Article by George Norman

On 09 Feb 2009

We have three bits of news today that are so intertwined that they must be presented together. First of all, Linux Mint 6 fans running x64 processors on their systems should know that the final version of the aforementioned operating system has been made available for download (even though if you are already running Linux Mint 6 x 64 RC1, then upgrading is not really necessary). Secondly, CCP will pull Linux support for their very popular EVE Online MMO (massively multiplayer online). Thirdly, or lastly if you insist, it has come to light that a gamer’s brain functions differently when playing against a human adversary as opposed to playing against a machine.

Starting with the release of Linux Mint 6 x64 Stable, here is what Lead Developer of Linux Mint, Clem Lefebvre had to say : “I would like to thank all the people who helped us test the Release Candidate and who gave us some feedback. This release comes with all the innovations featured in Linux Mint 6 Felicia and for the very first time with the 64 bit versions of the Adobe Flash and Sun Java plugins! The purpose of the x64 edition is to offer the same desktop features as the Main edition but in a 64 bit environment. It aims to be as similar to the Main edition as possible.”


The main changes in the Stable version of this Linux distro are the Flash and Java x64, so if you are already running Linux Mint 6 x64 RC1, all you have to do is type these commands in a terminal, you do not actually need to upgrade (although it might prove to be a good idea since mint4win does not work in the RC version):
- apt remove –purge flashplugin-nonfree nspluginwrapper
- apt update
- apt install mint-meta-x64

EVE Online says that ever since it launched Mac and Linux support back in ’07, it saw a slow but steady increase of gamers on the Mac side, not Linux. Since Linux users apparently are not interested in the MMO game, CCP is pulling Linux support as of March 10. One other thing that CCP is pulling support for is the classic visual version of the game.

Last but not least, a recent study has revealed that the brain of male gamers functions differently when pitched against a computer and a human adversary – our brain will try to anticipate the opponent’s actions, place themselves in the opponent’s shoes so to speak. Since the computer will play, well, like a computer, the gamer’s brain is less active when playing against it; things change considerably when they are told they are playing against another human. Another interesting thing the study revealed is that female gamers are better at anticipating the opponent’s intentions (which is not really news since we already knew that women are better at empathy than we are). You can read the entire study in PDF format here.



Tags: Linux, Linux Mint 6, Linux Mint 6 x64, EVE online, Gaming

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