1. Steel Storm: Episode 1 (released in 2010)
2. Braid (released in 2010)
3. Unreal Tournament 2004
4. Quake 3: Arena
5. Counter-Strike 2D
6. Globulation 2
7. Penumbra: Requiem
8. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (released in 2010)
9. Quake 4
10. TrueCombat:Elite

The fact that the first two spots are taken by games released in 2010 is impressive, although only one more game in the list was released last year (Amnesia).

Remember that if you think a game is rated too high or too low, you can go and cast your own vote ;)

The previous version of Penguspy was running on WordPress using the Thematic+Gallery themes. Version 2 still uses WordPress, but the theme is completely custom built in pure HTML 5 and CSS 3 awesomeness (more cool bits are implemented as browsers add support for them) and some JQuery magic that provide a much better User Experience while going through Penguspy’s database of the best Linux games.

The UI/interaction changes from the previous version are too many to mention, but I would like to highlight some new functionality:

1. New instant search box – results appear as you type.
2. New change view and filter buttons. You can select between a thumbnail and a list view of the games (change is instant), and you can choose to view free and/or commercial games.
3. You can sort games by
   1. Recently added (default)
   2. A to Z
   3. Highest rated
   4. Most viewed
4. PenguChoice filter only displays games that are hand-picked by Penguspy.
5. In order to make sense of all the filters and selections you’ve made, this line describes the current view and is automatically updated every time you make a change.
6. The system informs you that some games are hidden from the current view, due to the active filters. You can click ‘show’ to remove those filters.
7. Instant access to all the available game categories.
8. You can submit games to Penguspy’s database (they are reviewed before insertion).
9. The share link open a small drop-down window that lets you share Penguspy with your social circle in a variety of ways. Please share!
10. If there is anything that looks like a bug, incorrect/outdated content, UI issue or anything that shouldn’t be happening in Penguspy, then you can quickly report it here.

There are more new and cool bits to discover while you explore the website.

Overall the aim of V2 is to make the process of finding a game as easy and quick as possible, and facilitate some of the latest open web technologies.  One more thing I want to mention is that the YouTube videos that are embedded in the game pages will use the HTML5 video canvas tag instead of the Flash plugin, when a) there is an html5 version of the video available on YouTube and b) you have opted-in for html5 videos in YouTube.

As with every new piece of software some bugs might be found, thus the ‘beta’ tag on the logo. Please report any bug you come across using [10].

Some of my goals for future development are:

• Let users filter games by year (e.g. show free games released in 2010 sorted by rating)
• Provide a Top 10 list
• Add multiple videos per game
• Add screenshots
• Provide links to other Linux gaming sites
• Add more native HTML5/CSS3 functionality

Don’t forget that Penguspy needs your help and contributions in order to keep improving, and there are many ways to do so:

1. Submit games to Penguspy.
2. Rate, rate & rate! It is very important to rate games you are familiar with. By doing this, you help Penguspy build a more reliable and concise database of games that other people can browse through. (I plan to build a mini-app in Penguspy that will let you go through the games with the least amount of ratings and …rate them).
3. Spread the word! If you really like a game, then share it with your friends! The quickest way is by clicking the Facebook ‘like’ button, which is available in every game page.
4. Discuss! Post your opinion about a game, provide links with additional resources, tutorials, maps, addons, etc!
5. Join Penguspy’s community page on Facebook (it has extra content).

As always, I am open to your suggestions!

> Go to the new Penguspy

Game on,
Kostas Mavropalias

• Game details page
  • improved layout
  • added ‘similar games’ list
• Homepage
  • added more sorting options (and integrated them in a single drop-down menu)
  • now you can view more games in a single page (12, 24, 48, 96)
  • you can filter the games based on their license (free / commercial)!
  • …and you can use all of the above at once!
• Other
  • you can now suggest games to be added on Penguspy

Some of the things that I am working on, are:

• fix/improve the layout of the search page, and add a search box below the main menu
• create a section for windows games played through wine/cedega. I want to showcase the platinum quality games, as suggested at wine’s website (although some ‘platinum’ games are not that …platinum).
• create a section for emulators. Basically suggest the best emulators for each platform, how to obtain/install and use them.
• create a section with other Linux community gaming sites
• some games do not have good videos and some other games that I want to add do not have a youtube video at all. I want to hightlight these ‘problems’ in the game pages and ask help from the community (create and submit new/better videos in HD)
• create a ‘report’ button in the game pages, in case some information is outdated/incorrect or the video is no longer available/incorrect/etc.
• provide more information about each game as you browse through them. The plan is to add a small vertical sidebar next to each game’s thumbnail, with icons like free/commercial, community rating, etc.
• create a proper logo for Penguspy
• clean-up and improve the site’s design/graphics/usability

Hmm, I think I don’t forget something.  Do you have any other ideas?

I will provide more information about the install button in a future development log.

Thanks for your support people!

Please don’t forget to rate the games that you have experienced/played, so that the rest of the community can have a more meaningful experience as they browse through games!

/eNoS|S

I am a gamer in a state of denial. I refuse to use windows anymore! I love the speed,stability and ease of use of my Linux desktop pc (doesn’t matter which distro I use). But I also love games :/

So now what? Am I doomed playing sudoku and breakout for ever? I want some real games … you know, like the ones I used to play in windows.

I tried to search for games through my package manager, but after two weeks of browsing through thousands of …awesome games I noticed that I was still half-way through the list …nice.So I decided to ask google for some help:  “best linux games”. And voila! Thousands of lists with the top 10 Linux games from 1840 through 2030! Seriously, there must be some kind of game-spam-bot creating the same list over and over, because all ‘top 10′ lists seem to have the same games!

On my next try I went crazy on a quest to find all Linux gaming sites. And I did …all 5 of them! Oh the joy. Now I could go through lists of thousands of games, once more (only on two of the five sites, ’cause the other three required a brain implant to figure out how to find a good game …on a site about games).

…nice

I suppose lots of people must hate me now :)

Seriously, there are lots of good gaming sites dedicated to Linux that I visit daily, and even more great games.

But I’m trying to think like a first-time Linux user, or a windows user that wants to make the switch to Linux. I would like to have an easy way to find all the good games available on Linux. I would like to be able to see community ratings, screenshots, videos, user comments and other nice features that make the process of finding a good game easy!

I also want to view every single good game that I can play on Linux. That means that I am also interested in commercial games, both with native Linux support or emulation (wine) . Why should I limit myself just on open source games, if a commercial one is really worth its money? Of course, I want to be able to filter the games based on their license (open source/commercial/etc).

Finally, I also want to be able to install and actually play these games! Hehe, yeah, that’s a tough one :)

Being a Web/Interactive Designer and a gamer, I decided to create Penguspy as my contribution to the Linux ecosystem.

Penguspy is not a gaming news site. It’s not going to have reviews and interviews.

The goal of this project is to act as a showcase of all the good games in Linux (regardless of distro), raise awareness of Linux as a gaming platform and provide an easy way to install all these games, in an aesthetically pleasing, feature-rich and easy to use interface.

The site is constantly been updated with more games and more features.

A big thanks to the 24.000 people that visited Penguspy in the first week of its public beta, along with an even bigger thanks to the other Linux gaming sites that helped in the creation of Penguspy.

Now, I would like to ask your help in rating the games that you have played and maybe leave a comment to help other users decide on a game.

I hope you’ll stick around and spread the word! ;)

> Visit Penguspy.com

/eNoS|S

<edit> thanks for the reviews:

• nofullstop.com
• taringa.net
• renkei.fr
• my.opera.com/claudeb/blog
• and all the others that talked and/or linked penguspy :)