Open Doors - a puzzle game.
posted on Jul 15, 2008 - View this thread

Happy Birthday, MeFi, here's a fun free* game! Ikariam is sort of like a Skyrates version of Civ, with the real-time MMO combat and diplomacy that might bring to mind. Also, it's set in Olympian Greece, but only kind-of. Enjoy! *Batteries not included. Some registration required. Suggested age: 8-and-up. Some implied violence and consumption of alcohol (wine). Expansion materials may be purchased but are not necessary to enjoy the game and are, by the judgment of this MFGA (MetaFilter Gaming Authority) member: "some kind of bullshit."
posted on Jul 14, 2008 - View this thread

Rental Car Rally. (From the guys who brought Street Wars to NYC). That is all.
posted on Jul 8, 2008 - View this thread

Casual Collective has been linked before[Previously, and Previously-er], but they have some more recent, well-crafted games.
posted on Jun 27, 2008 - View this thread

Knee Bouncers: something fun for the itty bitty ones.
posted on Jun 25, 2008 - View this thread

A few days ago a post appeared on the Something Awful forums noting a curious website called Notes to Mary. The notes are a series of threatening letters from a high schooler named Robert to his crush, Mary. The goons figured out pretty quickly that they had an ARG on their hands and went to work on solving the puzzle. Several other forums picked up on the game. Robert began interacting with players, sending them strange messages and several series of numbers that appeared to be some sort of code. A Flickr pool was started. Players even created an IRC channel to swap clues and information in real time. The Notes to Mary site offered a link to a login. All effort was made to crack the user/pass combo. Finally, several days after the game began, users were finally able to log in. The game was solved. The players would be rewarded for their hard work. Where did the login lead? Here.
posted on Jun 25, 2008 - View this thread

Using OmniFocus to manage a 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons character sheet. Nerds. Dungeons and Dragons. Obsessive overuse of Mac software.
posted on Jun 25, 2008 - View this thread

95% of degree courses in video gaming at British universities leave graduates unfit to work in the industry, according to Games Up?, an organisation set up to address the UKs video games skills shortage. Maths skills are a particular weakness.
posted on Jun 24, 2008 - View this thread

Tennis, anyone?
posted on Jun 24, 2008 - View this thread

Do you enjoy classic 2D platformers? Then boy, are you in luck! The indie game community is thriving, and a good majority of its games are exactly that. I've spent many hours playing these unique, beautiful, and often exceptional projects, and there's quite a few - more than I can count on my fingers! - that could stand toe-to-toe with the finest contemporary games. Inside is a list of some of the greatest indie platformers, based on community recommendations and my own experience. Enjoy!
posted on Jun 24, 2008 - View this thread

It's been almost a year since Roger Ebert responded to Clive Barker on the debate over whether games can truly be "art." In support of Mr. Barker's position, here are some of the most artistic moments from games in recent years - the tragic, the trippy, the Saturday mornings, the darkly comic, the downs and the ups, and the rare phyrric victory.
posted on Jun 23, 2008 - View this thread

The classic arcade game Dragon's Lair is turning 25 and Don Bluth has a deal for you. For one week only, if you buy a copy of Dragon's Lair for DVD, PC, or Blu-Ray from the online store at DigitialLeisure.com you can have it signed by Don Bluth as well as designer Rick Dyer, and animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy. The new cleaned up version looks sweet! I hear it looks really great on Blu-Ray. I can remember drooling over it when I saw it played on the TV show Starcade. There was even a Saturday morning cartoon based on the game. If you spent any time in an arcade during the mid-80's you'll probably recall the attract mode which is one of the most memorable ones in the history of arcade games. I still have it burned into my brain. Need a walkthrough for the game? Well, the website Dragon's Lair Project has that covered.
posted on Jun 20, 2008 - View this thread

Shockwave Friday Fun - Tank Ball 2. (previously)
posted on Jun 19, 2008 - View this thread

If geeks talked about cookbooks the way they talk about RPG books, the results would not be pretty.
posted on Jun 19, 2008 - View this thread

GrifBall! Red Vs. Blue's Sarge and Caboose introduce the rules. A sample match: Bungie Vs. RvB. Context: Since the release of online multiplayer first-person shooter Halo 3, Bungie have allowed players to customise maps with the placement of objects, weapons, spawn points etc. using the Forge feature. Combined with customisable rule sets, unusually innovative custom games are possible.
posted on Jun 17, 2008 - View this thread

Friday Flash Java Fun - 'Building Houses With Side Views' Entertaining Java game/exercise/doodad.
posted on Jun 13, 2008 - View this thread

Each year, people around the world spend billions of hours playing computer games. What if all this time and energy could be channeled into useful work? What if people playing computer games could, without consciously doing so, simultaneously solve large-scale problems?
GWAP is Luis van Ahn's answer [PDF, HTML cache] to these questions, a collection of easy and engaging games that make computers smarter.
posted on May 27, 2008 - View this thread

Monday got you stressed? Tired of all the politicking? Here's something to help you relax. Remember, just like real life, yellow is good, purple is gooder and red is bad.
posted on May 25, 2008 - View this thread

Lost your manuals, quick reference cards, and the like for your old games? Fear not! Replacement Docs is here!
posted on May 25, 2008 - View this thread

The first video game based on the internet's most prominent gaming comic, Penny Arcade is released today.
posted on May 21, 2008 - View this thread

Still paying a monthly fee for an MMO? Free-MMOs boasts an exhaustive (exhausting?) list of games that are free to join, free to play; try the excellent dungeon crawl Gods of Time, or the odd abandonware homebrew Ultima 6 Online.
posted on May 21, 2008 - View this thread

Australians celebrate their national football championships with a bloody frogs vs. cockroaches football game online! (The cane toad is a symbol of Queensland football...)
posted on May 20, 2008 - View this thread

Liberty City vs New York City
posted on May 14, 2008 - View this thread

Monster's Den: Book of Dread might be the best free dungeon crawl RPG on the web. If it ain't, it's damned close.
posted on May 14, 2008 - View this thread

Delta Green - be part of the conspiracy. The latest sourcebook for Delta Green, the cult modern day Call of Cthulhu setting, is being financed via fundable. If the target for funding is not met it’s release will be delayed... if it is released at all. A niche setting within a niche system in a hobby in decline, Delta Green is still intensely well loved by those who know about it, making them a good target for the ransom model. Will thinking outside the usual publishing business models save pen and paper RPGs?
posted on May 11, 2008 - View this thread

An ever-changing collection of 220 flash games, perfect for your procrastination needs.
posted on May 10, 2008 - View this thread

The History of Computing Project is a collaborative effort to record and publish the history of the computer and its roots. The site includes a chronological timeline, biographies of computing pioneers, a look at computing hardware through the years, as well as software and games.
posted on May 9, 2008 - View this thread

Harmanz ha haz b bargan ahn za MMARBG Ahban Bahb [brahbazazzah ] ar zambahz. Zambahz haz AAGHZ g!bz gab azzar zambahz: a, b, g, h, m, n, r, z. Zambahz maz hab gab, za Zambahz zgrabbarh Zamgrh, a gab grh a gab bag, a grammah, n zhranzazzaz. Habganna barbaga zaarz grh za bra!nz?
posted on May 8, 2008 - View this thread

Some people like to make things difficult for Mario, but others like to make it easy (and musical!).
posted on May 7, 2008 - View this thread

Pixeljam (the folks responsible for the retro flash classic Gamma Bros) have just released a new game: Dino Run. Control your dinosaur and escape the wall of doom.
posted on May 7, 2008 - View this thread

In this way, Lu Yang became one of the "RMB gamers" she disdains. More than 10,000 RMB was quickly and nearly imperceptibly spent. In the game, the "queen" possessed fearsome power. She carried out vengeance for herself and her friends, she accepted entreaties, and she protected the caravans of the kingdom. At the same time, she went out with the heroes to invade other kingdoms. Her reputation spread far and wide. [...] "Long live the Queen!" People bowed to her in submission. That was the high point for Lu Yang on ZT Online, and for that one fleeting moment, she felt that the time and money she had spent was worth it.

Flash Friday: Pa Doink! Psst! Turn the sound off.
posted on May 2, 2008 - View this thread

The Straylight release of Nexus War, a browser based PvP MMO in the vein of Urban Dead (thought significantly more complex) and Kingdom of Loathing (thought significantly more serious in tone), occurred today. It brings with it a host of changes, new skills, upgrades, and expansions, shaking things up for the old player base and making it an ideal time for new players to join, both because the status quo is being rewritten and because of a vastly expanded in game help menu.
posted on Apr 26, 2008 - View this thread

At least it will sound like I'm furiously busy as I fritter away the rest of the afternoon racing. TypeRacing!
posted on Apr 24, 2008 - View this thread

"So I hit up a garage sale over the weekend and bought a genuine, working-condition Atari 2600, with a huge stack of games nearly mint in their boxes, for a song. I thought I’d scan the box covers and give you all a look back into the fun of yesteryear."
posted on Apr 21, 2008 - View this thread

Flash Friday Doeo Simple, amusing, addictive.
posted on Apr 18, 2008 - View this thread

From the Infocom treasure trove: Milliway's, the unreleased sequel to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
posted on Apr 18, 2008 - View this thread

Osu! is a Tatakae! Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents simulator which strives to maintain the feeling of the games and add a wide range of online features. See also: Stepmania for Dance Dance Revolution, Frets on Fire/Guitar Zero for Guitar Hero and UltraStar Deluxe for Singstar (Karaoke). Maybe they are not the original games but they allow PC users to enjoy a genre that until now had been tied to its console roots. [partly inspired by]
posted on Apr 12, 2008 - View this thread

Everything you need to know about playing Nintendo.
posted on Apr 10, 2008 - View this thread

Total Annihilation, released over ten years ago by the now defunct Cavedog Entertainment, was one of the most popular RTS games of its day. And it is still being played today, partly due to the mod community who have been working on keeping it alive through the release of patches, units and maps, a list of which you'll find inside.
posted on Apr 7, 2008 - View this thread

Uwe Boll has said if this online petition gets a million signatures he'll stop making movies. Previously
posted on Apr 7, 2008 - View this thread

Ikiki has a home. The mysterious game developer's strange, difficult, and interesting creations are all collected on one page (Japanese), and his art style - such as it is - displayed in fine form by these mesmerizing animated gifs.
posted on Apr 7, 2008 - View this thread

Three columns on technology and eduction by Robert Cringely: the clash between those who grew up with computers and those who didn't in War of the Worlds, Amish Paradise looks for learning models in unexpected places and Ozzy knows best talks about how important digital games, not video games, could be to education.
posted on Apr 4, 2008 - View this thread

"Once you've constructed your Hexapawn opponent, it's time to start playing against it... If you play this game repeatedly ... you'll quickly notice that your matchbox opponent plays better and better until it is unbeatable!" Martin Gardner created a game called Hexapawn, and also devised an artificially intelligent opponent you can build yourself out of matchboxes and colored beads. Bonus link: An interview with Martin Gardner.
posted on Apr 1, 2008 - View this thread

Walter Randelshofer's Pretty Patterns collection (for Rubik's cubes up to 5x5x5) is one of the nicest twisty puzzle sites going. It's based on his CubeTwister software, which you can download (including a lovely OS X standalone). If you really want a treasure trove of twisty polyhedra, check out gelatinBrain's enormous collection of java applets (which unfortunately don't do so well on macs). Are those things even physically possible? Really? Mini bonus: Randelshofer also hosts an archive of fondly-remembered Amiga animations.
posted on Mar 31, 2008 - View this thread

"Inevitably, after I finish speaking, the strong opinions come. It happens the same way every time: People listen and then they say what they've been feeling. Videogames are not good for you. Videogames are a waste of time. They isolate children. Kids never go outside to play. They just sit there and stare at the TV all day."

The Myth of the Media Myth: Games and Non-Gamers.
posted on Mar 30, 2008 - View this thread

Like sprites? The People's Sprites has the most extensive repository of old game pixel art I've ever seen.
Some good examples from:
Battletoads, Excitebike, Final Fantasy GBA, Mega Man, Metal Slug, Mortal Kombat, Punch-Out, River City Ransom, Shinobi, Samurai Shodown, Super Mario Kart, Super Mario World, and my favorite, Super Metroid.
Hundreds more at the site, plus original and public domain ones.
posted on Mar 30, 2008 - View this thread

With revolutionary graphics, a classic score, and creative platforming gameplay, the Donkey Kong Country series was one of the most popular games for the SNES, outsold only by the packaged Super Mario World. After another decade, however, the games are considered among the most overrated of all time.
posted on Mar 29, 2008 - View this thread

Rocks 'n' Diamonds for some Friday puzzle-game fun. Described as "in the tradition of" Boulderdash and Sokoban, it's actually a superset of both, and you can waste tons of time playing all the old familiar levels or tons of others. (It's a quick download, for linux/os x/the other thing.)
posted on Mar 28, 2008 - View this thread

Japanese Myst-like escape games from neutral (Flash)
Vision - Hints
RGB - Hints
Sphere - Hints
posted on Mar 27, 2008 - View this thread