Linux, games, and Windows question

Which OS is used by gamers usually? Windows? I am thinking of switching to Linux, but I am wondering if I can still play games on it, like Halo. I read that an emulator is needed. Would you guys just recommend using Windows instead of Linux?

Zorak makes some fine suggestions, but one that is popular as well is to simply dual-boot, i.e. I boot into Linux by default and only boot into Windows when I want to play a Windows-only game (the majority of games). Trying to setup gaming using WINE, even with the help of Cedega, isn't 100% so it's usually left to those that absolutely don't want the OS from Redmond on their machine and play games that are known to work well under WINE (which, by the way, is NOT an emulator, it's an API translation layer)

You can get WINE which is legally 100% free here:

http://winehq.com/

Here's the games and applications database for WINE

http://appdb.winehq.org/

http://appdb.winehq.org/appbrowse.php

You can get Cedega here:

http://www.transgaming.com/index.p [...] =2&meid=-1

Cedega is not free

Here's the games database for Cedega

http://transgaming.org/gamesdb/


As bmouring already pointed out dual-booting is an option.

I personally use Linux on all my machines and have one PC which dual boots Linux and another OS for non-Linux friendly games.

Now of course there are a few other options... FreeDOS for DOS games, VMWare, QEMU, Win4Lin( QEMU based ), ReactOS and there are Linux emulators for several consoles if you like console games.

VMWare and QEMU are not that great for modern games but they can handle some older games -- both are free.

:-D

Yes you can play some console games on a PC.

There are emulators and such for most popular consoles for both Linux and windoze.

Google around for your_favorite_console+emulator+linux

i was looking around a bit and I couldnt find Xbox360 console games to be playable on the PC like halo 2. can yall please help me find one

First Person shooters, and some good RPG'S

yeah basically those are the games I like. But I would really like to play Halo 2 ON PC if thats possible without any FPS problems I was looking around the sites and some were saying that a PC must be 4 times faster than a console or somethin but am not sure. Oh and could I play halo 2 Online or just by LAN ?? I Play Americas army V2.7 on my PC a lot, and was wondering if I could play it on Linux Ubuntu. I saw that they have V 2.6 on linux but not 2.7 maybe i am wrong but I'd like to know if there is a way to do that play on linux.

they do mention that halo2 will be available for VISTA which is another like $150 OS just to play it. But I didnt see on wikipedia where I could play that game on a PC before Vista comes out


EDITED: Are you playing any console games on your PC ??? just a question...If so what console and what emulator(s) 8)

http://www.penguin-soft.com/penguin/man/6/fceu.html

http://www.ngemu.com/xbox

http://happypenguin.org/

http://www.linuxgames.com/

http://www.tuxgames.com/

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net

http://www.arcadeathome.com/console.phtml

OpenGL games usually run GREAT under Linux. D3D games not so much, or not at all.

Your mileage will vary.

:-D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenGL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct3D


OpenGL is a 3D standard and is available on any platform ( so it will run on almost any operating system - but that doesn't mean openGL games will ).

D3D ( Direct 3D ) is a microsoft thing and is effectively microsoft only.


OpenGL games like Quake, Doom, etc usualy run great, in fact they have native Linux versions!

http://home.pacbell.net/freundj/openglgames/

I believe so.

http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iAppId=1986

I don't think it is very Linux / WINE friendly.


Other games run better though:

http://appdb.winehq.org/appbrowse.php?iCatId=16


Always try the native Linux version if you can find one before you try WINE or Cedega or any other method.

and it seems like that the site WINE has it Sweet!! But how do I download it onto linux once I get my Linux OS installed. You see i am going to run a PC thats pure Windows and other one thats going to be pure Linux Ubuntu which my friend will play Americas army on. Oh and by the way any GPU recommendations for the Linux game like ATI or Nvidia ??? I saw articels on tomshardware that Nvidia are really good for Linux but ATI is just the same, and of course i am not looking for hgih end GPU's. Here is the parts that the Linux PC will have
Motherboard

OR

ATI motherboard

alright thanks NVIDIA it is. Any suggestions on under $60 PCI-E GPU it can be $65 with shipping

thanks for all your help man! if a problem occcurs or if there is a help I ll need on linux Ill PM you or make a post thanks man and have a great day or good night 8)

Just letting you know that America's Army is a game that has a native Linux port, so you may want to look into that instead of using WINE.