All You Need To Know. Can I play games on Linux This is one of the most frequently asked questions by people who are thinking about switching to Linux. After all, gaming on Linux often termed as a distant possibility. In fact, some people even wonder if they can listen to music or watch movies on Linux. Considering that, the question about native Linux games seem genuine. In this article, I am going to answer most of the Linux gaming questions a Linux beginner may have. For example, if it is possible to play games on Linux, if yes, what are the Linux games available, where can you download Linux games from or how do you get more information about gaming on Linux. Avast Free Antivirus Download. But before I do that, let me make a confession. I am not a PC gamer or rather I should say, I am not desktop Linux gamer. GLAJpbLa8M/hqdefault.jpg' alt='How To Install Itunes On Linux Mint 16 Release' title='How To Install Itunes On Linux Mint 16 Release' />On Monday, we learned that Microsoft was killing off the iconic Microsoft Paint program after 32 years and replacing it with Paint 3D in its upcoming Windows 10 update. I prefer to play games on my PS4 and I dont care about PC games or even mobile games no candy crush request sent to anyone in my friend list. This is the reason you see only a few articles in Linux games section of Its FOSS. So why am I covering this topic then Because I have been asked questions about playing games on Linux several times and I wanted to come up with a Linux gaming guide that could answer all those questions. And remember, its not just gaming on Ubuntu I am talking about here. I am talking about Linux in general. Can you play games on LinuxYes and no Yes, you can play games on Linux and no, you cannot play all the games in Linux. Confused Dont be. What I meant here is that you can get plenty of popular games on Linux such as Counter Strike, Metro Last Night etc. But you might not get all the latest and popular Windows games on Linux, for e. PES 2. 01. 5. The reason, in my opinion, is that Linux has less than 2 of desktop market share and these numbers are demotivating enough for most game developers to avoid working on the Linux version of their games. Which means that there is huge possibility that the most talked about games of the year may not be playable in Linux. Dont despair, there are other means to get these games on Linux and we shall see it in coming sections, but before that lets talk about what kind of games are available for Linux. UJgsy_ulQM/UxMEJ5ZgL8I/AAAAAAAABh0/298MfnLHsis/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-03-02+at+5.04.56+PM.png' alt='How To Install Itunes On Linux Mint 16 Release' title='How To Install Itunes On Linux Mint 16 Release' />Hardware. Servers, storage and various appliances are cloud computings building blocks. I have written a detailed article about installing and using Steam. If you are getting started with Steam, do read it. Install and use Steam for gaming on Linux. The podcast craze of the past several years shows no signs of slowing down, and while every armchair broadcaster with a voice recorder app is eager to get in the game. TheINQUIRER publishes daily news, reviews on the latest gadgets and devices, and INQdepth articles for tech buffs and hobbyists. If I have to categorize, Ill divide them into four categories Native Linux Games. Windows games in Linux. Browser Games. Terminal Games. Lets start with the most important one, native Linux games, first. Where to find native Linux gamesNative Linux games mean those games which are officially supported in Linux. These games have native Linux client and can be installed like most other applications in Linux without requiring any additional effort well see about these in next section. So, as you see, there are games developed for Linux. Next question that arises is where can you find these Linux games and how can you play them. I am going to list some of the resources where you can download Linux games. SteamSteam is a digital distribution platform for video games. As Amazon Kindle is digital distribution platform for e Books, i. Tunes for music, similarly Steam is for games. It provides you the option to buy and install games, play multiplayer and stay in touch with other games via social networking on its platform. The games are protected with DRM. A couple of years ago, when gaming platform Steam announced support for Linux, it was a big news. It was an indication that gaming on Linux is being taken seriously. Though Steams decision was more influenced with its own Linux based gaming console and a separate Linux distribution called Steam OS, it still was a reassuring move that has brought a number of games on Linux. I have written a detailed article about installing and using Steam. If you are getting started with Steam, do read it. Install and use Steam for gaming on Linux. GOG. com. GOG. com is another platform similar to Steam. Like Steam, you can browse and find hundreds of native Linux games on GOG. If the games support several platforms, you can download and use them across various operating systems. Your purchased games are available for you all the time in your account. You can download them anytime you wish. One main difference between the two is that GOG. DRM free games and movies. Also, GOG. com is entirely web based. So you dont need to install a client like Steam. You can simply download the games from browser and install them in your system. Portable Linux Games. Portable Linux Games is a website that has a collection of a number of Linux games. The unique and best thing about Portable Linux Games is that you can download and store the games for offline installation. The downloaded files have all the dependencies at times Wine and Perl installation and these are also platform independent. All you need to do is to download the files and double click to install them. Store the downloadable file on external hard disk and use them in future. Highly recommend if you dont have continuous access to high speed internet. Game Drift Game Store. Game Drift is actually a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu with sole focus on gaming. While you might not want to start using this Linux distribution for the sole purpose of gaming, you can always visit its game store online and see what games are available for Linux and install them. Linux Game Database. As the name suggests, Linux Game Database is a website with a huge collection of Linux games. You can browse through various category of games and downloadinstall them from the game developers website. As a member of Linux Game Database, you can even rate the games. LGDB, kind of, aims to be the IGN or IMDB for Linux games. Penguspy. Created by a gamer who refused to use Windows for playing games, Penguspy showcases a collection of some of the best Linux games. You can browse games based on category and if you like the game, youll have to go to the respective game developers website. Software Repositories. Look into the software repositories of your own Linux distribution. There always will be some games in it. If you are using Ubuntu, Ubuntu Software Center itself has an entire section for games. Same is true for other Linux distributions such as Linux Mint etc. How to play Windows games in Linux So far we talked about native Linux games. But there are not many Linux games, or to be more precise, most popular games are not available for Linux but they are available for Windows PC. So the question arises, how to play Windows games in Linux Good thing is that with the help of tools like Wine, Play. On. Linux and Cross. Over, you can play a number of popular Windows games in Linux. Wine. Wine is a compatibility layer which is capable of running Windows applications in systems like Linux, BSD and OS X. With the help of Wine, you can install and use a number of Windows applications in Linux. Installing Wine in Ubuntu or any other Linux is easy as it is available in most Linux distributions repository. There is a huge database of applications and games supported by Wine that you can browse. Cross. Over. Cross. Over is an improved version of Wine that brings professional and technical support to Wine. But unlike Wine, Cross. Over is not free. Youll have to purchase the yearly license for it. Good thing about Cross. Over is that every purchase contributes to Wine developers and that in fact boosts the development of Wine to support more Windows games and applications. If you can afford 4. Cross. Over for the support they provide. Play. On. Linux. Play. On. Linux too is based on Wine but implemented differently.