Great Linux Games: Extreme Tux Racer

Since upgrading to the beta version of Ubuntu Lucid I've rediscovered a classic Linux game: Extreme Tux Racer.  This game features the Linux mascot, Tux, sliding down the side of a mountain, collecting herring, avoiding trees, and going off jumps on his way to the finish line at the bottom.  It is a timed race (no other contestants involved), and you can start a campaign and work your way through a series of races or simply "practice" on any track you want.

I absolutely love insanely fast, out-of-control speed racing games such as this (I was a big fan of Star Wars Racer for the Nintendo 64 back in the day), and this is the perfect outlet for me.  Trying to keep Tux under control as he is screaming along a half-pipe of solid ice at breakneck speed while collecting herring and racing against the clock is such a blast.  The versions that have shipped with the last few releases of Ubuntu have added some great tracks to choose from (I recommend "In Search of Vodka" and "Candy Lane").

There are several other games for Linux that I want to write about at some point, but this is the one I caught myself playing this evening.  If you haven't tried it I highly recommend it (it is in the Ubuntu repos and the website is here).  Have fun!

From the website:

Introducing GSW Extreme 2009 (...or, The best game on Linux is Linux)!

I'm not a hard-core gamer, but I do enjoy an occasional game once in a while. There are a bunch of great ones available on Linux that I play once in a while, but I frequently find myself wondering which I enjoy more; the game or the joy of tinkering with Linux to get it to do more for me. Linux is so powerful and so flexible that what you do with it is only limited by your imagination (if you don't believe me, check these guys out). I'm frequently amazed at how often I will get an idea for what I would like Linux to do for me and after a little research I find someone who is doing it or something close enough that I can customize it for my purposes.

A friend of mine summed it up nicely in a blog post, "Linux can be the most addictive game ever devised". I totally agree. I refer to the "game" as GSW, Getting Stuff Working, and I can't stop playing. I'm a junkie (Mrs. Jizldrangs would back me up on that). I crave the feeling of personal achievement when I get some crazy idea in my head and then figure out how to Get it Working on my computer. I probably would have started this blog years ago if I hadn't.

It sounds pretty pathetic, and it is to a degree, but at the heart of it is a creative and inventive element that is part of human rationality. Our distinguishing characteristic as humans is to combine known, understood truths to form new, not-previously-known truths. I find the flexibility and power of the tools available on Linux to be a unique parallel to that activity. There are a bunch of little tools that "do one thing well" in accordance with the Unix tradition, and there are unlimited ways of combining them to do a lot of incredible things. Let your creativity roll!

As a matter of fact, if you're reading this blog, I'm probably in good company. So how are you going to get your next fix?