EA Games Arrive On Ubuntu

Well…sort of.

As Kobra Kai informs us in the forum, two EA browser-based titles have come to Ubuntu via the Ubuntu Software Center. One of them is Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances, and the other is…well…Lord of Ultima.

Installing the games through the Software Center adds handy Dash launchers in the Dash and Unity Launcher.

Baby Steps

When we first posted news of EA’s tie-up with Canonical, which will also see the company present a plenary talk at tomorrow’s UDS, expectation about what titles would be provided reached fever pitch.

So whilst many of you may be slightly disappointed to find these early titles are not native or the platform-exclusive never-bef0re-seen game-changing releases you were hoping they are a start.

For a hulk of a games giant like EA to look at the Ubuntu platform with dollar signs in their eyes is an amazing sign of just how far Linux has come.

But now it’s up to you, as users, to prove to EA that gaming on Ubuntu is worth pursuing and the easiest way to do that is to simply download these titles from the Software Center.

EA’s toes are tentatively dangled in the waters of opportunity – are you up for pulling them further in?

It makes sense that EA is jumping into the Linux end of the pool with a pair of browser-based titles; those are cross-platform more or less by design. And to be fair, Tiberium Alliances actually looks rather interesting. Lord of Ultima is what it is (though I understand that, within its genre, it’s actually quite a good game; it just lacks for any real connection to Ultima).

This is also an interesting piece of news for another reason, given the rumours that have been flying around this site and others for over a year. I wouldn’t be terribly surprised to see another Ultima title in the Ubuntu Software Center at some point.

1 Response

  1. Sanctimonia says:

    Anything promoting cross platform software with as little licensing fees as possible (preferably zero) is great. Go EA and Canonical, even though Unity sucks. Modern KDE allows configuration mimicking GNOME 2.x, so no matter.

    Part of the problem may be the exclusivity of graphics libraries like DirectX, making porting a bit too creative and leading to bugs.

    During installation Debian and Ubuntu ask the user if they’d like to participate in a package usage survey which lets the maintainers know the popularity of installed packages. However any other aspect of EA’s fare holds up, they’ll have automatic samplings of the installed user base.

    Canonical also has partnerships for exchanging money and has allowed the sale of software and media for some time now through the Software Center, so using it as a “Steam-like” distribution mechanism isn’t a bad idea. They just need to rename it “App” something (apt-get?).