In a decidedly good effort to make Linux even less daunting to the general public, the project linux-gamers.net recently released its first “boot ‘n play” Linux live DVD 0.9.2. It was created with the idea to present Linux games in a novel way at this year’s LinuxTag exhibition in Berlin. The purpose was to create a collection of games that could be run directly off the live DVD, without the user having to know anything about Linux.
The live DVD is based on a version of Arch Linux, and is strictly “gaming only”. It does not offer any regular desktop Linux functionality; not even a web browser. Instead, it contains games like BzFlag, Tremulous, Sauerbraten, and, of course, World of Padman! When you are playing WoP off the live DVD, it may well look rather dark. This is actually a common issue in Linux. You could brighten your screen before playing, but we suggest you first try and set “ignore gamma” to off from the ingame menu. Also, you should disable the ingame music if you do not want your DVD to spin up too often.
At the LinuxTag, this year held from May 30 to June 2, the live DVD was a smashing hit! As a result, the developers said they are already pressing hard towards releasing version 1.0 soon. One of the main goals of the project, in their own words, was to “Try to take over the world”. Well, before June was over even, rangit.com already ranked WoP among the top 8 Linux games of 2007 (web archive). So, while the jury is still out on linux-gamers.net taking over the world, World of Padman at least is definitely going places!