Originally posted by cF_nM
I believe that the main reason that Linux is so far behind in the field of hardware compatibility and video games is that (this may be obvious to many like myself, but I think that most don't) no serious gaming or hardware compony wants to or does develop things for linux. In fact it goes the other way around-the Linux community develops things for Linux, and it takes a while after a new piece of hardware comes out that someone who wants it compatible for Linux scrounges up the cash to go out and buy the product.....my 2 cents..........
That may be true. But another reason is that Linux itself (until recently) was not aimed directly at gamers and the average user. Now there are several projects, such as Transgaming and WineX and the new Mandrake Linux version for gamers, that are trying to bring Linux to the games. That much for the games part.
As for the hardware, what I've seen lately is M$ changing the software standards of their OS and hardware producers adapting to them because they know that the bulk of PC users use Windows.

PS: the new Mandrake for gamers is supposed to come out in December