Video games and Linux
[10][11] Popular early titles included Netrek and the various XAsteroids, XBattle, XBill, XBoing, X-Bomber, XConq, XDigger, XEmeraldia, XEvil, XGalaga, XGammon, XLander, XLife, XMahjong, XMine, XSoldier, XPilot, XRobots, XRubiks, XShogi, XScavenger, XTris, XTron, XTic and XTux games using the X Window System.
[12][13] Other games targeted or also supported the SVGAlib library allowing them to run without a windowing system,[14] such as LinCity, Maelstrom, Sasteroids,[15] and SABRE.
As the operating system itself grew and expanded, the amount of free and open-source games also increased in scale and complexity, with both clones of historically popular releases beginning with BZFlag, LinCity, and FreeCiv,[20] as well as original creations such as Rocks'n'Diamonds, Cube, The Battle for Wesnoth, and Tux Racer.
[25][26][27] Ancient Domains of Mystery was also released for Linux in 1994 by Thomas Biskup, building on the roguelike legacy of games such as Moria and its descendent Angband, but more specifically Hack and NetHack.
[42] The Linux Game Tome was taken over by Bob Zimbinski in 1998 eventually growing to over 2000 entries, sponsored by retailer Penguin Computing and later LGP until it went down in 2013, although mirrors still exist.
[63] The Indrema Entertainment System (also known as the L600) was also in development since 1999 as a Linux based game console and digital media player,[64][65][66] but production halted in 2001 due to a lack of investment,[67][68] although the TuxBox project attempted a continuation.
Mountain King Studios released a port of Raptor: Call of the Shadows and CipSoft published the Linux client of Tibia.
Illwinter Game Design released Conquest of Elysium II and Dominions: Priests, Prophets & Pretenders for Linux.
BlackHoleSun Software released Bunnies, and worked on Atlantis: The Underwater City - Interactive Storybook published by Sterling Entertainment.
[citation needed] The company TransGaming marketed as a monthly subscription its own proprietary fork of Wine called WineX in October 2001, later renamed Cedega in 2004 and discontinued in 2011, which aimed for greater compatibility with Microsoft Windows games.
[103][104] This is especially the case for the GP2X series of handheld game consoles by GamePark Holdings in addition to the community driven Pandora and DragonBox Pyra.
[107] The Sharp Zaurus personal data assistants adopted a Linux derived system called OpenZaurus, which attracted its own gaming scene.
[114] Influential to this was Ryan C. Gordon, a former Loki employee who would over the next decade port several game titles to multiple platforms, including Linux.
[131] David Hedbor, founder and main programmer of Eon Games ported NingPo MahJong and Hyperspace Delivery Boy!
[134][135] The reliance on such compatibility layers remains controversial with concerns that it hinders growth in native development,[136][137] although this approach was defended based on Loki's demise.
[144] The Humble Indie Bundle initiatives inaugurated in 2010 helped to formally demonstrate this trend,[145] with Linux users representing a sizable population of their purchase base, as well as consistently being the most financially generous in terms of actual money spent.
[171] In March 2014 GOG.com announced they would begin to support Linux titles on their DRM free store starting the same year, after previously stating they would not be able due to too many distributions.
[209] It also powers the more general Polymega,[210] Anbernic RG351 and 5G552, as well as the Game Gadget,[211] Evercade, VS, EXP and Super Pocket retrogaming consoles by Blaze Entertainment.
Loki Entertainment Software ported Civilization: Call to Power, Eric's Ultimate Solitaire, Heroes of Might and Magic III, Myth II: Soulblighter, Railroad Tycoon II Gold Edition and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri with Alien Crossfire expansion pack to Linux PowerPC.
[citation needed] Iain McLeod ported Spheres of Chaos to Linux on the PlayStation 2 consoles and later re-released it as a freeware game.
Examples are SteamOS, which is an operating system for Steam Machines, Steam Deck and general computers, video game consoles built from components found in the classical home computer, (embedded) operating systems like Tizen and Pandora, and handheld game consoles like GP2X, and Neo Geo X.
[citation needed] The open source design of the Linux software platform allows the operating system to be compatible with various computer instruction sets and many peripherals, such as game controllers and head-mounted displays.
[citation needed] In 2013, tests by Phoronix showed real-world performance of games on Linux with proprietary Nvidia and AMD drivers were mostly comparable to results on Windows 8.1.
[291] A number of games can be played from live distributions such as Knoppix, allowing easy access for users unwilling to fully commit to Linux.
[317] An earlier implementation is Cygwin,[318] started by Cygnus Solutions and later maintained by Red Hat,[319] although it has limited hardware access[320] and required adaptation.
[328] Popular games include Pokemon Go, Genshin Impact, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Dead Cells and Call of Duty: Mobile.
[355][356][357] Owing to a common Unix-like heritage and free software ethos, many games for Linux are also ported to BSD variants[358] or can be run using compatibility layers such as Linuxulator.
[364] The permissive licensing of BSD has also lead to its inclusion in the system software of several game consoles, such as the Sony PlayStation line[365][366] and the Nintendo Switch.
[370][371] A further niche exists for running games, either through ports or lxrun,[372] on Solaris[373] and derivatives such as OpenIndiana,[374] Darwin distributions such as PureDarwin,[375] Coherent,[376] SerenityOS,[377][378] Redox OS,[379][380] ToaruOS,[381] Xv6,[382] Fiwix,[383] or on Minix[384] and Hurd based systems.
[403] The games Doom and Quake were developed by id Software on NeXTStep,[404] a forerunner of modern macOS,[405] before being ported to DOS and back to numerous other Unix variants.
