Ubuntu for Games

Fallout

2009-10-24T10:32:00.002+08:00

A repost from my Ubuntu Living blog:

Last December I stumbled on Good Old Games, a site that sells downloadable Vista- and XP-ready DRM-free reissues of classic games. And at pretty reasonable prices, too.

Part of their catalog were the earlier games from the Fallout series. And what do you know? They were offering Fallout and Fallout 2 at a bundle of $9.99. Just in time came my Paypal money, too. Since Paypal money is easier for me to spend, I went ahead and bought the games.
Only managed to play Fallout this morning and I'm happy to say it runs perfectly under Wine. I guess that's something to be said for the stuff from GoG: more likely than not, they will run in Linux (though you should check the Wine database just to be sure.)

A few words about Fallout itself: for a 10-year old game, it still manages to hold up pretty well. The intro cut-scene is cinematic and the gameplay is suspenseful. But what really got me was the top-notch voice acting; as it turns out, the narrator was voiced by one of my favorite character actors, Ron Perlman (Hellboy, if you didn't know.)

Warcraft II

2009-10-24T10:30:00.001+08:00

A repost from my Ubuntu Living blog:

I found a copy of Warcraft II: Battle.Net Edition on sale at Data Blitz in SM City Davao. How much? P200. Yup, that's right: P200. I was sorely tempted to buy it. After much vacillation over several visits (did I really have time to play), I finally caved in.

And you know the best part? It works great in Wine under Ubuntu!

Hmmm...and there's still a Baldur's Gate two-pack over there, too. A bit pricier at P800, but that's for both the original Baldur's Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast. Tempting, tempting....

Powermanga

2009-10-24T10:27:00.003+08:00

A repost from my Ubuntu Living blog:

Since it's the weekend, time for a bit of gaming goodness. Our feature today: Powermanga, a good old-fashioned shoot-em-up arcade game made just for Linux.

The Powermanga website boasts:

Powermanga is an arcade 2D shoot-em-up game with 41 levels and more than 200 sprites. It runs in 320x200 or 640x400 pixels, with Window mode or full screen and support for 8, 15, 16, 24, and 32 bpp.

And I must say, it's a beautiful game. The theme is pure retro art deco transformed by some alien design sense.

To install Powermanga:

sudo apt-get install powermanga

It works well enough on my unaccelerated video card, so you should get good mileage out of it, too.

Just some tips, as the controls aren't so clear from lack of in-game documentation:

Arrow keys move your ship around and spacebar fires your weapons (well, duh!)

Right Ctrl key activates the upgrade highlighted on the right side of the screen. Upgrade options light up as you collect the green powerups. Collect more powerups to get a different upgrade.

Get enough powerups and you can change your ship.

Other than that, it's shoot! dodge! shoot! Great mindless fun.

Fire away!

Super Tux

2009-10-24T10:17:00.001+08:00

A repost from my Ubuntu Living blog:

And now for some classic gaming goodness...presenting Super Tux, a Super Mario Bros.-like clone for Linux.

Level design isn't quite nearly as great as Super Mario Bros. and the lack of easter eggs hampers it somewhat, but it's okay when you need a quick gaming fix. And it works with my USB gamepad.

Super Tux is available from the Ubuntu repositories. To install:

sudo apt-get install supertux

Warsow

2009-10-17T09:55:00.002+08:00

Yet another open source first-person shooter from the Ubuntu repositories, Warsow distinguishes itself because of its cel-shading presentation and because of its fast loading times. Of the three shooters I've tried under Ubuntu, Warsow came up the fastest. Its cartoonish presentation also marks a refreshing change from the typically dark and grimy environs we've come to expect from games like this.

Warsow's emphasis, like Nexuiz, is on multiplayer.

Sauerbraten

2009-10-17T09:27:00.002+08:00

Sauerbraten is another open source first-person shooter that's available in the Ubuntu repositories. According to the Sauerbraten web site, it's a major redesign of the Cube engine.

Of the Ubuntu first-person shooters that I've tried, I like Sauerbraten best because it seems to have a halfway decent single-player campaign.

Nexuiz

2009-10-13T11:30:00.003+08:00

I'm not much for first-person shooters but after a few tries with Nexuiz, I can see the appeal. The experience can be exhilarating. Now if only I didn't get shot so much.

According to the Nexuiz web site:

Nexuiz is a fast paced 3d deathmatch game project created online by a team of developers called Alientrap. It is available for download for Windows, Mac, and Linux (all the same archive).

The first version was released May 31st 2005, released entirely GPL and free over the net, a first for a project of its kind. Since then it has been downloaded over 1.5 million times, and the game is still being updated and developed, currently at version 2.5 and new releases being developed.

For more screens of the project and a video see the media page on the navbar, and for more questions or infomation see info or faq. If you would like to help out the project, and encourage more development, you can donate to the team through paypal with the donation link in the sidebar.

Apart from that, there's not much to say. Shoot, move, shoot some more. Oh, and don't get shot.

Installs quite easily via APT, though it may take a while as it's a 300-MB download.

Sacrifice

2009-09-24T14:50:00.003+08:00

As with many of the games in my current collection, I bought Sacrifice from Good Old Games; true to the name of the vendor, Sacrifice is an old game, originally written for Windows 95. With some caveats, it runs well enough on Ubuntu.

Sacrifice is a combination first-person perspective / real-time strategy game in a fantasy setting. You gain mana by sacrificing souls of creatures, the mana which you then use to cast spells in combat.

Sacrifice installed easily under Wine; getting it to run had occasional problems, the solution of which it seems is to go down to a lower resolution in Ubuntu before starting the game. Once you do get past a few screens, the game runs well enough.

I haven't gone too deep into the game yet, but it looks and sound promising. Sacrifice features a top-notch voice cast, led by Tim Curry.

Plants vs Zombies

2009-09-23T18:25:00.004+08:00

Plants vs Zombies is another hit from PopCap Games. It's gotten good reviews and is currently the strongest selling title in PopCap's lineup. And no, they haven't created a version for Linux, what you're seeing here is the Windows version running in Wine.

I'll admit it's a fun title and the combination of whimsy and strategy hits the spot. Some of my friends have gotten addicted to it. Not really my cup of tea, though, as I found it getting a little repetitive after a while.

Getting the trial game running on Ubuntu was a breeze. I had the installer run on Wine, and that was that. However, registering the game itself to play beyond the trial period became a problem because of the hocus-pocus in the registration process.

Final summary: okay to try in Ubuntu, but you might not get it to register to the full version on Linux.

20,000 Light Years Into Space

2009-09-13T16:50:00.001+08:00

A real-time strategy game that doesn't involve any armies: could such a game be possible? Could such a game be FUN? The conventional answer would be "No", but Jack Whitham's 20,000 Light Years Into Space is by no means a conventional game.

The premise is simple: you're building a base on the moon, and the base being powered by steam, you need to lay down a network of pipes and nodes. The objective is to upgrade your base up to a particular tech level, possible only if you have enough steam flowing in from the nodes. Each tech level gives you one more worker unit, which means you can build pipes simultaneously; however, if you, er, run out of steam, the game ends. Complicating matters are various events, such as aliens, earthquakes, and tornadoes, all of which destroy your pipes and affect your steam supply.

As I said, there are no armies to command. This game is purely resource building. But if you think it's boring, you couldn't be more wrong. At times, 20,000 Light Years can be nail-bitingly tense as you scramble to lay out a new pipe to replace a broken one. It's an RTS that's not oriented towards the military but towards engineering.

20,000 Light Years Into Space is installable via APT.

Hello, world!

2009-09-13T16:07:00.001+08:00

What are computers for if not for fun?

Oh, sure, there are all those serious applications like databases and accounting systems, but if we go back to the days of SpaceWar!, then we can see the real reason computers exist.

Okay, so I'm only kidding. Or more like half-kidding. Fact is, although I use computers for work (I teach at a university and run a couple of small businesses), like everybody else, I do enjoy a game now and then to let off steam.

On the other hand, I use Ubuntu almost exclusively at home and at work, and have done so for the past four years (and other distros for much longer). Conventional wisdom says that gaming options for Linux are limited, but I can honestly say that the situation has gotten much better in recent times. Yes, Windows still gets the lion's share of PC game releases, but the Linux gaming landscape isn't as barren as it was before.

This blog is meant to document my experiences with gaming on Ubuntu. I also run the Ubuntu Living. In the course of running that blog, I noticed that a significant number of posts have been about games. Thus, I decided to spin off a more niche site dealing with the subject.

I hope you like the site, and you come back often for tips and reviews.