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Don't forget online games. I've had many many hours of fun with Runescape, cybernations, and astroempires. All work fine on Debian and Ubuntu.

Don't forget Wine, either. Many games designed for Windows run great with Wine. If you are able and willing to pay a few bucks, Cedega has what amounts to a customized Wine, along with support for getting many of the most popular games running correctly.

I'm not a gamer either, but over the years, I have collected a few games, and the kids have more that we enjoy puttering around with. Wine enables golden oldies like F-19 Stealth Fighter to run beautifully on Linux. http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/simulations/games_f_h/f_19_stealth_fighter_a_k_a_project_stealth_fighter_.html

And, finally, keeping Wine in mind, - google for abandonware sites. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware#External_links

I don't care a whole lot about Karma - but before some hardcore Linux guru flames me, I'll point out that Wine makes almost any game a Linux game. Nethead didn't necessarily exclude ports, emulators, or anything of the sort when he asked about "Linux games". ;^)

Then for example the Ishar and Eye of Beholder games are FPSes too?

True, they are from a "first person" perspective, but the gameplay is nothing alike.

In Ishar and EOB for instance, the concept of having to shoot at a target with precision is completely inexistent. You have a sword equipped, you click the sword icon, the character swings the sword, and the hit or miss is determined by a virtual dice roll. Being successful at Ishar 3 is a completely different skill as being successful at Quake 3, and mostly a matter of long term thinking, correct selection of equipment, using the right spells, doing the right thing at the right time, etc. The insane reflexes needed in Quake 3 to run and shoot precisely the instant an enemy appears are of absolutely no help.

Shooting gallery games also are nothing alike a FPS. They invoke different emotions even. In a shooting gallery you normally can't retreat, can't run away and hide behind a corner, can't run after a wounded enemy, can't have a battle between snipers, or to snipe targets from large distances, etc. Shooting galleries are very linear, and things like several people running around like crazy and shooting missiles at each other are inexistent.

umm

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/adventure/games_sp_sw/suspended.html

Such things have been done before, see

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc /strategy_games/games_q_r/rules_of_engagement_2.ht ml

Basically Breach series was tactical combat like UFO/X-Com or Laser Squad, and Rules of Engagement was tactical space combat - two completely independent games.

Well, install'em both and you get the boarding party sequences (capturing starships) from RoE to play through in Breach.

I do wish this was used more often elsewhere, definitely.

just as offtopic http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com

but what about the crashes?
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/

http://www.free-game-downloads.mosw.com/d.php?6170 1

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/still...

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/Still downloading....

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/Another link.

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/Just a link so I can download a free game. Meh.

90% of the time when it seems like the computer is smart, it's more because the game and the AI merge well together.

If the game has lots of bugs, bugs you might not normally see, the AI will suffer.

Oftentimes the A.I. of the game doesn't make the computer smarter. Making a game that's smooth and supports a good A.I., however, will make a much bigger difference.

With a game like chess, the A.I. program is huge and immensely sophisticated.
With a game like tic-tac-toe, you can make an A.I. that can't be beaten, simply because the game is simple and allows for that.

It's important to keep in mind that the actual A.I. algorithm can only accomplish so much. Putting Deep Blue into the seat of your tic-tac-toe opponent gives you the same result as the program you wrote that doesn't break a page.

That being said, a few more examples to look for for good A.I. that merges well with its game would be Kohan and Kohan 2. The AI in that game blew me away.

For an older game, check out emperor of the fading suns (you can get the full game for free) http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc /strategy_games/games_e_f/emperor_of_the_fading_su ns.html
I still have fun playing this one. It's interesting how the computer will actually send you money for nothing in the interest of making you like them more. There are a few other subtle details.

Incidentally I've heard that Gal Civ is based off of EFS, so if you haven't had a chance to check it out, enjoy.

man, populous was tha shiznit. Play it again from here: http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc /strategy_games/games_o_p/populous.html (I just found this, and am at work now so am unable to verify the functionality here) Syndicate was probably about my favorite game in the world.

The game was Return Fire. It's since been abandoned but you can get it here:
http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc /arcade_action/games_q_re/return_fire.html

use WINE or win95 to get it going.

Of course we all know that you can't have a self sufficient Moonbase(tm) without mining helium for the coming fusion age. Otherwise your lunar newspapers will go on strike and who will tell the masses about the green moon monkeys?

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc /simulations/games_s/shadow_president.html

I haven't actually given this a try, but it seems there are a few diehards keeping this old game alive.

What, you mean other than 3D Construction Kit, the development environment for the old Freescape engine, designed for exactly that purpose?

Admittedly, it is virtually impossible to make either a good or fun game with it, but that's beside the point.

Apparently these games are avaiable for download as abandonware: http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc /strategy_games/games_a/ancient_art_of_war_the.htm l I don't know how reliable this site is.

I believe the game you're refering to is "Life and Death"

I used to play it all the time (I was 7), and would just have fun poking people, and putting them under.

you can find it Here they want $4.00 for it.

There's a newsgroup too: alt.fan.elite. I can't find who wrote the game, though.

I guess that means you missed out on Tetris, huh?

. . . Oh right. Porntris. Ignore me.

Sounds like they were simply remaking the old game Omega, just the the game in this article is a remake of another game, EOS (Earth Orbiting Station). So much for indies and originality.

What about the Chuck Rock concert?

"Hwua! *fart* *belch* Uhh Hwua! *fartfart* BRAPPP framp. Hua!"

Apparently it's "abandonware" and can be downloaded
for free from HERE.

Yes sure... it was damn hard and i couldnt get past the first operation without reading the books you found in the game... you can download it here

What makes you think Stunt Car Racer is public domain? Pages like this don't say anything about its copyright status.

They call it "abandonware"- which only means that the copyright holder isn't looking for violators anymore. For practical purposes, you can download it for free, even though that's illegal.

However, the point of the Wired article was that in a DRM future, this won't be possible anymore. The game will have been published in a strongly copy-protected way, and 20 years later when the author forgets it, that protection will still keep you from passing it around to your friends. (Even 100 years later, after copyright expires and you can legally share it, the technology might still stop you)

The first thing I thought about reading the headline was Normality, because at some point in this game (one of the funniest adventure games I've ever played) you had to use a big battery and a power transmitter/receiver to power something. That's why the story was a bit disappointing for me :7