Wasting Time With Mike And Ari recently wrote an interesting comparison between Linux and Windows Vistafor playing older Windows games. Whilst the study was more than a little biased and perhaps not technically sound, a more complete attempt is likely to follow in future.

Personally, as a Linux gamer I don’t really care what does and doesn’t work under Vista. However, I’m still a firm believer that in the long run, more Linux users and Linux gamers can only benefit the scene in general, and “It runs more games than Vista” seems a pretty good counter argument to the usual “I won’t run Linux because I can’t play my games”. It’s common for us to look at the games Wine and Cedega CAN’T play, this is a nice reminder that actually, compatibility is going pretty well.

If you liked our introduction to Wine and Cedega you may be interested in PlayOnLinux. It’s basically a project to get your games which will run through Wine installed as quickly and easy as possible.

What is PlayOnLinux’s aim?
After using Wine we realised that it sometimes needs complex commands. PlayOnLinux helps you to soften the process, making your life even easier in the Linux world. More, some people who care about the games they own won’t come to Linux simply because they want to be able to play them again. Our script will help them to move on Linux.

So if you’re worried about being able to get your Windows games working under Linux, or you don’t want to mess around with Wine, check it out.

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