Games Kernel has now been around for a few weeks, and I hope you’ve gathered a taste of what the site is about. The post concludes our series of introduction posts, both to Linux gaming and to ourselves, and we’ll be back with a new topic tomorrow.

Round Up

If you missed some of the series, here’s a reminder of what we covered:

1. We started things off with an introduction to our site.
2. We looked at native Linux gaming and what’s available.
3. We discussed playing Windows games in our guide to Wine and Cedega.
4. We considered the future of Linux gaming and the availability of commercial games.
5. and we saw our first three Friday Reviews.

Remember you can keep track of our posts by subscribing to our RSS feed.

Poll Results

Our first poll asked you: “What One Improvement Would You Make To Linux Gaming?”. The results showed that 44% of you would like to see more commercial games available for Linux, whilst one third would like to see more or higher quality native games. Just 11% of voters would like to see higher compatibility with Windows games.

Personally, my vote would go to having more commercial games available for Linux. I think the operating system being taken seriously by more games developers will help more users make the switch to using Linux on the desktop - though perhaps more desktop Linux users are required before developers will take us seriously. In the end though, I don’t mind paying money for games, I’d just like more high quality releases for Linux.

Thank you

Thanks to everyone who has supported the site so far, by submitting posts to StumbleUpon or Digg, by commenting and by linking to us. Every little action helps us to grow. We hope everyone will continue to participate in the Games Kernel community and share their opinions in future.

Thanks also to the owners of the photography used on the site. Todays photo was taken by KellyB.

Introduction

Whilst the purpose of this blog is mostly to focus on games which can be played natively under Linux, it is not the only option. This post is an overview of Wine (WINE Is Not an Emulator – hooray for recursive acronyms!) and Cedega, which can both be used to run some Windows software, including games, under Linux.

What Are Wine And Cedega?

As its name suggests, Wine and Cedega are not emulators.

Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code, however Wine can optionally use native Windows DLLs if they are available. — WineHQ

Essentially, they should allow Windows software to be installed and run under Linux, in the same way as it would be under Windows. Not all software works completely, or at all, but the number of applications is constantly growing.

What’s the Difference?

The first difference you’ll probably notice is that whilst Wine is completely free, Cedega charges a subscription fee to download their prepackaged releases and for support – currently $5 a month for a minimum of 3 months.

Originally, Cedega is a fork of Wine, focusing only on gaming. As such it handles newer 3d games better, however for older 2d games Wine can still perform better, and it also works well with a lot of other software aside from games.

What Can’t They Do?

Generally, brand new games won’t run with Wine or Cedega when they are released. A lot of MMORPGs will not work because of hack-prevention methods they employ. Games written in Dark Basic also tend to have problems.

What Games Can I Play?

Whether a game will work depends on your system and the versions of Wine or Cedega you’re using, so there is no complete list of games which will run. You can however find databases which will give you some idea of how a game will perform at the Cedega Games Database and Wine Application Database. Some notable working games include World of Warcraft, Civ IV, and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

Where can I get support?

Wine and Cedega’s website offer a lot of help on getting hold of and using each of them. The linuX gamer’s community forum has a board specifically for Wine and Cedega, and other more general linux forums such as Linux Questions are also often willing to help. If you ask a question here I’ll try my best to help find the answer, but I’m far from an expert on this topic.

Over To You…

Anything I’ve obviously missed from this guide?
Do you use Wine, Cedega, neither or even both? How useful do you find them?
Any tips for new Linux gamers?
Nice Place To Hide Yourself Photograph by JAIRO BD

Introduction

For a lot of new Linux users, one of their first questions will be “Can I still play my Windows games?”. Whilst we will be looking at using Wine and Cedega to do this in our next article, it should not be assumed that this is the only option for gaming under Linux.
In fact, there are a great many native Linux games, and their quality and number is constantly increasing. Solitaire, mah-jong and the usual ‘casual gaming’ suspects are all available, but so are 3D first person shooters, racing games and turn based strategy. What’s more, these games are almost always free (as in beer) and often open source.

What is available?

Whilst it’s true that there isn’t the same range of native games for Linux as there are commercial games releases, in general there are a least a few quality games in each genre. The Linux Gamer’s Game List refuses to “list games which suck” but currently details almost 400 games. The Linux Games Tome, a collection of Linux games and toys now has over 1000 entries.

How complete are these games?

As with most Open Source projects these games are continually in development, but that doesn’t prevent many of them from reaching professional levels of completion. The gap between different games can be huge.
Take Tremulous for example – not only entirely playable and feature complete, but an innovative combination of first person shooter and real time strategy gameplay. On the other hand there is Planeshift, an MMORPG which is far from complete now, but is constantly expanding and improving.

How do I get the games?

Normally, you will be able to obtain some games through your Linux distribution’s package manager. Games can also be discovered and downloaded through sites like The Linux Games Tome.

Over to you…

Any tips for new linux users and gamers?
What’s your view on native Linux gaming right now?
Feel free to add your comments, questions, thoughts and advice below.

Life Is Like A Game Photo by Łŏŋĕłŷ

Who are we?

Games Kernel is a community oriented blog looking at every aspect of gaming under Linux, but focusing wherever possible on free, open source software. This includes game reviews, news and tutorials and general discussion. We hope to provide content to interest current Linux gamers and help them find new, exciting games, as well as demonstrating to newer users and potential Linux converts that there is a thriving Linux gaming community.

When Do We Post?

Every Friday will feature a review of a different native Linux game. This will be supplemented by series of themed posts - for example over the next few weeks we hope to look at topics like online gaming, hardware and emulation. You can keep up with what’s going on by subscribing to our RSS feed or by signing up to receive email updates.

This week will provide an introduction to gaming under Linux, looking at Wine and Cedega as well as native gaming, and considering whether Linux can really provide an alternative to paying for MS Windows for a serious gamer.

Who Writes The Blog?

Currently the blog has only one regular contributor (that’s me - Hazel Mckendrick) however guest posts and reviews are always welcome. If you’re interested in providing content for the blog, contact me to find out more.

Penguin photo by keela84