covert Action: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327390/
Sid Meier's Colonization: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327400/ Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
The titles have been made to work with Linux using emulation (DOSBox) by Tommo Inc. and Night Dive Studios. These classics have been available on GOG for Linux for a while already but now they've made their way onto Steam. Instead of reporting all of them separately, I figured I might bundle them together into a longer article.
Official About
Pirates! Gold Plus
You'll criss-cross your way along the 17th century Spanish Main in search of all-new adventures.
You'll lead a crew of hot-blooded buccaneers into rollicking harbour towns. And risk your booty and your life plundering enemy ships!
Hunt for magnificent treasures! Unravel the mysteries and clues of your adventure! Even battle your way through enemy waters on grueling rescue missions!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyM_7YGofEI
Will you win your rightful place in history? Or will you end up shipwrecked on a distant island? The answer can only be found in the swashbuckling Pirates! Gold.
- Experience the untamed era of piracy through stunning new VGA/Super VGA art and graphics!
- Feel the ring of crossing swords and the boom of mighty cannon with enhanced sound features!
- Skewer scurvy rogues with enhanced sword-fighting capabilities!
- Gain power, prestige or even the hand of the governor’s daughter!
- Bombard enemy ships!
- Explore more coastal towns, each with it's own dangers
- Includes the original Sid Meier's Pirates! game!
Sid Meier's Covert Action
In the 1990's our national nightmares are haunted by wild-eyed political extremists, greedy and ruthless drug lords, and lunatic military dictators. For too long we have felt powerless to stop them.
But now, award-winning game designer Sid Meier takes us around the globe with super-spy Max Remington to challenge these threats and neutralize their shadowy schemes of terrorism, smuggling and extortion. A seasoned veteran of modern, hi-tech undercover operations, Remington always obeys the two main rules of Covert Action: 1. Use your intelligence. 2. If Rule one fails, use your other weapons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxXCk3zHAas
Game Features:
- Intelligence: Recognize Faces, Break Codes, Unravel plots and sub-plots to determine how sub-plots fit together in the larger scheme, Decide which leads to follow, witch to ignore
- Weapons: Guns, Fragmentation grenades, Stun grenades, Remote-control bombs, Tear gas
- World travel: 3 Continents, 50 cities
- Variety: Work for CIA, Mossad (Israeli), MI5 (British), Unlimited number of cases to solve
- Realism: Crucial decisions international agents face every day, cases based on today's headlines.
Sid Meier's Colonization
The New World lies before you with all its peril, promise and infinite possibility. Your colonists anxiously follow you to shore. The treasures of an entire continent await you.
Finally, the much-anticipated follow-up to Civilization is here! Sid Meier's Colonization takes you into the Colonial Era to discover, explore and colonize vast territories that promise both danger and reward.
Play one of four colonial powers as you set sail to discover the New World. Explore new lands and strategically plant your first colony. Direct its growth, manage its resources and establish lucrative trade routes. Balance economics, political and military strategy to create your own powerful nation.
But beware of your enemies! Angry natives and rival powers can encroach upon your territory. You'll have to overcome your foes with superior military strategy and wily diplomacy. Only then can you launch your revolution and declare your independence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_sXwtmVY3w
Colonization, The newest strategy game from Sid Meier continues the great tradition of Civilization.
- Manage your growth, development and trade to create a powerful nation.
- Pit your strategic skills against Colonization's advanced artificial intelligence.
- Play either the French, English, Dutch or Spanish colonial powers each with distinct characteristics and political situations.
- Customize your games and choose your own level of difficulty so you never play the same game twice.
- Discover and explore the Americas or create your own scenario with a random map generator.
- Same design principles and interface as award-winning Civilization, making game play easy and fun.
This is not the first time old games have shipped on Steam using DOSBox. For example, we've seen Wizardry 6 and 7 and the original Wasteland use DOSBox to work on modern operating systems. I'm quite happy to see that these old games are still being made available to us easily and that we don't have to go through abandonware websites to find these gems. I'd especially like to see the original Sid Meier's Civilization DOSBoxed and shipped for Linux on either GOG or Steam.
What are your thoughts on “ports” like these that use emulation software (i.e. not compatibility layers)? What other retro games would you like to see made available to us? Discuss in the comments!
Pirates! Gold Plus: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327380/
Sid Meier's Covert Action: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327390/
Sid Meier's Colonization: http://store.steampowered.com/app/327400/ Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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19 comments
DOSBox is perfectly fine for old titles.
I wouldn't mind scummvm or even wine as long as the games are old.
Having them in a convenient updater/launcher/library like steam is making the gaming experience on linux better than having to emulate yourself.
I wouldn't mind scummvm or even wine as long as the games are old.
Having them in a convenient updater/launcher/library like steam is making the gaming experience on linux better than having to emulate yourself.
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Nice. I was thinking about covering this tonight but I'm glad you beat me to it.
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As said often: Steam FTW!
3 Likes, Who?
Oh wow, the original Colonization was one of my favourite games on the Amiga! Pirates was a bit buggy, but still hella fun. Never played Covert Action.
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To be honest I think these games belong to smartphones and tablets nowadays.
That said, I had the pleasure of revisiting Pirates on the PSP some years ago and while it most definitely is outdated in most ways it still has that little extra "something" that makes you just want to keep playing. It's a fantastic game.
That said, I had the pleasure of revisiting Pirates on the PSP some years ago and while it most definitely is outdated in most ways it still has that little extra "something" that makes you just want to keep playing. It's a fantastic game.
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I have sid mayer's pirates from a bundle, and doesn't install/suport on linux. It's only the "gold" version? It's unfair.
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oldrocker99 Oct 11, 2014
I got Covert Action, because I'd played the other two back in the day, and I was looking for a new experience. Runs with DOSBox, which is to be expected, and it is a new experience.
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Segata Sanshiro Oct 11, 2014
If I had played the originals, I would be more tempted to play them. I find that often with old games, I can only really get into them if I played that before. I really like SimCity 2000, but I guess most people who haven't played it would go for 3000 or 4 because of the graphics, better features, etc.
That said, I think there was a Colonization released at the time of Civ 4 using that engine, so would be nice to either see a port of that (unlikely) or see a release of a new Colonization after Beyond Earth, which would be pretty awesome because it's a game I've always wanted to play.
That said, I think there was a Colonization released at the time of Civ 4 using that engine, so would be nice to either see a port of that (unlikely) or see a release of a new Colonization after Beyond Earth, which would be pretty awesome because it's a game I've always wanted to play.
1 Likes, Who?
natewardawg Oct 11, 2014
I think it's perfectly fine as long as the game works properly. I don't even mind things in the near future like eON as long as the game runs well. Going forward though, since pretty much every engine supports Linux native builds, I'd like to see native ports. IE. 3-4 years from now a modern Wine wrapped game will be unacceptable.
2 Likes, Who?
Quoting: oldrocker99I got Covert Action, because I'd played the other two back in the day, and I was looking for a new experience.
What is the gameplay like? That's the one that looked potentially appealing to me.
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Quoting: GoCorinthiansAs said often: Steam FTW!
And GoG.com too. Those games were ready for Linux there before.
2 Likes, Who?
You do know that this is GOG.com doing all the legwork and sending the remastered games to the right holder for redistribution?
And also, you do know that Steam has this appaling customer support (or lack thereof) that basically redirects you to the developer of the game/publisher for any technical trouble?
My advice would be to steer clear of the Steam versions, because if something breaks, Steam won't help you and Nightdive/Tommo most probably won't too - because it was GOG people who made the remasters. So you are buying a game with no support, whereas GOG.com has this excellent tech support team that will help you.
Sorry, first comment, but been a long-time lurker and just couldn't let this pass.
And also, you do know that Steam has this appaling customer support (or lack thereof) that basically redirects you to the developer of the game/publisher for any technical trouble?
My advice would be to steer clear of the Steam versions, because if something breaks, Steam won't help you and Nightdive/Tommo most probably won't too - because it was GOG people who made the remasters. So you are buying a game with no support, whereas GOG.com has this excellent tech support team that will help you.
Sorry, first comment, but been a long-time lurker and just couldn't let this pass.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: GuestQuoting: KestrelGOG.com has this excellent tech support team that will help you.I wonder if anyone not using Ubuntu 14.04 or Mint 17 got support from them.
No idea, Im using Mint myself. But why should they? It's really their choice, we can try to pressure them into changing their mind, but until they do I guess it's just personal good will of whoever is manning the support desk at the moment.
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thelimeydragon Oct 15, 2014
Quoting: KestrelSteam won't help you and Nightdive/Tommo most probably won't too
I've got the guy who uploaded them to Steam on my friends list. Very nice guy. He's always willing to take advice and help where he can. He even recently installed multiple virtual machines with various linux distros to help make sure things ran ok.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: thelimeydragonQuoting: KestrelSteam won't help you and Nightdive/Tommo most probably won't tooI've got the guy who uploaded them to Steam on my friends list. Very nice guy. He's always willing to take advice and help where he can. He even recently installed multiple virtual machines with various linux distros to help make sure things ran ok.
If it's who I think it is he appears to be tech lead at Night Dive Studios. That makes it sound like he does more than just hit the "Upload" button on Steam once GOG are done packaging the games with DOSBox.
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Hello
I am the guy at Night Dive who does all the Steam games :)
I started using Linux personally about a year ago before I started working at Night Dive, just about the time the whole NSA leak started to happen.
I've been supporting the Linux platform before GOG.com for our Steam games. Wizardry 6 and 7 were my first Linux ports to Steam and I was hugely excited to get them running. Sure, there have been mistakes here and there but I do my best, learn from it and try to improve everything for everyone.
Over the last month, I have set up about 20 distros in Virtual Machines to try and make sure that what I do is playable by a large number of people. I know that some people may think that Virtual Machines might not be the most ideal way of doing it but it's the most convenient way to test things for me for now.
I'm afraid that this isn't entirely correct. We get told to put the games on Steam and I tend to go through the entire process myself, I may get given an ISO or assets to use from the company and I go through installing the game freshly through DOS and make sure that the games run as optimally as I can get them.
And I can see that people would think that because they are out on GOG.com before Steam first that its a simple cut and paste job of everything, put online and forgotten about. At the end of the day, it is the publisher/rights holder's decision to release when they want to and we do what they tell us. What assets (Manuals, Soundtracks etc.) I get given to me are released through Steam, whether they are all originally from GOG or not.
The Humongous Games (SPY Fox, Pajama Sam, Putt-Putt) are not out on GOG.com but there are Linux versions available on Steam. I got some great advice from the ScummVM guys and was able to port all of them over. I put time into making sure stuff works as good as it can.
As for customer support, it's only me on customer support and I do what I can when I have time in-between work loads. Original game bugs sometimes cannot be avoided and there isn't much I can do about it. However, if it is a DOSBox/ScummVM issue, I always do my best to help where and when I can. Most of the problems used to be dependency issues but they largely have been fixed.
I hope this gives everyone a more accurate idea of what I/Night Dive do. Whenever I put Linux versions out, usually the first comments I see are from people that are happy that a Linux is out and being supported on Steam and it makes my inner penguin smile.
I am the guy at Night Dive who does all the Steam games :)
I started using Linux personally about a year ago before I started working at Night Dive, just about the time the whole NSA leak started to happen.
I've been supporting the Linux platform before GOG.com for our Steam games. Wizardry 6 and 7 were my first Linux ports to Steam and I was hugely excited to get them running. Sure, there have been mistakes here and there but I do my best, learn from it and try to improve everything for everyone.
Over the last month, I have set up about 20 distros in Virtual Machines to try and make sure that what I do is playable by a large number of people. I know that some people may think that Virtual Machines might not be the most ideal way of doing it but it's the most convenient way to test things for me for now.
Quoting: KestrelYou do know that this is GOG.com doing all the legwork and sending the remastered games to the right holder for redistribution?
And also, you do know that Steam has this appaling customer support (or lack thereof) that basically redirects you to the developer of the game/publisher for any technical trouble?
My advice would be to steer clear of the Steam versions, because if something breaks, Steam won't help you and Nightdive/Tommo most probably won't too - because it was GOG people who made the remasters. So you are buying a game with no support, whereas GOG.com has this excellent tech support team that will help you.
Sorry, first comment, but been a long-time lurker and just couldn't let this pass.
I'm afraid that this isn't entirely correct. We get told to put the games on Steam and I tend to go through the entire process myself, I may get given an ISO or assets to use from the company and I go through installing the game freshly through DOS and make sure that the games run as optimally as I can get them.
And I can see that people would think that because they are out on GOG.com before Steam first that its a simple cut and paste job of everything, put online and forgotten about. At the end of the day, it is the publisher/rights holder's decision to release when they want to and we do what they tell us. What assets (Manuals, Soundtracks etc.) I get given to me are released through Steam, whether they are all originally from GOG or not.
The Humongous Games (SPY Fox, Pajama Sam, Putt-Putt) are not out on GOG.com but there are Linux versions available on Steam. I got some great advice from the ScummVM guys and was able to port all of them over. I put time into making sure stuff works as good as it can.
As for customer support, it's only me on customer support and I do what I can when I have time in-between work loads. Original game bugs sometimes cannot be avoided and there isn't much I can do about it. However, if it is a DOSBox/ScummVM issue, I always do my best to help where and when I can. Most of the problems used to be dependency issues but they largely have been fixed.
I hope this gives everyone a more accurate idea of what I/Night Dive do. Whenever I put Linux versions out, usually the first comments I see are from people that are happy that a Linux is out and being supported on Steam and it makes my inner penguin smile.
1 Likes, Who?
Big welcome to Saleck :D
I think it's not a big deal that GOG "only" officially supports ubuntu and mint -- go back to the big long threads about how lame it was when GOG was refusing to carry any linux games at all, and you'll find there are lot of Linux gamers who agree with me.
Just having any distro officially supported properly has a big trickle-down effect on making it feasible to run something on Linux in general. I've even run professional tools that only wanted to run under RedHat on debian.
I think it's not a big deal that GOG "only" officially supports ubuntu and mint -- go back to the big long threads about how lame it was when GOG was refusing to carry any linux games at all, and you'll find there are lot of Linux gamers who agree with me.
- Installing a separate partition with ubuntu or mint to play games instead of using something else (Arch, Gentoo, SuSe, whatever) is not an onerous thing like buying windoze just to play games
- The situation is stil not bad for those who are die-hard other-distro users without drive space (or patience to reboot) for an ubuntu/mint gaming install:
- normally serious bugs will not be specific to just one distro, so somebody who plays on the supported distro can always be the one to report them and get them fixed
- those people are probably experienced Linux users who can do tricks like manually installing matching versions of scummvm/dosemu/shared libraries in order to duplicate the way the game runs on ubuntu and mint
- having Linux supported at all allows collaboration with other like-minded users who will probably post such workarounds on the Arch wiki
Just having any distro officially supported properly has a big trickle-down effect on making it feasible to run something on Linux in general. I've even run professional tools that only wanted to run under RedHat on debian.
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