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[News] Rumours: Microsoft Tries to Sabotage UT3 GNU/Linux Port

"Five months ago from today, Unreal Tournament 3 for the PC was released in
North America. Linux gamers around the world, however, were let down with the
lack of an available Linux client and all UT3 gamers were impacted by the lack
of any Linux server for this game. The UT3 Linux server had finally shipped a
month later, but now 152 days since the release a Linux client for this first
person shooter is still missing with no sign of it even coming.

Initially we thought that AGEIA (now owned by NVIDIA) may have been delaying
UT3 for Linux but their representatives later denied such allegations. All
that Ryan Gordon, the developer responsible for both the UT3 Linux client and
server ports, has said is that these delays are stuck in the legal department
at Epic Games.

Ryan Gordon recently talked at UCLUG with topics from education to Loki Games
and SDL, but he hadn't mentioned any new details about Unreal Tournament 3.
There is a 24-page thread in the Phoronix Forums with talk and speculations
surrounding Unreal Tournament 3 for Linux, with some believing the client will
never be released -- partially due to speculations that Microsoft may acquire
Epic Games.

We haven't heard any official updates in months and quite frankly the UT3 Linux
client may never see the light of day. Forum moderators on the Epic Games'
Forums have reportedly been deleting threads from gamers inquiring about the
Linux client's status.

While there are a few new games coming to Linux, it's certainly an unfortunate
situation right now with Epic Games and it will be a blow to the Linux gaming
community if the Unreal Tournament 3 Linux client never makes it out the
door."

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NjQ0MA

""Microsoft would be interested in acquiring more than game development in an
Epic buy, according to Moses. Epic also licenses its Unreal game engine to
developers around the world who produce titles for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and
other platforms as well as PCs.

Epic Games is one of the few highly regarded indie developers … partly for
their games but mostly for their Unreal engine technology,” Moses
wrote. “Microsoft has lots of cash on hand, and in buying Epic, could collect
royalty rights for Unreal technology across other platforms."

http://www.wral.com/business/local_tech_wire/opinion/blogpost/2449264/

"If Microsoft does acquire Epic Games, it would also mean that they would own
the rights to the Unreal game engine, which is used on every single platform,
including the rival PS3, for developers to use to make next-gen games.

This would basically allow Microsoft to make money off of the Unreal engine
rights used to sell games on the PC and PS3."

http://www.dbtechno.com/gaming/2008/02/18/microsoft-to-buy-gears-of-war-dev-epic-games/

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