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Friday, April 23, 2010

Getting Games to Work on Linux

For many the big issue with Linux is that it doesn't run video games as well as Windows. This is true mainly because the games are specifically written for Windows and not for Linux. The Linux side of things has to tweak a few things to get the games to work where Windows users do not as the games are programed that way.

The first option is to use a program called Wine. Most popular Linux distributions will have this in the repositories. Go to the Wine website before installing the game to get feedback about what works and what does not work. Generally speaking the more popular the game is the higher chance that it will work for you. Wine doesn't do everything perfectly, but it's the best place to start.

A second option is to use a paid service that makes many popular games install and run on Linux. These services do cost money, but they make installing and running the games extremely easy. This can be thought of as a way of saving time so that you can play as opposed to tweak.

The third option is to look for Linux alternatives. There are quite a few cloned games and Linux only games that are available. They aren't the exact same thing as many commercial games but come from the same genres. Many of these are made for all operating systems or are Linux only and work great.

What it's really going to take to get rid of these issues is more gamers using the Linux desktop. When this happens, there is a higher chance of having Linux versions of the games so that no changes will have to be made to get the games to run.

Hopefully these options will help you get the games running on your system that you are hoping to play.

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