I'm pretty new to Linux... actually I am just getting all I need to install it ready right now. I just want to install it to see what it's like really, but maybe if it's really something special, I might ditch Windows for it. What concerns me though is that I use my computer really just to play games. I know a few games will work on Linux, like Half-Life, but does the software need to have special things for it to run in Linux or do you need emulation software, or can you just install and run it as if you were on Windows?

Yes and no. Unfortunately games tend to be made for windows, but I do all my gaming in linux these days. Some games have linux ports, like RTCW, ET, the UT series, etc. Others you need to run in wine (well, winex, which costs at least $15, is the best) and you can play things like half-life, Counterstrike and others - see www.transgaming.com for the games that run well... Once you have winex the games run more or less just like on windows - well they either run or don't run

Heavy gamers tend to keep a copy of windows, usually 98se, but some manage to game okay with just linux and winex.