Hi All,

It’s been a while I have blogged about something. I have been really busy these days.

A most common thing everyone points out about Linux and Open Source is that they lack entertainment tools. Specially when it comes to Media Players and Games. Here is my views….

When it comes to Media Players, Linux and Open Source has many tools. MPlayer is a cool player which can handle most of the common movie and audio formats like VCD, DVD, mp3, mp4, mpeg, avi, mov, wmv etc. There are many more players like xine, xmms, rhythmbox etc. But I like MPlayer for it’s easy to use interface and flexibility. It is truly a all-in-one player. There are many more tools available for audio/video editing too. Audacity, Cinellera, XawTV are just a few of them. Good news is that most of these players are ported to Win 32 Platform also. So you can run these tools in MS Windows too.

I am not a game addict. But I do enjoy playing games in computer occasionally. I used to play “Doom” and “Tetris” when I was introduced to computers and MS Dos. In Windows, I started with the popular “Road Rash” , “Need For Speed” etc. Later on, I was a bit reluctant to play games which needed much physical attention from my side. I was enjoying simple board games and puzzles. But I eventually got back into gaming and I loved playing “Call of Duty” and “Age of Empires”.  It was all on MS Windows.

Then, I set out on a search for such games for Linux. I was sure that the Open Source community simply will not ignore such an important branch in Software development and computer based entertainment. After digging the sourceforge.net site for 10 minutes, I locked in on two Open Source games which are available under GPL for Windows too. Here is a brief description about the two games.

Torcs is  “The Open Racing Car Simulator” . As the name suggests, it is a racing game. I was amazed the wide variety of Car models and tracks available inside this game. Game AI was also good. Skid Marks, Damage, Sound Effects, Road Tracks, Mud Tracks, Different Camera Angles…. this game will keep you entertained for hours.  With a little effort, you could design your own car and tracks too. 🙂

Dark-Oberon is a strategy based game like “Age of Empires”. In the start, You have some land and people. You make them work for you and build an empire. You need to consider building barracks, train soldiers, defend your castle, upgrade the forts, make weapons, use people for cutting wood and mining all at the same time. You must attack and destroy your enemies in order to conquer the world. This is such an addictive game. I must say that this game is still not as good as “Age of Empires” when it comes to the sound effects or weapon/building choices.. but I am sure that being only a beta release now, this software promises a lot. Do give it a try.

Why do you want to play pirated games when a better solution is available?

I will be back….
Undan 🙂