This week's giveaway is not one but TWO books to keep you occupied at the beach and other vacation spots (or even just your own bathroom) when your favorite gaming portable's batteries give out.
The first is a 448-page hardback called
The Book of Games Volume 1. The pages are glossy and filled with gorgeous pictures and interesting articles and game details. Electric Playground complemented the "surprising amount of data: The world size, the number of hours of gameplay it provides, if it's an online game or not. The information is helpful for painting a broad picture of a game if you don't have one, and it even has stuff that isn't covered by a lot of game review/information sites."
Book two is the 224-page
Encyclopedia of Game Machines, which provides an in-depth look at the history of consoles and handhelds from 1972 through 2005. Remember the Magnovox Odyssey? Neither do I, but it's in here along with bits of my own personal gamer history: the Trash-80, the Commodore PET/64, Atari 2600/800, Colecovision, N64 and many, many more. There are 500 machines covered here with 600 pictures plus history and technical data.
Good stuff for someone who just can't unplug that 'Net cable but is forced to anyway. (We feel for you...) Here's how to enter:
Continue reading "Free Stuff Friday - Summer Reading" »
Activision revealed 24 songs that will be in Guitar Hero 5, which innnovates on World Tour by offering the option to have multiple people playing the same instrument (no more being kicked down to bass or vocals when guitar and drums are taken). Here are the confirmed tracks:
Continue reading "Song Watch - Guitar Hero 5" »
Jewel Quest is a classic gem-matching game - not the first, but definitely one of the best. The story is ever-so-reminiscent of Indiana Jones due to the archeology theme. As the game progresses, it gets harder and harder due to board layouts that trap gems in hard-to-reach places, locks and cursed objects that penalize you.
The game has been released on virtually every platform imaginable with dozens of variations (including solitaire and mahjong), and - aren't you lucky - we have it to give away in its classic form on two of the best: PC and Nintendo DS! If you've never played it, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. Or enter on behalf of the gem-swapper in your life.
Here's how to enter:
Continue reading "Free Stuff Friday - Pick and Win: Jewel Quest for PC or DS" »
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| GrrlGotGame is a psycho when she plays Fallout 3 |
WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS. The games are old enough that if you care, you've probably already beaten them anyway. You have been warned.
"My wife is a psycho."
That's how Gamewatcher described me after getting a taste of my
Fallout 3 game style. A major
Oblivion fan, he plays the proverbial light side: Aid the pathetic scum, perform good deeds, help little old ladies cross the Wasteland... you get the idea.
Me? I get pissed if I accidentally get good karma.
This is not to say that I'm not a productive member of virtual society. I have boosted the local economy as a slave trader, "employing" so many people that the game ran out of slave collars. Plus I've brought the population under control, which is super-important when you consider that... Farming? Not really an option.
As my dad would say, I'm a fun girl.
Fallout 3 is hardly the first digital Rorschach (speaking of psychos!) test to hit the market. The whole point of an RPG is to let you slip inside the eyes of your mind and explore. Some of us just prefer to explore our id a bit more than others.
In our defense, here are just a few of the games that make being bad feel oh-so-right:
Continue reading "GrrlGotGame - I'm not a psycho, but I play one on my TV" »
That glowing blue light on the front of your Wii can mean only one of about five things. Well, this time it means there's another firmware update. In the absence of official release notes, all we have is educated speculation about v4.1 - but it appears that it only fixes a very minor issue with the forthcoming Wii Sports Resort where playing a game off an SD card would force you to rewatch the Wii MotionPlus tutorial. You can also guess that it might also block homebrew, though that's not confirmed either...
This week's Free Stuff Friday giveaway is a two-parter. First, there's the game:
Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup. If you've ever wanted to experience the thrill of a Quidditch match firsthand, this game is pretty good. A couple years ago it marked one of the first games I played from EA after taking a long break from them, but it does require a PS2 or an older PS3 that supports backward compatibility. I'm not even much of a sports game fan, and I enjoyed it!
Then there are the Blu-rays. We recently picked up the boxset of the first 5 Harry Potter films, which left us with extra copies of Goblet of Fire (my personal fave to date!) and Order of the Phoenix. (We also had Harry Potter 1-3 on regular DVD, but donated those to the local Boys & Girls Club.) Anyway, for these movies you'll need a PS3 or standalone Blu-ray player.
Here's the twist. You can play for all of the prizes, but you need to promise you have the hardware for them. Otherwise, we ask that you ONLY play for the game or the movies, depending on what you do have and let someone else win the other. For the record, the Goblet of Fire movie lacks its own case so it will be tucked into the box for Harry Potter 5.
Here's how to enter:
Continue reading "Free Stuff Friday - Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup and Blu-ray movies" »
This week's giveaway is for the Xbox 360 first-person shooter fans who missed out on the sleeper
Prey as well as any fans of the game who cheaped out and didn't get the version with the collectible pewter figures and art book. The game offers something for everyone: both single-player campaign and online multiplayer!
The prize pack includes the shiny metal case packaging with Tommy and Hunter figures, art book, game disc and manual all nestled inside. The only thing missing is the code for the downloadable soundtrack, and we'll make up for that with a rare mystery item that should appeal to online gamers in particular. Not saying what it is (unless someone guesses it) but if you weren't in the Xbox Live beta back in the days of the original Xbox, you probably don't have one.
Here's how to enter:
Continue reading "Free Stuff Friday - Prey Limited Collector's Edition with bonus" »
OK, first of all, a game can only have one colon. Any more than that is greedy. But Star Wars: The Forced Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition has two, and that should be a signal that this is a STUPID. MARKETING. TRICK. (As Ash would say if he commented on the gaming industry, "Get an axe!") The game is a technically a re-release of the somewhat popular Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game but with some "bonus" levels. Coruscant and Tattooine are or will be available as purchaseable downloadable add-ons from Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store, so at first glance offering a retail disc could seem like a saving throw against restrictive DRM. But no, there's a Hoth level that will not be released for download, meaning you have to buy, borrow or rent this game to get it. LucasArts is betting you buy or at least inspire services such as Gamefly to purchase tons of copies so you can rent it. The PR answer for this trick is that you won't have to play through the full game to unlock the bonus content. OK, so that does soften the blow a little. Borrow the game from a friend, beat the extra level(s) quickly and hand it back same day. Otherwise, the marketers win...
Activision revealed the full 85-song setlist for Guitar Hero 5, due Sept. 1 for PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360:
Continue reading "Song Watch - Guitar Hero 5" »
We live in crazy times. 103 degrees in Seattle? WTF! As a reminder to live life to the fullest, we're giving away two games that will get your pulse racing for different reasons.
Metal Gear Solid is the granddaddy of stealth action games. And
Need for Speed: Carbon is one of most recent entries in the adrenaline-soaked racing genre.
You can enter for both of these PC games, or whichever one suits your tastes. One note: Generosity may be rewarded with a mystery bonus item. So if you aren't really into racing games, play only for the action title - or vice versa. Then again, if you really do like both genres this could be your chance to win two games you'll thoroughly enjoy.
Here's how to enter:
Continue reading "Free Stuff Friday - Testosterone Pack: Metal Gear Solid and Need for Speed: Carbon" »
Ever since game.giveawayoftheday.com went weekends only (with long breaks such as their recent vacation from April to June), there hasn't been a good source for free daily downloadable games. Well, GameHouse is now trying to fill that void with its daily casual game giveaways. Today's game is StoneLoops of Jurassica, a solid marble popper that's currently #3 on the Apple App Store (one of the better dollars I've spent on the iPhone!). And if you install it today, you can save a buck or twenty and play it on your PC. It's worth noting that GameHouse's offerings are not entirely free. Every install pitches you on Google Chrome, and games are broken into bite-sized chunks with unskippable ads between stages. Also, some of the games aren't the greatest; expect a lot of mediocre hidden object and time management games with the occasional gem. But it's worth a look every day to see if the game appeals to you. I'll tweet when I spot a good one, but you'll always have to act fast...
Following in the footsteps of their 
Whether you're a fan of Bethesda RPGs or just free games in general, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is now freely 
Longtime followers of this site know that one of our sub-missions is to advocate for busy gamer "rights." My recent bout with summer games has revealed that the state of save points still isn't optimal.
Keeping with its usual bag of marketing tricks, Sony is offering a range of bonuses depending on where you preorder Uncharted 2: Among Thieves:
