Nexuiz.com makeover? Nexuiz going to consoles?

[Aleator]

Actually Quake and Quake 2 are id Tech 2, Doom is id Tech 1.

The license has already been obtained for this title.

Confusing! Well good luck on the release!

What I'm interested in this console port is how the Darkplaces engine was adapted to the parallel architectures used in the Xbox 360 and particularly the PS3, and whether Darkplaces would be able to use some of those approaches through OpenMP or pthreads, though it seems that only the servers in Nexuiz are very CPU-bound.

Don't know about Xbox, but for PS3 they could have used the new OpenCL. Just a thought.

Regarding the other subject, these days I was meaning to volunteer for some Nexuiz development. I've been playing some time now and I wanted to contribute with something to this project. The funny thing was that this decision coincided with the ConsoleNexuiz appearance . When I saw the announcement I thought: "Wow, that's nice. They're making a separate site for Nexuiz and by the looks of it, it will be pretty cool. That's really good for the project's image.". But, as I come to find out, it was all about giving away the game's name and selling the code to a company that will make a console version. Now, I have a dilemma 'cause I really wanted to contribute to this project. And we can say that ok, it happened, they sold it and we cand develop the PC version from now on. But than I think again, and I say: who's to say that it won't happen again? Thus, my dilemma...

Now, I don't know the guys from Alien Trap and I apologize if this will sound accusing, but think about this: you release the game to GPL under the name Nexuiz (very cool, thanks for that), then the community comes and does it's job and makes it a good game. Then, you come back and say 'well, I've taken just the name and the source code was all agreed upon'. While this is legally sound, morally it isn't. Because you've sold not only the source code, but also the name. Sure, you can very well say: 'so what? you still have the project and can continue it'. Yes, but just think about MySQL and ORACLE. MySQL is pretty much screwed right now. Of course anyone can fork it and release it with another name, but who do you think will use it? Why do you think ORACLE jumped through hoops to acquire Sun? To get OpenOffice? I don't think so. This was a strategy to get the MySQL name off the market, because probably a fork with a new name will take years to enter the market.

Anyway, I think this is irreversible... They probably signed the papers and the name Nexuiz is probably taken. I think that the best solution is to make a fork and assign a leader that it's sure will stick with the project at least several years from now. My confidence in Alien Trap is lost. I'm not sure that I'll contribute to Nexuiz as long as the project is owned/managed by Alien Trap.

[FruitieX]

[stingray300k]

:(

[liberty]

How can this happen! A completely GPLed game will have a commercial branch!

[LordHavoc]

What I'm interested in this console port is how the Darkplaces engine was adapted to the parallel architectures used in the Xbox 360 and particularly the PS3, and whether Darkplaces would be able to use some of those approaches through OpenMP or pthreads, though it seems that only the servers in Nexuiz are very CPU-bound.

Don't know about Xbox, but for PS3 they could have used the new OpenCL. Just a thought.

I have not looked into OpenCL on PS3, I am planning to use the Sony-provided Cell APIs for using the SPE processors.

Xbox360 is easier because it is just 6 threads running on 3 cores with the same architecture.

At this time I am seeing good performance on console without using any multithreading (other than sound for obvious reasons), this is partly because I've always focused on using as little CPU as possible (lowend PCs don't have multiple cores to spread the load across), but gains can be had and I will be pursuing whatever gains I can get from more proper use of the CPU, I know of at least 3ms per frame that can be offloaded, though often the GPU on the consoles is busier than the CPU so this may or may not yield any gains.

Now, I don't know the guys from Alien Trap and I apologize if this will sound accusing, but think about this: you release the game to GPL under the name Nexuiz (very cool, thanks for that), then the community comes and does it's job and makes it a good game. Then, you come back and say 'well, I've taken just the name and the source code was all agreed upon'. While this is legally sound, morally it isn't. Because you've sold not only the source code, but also the name.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, don't take anything I say as legal advice or legal opinion.

Yes, AlienTrap sold a closed license to the modified code containing contributions from multiple people (the majority being from div0), with permission.

The name is not sold, it is licensed (but I can't disclose the details of that), and there should be no problem with using the name for GPL versions and forks, unlike most product names it is not a trademark to my knowledge (defending a trademark would have been too big a burden for AlienTrap, and against the spirit of the game release, so to my knowledge it has never been a trademarked name).

AlienTrap and Illfonic both maintain parts of the website, so that is a shared resource...

The main impact of this is that unlike trademarked names like Firefox, you can use the name Nexuiz without obtaining a trademark approval of some sort from AlienTrap first, where as Debian ships their own build of Firefox under the name Iceweasel because Firefox is trademarked and Mozilla Corporation would be required to sue Debian if they distributed it under the name Firefox, even if there was no intent to infringe on the trademark.

Hopefully I'm not overstepping my bounds in saying this. (as stated above I am not a lawyer, no legal advice or legal opinion here)

[Vermeulen]

I will update the news on the Nexuiz site linking to the new Illfonic site, once I talk further with the main GPL and Illfonic developers, and can address all the issues.

[TVR]

... The name is not sold, it is licensed ...

... you can use the name Nexuiz without obtaining a trademark approval ...

Contradiction: As the name was licensed, that implies someone owns it.

That also implies that someone received money from subcontracting the domain and trademark, a hallmark of corruption in a FOSS project.

[Blackmushroom]

They use the name nexuiz and not a new name because the nexuiz name already has publicity from all the previous releases. More thievery of work.
I am honestly clueless as to wether this will bring in more players to nexuiz (thats right, this is normal nexuiz) through their advertising we could get publicity, or people will stumble across the console nexuiz game while searching for nexuiz.

[halogene]

@TVR: not necessarily a contradiction - to license a name means that you grant someone the right to use it. It doesn't have to be a trade mark for this (requiring registration), in many jurisdictions a name can also receive protection by continuous usage.

Anyhow what still offends me is that the name Nexuiz has received its value mainly, if not entirely, from efforts that came from developers and contributors from the community. This value is now being sold (by licensing the name), without any apparent intention to give anything back to the community. And this won't change as long as the site nexuiz.com presents itself the way it does currently.

I'd follow suggestions that were made to have a portal site on nexuiz.com (and maybe even on www.nexuiz.com) that displays both versions equally, one version on the left with a link to that version's site and the other version on the right, with a link to that version's site. How difficult is that? Not at all. This would at least communicate that there is a connection between those two versions, maybe even properly explain what is the difference. That way both versions could benefit from the other version's popularity.

Anyhow, I still would recommend to use a derivative name for a derivative game.

[Im Namen der Tunichtguten]

I will update the news on the Nexuiz site linking to the new Illfonic site, once I talk further with the main GPL and Illfonic developers, and can address all the issues.

Its about f***ing time! I cant actually believe how you sold and betrayed us without telling a single word for most likely months coz of a freaking non-Disclosure-Agreement (omg, what a cheap excuse that is -.-). You maybe be the "father" of Nexuiz, but still i don't think you had the right to make a sellout out of the community. It's a real shame to see how you handled things in this case and i can only hope we are able to stop illfonic by producing as much bad publicity as possible. I don't see any respect here any more. Lets face it: YOU sold US ... you did not just sell the name Nexuiz but you did sell your soul too, i hope you have fun with the devil (illfonics). Although you maybe not the only guy taking part in this deal, you definitly would have been the last one able to STOP this.

To all those sad and mad guys and girls out there: I can only advice you to spread the word. Don't feel ashamed of what was done to us, but start to FIGHT it! Call newspapers, radio stations, mail to Slashdot, Heise and virtually everyone who could have an open ear for this. We have not yet lost this fight! I dont think they will bring out the console trash, if they have more bad publicity coz of the Name/Title than it helps them to sell the freaking product. Nexuiz-addicts all over the planet: Unite your forces and start to fight! I can only emphasize this: WE DID NOT LOST YET! It's NOT too LATE.

[EDIT] One last word. The action you have taken in this thread viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6043 (the locking) actually shows there's is NO respect left at all any more here. You want to silent us?!? You will regret that soon, i can promise! What's up with our right about free-speech? You want to be "our friends"? Behind our back you only care as long about us as we can be usefull for you making money. You say you are part of this for a long time (especially Kedhrin) ... seriously: WHAT A JOKE?!? You do not understand about US, the community at all and still you claim and pretend to be part of us and that you respect us. Sorry, but anyone who believes this must be stupid actually