Slashdot Mirror

Cedega is a non-free version of wine with directx capabilities. You can browse their supported games here.

Of course not all games now-a-days require wine or cedega in order to run on linux. Games like unreal tournament and doom III include fully functional linux versions.

There are several open source games developed for but not limited to linux. torcs, flightgear, tuxracer are some examples.

Projects like libsdl are making cross-platform game development easier.

Probably the biggest problem you'll encounter is building drivers for your video card. I've heard it argued both ways but as I understand it, both nvidia and ati drivers are ass-pains in linux. Nvidia's drivers are free as in beer, not speech. If you don't really care about free-software principles and philosophy then this is not a problem for you. ATI's drivers I understand to perform less than ideally. If you haven't already purchased your video card, I would encourage you to do extensive research beforehand.

In reality, linux distributions have few differences. Any recent, major distribution should be able to accomodate gameplay. I myself use debian unstable for amd64.

As far as performance, it really boils down to hardware. My advice is to install the linux distribution of your choice. Once you get glxgears to run, give ut2004demo a try, and if you like the way it works, then stick with linux.

You can check it out here, It's called Loki Setup and has all the clickedy clacking fun that a windows user could ever want.

There are some other similar installers running around, but I forget what they're called.

In other news, Icculus just announced America's Army 2.2.1, "for the first time (..) hosting a BitTorrent". As the number of legitimate uses increase, attacking the technology itself becomes harder. It is a race, really. Harder for draconian ISPs to have a "No bittorrent" policy too if a number of customers can point to their legal use of it.

Try pydance.

You know, this is really getting tiresome...
But I'll take the bait anyway.

Here's a list of 319 games.
And here's another 1400 or so games.

Much less than what's on windows, sure but still way more than enough to get my gaming fix. And this doesn't even count what you may be able to get to work through emulation.

Duke Nukem 3d for Linux. With TCP/IP networking.

Name a time. And tell your wife that yes, you do have time.

Why is no one mentioning the "Manticore" open source GFX hardware design?
Check it out at http://www.icculus.org/manticore/.
Too bad that this project seems inactive. :/

also, neverball, which is free.

and multiplatform..

I'm pretty sure that this is an incomplete archive. The version found here is much bigger (about 268 megs), yet the file name is the same. Also, that file you linked to seems to make Stuffit lock up.

Here's a download for a tarball that has no installer or Windows files "to pick out"
http://0day.icculus.org/ut2004/ut2004-ECEBonusPack .tar.bz2

Also Linux Gamers are working on getting this into a Loki Installer, hopefully we'll see it early this weekend

I'm not so sure about that... Don't get me wrong, exposure is definately a good thing, but as long as people can be convinced to dual-boot, then linux has not achieved the status as an OS that will convince developers to port native or, *shudder*, even build native. I think Jesus said it best... "you cannot serve two masters" (matt. 6:24) My point is that if you use linux, but still feel the need to purchase a windows licence, your use of linux has had no impact on the market.

...because a SUBSCRIPTION service exists that runs games buggily and at a low frame rate is absurd... hey it runs at 10fps in linux with frequent bugs, lets keep on not porting our games

If that were the case, i'd have to agree with you, but the fact is that most of the games i've played in wineX have not been very buggy (any more than they were in windows) and i certainly get better than 10 fps. I run counter-strike, (now in steam because WON is dead), and i run it at highest settings in 1024x768, and consistently get 40-50 fps. this is on a 1.1ghz Duron and an old mx440 64mb card. Given, transgaming has put a lot of effort into that particular game, and it is an old one, but most of the games work at least as well in cedega as they do on old my win98 partition.

What would really be best for the industry is if we got another Loki in the business of porting games to linux. If a company sees someone else port their game and profit, they'll want that piece of the pie for themself and do their own port next time.

That is a nice thought, but that's not exactly how it works. this is from icculus.org's Linux Gamer's FAQ:

Q: Why isn't the Half-Life client ported to Linux?

A: Sierra/Valve decides who gets to touch their code, and decided against letting anyone port the client. Besides this, if it were released as a commercial boxed game, the people releasing it would probably be putting the nail in their own coffins, as the game already works at an average level in some windows emulation software.

This is from the man who probably knows more about Linux ports than anyone on the planet. Look carefully at the html address for that specific question, and i think you'll see his slant on it...

Anyway, i'm not trying to shoot down your ideas, because I think it would be great if companies ported more because of transgaming, but these are just some reasons why i think the "prevention" argument is still the strongest.

Not really, but somewhat...

For the record, Half-Life was derived from Quake 1, not 2.

Wrong. Half-Life was based on the Quake2 engine, even though the developers had already made substantial mods to a Quake1 baseline prior to Q2's release.

You can verify this yourself by scanning an original install of Half-Life for function names from quake2 code, such as this file.

Doh.. that's Neverball. Me and my penchant for not previewing! ;-)

I would have cited Wesnoth, GLTron and .

What's interesting about that list is not only that they're all great open source games, but also that they're cross-platform!

Life is good for open source gaming.

Eggscuze me? You make an exceptions list and leave out Neverball?

Shame on you.

Perhaps you really want The Linux Game List?

This is excellent news! I just found out Duke Nukem 3D is not only on the list of liberated games, but that it also runs natively on Linux now! Grab a copy from http://icculus.org/duke3d/index.html and meet me for a game. I'll be the one with the pipe bomb.

Oh and first p0st.

Take Schilling out of the loop and then we aren't 100% dependent on him.

No problem. No UDF or DVD support yet though, I think. I've heard grumbles of speed issues as well, but it is 0.2 after all.

KDE isn't just a window manager... it really is a whole Desktop Environment.

If you're after a slim window manager you should be using something like the beautiful openbox.

I used this installer.

All the expansions can simply be decompressed into your main NWN-folder. Thats it. Where did you get stuck?

Actually, UnrealTournament 2004 may also use ISX.
UT2004 actually uses the excellent Loki setup tools that are now maintained at icculus.

Battlefield Vietnam, Max Payne II are a year old maybe, and they run just fine on cedega. Off course i prefer native games, but if only 2 or 3 % of the computers have linux installed, i don't think the vendors will do much effort for a native linux version. However things are changing: UT2004, Doom 3 and many more are natively supported (http://icculus.org/lgfaq/gamelist.php)

Speaking of 2D deathmatch, I found Jump'n'Bump very fun and skillish.
I even supports four people playing on the same computer! I tried with three. It's cute and full of gibs and blood.
It's also on Orkut.

I agree that 3D is over-used. It doesn't *have* to be used to create fun games -- all of these play on Linux, and most (maybe all?) play on Windows and other platforms as well.

SuperTux is a Mario Brothers "clone" that's really quite nice. Apparently it was the Linux Game Tome Game of the Month for March 2004, which is like Extreme Makeover for Linux games. OpenGL acceleration is nice (gives me about 30fps extra on my AMD64 3200+ with nVidia FX5900XT card), but it runs pretty decently without it. You should note that to make Tux run or shoot fireballs in the game, you need to hold down the left Control key... I didn't know that and ended up cheating with the level editor. I finally discovered the key-mappings, and I'm currently slightly addicted to it... :)

Pingus is a cool, open-source, penguin-themed (of course :) Lemmings-like game that doesn't require any kind of acceleration, just a decent system. There aren't many levels available yet, but it's a good-looking game and fun to play around with.

Project: Starfighter is also pretty good, although I find the levels a little too hard for my liking. Hardware acceleration is pretty much required, unfortunately.

And there's always the venerable and *highly* addictive Frozen Bubble... that game has wasted so much of my time... and I've enjoyed every minute!

I've been really impressed -- there seems to be an explosion of good, free games for Linux lately, though it could just be that I'm finally finding out about them. Although I don't have too much of a problem with 3D, I knew Neverball was getting to me when I started dreaming about it...

Yes but it doesnt have anything on neverball.

What, jedi mind tricks? Well fine then, neverball's still FOSS! =P

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Neverball a game based on Monkey Ball.

Fun, addictive and some of the courses can be really challenging.

Et tu, comrade English fagots!

from lazy mfgr who can't write drivers worth crap.

Aren't they supposed to be written as opposed to crap or did you want crap drivers? I lament: hope you're not turning gay, because your English skills surely isn't sounding strait.

After you said the prayer, did you threaten to become gay if she wouldn't bend over?

If you're talking about the problem with loki_patch where it craps out when trying to install the updated files, see here.

well, gamers who want simplicity AND replayability are kinda shafted.. except that there's games like neverball for totally free. or the hundreds of flash games on various websites. there's more coders now than ever probably and it's easier to start than ever.. and most 'retro' type action/puzzle games are easy to clone and twist somehow.

if you just want simplicity there's dozen or so mediocre first person shooters or action jumper wanabe games released every year.. thing is these lack replayability even if they're sometimes good otherwise the fun is over in 8 hours(+0-4).

I play way too much games it seems :)

(and code some crap occasionally as well, retro focused)

Flagrant Self-evangelisation, here.

AA JuggleMaster

For bonus points, it'll even function as a system load monitor.
That way I can call it a utility instead of a toy. Or, uhm. Right.

Gary (-;

Ask and ye shall recieve: http://www.icculus.org/duke3d/
- RustyTaco

I am definatly interested in more efficient power suplies, as well as more efficient processors. I have just recently built an arcade system dedicated to the game NeverBall and NeverPutt which uses a 7" LCD and a Trackball for input. The PC sits under the bar and idles most of the day. The 600MHz Celeron CPU uses little power, and I'm sure a Transmeta or Via C3 would use even less but its what I had. My main concern with leaving the box on all of the time is the power drain. Already with a MythPC and a Squid box running all the time my powerbill is in the 100-150 range for a guy a cat and an apartment.

The PSU in the NeverBall-Box is a 250Watt ATX from Compusa (not sure who makes compusa brand PSU). I once ran across a link on /. which showed what the average powersuply costs in $/mo but I cant seem to find it right now. I use a power brick for my laptop and see similar products for sale for Mini-ITX PC's. Is there a way to use these for an ATX and are they more efficient than normal PSU?

PS: OT: Anyone else have issues with neverball and ATI? Got texture probs with Rage and Radeon on XP. Sorry so off topic.

emerge quake2-icculus

You can already do that now with flight sims and driving sims etc, but certain things just can't used like that because the input device technology is not sufficient.

Into which category do you believe dancing simulations fit? The latest one for PS2 uses a 3'x3' platform for the feet and a camera for the hands.

I purchased MOHAA back in Jan *because* of the Linux client beta. Is the production client available *ANYWHERE* other than TuxGames??? All I see on icculus.org is the old beta 2.

Insightful post my ASS
Time to feed the Trolls

Here's a small list of games that are available for Linux
Take not that these do not include the L, G or K games that are usually bundled with a desktop manager

Once you have played every game on that list, come back and then say that Linux games suck...until then, keep your head buried up your ass or you may see the sun sometime

http://icculus.org/manticore/?

I use an ATI Radeon 9000 and I have yet to have problems or difficulties with the card. It was plug and play for Fedora Core 1 and 2 and this card performs well for the 3D games I occasionally play (bzflag, armagetron, neverball, and the miniature golf game based on neverball code the name of which I have forgotten because I don't have it installed yet).

The Radeon 9000 AGP card is fairly inexpensive too ($30-$40).

AlienSwarm_v1.zip:
Mirror 1 - 3ddownloads.com
Mirror 2 - icculus.org
Mirror 3 - Brody
Mirror 4 - nim-rod.net
Mirror 5 - Fileshack
Mirror 6 - Fileplanet
Mirror 7 - ut2003hq.com
Mirror 8 - extreme-players.de

First of all, nuking Microsoft would help, if only all copies of Windows were destroyed in the process. Unfortunately, people are so willing to cling to something so obviously inferior that they would stick with Windows long after all copies of its source (and therefore all future development) was gone.

Second, when was the last time you used Linux? How far did you get? My mother can and does use Linux -- and she's a financial planner and an idiot at computers. My grandmothers haven't tried, but I'll bet money that they can. Unification is not always a good thing -- competition is good -- and there's enough of it to get by.

Game support? I can play ut2004, quake3, half-life + mods via steam, starcraft, tribes2, stepmania (a ddr clone), just to name a few. For more than I can name, check out winex ($5 a month), tons of native games, need I go on? In fact, I think I'll keep a copy of this rant somewhere to reply to anyone else who thinks that Linux can't play games. It's about as retarted as thinking that Linux has no GUI (and I know people who used to think that!)

Hardware support? Every piece of hardware that I have ever tried has worked, out of the box, including some things that never worked on Windows. No driver installation, often no configuration, if it's usb I just plug it and it works. Third worst hardware issue ever: had to go look online for a step by step guide that involved editing a config file. Second worst hardware issue ever: certain hardware which is not generic and requires specific Windows-only, proprietary software did not work -- namely, SharpSync (laptop-to-pc sync via usb 2.0, I do just fine over ethernet, thank you) and the X-Port (to back up PS2 games via usb -- you can back those up over a network with PS2 Linux). Worst hardware issue error wasn't Linux's fault -- dying hard drive.

In all issues but the last one, the rest of the system worked just fine. Rarely has a driver-related issue ever crashed anything other than the driver in question -- and you can reload those without rebooting. And when that has happened, it's been with Nvidia's proprietary drivers, which are direct ports from Windows (and thus would probably happen in Windows anyway).

Etc? What else is there? After reading this, if you still don't want to go test Linux for yourself (or at least do more research before you whine about it), I think it's obvious that there are people in the world who will never even try Linux, not even if everyone they know says it's better than Windows in every way imaginable. Maybe a virus should be written for those people?

I realize that there are circumstances where you need a copy of Windows (my laptop techsupport insisted that I install Windows to verify that a "CRC error" from my hard disk is not a Linux problem), but most of these could be phased out. My dad, for instance, only boots into Windows to use Quicken -- and that's because he doesn't want to learn GnuCash, and it's likely that it's missing a few features that he needs.

But to say that Linux is not a viable solution for the home user desktop for the reasons you mentioned is -- well, provably wrong.

PyDance is way cool.
Open source, ogg support, works well with dance pads for the PS/2 and it's easy to make your own songs.

There is. Maybe you should have read the other comments, or looked around a bit (another link)

--

There is a free software version of DDR, written in Python. It used to be called PyDDR but now it's called PyDance.

You can play it with a real dance pad, or just play it with your keyboard. I suspect you will not lose much weight if you play it with your keyboard, however.

http://icculus.org/pyddr/

steveha

There's also PyDance (written in Python, of course, and is available as a Debian package). It's not quite as polished as StepMania (they're, of course, looking for more help), but it runs a hell of a lot smoother on my PII-350 then bloated StepMania does. And you can d/l every DDR song from DDR:UK (well, all but the 2 newest ones available off xbox-live). (You can get them in groups by mix via bittorrent, or d/l them one at a time as .zips.)

pydance is another open source DDR clone, with support for all sorts of different mats and dance games.

They also have a good faq with information on what mats to buy, and how to convert a soft mat into a proper hard mat.

pydance is another open source DDR clone, with support for all sorts of different mats and dance games.

They also have a good faq with information on what mats to buy, and how to convert a soft mat into a proper hard mat.

FWIW, 64-bit Fedora doesn't require a kernel recompile to use the nVidia closed-source drivers, but you do need the driver patch from minion.de. You'll also need to add "alias char-major-195 nvidia" to /etc/modprobe.conf, or modprobe nvidia manually. Don't forget to make the usual changes to /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Anyhow, I've been running 64-bit UT2004 under FC2 Test 3 for a while now and it works great, after getting the beta version mentioned here (hopefully there will be an official UT2004 upgrade soon?).

It's great to see x86_64 Linux on equal footing with 32-bit x86 Linux. If you've been waiting for an excuse to switch over to AMD64, now's the time.