Android is, as many of you no-doubt already know, an operating system designed to be run on mobile phones. Originally it was developed by Google, but now development is being handled by the Open Handset Alliance - a consortium of 48 software, hardware and telecom companies. Currently I know of that at least some of the HTC phones are using Android as their operating system.
Even though Android has been out for a few years now, you have only been able to run it in an emulator of sorts, unless you own one of those smartphones. However, now for the first time, you can run it directly on your computer!
I have tried it out on my laptop, and now I’m going to give you a quick tour of Live Android and see if it’s worth using on your netbook.
You know how Linux really lacks in the gaming department? Well, the people over at Frictional Games and Paradox Interactive have certainly done their part by porting their popular horror game triology, The Penumbra Series, to Linux! That’s right. No Wine, no Cedega. A native port of one of the most well-made horror game series ever made!
But not only that! They’re actually selling all of the games in the series for a total cost of $5! For the cost of a pizza you’re getting three very high quality games, running natively in Linux.
Any screenshots, trailers or anything?
Sure thing! Here are the trailers for all three of the games, along with some screenshots and a review.
Players immerse themselves in Penumbra’s chilling world through a plucky, inquisitive physicist named Phillip. After his dear old mum kicks the bucket, Phil receives a letter from his father, Howard, a man supposedly deceased. The message is full of cryptic directions to somewhere in Greenland, as well as a plea to destroy all evidence leading to it. Instead, Phillip decides to journey to the ends of the earth to determine what exactly mortified his dad.
The biggest draw of Penumbra, aside from its creepy, subterranean locales, is the real-world physics engine players use to solve puzzles. While exploring a vacant mineshaft whose tunnels house a highly advanced research facility, players can mess with the world around them in a simple, logical fashion.
[...]
The story matches the characters, boasting a top-notch narrative and a tendency to wax philosophical (anything that calls human existence banal gets brownie points in my book). The ending to the first episode is anti-climactic at best, and the third episode is devoid of plot advancement all together. Still, the tale told in episode two makes up for everything.
[...]
Penumbra brings back everything good about Survival Horror and Adventure games at a time when the first genre is dying and the second is already a corpse with an occasional, involuntary muscle spasm. The game rewards scheming and advance planning over the more conventional “make ‘em all dead” approach the big studios cling to like gospel.
At the risk of sounding pretentious (which with me is like saying there’s a chance reading the Nation/World section of a newspaper could depress you a tad), Penumbra is a thinking man’s — or lady’s — Survival Horror Game.
Either way, I hope you’ll support this brave move. The best way to show developers that it’s worth their time to make games for Linux is to buy the games that are already available. At only $5 there’s really no reason whatsoever to not buy them. So hurry up and get yourself some of the best Linux gaming available before this offer expires (July 19).
This really is kind of yesterday’s news, but I figured I’d report on it anyway, seeing as how I have a great interest in this myself.
Yesterday was the Swedish election to the European parliament. Normally such an election probably wouldn’t be such a big deal to most Swedes, as Brussels and Europe can seem so far away to a lot of people. But yesterday, something big happened.
With 7.1% of the votes, the Pirate Party gained one (or possibly two) seats in the European parliament.
