Crytek is adding native Linux support to its powerful computer game engine.

The company, best known for PC thumper Crysis and Xbox One launch title Ryse, announced the development on Tuesday. Gamers will be able to see CryENGINE running natively on GNU/Linux-powered systems at the upcoming Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in San Francisco.

Crytek's games can already be played on the open-source operating system with the help of WineHQ or a suitable emulator – but being able to run the software directly, thus avoiding any translation layers acting as speed bumps, will guarantee Penguinistas better performance and stability.

An upcoming build of the engine will also give programmers a powerful development environment for building game worlds for Xbox One, XBox 360, PlatStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Wii U consoles. New features include an integrated multi-threaded physics engine, procedural deformation, an artificial-intelligence system for game characters, and some, as usual, astonishingly impressive visuals.

The news follows gaming biz Valve teasing details on its own upcoming SteamOS – a Linux Debian-powered gaming operating system.

Valve's Linux push follows the company's chief Gabe Newell describing Microsoft's Windows 8 as "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space." ®