SuperTuxKart featured in Microsoft IllumiRoom trailer

[TheLastProject]

Hello SuperTuxKart. I'm coming to share a link on the Red Eclipse forum, found in this post.

The link in question is about Microsoft IllumiRoom, and it seems to feature two great FOSS games: Red Eclipse and SuperTuxKart!
The beginning (and most of the video) is Red Eclipse, but SuperTuxKart is also shortly shown from 0:49 to 0:50 (so only very shortly, but still there).

Here is the video in question:

youtu.be/re1EatGRV0w

This should be a good sign of the acceptance and quality of this game, so good work everyone involved!

(Edit: Whichever mod moved this: thanks! I confused SuperTux with SuperTuxKart. Silly me!)

[Wuzzy]

I fear this thread is more a sign of the acceptance of Microsoft projects in the free software sphere than a sign of the acceptance of Red Eclipse and SuperTuxKart in the Microsoft sphere …

Don’t you get the intention of this Microsoft advertisement? This Microsoft advertisement basicly says that Microsoft is okay with free software as long these software runs in a Windows environment instead of GNU/Linux or SomethingBSD.

I guess one can only fully understand the intention of this Microsoft advertisement if one sees it in a certain context:
It is a common fallacious argument made for Windows that Windows is a platform where free software also runs on, often stating that it is a “common misconception” that free software can’t run on Windows. I don’t know wheather it is really a common misconception that (most or many) free software doesn’t run on Windows but it is not important for the argument. I call this argument fallacious because most free software projects run under various operating systems, too. You have choice, you don’t need to use Windows, it simply does not follow that Windows is the “better choice” just because free software runs on it, TOO. Instead the argument really shows the superiority of free software over propritiary software because it often gets ported on a broad range of platforms, including non-free ones.
Maybe this Microsoft advertisement is related to this kind of mindset in one way or another because it shows free software on a non-free platform.

Oh, I think it is also strange to think that Microsoft “advertises for us” in some way. Well, they do advertise for these games but only indirectly. That’s not the intention. Just a side-effect. The fact that the video description has a link to the Microsoft webpage, but not to the Red Eclipse and the Super Tux Kart webpages is proof. Of course Microsoft employees are primarily advertising Microsoft products. What else did you expect from a Microsoft advertisement? I have no problem on spreading the word of free software but I do have a problem on spreading the word of Microsoft. It is even worse that they mix both worlds together in one Microsoft advertisement because of the implications. Worst of all is the fact that I have to see a Microsoft advertisement in the FreeGameDev forums at all! :O

Additionally, it would interest me if any SuperTuxKart devs or Red Eclipse devs have paid Microsoft for appearing in this Microsoft advertisement. I hope not, that would be pretty fucked up.

I hope I have made very clear now that this video is a Microsoft advertisement, not an advertisement for Red Eclipse and SuperTuxKart. ;-)

I won’t spread the word of this Microsoft advertisement any further, because I don’t want to volunteer for the Microsoft marketing department.

[Arthur]

Yadda yadda yadda. Wuzzy, this shows the power of open source, even though it's downplayed in the video. And no, no money has changed sides, I can promise you that. Everyone was surprised by this, but it's only a positive thing for us, and Microsoft doesn't really profit from this as it's only a research proof of concept. If it was a finished product you can bet they would've gotten the necessary clearance to use Halo and whatever other games Microsoft has these days.

[Totoplus62]

Wahou this is amazing

STK rocks ! I think it's a great opportunity --> 859 327 views

[samuncle]

\o/ that's cool

[antoine]

It's good exposure for STK and RE, which looked particularly awesome in that demo. Hopefully folks who don't knowingly or intentionally use open source software will discover STK and RE and through that continue to learn about more great projects that are FOSS.

[xeno74]

Microsoft's Future of the Living Room Starring SuperTuxKart

[Totoplus62]

Why did she not played with Tux ?

Spoiler ! ---> Microsoft

[Wuzzy]

Just in case you overlooked it, the video also featured the non-free game Halo: CEA (by 343 Industries, published by MS) and the non-free software WorldWide Telescope (a C# and .NET program directly from MS) at the end of the video. Shortly, but they were featured. Long story short: Yep, they obviously had clearance to use Halo.

The research team must have messed around with the source code of the games in some way, including RE and STK, of course. But obviously they also must have had access to the source code of Halo Anniversary and WorldWide Telescope, too, because these games are shown in the video.

This is what makes me angry, too: MS only takes from the commons but doesn’t give anything back. Which is typical for MS.

I didn’t say that MS makes any profit from this. But it is still an ad. Just because MS does not make any profit from this now does not mean MS isn’t hoping to may make profit from this in the future. If they finish their project, this advertisement which earlier “made” absolutely no profit for them suddenly becomes very important for them.

Sadly this story already made it to Slashdot and even on the front page of STK, spreading Microsoft’s advertisement even further. Now this shit probably even goes viral. >:-(

And to all who think that the video is an ad for RE and STK: Think again!
The YouTube crowd obviously has no clue what games are shown. Some people ask the question “how is this game called?” but no one answered yet. FAIL. :-(

I have absolutely nothing about spreading STK and RE. But then please without spreading Microsofts’s word at the same time.

[Arthur]

What the crud? So you prefer FOSS projects not getting any attention since it somehow furthers Microsofts business interests? The video would've been made, with or without FOSS. The fact that it does feature FOSS makes it an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of this fact.

[antoine]

@Wuzzy

It's alright. We got one developer already interested since the video (and I think because of). He probably won't work out, because he's a java programmer, but if he doesn't I'll try to direct him to another, java based, FOSS game. I personally answered four or five people about what game it was, but there's a tidal wave of comments.

[Wuzzy]

I now looked to the YT page again and *poof* (like magic!) now every question regarding the name of the games have been answered. It seems my rant finally bears fruits. :-)

Oh, by the way, the irony of an MS ad showing two FLOSS games (besides two non-free MS or close-to-MS apps) goes even further if you recognize which STK character they chose: Mozilla. Mozilla, mascot of the Mozilla Foundation, makers of Firefox, worst enemy of Internet Explorer. Wow, this is quite a mindfuck. Why do they promote their worst enemies at all (even if indirectly)? Isn’t it very stupid (for MS)?

[antoine]

I could be reading too much into this, but it may be a subtle way of saying they aren't outright opposed to open source anymore. The "Linux is cancer" from Ballmer ten years ago has turned into Microsoft being a sponsor of Linux. The executives at MS may not like open source (maybe some of their developers do), but the times have changed and they have to adjust to it.

[Funto]

http://www.openbuddha.com/2008/06/17/ie ... firefox-3/ -> worst enemiez,really?
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/new ... linux-2632 -> anti-Linux?
Happy trolling

[Totoplus62]

They did it again, StK appears several times
Thanks Microsoft


youtu.be/L2w-XqW7bF4

[asciimonster]

Three times by my count. It's a bit of a letdown to see that they misspelled SuperTuxKart.

[Arthur]

Indeed. Cool project anyway.