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NewsVac: News from around the Web
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Android : A sneak peek at the future of online gaming...
1 hour, 49 minutes ago
How an upcoming android game called City Slikkers is going to revolutionize the way we game.It is one among the top 50 of android developers challenge -
CodeWeavers to release CrossOver Games
1 month, 4 weeks ago
Today while browsing around the CodeWeavers site I came across the 2008 CrossOver roadmap that was posted by Jeremy White the CEO of CodeWeavers. -
Second Life: Linux Client Turns Beta
2 months, 1 week ago
After extensive testing and loads of community involvement, we’re happy to announce that the Linux version of the Second Life viewer has gone beta and is available for download at... -
OSGGFG: 4.0 Free Racing Games
2 months, 2 weeks ago
I have to confess a love, nay addiction of a certain closed-source non-free NFSU2 running under Wine. I had hoped to find a suitable Open Source replacement. Instead I found 10 open source racers to supplement it. -
Top 25 Linux Games for 2008
3 months, 1 week ago
If you’re interested in games for a Linux platform, then you know that game probably is open source, free from cost in most cases, and free to modify. The latter attribute is why Linux games are so popular…a developer can take a great game and make it even better, share it with the world, and become a hero. So, why waste your time and money on proprietary games when so many great Linux games are available? -
OSGGFG: Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games-part 1
3 months, 2 weeks ago
Open Source Video Games have come a long way in the last few years. This series of articles looks at the current state of games in the Free or Open Source World. -
The State of Security in MMORPGs
4 months ago
Security researchers Greg Hoglund and Gary McGraw poked around in World of Warcraft and other online games, finding vulnerabilities and exploiting the system using online bots and rootkit-like techniques to evade detection. Their adventures in online game security became fodder for the book, Exploiting Online Games. McGraw discussed with securityfocus the state of security in modern video games, cheating and anti-cheating systems, how the market for cheats, exploits, and digital objects is growing, what we could learn from the design of these huge systems, and how game developers react to submissions of security vulnerabilities. -
New hack could enable Linux on the Wii
4 months, 1 week ago
Wii fans hang on to your hats, as the video above explains, hackers have found a way around the Wii's encryption keys which opens the widely popular console up to home brewed games, open source ports and potentially even a full version of Linux running on your Wii. -
The State of the Linux Gaming Industry
6 months, 3 weeks ago
When I read reports on the Linux gaming industry, I can't help but wonder where the Linux gamers are at? Can we find them on the Nintendo Wii or perhaps the Playstation 3 (PS3)? After all, I have heard that PS3 actually works rather well with Yellow Dog Linux. -
Interview: Source Mage Developer Jaka Kranjc
7 months ago
Jaka Kranjc discusses his Linux beginnings, plus his current work on Source Mage GNU/Linux. -
Prof Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery - A beautiful puzzle game for Linux
10 months, 2 weeks ago
Remember the time when I reviewed a very beautiful game called FizzBall which runs on Linux and which was developed by a young gaming company called Grubby games ? Well, they have released yet another game called "Prof. Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery" - this time a game of puzzles. The protagonist of the new game is again Prof. Fizzwizzle and the story line goes thus : -
Docs want more info on video game addiction
10 months, 3 weeks ago
The American Medical Association called for more research into the public health risks of video and Internet games on Wednesday but stopped short of declaring them addictive.The AMA, which recommended a review of the current video game rating system, also said it would leave it up to the American Psychiatric Association and other experts to decide whether video game addiction should be designated a mental illness.
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Open Source Game Of The Day: The Battle For Wesnoth
11 months ago
I have always been a huge supporter of the open source gaming community and it never ceases to amaze me how many awesome games are actually out there for free. The Battle For Wesnoth is a must-have for any fans of turn based strategy games. The AI is simple on the surface, but actually quite complicated, and is a very engaging game. Details on the game and where to access it are located after the break. The game is GNU/Linux, Windows, MacOSX, BeOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, AmigaOS4, OS/2 & eComStation compatible. -
Big change in 'Second Life' design tools
1 year ago
Second Life is changing the way its basic building blocks work so that they are no longer purely cubes. Now, so-called "prims" will feature curved edges, and will allow people to import textures and models directly from 3D modeling software. -
OSS Game AI Programming Competition!
1 year, 2 months ago
Tim Ansell writes "The open source framework for building turn based space empire games, Thousand Parsec, is running an AI Coding competition. You can win a bunch of cool prizes, (including cash!) while helping develop an essential part of this cool open source project. The recent updates of many components have made it even easier to get started! So come and give it a try." - More News
Linux.com : Games
Nexuiz shoots to the top of gaming list
After I reviewed Alien Arena last year, some readers criticized my choice of that first-person shooter (FPS) as the best free software game I had played. Several suggested Nexuiz would have been a better choice. At the time, I had not played it. Now that I have tried Nexuiz 2.4, it has become my favorite free software FPS.
Play Windows games on Linux with PlayOnLinux
If you are an avid gamer, you probably dual-boot your favorite Linux distribution with Windows, because that's where you find most new cutting-edge games. But what if you could run your Windows games on Linux? PlayOnLinux is an open source Python-scripted front end that helps you install and play tons of Windows-only games -- and then some!
The original SimCity is now the open source Micropolis
Think you're smarter than the meatheads on your local city council? Now you can prove it -- without running for office -- courtesy of the original city simulation game. Electronic Arts (EA) has released the source code to SimCity under the GPLv3. The newly freed game is dubbed Micropolis, and it is playable in most major Linux distributions.
Speaking Hangman is fun for the whole family
Speaking Hangman is a cross-platform bilingual game that's both fun and educational, and suitable for the whole family.
Linux.com's 2007 holiday gift guide
Admit it -- you put off your holiday shopping this year and now it's crunch time and you don't know what to get everyone on your list. Because we feel your pain, we've put together a last-minute shopping guide with ideas for some of your geekiest friends.
Risk gamers use free software to take over the world
How are GNU/Linux users preparing for Linus Torvalds' plan of world domination? By playing free software computer games based on the classic world conquest board game Risk. You can perfect your strategy by playing the games XFrisk, TEG, or Ksirk.
Play Pac-man (and more!) on your PC
If you have a fondness for old arcade games and want to play them again, try the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME), a free emulator that lets you recreate the look and feel of old arcade game systems in software. While it's written for Windows, you can run this open source application under Linux.
Gaming from within the terminal
MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) are text-driven cooperative or competitive games that you can play either straight from your terminal using the Telnet protocol or through a separate application specially designed to play MUDs. The majority of MUDs are free to play. Here's how you can get started with them.
Going all-in with PokerTH
According to Wikipedia, Texas Hold'em is "the most popular poker variant played in casinos in the United States." With the GPL-licensed multiplatform (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X) PokerTH, you can play Texas Hold'em against up to six computer opponents on your desktop, or you can join an Internet server and play against other real players.
New Alien Arena 6.10 blows away its FPS competition
Today, COR Entertainment is scheduled to release version 6.10 of Alien Arena 2007, the popular free software, 3-D, first-person shooter built atop id Software's Quake II engine, which was released under the GPL in 2001. The new release of Alien Arena comes with seven new arenas, a better arsenal of weaponry, and a new game mode for one-on-one duels.
NERO game evolves to version 2.0
Last year, we reviewed Neuro-Evolving Robotic Operatives (NERO), a unique game in which players train forces of autonomous bots, then pit those forces against each other in hands-off, artificial intelligence (AI)-only competitions. NERO spawned a new major release a few weeks ago, and like its eponymous operatives, it has learned some new moves over time.
New commercial Linux game slated by year end
Hothead Games will soon be launching a new title based on the popular online Penny Arcade comic strip. Even better, the new game will be available for several platforms at its launch, including Linux.
Battle Tanks is a blast
Finding an addictive computer game on a Friday evening can be dangerous. Instead of doing things you have been promising your wife, you spend the weekend in front of your computer playing the game and trying to explain that "this is for work." This is exactly what happened to me when I discovered Battle Tanks.
Battle for Wesnoth is a ton of fun
Battle for Wesnoth is an amazingly addictive 2-D turn-based strategy game with some role playing game elements thrown in for spice. It runs under Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. Wesnoth can be played solo, using one of the several single-player adventures (campaigns) available, or over the Internet with other people.
Scorched 3D makes tank battles fun
Whether or not you remember the days when DOS was DOS and real geeks played Scorched Earth, a turn-based warfare game with tanks trading shots at each other until one was destroyed, you might find Scorched 3D, a modern remake of the old classic, just as addicting today as those playing the original did then.
Colonizing a free new world with FreeCol
Colonizing a new world is not a trivial task, even when you're doing it in a clone of a famous game. FreeCol is a free-as-in-free-software Java-based clone of Sid Meier's Colonization that's currently at the 0.5.3 release. But even this far short of a 1.0 release, it is coming along nicely enough to have earned it the designation of SourceForge.net Project of the Month. It is certainly playable, albeit with a few rough edges here and there and a few missing pieces.
Review: Frets on Fire
You suck on electric guitar. If you are not aware of that now, you will be after playing Frets on Fire -- a cross-platform, GPLed music game from Unreal Voodoo, where your PC's keyboard is the instrument and you play lead.
Good old-fashioned shooting with Kobo Deluxe
If you still dig the old-style arcade games, you owe it to yourself to check out Kobo Deluxe, an improved version of XKobo with sound and better graphics. I ran across Kobo Deluxe when I was looking for a game similar to Namco's arcade classic Bosconian. Your mission? Blow up the fortresses and move on to the next level, to ... blow up more fortresses. OK, so it's not exactly Shakespearean story development, but what do you want from a retro arcade-style game anyway? Right -- fast-paced action and an ever-increasing high score, which Kobo Deluxe delivers in spades.
Commercial gaming: Can it thrive on Linux?
Can a game company make a profit producing commercial offerings for Linux? Two cross-platform offerings that run on Linux are hoping to show that it can be done.
FlightGear takes off
FlightGear is a multiplatform, GPLed flight simulator. It is sophisticated, realistic, and extensible. You can choose to fly more than 100 different aircraft, ranging from a Sopwith Camel to a UFO, you can take off and land from thousands of airports, and you can fly over virtually any terrain in the world. After 10 years of development, it has suddenly become a very hot item. How hot? You may have seen it used recently on prime time TV and not realized it. It was used in an episode of Fox TV's legal drama Justice to prove pilot error in the fatal crash of a private plane.
