I dipped my toe into Linux (ubuntu)
which did reinvigorate my old machine. It was absolutely brilliant, and somehow the wireless connection actually worked BETTER than the Windows effort.

However - I appreciate that Ubuntu could play SOME games. But gamers want specific games, they want them to run first time and they want them NOW. I couldn't play Football Manager 10, which is like one of the games I pump most hours into.

I have to say - if you're a big gamer then Linux just will not do. But for all other PC users, linux is cheap *edit - free!!* and probably better than Windows. Looks really swish too!
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 9:20, 1 reply)

Yeah
fair point.

Although there must have been an equivilent of football manager? (maybe)
(dchurch bah, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 9:27, closed)

Well I'm afraid not really
It's the pinnacle of Football Managers *sims" and nothing else will do. I suspect there are other games in other fields where only the best is worth playing - the latest Call of Duty, the upcoming Starcraft, the FIFA games, etc.

I just don't see why it can't be simpler for games to run on Linux. Or is the onus on the game developer?
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 9:38, closed)

Yeah
nail on the head - it's the developers really.

There is something called play4linux (or similar) that you can install, and I'm told 99% of Windows games will then run - at the moment, I think it's about 60% of the good ones will run under Wine.
(dchurch bah, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 9:53, closed)

Sounds alright
I've only recently purchased a good spec machine that has Windows 7 on it so I probably won't be changing anything for a few years at least. But it's nice to know there are other options and were it not for the games Linux would be my first choice. I hope it gets better.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 9:58, closed)

I
don't really play games all that much (never seem to have the time any more), so it was the obvious choice for me.

You can't really blame the devs though - to be honest, they want to maximise their profits, so of course would go for the most popular platform.
(dchurch bah, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 10:08, closed)

linux & games
I'm an avid Linux user and also a hardcore gamer, and do have to admit that due to DirectX (and micro$haft screwing gamers over by tricking devs into using it when OpenGL is so much better) it is hard to get games to run well on Linux.

Solution? I just use dual boot, it takes me 20 seconds to reboot to windows (because there is nothing installed on it except games), and then play whatever it is that takes my interest (currently its King Arthur: The role playing game).

One day maybe the tides will change and I can ditch windoze for good, but for now that seems to be the best result.
(Panda_z is sweating like a chav in dixons, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 12:21, closed)

DirectX
...is not a bad idea, and not really a like-for-like comparison with OpenGL.
Initially it was a protection issue to stop virus(es?) getting to the hardware with a hardware protection layer. Of course, game programmers complained that they couldn't access the video hardware directly when they needed to if it was to be written for Windows (dos would allow this), so M$ came up with "Direct Access (X) to hardware" - "make the call to the hardware you want and we'll send it on for you" - now, it's become a lot more than that.

Of course, if you write for DirectX (or XNA as it's called now I think) then it's a much easier job to port to the Xbox, and thus open your market up a fair bit.

OpenGL is much easier IMO than dealing with DirectX, but that's probably my mindset and not theirs.
(dchurch bah, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 13:52, closed)

Yes its hard to compare the 2 as there are huge differences if you are a developer, and I'm sure they could have made XboX more OpenGL compliant if they wanted to, but its not in their best interests to do so.

Good article on the benefits of OpenGL;

blog.wolfire.com/2010/01/Why-you-should-use-OpenGL-and-not-DirectX
(Panda_z is sweating like a chav in dixons, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 14:00, closed)

Nice article
kept me busy!
(dchurch bah, Wed 30 Jun 2010, 7:11, closed)

Dual boot is a lot of faffing around
considering Windows 7 UI is actually pretty bearable for the casual internet user / gamer like me.

Once this PC dies a little and becomes out of date I think I'll go dual boot and get involved again with linux..
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Tue 29 Jun 2010, 16:28, closed)