Linux gaming

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Linux gaming refers to playing or developing video games for Linux operating systems.

1 Open source games
- 1.1 Clones and remakes
2 Commercial games
3 Emulation and compatibility layers
4 Game development
- 4.1 Gaming Linux Distros
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
- 7.1 Distros

[edit] Open source games

Free Software Portal

Vega Strike, a space flight simulation.

Nexuiz, a first-person shooter.

A few original open source games have obtained notability:

AssaultCube is a first-person shooter
Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy game
CodeRED: Alien Arena is a sci-fi first-person shooter derived from the Quake II engine
Glest is a real-time strategy game, with optional multiplayer
NetHack and Angband are text-based computer role-playing games
Nexuiz is a first-person shooter
OpenArena is a standalone Quake III Arena game
Sauerbraten is a 3D first-person shooter with an integrated map editing mode
Tremulous is a 3D first-person shooter/real-time strategy game
Tux Racer is a 3D racing game featuring Tux
Vega Strike is a space flight simulation
War§ow is a Quake-like, fast-paced first-person shooter

[edit] Clones and remakes

There are a larger number of open source clones and remakes of classic games:

FreeCiv is a remake of Civilization II
OpenTTD is a remake of Transport Tycoon Deluxe
Frozen Bubble is an adaptation of Puzzle Bobble
Scorched 3D is a 3D adaptation of Scorched Earth
Ur-Quan Masters is based on the original source code for Star Control II
Homeworld SDL is based on the original source code for Homeworld
StepMania is a remake of Dance Dance Revolution
Frets on Fire is a remake of Guitar Hero (video game)
Crack Attack! is inspired by Tetris Attack
Various remakes of Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and Quake are based on the engines for these games
Two different remakes of Wing Commander: Privateer are based on the Vega Strike engine
Spring^[1] originally is a remake of Total Annihilation, but actually is a platform for real time strategy games

[edit] Commercial games

In some cases, developers have released Linux versions of their games directly. id Software together with Raven Software ported Doom 3, the Quake series, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars; Bioware released Neverwinter Nights; Epic Games released Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 and they will port Unreal Tournament 3; Croteam released the Serious Sam series; Introversion released Darwinia, Uplink, and DEFCON. Frictional Games released Linux version of both Penumbra: Black Plague and Penumbra: Overture. S2games released a Linux client of their title Savage 2 soon after it's launch. EVE Online is also available for Linux. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness was designed cross-platform from the start of development, including a linux version.

More commonly, an independent company has taken on the task of porting prominent Windows games to Linux. Loki Software was the first such company, and between 1998 and 2002 ported Descent³, Heretic II, Heroes of Might and Magic III, Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns, Myth II: Soulblighter, Railroad Tycoon II, Rune, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Sim City 3000, Tribes II, and Unreal Tournament. Linux Game Publishing was founded in 2001 in response to the impending demise of Loki, and has brought Cold War, Postal², and X²: The Threat to Linux. icculus.org [1] has ported Aliens versus Predator, Duke Nukem 3D, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and Rise of the Triad.

[edit] Emulation and compatibility layers

There are also APIs, virtual machines, and machine emulators that provide binary compatibility:

Wine, as well as the commercial/proprietary forks CrossOver and Cedega offer compatibility layers for Windows games;
PlayOnLinux is a front-end for Wine;
FCE Ultra and TuxNES for the Nintendo Entertainment System;
Snes9x and ZSNES for the Super Nintendo;
ePSXe and PCSX for the Playstation;
Mupen64 for the Nintendo 64;
gnuboy for the Nintendo Game Boy and GameBoy Color;
VisualBoy Advance for the GameBoy Advance;
ScummVM for LucasArts and various other adventure games;
DOSBox and DOSEMU for MS DOS;
UAE for the Amiga;
Basilisk II for the 68040 Macintosh;
Frotz for Z-Machine text adventures;

[edit] Game development

As far as development is concerned, library support for Linux gaming is provided by OpenGL, ALSA, OpenAL and SDL, a cross-platform multimedia wrapper around system-dependent libraries. The DRI project provides open source video card drivers, and NVIDIA and ATI also release binary kernel modules for their video cards. Linux also runs on several game consoles, including the Xbox,^[2] PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and GameCube,^[3] which allows game developers without an expensive game development kit to access console hardware.

[edit] Gaming Linux Distros

http://live.linux-gamers.net/ Linux gamers Is a Live-DVD game oriented Linux distribution, that offers limited, if not at all general usage. It's made as a live-DVD distribution only and doesn't contain an installer on the DVD. http://ultimateedition.info/Ultimate_Edition_1.8/ Ubuntu Ultimate Edition gamer's edition is a Ubuntu based distribution that has included many Linux games by default unlike Linux-gamers it is not meant as a live-dvd portable environment, and so it doesn't have some specialized driver installation