Running Windows Games on Linux

Written by Rai
Posted December 5, 2007 at 6:23 pm

A lot of people have been dying to see the games playable under MS Windows OS run on our favorite flavor of Linux. Once it was impossible but not anymore since Linux developers have introduced a way to run MS-based programs under Linux. There are a couple of implementations that can do this including Wine.

From Wine’s official website, Wine is described as

Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X, OpenGL, and Unix.

In layman’s term, Wine is a third-party Linux program that is free and open source, that offers a compatibility layer for Microsoft programs and Linux. Think of it as a bridge between your favorite MS app and your favorite Linux distro.

There are a couple of programs that are definitely sure to run under Wine/Linux like MS Office but I would like to focus more on the list of compatible games and how much they are playable in Linux.

Wine’s official website groups three different compatibility categories: Platinum (applications which install and run flawlessly on an out-of-the-box Wine installation), Gold (applications that work flawlessly with some special configuration) and Silver (applications with minor issues that do not affect typical usage).

Platinum:

Half-Life
Diablo II
Unreal Tournament
Max Payne
Descent 3
Warcraft III
You Don’t know Jack
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit

Gold:

Roller Coaster Tycoon
Delta Force 2
Counter-Strike: Source
Theme Hospital
Command & Conquer: Generals
Call of Duty
Far Cry
Halo: Combat Evolved
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death

Silver:

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun
Baldur’s Gate II
Worms 2
Command & Conquer: Renegade
Ragnarok Online
Dungeon Siege
Warlords: Battlecry II
Emperor: Battle for Dune
Final Fantasy XI Online
Guild Wars

The list was compiled based on WineHQ’s AppDb. If you have tried an MS-based game to run under Wine/Linux, share it here with the rest of Linux geeks .