Not so in Tetris 2. This fan remake is truly chaotic, a post-modern spin on a structured classic. It’s Tetris under anarchy. Pieces can be rotated freely instead of on a grid, making it fiendishly difficult to fit pieces together perfectly. There’s even a physics engine added to the game, meaning your piece might rebound off another and end up out of place.

Prepare For Frustration!

Start up Not Tetris and nothing looks that weird. In fact, it’s almost a perfect recreation of the Nintendo Game Boy version of Tetris:

The title screen is familiar, and the menus look about right. Even the music is a nostalgia-inducing Gameboy replica. The chaos begins when you start playing:

Like I said, pieces are not rotated on a grid, as in most versions of Tetris, Instead, they can rotate freely 360 degrees. The result is almost always a chaotic mess, which makes for an interesting spin on a classic video game.

Are you certain you won’t be able to get a complete row of squares with such chaos? The game designers were too. As such, lines disappear whenever a certain line is mostly full of substance. This will leave pieces of squares behind, of course, adding to the chaos.

Not sure what I mean? Check out this video:

Play this variation of Tetris and your goal quickly becomes apparent. You need to exert pressure on your mess of pieces in order to cause a collapse and (hopefully) make some sort of row happen down below. All the while, you must try to keep the pieces on top more or less aligned (in my case, mostly less). If this all sounds overwhelming to you, give it a shot. It’s worth it for the novelty alone, but is also actually a pretty fun game.

Oh, and there are some options you can configure in the game:

The color screen is superfluous, but depending on your computer’s resolution you’re going to want to adjust the scale – it can make a tiny window into a reasonably sized one.

Download Not Tetris 2

Ready to play? Go ahead and download Not Tetris 2. You’ll find downloads for Mac, Linux and Windows. Linux users, you’ll need to install a package in order to open the game “love”. Search your package manager for the program, then open the file you download with it.

Conclusion & Coming Attractions

I love it when fans do twists on classic games. Super Mario Crossover brings Link, Samus and Megaman into Super Mario Bros, and is a whole lot of fun. The company behind Not Tetris 2 is working on something like this: a crossover between Portal and Super Mario Bros. Check it out:

Like Not Tetris 2, this game makes something new out of something old. I cannot wait for it to be released, and will be watching for it and other ideas like it.

Do you know of any other twists on classic games? Share them in the comments below, along with any thoughts about Not Tetris 2.

That’s why everyday computer users tend to avoid Terminal. People say that tinkering with the Terminal is not for the faint hearted. Because something could – and possibly would – go wrong.

But actually, there are fun things that we can do using the Terminal’s command line. Here are few of the simple ones.

1. Play the Old (Classics) Games

Mac OS X comes with GNU Emacs, part of GNU operating system, which can be accessed via Terminal. There are some old, classic games hidden there. They are far from beautiful if you compare them with all the graphically-intense ones that we have today. But to fill in some spare times, these ‘uglies’ will do just fine.

To access them, type in (or better yet, copy and paste) this command into the Terminal to access the GNU Emacs:

emacs

Click Enter, then continue with the key combination of “Esc + x”. Type in one of these game’s names to start playing:

5×5
blackbox
dunnet
gomoku
hanoi
landmark
mpuz
pong
snake
solitaire
tetris

I know some of them well (the last four on the list) while other names did not exist in my dictionary until just now. I tried to play them all but without any information or how-to’s, it’s a tough effort to carry out.

If you want to quit the game, use the key combination “Ctrl + x” followed by “Ctrl + c”

2. Watch the text-based episode of StarWars IV

I used to think that George Lucas skipped his early Math classes since he started the Star Wars sagas with number IV. Yet, I’m always a big fan of Luke and Leia.

If you feel like being nostalgic (and have plenty of free time to spare), why don’t you connect to the net, open the terminal and type in:

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

That’s how far a REAL fan will go. (And if you are lucky enough to have IPv6, you’ll get more scenes and – drum roll, please – color!)

3. Talking Terminal

Still have so much time to spare but no one to spare the time with? You could have the terminal talking to keep you company.

Just type in:

say {Fill in your text here}

Fill in any text in the area provided above and Terminal will speak it out for you.

4. Meet the Doctor

After going as far as letting the talking Terminal accompany you during your lonely hours, you feel worried about your mental health and thinking about going to a mental therapist.

Well, look no further. Emacs also hides a virtual psychologist. To consult it with your problems, follow the above steps on number 1, but instead of typing in the name of the game, you type “doctor” (sans quote).

I guarantee that you would need a real psychotherapist after consulting with this one.

As a final note, I think I should mention that I tried these fun things on my Mac. But since everything described here is merely command lines, these commands should also work fine on Linux machines.

Do you know any other fun but simple things that you can do with the Terminal? Or can you help with some of the unknown games above? Share your knowledge using the comments section below.

However, if we are to be killing time at work, what better way of doing so than to give our brains a good mental work-out?

Today, we’ll take a break from all those first person shooters and online multiplayer fantasies. Instead, MakeUseOf brings you an assorted compilation of three wonderful, yet challenging puzzle games.

Stopple

A desktop recreation of the ever so popular Bloxorz flash game. The concept is simple: get your moving block to land vertically on the circular pad. Proceeding to do this is another matter – as special tiles, buttons and hatches will make your life miserable for the effort.

This game is guaranteed to bring you tons of fun, as you work your way through the 32 levels of the original game. However, you can now enjoy it in full screen without any distractions and play it offline as well.

Supported Operating Systems
Windows 95 to Vista

Known System Requirements
Pentium II® 400
64 MB RAM
5 MB Free Hard Drive Space
16 MB or Greater DirectX 7.0 Compatible 3D Graphics Accelerator

DUOtris

The creator of addictive arcade shooter mono surprises us again with DUOtris. Don’t get misguided by the title and looks of the game, because the concept couldn’t differ more from Tetris.

Your objective in the game is to piece together at least three blocks of the same color to eliminate them. Not only that, you’ve got mirrored zones with different colouring. That means, different coloured blocks moving dependently on both sides of the screens.

The only way you’re going to get through this is through a masterful combination of agility and compositional thinking. And of course, by deploying the various powerups, which are mixed with the other blocks.

Supported Operating Systems
Windows

Known System Requirements
DirectX 9.0b or higher (Download DX10/DX9)

Floating Islands Game

FIG, or Floating Islands Game, can best be described as an innovative solo Lemmings adventure. The game features code and artwork by Arvu Teikari (Hempuli) and has been praised already by innumerably on the web.

In the game, you guide a brain-dead guy through a series of floating islands, while collecting all the stars. However, direct interaction with the character is impossible and the only way of manipulating him is through the environment. So pull the switch, burn the rope, do whatever you can to get your little guy from one side to another.

There’s also a secret blue star in each level. You’ll need all of these blue stars to unlock and play the last five levels. It won’t be an easy task, but it’s sure as hell worth it.

FIG is an incredibly imaginative and addictive game, so prepare to loose complete track of time. The artwork won’t hold up to the Mona Lisa, but it’s a fun and playful style to depict the craziest of worlds.

Supported Operating Systems
Windows

If you liked these games, you might also like 4 Flash Games To Kick-Start Your Brain, or James Withers’ article about GWAP Brain Games.

If you’ve got any other suggestions or comments, don’t be shy to share them below.

Just thinking about all the hours I’ve spent playing, first on my old Mac OS 9, later on my cellphone, get’s me instantly nostalgic. Even the song has become a cult classic.

It’s not weird at all to see Tetris being revived from time to time, on the PC, on the Wii, or on the Mac.

Quinn – Multiplayer Tertris on Mac

The Mac – although labeled a ‘business computer’ by most – is home to a surprisingly great reincarnation of the game. Of course, due to rights, it’s not labeled Tetris, but Quinn.

All the original action is packed into the game, though. And a lot more as well.

Network Play

Quinn, labels itself a Tetromino game, and saying it’s just another Tetris clone would be a heavy understatement. Although it does the job perfectly, with slick colorful visuals and pretty fysics, the game was meant for more.

In Quinn, you can take it and play tetris against a friend, to see who beats who in Tetromino skills. Quinn doesn’t feature any standalone servers though, so one of you will have to do the hosting. This means you’ll either have to play over the local network, or over the internet, in which case you locate the host via IP.

Tournament Play

You can also play out a tournament against a friend, on a single computer. You’ll then be dividing up the keyboard, and playing split-screen.

Multiplayer Rules

There are several ways for the players to influence the game of others, and these multiplayer rules can be specified in the settings.

Random Rows is pretty self explanatory. This setting adds one or two randomly filled rows at the bottom of opponents’ boards after a player clears three or four rows at once. There’s also a hard mode in which the number’s raised by an additional random row.

Erased Rows is a variation of the above. Instead of creating rows at random, your send you own rows (excluding the final piece) over to the bottom of your opponents’ boards upon clearing three or four of them at once.

Shake Up is a real meanie. When this mode is enabled, Quinn will insert a number of gaps in each column of an opponents’ board, making it even more difficult for them to get those lines down.

For fairness’ sake, distribution of extra rows or gaps is always the same for all players. However, depending on an opponent’s board, the results can deviate greatly.

So what do you think about this game? Or did you just wish this was a Windows or Linux game? Are you familiar with any multiplayer tetris game for Windows? Drop a comment below!

In the virtual world, it’s not chocolate and egg-whites, but little lines of code inserted into the main programs that show up through a combination of key strokes or commands. Often it is a prank or just a bit of playful ego on the part of the programmer that ‘hatches the egg’ but for us common folks the discovery is unexpected fun.

So here’s a look at the basket of some popular software Easter eggs found in some common Windows applications”¦

1. Solitaire made easy (only in XP)

If you are finding it difficult to win in Solitaire, just press Alt + Shift + 2. Presto! The game ends and you win.

2. Foul play at FreeCell (only in XP)

Start a new FreeCell game. Hold down Ctrl + Shift + F10 during play. A dialog box appears asking you to Abort, Retry or Ignore. Select Abort and then move any card anywhere to win the game.

3. Window speaks proper (only in XP)

Go to Control Panel, open up the Speech properties applet and in the Preview field type ‘Crotch’ (without the quote). The voice preview says “Crow’s nest” instead.



4. Windows Welcome Music (only in XP)

An ambient music track you might not have heard before. Navigate to C:WindowsSystem32. We are looking for a folder named ‘oobe’. This folder has a subfolder named ‘images’. In ‘images’ click on the sound file called ‘title.wma’ to hear the soothing track ““ Windows welcome music.

5. Firefox’s comeback

This was supposedly a rejoinder to the Internet Explorer 5′s own joke that the Mozilla browser caused system crashes. To see Firefox’s reply type “˜about:Mozilla’ (without the quotes) in the address bar and hit it.



6. Firefox and the kitchen sink

In the address bar type in “˜about kitchensink‘ (without the quote but with a space). Look at the interesting graphic that opens up.

7. Running Firefox within another Firefox

There doesn’t seem to be any apparent use for this but if you type in chrome://browser/content/browser.xul in the address bar, it will open up another Firefox instance but within the first browser.

8. Chrome Pipes

Open the Chrome browser and type in about:internets in the address bar. The background turns black and the old pipes ‘Microsoft’ screensaver plays out on the screen.



9. Tetris in uTorrent

Go to the uTorrent menu and click on Help ““ About. Tap “˜T’ on the keyboard and play a game of Tetris using the arrow keys on the keyboard.



10. Overload game with FeedDemon

Enter FeedDemon Easter Egg in the web search address bar on the right hand side and hit enter. Play the funky information overload game with the arrow keys.

These are just 10 of the multitude of Easter eggs found in software and applications. There are dedicated sites which collate Easter eggs in wide ranging applications. Some of them deserve a mention.

Egg Heaven

A comprehensive site which lists Easter eggs in different categories and also has a section called Curios which mentions tricks and other program quirks.

Eeggs

Another widely inclusive site which has category listings such as DVD Easter Eggs, Software, Movies, Music, TV, Books and Art.

Mac OS Easter Eggs

Mac Users can try out the listings available here.

SoftwareTipsAndTricks

Another good list site with a section on Easter eggs.

Gamespot

The gaming site includes information about some of the greatest Easter eggs in gaming.

In listing just ten, I have deliberately missed out a lot more. Do you have a favorite Easter Egg of your own? Let us know”¦perhaps it deserves a mention.

Photo Credit : Don Solo

During my search for new games, I encountered some games that were more – special.

Frankly, some of these games made you pull out all of your hair before you were done.

For this article, I’ve searched for the hardest (free) games in the world. Believe me when I say it will be frustrating. It will seem impossible. And if you don’t die and fail a few hundred times before succeeding, you’re just not trying hard enough.

If this seems too much for you, please turn back now. Failure will be an option – nearly a necessity before succeeding. If you can find the courage, follow me into the gaming pit of doom.

5. La Mulana

You’re an adventurer, and armed with nothing but a whip, you choose to invade the tomb of La Mulana. Like always, these tombs are far from empty, and trespassers are not particulary celebrated.

There are many items to be found in the game, many of which will contribute to the story, and some that will grant you additional abilities and weapons.

Remarkable for this 2D platformer, is that the story is non-linear. Yes, the ending will always be the same – if you manage to reach it – but there are tons of different ways to get there.

The game was originally released in Japanese, but an English patch was made available by Ian Kelley of AGTP. So you’ll need to download and install both the original game and the English patch.

4. World’s Hardest Game #2

The fourth place is taken by a flash game – the World’s Hardest Game 2 (talking about paradoxes).

The game looks ridiculously simple, but don’t be fooled; many brave men and women went down because of carelessness.

You play with the red square. Your objective is to grab all the coins and return to one of the green patches. There’s only one obstacle; the little blue balls. Touch those and you’re done for.

Easy, right?

The problem is that these little blue balls constantly move around, which creates a deadly maze that you need to get through.

Instead of showing you the number of lives you’ve got left, the game chooses to mock you with the number of lives you’ve lost so far. Play through all fifty insane levels, and you’ll hold a name of honor.

If you enjoyed playing this game, you should also check out the first game of the series.

3. Japanese Mario Kitten (dl)

Our bronze medal goes to this Japanese Mario-like game.

The game has a high degree of randomness, which takes the difficulty to a whole new level, so don’t be surprised when you hit invisible bricks or get killed by the clouds from time to time.

Many people claim that because of this, completing it is more a matter of memory than of skill. But whatever the cause, the difficulty of this game is undeniable.

The game can be played out of your browser on this page, or you can download it here.

2. FLaiL

Being the second hardest game available, FLaiL receives the silver medal.

FLaiL is an acrobatic 2D platformer, in which you need to hike, jump and even fly accross the level to reach a red beam. The difficulty of this game lies not in any randomness, but – as you can see in the screenshot below – in the insanity of the level designs. Even the tutorials are pretty hard, and it doesn’t get any easier.

Play through the 80 available stages by yourself or in co-operation mode. It’s also possible to add a third player, who then occupies himself with dropping bombs to make it even more difficult!

1. I Wanna Be The Guy

By far the hardest game ever made, I Wanna Be The Guy.

I admit, if you manage to finish this game, you’ll be one hell of a guy.

You’re playing the role of Kid, who’s on the dangerous quest of becoming a guy. The game is frustrating at times, but wonderfully designed and hosts several cool references to old school classics – like the tetris level.

This game manages to combine utterly insane level designs with bits of randomness. You see the screenshot above? Chances are pretty good that a few of those spikes will try to attack you in mid-air.

Similar to Japanese Mario Kitten, remembering the oddities of each level plays at least as big of a role as your skill. However, if you manage to beat this game, you will be amongst the elite few.

If there are any games which you consider to be the hardest games in the whole world, please let us know in the comments what they are.