The GameShadow Blog

Here at GameShadow one of our favourite snacks whilst we’re gaming are Pringles.

We’re marking this by playing a free game called Xtreme Gladiatorial Challenge.

Why not take the challenge, let us know your high scores and tell us what you enjoy eating whilst you’re playing.

GameShadow, dtp and Duracell have teamed up to bring you a cool competition.

We’re giving you the chance to win a Nintendo Wii.

All you have to do is play the Summer Athletics 2009 Free Game.

GameShadow has many great free games; The Suffering, Full Spectrum Warrior and Area 51 to name just a few. But it’s the newest addition to this list  - Facewound – that has really grabbed me, it’s truly something else, and I’m really not an indie game fan.

Put it this way: Who doesn’t love a game where you can shoot zombies with a Bow ‘n’ Arrow to collect plutonium rods?!

The developer says it’s “totally unfinished [and] unpolished” but I’ve played the 1st 3 levels without any bugs or problems.

Download it Now! (just 28mb)

It’s that time again: when Valve showers us with gifts in a way few other developers are prepared to do.

Today’s update is centred around the Pyro, where the last one was aimed at the Medic, and will see 35 new Pyro achievements, three new unlockable weapons, a new alt fire for the flamethrower, the bundling of two community developed maps, and the release of the Meet the Sniper vid. Quality, the lot of it.

Valve’s ongoing support for TF2 makes a lot of sense, but it’s still outstanding in comparison to some of the other online shooters out there - no names mentioned, EA. The weapons are hilarious, the achievements giving new life to a game still in its prime.

I used to love the Pyro, but I went off the little bastard in favour of the Heavy, and Sniper. Something tells me I might be paying him a little visit this weekend.

You can find more details here, and don’t forget, if you’re not yet a TF2 convert, the game’s free to play all this weekend on Steam.

7 Minutes is a game-in-a-week formed from traditional platforming mechanics, stylised and perfectly pitched to tell a story.

The game pitches you as a man - who looks strangely like a small black square with eyes - who has seven minutes left to live. The game taunts you as you progress through its many levels, all the time the clock ticking down.

It’s a profound tale, told largely through the platforming elements rather than any fancy cut scenes or dialogue, and well worth the effort just for that.

No, it’s not perfect, yes, it’s very annoying. But is this sort of stuff exciting? Definitely.

Well, either exciting, or pretentious. Give it a go and let us know what you think.

Grab it here.

We Tell Stories is an attempt to tell a multu-part, multi-author story via Google Map. Narration takes place as bubbles mapped to locations in London, with a the story moving accross the map as it progresses.

“In the beginning there was a contest of strength amongst the most prominant figures in scripture to determine the mightiest. The tale of this great rivalry was lost forever. Until now. Let there be Bible Fight!” Ever argued why Moses would beat the crap out of Noah, because Moses could blight him with plague? No? Regardless, let there be Bible Fight! Don’t forget to check out the combos. Not for the devout.

Can you kill yourself in five minutes? Stick it to the man!

Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, made infamous for his ridiculing, fast paced video reviews, has a huge back catalogue of reviews, articles and… games over at his fullyramblomatic.com website.

Of all his games, Trilby is one of the best, and most accessible - ie it doesn’t involve trolling through reams and reams of text. It’s a retro 2D stealth game, and completely free. Well worth the download.

Following on from the roaring success of last year’s free, web-based Epic Saga - Extreme Fighter, Double Fine has launched another free, and immensely silly game.

My Game About Me - Olympic Challenge is, if it’s possible, even sillier. Developed by team member Nathan Stapley, it features three Olympic events, ranging from Sleeping to Eating, and also encompassing Surfing.

Check it out here.

High scores anyone? I was so good I gave up after a while.

Ubisoft has just announced the launch of Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms, a free MMO that will be launched in Spring 2008.

 The decision to base the MMO on the long-running Heroes of Might and Magic series, a turn-based strategy game, rather than the even more venerable Might and Magic series of RPG games, is perhaps surprising. The press release promises that “thousands of players will be able to rule their virtual kingdoms, lead gigantic armies against each other, master the trades or create legendary heroes.” Not a direct competitor to World of Warcraft then, or even the staggeringly-successful (and also browser-based) Runescape.

But it remains to be seen if leading gigantic armies works in an MMO like this. It either implies very little ‘massive’ (i.e. 1 on 1 instances), low quality graphics (always a risk for a browser-based game) or terrible lag. I really hope Ubisoft pulls it off though - it would be great to see this franchise reinvented in yet another genre.

I’ll never cease to be impressed with the community following Portal has garnered in the short time since its release. User-made maps were always a given, but the wealth of goodwill and talent that’s seen plush companion cubes, Half-Life 2 mods and cut-out paper models rise in its wake is fantastic to be a part of.

The latest is Portal: The Flash Version.

It’s 2D Portal in your web browser. What more needs saying?

GTA was great. Free games are great. Which means GTA for free is great squared.

Rockstar has released the classic GTA (genre defining with rubbish shooting), GTA 2 (GTA but better in every aspect, apart from the shooting) and Wild Metal (looks a bit average, but who am I to judge?) for free.

Releasing back catalogue for free is a great PR tactic, and you have to wonder why it’s not done more often.

Oh well, make the most of it.

Free games are sometimes a bit average. This one isn’t.

The original Xenon 2 is one of my earliest gaming memories - just about one of the only thing that would play on what may or may not have been a 486.

There’s obviously a big old retro thing that’s been going on for the last few of years, and it’s spawned a host of contemporary homages to the classic titles - but why stop there?

I don’t know what makes Xenon 2 magic - it’s got a real sense of progression that’s lacking from the modern arcade stuff, and it’s got this initially sedate pacing that still somehow manages to knock you down a peg.

Xenon 2000 is the 12MB Vista / XP safe, graphically updated version, and it’s available for free at the old Bitmap brothers website.