Interplay Entertainment announced today they're updating many of their classic titles to support Linux. A lot of it of course is thanks to the excellent free and open source DOSBox, which allows thousands of classic to play on modern systems without much hassle.
First of the announcements was that Battle Chess 4000 is now available on Steam, and it comes straight out of the gate with builds setup for Linux too. On their Twitter, Interplay mentioned:
As part of the drive to bring our classic pool of games to an entirely new generation of gamers, we will also update our back catalogue today, providing Tux & Apple support for heavyweight titles such as Earthworm Jim, Stonekeep and Descent!
Tux and Apple being Linux and macOS if that wasn't clear.
Going over their list of games on Steam there's quite a few. Here's some that added Linux builds recently:
- Battle Chess
- Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess
- Castles
- Cyberia
- Descent
- Descent 2
- Dragon Wars
- Ignition
- Lost Eden
- M.A.X.: Mechanized Assault & Exploration
- Prehistorik
- Prehistorik 2
- Redneck Deer Huntin'
- Redneck Rampage Rides Again
- Shattered Steel
- …and so on, with more to come
Worth noting that Descent 3 already had Linux support, as porter Ryan Gordon did some work back in 2020 to re-port the game along with many tech upgrades for modern Linux gaming.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
ObsidianBlk Oct 14, 2021
Ummm... Interplay still exists?! I'll be honest, I thought they closed and/or was bought out years ago! That said, regardless of my memory, this is cool news!!
8 Likes, Who?
It seems old games. I think all were from dos. They probably will only put dosbox and republish.
But this is better than doing nothing.
But this is better than doing nothing.
5 Likes, Who?
You can already play those games easily on Linux with DOSBox. I don't know why they are selling those games on Steam or GOG when most of those those games can be downloaded for free, legally, at archive.org.
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slaapliedje Oct 14, 2021
Quoting: ObsidianBlkUmmm... Interplay still exists?! I'll be honest, I thought they closed and/or was bought out years ago! That said, regardless of my memory, this is cool news!!Pretty sure Interplay as a company disappeared many moons ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplay_Entertainment
Well if you read that... they are like the company that won't die... random lawsuits between them and Bethesda over Fallout, and Them selling stuff off... yet suing Topware for making a Battle Chess clone...
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slaapliedje Oct 14, 2021
Well shit, now I don't have a reason to not play Stonekeep! Though I believe on GOG it already has a Linux version, which I also already have. Steam is just more convenient to install things with :)
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Quoting: foggerYou can already play those games easily on Linux with DOSBox. I don't know why they are selling those games on Steam or GOG when most of those those games can be downloaded for free, legally, at archive.org.
To make money ? Just a guess
7 Likes, Who?
This is good news. I shall be keeping an eye on some of these titles :-)
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slaapliedje Oct 14, 2021
Quoting: foggerYou can already play those games easily on Linux with DOSBox. I don't know why they are selling those games on Steam or GOG when most of those those games can be downloaded for free, legally, at archive.org.Ha, Archive.org is an interesting situation. There is no legal definition of 'abandonware'. But archive.org also won't listen to dmca take downs from what I've seen.
But let's be fair here. Steam is a click and play set up, and with Boxtron you can even have extras like MIDI autodetected and set up for you. Downloading things from archive.org requires the set up of dosbox, and all the settings that entails, so isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. While most of us on here can do it, for the (hopefully) plethora of new users that'll hop on board via the Steam Deck, they won't want to mess with dosbox.conf.
10 Likes, Who?
Quoting: foggerYou can already play those games easily on Linux with DOSBox. I don't know why they are selling those games on Steam or GOG when most of those those games can be downloaded for free, legally, at archive.org.
It's only legal if the companies have explicitly said so, which doesn't happen too often.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: slaapliedjeYup this is it exactly. A good, legal way to get them that will also help the Steam Deck and continue to show Linux representation to publishers.Quoting: foggerYou can already play those games easily on Linux with DOSBox. I don't know why they are selling those games on Steam or GOG when most of those those games can be downloaded for free, legally, at archive.org.Ha, Archive.org is an interesting situation. There is no legal definition of 'abandonware'. But archive.org also won't listen to dmca take downs from what I've seen.
But let's be fair here. Steam is a click and play set up, and with Boxtron you can even have extras like MIDI autodetected and set up for you. Downloading things from archive.org requires the set up of dosbox, and all the settings that entails, so isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. While most of us on here can do it, for the (hopefully) plethora of new users that'll hop on board via the Steam Deck, they won't want to mess with dosbox.conf.
5 Likes, Who?
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