You'll do fine as long as you don't try and use the video.
I've only used Linux on servers, and only used VM on mainframes (where Linux runs under the VM hypervisor, not the other way round) so I can't comment on the game setup, but it appears that DirectX and VM systems each want full control of the video hardware and can't tolerate the other.
So I think Sharkull's answer is the right one. Boot XP when you want to play the game. There's probably no need to run anything else under Windows, so why bother with a VM setup at all on a desktop/laptop? It's just an extra overhead when you're only using one OS at a time.
I'm thinking of getting a laptop with Ubuntu pre-installed soon, and intend an XP dual-boot install when I get it (that way the supplier gets to debug the Linux drivers).
You'll do fine as long as you don't try and use the video.
I've only used Linux on servers, and only used VM on mainframes (where Linux runs under the VM hypervisor, not the other way round) so I can't comment on the game setup, but it appears that DirectX and VM systems each want full control of the video hardware and can't tolerate the other.
So I think Sharkull's answer is the right one. Boot XP when you want to play the game. There's probably no need to run anything else under Windows, so why bother with a VM setup at all on a desktop/laptop? It's just an extra overhead when you're only using one OS at a time.
I'm thinking of getting a laptop with Ubuntu pre-installed soon, and intend an XP dual-boot install when I get it (that way the supplier gets to debug the Linux drivers).