I
don't really play games all that much (never seem to have the time any more), so it was the obvious choice for me.

You can't really blame the devs though - to be honest, they want to maximise their profits, so of course would go for the most popular platform.
(dchurch bah, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 10:08, 1 reply)

linux & games
I'm an avid Linux user and also a hardcore gamer, and do have to admit that due to DirectX (and micro$haft screwing gamers over by tricking devs into using it when OpenGL is so much better) it is hard to get games to run well on Linux.

Solution? I just use dual boot, it takes me 20 seconds to reboot to windows (because there is nothing installed on it except games), and then play whatever it is that takes my interest (currently its King Arthur: The role playing game).

One day maybe the tides will change and I can ditch windoze for good, but for now that seems to be the best result.
(Panda_z is sweating like a chav in dixons, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 12:21, closed)

DirectX
...is not a bad idea, and not really a like-for-like comparison with OpenGL.
Initially it was a protection issue to stop virus(es?) getting to the hardware with a hardware protection layer. Of course, game programmers complained that they couldn't access the video hardware directly when they needed to if it was to be written for Windows (dos would allow this), so M$ came up with "Direct Access (X) to hardware" - "make the call to the hardware you want and we'll send it on for you" - now, it's become a lot more than that.

Of course, if you write for DirectX (or XNA as it's called now I think) then it's a much easier job to port to the Xbox, and thus open your market up a fair bit.

OpenGL is much easier IMO than dealing with DirectX, but that's probably my mindset and not theirs.
(dchurch bah, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 13:52, closed)

Yes its hard to compare the 2 as there are huge differences if you are a developer, and I'm sure they could have made XboX more OpenGL compliant if they wanted to, but its not in their best interests to do so.

Good article on the benefits of OpenGL;

blog.wolfire.com/2010/01/Why-you-should-use-OpenGL-and-not-DirectX
(Panda_z is sweating like a chav in dixons, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 14:00, closed)

Nice article
kept me busy!
(dchurch bah, Wed 30 Jun 2010, 7:11, closed)

Dual boot is a lot of faffing around
considering Windows 7 UI is actually pretty bearable for the casual internet user / gamer like me.

Once this PC dies a little and becomes out of date I think I'll go dual boot and get involved again with linux..
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 16:28, closed)