Chapter 22 (Mac os x web server) . Gaming Alone and Online 583
Chapter 22 . Gaming Alone and Online 583 Commercial Linux Games When Loki Software, Inc. closed its doors a few years ago, the landscape of commercial gaming in Linux changed. Loki produced Linux ports of popular games, including Myth II and Civilization: Call to Power, to name a couple. Since then, no other company has stepped up to port that wide a range of best-selling games to Linux. Today, commercial games that run natively are led by several popular games from id Software (described in the next section) and a few gaming companies that have ported individual titles to Linux. Some Loki games are still available for purchase on the Web. They sell for a fraction of their original price, but you are on your own if they don t work because Loki Software is no longer there to support them. The Loki Games Demo is still around, if you want to get a feel for a particular Loki game before it disappears completely (I describe how to find demo and packaged Loki Games later in this chapter). In the wake of Loki s demise, TransGaming Technologies has been working on an approach to bringing popular games to Linux that relies on a version of WINE called Cedega. In most cases, instead of having different ports of popular games (as Loki did), TransGaming lets users run existing Windows games in Linux by adapting Cedega to each game that needs a tweak here and there. While the state of Linux gaming has improved somewhat in the last few years, Linux leaves much to be desired as a gaming platform. Linux has some of the technology needed to support advanced games, but the technology and developer support have not yet really come together. Most serious gamers still maintain a Windows partition to support their gaming habits. According to top game developers, there are significant hurdles both technological and economic that hinder development of games for Linux. Issues with video and audio hardware, as well as problems with GNU/Linux development itself (in particular, glibc), have made new games difficult to produce. In addition, the relatively small size of the Linux gaming market means that incentives to overcome these issues are not particularly strong. However, these limitations are not overwhelming. As you ll see later in this chapter, even the hardcore game nut can successfully use Linux. id Software Games Among the most popular games running natively in Linux are Quake III Arena and Return to Castle Wolfenstein from id Software, Inc. You can purchase Linux versions of these games or download demos of each game before you buy. If you have trouble getting any id Software games running in Linux, refer to the Linux FAQs available from id Software at: http://zerowing.idsoftware.com/ linux. Note
Go visit our java server pages services for a reliable, lowcost webhost to satisfy all your needs.