What you need are Hand Games! Everyone with hands can play them, and we all have hands! OK, most of us have hands. Those that don’t can referee or be enthusiastic spectators! Don’t know what a hand game is? Sure you do. We’ll start with a classic hand game. Rock, Paper, Scissors.

The World RPS Society

The sheer magnitude of the Rock Paper Scissors world is beyond comprehension. I couldn’t believe what I saw at this site. Did you know that there is a $10,000 World Championship sponsored by Yahoo!?

The World RPS site is a lot of fun and little fact. They talk about how using RPS was made a legal way to make a binding decision in London, England in 1842. Not true. Entertaining, but not true. Apparently, RPS had its start in Japan as Jan Ken Pon. That’s from Wikipedia, so that might not be true as well. For some reason, it seems more logical to me though.

Nevertheless, if you are looking for a definitive guide to the Ro Sham Beau hand game, this is the site. Study the Great 8 Gambits, look into the psychology of the game and some of finer details such as ’shadowing’ and ‘broadcasting false tells’.

There are also very detailed rules for the game that you might want to incorporate into your daily play. Does someone doubt the validity of a move? Maybe you can’t decide to throw on 3 or do 3 and then throw. The rules will guide you, my hand-jiving friend, the rules will guide you.

Monochrom’s Massive Multiplayer Thumbwars

Maybe RPS is too hard to get a hand on. Maybe you’re just all thumbs when it comes to hand games. If that’s the case, I’m sure you’d excel at the latest in thumb wars – multiplayer! No more one on one, with your cousin with the freakishly monkey like thumb that reach your thumb even while it’s still in the air. Level the playing field by bringing in the rest of the mutated family and friends.

There are oh-so-many ways to thumb wrestle, I’m surpised there isn’t a world championship for this as well. Check out the basic four-player situation:

Got a few more people to play with? Maybe your at a family reunion and all the moonshine is already gone. Uncle Bob is looking for a fight and Great Aunt Marcie is willing to give him one, so all the cousins jump in. Why have that same old fist fight again? Settle with a thumb war a la the ‘Down Under’ configuration. Everyone has their hands together so they can’t start swinging AND they are in a prime position to aspirate without starting another fight.

Seriously though, I think wearing shoes like those demands fisticuffs.

Mercy

I would rather be in a fist fight with a multi-armed Indian god than play mercy again. Certainly this hand game is responsible for more broken and/or dislocated fingers than all the car-doors and nose-picking accidents combined. If you’ve never played – ignore what I just said. Read up on the rules and play with a friend. It’s jolly good clean fun!

The point of the game is to interlock fingers as though you were intimately holding hands, and then try to crush your opponents knuckles and inflict carpal tunnel syndrome until they bellow with their last breath, “Mercy!” Apparently there are some regional differences in what is said to signify your submission: “Peanuts!” or “Danny Stavros Buck”, “Pinochle” or “Uncle”. All of which make no sense to me except “Uncle”. Who the heck is Danny Stavros Buck? By the time I spit that chestnut out, I would have lost several fingers indeed!

For your entertainment, I present one of the most unique games of Mercy that I have ever seen.

So now that you and your gameless buddy’s have used your hands to the limit for fun and pleasure, you might want to consider some Aspercream or Voltaren Emulgel. The Voltaren seems to work especially quick. Honestly.

Once you’ve got your fingers working again, drop us a line and let us know about your favourite hand games. Maybe you had a particularly epic one. Give a shout in the comments!

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This new world rests on the shoulders of a new network, allowing interstellar communication. But a mysterious techno-biological plague rides this network, infecting anyone connected, and creating ravenous cannibals.

As an android, you’re not infected by the plague. Uninfected, it’s your task to set things right, whatever the cost.

Blood Frontier

Blood Frontier has been in development for the past two years. It’s a complete remake of the Cube 2 engine, also known and previously mentioned as Sauerbraten. For the production of this free first person shooter MMO, the developers have tried working closely with both the gaming- and the rest of the open-source community alike.

Still in the first Beta, one mustn’t expect any graphical wonders from the game. Visuals are sufficient, but not mind-blowing. Our main point of interest is – especially in this phase – gameplay.

Although there’s still a long way ahead, Blood Frontier has great ambition. The experience available today is just a fraction of the total envisioned picture. In the future, Blood Frontier has also planned on deepening out other playing modes, as well as a complete single-player campaign.

That’s something for a future review though, for now we’ll focus on what’s already here – an already awesome multi-player campaign.

Gameplay

As it is today, Blood Frontier can be best described as an MMOFPS – otherwise Mass Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter. Even though there is a third-person mode available, this is sadly still to be perfected. Instead of hitting the currently popular road of upgrade-overload and micropayments, Blood Frontier goes more in the direction of Unreal Tournament-like arena shooting. Most traditional game modes, such as deathmatches and capture the flag are covered.

Blood Frontier’s gameplay is characterised by the overload of weapons spread around the level and a mixture of new features. The very low gravity is not extremely original, but makes for great shoot-outs. Add a redesign of the double jump to the mix – jump once, and hit space a second time to get a horizontal jet pack boost – and you’ll understand my enthusiasm.

The developers have also made game environments extraordinarily flexible – and plan on keeping to do so in future releases. Map-makers have the ability to tweak game-settings (e.g. player vulnerability) to the finest detail, to create a unique experience in every map.

Gore is Optional

If you like in-game gore, and need your daily dose of overkill, you’ve just come to the right place (not entirely surprising for a game with that name). With great bullets, and overpowered grenade simulations, you won’t be given short. If you’ve got gore turned on, you may occasionally see pieces of your adversaries fly by. How do you like your steak?

That doesn’t mean that the game is unsuitable for and can’t be enjoyed by a younger, or weaker-stomached audience though. Blood frontier comes with a kid-mode, which allows you to turn off all blood and gore. You’ll have as much fun, but won’t be bothered with any obscenities.

All Platforms

The Blood Frontier beta is now available on Windows, Mac and Linux. No-one will have to miss this one out because of OS-incompatibility! Doesn’t that say something about open source? You can download the game here.

If you’ve got any remarks, or questions related to this, or other free games – please direct to the comments section below. We’d love to hear about the free games you enjoy playing!

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With new questing systems, exciting worlds and hideous monsters. Oh, and it’s based on one of the biggest nerd phenomena in existence – Dungeons and Dragons – need I say more?

Read our review of Dungeons & Dragons Online – Eberron Unlimited, and give it a shot. Yes, it’s most definitely worth it.

Dungeons & Dragons Online – Eberron Unlimited

The digital spin-off of the popular (old school) D&D role-playing game was originally released three years ago in February 2006. The game, then still working under the monthly subscription strategy, didn’t live up to expectations. Even though gameplay was great, the anticipated user-mass stayed out and the under-populated servers were not the MMORPG place to be.

Three years later, Dungeons & Dragons Online relaunches with Eberron Unlimited. The hefty price? – zero USD per month to access this Dungeons & Dragons online free server!

A success is the least we can say about DDO – Eberron Unlimited. Only a few days in the running, new sign-ups to this Dungeons & Dragons online free server are rising greatly. This time it’s not too hard to see DDO reaching the top - in my personal expectation, it’s only a matter of time.

Gameplay and Quests

Similar to most MMORPG’s, DDO focuses on quests for game progression and rewards. Nevertheless, do not expect solely monster-bashing gameplay like in World of Warcraft. DDO is filled with exciting puzzles and the like and often the creature-killing isn’t even central in a quest.

At the start of the game, low-level quests can be played solo. However, as the game progresses, it becomes necessary to work in teams of up to 6 characters, usually with multiple roles, like tanks (melee), healers and casters (magic).

Overall, quests can be played on 4 different difficulty levels – Solo, Normal, Hard and Elite. Solo is only available in low-level quests, and hard and elite raise the stakes with additional XP and monetary bonuses.

Innovative New Pricing Model

The marketing guys behind DDO preach their “innovative new pricing model”. To the critical public, this could easily be written off as ‘micropayments — again’. However, it’s not as simple as that.

Evidently for a free to play game, you don’t need to put any money in it. There are plenty of worlds to explore and quests to enjoy that you’d wonder ‘why bother’.

However, for those gamers who are willing to spend an extra dime, there are two available systems. New lands, quests or items that might be released later on can be purchased through micro-payments. Alternatively, people who continue to enjoy the game on a monthly fee basis receive this goodness automatically and get an additional amount of ‘credits’ to spend on various other in-game items. To sum up, premium members can now have the menu, or order a la carte.

But whether you’re free or premium, you shall play the game. Download it here.

Minimum System Requirements
Processor: P4 1.6GHz or AMD equivalent with SSE
Memory: 512MB RAM
Graphics Card: 64 MB Hardware T&L-compatible video card
Network Connection” 56.6K modem
Software: Windows XP, DirectX 9
Disc Space: 3GB, 5GB for high resolution

Recommended System Requirements
Processor: P4 3.0GHz or AMD equivalent with SSE
Memory: 1GB RAM
Graphics Card: GeForce FX or better with 128MB of memory
Network Connection: Cable Modem or DSL connection

And give us your personal opinion in the comments section below. The file might be around 3 GB, but it’s most definitely worth it.

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If a kid is especially skilled at leveling up in specific popular MMOG’s, or has a natural skill at creating virtual items, clothes or acquiring virtual “toys” (you’d be absolutely amazed what kids can do online today), then your own kid stands the chance to earn some pretty good money. In fact, should they spend several hours a day focused on this “job,” they could probably make almost as much as you do! Don’t believe it? I recently wrote an article about how teens can make money online by writing articles or writing programs for clients, but in this article I’d like to introduce you to the brave new frontier known as the virtual marketplace.

#1 – How Kids Can Make Money Online With Account Leveling

Do your kids spend countless hours playing popular multiplayer online games? Or maybe you don’t allow them to, but they constantly beg for more time for gaming? Or, on a more personal level, maybe you are one of those kids who love online gaming but your parents are constantly hounding you about getting off Halo or Second Life and telling you to find a job with all of that “spare time” you’ve got to play games.

Well, I’m here to offer all of the kids of a world with a powerful bargaining chip. What if gaming could be a job? What if you could earn more by leveling up in World of Warcraft than you could by flipping burgers are your local Burger King? This could be one of the most remarkable ways for kids to make money. Well I’m here to show you how that’s actually possible – depending on your particular skills within the virtual world.

Starting with the most popular MMOG site, World Of Warcraft, it’s not difficult to recognize how quickly such a community can turn into a dream opportunity for entrepreneurs. You’ve got a huge community of folks all working toward achieving similar goals. Some folks are much better at it than others, and excel much faster. In fact, there are some gamers who can level up on games like WoW or Halo to crazy levels in just a matter of hours. They know what to do, where to go and how to get it done.

Other people like to socialize, spend hours just roaming around and performing occasional quests. One thing mostly all MMOG players have in common is an envy for the “top echelon” of levels, and a common respect for those gamers who’ve made it there. This envy creates a marketplace by principle of “supply and demand.”  The demand for having an account that’s at a high, powerful level – and a low supply because of the difficulty and skill required in getting there. This gives skilled gamers an edge in a growing niche market.

If you want proof that there’s such a marketplace that even exists, just take a look at BuyMMOAccounts, one of the more popular places online to buy and sell WorldOfWarcraft accounts. Sure, some of these levels are amazing and not exactly easy, but you can be sure that if someone will pay almost $200 for a top account, they’ll be willing to pay you $50 to $100 for an account that gets them past all of the boring and annoying newbie levels that new players have to suffer through. There are people willing to invest in bypassing those levels, and you could use your gaming skills to offer them that valuable product that they desire. While WoW is the most popular for buying and selling accounts, almost every single MMOG out there creates its own marketplace. Play4Uber is a good example of a place where you can enter six such marketplaces to peddle your high-level accounts.

Play4Uber includes a section for WoW (both US and EU), GuildWars, Lord of the Rings Online, Final Fantasy XI and Eve Online. These are only two sample websites in a growing sea of sites that are popping up and offering you, the expert gamer, an opportunity to earn some awesome cash from those skills that you’ve developed during those late-night, Red Bull fueled gaming sessions.

#2 – Making Money With Special Items

If you or your kid is not so much a “leveling-up” sort of gamer, but you instead prefer participating in virtual worlds where items are earned, created, bought and sold in much the same way they are in the real world, then there are also money making opportunities for you too. In particular, the world of Second Life is seriously transforming what it means to be working online.This represents one of the coolest ways for kids to make money virtually.

At first, Second Life was a huge online community that was mostly just a novelty. But, as that community grew and the user base exploded, opportunities also grew for savvy and creative virtual entrepreneurs. Second Life offers users a creative and very flexible design tool where users can build their own items, from amazing cars to clothing to jewelry and more. Scripting is included so creators can incorporate functionality and behavior to those items. Rare, customized items are very much a status symbol within this virtual world – and they are rapidly increasing in demand and value. The place where you sell your items are most commonly right there in the virtual world. Blogs and forums throughout the Internet discuss the amazing items within their favorite niche, which you can find and buy on Second Life, such as this UK blog called “Music Thing.”

People actively spend their time designing item after item, and place them up for sale in their virtual Second Life store. Think kids can’t do something like this? Well then you may not be aware of Teen Second Life.

#3 – Raking In The Cash With Toddler Games Too

Most of the virtual income opportunities I’ve discussed in this article are focused on older kids, usually teens, who are now pros at games like Halo or World of Warcraft. But, what about those little ones who’ve grown tired of their Webkinz account (or should we say their Webkinz mansion) that they’ve spent several years building up. You’ve spent lots of cash buying those little stuffed animals and collecting codes, and your little kid spent hours playing games and collecting cool Webkinz items for their Webkinz home. Is there a way for your child to rake in a little cash for all of that effort? You bet there is – help them sell their Webkinz home.

Searching Craigslist for Webkinz accounts or Webkinz homes turns up an entire marketplace for Webkinz, and if your kid is especially adept at turning that $5 to $10 Webkinz code that comes with a stuffed animal into a sweet $50+ sale in a few days, that’s a nice wad of cash for their piggy bank!

It’s a whole new world online, and getting a “real job” just doesn’t mean what it used to. There are now virtual jobs that pay more than real jobs in most communities, and letting your kids explore the virtual world as an entrepreneur (rather than just as a gamer) will teach them business and marketing skills that they’d probably never otherwise learn.

Do you think online gaming is a growing market opportunity? Have you ever sold gaming items or accounts for real cash? Share your experience in the comments section below!

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The game is called Monopoly City Streets and the objective of the game is to buy streets around the world, make some money through rent and sabotage other users’ properties and streets.. Basically, you play monopoly online with other people (without downloading anything) using real world streets.

Before I get started on how to play the game, let me give you some background information. It has been live since the 9th of September. It is an online game that loads entirely in your browser. There is nothing to download and you only need to register in order to play it. However, on the 11th of September, the Monopoly City Streets Blog announced that they will be restarting the game in about a week’s time. This is to ensure that every knows what they are doing and how to use it. So it is best to join, get the feel of the game, and then when it goes live, you can rule a suburb, city or a country. Also, the game will only be active until 31st January 2010, but they don’t know what they will do to the game afterwards. So get your hands on it while you still can!

Playing the Game

To play the game, simple go to this website and click on ‘Play’.

Then just find a street you would like to buy, anywhere in the world. Since the game has been running for a while, all the good streets are taken. So find an area that you like, and expand from there. Most of the world is playable, but there are a few exceptions.

Since I am located in Melbourne, I am going to start my street purchases there. The streets that are blue have been purchased, but you can offer a deal to buy them from the current owner, obviously it will cost a bit more. Also note that some streets are not available to be purchased as you can see in the image below, Collins St. cannot be purchased.

So since Melbourne is too busy for me, I am going to purchase a road that is a bit out of town. You may also have noticed that we have not registered yet. You can do this when you purchase your first street. I am going to purchase Springvale Rd. So just find it on the map, then click on the street name in the box on the right.

Once you click on the street you want to purchase, a registration box will appear. You also get M$3,000,000 in Monopoly money to spend.

Now, I want to build on the street. Since I am not rich, I will start of small. Click on the street, then select ‘Build Property’, then select what type of building you want to build. I am just going to buy a small City Centre Cottage. The game will give you options on where to build the house, then just select it on the map.

Fortunately, I still have heaps of cash left. I am going to buy another street in the area. Click on the ‘Buy Street’ button on the bottom toolbar (it looks like a pile of money), find a street and repeat the process again. I found a good long stretch of road and now I am going to develop it.

As I said before, click on the street, select ‘Build Property’ and select your what you want to build.

Your buildings will now appear. As you progress through the game, just like the Monopoly Board Game, you can also get Chance Cards. Bugger! Oh well.

I hope that I have inspired you to play. It is quite fun, but remember, everything I have done today will be lost when the game resets. I better get in early and buy up big when it starts again in a week’s time.

If you want to play, just go to the main page, start buying and building an earning. Also read the FAQs and the Game Rules.

Are you a fan of Monopoly? Will you play Monopoly online with other people? What streets have you purchased? Let us know.

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It was then that He created three races from his own being – the Humans from his spirit, the Untamed from his body and the Winged Elves from his blood. After creating these three races, Pan Gu vowed never to interfere again. The three different races lived, not in perfect harmony, but in occasional conflict. Tensions built up and wars were fought for the lands of the world.

In one time of conflict, the original inhibitors of the world emerged and soon returned in full force. Being stuck between life and death, these beings were called Wraiths. To stand up against this powerful enemy and protect the Perfect World, the three races will have to unite over their differences. It’s a violent and miserable time in history, but these wars need to be fought to protect our world from the wraiths.

A Perfect World International

A Perfect World International is a free MMORPG from a Beijing games developer. Many different versions have hit the public over time, but an international client – more specifically aimed at American gamers – has been released relatively recently.

The game, set in the Perfect World, mainly handles character leveling through quests. A lot of side quests are available, but there’s also a main quest, which plays a role in further character development by unlocking new skills.

These skills are specific to class (a.k.a. profession) and can range from temporal upgrades of your abilities to new, permanent ‘skills’. It’s only with the skills that you can really begin to explore a character’s possibilities.

Players can choose four different crafting skills, to make in-game items. Blacksmithing allows you to create weapons, tailoring to create armor, crafting to create jewelry and apothecary to create potions.

Special Features

Pet mounts can be acquired in the game, to move (run or fly) a lot quicker along the map. Mounts range from leopards, raptors, and even flying creatures. Having a mount in the game gives one a major advantage over other players. Mounts can be acquired during quests, or purchased in the in-game store.

One of the most unique features of the game are the territory wars, where opposing guilds fight in huge numbers to claim the right of the land. With up to eighty players on each side, this creates an insane PvP experience.

Character customization is incredibly extensive in A Perfect World. Players are permitted to tweak the tiniest detail of their character, as well as choose from a big collection of clothing. The game really gives all means to personalize your character, and no two characters will look entirely the same.

Have you played A Perfect World International yet? If you have, tell us what you think of the game in the comments section below!

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When two kids drop over from our world into Pangaea during a full moon night, they don’t receive the welcoming they might expect.

In their constant battle for attention and affection, the toy souls have become to compete more and more violently, engaging each other with toy weapons, blunts and guns.

If they’re ever to return home again, these two children need to collect enough essences, magical crystals that are shattered across Pangaea. In their quest, they get caught on in the toy souls’ battles. Get ready to join their adventure.

Manga Fighter

Manga Fighter, by GamesCampus is set in the Pangaea toy world. With its non-violent character (temporarily disabling your opponents, instead of killing them), it’s mostly interesting for younger people.

Although the name of the game implies a manga-like style, this idea doesn’t bring it much further than the title and conceptual art. In its transition to 3D, the game took on a more cartoony style, with more visible western, than eastern influences.

Manga Fighter is a third-person online fighting game – an arena fighter, hack ‘n slash and shooter. This means that players are sustained in a smaller, rather circular environment, in which they engage each other.

There’s a notable difference in gameplay between Manga Fighter and other free online fighting games. The first concept that’s thrown out of the window is character equality. Where other games’ characters mostly differ in additional items and skills, players in Manga Fighter need to choose between characters mainly differing in basic attributes, like strength, force and speed.

Skills on the other hand can be activated by filling up the skill gauge, and will momentarily boost some of these attributes, by assigning special powers to the player.

The basic setting, added to the skills, makes up an interesting arena mix. Even though the game has a very slow pace and lacks the depth and challenge of many games in its genre, it’s a game that entertains, at least for a while.

There are several different levels, depicting different parts of the toy world. Enabled by the subject, there’s a wide variety and creativity present – so we’ve got urban environments, but also varieties on Ancient Egypt, a giant dollhouse and the magical gardens.

A Game For Kids

Due to various different factors, including the slow and accessible pace, the cartoony visuals and the non-violent setting, this is an online fighting game that’s not too interesting for a mature audience, but one I might recommend for kids.

This is a place where younger gamers could be able to obtain experience, and some feel for the shooting or arena genre. There used to be a great, nearly insurmountable difference between the less and more experienced players. Lately, GamesCampus has been adding a lot of extra features that help the new players remain on their feet, and close the distance to higher levels, thus making the game a lot more accessible, and also a lot less frustrating.

The pressure here isn’t as high as on most other online fighting games, and the community consists mostly of younger players. It’s one you might try, but if you’re looking for alternatives, be sure to check out The Top 3 Online Multiplayer Games For Youngsters.

What did you think of the game? Worth your while, or do you prefer other games? Tell us about it in the comments!

More technicalities can be found here, on the site’s help page.

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Ragnarok Online is a freely downloadable client much like Gunbound or Rakion, the only difference being that you have to pay a subscription in order to play. This is originally a Korean based MMORPG, but since its inception in 2001, the game has been sponsored by various regional ventures which have been given much freedom in determining how they would like to run the platform. Recently, the U.S. region has decided to try out a “free to play” server called “Valkryie,” supplemented with a shop where gamers can pay real money to purchase certain items and such.

Ragnarok Online is based off a manga called Ragnarok, and there is obviously an amazing story filled with fairies, swords, magical items, and evil powers at work. If anyone who is reading this has played Diablo 2, World of Warcraft, or other games of this nature, Ragnarok Online has the same taste.

Players can gain experience points and obtain more powerful weapons by accepting quests or just going out into the open and fighting monsters. But what makes this game so fun is the gameplay and the community. People form guilds, fight larger battles, and interact with each other. I personally played this for some time, and the players on the servers are helpful, gregarious, and fun to be around, which is not something we can say about all online games these days.

In addition to the fun atmosphere, what’s truly addicting about this (and probably all MMORPGs) is the battle system. Players all start out labeled “novice,” and as they gain experience and level up by battling monsters and passing so-called “exams,” they move up by being able to choose more specified professions ranging from high wizard to mechanic to clown. Here we are fighting some Porings and Chonchons:

If you don’t want to battle monsters, you can also fight other players via the nature of PvP, or player vs. player. There are certain arenas split by level bounds that players can duke it out in. Death in some arenas result in penalties such as a loss of experience points. We could sit here all day and discuss the game, but the best option is for you to go out and try it! Here is a small trailer of the game when it first came out (you may want to watch it in HQ):

The downside to playing Ragnarok is that the engine updates and patches every couple of days, so if you don’t play for a long time, you will have to wait a while for the system to update itself.

System Requirements

Intel Pentium 500 MHz equivalent

At least 128MB RAM

At least Direct X 8

8MB graphics card

At least 1 GB Hard Drive Space

As stated before, the game differs from region to region, so if you don’t live in the U.S., you may want to check if your country supports the game and has the free server available. If you DO live in the U.S., you can get it here.

Note that you will want to download the Ragnarok “Valkryie” option to get the free version so you can play Ragnarok for free, do not download the premium version.

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Hit that curve with all you’ve got and show that pitcher what you’re made of. Hit it out of the park, and sprint your way to all the bases, adrenaline pumping in your ears.

This is baseball – when you forget for a time that you’re just playing a computer game.

MLB Dugout Heroes

MLB Dugout Heroes is a MMO baseball game, created by Wisecat and published by Gamescampus. Although developed in Korea, the game completely focuses on the American baseball scene. Earlier this year, they signed a licensing deal with Major League Baseball, allowing them to use the real-life baseball parks and players ingame. All existing MLB teams are now represented in the game, and more stadiums are in the making.

One way to describe this game would be accessible. The basic gameplay system has a pretty low learning curve so even the youngest can enjoy it, while the leveling, upgrading and the strategic aspects of the game keep it interesting for the more advanced gamer.

All this is presented in a cartoony package. The characters seem very similar to the Mii guys of Nintendo – here representing major league baseball players – and although the graphics aren’t exactly high-end, the great animations make up for a lot.

Players can take on the role of batter, pitcher and fielder. As a batter, players not only have to time their swing right, but need to guess on curves and fastballs. This might seem strange at first, but similar to the real game, you’ll soon start noticing the subtle differences in the pitch and get used to spotting the right throws.

Batting and pitching is controlled with the mouse, where fielding and base running is done with the keyboard. Controls are simple to grasp, and winning is a tasty mix of tactics and mastering the different positions.

And then there’s the difference between NUTs and Campus Credits. NUTs can be earned in-game, while playing the game. Campus Credits, on the other hand, are bought with real-money deposits.

The problem is that – while you can buy some pretty useful stuff with your NUTs – too much depends on Campus Credits. Not only can the major items only be obtained through Campus Credits, they recently started giving insane sums of NUTs every time you make a purchase, giving the paying gamers a huge advantage over the rest.

However, save these capitalist gents, the people in-game are tons of fun, and even without spending a dime, you can have the time of your life.

What do you think? Have you played this game before, or do you prefer other baseball games? Let us know which ones you think are best in the comments section below!

More technicalities can be found here, on the client download page.

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This is the world in which we find a robot shooter game Exteel. A chaotic fight for survival, where people struggle for control of the planet. They’re trying to control the resources, and perhaps ultimately, ensure their further existence.

In this future world, battles get fought on a more personal level than today, but the influences of time and technology are obvious.

Exteel

Soldiers mount statuesque Mechanaughts robots, and face each other head on. Equipped with a wide variety of plasma and conventional weapons, swords and guns, they engage in a fast-paced, adrenaline-powered battle.

Exteel is one of the best games of its kind, and free as well. It’s hard not to lose yourself in the rush of gameplay. With its fast pace and fluent controls, how could a robot-fighting game not be cool? Fly, or boost yourself around the level, and frag some of those Cylons mech warriors to hell.

You can play with up to 16 players in online deathmatches, capture-the-flag, and other traditional game modes. As far as comparisons go, this game plays pretty similar to the popular S4 League game.

Expandability and Customizability

However, one of the biggest standout features of the game, is its expandability. Players can customize their robots by choosing from a multitude of weapons, armor parts and skills. Once you get started, no two mech warriors are the same. Parts can be bought in all-in-packages, called ’sets’, or separately.

Skills can be purchased with in-game credits earned while working your way through the game, or real-money deposits, but we’ll get back on that later on. Skills are weapon-specific, and will give you an extra advantage in battle.

On the Downside

On the downside, Exteel doesn’t feature a particularly extensive storyline, like you’d expect from such a big MMORPG. Instead of offering a lot of depth, the game just manages to keep you entertained. Well entertained, if I might say so – which is good enough for me. Although a story is often preferred, it’s pretty superfluous and shouldn’t really interfere with the actual gameplay.

Nevertheless, a substantial downside comes from the importance of NCcoins. People can make micro-transactions to raise their credits in-game. For those willing to spend, buying better armour and skills becomes increasingly easier, and although they might not be as skilled as many opponents, they’ve got an obvious advantage.

Like it or hate it? Let us know what you think about the game, or direct any possible questions to the comments section below. If you have played other robot shooter games share your thoughts as well.

Minimum System Requirements

AMD Athlon or Intel Pentium III 800 MHz
GeForce Series 4 video card
256 MB RAM
1 GB available HDD space
Windows 2000/XP

Recommended System Requirements

AMD Athlon 64 2800+ or Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz
GeForce 5700 or ATI Radeon 9200 Series video card
512 MB RAM

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There’s a hidden grace, in the simple complexity of the dance. A fluent chain of movements with no moves wasted.

There’s a strange intesity that comes from MMORPGs. Getting inside the character’s head – no, becoming the character and walking the strangest of worlds. You’re living the most instense of experiences, and become the hero of your own adventure.

Now try to imagine a martial arts MMORPG. Imagine corruptness, the vilest of evils and its sickening touch on the world. Imagine a battle between good and evil, fought with martial arts and magic alike. Imagine Xiah Rebirth.

Xiah Rebirth

Xiah Rebirth, also known as Oriental Fantasy-Xiah, is an asian-themed online fighting game, created by GamesCampus. You might now these guys from other great (free) online games previously seen on MakeUseOf, like Cue Online and Asda Story. Although the game originally dates back to 2005, regular updates keep Xiah Rebirth an enthralling game that miserably fails to disappoint.

In Xiah Rebirth’s world – based on ancient asian mythology – four legendary warriors must take up arms against the heritage of the evil Blood Emperor and weigh the combined forces of good against the ancient forces of evil.

Multiplayer Online Fighting Game

Focused in the gameplay of Xiah Rebirth are asian martial arts. Through fierce training, you can try your character in. Work hard to level up and unlock various new abilities and powers. Boosting your experience level gets even easier if you participate in one of the many guilds, or play in a party with other players. There are a few major guilds that dominate the political landscape, fight hard and define ‘the good side’ by pushing your faction to the top.

The martial art moves are worked out in the slightest detail, and the game can be enjoyed in both first and third person perspectives. Keep your distance, or experience everything first-hand. There are various paths to addiction and you can choose which fits you best.

Rebirth and Five Elements System

Like an oversized reincarnating Pokémon, you’re able to be reborn several times during the game, each time achieving vastly greater powers and abilities.

Not only does the system allow you to increase your mastery of in-game items, through time you can also unlock the infamous Dragon Attacks – which include special magic techniques that are only known to expert rebirth masters and a handful of blind monks in the tunnels below the southern Himalayas.

The Five Element magic, on the other hand, allows you to greatly enhance the overall strength of your rare weaponry. Enchanted weapons are sure to inflict a multitude of damage, combined with special elemental attacks, such as enchanted fire and water strikes.

Check out Xiah Rebirth Game Trailer below:

You can download the game here. If you’ve got anything to say, remark, or ask – head to the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you!

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Ogame – A Space War Like No Other

When I first started playing the free online strategy game known as Ogame, I figured I’d play for about a couple of weeks and call it good. I was on vacation from work and looking for something to pass the time with a few of my online friends. We each signed up for a free account in Universe 36, claimed our first planet, and started our slow climb up the ranks.

The opening login screen itself really captured my interest unlike any other online game I’ve ever played. While the fact that I’ve always been a sci-fi fan might explain my fascination with the graphics, the animated front page filled with fascinating and subtly moving images of space sparked my imagination. It reminded me of a game I was once hooked on as a young kid in high school called Sentinel Worlds by Electronic Arts. That sense of adventure and excitement from those long ago late-nights of game playing came rushing back to me, and I knew that Ogame already had me hooked.

Navigating Through Ogame

While there’s a lot of detail, complex game play and a lot of strategy involved in this game, overall navigating through the various control screens is a piece of cake once you get used to it. From the main screen, you have an overview of all of the planets that you’ve colonized.

Yes, there’s also an interplayer messaging system that can get pretty busy at times, especially when you’re trying to coordinate an attack of several battleship fleets between you and your buddies against another team (or “alliance”). Clicking on any one of your planets takes you to a “planetary control” menu, where you can build additional structures to further colonize your planet (and add functionality). You can access these building options by clicking on the “buildings” link on the left menu.

Or you can assign fleet production tasks to a particular planet – like building a fleet of fighters, cargo ships, or whatever else you feel you need added to your existing “fleet.” You can access your ship building area by clicking “Shipyard” in the left menu.

Just keep in mind that in many corners of this space world – the size of your fleet defines you. In Ogame, size matters. Of course, the clever players understand that all brawn and no brains just makes for an easy target, so ultimately you’ll turn to your “Research” area in order to build up your capabilities and your strength in battle.

As you build up your various technologies (all “building” activities are time-based), you’ll achieve more powerful “hits” against your opponents in battle, when spying on their planets, or the various other activities where you’re trying to gain additional resources.

The Game Play and Action

The “coolness” factor of Ogame comes down to the action. You could literally spend weeks just building technologies, fleet ships and buildings – but what good is it if there’s no action? The action in this game comes from “raiding” other player’s planets for their resources. And the addictive part of the game comes from the need for revenge when someone “crashes” your planet, wipes out your fleet, and takes all of your resources. That happens only once or twice, and you’ll discover that you’ve taken a sworn oathe of revenge, and you are officially an Ogame addict.

When you click on “Galaxy” in the left menu, you’ll see a screen like that above, where you’ll be spending most of your time, sifting through from one “system” to the next. What are you searching for? Ultimately you’re hunting for vulnerable planets – those with a code letter “i” or “I” signifying that the player has been idle for a long time. You send over your “probes” to check out whether there’s a fleet, defenses or resources on the planet – and when you see an undefended planet with lots of resources, you send in your fleet to sweep up the goods and add them to your stash. Sounds easy enough doesn’t it?  That is, until one of their buddies “ninja’s” you, landing a fleet twice as large as yours on the planet just before your fleet gets there, wiping out your attack. Or someone much higher than you sends over a “deathstar” to wipe out anything you’ve got on your planet.

If you’ve a savvy and clever player, you’ll quickly team up with a good alliance of gamers and after many, many months of building up your planets, your fleet, and waging war against other alliances and other worlds, you just might become the king of Ogame… at least in your particular Universe. Once you’re done there, you’ve got dozens of other Universes that are also available for conquering.

Have you ever played Ogame, or any similar free online strategy games? Share your experiences in the comments section below.

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However, as cyberspace developed, the responsibility of the bots widened. They were now expected to fight of viruses and restore corrupt clusters.

But the world of cyberspace got out of balance. With the vast and ever exponentially growing size, a pullulation of corrupt clusters was inevitable. The viruses mutated and took possession of the bots.

To fight off these new treats, bots took themselves back to the drawing table. They fitted each other with new parts, and tried to actively evolve to be able to match the enemy viruses.

Bots!!

Bots!! is a massive multiplayer online (MMO, not in-browser) hack and slash game, created by Acclaim Games. In it, you can fight your way through storied levels with your own personalised robots, or fight against other players.

In the game, you can not only choose your own robot from three different classes (read: factory lines), but you can also customize its body, head and even arms to create your unique metal friend. With the availability of a great many number of skills, you can further customize the strengths and characteristics of your bot.

By charging up their energy, bots can temporarily transform into bigger, humanoid robots. These transformations will lend you the strength that would normally require several bots, and allow you to come stronger and faster against enemies. The gameplay video above shows a good demonstration of this feature as well.

Game Modes

There are three entirely different game modes; Player vs. Viruses, Player vs. Players and PvP Base Mode.

In Player vs. Viruses – also know as Sector Battle – you play alone or in group against the A.I. virus bots. Instead of working a single map, players proceed in linear level parts, only moving on as the current bots lie defeated. At the end of the level, you face a Virus boss, with added experience. This mode can best be compared to the old progression-arcade fighters.

Player vs. Player (PvP) battles include deathmatch and team deathmatch on a roamable map. Either fight one on one or in separate teams and ultimately test your strengths. There’s only one rule: take as many other players with your in the grave.

In PvP Base Mode – also known as Base Battles – you play in team and must destroy the other team’s base. You must play both offensive and defensive to victor in this mode. Contrary to most other games like this, players only have a limited number of respawns, and will be positioned by the sidelines after that.

So, what do you think? Do you feel like participating in these bot-fights yet, or do you prefer the standard FPS or MMORPG games? Let us know in the comments section below.
Minimum Requirements
Windows 98/98SE/ME/2000/XP
Pentium III 800Mhz
128 MB RAM
32 MB Video card
Sound card

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Of course, for those of us who don’t feel like making the music but like experiencing it, we can trace our steps to the game that started it all: Dance Dance Revolution.

As there are many PC clones of Guitar Hero, like Frets on Fire and JamLegend, it’s not a surprise to find PC adaptations of DDR as well. However, so far we only reviewed rhythmic online flash games and missed some of the bigger fish in these waters.

Today, we’ll show you one of, if not the most popular rhythmic dance games on the block. You better tie those shoelaces, because we’re getting ready for a dance battle.

DISCLAIMER – Playing these games will most probably not make you a great dancer. Even more so, if you are Michael Jackson’s offspring, you’d do better hitting the club. Burning some calories, you know.

Audition

Audition was based on a popular comic, and quickly grew out to one of the most popular rhythmic dance games since Dance Dance Revolution. Two summers past, Audition even made it to a PSP – and later, cellphone-adaptation, Audition Portable.

North American gamers were first supported by Nexon – the guys from MapleStory and Combat Arms – and support was later passed on to the now all Audition-dedicated RedBana. At the time, Audition is the playground for over 300 million dancers worldwide.

Gameplay

Gameplay is slightly different from most rhythm games. Players press the arrows displayed on their screen, and hit Spacebar or the Control key every fourth beat of a song. This starts out rather easy, but gets increasingly difficult, with more complex beats and the introduction of red arrows. When a red arrow scrolls by, you have to press the opposite directional arrow. Although you’re only using about four keys, your fingers will be quickly dancing across the keys.

Players can join an existing room, or create a new one (and seize the role of the DJ). This player is given control over the difficulty and choice of music. Creating rooms is especially fun when you want to play with a couple of friends, but there are enough rooms to join if you’re only there for a quick shake.

With great moves, players earn experience, and level up. Leveling up gives you a status in the game, but also makes it increasingly difficult to rise. Once you’re past level 5, you need to do a license challenge each time you raise a level. If you fail, you won’t have the license necessary to earn experience.

Community

Meanwhile, you can keep in contact with friends over the game. Hang out, or just have a chat. Audition comes with a built-in messenger tool, so you can view who’s online and where they’re at.

With the messenger, and in-game bulletin boards, Audition aims for interacting players and a community feel, and hits it right on the head. Audition is a great game to play with friends, or to make new ones, and it doesn’t stop after you log off. On the Audition forums, the show goes on long after the game has stopped.

Bana Cash

Like many free games, Audition does need a source of income, and if they don’t want to bury you under the ads, most of the time that means in-game money.

The currency used in Audition is Bana Cash, which is bought through mini-transactions. Luckily, all purchasable articles are fashion-related, and none are gamebreaking. If you don’t mind wearing last year’s virtual clothes, you won’t notice a difference between free and paid play.

What do you think? Do your (virtual) feet itch yet, or do you prefer to rock out on a guitar? Which are your favourite, free rhythmic games? Tell us all about it in the comments, we’d love to hear!

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And then there’s the rest of us. The ones who know the feeling of landing a perfect shot, adrenaline running through your veins and the joy of ultimate exhaustion.

Save the exhaustion, these are the things we’re looking at today. The joy of football – without even leaving your comfy seat!

Some time ago, we talked about the 2 best, free online soccer games. That list, although still very enjoyable, is now sadly outdated.

We’ve got a new football game for you today, and it’s called Football Superstars.

Football Superstars

Football Superstars is the first ever truly virtual football world. You can not only play football over the net with other people, but also enjoy life as famous football players do – go to bars and restaurants, and even give interviews to aspiring journalists.

This game doesn’t stop after the match is played, but is an extending virtual superstar experience that will only stop when you see fit.

Play as an Individual

In most on- or offline football games, you play with the whole team. You flick between your different Ronaldo’s and give passes to yourself. Until now, multiplayer football games often just meant that you were playing against the team of another player.

Not in Football Superstars, though. In this game, you play as an individual player, or superstar, if you’re lucky. This means that when playing a proper match, you’ll be playing with ten and against eleven other players from all over the world. The word ‘team’ gets its meaning back and the game has just gotten an awful lot bigger.

In Football Superstars, you can also join ‘real teams’, similar to the guilds of the MMO world. You’ll have your own emblem and a fixed player composition, so you’ll be more familiar and better adjusted to the people you’re playing with. That, and you can make a name for yourself.

Of course, if you can’t find 22 (decent) players to set up a match, you don’t need to box up. Games can be played with a minimum of 3 versus 3 players.

Live the Life

But playing (and of course, winning) in football matches is only half of the deal in Football Superstars. A ‘virtual football world’, in this game, means you get to live the life as well.

The game hosts plenty of commodities to entertain you while you aren’t doing the foot-to-ball thing. Team up with your fellow players after ‘work’ and go have a drink at the pub, or a bite at the nearby restaurant. The world covers plenty of places to keep you entertained.

By participating in these events, you can work on your fame level. A higher fame level will get you better football positions, a better paycheck, and so on.

And a famous football player, of course, can’t head out without the right equipment. Throughout the map, there are a number of shops, including a virtual Puma shop. Here you can buy new sporting equipment, like shoes and training vests.

There are also other shops where you can buy regular clothing (male and female), to style your character the comfy style.

All these things are bought with the ingame FSD or FSB currency. They can be earned by playing games for your football team. The size of your paycheck depends on a number of factors, like fame, skill and position.

Managing a Team

Managing, coaching and Captain positions are also available for premium members.

These allow the player to experience a football management game, but on a whole new level. Buy in real players, and do play them out against each other. When managing in Football Superstars, you get to look past the numbers and have a live example of your team.

What do you think? Best game ever, or only mediocre quality? Do you know of any other similar games? Do tell us all about it in the comments below.

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A wonderful world, but man grew skeptical and started denying the reality behind dreams. As a result, the world stopped expanding.

Man grew worried and felt a deep sorrow for the loss of dreams. Evil forces split up the peaceful world into fractions and a cancer spread throughout reality. The world began to transform for the worst, with dangerous realms and horrible monsters emerging. Gods fought and armies broke. It was a time of great unease, a time when chaos ruled.

The current day is filled with an uneasy peace, awaiting the clash of Omnidecron’s evil power and the combined force of the Road of Mind and Lumper’s power. Warriors train, and ready themselves for a war to come. This is Asda Story.

Asda Story

This game is a brand new MMORPG adventure from GameCampus. Play it online (not in-browser, mind) with friends, and explore this enormous world with its endless possibilities.

Play it over the web with friends, and explore this enormous world with its endless possibilities. The game includes basic RPG classes, like warriors, archers and mages, but it also introduces several revolutionizing gameplay mechanisms, like the Soul Mate, Sowel and several quest systems. We’ll explain those below.

Soul Mate

The Soul Mate is Asda Story’s signature feature. It allows you to join up with a close buddy, and work your way through the game together. A Soul Mate is not only an interesting companion, but it also gives you certain benefits over playing solo.

Soul Mates share in experience. They receive a share of the points when their companion trains or joins a party. Ultimately, an offline player can also lend the soul of his character to aid his companion, or share the whole character. When a character is shared, both players can play with it and train it, although only the owner can spend money, sell and delete items.

However, soul mates also share another advantage. Certain ingame skills, like summon and ressurection, can only be earned and deployed when the player has a soul mate. Upon rejecting their soul mates, skills temporarily become unavailable until another sould mate is found.

Sowels

Another interesting concept is the sowel, a contraction of soul and jewel. These make the very base of Asda Story’s weapons and appearance system.

Where in most games an item’s look is connected to certain specifics, items in Asda Story are merely empty shells. The real power comes from the sowels, magical crystals that can be found and earned throughout the game.

There’s a wide variety of sowels, and maximum four of them can be combined to enforce a single item. This makes for thousands of possibilities and ensures that nearly any weapons are truly alike.

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What’s so great about these Virtual Worlds, is that they allow people to get a taste of alternative realities.

People can put on other people’s skins; the shy clerk can become an impulsive casanova. The bad guys get a lick of benevolence, and vice versa. These virtual world systems can be immense multiplayer role playing games. Release yourselves on these other worlds, and play your part in the alternative realities.

Not that there aren’t any people who remain themselves in these games. Besides the role playing aspect, these virtual worlds make for great social grounds. Meet new people, or hold a rendez-vous of friends. Have fun in a blown-up instant messaging universe, with tons of social activities.

Today we’ll take a look at the different available virtual world systems. Some are very popular, others you might hear of for the first time. One of them should certainly fit you.

Second Life

Second Life is without any doubt the most wide-spread Virtual World, and chances you’ve heard from it are close to 1.

It’s a huge free virtual experience, with tons of user-created worlds and environments. Go to the park, a pub, or even to a dancing on a colonised asteroid, the possibilities are endless.

Last year, Tina also wrote a post on another side of Second Life, addressing the educational aspect and support groups. You can check it out here.

Kaneva

Unlike Second Life, Kaneva has a more specific array of activities, primarily focussing on virtual shopping (for which you’ll need to spend real-life money, sadly) and entertainment. The game primarily covers dancings and other social meeting places.

Kaneva also tries blending the real world in the game, by implementing picture albums and youtube videos. It’s not as big as Second Life, but still covers for a more than reasonable userbase, with over a million registered members and tons of communities.

There

There, your friends are here. A great virtual world to escape real life and chat real-time with friends from all over the world. The game has a great chat system, but also enables you to participate in other activities, like scavenger hunts, hoverboard racing, and island exploring.

You can also put your own hand to There, by decorating your virtual home, or even designing new items.

And these are just some of the available online Virtual Worlds. There are tons of these, both realistic as absurd. A lot of them are alike for the biggest part, but there are small nuances that make the difference and determine their fan base.

Which do you like, and why? Tell us about it in the comments!

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It was a really crappy computer, one of the crappiest I’ve ever seen. After two or three turns, it always crashed. And we kept rebooting, and kept trying, because even if you couldn’t finish any of those sessions, it was just such a darn fun game!

Times have changed now. My quad core system boots in under a minute, and crashes only occur when I’m working on something really important — Murphy’s law, anybody?

However, some things don’t change. We still play chess like we did decades ago (even longer than that, really), and in the electronic gaming industry some elements keep popping up as well. First person shooters remain much the same, though perfected, and turn-based artillery shooters are as fun as they were before – even more so, perhaps.

GunBound

Welcome to Lond, the place where eight moons rise, a place of anarchy. There’s ravaging of a constant war, everyone is involved, fighting to survive.

Welcome to GunBound, a multiplayer worms like game, an MMO artillery shooter, brought to us by softnyx. You might know softnyx as the fellows behind Rakion MMORPG (as seen on MakeUseOf), who have now released another free pearl.

General Gameplay

Although the well-known concept remains intact for the major part, several adjustments have been made to create a more extended and intensive experience.

The most significant change is probably the introduction of mobiles. Like in modern warfare, wars are no longer fought with your hands, nor solely with personal weaponry. Mobiles are combat vehicles, that will move you around the level, and destroy your adversaries. There are sixteen unique mobiles in the game, ranging from warhorses to tanks, and all have varying speed, strengths and weaknesses. They’re an important part of the gameplay, and you’ll need to choose one that fits your tactics.

Next thing you’ll learn – with your eyes, or in the massive nine part tutorial – is a more advanced interface. Shooting comes pretty easy, but you’ll need to mind not only your shooting angle, but also the wind direction, speed, and the moon disk order.

This last one will need you to keep a close eye on the moon icons at the bottom of the interface, because the number of shots the player manages to fire before the next transition, will determine the number of turns.

Items and Forces

Before each session, the player gets to fill up his slots with items. These items can be offensive or defensive, ranging from health boosts to lightning strikes, and take up one or two of six slots. Getting your items right is an essential key to victory, both to smite down your opponents, as to keep your own skin intact.

While helping you in battle, items also exercise a negative force, as using items adds up to the time until your next turn.

There are also 11 force icons in the game, that could affect the path or damage of a shot.

Players start with few items, initially only gaining you dual wielding ability. By doing good in-game, you can earn money to extend your collection. Like with most of these games, it’s also possible to purchase in-game money, but that tends to take away the fun, doesn’t it?

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• Quake Live – Free Online Shooting Game in Your Browser (22)
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Most shooter fans know these games by name, and have played at least one, and possibly even several of them. The Battlefield games have always been popular, and enjoyed by masses, but the latest game, Battlefield Heroes, heads in another direction.

Not only does DICE abandon the more serious looks of the franchise with a more comical approach, this latest instalment of the series is the very first one to be released for free. It now seems that even the bigger players are starting to play around with the possibilities of the free, ad-supported world.

The game is still in Beta, but has recently begun accepting applications. View how to obtain your beta-key here. Read on to discover more about the game.

Battlefield Heroes

It becomes apparent quickly that DICE means business differently this time, with the game adapting a brand new look. The comical visuals differ widely from the high realism we know from the past. The looks manage to bring a much lighter air about the game, making an easier match for the less powerful systems, and creating a loose and at times ‘funny’ experience.

Factions

In this multiplayer First Person Shooter, you look through the eyes of a Hero, belonging to either the Royal, or the National Army. Though not in letter, the factions can’t help to resemble the Allies and Axis of World War II.

You can create up to four different heroes, with different factions, classes and appearances. Mind your choice though, as deleting heroes is not possible for the time being.

Classes

There are three available classes, the same three for both factions;  Soldier, Gunner and Commando.

Which of these classes you choose depends on your way of playing. As I said before, you can create four different heroes, so you can go for a test drive with each one.

The Soldier is the most basic character type. He has an average strength and inflicts damage with rifles, SMGs, shotguns or grenades.

The Gunner is of a heavier class. He is stronger, but also slower. He resorts to weapons of the biggest caliber, like machine guns or bazookas.

The Commando is the sneaky bastard. He becomes invisible and sneaks up to the enemy. His attacks are much more weighed and very specific, often stalking and kniving opponents. He must strike at once, or lose his advantage.

Gameplay

The Game automatically pairs you with an available game, suiting your current skills. Alternatively, you can also join a friend if you know his username.

The game revolves around one major play type, node capturing. Several nodes are spread over the map. By entering and remaining in the near vicinity of the a node’s flag, you can both disown an enemy’s area, and name it your own. The ultimate objective is to hold all nodes in your team’s possession.

There are several maps, aimed primarily at vehicle or infantry battles, or both. This aim largely determines the rest of the map as well. As you can imagine, a map with planes will be much bigger than one with nothing but infantry.

Missions and Abilities

Missions spices up your gameplay, and can gain you Hero Points or Valor Points (more on the latter one below). These missions are specific achievements, like reaching a certain number of kills in one play, and can be activated three at a time.

Using your Hero Points, you can obtain and upgrade certain Abilities. These range from healing yourself to blasting back all nearby enemies and vehicles with a makeshift forcefield. Training these abilities makes you stronger in battle, and allows you to take part in the harder games.

Valor Points, Battle Funds and The Store

Valor Points and Battle Funds are both currencies used in the game’s store. The difference lies in how they’re obtained and where they can be spent.

Valor Points (VP) are obtained while playing the game and can buy you new and advanced weaponry, emotes and widgets.

Battle Funds (BF) are bought with your credit card. They’re not a necessity, but you’ll need them to buy clothing, and certain emotes and widgets.

In Short

In short, Battlefield Heroes is a new, comical instalment of the popular Battlefield series. The game entertains you with its comical looks and the node capturing gameplay. Fun to play, hard to let go. Get your beta key now!. Normally, beta keys are handed out within a day or two so you don’t have long to wait.

What do you think of the game? A change for the good or one leg in the grave? Tell us in the comments.

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• Quake Live – Free Online Shooting Game in Your Browser (22)
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Of course, for those of you who don’t like quitting or giving up, who want to keep skiing or snowboarding even in the midst of summer, we still have fictional media.

Be it white movies, or snowborne games, there are several ways to dream off and get yourself on those white plains.

However, free ski or snowboarding games have been pretty scarce so far, as most developers focus on the ‘more popular’ sports like racing, football and tennis. Even those few that we had weren’t all that. Until now.

Project Powder

The year is 2146. We didn’t heed Al Gore’s warnings and got what was coming. Polar caps melted away completely and snow has become the stuff of legends.

Instead of deploying snow cannons – we’ve always been an ambitious bunch – Project Powder was started.

Scientists have explored and perfected the theory behind wormholes, and have built the Post Gate. This technology enables mankind to manipulate and deploy wormholes, and thus initiated the real space age.

A whole world has opened to man, entire systems of yet undiscovered and magical planets. Habitats that are still unaffected, with real snow to play in.

And thus the stuff of legends has once again become reality, as “uncharted stars with unspoiled lands have given us a second chance to play in the powder”.

Gameplay

Project Powder is a great fast-paced online multi-player snowboarding game, and most certainly the best free game of this genre that I’ve played so far.

You’re able to race and battle other players online on tons of different fun levels. Besides the normal white plains, you can also expect somewhat stranger space habitats, like enchanting green-hilled levels.

Show-off, where you try to top the other players with your trick scores, isn’t included in the list of available game modes. However, tricks are integrated in the general gameplay. They allow you to gain additional experience, fill up your boost meter, and go in ‘nitro mode’ while racing.

There are a multitude of different tricks available, and you’ll unlock more when progressing in the game. Luckily for trick-noobs like me, the site provides a nice and accessible cheat sheat on their website.

Game Types

The game types that are included are race-, battle- and coin mode.

All these modes can be taken on single handed, or work in a team.

Race Mode

The name says most of it; the first one accross the finnish line victors.

Doing tricks fills your boost meter, which will gain you more speed. Be short in your turns but grand in your jumps in this game mode.

Battle Mode

A more alternative take on the race mode. Your goal is still to reach the finnish line, but matters have become more complicated.

Available troughout the piste are offensive and defensive batches. Being quick isn’t enough anymore, as you have to take down your adversaries, or bite snow yourself. You see, entertainment gets a whole lot more exciting in the future.

Coin Mode

A more single-minded game mode. Instead of speed or strategy, accuracy is what dominates here.

Your goal is to grab as much coin as possible throughout the level. However, most often the coin is spread in a most peculiar way; if you thought this’d be mario on a board, think again.

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Global Risk confronts Black List. Another organisation, though not quite so noble. These international mercenaries commit terror, focusing solely on the profit. This independent group frequently sponsors and participates in terrorist actions.

A ruthless battle emerges at a meeting of the front. Blood reigns high, and it’s impossible to say who’s winning.

Cross Fire

These are the two teams of Cross Fire, a completely free online multiplayer First Person Shooting game, that recently started its Open Beta.

The first thing you probably want to know is what makes it that special, the new unseen features, and such.

Well, if that is what you’re looking for, I’ll have to disappoint you. Cross Fire follows the shooter principles to the letter. Nearly none of the game’s aspects deviate from the shooter standards.

And that’s leads us to why it’s such a great game.

Gameplay

These days are filled – over the top sometimes – with gaming experiments. It’s nice to be able take a break from that, and play a normal game from time to time. The makers made their choice very clear, as they declared: “No photon lasers. No energy fields. Just blood, and guts”

Because of this ’simple’ direction the developers took the project, they were able to spend a lot more time in fine tweaking it.

I must say, there are few free online shooters that feel as complete and finished as Cross Fire, and the latter has just started Beta phase.

The game runs as smooth as an gelatine eel. You shouldn’t expect Crysis graphics, with a maximum resolution of 1024, but the gameplay ought to get you licking your fingers. After merely a few minutes, you’ll be hopping along with the rest, feeling like you’ve played this game for years – and want to keep playing, for that matter.

Game Modes

Cross Fire hosts four game modes for intensive online play; ‘Search & Destroy’, ‘Team Deathmatch’, ‘Elimination’ and the all new ‘Ghost Mode’.

Search & Destroy

You win by either eliminating all members of the oposing team, or by completing set objectives (e.g. defusing or planting a bomb)

This game mode is usually played in multiple rounds. The team with the most rounds won being the victor.

Team Deathmatch

An explanation shouldn’t be needed here. Eliminating as many members of the enemy party as possible is your sole mission.

There’s only one round, with instant respawns for whoever is killed. The victor is the team that reaches the kill limit first.

Elimination

Similar to Team Deathmatch, only without instant respawn.

The team that manages to eliminate all members of the enemy party wins a round. A set number of rounds needs to be won to win the game.

Ghost Mode

This is an innovating and unique game mode, newly introduced by Cross Fire.

The Black List members are invisible, but have only a knife and C4. They need to blow up a target, but can be heard by the Global Risk members, who are visible, but have access to all weapons.

Download it now

Cross Fire is a free 268 MB download. It’s intensive action, but light graphics ensure great fun on both the stronger and weaker computer systems.

You can register here, download it here, and please write down your opinion in the comments section below.

Those of you who are new to MakeUseOf, might be also interested in following articles about shooter games that were published on the site before:

- Top Five Free Online Shooter Games.
- Top 5 Free Cross-Platform FPS Games

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• Quake Live – Free Online Shooting Game in Your Browser (22)
• GunBound – Multiplayer Worms-like Shooting Game (7)
• Battlefield Heroes Beta – Free Cartoon Shooter Game (24)
• Exteel : Third-Person Online Robot Shooter Game (4)
• Blood Frontier- Exciting New Free First Person Shooter Game (7)

We wrote about them in the past, on MakeUseOf. Mind you, not your average beat ‘em ups. No, you can find tons of those on the web already, most often without too much of a difference amongst them.

No, here at MakeUseOf, we like special things. Things that haven’t been done before – like designing your own fighting moves with Toribash.

Today, we’re taking a look at another special beat ‘em child.

Discarded Online – An MMOCCBEU

Discarded Online is, according to their creators, an MMOCCBEU.

- W.. What?

Yes, an MMOCCBEU. It’s an abbreviation for Massive Multiplayer Online Card Collectible Beat ‘em Up, which is at the very least a whole mouthful. We’ll get into the card collecting later on, but the other things should be pretty clear; an online fighting game.

Discarded Online is flash based, which means you’ll be able to play it right out of your browser, without downloading a thing. For those interested, the people behind Discarded Online have even released some of their files, so you can embed the game on your own website.

The Story – Missions

Since the game is an MMO, and an RPG to some extent, one would presume the presence of a story. This gets us right to my biggest dislike about the game – which is that it doesn’t feature a story.

Instead, Discarded Online works through the means of missions; short side-scrolling, quarantined levels that you can play by yourself, or with a party of friends. These missions variate from killing all enemies in a level, to defeating a boss, or remaining alive for a given time.

All missions start and end in the lobby. As of such, you don’t need to expect a free roaming world, like we know in most games these days. However, the missions provide tons of fun – especially when played with friends – and the card collecting system gives this game its extra edge.

Card Collectable

We mentioned Discarded Online being a card collectable game already, but we didn’t provide you with the details yet. The cards system is woven throughout the game, and is what makes it special.

By playing missions, you can earn credits. These are rewarded to you after unlocking certain achievements, like killing ‘that amount’ of enemies, or finishing ‘that mission’.

With those credits, you can buy collectible cards from the card store. All these cards represent items – for advancing in strength, or smirking your character up. Tons of cards are available, ranging from a nice pair of shoes, to the baseball bat of ultimate destruction (yes, I made that name up).

Note that the game is no longer being developed, nor extended. The game also warns for using real money, because refunds are as of such no longer possible.

Deploying Cards

While progressing in the game, you get to assign credits to each of the three different schools: Athletics, Science, and Mischief. These credits can be rearranged at any given point.

Each card, with the exception of clothing, requires a set number of credits, from one or more of the three groups. When deploying a card, it will take the required number of credits from those groups.

Basically, your card collection and credit alignment are what will define your character, both concerning looks and abilities.

If you’re to reach the top, you need to consider deeply how to arrange your credits, and which cards to buy and to deploy.

It’s ironic that a game which is no longer being developed or extended is called “Discarded”. But nevertheless this is a fun game and comes highly recommended.

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More and more do we see an evolution of some kind, and do we meet a world where installing stuff becomes a thing of the past.

Installing software is passé; out-of-browser software is the new black, as a figure of speech.

An even deeper black are out-of-browser games. Not the crappy, eye-hurting kind of games, but games a gamer can be proud of. Games like Quake Live.

Quake Live – Are You Ready?

Quake Live is id Software’s newborn child. It’s an energetical and fast-paced Massive Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter. The project is funded by means of in-game advertising, and released as a free download.

The game works through a Quake browser plugin, so it still needs you to download something, but a 3.78 MB download can hardly be called a bother.

The Game

Quake Live is based on the Quake III engine, and feels incredibly smooth. When you boot the game up in full screen, you’ll forget you’re playing out of a browser.

The game hosts 30 arenas of varying sizes, and over 250,000 players.

Like in all Quake games, the weapons are something to be proud of; ranging from good old shotguns to plasma and lightning guns, overkills can be expected.

The graphics are of a slightly lesser quality, especially if you’re used to Crysis, or Far Cry 2 style graphics. Those of you with graphics card monsters will not be able to put them to use. In Quake Live we’ll go back to the graphics we know from a few years ago and gameplay that’s simply timeless.

Currently the game is limited to Firefox and Internet Explorer on Windows, but developers are seriously focusing on bringing the game to Mac and Linux platforms as well.

Game Types

The available game types are:

• Free for All (FFA) – also known as plain old deathmatch. You score points by killing or fragging other players. There are no teams, every individual for itself.
• Duel (1v1) – the name says most of it. It’s a ten minute face-off between two players. Other players spectate the game, and can challenge the last duel winner.
• Team Deathmatch (TDM) – like FFA, only in teams. Two teams face each other, and points can be earned by killing or fragging members of the other team. What’s special about this gametype is that you can earn negative points for teamkills.
• Clan Arena (CA) – two teams face each other in a last man standing match. There are no instant respawns, and the team that manages to eliminate the other gets awarded the points for that round.
• Capture the Flag (CTF) – two teams in the classic capture the flag mode. Each team tries to steal the other teams flag from its base, while protecting its own flag in the process. To get the other team’s flag to your base – with your flag present – awards you one point.

Portability

Perhaps the most unique part about this game – as a result of it being a browser game – is the portability.

Instant Play is pushed to its limits when you can go fragging at any computer with an internet connection. You can instantly play on your Quake Live account when you’re at a friend’s place – or at Joe’s Interwebz Pub for that matter.

All that needs downloading is an incredibly tiny browser plugin that works in both Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The Queue

One of the biggest irritations of Quake Live – and a slight cutback on the instant play – is the game’s queue.

Due to massive response – heavier than the developers expected – the Quake Live Team was obliged to introduce the queue. This queue puts you in line, to keep the server from overloading; mainly to assure that those playing don’t end up on an infinite laggy server.

The Quake Live Team is currently working on this problem. They’ve already slimmed the line down from tens of thousands of players to a few thousand of them.

While in the queue, always keep in mind that Quake Live is a completely free game, and the developers aren’t charging you a dime to address the overload problem.

Start playing Quake Live now!

Are you ready to start playing Quake Live? Register right away and hook into the action.

Not so long ago MakeUseOf also did an article on free online shooters, you might want to check it out as well.

Tell us what you think of Quake Live in the comments!

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• Cross Fire – Online Fastpaced Multiplayer Shooting Game (31)
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I can still remember my first computer days (which aren’t all that far behind me), which were mostly occupied by Paint and a few point-and-click kids games.

Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games emerged sometime afterwards, but since then it has spread at an astounding speed.

You can’t buy a game nowadays without looking at the ‘online functionality’, whether it’s a MMO-game or just one with an online mode added.

Today we’ll take a look at a very special part of that world – we’ll take a look at great multiplayer online games for youngsters!

Fusion Fall

This game by the Cartoon Network is one of, if not the best kids Massive Multiplayer Online game.

It’s a recently released browser-based MMO game that also offers paid subscriptions (with more worlds, more missions and more entertainment), but the free version is big enough to keep you busy for quite some time (with over 20 playable missions).

The game is located in the Cartoon Network Universe, which means you’ll be meeting all your favourite toons like Dexter, the Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack, and visiting places you’ve always wanted to go.

The world is under attack by aliens, and they need your help to stop it. They need more, and stronger recruits to fight them off. You can be the hero they need, you can make a difference.

Though you won’t be able to play with any of the Cartoon Network characters directly, you’ll be fighting alongside them in the game.

Fusion Fall is primarily quest-oriented, which means that there won’t be much to do after you finish the main story and quests. However, with over 20 missions available in free play, and over 600 of them in premium play, there is more then enough to do to still your hunger.

Trailer

Hello Kitty Online

A lot of young girls (even some boys) like Hello Kitty, the cute kitten, and a lot of them will just love this game.

It’s fair to call it mmo game for girls. After you’ve made your own character, you’re ready for the world of Hello Kitty. Go about and see Sanrio’s take on wonderful places like London, Paris, New York, and so on.

The world is filled to the top with Sanrio’s characters, like Hello Kitty herself, Chococat and My Melody. Together with all your favourite characters, you can venture on exciting quests and adventures, discover the beautiful world, and meet wonderful people.

This brand-based MMO game really pulled it off; it offers a great interactive world filled with plain fun. If there was only a way to lessen the cuteness, I’d advise the game for boys as well.

Trailer

Disney’s ToonTown

Disney has a long history of kids entertainment. A lot of today’s young people grew up with Disney movies and cartoons. It also didn’t take long for Disney to get on the gaming train.

Some of the best film games were released by Disney, but they also made games that didn’t accompany a film release, one of them is ToonTown Online.

ToonTown Online is one of the first kids-oriented Massive Multiplayer Online games, and it’s a pretty entertaining game for youngsters.

You can create your own customisable toons, to solve quests, fight baddies and play tons of minigames.

Toontown has been out there for quite some time, so the game might seem a little bit aged from time to time. However, the minigames – which were originally created to offer a break from time to time – are still lots of fun, and probably also the most entertaining part about the game.

Trailer

If you can recommend any other MMO games – or online games – for youngsters, please talk about them (and provide the links) in the comments section. We’ll be sure to check them out!

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Every now and then, when a race of monsters got out of hand, they would come out of hibernation and eliminate them.

One day, the humans started their rise to power. Again, the White Dragons started to awake. But the humans acted like no race of monsters ever did before. They tried to negotiate with the White Dragons, they tried to use reason.

The White Dragons, who were impressed by this unusual way of things, granted them another five hundred years. Unfortunately the humans forgot about this pact, and exactly five hundred years later, a meteorite was sent to earth.

The meteorite possessed magical powers, and soon monsters started to increase in power, number and organisation. Ultimately, after the great war and at the cost of many lives, the meteorite was destroyed. Pieces of the meteorite, called ‘Cells’, were put away deep under the surface.

Another thousand years passed until the pieces were recovered. Wars were fought and lives were lost. But the way of battle took a curious turn. People found out that the shards of the meteorite, the Cells, could be controlled individually. One could summon monsters, varying in size and strength, using those cells. Combat was changed for good.

It could be that the humans grew stronger through this series of events. It could also be that the punishment of the White Dragons has yet to begin because there is nothing worse than to be destroyed by your own.

Rakion: Chaos Force

Rakion is an MMO, a Massive Multiplayer Online Game. Actually, it’s a MMORPG, a Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Game, but I prefer to skip those last three letters. Mainly because the Rakion gameplay system differs immensely from the big guys within this genre, like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and ArchLord.

Most of these games use a turn based set-up, which means that you have to await the response of your opponent before dealing out your next blow. Rakion however, tries to handle the combat in a more direct approach.

Rakion Gameplay

The ultimate goal of Rakion: Chaos Force, is to give you a more active fighting role. They try to protect you from the boredom that usually befalls people after playing MMORPG’s for a while. Repetitive actions tend to become quite a drag after some time.

Rakion isn’t turn based however, which makes it a lot more attractive for the casual gamer. They still work with expoints, collectable items, player classes and -levels but they’ve completely switched over to a hack and slash system.

Something that should also be noted is that Rakion does not work with a free roaming world and quests like most MMORPG’s. Rakion is played through limited PvP sessions in a closed environment.

Game Modes

A few different game modes can be played in Rakion.

Golem War

In Golem War, the players are divided into a red and a blue team. Each team gets assigned a master golem. The main objective is to destroy the other team’s and protect your own master golem at all cost.

There is only one weapon that can damage a master golem however – a gold sword which is obtained by killing the gold golem at the center of the map. The gold sword can only be kept for one and a half minutes, or until you die. When this happens, the golden golem resurrects again.

Death Match

A well known concept. We can distinguish to different modes here; Team- and Solo Death Match.

In Team Death Match, you are again divided into two teams. The main objective is to kill as many members from the other team as possible. The game stops when one of the teams reach the assigned kill point goal or when the time is up. In the latter case, the team with the most kills wins.

Solo Death Match applies mostly the same concept. Instead it’s every man for himself and you have to try to reach the kill point goal on your own.

Boss Mode

The players once again get divided into two teams. The team member from the highest level is appointed as boss. The objective is to kill the other team’s boss and protect your own. The game is over when one of the bosses dies, or when the time is up, in which case the team of the boss with the most energy left wins.

Rewards

During the game, players get different types of points, with which they can level up or buy additional items. The different types of points that are distributed during gameplay are:

• Cell points, which can be used to summon creatures.
• Gold, which can be used to purchase additional items.
• Experience, which can be used to make your character stronger.
• Creature Exp, which can be used to make your summonable creatures stronger.

Overall

Rakion is a very nice and entertaining game, especially if you take into consideration that the file is only about 350 MB in size. It has the constant action to keep you entertained, but doesn’t forget the details with the items and leveling system.

[rating=4]

Download Rakion: Chaos Force here.

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Computer gaming has changed enormously of course from the early 1980’s to the present. The technical changes in both the games themselves, and the platforms the games run on, would have seemed like science fiction viewed from the perspective of the early days.

Online gaming has effectively opened up a whole new world of computer gaming, both literally and figuratively, and has changed the face and the complexities of computer gaming.

Played over the internet, online games allow gamers to become part of a virtual world, consisting of literally millions of players who form online communities with all the associated social aspects of real world communities; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Just as there are crooks and cyber criminals in a real world community, these same type of characters also inhabit the virtual worlds of internet gaming.

You might wonder why virtual reality would mimic real life so closely that it would include virtual criminals. The answer is very simple – money, and lots of it.

In many virtual worlds, virtual currencies are used to purchase virtual possessions. You may be surprised to learn that these virtual possessions have real world value, in real world cash, and as in real life; a market exists for stolen goods in these other worlds.

The first step cyber criminals employ in stripping gamers of their virtual possessions (remember, real world cash), is password theft – an activity that has increased dramatically recently.

Stolen passwords for games such as World of Warcraft and Lineage, are particularly valuable, since in these games it is common for less skilled gamers to buy/pay for the virtual possessions they have been unable to acquire through skilled game play.

Increasingly, the theft of passwords relies on specially designed malware, whose function is to steal online gaming passwords, allowing crooks access to gamers virtual possessions so that these possessions, just as in real life, can be sold.

Explaining just how this works Greg Hoglund, CEO of HBGary, developers of advanced software security technologies says,

“Once a criminal learns a gamer’s username and password, he can log into the game and sell the victim’s virtual possessions for virtual gold coins. Those coins are then handed to another character in the game who sells the gold for real-world dollars at an online exchange such as IGE. IGE operates a network that deals with the legitimate buying and selling of virtual currencies and assets on the internet.

Video gaming companies are now fighting back through the use of authenticators. An authenticator is an electronic device which generates a unique, one-time use password which combined with the user’s regular password provides an increased security level against malicious attacks, including keyloggers and Trojans.

Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind such popular games as World of Warcraft, Lineage, Diablo and StarCraft sells an authenticator for $6.50 USD through the Blizzard online store.

So, if you are one of the millions of virtual gamers, purchasing an authenticator to help protect your virtual assets, it seems to me, is vital.

If you’re interested in FREE online gaming then check out an excellent article by Simon, one of my fellow writers here on Makeuseof.com – Top Five Free Online Shooter Games.

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There’s one question that lies on everybody’s lips; who will be the next Archlord? Who will prove worthy? The gallery of heroes can never be long enough. Chantra is in need of those ‘ordinary heroes’. People like you.

About Archlord

Archlord is an MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) by NHN Games Corporation and Codemasters. The game was also featured in the movie BenX, about an autistic boy escaping into the virtual world. You might know the guys at Codemasters from other good games like Overlord, The Lord of the Rings Online and Sensible Soccer. There is one major difference, though. Since the 18th of August, Archlord (together with all of its expansions) was released as a free download.

The Chantra Shop

Archlord gets its money from the game’s ‘Chantra Shop’; a place to buy exclusive in-game items with ‘Chantra Credits’, funded by your (dad’s) credit card. In short, you can play Archlord without paying a penny (or cent), but you might miss out on some exclusive pieces of armour.

Archlord Gameplay

There are basically two ways to play Archlord; solving quests and getting into the Archlord System. The quest solving is pretty much self explanatory. There are tons and tons of quests, widely differing in their length and difficulty. This is a more solo-aimed play, though you can team up with other players to beat that impossible village boss.

The Archlord System

The Archlord System is a bit more complicated. As you may know from the intro, Chantra is ruled by an almighty Archlord. This is one player per server (there are three in total), with exclusive powers. The Archlord has the ability to choose between night and day, rain and sunshine on the entire server. He has a personal guard and can summon powerful monsters to protect him or fight by his side.

To become the Archlord, you first need to become the head of a guild and train your ass off. When you and your guild are strong enough, you can participate in a castle raid. In this raid, you have a defending and an attacking guild. The goal of the defending guild is to defeat the attackers, or at least try to hold them off as long as possible. The attacking guild, on the other hand, needs to attack and claim the castle. A detailed guide of how this goes into work can be found here.

When you’ve obtained the castle, you need to perform a siege on the current Archlord’s fortress; The Rensphere Castle. You join this ‘run’ against the guilds of the two other castles. The goal is to fight off the monsters and each other and be the first to challenge the Archlord’s right hand; Dikan, The Dark Lord of Chaos. When defeated, you will be crowned the new Archlord.

Roundup

The game looks great, sounds great (the original soundtrack was composed by the London Symphonic Orchestra) and the playing environment is simply huge. I have played the game for a few weeks, and I haven’t even been in half of the possible places. If you were to walk from one side to another, you’d literally lose a day, so you’ll be happy to see the (pricey) teleport gates they’ve put in the game.

[rating=4]

Download Archlord Free

Archlord is freely available. The 1.3 GB download (featuring all expansion packs) can be found here. Enjoy!

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