The scary Penumbra game trilogy, has just recently been ported natively to GNU-Linux by the manufacturer, Frictional Games. The Penumbra games are first person survival horror and physics puzzle games which challenge the player to survive in a mine in Greenland which has been taken over by a monstrous thing.

Our friends at Unigine Corp have published a 2009 development road-map for the Unigine Engine, their cross-platform gaming engine that is able to deliver stunning graphics on Linux.

At the end of last month the VDrift project did their first snapshot release in more than a year for this open-source drift racing game that's supported on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X operating systems.

Rarely do major game developers and publishers make a cross-platform game, and those that do rarely release the game for all platforms at the same time. Usually if there is a Linux or Mac version of a game, it won’t be released for weeks, months, or even years after the Windows version.

World of Goo, the most adorable game we’ve ever played cool game for cool people from 2D Boy, is officially one year old! Hooray! Oh, what’s that? You don’t own one or more copies of World of Goo? Well then, it’s your lucky day, because – until October 19 – the game’s price is, like its titular amorphous heroes, bending to your will.

While there are many open-source games available (just see the recent discussion about the most advanced GPL-ed FPS), most of them are based upon the ioquake3 game engine that in turn is based upon id Software's open-source id Tech 3 engine. There's also games like Nexuiz that use the DarkPlaces engine and then also Warsow that uses QFusion.

Game engines offer huge benefits to game developers. The main functionality they provide is the library of core functions used in a computer game.

Sandbox is a game design tool based on the Cube 2 engine that allows users to quickly and easily create and edit their own worlds in game, even cooperatively. It is free, open source, and easy to use for Kids and Adults.

Based upon the Cube engine, AssaultCube is a fast paced, first-person shooter, (partially) open source, cross platform game. Formerly called ActionCube, this game can be played both online with hundreds of other players from around the world or in a single player mode.