People always say that Linux isn’t for playing video games. I agree only because gaming companies have problems with providing games on Linux. Despite that fact, gaming on the Linux platform is getting better!
One factor that’s been helping bringing games to Linux is the famous Humble Indie Bundle packs. It started beck in May 2010 and it’s still on going. Providing a set of games and giving the buyer the decision to pay the amount of his choice sure was a success; they got $1.8 million in 10 days of Humble Indie Bundle pack #2 sales!
Another reason is Ubuntu’s Software Center. It has the feature that gaming companies’ desire, a paid section. With that being available, more companies are considering providing their games on the Linux platform. Some have already got there’s in: Brukkon, Vendetta Online, and World of Goo are examples.
I’m guessing that people liked having native games on Linux, so one guy took a step forward on twitter and asked Rovio to provide a native Angry Birds game for Ubuntu though Ubuntu Software Center – seeing that it supports paid apps. Surprisingly, they’ve given a positive feedback saying that they’d be looking into it. So Angry Birds actually might come to Ubuntu!
Putting native games aside, we all know about the WINE project. The project that aims to offer a stable compatibility layer for windows applications to run on Linux platforms. Although developers still work on it, the majority aren’t satisfied with the experience it delivers, especially with games. That’s when the PlayOnLinux project comes in; it’s an application that configures WINE to be in the best shape possible for specific games to be ran on Linux. However, some people were still not satisfied which is why some have moved to Cedega.
Cedega is a paid gaming service that offers a cross-platform engine that executes native Windows games. Cedega service is a fork of WINE which is developed specifically for gaming. It also has a large list of certified games that is supported. Good news is that Cedega has recently announced that they have decided to shut their service on 28th of February and launch their new free service, GameTree Linux.
With all of these recent announcements, it seems to me that Linux is rapidly evolving in this field! … All I am waiting for is the day when Steam comes natively to Linux and Ubuntu/Linux logo is put on game packs.
I hope that day will not be long. I also hope that graphic software companies like Auto Desk, Maxon and Adobe will learn from Ubuntu paid app development and port their graphic software to Linux. God please let it happen.
Well, … the last thing we heard from Adobe CS was this! We never got anything after that! 🙁
Though I’m pretty sure things will change soon! 🙂
A lot of games work on Linux, Heck I downloaded a ton from Steam and played them on Linux.
Yes, Linux does have a ton of games! However, I was targeting other platforms’ games!
As for Steam, yes, we can. However, it’s not native and you know it, that’s why i said “waiting for is the day when Steam comes natively to Linux”! 🙂