Yeah! Free Games!
September 4, 2007 9:42 PM   Subscribe

Several recent classics of PC gaming have been released for free. The first few are ad supported, including first person shooters Far Cry (89% rating) and Ghost Recon (82% rating), the action-adventure game Prince of Persia Sands of Time (89% rating) and the minigame extravaganza Rayman Raving Rabbids (55% rating). To go a bit further back, EA has also released its 12-year-old classic Command and Conquer Gold for free. And more very recent top-flight games look like they will be appearing for free in the near future. [Ad-supported games are for the US only, and the ads aren't that bad - they appear during loading and on menus, not in the game]
posted by blahblahblah (51 comments total) 38 users marked this as a favorite
 
Refering to these as "classics of PC gaming" makes me feel old.
posted by puke & cry at 9:49 PM on September 4, 2007


too bad you have to give up your CC info to get them, free still means pay it seems
posted by Elim at 9:51 PM on September 4, 2007


Elim: It's for the shipping and handling.
posted by flatluigi at 9:55 PM on September 4, 2007


it's a download.
posted by Elim at 9:58 PM on September 4, 2007 [1 favorite]


Elim - You can sign up for a free account without any problem, and without entering a credit card or even a real email address. I created one with username:metafilter password:mefimefi, if you want to use that.
posted by blahblahblah at 9:58 PM on September 4, 2007 [1 favorite]


AH! I see the issue The Create an account link does nothing for me. Hmmm
posted by Elim at 10:00 PM on September 4, 2007


Ouch niether does the login you provided.. I think i broke the internets
posted by Elim at 10:01 PM on September 4, 2007


I'd like to know where to download Watch Ceiling Cat Watching You Masturbate, please.
posted by davy at 10:12 PM on September 4, 2007


Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is a fantastic game as well as a great story. If you like platformers, puzzles, and compelling narration, you NEED to play it. It hasn't aged a bit, either.
posted by mek at 10:13 PM on September 4, 2007


Noooooooooooo! School just started, you bastards! I have a 10-page report due in two weeks! STOP GIVING ME FREE STUFF!
posted by lekvar at 10:50 PM on September 4, 2007


If I wasn't so lazy, I'd be an asshole by putting an appropriate 127.0.0.1 entry in the hosts file and writing a little server to give out whatever validation is required. Lucky for them I'll just use the free stuff and ignore the ads like I do on the rest of the internet.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:53 PM on September 4, 2007


Releasing ad-supported games when they've finished their traditional commercial sales potential is a great idea, but I'm amazed they've started with games so recent (Rayman), popular (Far Cry) and good (Sands of time).

Pity the downloads are currently limited to the usual crappy gaming hosts... just give us the .torrent already!
posted by BobInce at 11:00 PM on September 4, 2007


Mac support?
posted by klangklangston at 11:04 PM on September 4, 2007


US only. Bah.
posted by greycap at 11:14 PM on September 4, 2007


PoP:SoT, so great, so sexy, such great music. This could be a great trend. If it had Mac support.
posted by Camofrog at 11:14 PM on September 4, 2007


attention game companies: please make it easy for me to purchase & download the following classics online (no cds, no boxes, none of that crap_, and then play them on my xp box (without having to install 80 patches and tweak system settings):

fallout
system shock 2
monkey island 1

thx. sincerely, me

ps os x versions also accepted.
posted by jcruelty at 12:10 AM on September 5, 2007


Hmmm... maybe the C&C website doesn't load in OS X? I can't find the download place anywhere.
posted by Spacelegoman at 12:31 AM on September 5, 2007


jcruelty: System Shock 2 is available at The Underdogs. That and DOSBox is all any retro gamer needs. No if you'll excuse me I have to return to my game of Ascendancy.
posted by PenDevil at 12:31 AM on September 5, 2007


According to the Systems Requirements Lab, my computer can't play these "old" games like Ghost Recon. Time for a new machine....
posted by zardoz at 12:35 AM on September 5, 2007


Spacelegoman: doesn't work in Safari. Try Firefox.
posted by edd at 12:54 AM on September 5, 2007


fuck the US, man. /bitter
posted by jacalata at 12:59 AM on September 5, 2007


Pity the downloads are currently limited to the usual crappy gaming hosts... just give us the .torrent already!

Torrents for these are up at all the usual places and have been for a few days.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:20 AM on September 5, 2007


Torrents for these are up at all the usual places and have been for a few days.

Torrents for these games have been available for years in the right places. Just not, you know, legitimate. They probably want a decent idea of how many people get them from their site.

Anyone having luck WINEing them?
posted by a robot made out of meat at 4:42 AM on September 5, 2007


I was addicted to Ghost Recon for a long, long time.
posted by moonbiter at 5:20 AM on September 5, 2007


Torrents for these games have been available for years in the right places. Just not, you know, legitimate. They probably want a decent idea of how many people get them from their site.

Of course they have. That has nothing to do with the fact that torrents of these ad-supported versions of the games, which are therefore, one would assume, quite legitimate to download, since the ad-views will happen regardless, are available, as I stated in response to a direct query about the availability of such, at the usual goddamn places, giving one a much faster download than hammering the piss out of craptastic Fileplanet or wherever.

Mmkay?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:24 AM on September 5, 2007


GEE if I knew it was FilePlanet, I wouldn't have clicked at all. The worst of the worst. And the games are not free, they are ad supported, I'd rather download a scene one or just go buy it for ten bucks.
posted by zouhair at 5:25 AM on September 5, 2007 [1 favorite]


And the games are not free, they are ad supported

fail
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:45 AM on September 5, 2007


Now that they've released the games in free "ad-supported" versions, I no longer feel guilty while downloading them from a shady website.
posted by tehloki at 6:14 AM on September 5, 2007


By the way, if you're going to replay System Shock 2, you're going to want this, maybe.

You're definitely going to want this.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:16 AM on September 5, 2007 [3 favorites]


Also, GameTap has some free games, including X2. And, though not free. Psychonauts is available from GameTap Gold, which is $.99 for the first month, or you can buy it from Steam. It is really, really good.
posted by blahblahblah at 6:33 AM on September 5, 2007


If you can't stand Fileplanet and don't trust the torrents, you can find these at GamersHell, which doesn't require a login and is usually fast.

Here's Far Cry, PoP, Ghost Recon, and C & C.
posted by pandaharma at 6:39 AM on September 5, 2007 [4 favorites]


Damnit man! I'm starting my term this week, and my course load is going to be heavy!

Why must you taunt me?

(really though, thanks. I've wanted to play all of these at some point).
posted by flibbertigibbet at 7:33 AM on September 5, 2007


If I download these via eMule, then read an Ikea catalog, that still counts, right?
posted by LordSludge at 7:54 AM on September 5, 2007 [1 favorite]


system shock 2
posted by jcruelty


You could always just buy Bioshock for the PC through Steam, which is essentially System Shock 3.
posted by NationalKato at 8:05 AM on September 5, 2007


I know, Bioshock isn't free, but it's damned worth the $50 to play it.
posted by NationalKato at 8:06 AM on September 5, 2007


The system requirements for SS2 are much less than for BioShock.
posted by Mitheral at 9:39 AM on September 5, 2007


Yes, NK, Bioshock rules, but play it on the Xbox 360 so you don't crash your computer.

And yes, I have beaten the game, thanks for asking!
posted by misha at 9:39 AM on September 5, 2007


How did Rayman Raving Rabbids get marked a "classic," when it's a pretty simplistic minigame collection, and one that additionally misses the whole point when not played on a Wii?
posted by JHarris at 10:06 AM on September 5, 2007


I know, Bioshock isn't free, but it's damned worth the $50 to play it.

If only that were true, but like discussed in the thread from a few weeks ago, it isn't $50. It's either $350 for an Xbox 360 (which may or may not brick itself in the first year) or $750 for a game capable PC, plus the $50 for the game.

I really, really want to play it, but I can't justify the costs...

Yet.

Also: Nthing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, it is a nearly perfect game. My wife sat and watched me play the entire thing, from beginning to end.
posted by quin at 10:11 AM on September 5, 2007


C&C Gold (the version they just released, anyway) doesn't want to run on Wine for me, unfortunately. I have another version that runs fine, initially, but barfs when the game tries to change ... the color depth? ... from 24 to 8. Dammit.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 10:44 AM on September 5, 2007


I'm still working on nethack.
posted by overhauser at 11:11 AM on September 5, 2007



Nthing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, it is a nearly perfect game.


You could always just buy Assassin's Creed for the PC through, which is essentially Prince of Persia 4.

I know, Assassin's Creed isn't free, but it looks like it'll be damned worth the $50 to play it. And you'll already have spent the $750 on your computer in order to play BioShowck....
posted by Squid Voltaire at 11:46 AM on September 5, 2007


I would love to see the old Close Combat series free or even as some sort of a "Classics" bundle.
posted by Blubble at 12:55 PM on September 5, 2007


I worked on the PS2 version of Sands of Time (graphic programming). It's really great to read feedback like that, it makes the crazy amount of time we spent on it all worth it.
posted by coust at 8:09 PM on September 5, 2007


This is great, because I'd lost my Far Cry install CDs and hadn't gotten around to buying another copy yet.
posted by mrbill at 8:20 PM on September 5, 2007


I will put in another vote for the Prince of Persia. It's one of my favorite games of all time, and is well worth playing. It's really a fantastic game, one with actual plot and character development, a compelling story, gorgeous environments and engaging gameplay, it really has a little bit of everything and a great balance. However, that game had a really good flow, an almost surreal immersion, and I wonder if the ads might disrupt that. It's worth tracking down and buying if they do.
posted by wander at 9:58 PM on September 5, 2007


Grr, I downloaded Prince of Persia, created an Ubi account, ran the install...

It says 'You must be in the US'. I AM in the US! What the hell?
posted by jlub at 6:57 AM on September 6, 2007


Nthing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, it is a nearly perfect game.

I have played POP:SOT all the way through more times than any other game (except possibly Civ III). It's rare to find a game with such a perfect balance, it's straightforward but still challenging enough to stay interesting, intrinsically fun to play, has very few tedious bits, looks gorgeous and has an enthralling story. I have played all the games in this series at least twice all the way through, but SOT is the best, my one and only complaint is that it's too short.
posted by biscotti at 8:54 AM on September 6, 2007


US Only. Fie! Nothing for us Apple-eaters. Fie!

I'm just sad because I can't play Far Cry, I game I love. Except until you get to the level with those friggin monkey things that seemingly kill you instantly. Then the Gods interfere, and I magically become immortal.
posted by oxford blue at 8:24 PM on September 7, 2007


I just got an email saying the free games were a Labor day weekend only promotion. This is after downloading like 5 GB and signing up two email addresses to try and make it work. I hate getting suckered, and if I had crappier impulse control I'd want to burn down Ubisoft's office.
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:54 PM on September 7, 2007


It's almost hard to understand why people resort to piracy.
posted by oxford blue at 7:10 PM on September 8, 2007


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