Games for Linux

[40hz]

More Linux gaming  resources from our friends over at LinuxLinks.com

21 More of the Best Free Linux Games

Over the past 4 months we have continued to receive a steady stream of emails from individuals recommending games that were not included in our previous free game articles.

After much testing, we have whittled down these users' recommendations to a list of 21 highly addictive Linux games, covering as many different types of game genre as possible. Hopefully, there should be something of interest here for all types of gamers! All of these games are great fun to play.

To be eligible for inclusion in the list below, games again needed to satisfy the following requirements:

Free to play (no download charge, no monthly charge)

Does not require Wine to run. Wine is a compatibility layer for running Windows software.

Not in the early stages of development

If you missed the first two parts in this series, check out 42 of the Best Free Linux Games, and 42 More of the Best Free Linux Games.

We have taken these 84 games and together with this latest set of 21 games have also compiled the Top 100 Free Linux Games, a single reference point.

Links:

Part 1:  http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20080510052539217/Games.html

Part 2:  http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20080522164112313/Games-Part2.html

Part 3:  http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20090205142531309/Games-Part3.html



Here's the link for the whole 100-game shebang:

Top 100 Free Linux Games

"Can I game on it" is a frequently asked question we hear from Windows users toying with the idea of trying Linux for the first time. Well, the simple answer is yes!

What's more, there's a huge range of Linux games which are available to download at no cost. The list below represents the top 100 games, covering a broad spectrum of game genres. Hopefully there be a selection of games here that will interest anyone.

http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/2009020806275229/Top100FreeGames.html

[zridling]

Wow, great list! Love that they don't require Wine. My favorite chess program offers a native Linux version, so that's all that counts for me.

[iphigenie]

My collection of bookmarked native linux games (often windows and macos too)
http://www.diigo.com/search?adSScope=my&what=linux+games

[Gothi[c]]

I just find games using Gentoo GNU/Linux's eix command which searches the packages in portage.
Here's the complete raw output for everything with description and url's to the game homepages:

http://www.linkerror.com/stuff/games2.txt

Of course, with eix you can easily search specific categories or specific keywords/regexes. But the list should help people that don't use Gentoo.

That's 859 different entries. I think that should keep one occupied.

[40hz]

link=topic=16968.msg150273#msg150273 date=1234182769]

That's 859 different entries. I think that should keep one occupied.

w00t! Pretty impressive list you've got there.

Could almost justify installing Gentoo if you're an avid gamer.

Thanks for sharing it!

[zridling]

You know, there ought to be some classic games offered as free, open source. I think there's a project that's working on a couple. Grand Theft Auto-Vice City still rocks, except for the helicopters.

[Deozaan]

http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/2009020806275229/Top100FreeGames.html

This list shows Dwarf Fortress, but when I go to Dwarf Fortress's website it only lists Windows and Mac versions.

[Edvard]

Apparently it works flawlessly under Wine. Not the same, I know...

From the FAQ:

# When will a Linux version be available?

This depends in part on the porting of Kobold Quest. As soon as somebody ports this and releases it with a suitably permissive license, we'll then try to do the same with Dwarf Fortress as we are able. Kobold Quest and Dwarf Fortress are based on the same engine. The relevant forum thread is here. I currently have a tentative Linux port of Kobold Quest, but do not yet have proper license information for the code.

(forum post link is broken)

[Deozaan]

Apparently it works flawlessly under Wine. Not the same, I know...

But the list says none of the games require Wine...

[40hz]

Apparently it works flawlessly under Wine. Not the same, I know...

Seems to be the direction some of the game market is taking. Eve announced it is dropping support for Linux and suggesting NIXers run the Windows client under Wine or PlayOnLinux. Not that it was any great loss. Eve's Linux client was so lackluster that most of the NIX crowd was already doing it that way.

<EDIT: Added the following link and quotes>

http://www.wine-reviews.net/wine-reviews/wine/eve-online-ditches-linux-cedega-client-recommends-wine.html

My name is Arend Stührmann, also known as CCP Whisper, and I am the producer in charge of the project bringing EVE Online to the Mac and Linux operating systems. As you may know, we have been working in partnership with Transgaming Technologies, utilizing their Cider engine to allow EVE Online to run on the Mac OS and their Cedega engine to enable operation under Linux. This project went live in late 2007 and in that time we have seen the same slow, steady growth in the numbers of users of the Mac client that has characterized the growth of EVE Online throughout its history. However we have not seen a similar growth in the numbers using our Linux client.

It is for this reason that I am sorry to have to announce that from the 10th of March onwards CCP will no longer be officially supporting the Linux operating system. The low amount of users of the Linux client did not justify the degree of additional complexity having three operating systems imposes on our development and release schedules.

***

Should you wish to continue playing EVE Online under Linux there are several options available. Some of these are free and some require purchase of software. A selection of these is at the bottom of this e-mail along with basic instructions on how to use EVE Online through them. If you wish to stop playing EVE Online and want to request a refund of unused game time, please contact our billing department by filing a petition in the billing category. They will assist you in obtaining a refund for the remaining game time and closing your account.

[Edvard]

That's exactly what I saw.
Kind of a cop-out, in my opinion, but geez if it works so well that way, why keep maintaining a lackluster buggy fork?

It's almost like Wine is a weird sub-species of cloud computing...

[40hz]

It's almost like Wine is a weird sub-species of cloud computing...

Now that's deep.

[Edvard]

"Write once, run with Wine."