Video games and Linux
There are fewer games available for Linux than for Windows, console systems, or Mac OS X; game development companies generally receive a lower return on investment when they support an operating system with a small market share. The games that are available can be classified into four categories: 1) open source games; 2) open source remakes or re-releases of classic games; 3) ports of proprietary games; 4) proprietary games that run under an emulator. The Linux Gamers' Game List is a long but selective list,[1] and The Linux Game Tome is a database with many entries that is less discriminating but has user comments and rankings.[2]
There are few original open source games that have obtained notability. Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy game; Nethack and ZAngband are text-based computer role-playing games; Nexuiz is a first-person shooter; Tux Racer is a 3D racing game featuring Tux; and Vega Strike is a space flight simulation game. There are a larger number of open source remakes of classic games; one of the most publicized is FreeCiv, a remake of Civilization II. There is also OpenTTD, a remake of Transport Tycoon Deluxe; Frozen Bubble and Snood, adaptations of Puzzle Bobble; Scorched 3D, a 3D adaptation of Scorched Earth; Ur-Quan Masters, based on the original source code for Star Control II; Homeworld SDL, based on the original source code for Homeworld; StepMania, a remake of Dance Dance Revolution; Crack Attack!, inspired by Tetris Attack; various remakes of Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and Quake based on the engines for these games; and two different remakes of Wing Commander: Privateer based on the Vega Strike engine.
In some cases, developers have released Linux ports of their games directly. id Software together with Raven Software ported Doom 3, the Quake series, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein; Bioware released �Neverwinter Nights; Epic Games released Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004; Croatem released the Serious Sam series; and Introversion released Darwinia and Uplink. More commonly, an independent company has taken on the task of porting prominent Windows games to Linux. Loki Software was the first such company, and between 1998 and 2002 ported Descent³, Heretic II, Heroes of Might and Magic III, Myth II: Soulblighter, Railroad Tycoon II, Rune, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Sim City 3000, Tribes II, and Unreal Tournament. Linux Game Publishing was founded in 2001 in response to the impending demise of Loki, and has brought Cold War, Postal 2, and X2: The Threat to Linux. Finally, icculus.org has ported Aliens versus Predator, Duke Nukem 3D, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and Rise of the Triad.
There are also API's, virtual machines, and machine emulators that provide binary compatibility: WINE and the commercial Cedega fork exist for Windows games; Snes9x and ZSNES for the Super Nintendo; ePSXe and [[PCSX]�] for the Playstation; Mupen64 for the Nintendo 64; VisualBoy Advance for the GameBoy Advance; ScummVM for LucasArts adventures; DOSBox for MS DOS; UAE for the Amiga; Frotz for Z-Machine text adventures; and finally Java and Flash for games targeting these platforms.
As far as development is concerned, library support for Linux gaming is provided directly by OpenGL and ALSA, or by SDL, a cross-platform multimedia wrapper around system-dependent libraries. The DRI project provides open source video card drivers, and NVIDIA, and ATI also release binary kernel modules for their video cards. Linux also runs on several game consoles, including the Xbox,[3], Playstation 2, and GameCube,[4] which allows game developers without an expensive game development kit to access console hardware.