PC Gaming has spread its wings throughout the world in terms of technically superior hardware, mind-boggling sound systems and spectacular screen-resolution furnishing jaw-dropping gaming experience taking the player into a timeless world of fantasy and seemingly boisterous virtual reality. I often encounter people mistaking PC Gaming as Windows Gaming probably because of the fact that the omnipresent Windows games cater the needs of most of the casual gamers as well as hardcore gamers (let us exclude online gamers for the time being) and the surfeit of windows game manufacturers keep some licensing issues in darkness obviously for their business development (of course, this is undeniable). But if you are a serious gamer, are you aware of the possibilities of cost effectiveness, efficiency of game performance and other factors that help save your pocket while buying a game or upgrading your computer?
Honestly, what would you do to increase the performance of a game while using the same hardware that you’ve been using since, may be, five years? There is a substantial difference between running Assassins Creed 2 with AMD Athlon(tm) 64 processor 3200 + 2.00Ghz with 1GB of RAM and running the same game with AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400 + with 3GB RAM. Considering the way technology is progressing, one should probably have to exponentially increase the income to afford the Gaming Hardware. Also, what if your $40 Call of Duty 3 Disc accidentally breaks? Some skeptics, with a bright smile on their face, are too much convinced of the Digital Rights Management and argue that it is worth feeding Gaming giants and Hardware manufacturing companies ignoring their pocket on fire.
Open Source Gaming offers humongous possibilities of increased ‘economical’ Gaming experience. It is quite evident that Linux is not seen as a gaming platform due to noticeable reasons. I don’t even see the possibility of Linux being the mainstream of Gaming in the near future for the same reasons. But let us look at the unseen aspects that Linux can offer a gamer.
As Linux is impressively efficient than other operating systems in terms of performance; you can still play better games with your older hardware. This means that you need not upgrade your computer for a better game performance. Linux has the uncanny ability to make the best use of your existing hardware and give really good output on the screen without screen-flickering, system slow-down, etc. This saves us from the burden of shedding hundreds of dollars upgrading the RAM, Graphics Card, Sound Card, etc.Multitasking ability of Linux allows reduction of ‘loading’ time in games. Linux can manage game files very efficiently and quickly with high precision. This facilitates easy navigation from one game screen to the other, or one-level to the other. Though you might not see much of a difference when you play games like Mahjong, but yes, you will find the difference while playing FPS like Cube 2.
Most of the Linux games are free because they are coded in open source standards. Hence, the accessibility is high. And there are wide-range of games in different genres from simple 2D maze games to 3D FPSs. If you are an MMO RPG Gamer, don’t forget to check out UFO: Alien Invasion. These games often exclude registration fees and are available in full-versions.
When was the last time you broke your head for a bunch of licensing issues for your favorite game? Linux games surpass licensing limitations and other restrictions like limited number of installations on a specific machine. You can install Linux games in as many computers as you want and never be locked out.
As Linux games are open source, you can find many forums and communities to share and discuss about the games that you play.
It isn’t surprising that much of Windows games are subjected to piracy on a large-scale. I don’t expect a mass exodus of gamers into Linux Gaming but the propensity towards Windows Gaming can be moderated by trying out some open source games and spreading a word about them. Though the economical ramifications of commercial games are not so intense that gamers are suddenly aware that there is a thing called ‘Linux Gaming’, there are visible changes in the market trends in terms of cost, quality and fame of games. By experiencing the flavor of Linux games, it is certain that open source games will be as popular as the commercial titles.
Some open source Linux games: Battle of Wesnoth, Nexiuz, America’s Army, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Tremulous, Trux Racer, World of Padman, Vendetta, etc.
Some open source Windows games: Plane Shift, Goblin Hack, Frozen Bubble, PiX Pang, GNU Chess, Cube, Hexen II, etc.
Some open source Mac games: Scorched 3D, Vega Strike, Wolfentein: Enemy Territory, Fight Gear, TripleA, etc.
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