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The State of Linux Gaming

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the games-people-play dept.

Srikant_Chaudhry writes "CTZ has an interesting article that talks about hardware and software problems, along with others, that is limiting Linux gaming as a whole. Here's a quote from their concluding paragraph: "As of this moment, gaming on Linux is still a little like the Wild West. It's somewhat chaotic, random and empty, but it can be very exciting too. As time progresses and the market matures, we will see a plethora of games on Linux. Right now, many distributions are concentrating on other materials, like making their distributions easy to use, and making sure they work well with all the different hardware. Once the Linux desktop has stabilized to a certain extent, you can expect to see developers turn their energies to better gaming support under Linux. That's when the Linux gaming market will really take off."

16 of 540 comments (clear)

  1. I'm willing to change by October_30th · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Give me tactical shooters like Operation Flashpoint, Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six and I'll get rid of Windows on my home computer.

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    The owls are not what they seem
    1. Re:I'm willing to change by Second_Infinity · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Agreed. Gaming is the only thing that's holding me to a Microsoft product. All the other applications I use have exact (or better) linux/unix counterparts, and they're all freeware.

      The article may be poorly done as some have stated, and it may be something that's posted about once a year, but it's still good to have a recent update of status.

      If the video card manufacturers would really start supporting linux drivers, maybe that would change the face of linux gaming. Until then, we're stuck with tuxracer and sub-par video gaming quality.

    2. Re:I'm willing to change by October_30th · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Are those 3rd person shooters?

      Yes and no.

      Yes, if you mean that they're (most of the time) played from the perspective of the game character.

      No, if you mean that they're like Doom/Quake/Halo where you run alone through a hail of bullets mostly unscathed (and then go looking for a "health package").

      There's plenty of tactical thinking involved since in all three games control several other characters (up to 12 persons in Operation Flashpoint) at the same time. Setting your troops up for an attack or at defensive positions is great fun AND you get participate in the shoot-out as well (if you like). You can also create your own campaigns and scenarios and trade them with other players.

      I was a text game addict back in the C64 days, I still am a turn-based strategy game buff and now I thoroughly enjoy tactical shooters, too. Don't just a game simply because it looks like a routine 3rd person shooter.

      As far as console versions of these games go, they are invariably watered down: less tactics, more action and usually graphics suffer too.

      --
      The owls are not what they seem
  2. Another state of games article? by tod_miller · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well while we are here - I think it has been shown to stem from a) drivers b) opengl only c) user base and portability vis-a-vis drivers and opengl only.

    Microsoft owns about 60% of opengl. :-(

    In good news, flash games and java games all fly like shit out of a teflon coated colon. Which is kinda cool.

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    #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
  3. Software Like Cedega I get 75% working. by BrianHursey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Well already I have about 75% of my windows games working with transgaiming cedega. But I do not see many more game developers moving over to a Linux native option. They see it costing them to much money because most of them use the directx platform. Although I here Microsoft doesn't support direct play any more. But I doubt this will discourage them.

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    Linux is like a teepee. It has no windows, no gates, and there's an Apache inside.
  4. I can't agree with the statement... by cnelzie · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...that once the Linux desktop is easier to use that LInux Gaming will 'take off'.

    PC gaming 'Took Off' without PCs being easy/simple to use devices. Just remember back to the days of DOS with games like the original Wing Commander, not necesarily very easy to get running, when compared with installing and getting modern games to run under Windows.

    Linux gaming shouldn't be an afterthought, it should be a current thought, going along with the development of an easy to use desktop operating system.

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    If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
  5. Linux gaming rather is like the South Sole by rudi_v · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "It's somewhat chaotic, random and empty, but it can be very exciting too."

    Yes, and there will be no more life in 100 years than there is now.

    Linux gaming lacks 'critical mass', required for justifying the huge game development investments. And I don't see how it could acquire the critical mass, some great independent developers don't count compared to the Nintendo's, Sony's et al of this world.

  6. Plenty of small free games by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There's

    Project Starfighter

    Blob Wars

    Virus Killer

    Give them a try. After all, they're completely free.

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    Summation 2
  7. My favorite Linux games just for the record. by pecosdave · · Score: 2, Interesting

    UT2004 (and the older UTs also)

    The Battle for Wesnoth very good freebie.

    These are the ones I'm focusing on right now. I've played lots of others. Quake III, Frozen Bubble, I saw someone complain about lack of tacticle shooters, I did have Soldier of fortune. Now that Loki is gone ports don't happen quite as often, but they do still happen. Right now Blizzard is probably the biggest gaping hole in the Linux game library.

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    The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
  8. LiveGames by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I remember when lots of "Windows" games just booted into DOS, for performance and stability. That's when Windows gaming really started to take off. Linux is so much more flexible, the OS is freely available and hackable by any game developer, and "LiveCD" and other subinstance techniques are now widespread. Why wait for the Linux desktop to stabilize? Why not just take a lesson from "Windows" gaming, and develop Linux games embedded in a complete, bootable Linux image? The increased use by demanding users (without developer fetish for touching the bleeding edge tech) will instead pressure the Linux desktop to stabilize. It worked before, on Windows, and such "bootable Linux games" can even be run on a "Windows" box, helping convert them to the Light Side.

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    make install -not war

  9. Let's pick on the Linux community today! by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 5, Interesting
    GAME PROGRAMMER: How about we do a version for Linux?

    GAME COMPANY CEO: That's that OS used by those people who are rabid about not paying for anything involving software, right?

    GP: Yeah.

    GCC: Get back to work, dumbass, or I'll cut your balls off.

    Hey! I tease!

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    --- Ban humanity.
    1. Re:Let's pick on the Linux community today! by RupW · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That's probably not far off. The problems are, AFAICS,

      1. support burden; you're fighting a huge number of distros, half-assed drivers from companies who don't really care about Linux, and so on
      (related: QA burden: double the testing!)
      2. cost of port in the first place
      3. less of a framework to implement copy protection; it's even easier to drop stuff into the kernel, libs, etc. to fake it
      4. commercial demand; OK, chicken and egg, but it's basically negligable right now

      I think support is the real killer: even if evangelist programmers will do the port in their spare time, you can't try and sell a Linux version in small quantities unless you're willing to invest in supporting it - and who's going to buy a game if they can't expect support?

  10. Hmm by Azureflare · · Score: 2, Interesting
    What blizzard game doesn't run in linux?

    Oh.. Diablo 1 doesn't play, I don't think... But Diablo 2 and the expansion, StarCraft + Expansion, World of Warcraft, warcraft 2 (dunno about the expansion for that), Warcraft 3 + expansion... They all work. I know, because I play them in linux with cedega.

    I wouldn't consider that a "gaping hole."

  11. Introversion by Smiffa2001 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Introversion Software http://www.introversion.co.uk/ are performing small miracles. Uplink was great, and Darwinia looks to be fantastic.

    Best of all, they're available (at least Darwinia very soon after Win/Mac release) for Linux. If you've not seen em, go on over and take a look. If anything, it's people like Chris Delay and the rest of Introversion that might just be Linux gaming's "future".

  12. we might not get good commercial games but... by vivehosting · · Score: 3, Interesting

    it doesn't mean Linux won't continue to see a few good games. Wildfire Games are developing a 3D real-time strategy game, 0AD. Just like we enjoy free/open source software applications such as openoffice and the mozilla suite, there will be free games worth playing. America's Army has a large fanbase, 0AD most likely will have one when released, more will come :).

  13. Is it just me... by dafragsta · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... or is everyone ignoring the fact that the icon for games or linux games (not sure which) is a MICROSOFT Sidewinder joystick? It seems oddly out of place.