Give Linux Games a Spin

[CorvusE]

Give Linux Games a Spin

A Fedora 8 Games Spin DVD has been released. Packed with over one hundred games, this Live DVD is completely playable without installing anything on your system. That makes it the perfect way to see how Linux runs on your system and experience all the best Linux gaming has to offer.

The disk includes terminal games such as Rogue and Nethack, including the Vultures graphical front-end for Nethack. But if you think Linux gaming ends there, you'd be wrong. The Games Spin DVD also includes classic game and game remakes such as the adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky and the popular Civilization clone, Freeciv. Add popular open source 3D games like Quake 3 Arena, Scorched 3D, Armacycles Advanced and Open Arena and you'll start to get a taste of what's been happening with Linux gaming over the years.

The Live DVD is installable to hard disk or Flash drive and includes many educational and casual games as well. More information and download links can be found on the Games Spin wiki [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/SIGs/Games/GamesLive].

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[J.theYellow]

So far I don't see anything in that list except desperation. I don't doubt Fedora is a great computing platform, but that's not enough to make me consider it a serious gaming platform, even if it is all for free.

 

[bonaparte]

The Games Spin DVD also includes classic game and game remakes such as Lucas Art's adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky[/em]

Beneath a Steel Sky was develeoped by Revolution software (the same guys behind the broken sword games) and published by Virgin Interactive. Lucasarts had nothing to do with it. See <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_a_Steel_Sky>here.

 

[Bongo Bill]

Some of these are really quite good. The Ur-Quan Masters is possibly the best game ever, and they're adding that one. Freeciv is very impressive. While Linux gaming tends to be sorely lacking in single-player first-person shooters, the selection of multiplayer ones is wide enough that all you need is an opponent... which, of course, may be their greatest weakness. Some of the other projects, I'm not certain if they're quite up to snuff now, but the way open source projects tend to go on improving, this could be a very solid collection if they keep releasing new versions as the projects go on.

Wonder if they've got UFO: Alien Invasion [http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/] in the collection; I can't navigate their site very well.

 

[Katana314]

I actually had this idea of a live CD/DVD to play games, although initially the thought had little to do with Linux. It could give more of the ease of use to PC gaming that consoles have long enjoyed.

 

[CorvusE]

Beneath a Steel Sky was develeoped by Revolution software (the same guys behind the broken sword games) and published by Virgin Interactive. Lucasarts had nothing to do with it. See <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beneath_a_Steel_Sky>here.

Oops. Should have fact checked that detail, eh? Thanks, bonaparte!

 

[Andy Chalk]

Here's what I've never really understood about Linux: Why? Seriously, what's the point? Here we have what is apparently a major piece of Linux gaming news, and it offers a Civ clone, a couple of Rogue-likes (one with a graphical front end!), Scorched 3D and a few others nobody has ever heard of or cares about. The only thing approaching a major game release is Quake 3, and even there... who cares?

So from a gaming perspective, what's the motivation for anyone to change from Windows to Linux? I'm no kind of MS pimp, but I don't see how anyone seriously interested in gaming could run anything but Windows as primary OS. "Bill Gates is too rich" isn't enough of a reason to shun Microsoft, so pragmatically, what's in it for me?

 

[CorvusE]

I don't think this is a major piece of Linux gaming news, just an interesting piece of gaming news from Fedora. The fact that Unreal Tournament 3 will have a Linux client is a major piece of gaming news and you can be sure I'll post about that when there's something concrete to say about it.

I run Linux as my primary OS because it's more stable, I enjoy the interface more (I use KDE) and it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. I don't run it because of the games available on it, although there are several I enjoy. For gaming I first turn to my Wii and Xbox 360. When I have to play a game on my PC, I try to run it under WINE (my entire World of Warcraft experience was under Linux, by the way) and if that doesn't work and I really care about it... I switch over to a Windows partition that I grudgingly keep around for just that purpose.

The motivation to run Linux has nothing to do with Bill Gates and his money. It has everything to do with restrictive licensing, a desire for individual control over the functioning of a tool I use daily and a refusal to become trapped in a network of expensive proprietary software. Cost is a factor, yes. Gate's personal wealth, not so much.

Now... are you saying I'm not serious about games?

 

[Bongo Bill]

Games on Linux exist because, by and large, the open source projects that get a lot of attention are the ones that people are interested in working on, and there are many people who want to make games. As long as there are people like me, who enjoy playing the kind of games that programmers enjoy making, then they'll have all the audience they ever wanted and more, and we'll have more free (in every sense of the word) games than we ever thought possible.

So they're not blockbusters. That's fine! If every game were a(n?) AAA title with a monster budget and all the bells and whistles, it'd be fairly monotonous. Open source gaming really tends to produce titles that might not get made commercially, and I'm glad of it. And with a project to which anyone can contribute, forever, you can't beat the long-term value.

So yeah, I'd say there's a place for Linux gaming.

 

[CorvusE]

Preach it, Bongo Bill!