FAQs

How can I get games for my Maemo device?

Simple. Browse to here on your Maemo browser and click on the button that looks like this for the game you want:

Why can't I play WoW or Unreal or <other PC game> on Maemo?

Those are examples of closed, proprietary games released for Windows PCs. Maemo isn't Windows, it's linux, and it's not on a PC, it's on an Arm-based computer.

What about using Wine?

Wine is not an emulator. http://wiki.maemo.org/Processor_architecture

But why is that game on iPhone?

The company that owns the intellectual property made a port or licensed it.

Can we get it on Maemo, then?

Maybe. Contact the company to let them know your support for a Maemo port. And by "support" I mean "willingness to pay them money for it".

If a thread is created in Games that requests a game port for a proprietary, closed source game, and no obvious way to achieve that exists (e.g. it's a proprietary PC/iPhone/Palm/Android/Mac/etc. game), it will be merged here. Please save the time of moderators and other community members by just posting in that thread to begin with.

In the case where a port is requested and an existing open source version is referenced, or some other distinguishing and noteworthy information is included, the thread will probably live on as an independent invitation to would-be maintainers.

So, if you want your request to carry some weight and not be just a "me, too" among many, you can increase your chances greatly with some basic research online.

What about a real emulator then?

That's fine. We've got everything from Atari to Zaxxon emulators, and maybe a few more in the works. Here's a list.

How do I get those?

Well, the emulators are in the repositories. The ROMs belong to the company that holds the copyright, so you'll have to buy one from them, or something. There are a few free ones available.

• MAME - MAMEdev has a few arcade ROMs
• ? - please send me links to freeware and public domain ROM sources

Can you tell me how to pirate the ROMs?

No. See the Rule.

Well, what about porting <open source game> to Maemo?

Good idea! When can you have it done?

It may actually be done already. Do a search! There are also a couple threads for politely requesting ports if you don't find one for the specific game.

Open source games known to run on linux that don't use OpenGL (for 3D graphics) are the best candidates. OpenGL is not available on Maemo devices, so OpenGL games need to be altered to use OpenGL ES, which is not trivial.

What games are actually available?

Thought you'd never ask.

There are three types of games. Those that are completely free, those that have trial or "shareware" limited versions, and those that you need to buy or provide the content for (from your own copy for the PC). I have marked with an * those that have a "shareware" mode, and with red the games that don't work without it.

Request for volunteers
I would like some volunteers to keep up-to-date listings of available games, much like the emulator thread. Please see this thread for more details.

Note to maintainers:

i'd like to link to an "official" thread or wiki page for all the games that go in this thread, so that users can go to a source of up-to-date information. This would be a thread you start (or a wiki page prepared by volunteers), where you keep the first post always updated with information on the latest release and instructions. Please contact me with this if you want your game to be featured. I am willing to lock and unlock the threads per request so you can just post in them when you have a new release, if you want to do it that way, or you can let it be a free-for-all.

Example

Puzzles

• 100 Boxes
• Bejeweled-like: Battle Gweled and Gweled
• todo

First Person Shooters

• Quake III*
• Duke Nuken 3D (In development)
• Doom (PrBoom engine)*

Strategy

• Stratagus (Warcraft2 engine)
• Freeciv (In development)

Role Playing (RPG)

• Vulture's Eye
• The Ur-Quan Masters

Action

• Bounce*
• Variations on Rockdodger
• Sopwith
• Supertux
• Wormux

todo more

• ...

Flash and Web

If the native or emulated games are not to your liking, there are thousands of Flash and browser-based games available on the web (sites such as miniclip.com), many of which work in the nice Maemo browser. Read more.

Why is there no sound from the game?

Do you have your profile set to "silent"? Then that's why.

There aren't any good games for Maemo

That's not a question!

There are a lot of classic, high-quality games available for free. There are a few premium games available in the Ovi store.

Maemo is small and young. Give it time, and help out where you can. You can volunteer to test, make art for, develop, port, document, or just help support a game project. You can let your favorite game company know you have a Maemo device and want to buy their next game for it.

Contributor credits: Thor, fgs