TransGaming: Multi-platform gaming

As Linux and other OS’s gain popularity, the ability to game on these platforms become a greater need. As we all know, the majority of computer games on the market are designed to be played on Windows based systems. Some of the gaming companies have tried to port their software to Mac OS X or Linux but their efforts prove not to be cost effective. Enter TransGaming Technologies, an Ottawa based software firm, with a different approach to making gaming multi-platformed. Their WineX software is designed to translate Windows computer games, on the fly, so that can be played on Linux systems.

WineX is an attempt to sidestep the costly and difficult process of “porting” a game from one computing platform to another. Porting is done all the time in the gaming business. Games originally written for PlayStation 2 or XBox are carted over to Windows PCs and vice versa. Several companies, such as MacPlay, have found success in porting major Windows PC games to the Apple Macintosh. But so far, porting to Linux has been a losing game. One company that tried it, California-based Loki Games, went bust in 2001.

TransGaming thinks it has a better idea. Rather than rewrite huge slabs of game software for a Linux version, Linux users can run Windows games on top of WineX code. State insists that the extra layer of software doesn’t harm the performance of the games. “In some cases we’ve seen games run faster in Linux than they do under Windows,” State said.

Meanwhile, a few gaming companies are going out on a limb and offering true Linux versions of their titles. BioWare Corp. of Edmonton, Alberta, sells a Linux version of its popular role-playing game, Neverwinter Nights. The US Army never planned to make a profit on its hugely popular war game America’s Army, so it’s no surprise that it has produced a free Linux version at www.americasarmy.com.

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The idea of translating code isn’t a new one but it looks as if TransGaming has found a market niche in which they can capitalize on the method. The claim that the translated code can run faster on Linux than it does natively on Windows sound really remarkable. I would like to see some benchmarks on that. I’m not sure if this company is developing this software for other OS’s or if it is strictly for Linux. The site’s META description, “TransGaming Technologies create the portability solutions that allow gamers to run their games on multiple platforms such as Linux”, leads me to believe that they are working toward a true multi-platform solution. This is a good company to keep an eye on. I should talk to my brother about TransGaming’s stock outlook.