[kwlug disc.] [Fwd: Mandriva Linux Community Newsletter - Issue # 125]

[Joe]

Insurance Squared Inc. wrote:
> Hey now...a gaming version of linux?  Anyone have any thoughts, 
> comments, or experience on this?  I bought a copy of Halo last year 
> and have been enjoying it despite having to reboot  all the time (I'm 
> not a real gamer, so that's as far as I've gone).  I wonder if it 
> might not be worth my while to throw a copy of this mandriva cut on a 
> spare pc just for giggles.  Or maybe even upgrade my desktop install.
It appears most of those games are Open Source and can be loaded up 
natively on whatever distro you're currently using. If you're looking 
for a quick way to get them all setup than it appears that distro has 
everything already to go for you. I guess that's the main benefit is 
it's all optimized and ready to go.

If you're looking for a way to run halo and other windows games on linux 
there's a proprietary wine implementation that focuses on direct X for 
gaming called Cedega: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedega

Since you're not 'a real gamer' wine or Cedega might suffice and save 
you from having to reboot. If you're competitive you're going to want to 
make sure the game you're playing has a native build for whichever OS 
you intend to run it on for improved performance and stability. 
Fortunately most vendors are porting to more platforms.

In my oponion the best (and most underrated) game that runs natively on 
linux I've ever played is:
Savage: The Battle For Newerth - http://www.s2games.com/savage/

Some other examples of great native linux games are:
Tribes 2 - http://www.lokigames.com/products/tribes2/
All of ID Softwares Quake/Doom Games - http://www.idsoftware.com/
Wolfenstein Enemy Territory: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein:_Enemy_Territory
Serious Sam 1 & 2 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_Sam
Rune - http://www.runegame.com/