Apocalypso's Atomic Arcade: freeware

Showing posts with label freeware. Show all posts

2011/11/17

New Review Published: Stealth Bastard

The latest and biggest thing to hit the indie PC game scene is Stealth Bastard. You’ve read about it; you’ve heard of it; you’ve played it. Yes, you have. It’s free. That’s how I know you know about it.

To summarise, it’s a freeware 2D platforming title developed by London-based developer, Curve Studios. It’s similar to Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell in theme, but more like Abuse (that old game for MS-DOS) or even Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey in the way that it plays. There’s stealth, death, and that sort of thing, but much more fast-paced than any stealthy FPS title.

Anyway, I downloaded it recently and gave it a go, and managed to actually write a 1500 word review on it. Don’t quite know how, though. You can go through to the piece on HP, if you care.

2011/11/09

Dead Cyborg Episode 2: Halfway To Release

I was taking a look through my bookmarks and saw on Dead Cyborg’s Twitter account that Episode 2 of this free-to-play beggarware title is getting a little closer to being released. It’s halfway there to be exact – as far as donations go. Endre, the one-man developer behind the project, claims that the donation meter is 50% full.

The actual development on Episode 2 is coming along too. There was a trailer of it released not too long ago, and it’s looking pretty good. This time, the player ascends to the surface and sees first hand the aftermath of the apocalyptic war that took place, and drove people down in to bunkers in the first place.

----

Source: Dead Cyborg on Twitter

2011/10/04

Dead Cyborg Version 002 Released

Dead Cyborg is a sci-fi title strictly focused on adventure and exploration – with no fighting, shooting, or any of that sort of thing. The first version of this freeware title was released a little while back, this year. The game had its faults, chief of which was the fact that it lacked mouse control. During development, this feature existed, but it was taken out somewhere down the line for some reason. The browser-based version of the game still has support for the mouse.

But as of just this month, there’s a new version of DC’s episode 1 available. Version 002 for Windows now has support for the mouse as well as the AZERTY keys, instead of using the directional keys next to the enter key – which have been gathering more dust than just about any other part of the keyboard, apart from the numpad, anyway.

If you haven’t given Dead Cyborg a try yet – do so. It’s not too bad – especially considering that it’s a one-man project. By the way, this game is what one might call beggarware. To ever have any hope of seeing episode 2 (about 50% complete right now), you have to donate – and Endre, the guy who makes this game, wants $4000 dollars total for it. That amount sounds more like he’s holding the game hostage!

----

Sources:

http://www.deadcyborg.com/

http://www.deadcyborg.com/download_page.html

http://www.twitter.com/deadcyborg

2011/08/22

New Review Published: Dead Cyborg

Just this week I got my act together and published a new review, which has been sitting around for a week or two, practically finished.

It’s a review of Dead Cyborg, which was released late last month. I managed to play through it thoroughly over a couple of days recently.

Dead Cyborg is a donation based freeware title. How this works is the first episode of the game is released for free, as a teaser or demo of sorts. From there on, the next episode will only be made available once the donation meter fills up. And currently, Endre is looking to make $4000 dollars before releasing the second episode! That’s rather ambitious although he is all ready a third of the way there. I just wonder if I’ll ever get to review the second episode and beyond, though, with demands like that.

Dead Cyborg is a mix of old school text-based adventures, point ‘n click adventures and more modern sci-fi titles, such as the aforementioned System Shock games, BioShock, Fallout, etc. You can see several similarities in theme throughout the episode.

Anyway, head over to HubPages to check it out. I was going to publish this as one of my Thrifty Thursday pieces, but I much prefer HP for reviews because the layout is more customizable.

2011/05/16

The Web’s Worthy Downloads #4 [Guide to Goodness]

I might do this weekly, biweekly, or even monthly. I’ll see how it goes. But one things for sure – everything you read about here is free, and therefore, very likely legal to download and play or use.

Let’s start off this issue with something different. Yes, there’s the usual plethora of game demos out there on the web, some of which will be featured here.

But just check this out: Epic recently released the Bulletstorm soundtrack… for free. Now even though they host the thing over at the main website for you to grab, you can also get it in other locations, naturally – and I’d try one of these, personally.

I haven’t played the game, personally, but I’ve read it’s not bad at all, and worth a try. And besides, how often do you see game soundtracks released gratis?

Next on the list is Anomaly: Warzone Earth. I know my brother has been dying to get a hold of this for some reason or another. I was reading a piece over at Big Download (which is now no more, alas) about it, and it’s similar to a tower defence strategy title, except this time it’s the reverse: tower attacking. It’s by an indie studio called 11 Bit, and seems to have garnered some praise.

There’s a demo of the game online, which you can download too, for less than 400 MB.

You might also like this next one. I know I’m excited about it. The latest version 5.0 of the Duke Nukem 3D HRP is out! After a long wait it’s finally here - weighing in at more than half a gigabyte. There’s all sorts of new additions this time around, and you can check out duke4.net for more info and screenshots and the like.

In short, this version debuts the official integration of Polymer (AKA “shiny”). Polymer is the new renderer, instead of the old Polymost used originally with Duke Nukem 3D and its Build engine. Other than that, new models and textures and so on mean that this is the biggest release since, well version 4. You’ll need a beast of a machine to run Polymer, the HRP and all the bells and whistles turned on, though. In fact, the recommended specs for Duke Nukem Forever are probably more forgiving than this.

But looking at what this game looks like 15 years later, since it was first released in 1996 - it’s just astronomical how much effort has gone in to this project.

----

Anomaly: Warzone Earth Demo (395 MB)

Bulletstorm soundtrack (100 MB)

Duke Nukem 3D High Resolution Pack v5 (550 MB)

2011/04/14

The Web’s Worthy Downloads #3 [Guide to Goodness]

For this issue of what’s best on the web, I have quite a good line-up.

First off, there’s a new version of the full free game known as Warsow (people tend to pronounce it as “Warsaw” – like the capital of Poland). The game is a first person shooter geared more towards multiplayer, much like Alien Arena or Red Eclipse, which were both featured in the previous issue in this series.

But this game is different from those games in several ways. Upon first seeing it, you’d think that it’s just another Quake III Arena inspired mod of some sorts. But it uses the Qfusion engine, technology based on the Quake 2 GPL engine. It features celshaded graphics, which lends the title a cartoonish or comic-like style, which gives it quite a bit of character.

But where Warsow really shines, is in its gameplay techniques. You are encouraged to learn these as you go along – they include bunny hopping, wall jumping, dodging, and the likes. It’s all about momentum – as long as you keep it going, you are more likely to have things play your way. Add in some weapons that are borrowed from FPSs from the 90’s such as Quake III Arena, and you’ve got a fun free game.

You can download the full game, which weighs in at over 400 MB. But if you have an existing copy of Warsow on your HDD, you can download and install a patch, which will upgrade it – and this is far less in terms of weight. The game is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac.

The next item on the list is the demo of a game called Black Mirror III. This is the latest, and apparently the final chapter in The Black Mirror trilogy – a series of third-person point-and-click adventures.

You take the role once again of Darren, who appeared in BM II, who is arrested as the chief suspect of a crime. After a few weeks, his bail is posted and Darren is released. He then sets out to once again try and get to the bottom of a “tangled web of riddles”.

I haven’t had the chance to play any of these Black Mirror titles, but apparently the first one was said to be pretty good. The only thing is that BM III is only going to be published in Oz, the UK, and Scandinavia. So it remains to be seen if there will be any plans for a release elsewhere in the world at some point. From what I’ve read, digital distribution might also be on the cards.

The game is set to be released in the aforementioned territories on the 22nd of April, 2011. The demo is up for download now and comes in at 823 MB.

Also out this month is the latest version of The Dark Mod. This chalks it up to 1.05. Within this release is a whole bunch of bug fixes and some new “assets”. The download comes in at just under 2 GB this time, and you have two chief ways of obtaining it. You should either download the small installer, and then you run the installer while online, so it can grab all the data – not the best way to go about doing this, but luckily there is another option. Usually a torrent is provided as well, a few days after release. And this has download resume and all – this is the option I’d consider using. It does kind of suck that once the new torrent is up on the official site, the old one doesn’t seem to function any longer. So if you had the download in your queue and were planning on resuming it some time – forget it. Rather try a torrent elsewhere.

At first I was upset that there wasn’t a proper download package, but the updater makes sense if you all ready have an existing build of the mod. You just run it and update it, rather than having it download a whole massive amount of data. It is kind of convenient in that situation.

Note that you’ll need Doom 3 for this mod to work, and it also has to be patched to the most recent version 1.3.1. Also note that no maps are included except a training mission. The FMs, or fan missions, you’ll have to grab separately. All in all, it’s a lot of stuff to download, but I’ve read that it’s probably worth it in the end.

Then there’s one last thing here to be featured. There’s a huge mod compendium for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and it’s fittingly called the “Morrowind Overhaul mod”. To quote the text on the website where it’s featured, it’s a “massive compilation mod project that encompasses the work of over 80 mod authors and almost a decade of modding”. And what the mod does is basically overhaul (what were you expecting?) the graphics and sounds in the game. It is quite hefty, but not as bad as The Dark Mod – slightly over 1 GB.

And there’s also a patch that you should probably consider getting as well, which will update it to version 1.1.

That’s it then for this edition. Check back later on in the month perhaps when issue #4’s out. See you then!

----

Black Mirror III PC Demo [823 MB]

Warsow v0.61 Free Full Game for Windows [442 MB] – website

The Dark Mod v 1.05 [2 GB] – website

Morrowind Overhaul mod [1.2 GB]

Morrowind Overhaul – Sounds & Graphics v1.1 Patch

2011/04/07

Thrifty Thursday - WGRealms 2: Siege Breaker

William Gee is known among other things for creating some pretty good maps for Duke Nukem 3D. Within the community he’d be placed up there with the likes of Pascal Rouad, hailed for his innovative Roch series in the past – and he is hands down one of the greatest DN3D mappers ever.

I’ve played several maps by both these authors, and the praise is well-deserved in most cases.

But William Gee is also known for something else, and that is WGRealms. Admittedly, I’ve heard of the first WGRealms before, but I haven’t played it yet (although I hear it’s included in the latest release – more on this just now). So when I heard that version 1.2 of WGRealms 2 had been released this month, and more importantly that it was free, I checked it out and downloaded it.

Here I was thinking that this was just yet another collection of maps for Duke Nukem 3D – but I had been warned though: 95% of the content from DN3D had been replaced, or so the help file said. This was not just some mod, or a map pack after all; this was a total conversion.

I fired it up and played through the first bit of the game. It took me a while to figure out just what the hell was going on, but when I did – once I started to get the hang of it all – I was convinced that I was playing likely one of the greatest games I’ve had the fortune to have on my hard drive.

Why I like it so much is because it combines all of my favourite elements from the best shooters from the 90’s, and maybe even early 2000’s, when FPS titles were just gory, run-and-gun, all out action – minus the soppy cutscenes, guest appearances by D-list actors, and the focus on “realism” and graphics; I loved this period of history, and still do.

There’s strong and pretty obvious hints of titles such as Doom, Heretic, Hexen, and Quake, as well as Duke Nukem 3D; maybe even a dash of Quake II, Unreal, and perhaps Clive Barker’s Undying and Serious Sam. Whether I’m completely right I don't know, but when I sense something inspired a project like this, I’m usually right.

You’re going to see enemies and weapons from these games, but perhaps with a slight makeover in some cases. Powerups and such like the famous quad damage from the Quake universe make an appearance. And the titular hero from DN3D is there too, spewing his one-liners and so on, bringing the coolness factor to this otherwise red hot concoction. This is pretty much the 5% of DN3D that is left. And indeed I noticed that some of these weapons were even incorporated into the likes of DukePlus, an all ready spectacular mod for DN3D.

But the thing is that WGRealms 2 isn’t just an FPS. It also has some RPG elements in there too, borrowed from the likes of Diablo. It’s like one big stew of gaming goodness, and I can’t help but just feel that its main aim is to bring back something old, but put a twist on it; altering the recipe and being adventurous so that it’s immensely enjoyable once again.

You have loot that’s dropped when you off enemies, and the POW abilities, which you can configure during the game on the fly, so that when it’s fully charged, you can execute any number of fantastic combinations that will put a world of hurt on your foes.

And if all this isn’t enough, there’s also an unlockable character in the game too. If you’ve grown tired of playing as Duke (and why the hell would you be?), then you can start up one of the added chapters of the game that’s been included since the release from last year. Jedrik is the man’s name and an entirely different style of play is unleashed once you have him to control. The entire arsenal is chucked out and replaced, and you can wield swords, hammers and a shield.

And this I have just but gleamed from said help file mentioned earlier. I’m still on my first playthrough at the moment. There’s another thing that can be said about this game: it’s very lengthy, and bloody challenging. It truly is a testament to the shooters of yesteryear, then.

----

Official WGR2 website

WGR2 at Mod DB

Dan G's WGR2 page at Fissile Materials

Discussion thread at Duke4.net

2011/03/26

The Web’s Worthy Downloads #2 [Guide to Goodness]

This is issue #2 of this new feature on AAA.

What do we have for this instalment then? This time it’s not as varied as before – it’s mainly all about first person shooters, most of which are multiplayer, and inspired by the likes of classics such as Quake III Arena.

The first is called Alien Arena 2011. It’s described by the developers as a retro-themed shooter, with a dose of sci-fi and aliens – we need more of this in games. It’s supposedly like a cross between Quake and Fallout 3, or some such, just by looking at the screenshot on the right. The latest version of it is 7.51, and it weighs in at just under 300 MB.

Then there’s Red Eclipse, also a free multiplayer game which once again draws inspiration from the likes of Quake III Arena – but it doesn’t use the Quake III Arena, or id Tech 3 engine. It’s a TC for the Cube Engine 2, just so you know. That’s all there is to say, it seems, apart from the fact that version 1.0 weighs in at decidedly more than AA 2011: it’s 428 MB.

There is however something else; a break from the multiplayer madness. It’s a demo of Torchlight. Now I’ve heard a little bit about this in the past – it’s an RPG title developed by some of the people who brought you Diablo, operating under the name Runic Games. This is a free time-limited, or rolling, demo which lasts 2 hours. After that you won’t be able to play it anymore, and you’ll have to buy a key (serial number) to unlock the game so you can continue playing. This one is also quite heavy, coming in at over 400 MB. But just think about this: you’re essentially getting the full game, just with restrictions.

Something else I found just recently is a mod for C&C: Generals – Zero Hour: Enhanced. I know – Zero Hour is ancient. It was released about eight years ago as an expansion to C&C: Generals – a spinoff of the main C&C universe. And no, this mod I’m talking about is not The Forgotten, which is a mod for C&C 3. This mod for Zero Hour, made by the [FM] Enhanced Mod Team, introduces players to improved graphics, textures, units, maps, and AI. There’s a whole bunch of other changes that have been made too, and you can check them all out over at the official ModDB page. There’s two downloads to be had. The one is 131 MB, and is the beta version of the mod. The second one, released a few days later, is an update, coming in at less than half that: 60 MB.

Some of these downloads are quite hefty, but in the likely case that you won’t have the time or data to handle getting them yourselves, I have suggested all of these for the latest NAG cover DVD. Whether they’ll appear on there is another story. But more often than not, they often do. Note that NAG, to my knowledge, is only available for the most part in South Africa, as well as some limited bordering countries. Of course you might be able to smuggle one in to the USA or wherever you live.

----

[DVD] May DVD suggestion thread

_____

Alien Arena 2011 v7.51 Full Game [294 MB] Website

Red Eclipse 1.0 (Free Full Game) [428 MB] website

Torchlight v1.15 Demo [410.94MB]

C&C: Generals – Zero Hour Mod: Enhanced [131 MB] official page on Mod DB

Zero Hour: Enhanced - Enhanced Graphical Content 0.6.2 [60 MB]

2011/03/10

The Web’s Worthy Downloads [Guide to Goodness]

This is a new feature that I’ve decided to put on the blog. Here every now and again, I will put down all the stuff on the web that’s been released lately (and sometimes not) which is worth downloading. It could be games; music; programs – you name it.

I might do this weekly, biweekly, or even monthly. I’ll see how it goes. But one things for sure – everything you read about here is free, and therefore, very likely legal to download and play or use.

This week, I have a few good things for you:

The latest version of WGRealms 2: Siege Breaker was released this week. What is WGRealms 2? It’s a total conversion for Duke Nukem 3D, and the sequel to the original WGRealms – which was but a mere collection of maps for DN3D. Siege Breaker has new weapons to play with, as well as several maps, of which you’ll notice inspiration from several other 90’s era FPS titles, such as Hexen, Doom, and Quake, among others. Look out for a review of this on the blog at a later date, perhaps.

Next up is a high resolution pack, or HRP, for the upcoming Dragon Age 2 - for the PC version, of course. This has been released for free on the game’s website. It weighs in at over 1 GB, and by the looks of it you will need a hefty rig to handle it.

And then I just read about the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo the other day, which is available. That and the new patch for the demo. All in all, also over 1 GB this time for the two combined. For what it’s worth, I read somewhere that this demo was responsible for losing about half of Crysis 2’s PC market. And people wonder why some companies opt to have a post-release demo.

And there’s also a King’s Quest III remake out now by AGDI! It’s been years since the last two were released. There is another remake of the third game, but it was handled by another “studio”. This new one is more inline with what you’d expect from AGD Interactive, previously known as Tierra. This redux was made in AGS, or Adventure Game Studio – an excellent program to use when looking to make a classic Sierra or LucasArts point and click, or text-based, adventure.

Some of these downloads are quite hefty, but in the likely case that you won’t have the time or data to handle getting them yourselves, I have suggested all of these for the latest NAG cover DVD. Whether they’ll appear on there is another story. But more often than not, they often do. Note that NAG to my knowledge is only available for the most part in South Africa as well as some limited bordering countries. Of course you might be able to smuggle one in to the USA or wherever you live.
----
WGRealms 2: Siege Breaker [56 MB]
Crysis 2 v1.2 Multiplayer Demo Patch [38 MB]
Crysis 2 Multiplayer Demo [1.55 GB]
Download King's Quest III Redux: To Heir is Human [231 MB]
Dragon Age II High Resolution Texture Pack [1.1 GB]
[DVD] April DVD Suggestion Thread

2011/01/13

Thrifty Thursday: Jewel Up

Sorry it’s been a while since the last post. It must have been a gap of about two weeks or so. But now that Christmas and New Year’s is all over, I can resume the normal routine again.

I discovered this little game while browsing through Big Download – one of my fave blogs seeing as it’s dedicated to PC gaming. After posting the download link to the NAG DVD suggestion forum thread, I downloaded it myself over New Year’s.

I got a chance to sit down and actually install and play it recently.

Jewel Up is a free game that was made available recently at Clintwood’s website. You can also download it at the App Store for use on your iPhone.

You’d expect it to be very similar to another favourite casual game of years past, namely Bejeweled. And you’d probably be right, seeing as it play a lot like said game.

So once the game is fired up, you arrive at the main menu. If you go to the Options menu, you can select your board style, or background, your style of gem (there are always four different games no matter which style), as well as whether you will receive any hints in-game. Then there’s also the sounds and music volumes too, if you don’t want those to play during the game. The music isn’t bad though, speaking of which.

Getting on to actually playing the game now, you can select one of three game modes: these are “Overcharge”, “Time Attack”, and “Endless” (or freeplay). This last mode is no doubt my favourite.

Overcharge sees you fighting against the clock, but the main aim other than this is to charge the chargers present on the board. Time Attack means you obviously have to also play against the clock, and it seems as though you have limited time that cannot be incremented no matter what you do. I said it seems this way – maybe it isn't so.

The only mode that really appeals to me is the Endless or freeplay mode. There’s no time limit, and you can just keep playing and levelling up all day long if you want.

In all game modes, the objective, just like in Bejeweled, is to link a number of gems together to score points. The minimum chain you can have is three. This is worth 40 points. Four gems in a chain is worth 75; Five gems is 120; Six gems is 175 points.

Then the game borrows a bit from the likes of Unreal Tournament it seems, when at 7 gems you get the announcer, who says “Impressive!”. At 8 gems in a chain, you get “Excellent!” – very Mortal Kombat. At 9 gems it’s “Awesome”, and at 10 gems, which is the most you can have it seems, you get “Godlike!”

After building a big enough chain, usually six or more gems, you get a bomb which will drop on the board. If you can build a chain of gems close enough to it, then the bomb will explode, taking out all the gems in a particular row or column (rows are across, columns are down).

At the end of each play on the first two modes, Overcharge and Time Attack, you will get to see all of the statistics, and awards achieved during the session.

Overall, a nice way to pass some time. Two game modes don’t appeal to me, but one largely does. It may not be Bejeweled, but it is free, and it’s fun - and that’s what matters here.

Download it:

http://clintwoodgames.com/iphone/games/jewel_up_free_pc [PC version]

http://itunes.apple.com/app/jewelup/id394420210?mt=8 [iPhone version]

2010/12/30

Thrifty Thursday: Trials Legends

This last issue of NAG’s Cover DVD arrived in stores on Christmas Eve just lately, and naturally, I picked it up, along with something else called a magazine. On there was the usual stuff, but under free games I saw that there was a title by the name of Trials: Legends.

I’ve played one or two of these games in the past, most recently Trials HD, which looked a hell of a lot better graphically.

This Trials: Legends “celebrates the early years of RedLynx Trials”, from 2000 to 2005. I have had a on and off love affair with games involving FMX and the likes, including MotoRacer and Motocross Mania, and so I obviously couldn’t wait to try it out. Legends was released in November 2010.

Do you remember playing a game years ago called Elastomania? Trials is essentially like that game – just as mad and probably a little on the unrealistic side at the very least, but still fun as hell.

Trials pops under the Thrifty Thursday column seeing as it’s completely free. It’s basically a compilation of 33 tracks released in previous Trials games over the years. Not only this, but it comes with six different bikes, as well as a track creator. There’s also 15 ranks to go through before finally reaching the ultimate status of “Legend” – this happens when you beat all 33 tracks and the 3 marathon campaigns which each take place over 12 tracks. After you do all that, you can also compete in the online leaderboards for the fastest time achieved on a track, so there’s quite a bit to do then.

You obviously take control of a bike, which has some exaggerated suspension. And it’s your task to take on some challenging courses filled with frustrating obstacles, as you try to conquer them with the power of physics. Depending on the bike you pick, these courses can be easy, or they can be a nightmare. The best bike I find is the fifth one, which is the heaviest and the fastest too. I was able to complete most tracks with it. It has the power to climb up steep slopes, and more often than not can bypass several obstacles in your path with one big jump. It does have a tendency to be twitchy and can be a bit overpowered in some places. All the bikes have their strengths and weaknesses.

The sounds in the game are a bit repetitive and annoying, with the manager shouting commands at you sounding quite funny. I wish there was a way to jump off the track and crush him. The sounds of the various bikes are convincing enough though.

Graphically, it’s dated. The riders look blocky and comical-looking, and the animation is rather poor. It’s all 2D as well, which does make it look as though it belongs in the 1990’s instead. But the backgrounds are quite detailed, and remind one of pre-rendered backgrounds you might have seen in some games – even more modern ones. It doesn’t hold a candle to the more beautiful Trials HD, but it’s what one would expect more or less for a free game.

Proof that I did it! I did it! It drove me crazy, but I did it!

After several hours of play over a period of 3 days or so I as able to reach this coveted spot. Now it’s on to the track creator! This is easier said and done though as the “editor” will make you work more within an external image editing program, such as PhotoShop, to create tracks. But you can make them out of almost anything, including photos or screenshots from other games! In fact, as I think more and more about it, Trials Legends almost reminds me of Worms, for some odd reason.

You can also go onto the Trials: Legends forums and download all the fan-made tracks that have been uploaded, too. My advice is to try your hand at making some, because I’ve tried some of those tracks, and they’re nowhere near as good as the ones that come with the game… yet.

Overall Rating:

/ 8/10

2010/05/11

Heroes of Newerth Free to Download Until May 12, 2010

I saw this this other day under new releases. Shacknews mentioned that Heroes of Newerth is free to download until May 12, which is Wednesday, or tomorrow. After that it will be released as a retail version and you’ll have to pay for it.

It was a NAG Online forum post which reminded me of all this though.

This seems to be the beta version. The game is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can download the game, which weighs in at 340 MB, at the following places. You’ll have to create an account in addition to downloading the title.

----

Source: Heroes of Newerth going retail 12 May 2010 last chance to play for free [NAG Online Forums]

2009/07/10

Bethesda Releases Daggerfall as Freeware

With Bethesda being so busy nowadays, it's good to see that they had the time to get one of their old games, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, out and make it free to download, as a way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls. Arena is also available as freeware- that was done back in 2004, on the tenth anniversary.

Is it too much to hope that on the twentieth one, that Morrowind becomes freeware?

If you're not familiar with The Elder Scrolls series, Daggerfall is the sequel to Arena, and was followed by Morrowind and Oblivion.

Still not familiar? Shame on you.

It's a 148 MB download, and is provided "as is" apparently, so you'll need DOSbox, an emulator, to play it. DOSbox has full support for Daggerfall, so no problems there.

Sources& Resources:

Free Version of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall Released by Bethesda
http://www.elderscrolls.com/
http://www.dosbox.com/

2009/04/25

Apocalypse Then: Area 51

On this day in gaming, in 2005, Area 51 was released.

Area 51 is a loose remake on the 1995 light gun video game of the same name, which was released in 1995. It features the voices of David Duchovny (X-Files, Evolution), Marilyn Manson, and Powers Boothe.

It is now available as freeware- made possible by the United States Air Force (not a joke).

Between the two games, in 1998, Area 51: Site 4, another light gun arcade game, came out.

The latest game in the series, after the 2005 remake, is Blacksite: Area 51, made by Midway, now in dire straights, financially.