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Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and RE2 headline January’s PlayStation Plus monthly games
Sony shared its upcoming PlayStation Plus free games for January on Wednesday. Headlining this month’s batch are Capcom’s 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake and the Borderlands spinoff Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
The best free games for 2023
Gone are the days when free games equated to ropey puzzle games and knock-off clones of games that had a price tag. Following the continued success of titles like Fortnite, the level of quality across mobile, PC and consoles has never been higher. Put your card away, and consider this your starting point.
Amazon Prime Gaming's free titles for September include 'Knockout City'
Amazon is adding more titles to the list Prime Gaming subscribers can claim for free starting on September 1st.
January's free PS Plus games include 'Shadow of the Tomb Raider'
'Greedfall' is also in the lineup, while PS5 owners can get their hands on 'Maneater.'
Konami says Sony made the call to drop 'PES 2019' from PS Plus freebies
Sony raised some eyebrows when it said Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 would no longer be a free game for PS Plus subscribers in July, with Detroit: Become Human Digital Deluxe Edition (which includes Heavy Rain) taking its place. But if you're wondering why the change occurred, statements from Sony and PES publisher Konami didn't shed too much light on the matter, beyond revealing who made the call.
Sony subs ‘PES' for 'Detroit' in July's PS Plus lineup
In an unusual move for Sony, it's making a change to its free PS Plus game lineup for July. It previously said the offerings would be Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 and Horizon Chase Turbo. Now, it's swapping out PES 2019 for Detroit: Become Human Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes another Quantic Dream game in Heavy Rain (a previous PS Plus giveaway).
Pocket Gamer launches iOS games Advent Calendar: Get Hoplite and Shadow Blade now
If your wallet is light this holiday season because you're buying gifts for other people, the fine folks at Pocket Gamer have gift for you. They've just launched the Pocket Gamer Advent Calendar, ten days of free iOS games for your playing pleasure. Each game is only supposed to be available as a free download for 24 hours, but currently the games from the first two days are still available for free. Day one featured Shadow Blade, a side scrolling action game full of gory ninja action, which we featured earlier in today's deals. Day two showcased Hoplite, a grid based tactical dungeon-crawler for fans of retro puzzle games. You can keep track of all the free titles by checking this page every weekday through the 19th. Enjoy, and have a happy holiday.
Kunin - Ninja in Training: high flying, sword swinging addiction
Released today for iPhone and iPad users is the newest member of the "ninja cutting things up" family of games, Kunin - Ninja in Training. In the game, our little ninja perches on a single stalk of bamboo in the middle of a misty lagoon, while unseen folks throw all manner of blades at him, including throwing-stars, throwing-knives, scythes, which the little ninja must jump up to fend off with his sword, or at least avoid being hit by. The process is brutally addictive. Part of the success of this game is the simplicity. You touch either side of the screen and your ninja will jump. He can actually jump upwards 4 times, before descending back to his bamboo perch. You touch the right side of the screen, he look/slashes right, and the same thing for the left. That is the entirety of the controls. The ninja only jumps straight up, so there's nothing to consider, outside of "is the danger on the left or the right?" and to keep moving. If you park on the bamboo too long, it will sink into the lagoon and then you're all wet (aka dead). Another major success for this game is the use of sound and music. The backing track is a percussive, up-tempo, and (naturally) very Asian and appropriate to a game about ninjas. The sound effects, meanwhile, are mixed very loud and impactful, making the game even more stimulating and intense. I highly recommend experiencing this game with headphones, instead of your device's internal speakers. The music and sound effects come together occasionally, with each successful strike by your ninja being accompanied by a melodic tone that fits into the soundtrack. This was a particularly nice touch. The game offers unlimited lives (though your score does return to zero), and the music is not interrupted between tries. This only adds to the addictiveness of the game. Besides the dangerous objects, magical scrolls are also thrown back and forth, which help our ninja in various ways. Some scrolls are worth points, which earn you medals at the end of each turn. Some scrolls give you a boost in "overdrive" which makes you jump higher. Best of all the scrolls, are the scrolls that turn all the dangerous projectiles into harmless rice balls. The pace of play is very fast and requires full concentration and timing, or you will die very quickly. The game starts awarding you with wooden medals after 10 points, and continues up into the thousands, eventually awarding medals made of pearl and unobtainium. The game offers other awards for various accomplishments, such as the "Bushi Master," awarded if you can stay scoreless for 25 seconds. Because your ninja automatically strikes any danger it faces, this is particularly challenging. One of the obvious drawbacks with this game is that, simply put, it is a ninja game. Everybody loves ninjas, but a simple search for the word "ninja" in the App Store will illustrate how unoriginal it is to create a game, in which a ninja hits things with a sword. Again, it is awesome to be a ninja and to hit things with a sword, but to call the idea "saturated" would be grossly understated. That said, this game is so fun, and so well delivered, that the lack of creativity on the concept side of things is eclipsed by the playability, replayability, and general excellence of the whole package. Kunin - Ninja in Training, which is free in the App Store, is highly recommended. Controls are simple enough for anyone. It looks and sounds great. It is challenging to master, but doesn't require mastery to be enjoyed. It can entertain for as short or as long as you want; a regular turn is usually less than 10-15 seconds. Be warned, though, that it is hard to put down once you begin playing. This game is well executed and seriously addictive.
War Memory: A Battle To Remember is somewhat forgettable
War Memory: A Battle To Remember ranks among the most literal titles for any game in history. This game, which is free to users of iOS 6.0 (or later) on the iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone, takes the classic exercise of flipping over panels that display various shapes on the hidden side, in order to test your memory, and literally takes it into an actual war zone, thus the very self-explanatory name. The game takes place on the sandy ground in the middle of a battle. A grid of 24 hexagons lie on the ground, each of which displaying war items, such as gas masks, rocket launchers, tanks, and so on. Each turn is two flipped tiles, whether you find a match or not. If you do happen to find a match, the battle intensifies, as tiny animations of fighter planes, soldiers, or whatever you happened to match are lowered onto their respective tiles. The best, and most effective, part of this game is the intensification of the battle elements. As you collect matches, bullets fly by and loud explosions become more frequent. Especially with headphones or earbuds, this element is the part of this game that makes it uniquely challenging and interesting. The violent noises and distractions make remembering where each tile is hidden very challenging. This effect is lost, unfortunately, when the game is silenced or played with only the device's internal speaker. Another effective part of this game is that each game is best 2 out of 3, with the board shifting left or right. It is as if the person who won the last board were advancing, like an army, towards the loser. Unfortunately, this is the last of the interesting characteristics in the game. War Memory: A Battle To Remember is a fine and familiar experience, and the war elements elements are somewhat fun, but the whole thing feels disjunct, with no real link between memory and war, except that it is a head to head competition, but even that feels like a reach. The most clever thing about the game is probably the name. If you're looking for a free memory game, there's no reason not to choose this one. Beyond that, this game is kind of a head scratch.
Kelso's Quest: potential magic, serious flaws
Kelso's Quest, which is free in the app store for iPhone and iPad users on iOS 5.0 or higher, is an adorable game about a Koala (Kelso), who is on the very disney-esque mission to recover his stolen cub, Nico. Kelso is assisted along the way by weird wombats, some of whom seem to be ninjas, some scientists, etc., who show up and do what they can to help out hero on his way. The game is played from above, in standard the "map game" aesthetic, with missions along as set, linear path, around a map/landscape. The maps, like everything in this game, is slick and gorgeous. There are occasional breaks in the action for word-bubble dialogue between Kelso and other characters. Once inside the missions, your view is still from above, but instead of linear paths, you can take Kelso anywhere you wish to go by drawing the path you want him to travel with your finger. When you do so, it shows a dotted line, similar to a treasure map, which is a really nice touch. Missions are typically passed by collecting various feathers. On the way through this down-under adventure, Kelso encounters many enemies, including totem poles that fire poison blow-darts (one hit will kill you), predatory vultures above head, weird lizards that sleep most of the time (but wake up and try to kill you), among other weird, slightly psychedelic, but lovable foes. In-between missions, the game even gives you fun facts about the real-life versions of the creatures in the game, largely focusing on Koalas and Wombats. The game starts you with five lives and you accumulate gold pieces for completed missions, side games, etc. Then the trouble comes in. It costs gold to immediately continue this game. If you inevitably run out of gold and lives, your options are pretty lame. You can either spend actual money on more imaginary gold, you can sign up for mailing lists and give personal information to advertisers in exchange for more imaginary gold, or (worst of all) you can take the free route: they make you wait long periods of time to continue with 1 new life. The first time you go this way, the game forces you to wait 10min to resume play, the next time 15min, and (if you're like me) your patience will be gone at that point. So, if you want to play a really well animated game with a well planned storyline and fun controls, Kelso's Quest is definitely the game for you, assuming you don't want to be thrown into the jaws of advertisers or forced to wait half an hour before continuing to enjoy it. A lot about this game could be excellent, but I cannot recommend it, unfortunately.
Good Old Games glitch gave away free games in Linux sale
Getting a good deal in a sale is kind of the whole point, but clearing out a promotion's spread without spending a cent is pretty unheard of. Good Old Games users kicked off its Linux Launch promotion this week, but users that were quick to browse the sale discovered its offerings could be had for free. Members began posting in the GOG forums about a potential glitch, which has since been corrected. A day after the promotion had begun, a forum member posted an e-mail they received from GOG's support staff, which explained that the free games were obtainable "due to a small glitch on our end." While the email explained GOG would remove games the erroneously-free games from a customer's shelf if they so desired, it also stressed that "it's totally cool with [GOG]" if a user would prefer to keep them. Class acts then, all the way around. If you're interested in actually purchasing games from the sale, the Linux Launch promotion will last until 12 a.m. EST Tuesday. Don't Starve, Kentucky Route Zero and Sir, You Are Being Hunted are among the sale's offerings. [Image: Good Old Games]
Cat Scratch Fever: The complete Friskies iOS cat app library
Kittens are on the minds of part of the TUAW crew this week; Editor-In-Chief Victor Agreda, Jr. is now the proud dad of Kit-Kat (yes, we know she has an Android OS name), while my wife and I decided to open our home to two adorable new kitties named Merry and Pippin. While looking around last night for something that might keep the two hyperactive felines entertained for a few milliseconds, I remembered that Friskies cat food had a free "advo-tainment" app or two a few years ago. A glance at the App Store showed that the company has now has a whole litter of free apps to try to keep your kitties mesmerized for at least a little while. Here's the whole kit and caboodle: Friskies JitterBug -- Most of these cat-only apps have a certain theme going on that focuses on how felines love to go after anything that moves. Jitterbug gives your kitties five fifteen-second rounds to try to swat as many bugs on an iPad or iPhone screen as possible. If your cat happens to be the Jackie Chan of kittehs and swats a big number, you'll be glad to know you can share his or her score on Facebook. Cat Fishing 2.1 -- You know how Mr. Grumbles likes to watch the fishbowl for hours? No need to be concerned about him accidentally going for a swim when you set the iPad in front of him and launch Cat Fishing 2.1. Here we have fish as the target for your cat's lightning-fast paw, with three rounds with one, two and three fish at a time. Cat bragging rights can not only be displayed on Facebook, but on the Friskies world-wide leaderboard. For a full review by Mike Wehner's cat Cinnamon, click here. Happy Wings -- Let's see, we had crawling bugs, swimming fish... what else can keep a cat excited? Oh, yeah -- things that fly! Happy Wings features three rounds, the first with fluttering moths, the second with dragonflies, and the third with rare tropical hummingbirds that will be wiped out by your cat's baser instincts. According to the app notes, if your cat happens to make it through a few levels, she'll be rewarded with a "You Won" screen and a cat-friendly Play Again button. At this point, my new kittens have the attention span that is measured in Yoctoseconds. Friskies Call-A-Cat -- It's not really a game, but more a way to see what sounds interest your kitties the most. Friskies Call-A-Cat includes several intriguing noises, like bird chirps and opening a can of cat food. The idea is that you can play the most attractive sound just before feeding time to get your cat into the habit of running to the bowl when you tap the sound on your iPhone or iPad. Friskies You vs. Cat -- Tired of letting your cat have all the fun? You vs. Cat is brilliant, since you basically fling playing pieces with a flick of the finger and your cat has to "catch" them. If the cat does stop the playing piece, he gets points; if it goes into the "goal," you get points. The first one who gets to 50 points wins. Note: don't gloat if you win, as your cat may leave a gift where you least expect it. Party Mix-Up -- Yes, in this game your cat gets to catch Friskies Party Mix cat treats. Does this sound basically like subliminal advertising targeted at cats? Tasty Treasures Hunt -- By this point, you'll need an iPhone or iPad with more storage just to hold all of the cat games. In Tasty Treasure Hunt, the gato will be chasing after little cartoon doodles of chickens, turkeys, cheese slices, and fish. Same idea, different graphics. That's about it for the cat apps from Friskies. They also have some games to keep humans occupied, including the search games Friskies Wonderland Quest and Wonderland Quest II for iPad. I have a sinking suspicion that the basic idea of these games is to find hidden items and to drum a certain pet care product line into your brain. And you can't forget Catify Yourself, which turns selfies into nightmarish cat-human hybrids (image below). Have any TUAW readers had success amusing your cats with the Friskies apps? Or did you end up calling "Confuse-A-Cat"? Let us know in the comments.
PlayStation Plus to offer 2 free games for Vita, PS3, PS4 each month
Sony is adjusting its Instant Game Collection schedule for PlayStation Plus starting in July, promising to dish out six free games per month. The games will be divided evenly among its three active platforms, two for each of PS4, PS3 and Vita, and will all debut on the first Tuesday of every month, lasting until the first Tuesday of the following month. Current freebies on PS Plus that had a "nice, long stint" will be gradually phased out in the coming weeks. The House of PlayStation also announced the six games that will be free for the month of June, starting next Tuesday. PS4 owners will have access to Trine 2: Complete Story and PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate, PS3 players can download NBA 2K14 and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and Vita owners will get Terraria and Mutant Mudds Deluxe for the month. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is Cross-Buy eligible, so Vita owners will be able to download that game as well. [Image: Sony]
Nintendo to release its first free-to-play game by March 2014
Along with announcing a fresh Wii U lineup at E3 this week, Nintendo shared that it will launch its first free-to-play title during this fiscal year -- that is, by the end of March 2014. Industry analyst David Gibson tweeted the news live from the press event, adding that the move is intended to "boost digital sales," and confirming that the game won't fall under the Mario or Pokemon franchises. Nintendo isn't saying which platform its first free-to-play offering is destined for, but in any case this announcement is a good sign that the company is getting serious about downloadable content.
EA giving free game to disgruntled APB buyers [Updated]
reddit_url = "http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/27/ea-giving-free-game-to-disgruntled-apb-buyers/"; Tweet Ticked off about the recent closure of Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin? Well you're not alone, and surprisingly enough it seems like Electronic Arts has heard your cries for justice. According to reports from CVG and SavyGamer, the publishing giant is ponying up a free download from the EA Store for customers who purchased APB via Valve's Steam digital distribution platform. The list of possible freebies is nothing to sneeze at either, as it includes BioWare darlings Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, as well as Spore, The Saboteur, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and several more. There's currently no word on refunds or compensation for those who purchased the ill-fated urban crime MMOFPS from retail outlets or other digital shops. [Editor's Note: Having just gone through this process myself, I can tell you that it's easy and virtually painless. Simply visit www.ea.com, choose your country of origin, visit the support link in the upper right hand corner, and log into your EA account. Once that's done, click the "contact us/email us" button to create a new question to ask the EA support representatives. Select APB as the game in question and tell them that you own the game, where you bought it, and that you'd like to take advantage of their refund offer. The representative will ask you to make a list of games you'd like (pre-order titles are excluded and only games in the EA store are being offered) and that's it! Once you send your list, they'll give you a game (most likely your first choice) and you can download it using their instructions. ~Seraphina]
Sony looks to boost PSP Go sales with ten free games -- in the UK, at least
We're not sure if this is the "relaunch" that we've been hearing about, but it looks like PSP Go buyers in the UK will soon have one big new reason to consider the UMD-less handheld -- Sony says that it'll be throwing in a whopping ten free game downloads with each system. That deal will apparently also apply to at least some existing PSP Go customers (those that registered their system after April 1st), and it looks like you'll get a surprisingly solid lineup of games, including titles like Little Big Planet, Gran Turismo, Wipout Pure, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and Need for Speed Shift, to name a few. Unfortunately, there's no indication on when or if the promotion will launch over here, with SCE's UK sales director Mark Howsen only confirming that it will be rolling out in the UK "next month."
MechWarrior 4 is now free ... if you can get it [update]
Update: It seems the servers are back up to download the game right here. Enjoy! Original post: So here's the thing -- we were all set to tell you about how MechWarrior 4 had been released for free, but apparently some people found out before we could tell you and now, well, the servers are down. Bigtime. As in, it might be a few minutes before they're back up. According to several tipsters, the 1.7GB file became available for download last night, but as of right now, MekTek (the game's host) is still suffering an outage. That said ... hey! MechWarrior 4 has been released to the general public for precisely zero of your hard-earned C-Bills! If you managed to snag the file last night, we're hearing reports that MekTek has recovered the game's multiplayer servers. We'll let you know when the servers are back up.
GameDaily is giving away one hundred games
We like to think we do our fair share of random game distribution, but GameDaily's really blowing us out of the water with this one. The site is currently running a contest where ten lucky winners will each win a pile of ten games randomly selected from a larger pool. It's like breaking open a piñata full of random video games, only without all the broken cases or fake animal cruelty! You can put your name in the contest's hat by leaving a comment on this GameDaily post before 11:59p.m. EST tomorrow. Unless, of course, you don't like free games. You monster.
Gamasutra compiles the 99 best free games of 2009
These days and weeks after the holidays are traditionally some of the tightest fiscally, but Gamasutra reminds us that it's still possible to have fun without cracking open the ol' pocketbook with its recently released list of the best free games of 2009. We understand that we're probably losing you for the day with that link, and we want you to know we'll find a way to struggle forward alone. Though we can't speak for the quality of most of the games on there, the site is already ahead of the curve by including Evidence of Everything Exploding, Jason Nelson's best game for sincerely unstable people since his last one.
Fileplanet wants you to play Earth Eternal really badly
What's this taking up one of the center links on Fileplanet? Is it the upcoming MMO Earth Eternal? Why yes it is! Sparkplay Media's Earth Eternal has made it to the top of the free games listing... except for the fact that EE is still in closed beta.Fileplanet's link, while enticing, will not get you instant access into the closed beta. What it will do, however, is sign you up for an account that will let you be eligible to be selected for the closed beta. It will not let you play the game immediately, but it will certainly net you a chance at playing sooner rather than later.According to Sparkplay Media, Fileplanet will be involved with getting the game and the word out there, but it seems they've jumped the gun in releasing their link for the game. It's cool, we all make mistakes.As to what special in-game items Fileplanet members will be receiving for signing up and playing, well, that's still a secret to everybody.
