“Can You Run It?” from system requirements lab is a free web service that compares your PC specs against a large, constantly updated database of games and can tell you whether your computer is  sufficient to run any game that you are interested in. It can also give you a breakdown of individual components and tell you exactly where your computer stands in relation to the recommended and preferred specs and what areas or components to change or upgrade.

A simple, casual free game that involves running around and blasting robots. It employs an interesting twist whereby whenever you die, you get to replay a level alongside the past incarnation of yourself (your previous playing sequences preserved and re-played, resulting in many of your guys simultaneously unleashing a whole lot of firepower).

Miestas is a free point and click flash adventure game that features artsy, hand-drawn graphics and a jazzy soundtrack that combine together to create a dream-like game environment.

“Ben there Dan That!” is free a point and click adventure game in the old LucasArts tradition that loosely explores the theme of “the death of the adventure game”. It chronicles the adventures of Ben and Dan, the digital versions of the two developers of the game, as they solve puzzles and engage in clever and amusing dialogue containing numerous humorous references to old 90’s adventure games.

Kong is a free 2D top-down shoot em up in a full 3D environment. It can be played single player or multiplayer over LAN or the internet, and features all the usual game modes such as capture the flag, deathmatch, and team deathmatch. It offers a variety of weapons to use and objects to interact with.

Bonesaw is a platform game which in terms of graphics, sound, and even the gameplay has a retro look and feel. The fast-paced action involves travelling through 30 levels of the game, solving puzzles and fighting bad guys.

Pteroglider is a vertical scrolling shoot em up featuring four levels of non-stop action, outstanding production qualities, and an innovative "mouse targeting" firing system.

The article will present an overview of 19 free turn based strategy games (empire building or war games). The games are: FreeCiv, TripleA, Stick Figure Strategy, Weewar, Eight Kingdoms, PhpDiplomacy, C-Evo, Advanced Strategic Command, Project W, Conqueror, The General, TriChromic, FreeOrion, People’s Tactics, Lgeneral, Crimson Fields, 1848, The Battle for Wesnoth, and Risk.

Passage is a side-scrolling casual game done in pixellated, retro-looking graphics. The game can be completed in 5 minutes and is meant to represent a lifetime from birth until death. Passage is an art project open to each player’s interpretation.

Binary Toys are animated windowless vector characters “made up of springs, muscles, and masses” that are designed to inhabit your computer, interacting with your desktop environment in accordance with the laws of physics.

Over the past few months there seems to have been an explosion of games released as freeware. This posting will present a sort of meta-index of freeware games-lists that I have found on the net.

Synaesthete is a free 3D isometric game that introduces some very interesting innovations to the shoot em up genre. It aims to synchronize visuals and audio in a unified whole, where both interact and are an part of the gaming experience.