| Linux gaming: don't sell your Xbox |
Nov. 29, 2006
Opinion -- Over at ExtremeTech, my colleague in crime, Jim Lynch, took a long, hard look at Linux gaming and declared, "Frankly, I've had it with gaming under Linux. It's not worth the time or the effort."
It's not that you can't run WoW (World of Warcraft) on Linux. With the latest CrossOver Office beta, you can do exactly that. Indeed, Lynch found that running World of Warcraft "ran so well that I began to get distracted from writing this review and started to get sucked into the world of Azeroth. I kept playing and didn't even realize that I was running WoW in a window on my KDE desktop in PCLinuxOS."
I might add that while I'm not a Warcrack addict, I do spend far too much time killing off my PvP (player vs. players) opponents in Guild Wars, and it runs decently under CrossOver. Between the new CrossOver and TransGaming's Cedega, you can run most Windows games on Linux.
But, although WoW runs quite well on CrossOver, you'll find that most modern Windows games require you to work hard on getting everything tuned to perfection before being able to play a game. In short, it usually does require time and effort to play Windows games on Linux.
I don't know about you, but when I want to play a game, I want to play, not work.
And, that's the core of Jim's problem. Almost all the good PC games are Windows games. It's really that simple.
Others tried to argue him into seeing that it's really not that bad in Linux gaming. He disagrees.
And, you know what? He's right. Gaming on Linux is, far more often than not, a second-rate experience.
I would argue, however, that PC gaming still takes second place to console gaming. If gaming is really what you want to do, then buy an Xbox 360. Yes, I know, I know, Microsoft, source of all that is evil etc., makes it. It's always been one fine gaming box. I might add, its add-on HD-DVD drive is easily the cheapest way you can get HD-DVD on your HDTV.
Xbox 360 doesn't do it for you? Then, you can probably find a Nintendo Wii before the holidays. As for the Sony PlayStation 3, well... how fond are you of your first-born, anyway?
Here's my point: if gaming is really what you want, then wave good-bye to your PC and head over to the TV. Linux, Windows, the Mac, whatever... none of them can compare to a good game console.
When I'm at the PC, I'm spending most of my time online working, and there, Linux still has a commanding lead over Windows for my purposes.
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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