ID Software’s free to play Quake Live went, well, live earlier on today. It’s basically Quake played through a web browser and free. Err, that’s about it really. Quake was never the most complex game really. Kill everything else on the map (aka arena), a lot.

So here’s a low down of what’s in Quake Live:

• More than 30 arenas
• 5 game modes
• More than 50 characters
• Leaderboards
• Player profiles
• Statistics
• Achievement-based awards and trophies

Quake Live beta, to use its full moniker, is completely free due to the streams of ads pumped in front of your face. I would like to report on the ad-ness of Quake Live to qualify my last senstance, but I can’t as the servers are currently rammed and I’m 26,000 in the queue!

Ho hum…I’ll kill some time looking at Lolcats while I wait.

If you’re into web games, have a look at UK-based Doof. Web browser games aren’t really my thing – I find them too repetitive and mechanistic – but Doof is pretty slick-looking so I had a bit of a poke around.

It’s basically a collection of web games with a flashy interface and some social networking features thrown in. As I write this, there are 52 web games available. They range from the standard fare like Sudoku and variations on Bejewelled to the oddly relaxing Amoeba. Even though most of the games are classics, they’re usually drawn with enough style that you don’t really mind.

The best thing about Doof is that you can play against other users. I’m not entirely sure how the matching system works but here’s the gaming experience. You buy credits. Playing a match against someone else requires you to bet a fixed number of credits on yourself. Winner takes all slightly less than all. You can also play all the games in single-player mode for free.

OTOH, they’re still in development so there are a few downsides. For one, you get popunder advertising. I hate any kind of pop-out advertising. It’s a small mercy that these ads are silent. Next is email spam. I played one competitive game and got two emails with commiserations and an invitation to try again. And this WITHOUT responding to the address confirmation email.

Worst of all, there was an error in the competitive game which meant that neither my, nor my opponent’s scores were saved yet our credits were still deducted. Boo! Glad I was using the introductory 10 credits.

No matter, I’m sure these problems will be ironed out soon enough. It’s definitely one of the nicer gaming portals I’ve seen lately.

Have you heard about the Miss Video Game 2007 competition? It’s a competition claiming to “To assist in the proliferation of females in gaming genres of all types and to help raise awareness of the female gaming audience among game publishers and advertisers” by showcasing photos of women who “don’t mind video games”. It’s also definitely not a beauty pageant, in a “No way, nuh-uh, it’s not our fault if the voting public bases their decision on the huge bikini photos instead of the poorly-laid-out boring text bit.” Go to LiveJournal GirlGamers for the official defensive press release.

Anyway, the the reason I’m posting is to point you towards Alihja’s hilariously withering reaction at NotAddicted.com:

Lets take a look at the requirements… Number four. Loves the beach? Uh-oh! This one looks like trouble…

…You see, as a gamer I love dark cold rooms that are lit by flat panels and LCD monitors. The hum of the fans in my Scorpio “Z” 668 case with its kick-ass “Z” backlight on the front panel which is a lovely shade of blue… kind of like a beach, right?

…A couple of months ago, when I was at DragonCon and I sat on two video game panels, did I think about the beach then? Alas, my sweet adorable cupcakes, no, I did not fucking think about the beach. I hardly even remember what the beach looks like. I think it has water, and sand… and—hey, wait a minute! Computer chips are made out of silicon, and sand is also known as silicon dioxide. And guess what’s at the beach?

Okay. I love the beach! Hooray!

Link:
Miss Video Game 2007: Sexism In The Name Of Equality!

I found this mildly entertaining flash game, based on Warcraft 3’s Element Tower Defence and Starcraft’s Turrent Defence. I haven’t played either of those so I have no idea how this compares but it’s a good diversion.

It’s pretty simple. Place towers, wait for invaders, watch towers hit invaders with variously coloured-blobs, upgrade towers for next wave. Repeat until castle walls breached.

There’s no pause or save feature. Don’t try to beat it unless you have a good twenty minutes to kill.

Tower Defence by Roman Sanine

[via digg]

Edit:

I found web-based Flash game Murloc RPG at XGenStudios, who also host Defend Your Castle. Apparently Gamer Disclaimer is a bit of a World of Warcraft fan. Rather than hoping for Blizzard to make Murlocs into a playable race, (s)he decided to write (her/)his own 5MB flash game. It was featured in the WoW Community Spotlight back in October.

Murloc RPG puts you in the role of Murk, an inexperienced Murloc warrior. Your accomplishments shall surely grant you everlasting glory, at least until an adventurer finds your village…

• 20 Talents
• 50+ Items
• Tons of enemies to battle
• Fully developed storyline
• Lots of areas to explore

It looks good. It also does a bloody good job of modelling the early levels of every MMORPG known to man. Yep, your first quest is go out and get the chief 10 chunks of meat. Wolf meat, in this case. Here’s your rusty knife. Try not to yawn too loudly.

It could benefit from a few more keyboard controls, especially in battle. I’m a big fan of one-handed games. The sound is pretty repetitive as is the grind. Nonetheless, it’s an entertaining flash game. Try it out. You get 3 save slots so turn the sound off at work. It’ll make a great long-term alternative to Solitaire.

Screenshots:

Links:
Murloc RPG on XGenStudios
Gamer Disclaimer
World of Warcraft Community Spotlight Archive

[via GamingTags]

Age Rating: Unrated. Probably a 7+.

What is it?

Single-player 2D pool with time limits and crazy things you should avoid or hit to make things interesting.

Is it fun?

Yes. Strangely addictive.

Is it worth the money? Free!

Yes, but only coz it’s free. Continue Reading

Age Rating: 12+ (no rating listed on website, we’re just guessing based on ratings descriptions)

What is it?

Flash-based clay pigeon shooting, kitten style!

Is it fun?

Oh, yes…every bloody minute of it (unless you’re a kitten lover and then you’ll hate it and think it’s a really sick game).

Is it worth the money?

It’s free, but almost worth paying for. Continue Reading

Age Rating: Teens+ (as listed on the site)

What is it?

Cute but evil Flash-based animated game. Stickmen and blood included. Parental Guidance advised.

Is it fun?

Yes! For a half hour or so. Then it gets quite stressful.

Is it worth the price? (Free!)

Just 5 minutes of your time to check it out? Yes.

Why?

It has stickmen and splashy blood effects! What more could you want? Continue Reading