I plan on actually buying this when it comes out sometime this fall, but was wondering if anybody knows anything about it yet, like a releaso date, etc?

Also, as I run linux, what are peoples' opinions of running ports of windows games vs. using wine vs. setting up a dual-boot to play that way instead?

well honestly, i was always soo hyped up for unreal games because the demo's rocked sooo much, but I havent even seen one for this game yet. a lil disappointed.

This is really just a pack of all the older games combined, you know that, right?

I've had this same problem Dash, I'll try to talk about each solution, and the pros and cons.

Running In Emulated Windows (wine)
In the past few years, windows emulation has come a long way. It's now getting to where some games will play just as good in linux + wine as they do in windows. Unfortunately, unless you're running a top-of-the-line system, you're going to see that First Person Shooters are going to have piss-poor performance.

Pros:
Allows you to run Direct X based games.
You get to continue using linux.

Cons:
Extra layer of execution, system resources are strained etc
Performance wont be as good for graphic intensive games.

Running Linux Native Binaries
Game companies have been releasing linux versions of their games for years now. Thanks to OpenGL, game developers can easily make this port to a different platform with relatively few headaches. Unfortunately, the performance of your game depends entirely on the support of your hardware in Linux. If you are running a NVIDIA or ATI card, you'll be able to run graphics intensive games in Linux pretty easily. There is currently some debate over the maturity over ATI's Linux driver base, from what i've seen though, they are almost caught up with NVIDIA as far as Linux support is concerned (unless you're running BSD like me, then NVIDIA is your only option). With Linux native binaries (and proper hardware support) you should'nt notice much difference between playing in Linux and playing in Windows. I used to run Quake3 in Linux, and it performed better than my windows install.

Pros:
You maintain your linux install.
Better performance over windows emulation.

Cons:
You must stick to specific hardware.
Only a few game companies support Linux (quake/doom/ut but not stuff like cs or cs source)

Running In Dual Boot
This seems to be the best solution to the problem (although not the best for the advancement of gaming in Linux). As a competative player, I demand the most performance and ease of use from my games. I dont want to spend hours tweaking my mouse sensitivity, or making sure acceleration is off, or tweaking my video settings, or making sure my mouse is running at 1600 dpi. I just want to run my game and go. The problem with a dual boot setup is you litterally have to Re-Boot anytime you want to play a game. This isnt a problem for some, but the question is, will you have enough self-dicipline to use windows primarily for gaming? Eventually you might find yourself using windows more and more, and neglecting Linux.

Pros:
Performance and ease of use for gaming.

Cons:
You must reboot (alot if you're addicted to gaming).
Takes dicipline to remain a faithful linux user.

May I suggest an alternate solution? If you have a laptop, what a good thing to do would be to keep your desktop as a gaming machine. And use your laptop for everything else (browsing,work,etc etc). I did that last year, and up untill my laptop died, this worked perfectly. I got to maintain my use of *nix, but was able to play games without pesky reboots or special emulation.

I do not have a laptop, so that is kinda out.

I suppose in this case, as I don't play many games anymore, with exception of the Unreal series, native binaries might be best for me, though I know the least about it of the options. I have dual-booted in the past, but as you said, rebooting a lot is annoying.


No, not really. I have used linux for a while now, and now windows annoys me.


I suppose I will update this if I actually get the game sometime this fall.

Most sites say it will be out in Fall of this year, some say in August. I wasn't able to find an exact release date. I have all of the games already, or I might consider buying it.

By the way, I'm always down for playing some UT2k4 for all that have it and are interested (DM primarily). I could use some target practice