Linux has not been most people's preferred gaming platform until now because many interesting and also graphically sophisticated games are only available for other operating systems. But with PlayOnLinux [1], a tool enters the scene that makes games developed for Microsoft systems usable under the free operating system with the help of the Windows runtime environment, Wine. PlayOnLinux is also aimed at users who want to use conventional Windows applications on Linux. It therefore also integrates numerous office applications and programs for productive use.

With the release of Lutris [2], there is now another solution that uses Wine for Windows games and also integrates native Linux games. On top of this, Lutris supports games that are distributed and managed via the Steam platform, and the program can handle other digital distribution platforms that offer game collections or retro games. In this way, Lutris opens up a variety of integration options for games from a wide range of genres to serious gamers looking for a uniform interface.

Getting Started

In order to install Lutris and use it with Windows games, you may first need to add Wine as a runtime environment on your system. Depending on the distribution, you can either use the Wine packages included in the respective package sources or download them from special repositories (check out the detailed documentation on the Wine wiki page [3]).

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