So I have a simple question and informal poll. I need a little push to make the final switch and move to Linux as my primary OS. The ONLY thing holding me back in the last of gaming and game support. I know that there are a ton of topics like this one. What I am looking for is some opinions of those who made the switch from Windows to Linux that play games on a regular basis. Do you find that you have given up the 'full' gamins experience? Do you find that you need to dual boot to play your existing games?

I know, I know there are ways to run some Windows games via other means (wine, etc) and there are many Linux supported games that are great but I am wondering about those mainstream games that just don't make it to Linux. I'm looking forward to BF3 this fall and I am sure that there will be issues either supporting this game via Wine or it will not be playable at all on Linux.

Yes, I can dual boot but my typical day consists of working on a project and taking 20 to 30 minutes to play a game to clear my head then back to work. Dual booting in this scenario is not convenient.

So like I said what I need is some practical advice / suggestions as to how to make the switch and maintain my current practice? I really want to make that move to Linux but this is the ONLY thing holding me back. What to do?

Thanks for any advice that you can supply

If you really are into gaming you have three options: Dual booting, abstaining from some games or using a console. While the most games I use work with Wine some simply won't. Also, some games only work with Wine if you disable the copy protection, for example with a no-CD patch. Those games will be rejected from online-servers for obvious reasons.

1 members found this post helpful.

Well I do not play many games and the ones i do are Linux or multi OS .

Dual boot with win7

Though you might want to do A LOT of research on just HOW to dual boot with win7

there are a few ways
-- the way I use --
is to let win 7 have the MBR and put grub on the first linux partition

this makes life way easier when dealing with Microsoft
or for dealing with "Microsoft Genuine DIS-Advantage "

0 members found this post helpful.

I manly switched to linux because i want spend less time on games.. but long story short.. i have one main work pc linux and one windows play pc that i usually turn to play multiplayer with friends and photoshop(well actually i use RDC with it)
Life-saver is web games(kongregate.com) and in future webGL technology, but i need to mention that linux have native very good FPS shooters (Wolferstain:ET, Cube etc. im not fan of this genre) , strategies openttd, openciv, 0 A.D.
and Playstation1/2/Wii/GBA emulators.

They say picture is worth thousand words so yea..check this out. Plenty of proof that people can play lot of games for Windows on Linux(including newer ones). For example this channel has a lot of videos about games.

Yes, you can, but there is no guarantee that those specific game you want to run will run, and if it runs it may eventually only work in single-player and not in multi-player, or vice versa.

Yea... that's my issue. From what I have been reading over the years is that Linux is just never going to be a gaming platform in the same sense of the word that Windows is. I am serious that this is the only thing that has held me back from making the switch. I mean I run a personal server using Debian and a hardly used laptop that is running Ubuntu but my daily system, the one that I am stuck staring at for 8 to 10 hours a day, is still running Windows. I am just unable to make the switch.

This is my main machine and I have Windows slimmed down and tweaked at an extreme (it performs very well) but I still yearn for that next level of control and customization. I also wouldn't mind keeping some of my money out of Bills pocket

So the general consensus that I am gleaning from the replies so far is that, while Linux does have a decent list of native games and it does support Windows games there are some nagging issues. Performance, from what I read can be an issues depending on the game and the lack of multiplayer in some games being a HUGE sticking point for me. I do love to play multiplayer FPS shooters and the best and most populated ones are Windows based.

Am I somewhat on target here? This is the same issue that holds me back every time I get the itch to move to Linux. I sit here and say "well I have almost everything that I need right now in Windows, why make the switch"?

I have come to the conclusion; Love Linux, love the control, love the customization, and love the community.... but unfortunately the world is Windows-centric and that is not likely to change any time soon.

Thanks again for the replies and keep them coming in if you think that I am missing a huge point somewhere. I really get into this question about once a year hoping that things have changed but the answer is always the same; Linux is not quite there yet for the gaming mainstream

Linux is for WORK ,for getting things done
Windows is for games , NOT for being able to do work -- there are way to many roadblocks MS has put into the OS to be able to even get any work done.

a lot of games use Microsoft's Direct X ( most console )
so there is no support for most console games if they NEED MS's DX10 or DX9

true some dx 8&9&10 an be ran in openGL in wine but slow

This is HOW MS wants it. MS is scared to DEATH of openGL taking hold on consoles like playstation or xbox .Right now they have a patent LOCK ( and payments to them) for Direct X

just try to use MS's nvidia driver ( from auto updates and NOT from nvidia) to play a openGL2.2 or 3 game
you can not .Unless you install a non ms driver


so use windows 7 to play MS windows ONLY games
Dual boot

M2C ... bring on the openGL revolution

Until that occurs however, I second the dual boot option for games (which is also the only reason I have a Windows partition)

I have dedicated gaming PC with Windows as its pretty hopeless to get games to work on Linux reliably.
With Wine you might get some games to work after tweaking but I wouldn't count on it. I once got even the cedega subscription but ditched it as I didn't even get the "supported" game titles to work. I got reply from cedega few months after I cancelled my subscription in the lines "that shouldn't be happening" but that didn't help me get any further.

Gaming in Windows is just painless and easy. Now I run *Nix on my laptop and HTPC box but leave games for Windows.

btw PlayOnLinux and djt(djl?) are very good game libraries that resolve problems with Wine'ed games install or just fetching native linux game. POL is list of games with wine setup, djt is list of linux game sorted by genre,pic and description with online update.

The second post in this thread should be worth reading for anyone who has an interest in Linux gaming.

how to download games with POL ?

PlayOnLinux is not for downloading games. It will help you to install Windows-games with downloading a known-working Wine-version, installing needed software like DirectX, dotNet, ... if necessary and so on. You need a copy of that game to use PlayOnLinux.

i discovered it lately...
aren't there any good addicting linux native games 'bcoz i don't think that everyone working on linux is a robot.
There should be some fun at least...
i tried torcs and vdrift but they weren't good enough........