25 Best Linux Games

bobz writes "The Linux Game Tome has announced the winners of the Happypenguin Awards. Games, toys and libraries in 25 different categories were nominated and voted upon by the Linux gaming community. Take a look at the best Linux gaming has to offer." Alas, no SimCity 4, and no Sims Online.

Comments

25?

[Schnapple]

Linux has 25 games now? I guess they all win...

Re:25?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, talk about surprises! And the guy is complaining about no Simcity 4. I'm surprised there's even 25 games for linux.

Re:25?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, some games had to win multiple times. I think Quake 2 won 5 or 6 awards.

Re:25?

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

Here's the list:
1) Mahjong
2) Mahjong
...
22) Mahjong
23) Mahjong
24) Quake 3
25) Nethack

:)

Re:25?

[Charm]

Hmm this is a list of games I compiled earlier (it's on the gametome forums)

• Creatures Internet Edition (Simulation)
• Erics Ultimate solitaire (Card Games)
• Heavy Gear II (Mech Sim)
• Heavy Metal Fakk II (Action, Adventure)
• Heroes Of might and Magic III (Strat)
• Kohan Immortal Sovereigns (Real Time Strat)
• Myth II Soulblighter (Real Time Strat)
• Quake III Arena (FPS)
• RailRoad Tycoon II (Strat)
• Return To Castle Wolfenstein (FPS)
• Rune (FPS)
• Soldier Of fortune (FPS)
• Terminus (Space Combat/ RPG)
• Tux Racer (Sport)
• Unreal Tournament (FPS)
• Unreal Tournament 2003 (FPS)
• Quake II (FPS)
• Doom (FPS)
• Quake (FPS)
• Alien vs Predator (FPS)
• Tribes 2 (FPS)
• Alpha Centauri (Strat)
• Heretic II (TPS)
• Mindrover (sport/sim)
• Uplink (Hacking)
• Civilisation Call To Power (Strat)
• Jagged Alliance 2 (Strat)
• Serious Sam (FPS)
• Unreal (FPS)
• Sim City 3000 (Strat)
• Pontifex II (Strat/toy)
• Mobility (strat)
• Dominions (Strat)

You might have trouble finding some of these in a game store though, escpecially some Loki ones.

Also these are only commercial ones there are a heap more free ones

there are 26 linux games??

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow. But are 10 of them "moria" variants? Or are we talking about 25+ *unique* games??

Re:there are 26 linux games??

[Anonymous Coward]

Pathetic, isn't it? They got a notion to write about the 25 best Linux games and stuck to it, even when they realized there were only 25 if you counted /usr/games.

Wowee! Lunar lander! Hamurabi! Hunt the Wumpus!

Re:there are 26 linux games??

[bellings]

Actually, three of them are "Frozen Bubble", two are "Freeciv", two are "Quake 3 Arena", and one is the "Simple Direct Media Player Library".

There are only two versions of solitaire, and one version of nethack. Rejoice!

Quake III still kicks ass!!!!!!!!!

[ZappaSoft]

Quake III still kicks ass!!!!!!!!!

Re:Quake III still kicks ass!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah, Quake I is still the best Quake game. It has an atmosphere no other game has been able to duplicate, even the later Quake games couldn't do it (though admittedly they were going in a different direction anyway, but still).

Re:Quake III still kicks ass!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

And that atmosphere is.... brown.

Re:Quake III still kicks ass!!!!!!!!!

[Chris Croome]

Personally Quake II is the one that I think was probably the best in terms of style (after Doom II of course!), I never really liked Quake that much. Currently I play quite a lot of UrbanTerror which is a free Q3 total conversion which is like Counterstrike. UrbanTerror works fine in Linux and they have a Linux section of the support forums.

The other Linux games I have a Wolfenstine and Tribes 2 but after playing them for a bit I found that I always end up going back to Quake 3.

I don't actually miss the fact that there are not many Linux games -- there are enough for the time I have to play them.

Re:Quake III still kicks ass!!!!!!!!!

[Afrosheen]

I'm right there with you man. I've been playing UrT for a little over a year now. Anyone with Quake3 that's been bored with it forever should try it. Now that 2.6a is out they finally fixed all the crap that everyone was upset with. Weapon spread is good, recoil is fixed, spas doesn't overpower everything. Life is nice now. :)

List of Award Winners

[Anonymous Coward]

Free Games
Best Free Game - Frozen Bubble

Best Free 3D Action Game - Cube

Best Free Arcade Game - Frozen Bubble

Best Free Cards/Board/Gambling Game - PySol

Best Free Multiplayer Action Game - BZFlag

Best Free Multiplayer Strategy Game - Freeciv

Best Free Role-Playing Game - NetHack: Falcon's Eye

Best Free Simulation Game - Flight Gear

Best Free Single Player Strategy Game - Freeciv

Non-Free Games
Best Non-Free Game - Quake 3 Arena

Best Non-Free 3D Action Game - Return To Castle Wolfenstein

Best Non-Free Arcade Game - Space Tripper

Best Non-Free Cards/Board/Gambling Game - Eric's Ultimate Solitaire

Best Non-Free Multiplayer Action Game - Quake 3 Arena

Best Non-Free Multiplayer Strategy Game - Heroes of Might and Magic 3

Best Non-Free Role-Playing Game - Ultima I: A Legend Is Reborn

Best Non-Free Simulation Game - SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Best Non-Free Single Player Strategy Game - Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Miscellaneous Categories
Best Emulator - ScummVM

Best Game Support Library - SDL

Best Graphics - Unreal Tournament 2003

Best Sound/Music - Frozen Bubble

Best Toy - Celestia

Most Original/Unique Game - Liquid War

Most Promising Linux Game Project - Planeshift

Re:List of Award Winners

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that free as in very cheap, or free as in Kevin Mitnick?

Re:List of Award Winners

[Xpilot]

Some of these games got the "best game" of a particular category because they are the only game in that particular category :)

Re:List of Award Winners

[Amazing Quantum Man]

Where can I get my free Kevin?

Re:List of Award Winners

[dildatron]

You are right, there are much fewer to select from. I was surprised, however to see the lack of Unreal Tournament. I was playing it on linux a couple of weeks ago and it seemed pretty good. I still like Wolfenstein better, but, thats a personal preference (I like killing Nazi's more than robot-suited men.)

Re:List of Award Winners

[giminy]

I only see 20 games listed here. Some games won more than one award. So the title should be, "25 best game categories", not "25 best games"

Reid

Re:List of Award Winners

[kasperd]

Why is TuxRacer not on that list?

Re:List of Award Winners

[Old Wolf]

Hurrah! That stupid Tux Racer didnt get mentioned.

Re:List of Award Winners

[Gehenna_Gehenna]

I agree. I always thought that ol' tux racer was on the far side of lame as far as fun games go. Looks great, plays well, entertains only breifly.

I was upset not to see Gl Tron aanywhere on th list. I'm horribly addicted to it. True, essentially it's an early 80's idea w- late 90's looks, but I think it's loads of fun.

Re:List of Award Winners

[CleverNickedName]

Best Non-Free Game - Quake 3 Arena

Best Non-Free 3D Action Game - Return To Castle Wolfenstein


That doesn't even make sense.

Re:List of Award Winners

[Anonymous Coward]

umm it is there... "Best Graphics - Unreal Tournament 2003"

Old

[dissonant7]

...almost all these games are over a year old. If I want to play games, I'll use Windows. If I want to get work done, I'll run Linux. It just doesn't make since to use a screwdriver to pound in a nail.

Re:Old

[kvn299]

Just because a game is old doesn't make it bad. In my opinion, a game that can withstand the test of time (such a SimCity or Civ) is worth a hundred new games, in my opinion.

Re:Old

[kvn299]

I think you took my comment a bit too literally. But to clarify using one of my examples, I played Civ 2 right up the moment Civ 3 was released. I expect to continue playing Civ 3 until the next one is released.

In fact, now that I'm thinking of it...

Re: Old

[Black Parrot]

> ...almost all these games are over a year old.

Are you bragging or complaining?

IMO that's the strength of OSS games: they can evolve continuously rather than being discarded after a year due to marketing demands. Within a decade the best-of-breed in every gaming category will be an OSS game.

Re:Old

[Anonymous Coward]

Sense.

And you are right, assuming you have both to choose from.

Re:Old

[StarTux]

And your point is?

Of course some are over a year old, it takes time and costs money to port to Linux. Now if you stopped and thought about it and actually bought a couple of games for Linux from http://www.tuxgames.com you'd see more and more games appear a lot quicker from the bigger companies.

OTOH, have you played Uplink? Just because it didn't end up on Happy Penguins winning list does not mean a thing, its one of the big surprises of 2002; a game by a small development team that is very addictive and was released on Linux at the same time as the Windows version. Its here http://www.introversion.co.uk.

I didn't vote for Quake 3, its really quite sad people put that as the best game, as with all things Linux related my opinion differs. Perhaps next year they can limit the vote to commercial games released during the year. As for the free games, most are still in active development.

The upshot of your argument and others who make it is that we'll never help break break the monopoly on the desktop with that attitude, and yes to begin with we need to help create the correct amount of market share (yes its hard to manage), but do you, when you see a game you'd like to play, e-mail the publishers and developers with a kind e-mail?

Are you one of those people who runs a Linux gaming server? If so, write to the development and ask for a client and actually use that client.

StarTux

Re:Old

[AKnightCowboy]

I think you took my comment a bit too literally. But to clarify using one of my examples, I played Civ 2 right up the moment Civ 3 was released. I expect to continue playing Civ 3 until the next one is released.

Right, but did you wait a year or two to buy Civ 2 before you started playing it? Did you wait another year or two for Civ 3 before you bought it? The fact is, new games only come out for Windows. If you like to play new cutting edge games without waiting for years for someone to (hopefully) port it then settle with Linux for games. Personally I'm like most people, my windows box (and PS2) is for games and my Linux box is my file server, shell box for programming, and all around general purpose workhorse. The Windows box is just a desktop for browsing IE only sites and a game machine. The right tool for the right job.

Re: Old

[Anonymous Coward]

IMO that's the strength of OSS games: they can evolve continuously rather than being discarded after a year due to marketing demands. Within a decade the best-of-breed in every gaming category will be an OSS game.

What color is the sky in your world? OSS games are a fun novelty but they're never going to be better than games put out by a dedicated group of commercial programmers. Even if you did manage to assemble the right talent of artists, musicians, programmers, testers, managers, etc. you'd at most hope to put out a one-hit wonder. So far I haven't seen any open source games (arcade, RPG, action, etc.) that are any good at all compared to the cheapest oldest games I can find in the bargain bin in the store.

Re: Old

[Black Parrot]

> > IMO that's the strength of OSS games: they can evolve continuously rather than being discarded after a year due to marketing demands. Within a decade the best-of-breed in every gaming category will be an OSS game.

> Hahahah! Hahahhaahha! Hahahahhahahahahahahahahaha!!!

> In other words...No, you are quite wrong!

Bookmark this thread. We'll be wanting to discuss this again in January 2013.

Re:Old

[PunchMonkey]

...almost all these games are over a year old. If I want to play games, I'll use Windows. If I want to get work done, I'll run Linux. It just doesn't make since to use a screwdriver to pound in a nail.

It does if the hammer is going to cost you $200.

I like your analogy though :-)

Why use a $200 hammer that can't turn a screw when you can use a free screwdriver that can pound in a nail.

I'm sure someone can reword that nicely into a sig...

Re: Old

[fitten]

Cling to your dogma. Variety is the spice of life, as they say. With your logic, PacMan and Mrs. PacMan should still be the top games in the arcades and MYST should still be the hottest game on the PC. The fact is that some games do enjoy long life (StarCraft, etc.) but people do like to play new games.

One of the reasons that games do well on the PC is that evne though the game will be pirated, there will still be enough sales to warrant the initial investment and recoup your costs of paying the programmers.

The problem is that games don't fit into the enterprise software model (which is one of the few ways to make money in the Linux/OSS world). You have to have money to start the development on one and you won't make any money on support/training for it. In addition, few people are likely to even want to pay for the initial copy of it. In addition, even without piracy, the market segment for Linux/OSS is not that big. This leaves you in the area of doing it for FreeBeer(tm) style development. How many game developers are going to code a game for free? Some, sure. How many who code games for a big game house will have the free time (unless supported by the game house) of developing/porting for Linux/OSS? Maybe a few.

Game lifespan is too short (among other things) to fit the enterprise model. Until you can make money developing games on Linux/OSS so you can pay people to code them, I'll predict that the rate of new games emergence will be slow.

Re: Old

[Black Parrot]

> What color is the sky in your world? [...] Even if you did manage to assemble the right talent of artists, musicians, programmers, testers, managers, etc.

I live in a world where the color of the sky indicates that artists, musicians, and managers don't add a heck of a lot to the game-playing experience.

I mentioned continuous evolution as the reason for OSS gaming's ultimate supremacy, but I should have mentioned the increasing diversion of resources into irrelevant fluff as the reason for commercial gaming's... increasing fluff-orientation. It's kind of like the music industry: marketing has become more important than the content.

[Heh, and I use the graphic tiles when I play Angband. You can imagine what a hardliner would say about today's commercial games!]

Re:Old

[StarTux]

"The fact is, new games only come out for Windows."

The fact is you are wrong, *most* top titles do come out for Windows as that is where the monopoly is. Uplink, as I mentioned in another thread came out for both Windows and Linux as did Terminus. Others have only been a week or two behind, excluding Bioware's NWN, which we're still waiting on for the client.

"Personally I'm like most people, my windows box (and PS2) is for games and my Linux box is my file server, shell box for programming, and all around general purpose workhorse."

Like most people who don't think about their actions...

"The Windows box is just a desktop for browsing IE only sites and a game machine. "

Then get Winex and Crossover Office at least, you can use IE within wine and don't have to worry about the Windows.

Support Linux or Mac and help bring diversity back to the computing platform, its much better for the computing ecosystem. But then you'd rather sit there and talk about right tools for the right job, how on Earth did the tools come about? Oh people worked for it...Remember when Linux was seen as a toy even on the server? How times have changed.

StarTux

Re:Old

[theendlessnow]

Yep.. the games are old.

Can't wait for DOOM3... a first person shooter, sounds very revolutionary!

Re: Old

[Sunda666]

Not exactly OSS, but some free (as in beer) mods are pretty darn good and outlived the original games they run on top of.

Counter-Strike (half-life, old as hell and still the most played)
Day Of Defeat (half-life, very cool gameplay, but seems to push HL engine a bit)
Urban Terror (quake 3, runs even on linux and IMO kicks counter-strike's ass into oblivion, and is developed by an independent team)

The more it comes easier to write mods for the new engines the more these mods will proliferate. Some may even be OSS.

cheers.

Re:Old

[Anonymous Coward]

They'll never stop from playing Kaboom! Never! Oh my precious. It consumed for 10 years it did.

Re:Old

[Zenithal]

Ok, no offence here... but if everyone had your opinions we'd still be using DOS and NES's. The current state of a situation is not a definition of the future state of a situation.

Or rather, because games are not widely available today doesn't mean they'll never be.

I really wish I had a nickle for every time someone said that real gamers only use Windows. It's one of the silliest ideas I've ever heard of. Obviously not every game company is going to drop everything and start porting games to a platform with only 1%,2%,5% (or whatever it is now) share of the desktop market. It's incremental. Everything is incremental in the market. As the market share increases for Linux desktops, so will software availablity. As that availability increases so will share.

I have no idea why people think that because it's a great idea to have Linux desktop machines, and Linux games on those machines, that magically the entire market should be converted over night. Nothing happens this way. Ever.

The move from Dos to Win3.x to Win95 was incremental too. When Win95 first came out you could have made the exact same argument about it vs. Dos. True many games would run under Win95 that were intended for Dos, but still in general the speed was better with a clean boot. So I heard the same things: real gamers use Dos, Windows is meant for business applications, not games... why would anyone want to use it for games?

Well, here we are, aren't we?

Re: Old

[anotherone]

I live in a world where the color of the sky indicates that artists, musicians, and managers don't add a heck of a lot to the game-playing experience.

Your games suck.

Re:Old

[anotherone]

Have you ever tried to pound in a nail with a screwdriver? You can do it, but since you're holding the pounding surface with your hand directly, if you're off a little bit you'll hit the screw with your hand and probably cut it pretty badly and it will hurt like hell.

Sometimes you need to just pay for the damned hammer.

Re:Old

[Sancho]

In my opinion, a game that can withstand the test of time (such a SimCity or Civ) is worth a hundred new games, in my opinion.

Oh, do you also work for the department of redundancy department, too?

Re:Old

[JustAnotherReader]

almost all these games are over a year old. If I want to play games, I'll use Windows. If I want to get work done, I'll run Linux. It just doesn't make since to use a screwdriver to pound in a nail.

No No No! You young people have no appriciation of the proper use of tools.

Screwdrivers are used to chop a mortise for a door hinge.
A chisel is for opening paint cans.
A hammer is for driving screws IN.
Pliers are for taking screws OUT.

Re:Old

[Anonymous Coward]

What??

Re:Old

[198348726583297634]

Why use a $200 hammer that can't turn a screw when you can use a free screwdriver that can pound in a nail. You ever try building a house without a hammer?

Re:Old

[Malc]

Talking of Civilization. I found I still had a copy about a year ago. I installed it on my computer promptly lost a week with little sleep to it. This was the first time I'd played it since the early nineties. I'm guess I'm still addicted! I wiped it off my computer lost the disks. It's like being an alcoholic. What a game!

Re:Old

[Malc]

Seeing as I have a full time job, family, active social life and train five times a week in preparation for a marathon at some point, I no longer feel the need to have every new game as soon as they come out. That's a fools game, and an expensive one at that. I guess I've seen enough games since the early eighties that I don't find them innovative enough anymore, and become cynical of all the hype around new games as I've been disappointed too many times. I just get a few games a year (and yes, I own a XBox and play it frequently) now. Most of the games that are hyped and people get all excitied about really aren't that good. Look at Splinter Cell: very over-hyped, but I completed it in a week (a sleep deprived one ;)) and haven't touched it since. Sure, it was compulsive for that week, but now I view it as a waste of money as it has no longevity. I doubt reviewers of these games play any of them long enough to truly appreciate their real value. There's no point getting caught up in the silly hype and wasting your money on every new fad until convinced of compelling reasons to join in.

Re:Old

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the best games I ever played is StarCraft, from Blizzard. It was released in 1998 I think. Bad they didn't port it for Linux.
Wine doesn't work for me...

Re:Old

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, if companies perfer writing console games because they don't have to deal with a million hardware configurations, then they will likewise prefer to write for windows because they don't have to deal with a million OS configurations.

I'm also rather tired of all of the attitude that there's something wrong with using a Microsoft product and that it's worth going through the pain in the ass of setting up these random software packages to get around using MS stuff. "Oh, just set up wine and winex and this piece of crap and that piece of crap that won't build on your machine without some tweaking of this arcane make file or maybe you even get to write some code yourself to make it work"

Just use windows and install the game in 5 minutes and start playing. Geesh.

Re:Old

[Anonymous Coward]

I just LOVE that you're suggesting that linux is somehow easier to use than Windows and that there's absolutely no advantage to having a nice standard platform with lots of support.

Re:Old

[bryanthompson]

I agree, some of the best games ever are way old. My favorite game of all time is Lords of the Realm II, followed closely by Pong.
Some new games really kick ass though... Medal of Honor and Battlefield 1942 for example, but I haven't found a new game that I can sit up all night playing like i could with Wolfenstein.

Re:Old

[Junks Jerzey]

The fact is, new games only come out for Windows.

These days it's more like "most of the new games come out for consoles." Even if you despise consoles, you have no where else to go if you want to play Mario Sunshine, Splinter Cell, Vice City, Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 2, Ratchet & Clank, Halo, Ico, and so on.

To some extent all of the high-end 3D troubles on PCs (both Windows AND Linux) are to blame: constant driver and bios upgrades, difficulty in determining what card can be used to play what game, card compatibility issues, etc.

Re: Old

[Afrosheen]

Take a look at the mod community. Most of these guys work free on their mods but have other jobs paying the bills, just like alot of Open Source coders. Can it be argued that money and management is 100% necessary to produce quality software and quality games?

If you intended to troll, woops, I took the bait, but seriously, can you honestly say that every non-commercial HalfLife and Quake3 mod out there is worse than anything in a bargain bin? They may be commercial GAMES but they're 100% free MODS. All the mod makers are doing is using the engine.

Factor this into your reasoning and get back to me on that.

Re:Old

[Corporate Troll]

Hey! I still play Civilisation I from time to time on my old P120 Laptop running DOS (and Linux on another partition). It never got old for me, because it *still* is fun. (Even though of course the graphics aren't as flashy as the latest Civs)

Re:Old

[PunchMonkey]

I just LOVE that you're suggesting that linux is somehow easier to use than Windows and that there's absolutely no advantage to having a nice standard platform with lots of support.

The standard platform with lots of support... you mean linux right?

When I do work on my *nix servers and need support on them I have no trouble surfing the web and searching google to get the answers I need. There's tons of online documentation by the authors and others.

But when I'm working with MS Access for the front end to one of our database servers, it's a complete headache trying to get support. It doesn't help that the key search word here is "Access", but even still, very few people offer free help for non-free software. And the quality that is out there is usually quite questionable.

Anyways, that said, we are talking about video games here and I'm not going to argue that windows isn't a better platform for that. But hey, this is /. and I made a remark to reflect what the readers like to hear and get a chuckle out of.

Re: Old

[wheany]

Half life was pretty universally thought a very good game. If you had the source, and the resources, how would you develop it?

Would people still play it, after they had beaten the original Half Life, and you had done an incremental change to it?

And I am talking about Half Life, not its mods...

Re:Old

[Anonymous Coward]

I can agree with this for one big reason. If we were still using DOS and NES as our gaming systems, then games might start being fun again instead of 'oh look how pretty our graphics are! substance? Wh...what are you talking about? Be gone blasphemer!' type games.

Re: Old

[frankthechicken]

I live in a world where the color of the sky indicates that artists, musicians, and managers don't add a heck of a lot to the game-playing experience.

Your games suck.

Flamebait? Don't know, I don't think LOTR would have gone down so well if the Balrog was a hand puppet breathing out red coloured tin-foil, with a small child in the background plinking and plonking on his Xylophone, with a chorus of the girl guide recorder orchestra backing him. They all add to the general experience and atmosphere. Quake would not be a great experience in Ascii mode, be different though.

Re:Old

[lyle_hanson]

Right on. As many slashdotters would undoubtedly agree, nethack is still one of the best games around. Not in terms of fancy eye-exploding graphics, but in the sense that it's amazingly deep; before you know it, three years will have gone by and your GPA/social life/work is in the shitter. Its roots extend 15+ years back, and it runs on everything. You can even get fancy GUI interfaces for it.

killed your kitten, while helpless

Re:Old

[Karn]

This argument is old and extremely flawed, yet it gets modded up every time by other uninformed Windows gamers.

"It just doesn't make since to use a screwdriver to pound in a nail."

You're right, it doesn't make sense to use a tool which is not suited for the task at hand. However, you are wrong to say that Linux isn't an OS which is capable of playing games, the right tool for the job. Perhaps you can list some technical details, which cannot be overcome, as to why Linux will never be the tool to play a game? Linux is network-ready, it can use joysticks, keyboards, mice, sound cards, etc etc etc.. Linux is just as capable of serving web pages as it is dishing up OpenGL accelerated games to people.

You see Windows as it is today, the Status Quo, and you think "Almost all games run on Windows, therefore Windows is the right OS for games." It is true that you can play more games under Windows (although the limitation of the current Linux game market, not the Linux kernel or X) it doesn't mean that Linux, or any other OS for that matter, is not the "right" OS for gaming.

The only thing preventing Linux gaming from taking off is the fact that there aren't enough Linux gamers to justify porting. That will change in time.

Re:Old

[Dr. Pretorious]

I wait a year or two anyway. I convinced myself that 50 dollars for a new game is too expensive. Now I never pay more than 20. And I still have a blast playing NBA Jam on my Sega Genesis emulator :)

Re:Old

[Anonymous Coward]

As the market share increases for Linux desktops, so will software availablity. As that availability increases so will share.

But, it won't. I'm not saying this to be mean, I use Linux everyday, but the average home user uses Windows, will use Windows tomorrow, and will continue to use Windows until Microsoft comes out with another product to replace it. Linux will never dominate the desktop.

Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[October_30th]

Why should we expect Linux games to be any better than the millions of shareware games made for Windows? I mean, I've never found freely available Windows game that would be fun.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Diabolical]

I mean, I've never found freely available Windows game that would be fun.

You mean you don't like minesweeper or solitaire????

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[October_30th]

You mean you don't like minesweeper or solitaire????

I sucked in minesweeper, because I never figured it out. I still don't know how to predict if I am about to uncover a mine or a safe square, so I might just as well click around randomly.

Solitaire is just boring.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[psavo]

I find Vexed to be more fun than any other game lately. Nethack is nice too. I really haven't enjoyed commercial games in a while.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[killmenow]

The best way to play minesweeper is to set the grid size to its max and the number of mines to its min.

This way, you have a big space with like only ten mines. A lot of times, you can clear the board with one click.

YES! New Record! One Second! Woohoo!

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Anonymous Coward]

Why should we expect Linux games to be any better than the millions of shareware games made for Windows?

Doom, Quake, Duke3D, etc were all shareware...

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[LoudMusic]

Why should we expect Linux games to be any better than the millions of shareware games made for Windows?

Because not all Linux games are free ...

Unreal Tournament, Railroad Tycoon 2, the various Sims, QUAKE! - these games aren't free or even shareware. I wouldn't expect them to be better, but at least comparable to their Windows counterparts.

Why is it that when people think of Linux, or any other OpenSource project, they immediately think "free"? These terms aren't interchangeable. And not all the software that goes with them is going to be OpenSource or free either.

Grow some balls, pay for your software.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Anonymous Coward]

America's Army is pretty nice. And you can't beat free.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[infront314]

I must really advice you to investigate minesweeper a bit more. In the beginning you will have to think hard before every single click, but after some time you will start seeing the patterns. It's a "Matrix" experience!

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Znork]

You havent? With games like crossfire and freeciv I've wasted months playing. They're easily on par with any bought games I've played for sheer 'fun-ness'.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Minna Kirai]

You didn't figure it out?

Type "xyzzy" and then a single pixel in the corner of your screen will blink when you mouseover a mine.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Anonymous Coward]

>It's a "Matrix" experience

Yeah that and the fact the number in a cell represent the number of bombs in the surrounding cells (8-way-neighborhood) so the numbers range from 1-8. The first move is obviously luck, and all sweeps end when a cell with a number is hit (ie. all blank cells are cleared). Simply use your brain to deduce where the mine is given the surrounding numbered cells. So if you see a single uncovered cell with a lot of 1's surrounding it, you can bet your ass it's a mine!

All that from just the Help>Rules section prominently displayed on the menu-bar... go figure...

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[nelsonal]

The first pattern I got was that if you have a line of three ones the one that is diagonal to the box is the correct one with the mine so long as you keep revealing ones around that box you can clear each of their border squares.

1 1 1 []
1 X 1 []
1 1 1 []
[] [] [][]
You could click all seven of the empty boxes [] as long as the bold 1 only borders the square that then must contain the mine and the other borders are all 1s.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[TheRaven64]

I've never found freely available Windows game that would be fun.
You do know that BZFlag has a windows port, right?

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[dildatron]

I was searching on the google usenet archives to see how long this feature has been in windows... Apparently since the olden days.

Anyway, I saw this post, and I just thought it was hilarious how anyone could be so excited about Minesweeper. So, for your viewing pleasure, here it is:

From: Wayne (wayne@dmntor.UUCP)
Subject: XYZZY : Minesweeper code
View: Complete Thread (6 articles)
Original Format
Newsgroups: rec.humor


Oh my GAWD!!! It worked !!!!!!!!!! I was reading the posts on the minesweeper crack-code and finally got it to work. Seriously, this is what to do: Load "Windows" (I have 3.1 if that makes a difference?) Load up "Minesweeper" With mouse arrow anywhere on screen type: xyzzy {hit enter} {hold shift+hit enter} Look way up at the top left corner of the screen and you will see a single pixel of light flash on and off as you move the mouse across the minesweeper playing field: the light will stay on for blank spots and will go out when you pass over a mine. I have a bright color background but still could see the white light flashing on and off (so no need to change your background which may be a pain in the ass just to cheat at a stupid game for two minutes).

I was sure that this was a bunch of bullshit just to get people to sit there and waste their time trying some stupid non-existent command. But to my amazement, it worked.

OK, now that this worked, WHAT OTHER SECRET THINGS ARE THERE??

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[ComaVN]

-1: Nitpick

The first move is obviously luck

I've never hit a mine on the first click, so I'm pretty sure the mines are placed *after* your first click.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Anonymous Coward]

I have hit a mine on my first click in the Windows version of minesweeper. That, plus the cheat, indicate to me that the mines are placed first.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[SensitiveMale]

This way, you have a big space with like only ten mines. A lot of times, you can clear the board with one click.


You are absolutely correct. I just did this and it is great fun.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[radish]

One of the winners on the linux list (bzFlag) is available as freeware for windows. It hardly has stunning depth of gameplay, but it's fun for a quick multiplayer blast.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Anonymous Coward]

Hear that silence? It's the sound of nobody caring. Why's that?

BECAUSE BZFLAG SUCKS!

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Anonymous Coward]

Alternatively, set the grid size to X and the number of mines to X-1. That way you're CERTAIN to clear the whole board with one click.

Well, once every X tries, statistically speaking.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Anonymous Coward]

Thats because you either don't ever leave the house or you're so boring that you make watching grass grow seem like a good time.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Anonymous Coward]

The best way to play minesweeper is to find the file where they keep the high scores, and set all those to 1 second (wohoo!!)

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[ergo98]

Why is it that when people think of Linux, or any other OpenSource project, they immediately think "free"?

Claiming that open source (in the GPL sense)!= free is absolutely ridiculous: Show me an open source (in the GPL sense) product where they successfully maintain a commercial product? Redhat you say? Oh right, there's one user of Slashdot who might have commercially bought Redhat. The other 74 users downloaded it (despite the fact that Redhat has been trying to make it more difficult...soon it'll be 40 CDs with the core installation items being hidden among all of them, and the distribution copy hosted on a brutally slow server).

However you are right that there is commercial software that runs on open source software such as Linux, such as Unreal Tournament, Quake 3, etc. So why are people focusing on free software? Well...let's see....1/2 of these awards are specifically dedicated to free software (indeed that was there major partitioning point). Apart from that we all know that "free as in beer" is far more important to most Linux enthusiasts. Indeed, if it weren't for the Corporate copy of XP Pro, Windows Activation would have sent even more of these free as in beer'ers clustering to Linux, whereupon they would immediately absorb the advocacy and then proclaim that they're really about digital rights, etc.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[LoudMusic]

I guess free is what's most important to the Slashdot community. I appologize for suggesting such an obtuse idea as to pay for something.

MY BAD!

Carry on.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[dnaumov]

Unreal Tournament, Railroad Tycoon 2, the various Sims, QUAKE! - these games aren't free or even shareware.

I beg to differ:
Quake source (GPL)
Quake 2 source (GPL)

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Anonymous Coward]

"Oh right, there's one user of Slashdot who might have commercially bought Redhat."

Actually I have bought a few different versions, most notably Mandrake and Redhat. Herein is the problem w/ Linux IMHO, with Bill$ software I can pop a disk in, run install and play in 5 minutes. I have never successfully installed anything under Linux despite buying many books, reading howto's etc. I could not even install an addon for Mozilla. I guess if I spent enough time I could get the hang of it, but I have many more valuable things to do with my time.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[LoudMusic]

Excuse me all to hell ... Quake THREE. There, happy now?

But yeah, the Quake I & II duo being GPL'ed is pretty 1337 (:

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[AngryPuppy]

You are, of course, free do do as you please, but I urge you to reconsider.

My own opinion is that Linux is not (much) harder to use, just different than Windows. You have years of Windows experience, don't you? Give yourself equal time on Linux.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[Cid Highwind]

Only the little 1-level demo versions were shareware. You still had to buy the full game (either mail-oder the full version disks, or buy them in a store). The trend isn't dead, either; Q3A and RtCW still have free demo versions available.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[jcast]

This may be obvious, but: see the numbers in the squares? Those tell you how many mines there are in the adjacent squares. So, if you have a `3' next to exactly three uncovered squares, all of those are mines. I find it's helpful to right-click on squares you're sure are mines, just to help keep track.

I leave it to you to figure out all the neat theorems that follow from this, except two:

1. In general, if you have a `1' with only one or two uncovered adjacent squares, the odds of hitting a mine are better away from the square than adjoining it. So, I usually click randomly until I see a `1', then follow that in either direction diagonally until I hit some open space.

2. In the following pattern:

1#
2#
1#

(`#'s are covered squares), the top and bottom squares are mines, provided the `2' isn't touching any other covered squares.

Proof: we know, by assumption, that there are at least two mines in the three indicated squares. So, we have the following possible combinations: (1) mine-mine-blank, (2) mine-blank-mine, (3) blank-mine-mine. We want to prove the situation is (2). To do this, observe that (1) makes the top `1' sit next to two mines, which is impossible, and likewise for (3) and the bottom `1'. So, (2) must be the case. q.e.d.

That's provided as an example of the sort of reasoning that underlies minesweeper.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[jedrek]

Mines are placed before you click, but a mine will 'escape' to an adjacent square if it's your first click. The only way you can get a mine on the first cilck is if you hit a square where the mine is blocked.

Anyway, what are peoples' best times on minesweeper? I only play Expert (30w x 16h x 99mines) and I'm down to about 112s.

Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win

[leandrod]

> I've never found freely available Windows game that would be fun.

I am not a gamer by any means, but shareware Terminal Velocity was very good. It was not a MS-W32 game, but one of those that included its own operating system -- TVOS -- and drivers, to be loaded by (MS|DR|PC)-DOS.

It was so good that MS bought it, ported it to MS-W32, renamed it to Hellbender or something the like, retracted the DOS version and erased nearly all references to it from the Net.

I'd rather not...

[Big Mark]

"Take a look at the best Linux gaming has to offer."

That'll be a stack of empty pizza boxes and a tower of coffee-stained mugs. I can see that in my room already, why'd I want to see someone else's mess?!

-Mark

I hope they included nethack

[MoreDruid]

You turn around the corner. Your foe (Server, 58 Hp 3D1) awaits. You engage battle. You /. the server.
You gained an experience level!

Re:I hope they included nethack

[Anonymous Coward]

Best Free Role-Playing Game - NetHack: Falcon's Eye

They did!

No Sims Online? Not missing much...

[kvn299]

That game is just plain boring. Maybe if Maxis had finished it before releasing it, it'd be more fun to play.

But... maybe by the time they release a Linux version, it *will* be finished.

Stores to buy

[Winterblink]

Forgive my ignorance, I don't use Linux for gaming. I game on consoles and my other PC with an OS that is less favorable to the /. masses. Anyway, are there actual stores where you can BUY games for Linux, or are they only primarily available from online sources?

Re:Stores to buy

[SLot]

Fry's usually has some linux games. I just picked up Myth2:Soulblighter and Heretic 2 this weekend for 5 bucks a piece! :)

Re:Stores to buy

[slux]

Tux Games sells Linux games exclusively and provides packages with Linux binaries even when the developers choose not to. (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault has been added as a preorder item already after the icculus.org announcement)

Loki Games' has ceased to exist but their site still lists their resellers here, I'm sure many of them still stock Loki's old games and probably titles from other publishers too.

Linux Game Publishing lists their resellers here.

Re:Stores to buy

[marnerd]

I got the last "Railroad Tycoon II" before you got there. Too bad I can't make it work on Mandrake 9.0. But what the heck, 5 bucks.

Re:Stores to buy

[rmohr02]

I've been looking for Tribes 2 for Linux, but it isn't to be found anywhere, now that Loki is gone. T2 is the only reason I keep my Windows partition around.

Re:Stores to buy

[Anonymous Coward]

I was actually just at MicroCenter here in Columbus, OH. They had a few boxed linux games; maybe a half-dozen different titles. The only title I really remember was TuxRacer.

Re:Stores to buy

[Libertaine]

Check out Microcenter. bought 3 of the loki games for $1.99 each the other day.

Re:Stores to buy

[stu42j]

Micro Center does too.

Re:Stores to buy

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, at least you get to look at a pretty box! Hey, I spend $5 on a poster once in a while, just staple the box to the wall and put the disk on a pushpin next to it. Keen!

Linux needs games

[TTMuskrat]

IMO, Linux needs games in order to "make it" in the mass market. It already has the good O/S, it has the word processing software, it has GUIs if you want them - the only thing it doesn't have is a good games library.

Once you get developers either making games specifically for Linux or devs porting other O/S games to Linux, then Linux will be ready to take down the MS behemoth. After all, once it has games, you wouldn't need a different O/S for anything and you could then use your Windows discs as really cool frisbees :)

Re:Linux needs games

[Zelet]

OS X IS Unix based. It has a gui (a great one) it has games and it has MS Office yet it still can't beat MS. Why do you think Linux ever will? Linux doesn't have a unified GUI. Unix can't even get anti-aliasing out of the box for browsers or much else. Linux isn't on the desktop because it still doesn't beat windows in day to day usage. Not for non-geeks. Karma to hell, OS X is better than any OS out there and it still isn't winning against MS.

Re:Linux needs games

[FatherOfONe]

First. I think games are big for Linux. It is another one of those applications that some people "must have". If almost every application that was for Windows ran well on Linux, AND people had to choose to pay the microsoft tax (new machines), then I believe that quite a few people would be running linux on the desktop. I have found that most people use Microsoft products only because they are free (pirated) AND that is what other people use. (Catch 22 problem). However when they have to fork over say, $500 for Office, then somehow they "decide" to try OpenOffice or something else.

I agree that OSX looks great.
Why don't people use OSX? It only runs on Mac hardware. I am not saying that Mac hardware is bad, but there are a LOT of people who won't buy it AND it is more expensive than other X86 platforms. One last point is that it says Macintosh. A ton of people hate Apple, or bought an X86 box and want to "justify" their decision by puting down other systems.

Re:Linux needs games

[LordNightwalker]

Actualy, there are a couple of good games ported to linux. Think UT, UT 2k3, the complete Quake saga, Tribes 2, the complete Descent saga (yeah, mainly 3d shooters). There's also a couple of other games that run on linux; some adventure I forgot the name of that doesn't look too interresting, a nice realistic pool game (foobillard), Descent Freespace 2 also has a linux port in the making since it went opensource, Parsec just looks *drool* ...

The problem is, well, let's face it... Most Windows gamers just copy the games and play from illegal copies. Now the gaming industry still makes enough money on the legal minority of the gamers. However, Linux isn't as widespread as Windows; developers have less experience with Linux than Windows and Linux gamers are just as big a bunch of warez-hounds as their Windows counterparts. So it's harder and more expensive to develop for Linux since they have less experience, and on top of that they sell less... That's the real problem IMHO.

Re:Linux needs games

[RobotRunAmok]

IMO, Linux needs games in order to "make it" in the mass market... Once you get developers either making games specifically for Linux...

Now, which of those conditions would be "the chicken," and which "the egg?"

I am frankly amazed that any game shy of some "Pong"-like thingie coded by some hobbyist across a long weekend has ever been made for Linux. There is a ridiculously small installed base of Linux desktops relative to even the Mac OS (and we all know how well they're taken care of by the game developing community...).

I switched from Windows to Linux with nary a second thought once OpenOffice and GNUCash got real. It's all about productivity. Now I get my work done, business and personal, without the crashes and the hangs. That's what I need a computer for.

Which is not to say I don't game. Several hours a day, seven days a week, in fact. All on an XBox, which is to say, a gaming console. Radical concept, no? And I never have to worry whether or not the graphics processor in my console will be sufficient for me to get the most out of the game I buy.

I also don't use my propane torch to toast my bread in the morning, nor do I drink my beer from a bowl. I could, of course, 'cept I've got other things in my house already which are much better suited to that function.

"Gaming On Computers" is a remnant of an earlier time. It was a GREAT time, don't get me wrong (I still gaze fondly at my carefully preserved 5.25" floppies of "Gunship" [CGA Version]) but time is marching on. Console hardware sales and console game production is up, the median age of console gamers is wa-a-ay up, and the original trend of games debuting on PC and porting over to the consoles is reversing.

...and the Linux-on-Desktop movement will be better for it. The faster people stop expecting or "needing" there to be Linux games (always poor, paler cousins of their Win counterparts) the faster they will make the transition. With a PS2 version of EQ going online this month (or next?),a number of MMORPGs scheduled to launch on console this year, and the success of the "live" broadband multiplayer initiatives, it is clearly only a matter of time...

. ...which is good for Linux. I don't know whether or not it's good for the poor ol' sod who wrote "pySOL" or whatever the hell it was, but it's good for Linux.

Re:Linux needs games

[Giggles Of Doom]

I think that one of the things holding MacOSX back is the fact that it has to be run on a Mac. While they are cool looking machines, they are typically slower and FAR more expensive then your $999 Dell or Gateway. Don't get me wrong, I think Macs are cool, but they are way too expensive for what they give you. Perhaps if they moved to x86 (or better yet, x86-64) and used their mad design skillz on the OS and housings (think iMac with a VIA EPIA board) they could get a little more market share.

Re:Linux needs games

[Zelet]

I agree 100%. Laptop are an exception. I think that if people tried Mac laptops they would never chose anything else. They really aren't that much more than other brands and the quality of engineering is so much higher. Otherwise, on the desktop market - OS X is hindered by the expense of mac hardware.

Re:Linux needs games

[Anonymous Coward]

One thing at a time, buddy.

First we need fonts.

Then come the games.

Re:Linux needs games

[Hecubas]

Right on. I think PC gaming hit its peak, while console gaming is on the rise. Console hardware has come to the point where online, 3d gaming is breaking the cost/performance barrier compared to the PC. SOCOM for PS2, perfect example.

Even after all these years with fast GPU's and CPU's, PC gaming is still painful. You gotta have your drivers just right, you gotta have supported hardware, or even stable hardware for that matter. If I calculated the amount of time I've wasted on getting my damned video driver just right to play 3d games without lockups, I would certainly justify the cost of a $200 console with a $40-$50 game. While it's sometimes fun and a learning experience tinkering with my PC to get it up for gaming, it can be tiring doing it again and again.

I'm not sure if Linux gaming will ever get there, or if it does you'll need a Linus type person behind the gaming API that can "sell" game developers on the interface.

--
hecubas

Re:Linux needs games

[cranos]

Umm I have to disagree with you there, but IMHO real games play much better on the PC. None of the "Cute Character of the week bouncing around" bullshit but games like Quake, UT, MOA and all of the RTS all lend themselves to PC play over console.

For a start you have way more options when it comes to controls, instead of being stuck with some cruddy little control you get the whole keyboard + mouse to work with, I can tell you after having played both the PS2 version of MOA and the PC version I know which one I prefer.

Re:Linux needs games

[RobotRunAmok]

The PC vs. Console Game Debate is being carried out far more eloquently in other places on the 'net than either you or I can hope to emulate here. I do agree with you re RTS games, and since I've never been a big fan of them, I found my transition to console much easier.

As for the "Cute Character" games, they have never been my cup of tea either, and for the longest time I had the misconception (as you might) that consoles were all geared to platformers.

Of course, then came Halo and the Xbox, and all the quanta shifted.

But more importantly, my five year old and eight year old love the platformers, and they are making the gaming platform decisions of tomorrow, not you and I.

Most signifianctly, it does not matter what you and I think, the transition of gaming industry focus away from PC's and towards consoles has already begun, and is irreversible, not to mention logical. This is not to say that PC gaming will ever go away, but I think, ten years from now, PC Games will be to Console Games what Mac Games are to PC games today.

Re:Linux needs games

[Daniel Phillips]

IMO, Linux needs games in order to "make it" in the mass market. It already has the good O/S, it has the word processing software, it has GUIs if you want them - the only thing it doesn't have is a good games library.

I agree with you. However, just be patient, it's coming. It takes time to build a whole infrastructure capable of supporting the full lifecycle of a game development project. It takes time for massive numbers of independent developers to absorb the technical background and learn the skills to come up to the same level as a pro game developer. But look here and here and tell me it isn't happening. As open source developers, one thing we have is plenty of time. That means time to get it right, time to build best of breed tools, time to build a community of first hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of open source game developers. It's happening, I can assure you. Sooner than you think the worldwide programming talent pool for open source games will grow to exceed in numbers the largest commercial game company by an order of magnitude. What's more, that talent pool will include many professional game developers, working in their free time just because they love it, or they want to build their reputation. In that, game developers are no different than any other breed of open source developer.

But it takes more than programmers to make a game, it takes artists and game developers with both excellent skills and good taste. Right now, this side of the community lags way behind the programming side, but that too is a temporary situation. The artists will arrive when the tools are there, and the tools are well on their way. Note that the whole animation industry has basically switched to Linux. Sure, most of the software they're using is proprietary/expensive, but that's changing rapidly.

Re:Linux needs games

[cranos]

I think there is something your missing here. In order for the consoles to do what they are doing - taking games away from the PC they are having to become PCs themselves. Look at the X-Box, basically it is just a cut down PC. When you think about it we may not see the kind of split that you envisage, instead what may happen is a convergance of the two platforms, so that what you end up with is not just a console but also a complete entertainment unit based on a PC like architechture.

Spectrum emu. - one of the best games for Linux

[BACbKA]

I've always been amazed at the marvelous art of the Spectrum game designers. Cramped into a 8-bit environment with really sucking video, they managed to create very addictive games, with really non-trivial gaming ideas. (When you don't have too much resources to waste, every bit of your game better be brilliant). Now the newer generation computer games have all those fancy video effects, tons of multimedia played in your face, but the signal to noise ration is much lower IMHO than was on Spectrum. Kinda like the modern FX-laden films with no really good plot behind them compared to the old classics. Perhaps I'm getting old, but Spectrum emulation is one of the best gaming environments I've seen on Linux...

Re:Spectrum emu. - one of the best games for Linux

[October_30th]

Spectrum emulation is one of the best gaming environments I've seen on Linux

Don't dismiss C64 emulation either. I still love playing M.U.L.E. and Archon.

Re:Spectrum emu. - one of the best games for Linux

[TheRaven64]

I've been saying this for a long time. Designers either focus on the game, or how it looks and sounds (occasionally both, but it's rare). The only game I play at the moment is BZFlag. The graphics aren't wonderful, but the game is a perfect mixture of reflex and strategy. A lot of old 8-bit games were of the same calliber, and could be played for weeks on end. I can't remember the last time I got more than about 48 hours (total) of fun out of a new (commercial) game. One of the main criticisms of OSS is the hackers tend to focus more on functionality than appearence, but with the current state of the game industry, this is a possitive improvment.

Re:Spectrum emu. - one of the best games for Linux

[BACbKA]

I think there is also another aspect in it. You know, sometimes a child doesn't like a new hi-tech super-complicated talking doll or toy airplane because it's too detailed and leaves no room for the phantasy to add the missing details. The best loved toys are sometimes those that hardly have any more than basic hints to what it is - because with them the imagination plays really wild. It may be that when a designer creates a too complicated and detailed FX-laden game, not only the imagination bond charm is lost for the end user, but also for the designer as well!

Gaming on linux

[Kirby-meister]

Linux could get more support, if only developers saw other developers do well on the system. And the only way that'll happen is if someone gives Linux support. Kind of a catch-22 there.

Re:Gaming on linux

[Zathrus]

And the only way that'll happen is if someone gives Linux support

You mean, kinda like how id Software does? Or maybe Epic (Unreal, Unreal Tournament)?

The reality is that there are some companies supporting Linux - id Software is probably the best as far as it goes - but it's not making money. For id it's not a huge deal, since they've specifically chosen a portable development structure, but for most companies it's a huge ordeal to not use DirectX, or to port from DirectX to anything else. And sales (and usage) figures aren't indicating that it's worth the money to do so.

Re:Gaming on linux

[Kirby-meister]

If I remember correctly, Loki, who's out of business, brought Unreal Tournament to linux.

Re:Gaming on linux

[UberLord]

You're correct, but then Epic hired Dan Voguel from Loki before Loki went bust. Epic brought UT2003 to Linux by themselves.

They also ship the Linux binaries on the 3rd CD that ships with the game. Hows that for a top selling game with Linux support straight out of the box eh?

Re:Gaming on linux

[RatBastard]

No, they need to see people actually make money with their Linux ports, and that just isn't happening. Quake 1 and 2 were sold as Windows games with downloadable Linux binaries. id didn't make a dime they could prove was from Linux sales. Quake 3: Arena was sold as a Windows, Mac and Linux (via Loki) native game and Loki is out of business.

The problem with people actually buying games on Linux are two fold:

1. Linux ports usually don't come out (if they ever do) for up to six months after the initial Windows release. By this time most of the people who are going to buy the game already have.
2. Too many Linux users (too many vocal ones, at least) demand that everything for Linux be free (as in beer) and will lowdly flame any company that dares try to actually charge money for a product on Linux.

Issue One will not be addressed until Issue Two has been dealt with. And I just don't see Isssue Two going away any time soon.

Re:Gaming on linux

[Storm]

id Software is probably the best as far as it goes

I started using Linux eight years ago, with Slackware. I was pleasantly surprised that the Games set for Slack contained Doom. Pleasantly enough that I shot an email to the address on their page thanking them for taking the time to support Linux. One of the developers wrote me back saying "what are you talking about? We write it under Linux and port it to DOS..." I thought that was very very cool.

Re:Gaming on linux

[bfree]

Quake 1 and 2 were sold as Windows games with downloadable Linux binaries. id didn't make a dime they could prove was from Linux sales.

During my many,many months scouring Ireland for Quake 3 for Linux to buy in any store (including ordering) I stumbled across Quake 1:The Offering for Linux which includes two add-ons! I bought it (£20 if I remember right and they gave me a free Quake 3 t-shirt). They sold 1, maybe only one,but I doubt it!

The way that Linux will get onto the development cycle is two-fold. Firstly people who look at the id Software methods and start to write cross-platform code from the outset so they can port onto Win, Lin, PS(2/3), GC, XBox, OSX. Secondly Linux will start to look attractive in a splitting marketplace, with maybe 5+ platforms possibly on the agenda as it is, you can pick one platform alone (then pick the best for your type of game), or pick one group of platforms that provide a common api set you can use or pick a cross platform approach and target them all. If you are going to do Win and XBox and anything, why not do all of them?

My biggest hopes are on Sony releasing the PS3 as a Linux based machine using OpenGL and SDL (for example). If you want to use any of their trademarks you have to pay them, if you want in on their promotional and official stuff you have to pay them. If you want to use any custom software they write for the platform that they want to sell to licencees, that's fair enough (nice if they didn't though). All they do then is charge the hardware price + expected development contribution for the console and use licensing money to promote it! If they do this, they'd probably coerce themselves into making most of the machine far more standard and make it an even more mainstream product. Maybe instead it could just be a Vaio derivative with PS compatibility (through linux as they use it for development right)? If that happened the choice would be Mac, Linux, Sony or MS. Some stuff would go to Windows, but as console games have become more prominent, I think more would go for the Sony, Mac, Linux branch of development (Linux being a by-product of getting PS(2/3), iBooks, iMacs, etc.) mainly for the ability in PS and Mac to have a far greater degree of hardware control. In Linux they would have none, but if they support it, they get some near free money, and support, and hackers who will do things they'd never thought of and open those opportunities for them. In Windows they have support. In Linux they can do no support if they do it right (it's free, lots Free, the rest unified with our main tree). I have no idea about Nintendo development hence I don't know which side of any divides they are on.

As for your issues of not paying for late ports, I think that it is only resolved by a unified code base, which can release simultaneously (at least as far as win/lin/osx is concerned, console release could be early/late, nobody complains (much) about having a different box for the PS and PC Tony Hawk). I think that they should all be primarily charging for the artistic content of their games and see a patching/os devlopment model on a PS as an amazing boon. MS has a warchest of $40 billion? Could they really smack down Sony's PS division in these circumstances? And if some other Sony companies joined them (hdtv, vaio, projectors, hd-recorders) they could create some real excitement in the marketplace (all the Sony stuff you get creates a Sony 802.11g network that you can let other devices into, your entire houses sony gear can bang it's data around on it, go online through it etc). I think someone needs to slap Sony around a bit and tell them to take MS to the cleaners. Get MS to use their warchest to promote against them, net effect is growing teir marketplace which they are and will win! If in the process they can encompass Free software, they can rewrite the marketplace as a competitive economy again, where they have a huge leg up that will give them a very strong long term position (as long as they don;t drop the ball). They will deepen their "monopoly" on the PS(2) into their other product lines and make licensing money from others who wish to buy into the PS3 (and if Sony can standardise on a few connection methods and protocols they could be making a fortune on licensing at very resaaonable rates, probably forcing MS to try to be Sony compatible!).

This post is rambling I've had enough, ask me for more if you want it!

Re:Gaming on linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Then why does their stuff always come out for windows first and Linux months or years later (or never), even when they PROMISE to make it come out at the same time?

Because you (and they) are full of crap, that's why.

Cut-n-Paste Karma Whoring

[bellings]

Free Games

• Best Free Game - Frozen Bubble
• Best Free 3D Action Game - Cube
• Best Free Arcade Game - Frozen Bubble
• Best Free Cards/Board/Gambling Game - PySol
• Best Free Multiplayer Action Game - BZFlag
• Best Free Multiplayer Strategy Game - Freeciv
• Best Free Role-Playing Game - NetHack: Falcon's Eye
• Best Free Simulation Game - Flight Gear
• Best Free Single Player Strategy Game - Freeciv

Non-Free Games

• Best Non-Free Game - Quake 3 Arena
• Best Non-Free 3D Action Game - Return To Castle Wolfenstein
• Best Non-Free Arcade Game - Space Tripper
• Best Non-Free Cards/Board/Gambling Game - Eric's Ultimate Solitaire
• Best Non-Free Multiplayer Action Game - Quake 3 Arena
• Best Non-Free Multiplayer Strategy Game - Heroes of Might and Magic 3
• Best Non-Free Role-Playing Game - Ultima I: A Legend Is Reborn
• Best Non-Free Simulation Game - SimCity 3000 Unlimited
• Best Non-Free Single Player Strategy Game - Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

Miscellaneous Categories

• Best Emulator - ScummVM
• Best Game Support Library - SDL
• Best Graphics - Unreal Tournament 2003
• Best Sound/Music - Frozen Bubble
• Best Toy - Celestia
• Most Original/Unique Game - Liquid War
• Most Promising Linux Game Project - Planeshift

Best Game.....

[Martok7]

The best game in Linux is Unreal Tournament 2003.

Re:Best Game.....

[Tet]

The best game in Linux is Unreal Tournament 2003.

No, the best game for Linux is Unreal Tournament. Sure, UT2003 may have better graphics, and a more advanced engine, but the original UT is the better, more playable game.

Frozen Bubble is great!

[analog_line]

I play and AWFUL lot of games. Too many games, probably, but I find myself booting into Linux just to play Frozen Bubble. Of all the small puzzle-type games I've ever played, Frozen Bubble is just the best. The only problem with it is that 50 levels just isn't enough for me. Great audio. Polished graphics better than any other free X11 game by leaps and bounds. No, it's not a gaming powerhouse, and it won't take the world by storm, but it's still damn good.

Re:Frozen Bubble is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Frozen Bubble is great but not enough levels?

Well then, grab an emulator and start downloading the various Bust-A-Move (aka Puzzle Bobble) ROMs.

My opinion? As much fun as Frozen Bubble may be, a rip-off of an existing commercial game franchise hardly deserves to win best game.

Er, MAME?

[kahei]

Games available on Linux, right? So that would include every arcade game up till the late 90's, right? Unless there's a hidden rule saying the game can't be emulated or illegal...?

Samurai Shodown
Tempest
Strike Force
I, Robot
New Zealand Story
Drift Out
Metal Slug
Waku waku 7
Alien vs Predator ...why, I don't believe it's possible to pick just 25! And that's before I turn on any *console* emulators! LIFE IS TOO GOOD!

Re:Er, MAME?

[wheany]

DUH! Of course there is that hidden rule.

Re:Er, MAME?

[PunchMonkey]

Unless there's a hidden rule saying the game can't be emulated or illegal...?

Well..... since the commercial games aren't included in the "free" categories, I'm willing to bet there is ;-)

Even Quake I was a knock-off

[hpulley]

Doom was the original and even Castle Wolfenstein 3D before that should get the real credit but it didn't quite have the environment that Doom had (the secret levels paying homage to Wolf3D and Keen were great).

Playing Doom with my Gravis Ultrasound MAX sound card so I could hear guitars in the music was just awesome. Simply hearing the music for level 1 was amazing. And the stereo separation was so good that I could kill enemies with the (single barrel only) shotgun with my eyes closed. Played great on Linux in an X11 window too.

I wish another game would come along with the impact that Doom had. It was just SOOOO amazing and nothing has come close since. Every 3D shooter since is just the same old with better graphics and sound, aside from interesting forms of multiplayer action like Team Fortress and Infiltration. Pretty sad, actually, but at least 3D shooters haven't had to go down the cheesy movie route like adventure games.

Multiplayer really came along with Quake. In Doom it worked better as a cooperative feature. Deathmatch was really born in Quake, along with Capture the Flag, Team Fortress, etc.

Re:Even Quake I was a knock-off

[JonKatzIsAnIdiot]

BAH. The entire Quake series is nothing but an advertisement for id's 3D engines. Quake only gets interesting when someone who knows how to design games comes along and turns a twitchfest into an actual game that's fun to play.

Half-Life. Hitman. Max Payne. Now those are games worth playing. Mood, atmosphere, all kinds of ways to kill things and (gasp) a real honest-to-goodness storyline. And you get to use your head for something other than holding up your ears and a place to stick your eyeballs.

SimCity 4 on Linux

[FourDegreez]

I've read that SimCity 4 can be played on Linux via Wine, and that it works okay unless you try to zoom. Haven't tried it myself though.

Huge omissions

[fishdan]

Actually, over all "su" is the BEST game ever.

Let's not forget the old classic:

cat /var/spool/mail/hotgirl | grep sex

Although I think that's probably closly followed by 2 others:

$IPTABLES -A FORWARD -i $EXTIF -o $INTIF -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT

tail - 200 access.log | grep "GET /scripts/root.exe?/c+dir HTTP/1.0"

I got a new game recently: The Oracle 9i install! I've been playing this for MONTHS now, and I'm still not sure how it's gonna turn out! I love the way you have to keep trying different things until you finally solve it! Please no spoilers!

I'm also a big fan of the "adding a non-standard serial device" game, but I'm not very good at it yet.

Re:Huge omissions

[borkface]

I'm having troubles with Ultra-Reset-Button-Puncher5000. If this thing crashes one more time....

Re:Huge omissions

[dzym]

$IPTABLES -A FORWARD -i $EXTIF -o $INTIF -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT

Call me an idiot, but what's that do? :)

Re:Huge omissions

[fishdan]

it's a command for IPTables, a firewalling utility. It says that packets that originate from the outside world, and want ot get into the lan, can only get in if they are coming in response to a request that someone inside the lan sent out.

Re:Huge omissions

[FungiSpunk]

I've been playing Oracle install since version 8, are there any webpages with the walkthroughs, cause I'm still stuck!!!!!

The Top 3 Mac Games

[Quarters]

Breakout, Super Breakout, ...photoshop...

Re:The Top 3 Mac Games

[Seehund]

Those who don't understand why the parent post is funny, check out Drunk Gamers' (R.I.P., I guess...) "Switch" parody.

Thanks, Quarters. Until now I couldn't hear that he said "Photoshop". :)

Still Happy ?

[KoolDude]

The Linux Game Tome has announced the winners of the Happypenguin Awards

Is the penguin happy about the /. effect ? ;)

Add one to the list!

[teamhasnoi]

It's called "Get Linux Ready for the Desktop"!

You play a software programmer who has one mission: Get Linux Ready for the Desktop!

You must navigate new users, configuration scripts, unsupported printers, and obscure terminal messages!

Your enemy, BILL GATES will do anything to stop you! Beware the dreaded Intellectual Property attack, and the TOC missle! Dodge laywer after laywer who will try anything to stop you! Pick up pizzas, Mountain Dew, and Penguin Mints for extra power!

All this without a consistent user interface, and sound!

If you think your good enough to beat the 'Steve Balmer Monkey Dance' and churn out a thousand lines of code a day, you just might be ready for "Get Linux Ready for the Desktop"!

Act now, and well include a DCCS encoded bonus level: 'Shave Richard Stalman!'

You gotta be quick, you gotta be good, you gotta "Get Linux Ready for the Desktop"!

Re:Add one to the list!

[Anonymous Coward]

You forgot a level.

You will have to defeat a small but vocal group of Mac-zombies, They will try to convert you into one of them by blowing smoke up your ass, and weakening you with their leaders reality distortion field.

Number 26

[duckpoopy]

It has to be xbill.

Tribes 2

[FuzzyBad-Mofo]

T2 is a newer game than Quake 3, has unbounded maps and much deeper gameplay.. yet does not even warrant a mention? Come on!

Re:I am SOOOOO finished with Slashdot

[superbam]

Buy a subscription, and then you can turn off the annoying ads.

did you all notice this?

[greechneb]

There is not a sports game category? I would like that category to be filled. Unfortunately, people see linux users as geeks unlikely to be interested in sports I guess...

Re:did you all notice this?

[Anonymous Coward]

All the sports games are kept in the big blue room.

Ur-Quan Masters

[TeknoHog]

Don't forget Star Control 2!

liveCD's 4 all!

[AlXtreme]

Well, seeing this article i just have to plug Morphix again, working on a Game-only module consisting of 400megs of free-software games (frozen-bubble, freeciv, bzflag, and the rest are all included, however nvidia -modules still are a problem). It's a bit pre-mature, but finally we have a useful destination for your nearest M$-pc: throw in Morphix and do some real gamerlamering!!! :o)

If the site is a bit slow, check out the mirror, kindly hosted by xs4all

"Playing the Open Source Game"

[peterpi]

Shawn Hargreaves (of Allegro fame, and also my lead coder) has written an interesting essay on why open source is quite a poor development model for games.

Check it out Here

Re:"Playing the Open Source Game"

[peterpi]

(forgot to mention in my post that the essay is quite old now. Unfortunately, it's still relevant)

Linux needs marketing

[mausmalone]

I'm afraid of the flames I'm gonna get for this... but the problem with people adopting linux isn't linux, it's people.

See, you say linux has a good OS, many good GUIs (I really love GNOME), and office tools for people to work on. I wouldn't disagree with you there... but that's not the problem. People just don't wanna use linux. And by "People" I mean "the masses."

Here's an example. Dreamweaver is the most incredibly wonderful GUI-based web design program there is. It has everything anyone needs, and it outputs tight, compatible code. But do "people" use it? No.... I work in a place where we have enough licenses to go around, and what does everyone want? Frontpage. F'ing Frontpage. Not Claris Homepage, not Netscape Composer. F'ing Frontpage. And they ask me stupid things like "I want to use Frontpage, can you install it on the server for me?" ARGH!

See, Frontpage isn't requested because it's... well.. good... or useable... or functional for that matter. Everyone wants it because it's MS Word for web pages. It may be a disgusting train wreck of a program the likes of which should warrant its creators' executions on a public street in broad daylight as a warning to other MS programmers, but the "people" are too lazy and dumb to contest their friend who says "Frontpage is the best" because he heard it from a guy who heard it from a guy who heard it from a guy who heard it from a sales-bot at CompUSA. Why do sales clerks reccommend Frontpage? Because it's wizard-based, and any monkey can do that... less chance of returned product.

So the moral? "People" will continue to use Windows and slink away from linux as long as we keep thinking that they're too stupid to learn anything else. It's about time to shirk the attitude of "I use linux, but that's because I'm a genius. You lower life forms can use Windows." It'll go a long way.

Oh, and never use your Windows discs as frisbees. Instead, keep them around to make copies for all of your friends. :)

Re:Linux needs marketing

[bofkentucky]

Dreamweaver --tight code, when did that happen? I just can not use a wysiwyg editor anymore, thank Raggett for HTML-tidy, for cleaning other peoples code up.

Re:Linux needs marketing

[anotherone]

I typed "about:Mozilla" in my address bar... what's supposed to happen? I just get a blue screen.

Re:Linux needs marketing

[TheRaven64]

Oh, and never use your Windows discs as frisbees. Instead, keep them around to make copies for all of your friends. :)
No! Don't do this. Help stamp out software piracy. Software piracy is one of the main reasons why Microsoft is still in a dominant possition. If every home user actually paid £100 for a copy of windows and £400 for a copy of office, how many people would be using office on windows? If you want people to use alternative operating systems, you first need to get them off Windows specific software, and if you give them free samples of microsoft software, it's just like giving them free samples of any other addictive substance.

Re:Linux needs marketing

[Anonymous Coward]

I just get a blue screen.

Yeah, just reboot. Blue screens are pretty common in IE.

Re:Linux needs marketing

[bofkentucky]

Exactly, about:Foo doesn't create the same response so someone at M$FT is having a little fun with our favorite browser. Perhaps I'll submit a Moz patch that maps about:IE to a real BSOD or a page decrying IE's problems.

Re:Linux needs marketing

[moosesocks]

I can agree with you on most of everything you've said up there, but would like to add something else.

Linux has become easy to install, but is still a pain to configure. There is no good equivilant to the control panel. Linuxconf isn't nearly thorough enough, and can be confusing. SuSE has YaST, which I hear to be good.... unfortunately, SuSE isn't intended as a desktop OS. We need to appeal to the quasi-power-user crowd. Believe it or not, most windows users aren't idiots.

Package managment as it stands now is pitiful. On windows and MacOS, I can download a binary, double click it, install it, and run it (all in under a minute).

Linux, on the other hand is a pain. I have to download a package, pray that it works on my distro (if i'm lucky, I can find an RPM or DEB). Then I have to satisfy dependencies (which might not be an official part of my distro). More hunting. When it's finally installed, it doesn't even bother to put an icon in my menu or desktop, or tell me how to configure it (or even provide an easy means of configuring it).

It's the simple things that make linux fall down. We've conquered all the hard stuff. Why is it so hard to get the small stuff worked out?

Re:Linux needs marketing

[Anonymous Coward]

Mozilla is the mascot of Mosaic, the original peice of software that all web browsers (including IE and Mozilla) are based on, you simp.

Re:Linux needs marketing

[Mark_pdx]

Yast2 (Suse) IS good. I don't know why you say it's not intended as a desktop OS, that's what I'm using it for, my non-computer-literate is setup with StarOffice & Mozilla with not problems.

Yast2 gives you control panels for configuring system services. I've used it for setting up apache, samba, sshd, lpd. the only thing I needed an editor for was getting the print server set up in samba. It's getting there....

Re:Linux needs marketing

[dr_dank]

Because it's wizard-based, and any monkey can do that... less chance of returned product

At the risk of going slightly o/t, I thought you'd find Jimmy Hoffa before you'd get an opened software product refunded at most stores.

Re:Linux needs marketing

[General Ishmoo]

What I think is the deal with the "small" stuff is that people who use Linux want to get the small stuff right - and that's much harder than it looks.

I actually think a system like Debian has package management down pat - if it's in the version you're using (and unless it's amazingly obscure it usually is) just apt-get install; dependencies satisfied, etc. If not, get some source, and compile it/install into your preffered user-installed directory.

Compare this to Windows/Mac - you download and either run an installer, or uncompress it and install it yourself - and there's nothing that knows where all your installed things are, etc. Windows tries to use the registry, but that backfires - if you install software yourself it's not in there, and if you remove software accidently without uninstalling it sticks around in the registry; ugly.

So, I think that until we can work out good, workable, universal solutions for the "small" stuff, we'll keep seeing what you're talking about.

Re:Linux needs marketing

[shrikel]

Oh, and never use your Windows discs as frisbees.

Right. That's what AOL CDs are for.

Re:Linux needs marketing

[Anonymous Coward]

> Oh, and never use your Windows discs as frisbees. Instead, keep them around to make copies for all of your friends. :)

If you don't pay for criminally bad software through the nose, you will never realize how much you are being ripped off! Just think of it! All those home users and small offices running pirated copies of Windows and Office, they are the silent backers of the Microsoft near monopoly. Let them pay $500 on operating system licenses and $20 per seat licenses for using email from their WebTV like the rest of us would, had we been lobotomized and not running BSD or Linux.

(not originaly mine, so posting anon)

Ultima I: ALiR has been cancelled

[homb]

Peroxide, the company from Denmark that started the Ultima I port to the new generation, decided to create a completely new game instead and calls it now "Era".

It's totally unrelated to Ultima I.

See it at:
http://www.peroxide.dk/era/

another badly designed server...

[zloppy303]

And the slashdot crowd found another site that can't handle their vast amount of requests!

Guess I'll have to wait a few days before I can read it.

They rejected my story :(

[Anonvmous Coward]

I can't believe this article about Linux's top 25 games story beat my submission of the top 10 best versions of Mozilla. :(

Re:They rejected my story :(

[rp]

Incidentally, the new Freeciv release (1.14.0 came out on Jan 17th) wasn't considered newsworthy either.

Freeciv would have won more polls if it had only been nominated there. This tells us something both about the value of these polls and the state of gaming on Linux.

Gee...

[Anonymous Coward]

You would figure since they can post the right link on a story they could correct the link on the side bar news? Get with the freaking program!

3 in Three

[BTWR]

Remember this game? "3 in Three?" A puzzle game about a number "3" from a text document that got zapped into the inner parts of a computer during a power surge... damn, I wish there was a Mac emmulator on windows just so I could play that game!

Re:3 in Three

[Terry Tate]

This will work for a month or so: 3 in Three + Mac emulator demo

Re:I am SOOOOO finished with Slashdot

[Some Bitch]

I'm (temporarily) using Windows with ICS (don't ask, it's too complicated) and would you believe it the default XP firewall settings block the ads.

Space Tripper deserves this

[__aawsxp7741]

Incredibly addictive stuff. I've been playing it for a year now and only just beat it on the hardest level. You won't regret checking out the demo at pompom.org.uk (you will, actually, if you value your time).

Gameplay is pure arcade goodness, with 3D graphics to match.

They've also recently released a robotron clone, Mutant Storm.

Re:Space Tripper deserves this

[Alan Partridge]

I'd second this, but don't neglect Mutant Storm while you're there!

I HAVEN'T beaten Space Tripper without continues yet - I say this to my shame.

GIVE POMPOM MONEY

Re:No Sims Online? Not missing much...

[fobbman]

Maybe Maxis was a little too accurate in simulating life?

hmmm

[smash]

There's 25 games worth playing on Linux? :P smash(relax, its a joke ;)

Why Switch to Linux?

[Orne]

Boy oh boy, Linux as a gaming platform... Linux was optimized to outperform in the areas of Software Design (for stability of the kernel) and Server Architectures. I have a partition kicking around whenever I need to do *real* work with C++, and I've used it since Slackware in 1995

But, as a gaming platform, Linux still isn't exactly jumping out at me ... the UI/core apps now need about a half a decade of interface redesign to catch up. For one thing, a Control Panel type app would go a long way towards standardizing the configuration of these beasts. In all, completely giving up Windows for Linux is about as compelling as Switching to a Mac...

Re:I am SOOOOO finished with Slashdot

[Anonymous Coward]

Or better yet, in addition to blocking all of the doubleclick.net servers, also block "images.slashdot.org" and "images2.slashdot.org" with your browser or HOSTS files.

freecraft category?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wonder where freecraft fits in... http://www.freecraft.org/

Then again, this might be an only RTS ...

Dynamix is gone...

[Wee]

The reason Tribes2 isn't alive (or even worth a mention) is that Sierra killed (literally) Dynamix right after T2 was released. "Thanks for all the hard work and late nights... Now go home." Of course, Sierra still releases patches for Windows, but with Loki gone as well, the Linux patches lag months behind them (meaning Windows and Linux players can't play on the same servers). Consequently, T2 doesn't have the mod community that Tribes did and so can't depend on that to stay alive.

I was a huge Tribes fan, and waiting for a long time for Tribes2 to come out since it meant that I could finally dump Windows and use Linux for everything. After about a year I realized that wanting to use Linux for everyday gaming use was a pipe dream. I still play Wolfenstein, SimCity, Tribes2 and old ROMs and stuff, but to play PC games these days you either need WineX or a Win32 partition.

-B

Re:Dynamix is gone...

[FuzzyBad-Mofo]

That doesn't match my experience - the Linux versions of the new patches were out within days of the Windows patches.

Re:Dynamix is gone...

[Wee]

That doesn't match my experience - the Linux versions of the new patches were out within days of the Windows patches.

Thanks to a couple ex-Loki guys (Sam Latinga and Mike Philips, most notably) this is often the case. I'm sorry to question your experience, but things weren't always this way. I recall waiting months before finally giving up on Linux T2 (I had purchased both Linux and Win32 copies).

Who's to say that the goodwill which keeps Linux patches coming will continue? If Sam goes on vacation for two weeks while a Win32 patch is released, what will Linux T2 players do? Play only on Linux servers until he gets back, that's what.

-B

Re:Dynamix is gone...

[Muzzarelli]

There was only a brief period a few patches back, where windows servers were updated and the most recent linux client version was unable to connect to them. With the last round of patches you could still play on updated servers when your client wasn't, as the protocol wasn't altered.

Dynamix closing has been as bad for windows as it has for linux.

Re:I thought EVERYONE knew...

[Some Bitch]

Flamebait? Come ON! This was based on my tribulations a few weeks ago trying to get a new NIC to work under RH8 (it's about the only chipset RH don't compile suport for in their kernel)! I had to DL the stock kernel from kernel.org and it still took me 3 days to get a complete compile out of it, something that only when I removed the SCSI support. It was supposed to be amusing ,we've all had similar problems right?

Excellent essay!

[eetu]

The essay was well worth reading. I wonder whether someone could explain why there are no open source page layout applications worth mentioning... Yes, I have heard about Scribus, tried it and would probably use it, too, if it was a GNOME app, but Pagemaker/InDesign/Quark, games and the NHL radio streams (WMA version the Crossover plugin doesn't handle) are the only thing I keep Windows installed on that other partition.

Re:Excellent essay!

[Cid Highwind]

Pagemaker/InDesign/Quark, games and the NHL radio streams (WMA version the Crossover plugin doesn't handle) are the only thing I keep Windows installed on that other partition.

I can't help you with the page layout software, but try the latest version of MPlayer for the WMA streams. It plays every format I throw at it, including WMA 9.

This list is why I keep a Windows box around.

[Wakko Warner]

Take a look at it -- best non-free game, Quake 3 arena? That came out, what, 3 years ago?

The state of gaming on Linux is terrible, and, unfortunately, I don't see it getting better any time soon.

- A.P.

Re:This list is why I keep a Windows box around.

[Afrosheen]

Quake3 is still the best because of mods like Urban Terror and tons of others. It's the engine that counts, not the game itself.

Re:This list is why I keep a Windows box around.

[moosesocks]

Not necessarily. Just take a look at the windows gaming community.

Pretty much the entire Windows gaming community also agree that Quake 3 and CounterStrike are the best multiplayer FPS games (UT 2003 may have taken the lead recently, but it runs on linux as well, so...). They're both 3 years ago (if you count the fact that CS was built on Half-Life, it's over 3 years).

Just because it's old doesn't mean it's bad. Movies such as 'Gone with the Wind' and 'The Sound of Music' have been around for decades, and are still regarded as some of the best movies ever made. LOTR and The Hobbit were written well over 50 years ago, and are still loved today.

Re:This list is why I keep a Windows box around.

[Talinom]

So when the Quake 2 engine was the top of the heap, Diakatana kicked ass?

Re:This list is why I keep a Windows box around.

[Jace of Fuse!]

So you go around playing game engines that have no game content?

I admit, Quake 3 was pretty good. It's a modern classic, even. But gaming moves on. Well, it does for the rest of the world anyway.

Re:This list is why I keep a Windows box around.

[Afrosheen]

You missed the point completely..I guess.

And no, Daikatana never ruled. It sucked from day one. Ask anybody. Ironically enough Mr. Romero is teaching the games class at SMU here in Dallas. I guess you can't do much worse than Daikatana, and about all he's good for at this point is teaching....

IE the right tool? LOL!

[Anonymous Coward]

IE is never the right tool for any job. ;)

Agreed,.

[pecosdave]

what other Linux game is going to force me to set all my graphics options to low, off, and take it easy on the weak system when I have a GeForce 2 Pro and an Athlon 850 with a Gig of Ram? Granted not the most up to date thing around but the original UT , Quake III, Theif II, Armagetron, and all my other 3D games look awesome on it. UT2K3 looks awesome to but only becomes really playable when all the settings are lowered, and I have the latest nVidia drivers.

UT2K3==The new killer ap

Metamoderation Results

[Anonvmous Coward]

Topic of Story: 25 Best Linux Games

Topic of post: Linux's top 25 games.

Moderation Result: -1, Offtopic

Metamoderation Result: -1, Clueless

Doom (and Doom II) is probably the best game ever!

[Chris Croome]

Yeah Doom and Doom II (Doom II was Doom with an double barreled shotgun and new levels) were totally amazing. Some of the architecture of the levels is still more memorable for me than many other, later games.

What is really cool is that since Idsoftware GPL'ed the code (not the levels textures or music but the 3d engine) people have been able to add new things, like mouse aiming and the ability to jump up and down -- check out PrBoom! (I assume almost everyone has a CD somewhere with the Doom wad files on it? or am I just showing my age?!)

Duke Nukem 3D was fab as well but I guess it's now dead because the engine wasn't GPL'ed :-(

Two words

[roystgnr]

I wish another game would come along with the impact that Doom had. It was just SOOOO amazing and nothing has come close since.

Deus Ex

Re:Two words

[soupforare]

=I wish another game would come along with the impact that Doom had. It was just SOOOO amazing and nothing has come close since.=

Deus Ex

Meh, I liked it better when it was called System Shock

Re:Two words

[pozitron]

xbox Halo

Re:Two words

[CryptoKiller]

Damn fucking right! Deus Ex has to be the most intriguing, interesting and deep game I have *ever* played. The storyline is superb, the characters are excellent and the sneak 'em up game play is just to die for.

Deus Ex II will rock my world!

Yeah, man!!

[Wakko Warner]

IMO that's the strength of OSS games: they can evolve continuously rather than being discarded after a year due to marketing demands. Within a decade the best-of-breed in every gaming category will be an OSS game.

Yeah, within a decade, Linux will certainly have the best "xbill" implementation out there!

As for first-person shooters, sims, and, hell, even side-scrollers, allow me to vehemently disagree. Allow me to propose an alternate future scenario:

The commercial gaming sphere is where all the research and development money is and where all the cutting-edge games will continue to be produced; OSS will continue in its proud tradition of blatantly co-opting and copying everything the commercial game industry does. People will continue to purchase, play, and enjoy commercial offerings and the Linux Game Tome will still have trouble finding 24 Linux games to award "Happy Penguins" to.

Your pie-in-the-sky OSS fantasy is nice to think about, but, back in what I like to call "reality", things are a little different.

- A.P.

Re:Yeah, man!!

[Afrosheen]

Let me bring something to light. Cutting-edge games are rarely made from big commercial software houses. It may have been true in the past but it's fading.

The problem: lack of innovation. How many first person shooters and mmorpg's do we need? The reason is that the cost of development has risen so sharply, that to recoup the cost of working on games, game houses have to make a sure fire hit. It's not an option to make a flop like Daikatana that 1. brings nothing new to the genre, 2. comes out late, and 3. sucks ass beyond compare. You have to make sure your game will sell.

In this scenario, companies will NOT venture into some new area or create a new paradigm of gaming. You'll get another FPS. You'll get another Quake, another Soldier of Fortune, another Civilization. Why? Because these are sure things. Not to go off on a tangent, but this type of thing has been ruling the music world in America and other countries for the last decade or so. You'll get nothing but more Britney Spears and other disposable stars because the cost of entry is so high, the industry bets on the easy winner. What sold yesterday? Package it up with a new paint job and sell it tomorrow.

No, friend, unfortunately the big game houses won't bring you the hidden nuggets of gaming goodness, unless another Quake or running-through-dungeons-swinging-swords is what you're after. Not to say these are bad things, but games like Uplink (fun and revolutionary) would have never rolled out the doors or made it through a proposal at Valve or Sierra or Activision or (fill in the blank). There are lots of games out there you've never imagined before, and you're missing out because your only source of amusement comes from the shelf at Best Buy.

doom was shareware

[IndependentVik]

Shareware != free

That aside, maybe this is what Linux needs, a great native (no win32 version) game where the first few levels are free, but you'd have to pay to play the rest of it. Of course, we'd have to hope pirates wouldn't ruin the system for everybody.

Uplink?

[orim]

IMO, decent engine, but repetitive. What it's missing is a bigger story line, something that will suck you in. As it is, I don't feel one bit threatened as I hack all these powerful corporations.

And they also have ... what, maybe 10 unique missions?
It's a good start, but they better hire some good writers...
What do you think?

You will be waiting a long time.

[RatBastard]

I wish another game would come along with the impact that Doom had.

I'm afraid that you will be waiting a long time. It's not even the gaming industry's fault on this one. Games like DOOM (or whatever your first quality game of any genre is) are like your first love: you never quite recapture the feeling of that very first (insert first sexual encounter here).

DOOM did a good enough job at faking 3D that when we got real 3D it wasn't that big of a deal. And now that we have 3D, what's left? Better graphics. And one day, maybe, passable AI.

The closest I've gotten to recapturing the feelings I had when playing DOOM have been with Half-Life and Halo. But neither of these games made me stare into my monitor at an odd angle trying to see around the corner, and they only made me jump out of my chair about three times each.

Re:You will be waiting a long time.

[hpulley]

Doom wasn't the first game I played much of. I'm older than that!

None of the arcade games I played have left that kind of impact. "Warrior Needs Food" from Gauntlet leaves some sort of comical impression but other than dropping bags of quarters into Street Fighter to get all the way to the end with my friend (only way to win as one player could curl up into a ball and hide while the other one fed more quarters to come back to life) before kicking his ass. Dumping quarters was most of my impression of arcade games once they invented the "" function.

None of the 2600 games or Nintendo games did either. Who gets that excited over Donkey Kong or Super Mario (same old rehash still being sold today with more whizz-bang graphics and sound).

An old TI-994A game I played called Parsec (space game, sort of a cheesy Defender ripoff, nothing like the Parsec multi-server game mentioned elsewhere on /.) was a lot of fun. I once played for about 9 hours straight before I got bored waiting for the secret level (was supposed to be at level twenty but just kept getting faster and faster, yawn).

None of those arcade or console games ever made me AFRAID, or got me into a game like Doom did. I admit it, Doom was a dumb shooter, kill, kill, kill, but it was the first one of that type after Castle Wolfenstein and it was the first to have the atmosphere to pull off a game with so little premise other than "you are dropped off on a planet, all your men are dead, go get 'em." The music, the graphics with the textured walls and advanced lighting, the simple to render (ie. fast) 3D view, the physics of it all, combined to create an atmosphere which was new and unique.

The best thing since has been System Shock I and II. Better story, plot and puzzles than Half-life (came out before Half-life), good gameplay. Probably best game ever IMO but really just an extension of Doom so I don't consider System Shock to be as ground breaking as Doom. I have the soundtrack to System Shocks I and II on my Creative Nomad Jukebox and I still get chills down my spine listening to some of the level music. How many games can do that? (Anyone know where I can get MP3s for the Doom soundtracks?)

Will I wait a long time? Forever? Perhaps, but not because Doom is the first game I fell in love with. Because it was great and innovative and it seems like there is little room for an independent, innovative game anymore in the industry.

Gamelist

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's list of commercial qaulity linux games, some free some not.

This List is somewhat outdated as there's only 249 on it, but a good source of info.

BTW, nice first post of that troll. Too bad, all the other guys aren't marked as redundant yet.

Re:I thought EVERYONE knew...

[Corporate Troll]

Actually... No. I have to admit that my first kernel compile went wrong, but it didn't take more than an evening figuring out what to do. I even learned a lot that evening.

Anyways, instead of buying just the first NIC that comes around, inform yourself a bit what will run on Linux and buy *that*. That philosophy works very well.
Of course if you are migrating an existing machine to Linux, you're out of luck with that philosophy, but that's not what you said.

Re:I thought EVERYONE knew...

[Some Bitch]

Anyways, instead of buying just the first NIC that comes around, inform yourself a bit what will run on Linux and buy *that*. That philosophy works very well. It had linux drivers with it (unnecessary as they're part of the kernel now) and was a good price :)

I have to agree with you about learning a lot though. It was a necessary learning experience and (as I said) one most of us have been through. Seems not everyone took as long as me to learn though :(

Re:Doom (and Doom II) is probably the best game ev

[ianezz]

Duke Nukem 3D was fab as well but I guess it's now dead because the engine wasn't GPL'ed :-(

Well, the Build Engine on which Duke Nukem 3D is based is (to some degree) open source, and has been ported to Windows and Linux, but apparently it isn't in a great shape...

Slashdot sunk linuxgametome!

[AnonymousCowheard]

(playing french horn)*(people crying)

We stand here today to honor our delightful and late fellow soldier. 'Served diligently as a game hosting and conversation area, worked well with others, was a sanctuary for trolls by employing the honest efforts of NilFilter and Bobz, and held no malice or vice toward its fellow brethren. Our hearts went with linuxgametome as it sank, yet our hearts aren't as heavy and we must rise above and fill the emptyness (...echoing...) linuxgametome had left. Netcraft confirms, linuxgametome has been bumped off the spectrum and we will soarly miss...

(HALEIJLUIA! HALEIJLUIA!)

It's alive! Don't cut the cable yet! linuxgametome's nodes are perculating through! Praise the lord! It's alive! DON'T CUT THE CORD! NOOOO!!

(french horn again)*(people crying louder)

We stand here today, with even heavier hearts: the linuxgametome awakened by the grace of God, and we were not able to save it in time from our own ignorance of it being in a suspended mode of operationg. The flags we fly have been lowered below half-staff; our efforts proved futile and we hold ourselves responsible for linuxgametome's drowning death. We weren't patient with linuxgametome, we hurried to its preparation for burial without checking for a pulse; it's out of our hands now and may god forgive us for our sin.

(BANG*21 salute)*(birds falling)

Soundtracks...

[hpulley]

BTW, I meant, does anyone know where I can find them recorded on a Gravis with standard instrument patch set? Or do I have to put the old card in the box and make 'em myself?

Unless . . .

[Idou]

"It just doesn't make since to use a screwdriver to pound in a nail."

I pound in nails just to blow off some time and hammers cost a freaking $100, easily break, and might be sending my personal information to God knows where. Then a screwdriver will do just fine for all tasks. Of course, this would make more sense if we were talking about two different types of hammers . . .

But, anyway, I never really gamed much UNTIL I switched to Linux. Bzflag and netrek were great addictive games. There is xmame and hundreds of "waste some time" games. True gamers might scoff at such casual gaming, but I really would have trouble caring.

The above is just MY opinion, not a proposed religion . . .

Vendetta!

[RomikQ]

I am suprised that this list doesn't have Vendetta on it. Even though still in beta stage, the game is very very very enjoyable and has amazingly beautiful graphics and great linux support. Granted, it's not Open Source, but roughly half the players use it under linux.

Plus, it is a great experience to play with the developers and take a real part in the development of the game.

Re:Vendetta!

[grytpype]

I just checked out Vendetta, and I agree it kicks ass.

Win the easy way at Mines

[steveha]

I did this the first time I played the GNOME Mines game. The grid was something like 100x100, with one mine. My score was "NaN"! I laughed out loud.

"NaN" is, I presume, short for "Not a Number", which is the result you get in floating-point math when you do something bad like dividing by zero. I think your score in GNOME Mines is divided by your time, so that if you take a long time to solve it, you are penalized. Since I had effectively solved the game in zero time, my score had a divide by zero error. Then GNOME Mines printed the result, and the library came up with the string "NaN" to represent the error.

I just tried it again with the current GNOME Mines. Instead of NaN, my score was 0.0. Bummer.

steveha

Re:Win the easy way at Mines

[jcast]

Try it again. In seven tries, I got four nans and three 0s.

Yes and No.

[AnonymousCowheard]

What software are you speaking of?

Most developers build their own libraries (toolkits) and this difuses compatibility problems on different or flavored operating systems. It is a matter of developers engineering their libraries on a new platform. Microsoft knows this, yet they also know that all consumers are comfortable with Microsoft software and wouldn't want to buy anything that in-the-least appears and acts foreign to them. I remeber when people first bought Windows2000; haha, no Win98 users liked it, nor the cost of it, and they promptly returned Windows2000 to their origin of purchase for a voluntary refund or limited store credit.

The Opensource world has many libraries that have been MASTERED by developers to serve their own purpose. The many companies that are tied into Microsoft operating systems have chosen to refrain from implementations of their software on linux because:
1) They still think they will receive 100% profits from Microsoft's 78% market share
2) Another operating system means another book of compatibility problems
3) Technical support personel may need expensive (time-wise) retraining
4) They received FUD from other organizations (cough*Microsoft*cough) and disagree with any expressed or implied first or second-hand information about the GPL or LGPL, and WERE CONVINCED THEY CAN'T USE THEIR OWN LICENSE (FUD from liars)

Do you expect competitors, holding a monopoly, would provide TRUTHFUL and COMPLETE testimony outside of a courtroom? We hear nothing but RUMORS OF **** passed on to customers! Perhaps they are rumors because nobody can be held accountable for their "rumor" they spread.

"I heard Linux can't *scale* well and doesn't have many *applications* that are easy-to-use."

"Linux is for professionals. I just need somthing to browse the internet and read my eMail."

"Ignore the man behind the curtain... I AM OZ, GREAT AND POWERFUL!"

When we hear rumors, be sure to get the name of the person that spread it first; we like making desktop-calendards of the stupidest things ever said in-three-sentances-or-less.

They don't suck

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't like BZFlag because I can't get used to it. Maybe if it had an "easy-for-crying-babies" setting... *sigh*

Tuxracer, of course, is too simple... but that is its virtue: my little daughter loves it, because she can grasp it.

And Nethack is most portable game:15+ years old!

[Anonymous Coward]

What's your point?

Return To Castle Wolfenstein is one of the highest selling games of the year and it is just the Quake3 engine with new+more detailed pictures, more complex maps, and a little slower gameplay.

Quake3 is the #1 game because there are many fun game modifications and expansions that use it and are freely available. Quake2 is the same way; ID makes verry scalable games. You would think Quake1 would be long-forgotten, but then you go see the fun at Tenebrae and Dark Places and now you want to run over to EBGames/Babbages/Fry's/Target/{K|Wal}Mart/Yahoo_Au ctions/eBay to buy a new or used Quake1 CDROM.

Quake3 deserves the recognition as #1, but I think the next Good Thing(TM) will be from http://icculus.org

Liquid War

[philovivero]

I'll vote for that. I'm sure most of the readers haven't heard of Liquid War. It's a 2D realtime strategy game that is so incredibly simple in concept (probably took a long week to code up and get working) but very, very fun.

Unfortunately, the game's strategy is closer to Go than Chess, so the computer is a pretty lame player.

But fear not! Liquid War has network play! So you can try your hand against other human players, if you can find anyone who's heard of it and is therefore willing to play against you.

Anyone in the Sacramento greater metro area, goto my homepage, find my email, and email me. We'll do a Liquidwar LAN party.

Re:I thought EVERYONE knew...

[Corporate Troll]

It had linux drivers with it (unnecessary as they're part of the kernel now) and was a good price :)

Wouldn't happen to be Realtek RTL8139(A)? I bought some of those real cheap and they came with Linux drivers. Never used them though, since the box that got the NIC was an OpenBSD machine and it supported it out of the box.
I heard they were really crappy cards, but that's what I heard.

Hey!

[Angry Black Man]

That's why Linux is such a great gaming platform when compared to Windows

Re:Hey!

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux is great because it has 25 games?

Linux isn't also the repression of millions of white men?

I'm confoosed...

Here's the deal.

[Karn]

In order for a company to port their games, there has to be an audience.
In order for there to be an audience, people have to game under Linux.
By not gaming under Linux now, you are casting your vote to never have games under Linux.

Developers aren't just going to up and port their titles because they like Tux or something (well, besides Id).. They will port when they feel that enough people will buy their game for Linux if they go through the trouble to port it.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Granted, you may not care if you're part of the problem, and that of course is too bad for Linux gamers.

And you're wrong about it getting better.. It IS getting better. Games like Doom 3 and Ut2k3 are running under Linux - those engines are used for future games. (Quake 3 engine was used for many games, as will the Doom 3 engine.) Once developers see a reasonable profit to be made by porting their already portable game to Linux (due to the cross platform nature of Doom 3 or Ut2k3), it will be an easy decision for them to make.

Serious Linux gaming won't happen quickly (and people like you and other Linux advocates who hate Microsoft but love gaming under Windows even more will see to this), but it is happening.

Re:I thought EVERYONE knew...

[Some Bitch]

Myson MTDxxx, real cheap and (for serious use) probably utter crap but for connecting my housemate's P200 to my linux box it's more than fine :). Now I've got it working anyway lol.

Oh, great!

[dolson]

So now we have to give awards to non-existant games, just to make it look like we have over 25!

Fan frickin' tastic!

Well...

[dolson]

It IS getting better, contrary to popular belief.

I mean, look at the recent announcements, most of which were Slashdot headlines: Disciples 2, Bandits, Ballistics, Serious Sam 1 and 2, America's Army, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and Medal of Honor: Spearhead... That nearly doubles the number of games we already have.

Dreamweaver!

[ssstraub]

Yes Yes YES!! Go Dreamweaver go!

I can't BELIEVE that ANYONE uses frontpage!
That "trainwreck of a program" is exactly what FP is.

If you are creating web content in FP, that tells me a lot about how well you know what you're doing...

It will be a long time before I drop UT.

[algernon7]

I started with the shareware quake cd (a friend bought it for the Trent Reznor soundtrack, and mentioned there was supposed to be a game on the cd too) and have played the sequels and many mods, such as Team fortress, Painkeep, Rocket Arena, etc...

Urban Terror is without a doubt the best mod I have played so far. There was an ad for Syphon Filter a while ago that showed a guy superimposing the sniper scope and other items from the game on his real life activities, with the catch phrase 'it stays with you'. Urban Terror has been like for me - if you come around the corner and surprise me at work, you will (in some alternate reality linked to this one only by my imagination) be carried off in a body bag, thanks to my trusty Desert Eagle.

I've never been into guns and I don't hunt, but the models are so realistic that I often recognize them in movies. It freaks my wife out every time I yell 'he's got the G36' when we're watching Rosanne or whatever...

If they can nail down the same teamwork feel of the fortess mods, it will be very hard to beat. With the beta 3 release I think they are working on adding new game modes, which should add quite a bit to the mod.

The sad thing is, with all the hours I've logged in FPS online gameplay, you think I'd suck a little bit less...

What I plan to do about gaming on Linux..

[pair-a-noyd]

I will run the few Linux games I have, on the rare occassion that the urge strikes me. And after watching my son play some seriously cool looking games on his PS2 that when he moves away this summer for college, his PS2 STAYS WITH ME...

I'll take good care of it for him..

(I still refuse to use M$ but I do want an X-Box *JUST* to hack it and run Linux on it. I'll have it spam M$ with anti M$ hate mail on a cron job.
Dear Bill, you still suck but I really am enjoying my Linux on YOUR Xbox!! Thanks for a CHEAP computer!)

Re:What I plan to do about gaming on Linux..

[Anonymous Coward]

how old are you?

Liquid Wars, "truly original"?

[po8]

The Liquid War folks claim their game is "truly original". Isn't it pretty much directly taken from the much-older XBattle, but with the units scaled down? Or am I missing something?

GIving Equal Time To Linux

[f0rt0r]

Hear! Hear! I agree. I have seen too many posts that describe Linux as "hard to learn", "foreign", etc. Being a bit old, I went through the whole DOS 3.0 - Windows XP during my career ( about 14 years ), but I am getting close to being a "medium" skill level Linux user after only 5 months of using it as my main OS at home! I still look to get to 'Advanced' and maybe 'Expert' this year, but I don't think I will ever qualify for 'Guru' as my focus is Java Programming and not Linux administration.

O.K. I took the long way to get to the point. Remember how long it took you to become familiar with MS Windows? Did your parents show it to you? Did you use it in Junior/High School? Yep, it didn't seem so easy to use back then, eh? Well, give Linux the same amount of time and effort. It may seem hard because no one else you know may use it, include work/school/home, but if you get some good training books or find a someone local to teach you, it will become easy to use in an amazing short period of time. As far as the "hack" type stuff like getting Windows programs to run under Linux (heresy, I tell you! ), that is much harder,and it is also one of the reasons I haven't reached "medium" skill level yet.

Good luck on the road to Linuxdom. It isn't OZ, but it's as close as we can get to it in the real world. Oh, and I am still waiting for a Linux client forNeverwinter nights...which kept me from sleeping the week before it's tentative release date!

Fortezza
Sig Challenged.

gcc

[Anonymous Coward]

personally, gcc is the best linux game

Doom soundtracks

[some guy I know]

Anyone know where I can get MP3s for the Doom soundtracks?

You can get midis and MP2s here.
(The links in the "Level" column take you to the MP2 files at 3ddownloads.)
The blurb at the top of the page tells how you can also buy a CD of the music.

They should have included...

[Vulture_]

Vega Strike!