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By: Robert Lemos Designed By: Val Prusmack
What could be worse than the lack of big-name titles? Games are hard to install on Linux. Installing a Windows game is as easy as double-clicking the setup icon; however, installing a Linux game, especially a 3D game, frequently involves the equivalent of open-heart surgery on a PC's system software. But that will change soon. In early March, the graphics platform that forms the basic foundation of the graphics in Unix systems - including Linux - got an upgrade. Called XFree86, the graphics foundation had included only the code necessary for 2D applications. To play a 3D game, you had to add specific software later. In its latest incarnation, XFree86 4.0, fast 3D becomes part of the package.
Linux can already support 3D graphics and sound, but these new initiatives should make such features standard on all Linux machines. Add to that an increasing interest in porting games to Linux, and the free operating system seems ready to become a major player in interactive entertainment. Just as Microsoft's move from DirectX 5 to DirectX 6 made a world of difference to Windows developers, the move from Xfree86 version 3 to version 4, the addition of OpenAL, and other developments in the fast-moving Linux world promise to lower the development bar for game companies, and that means more games for Linux.
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