Alphabet Shoot
A strategy shooter game that gets pretty hard in the later levels…like level 19, my nemesis.
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kottke.org posts about video games
Record Tripping
You’ve gotta have a scroll wheel (or trackpad) to play Record Tripping, a game in which you utilize DJ scratching to solve little puzzles.
Glitch is the new Game Neverending
Stewart Butterfield and his ex-Flickr co-founders have revealed what their company, Tiny Speck, has been working on for the past few months: a game called Glitch. A CNET reporter has been embedded at Tiny Speck for the past few months and has more than you probably want to know about the new company and game.
Twitch clicking game
From Casey Reas, a quick Chrome-only mouse-only game called Twitch. (thx, david)
Creeper World
Build your network, set up your blasters & mortars, get some energy stores in place, and try not to play Creeper World for like 12 straight hours. And this is just a demo for a downloadable for-pay game with more than 50 missions. (via buzzfeed)
Pictogrid
Pictogrid starts off deceptively simple but is difficult to stop playing after a few rounds. (via buzzfeed)
Bubble Tanks Tower Defense
I didn’t think much of this one at first (yet another tower defense game, right?) but the megatower wrinkle helps make Bubble Tanks Tower Defense almost unputdownable.
Oh, and there’s a level with unlimited money to spend on towers and upgrades to defend against unlimited enemies (it’s the last board in the top row). I built up the board as much as I could and let it run overnight. After 10 hours or so, the game got to level 2758 before all 20 lives were gone.
First person Tetris
Completely trippy version of Tetris where pushing the rotate button ROTATES THE WHOLE WORLD. (thx, ryan)
Hoshi Saga
New Super Mario Bros Wii may be difficult, but the simple Hoshi Saga had me tearing my hair out way more than Bowser’s minions.
And call your hairdresser because there is also Hoshi Saga 2, Hoshi Saga 3, and Hoshi Saga Ringo. (via buzzfeed)
Endless Migration
Endless Migration is a fun Flash game where you control a flock of geese while dogding airplanes and weather systems. (thx, neil)
I suck at online basketball too
A simple but oddly compelling multiplayer basketball game…after each shot, you’re shown how you’re doing against everyone else (~1000 players when I was playing). (via waxy)
Guitar Hero with 21,268 Christmas lights
This is possibly the most American thing I’ve ever seen:
Such ingenuity combined with such conspicuous waste. (via waxy)
Warzone Tower Defense
Let’s get your Monday started off on the wrong foot: Warzone Tower Defense. A worthy alternative to Desktop Tower Defense. (thx, shay)
Gimme Friction Baby
GFB is a game and it’s totally safe for work unless you want to actually get something done today. From a review at Jay is Games:
There is a certain paradigm shift that must occur when playing this game for the first time before the light goes on and the player ‘gets it’. I believe this is due to a sort of cognitive bias we have as gamers: when firing a turret we expect things to explode… and to go fast.
However, this game is anything but fast. The gameplay forces the player to slow down, think first, and to plan each shot carefully. Each game therefore becomes a careful placement of orbs rather than a quick-fire session to arrive at the end result. The slower pace gives way to excitement as an orb inches ever so close to that fearsome dotted line, and strategy emerges as the key ingredient to an award winning recipe. Those who don’t experience the paradigm shift may never appreciate the subtlety and the genius of this very simple gameplay design.
There’s also a version for the iPhone called Orbital.
Update: Here’s a Java version with rotation.
Continuity
Continuity is an ingenious little Flash game that is one part side-scroller and one part magic square puzzle. (thx, carl)
Original Mario Kart on Wii
New on the Wii Virtual Console: Super Mario Kart. Many consider this the finest Kart made.
Hedgehog Launch 2
I don’t have time for a proper play, but the sequel to Hedgehog Launch is out. It’s more of the same, only different. (thx, ben)
PS. In case you missed it on Friday, all the fun Flash games I post have their own page now: addictive Flash games. There it is, your whole day. Waiting to be ruined.
Shields of Gemland
Shields of Gemland is a fun Snood-like game. (via buzzfeed)
BTW, I’ve collected a bunch of the fun Flash games I post occasionally into a tag of their own: addictive Flash games. Hundreds of hours of fun, all on one page.
Javascript Nintendo emulator
This Javascript Nintendo emulator works amazingly well in Google Chrome. You can play Dr. Mario, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, The Legend of Zelda, etc.
I highly recommend you use Google Chrome to play JSNES. Thanks to its high performance canvas element, and a clever optimisation by Connor Dunn, it runs at full speed on modern computers. Mac builds are also available. Otherwise, it just about runs on Firefox 3.5 or Safari 4, but it’s hardly playable.
We’ve come a long way from the days of the 5K Awards.
A Life Well Wasted podcast
A Life Well Wasted is a well-produced podcast about “video games and the people who love them”, sort of a gaming version of Radiolab or This American Life. Each episode is accompanied by a limited edition poster designed by the awesome Olly Moss.
Update: The Bygone Bureau has an interview with A Life Well Wasted’s creator, Robert Ashley.
Remastered Beatles albums
Today’s the day: those meticulously remastered Beatles albums are available today. The Beatles version of Rock Band is out as well.
A game where upgrading is the game
The goal of the UPGRADE COMPLETE! game is to upgrade the game fully. (Yes, this game was inspired by Achievement Unlocked.)
This game has crummy graphics… UNTIL YOU UPGRADE THE GRAPHICS ENGINE! And no sound? UNTIL YOU BUY IT IN THE SHOP! And no mute button!? You guessed it, this game requires you to buy that as well!
Which seems a bit lame but then when you get into it a bit, it’s a little less lame but the game is totally easy and it just takes some time to get through it and get everything. I guess what I’m trying to say is: I finished it.
CycloManiacs
CycloManiacs is Excitebike all grown up…it can drink alcohol and tie cherry stems in knots with its tongue. Warning: this is literally hours of fun. Hours.
Must Pop Words
Boggle + Tetris/Snood = Must Pop Words. This is difficult for poor typists like me. (via vsl)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Might have to dust off the Wii for this one: New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Features include four-player collaborative play (!!) and something called “demo play”.
The game will also be the first game on the Wii to feature “demo play”, where players will be able to pause the game, let the game complete the level for them, and resume play at any time by unpausing.
In my house, this was called the “give the controller to my 11-year-old cousin and let him show you how it’s done” feature. I both hated and loved that feature. (via object of my obsession)
Circle the cat
The Circle the Cat game is addictive until you figure out the optimal strategy (which took me way too long) and then it’s pretty easy. (via @dunstan)
Multitasking, now in game form
In Multitask, you start off playing one game and then another and so on until you’re playing several games at the same time. I am horrible at this. (via waxy)
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