Gametap Thursday: Evil kitties in space and an undead typing tutor

Not a single bad thing will be said about Wing Commander II and edutainment classic Typing of the Dead's addition to GameTap this week. Wing Commander II is a fantastic example of grand storytelling outside of the adventure genre back in the early '90s. Has the game held up purrr-fectly over the years? No. But the Kilrathi as antagonists are still awesome and we pray that someday EA will bring back a real Wing Commander game with the Kilrathi in top form. GameTap also brings Typing of the Dead to subscribers this week, and if in this day and age you still don't know how to type properly, TotD will help you greatly. Typing of the Dead is the ultimate in edutainment -- well, next to Number Munchers. New subscriber games this week are:

• Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi (PC) - Kittie's got claws. The Kilrathi destroy the TCS Tiger's Claw (the carrier from the first game) and after much backstory it's time to come back and euthanize some evil space cats. A big story and solid gameplay make it sad to see what has happened to the franchise in the last ten years. This is real Wing Commander.
  
• Typing of the Dead (PC) - Demons. Zombies. Creatures. Typing. It's all in there and it works really well. Now we just need that sequel.
  
• F-22 Lightening 3 (PC) - A flight simulator where you pilot an F-22. But why would you do that when you've got space cats and a galaxy to save in Wing Commander?

After the break we have GameTap's updated list of free games. Like we said last week, we're now bolding the new free titles entering rotation. Of course, the week after we say that, it appears the list is identical to last week. No bolding for you. So go ahead and play some Ghosts N' Goblins (not to be confused with Ghouls N' Ghosts which is subscriber only) and finish off Hitman: Codename 47 while you still can for free.

1. Hitman: Agent 47
2. Colin McRae Rally 2005
3. Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
4. King of Fighters 95
5. Tomb Raider: Legend
6. Bloodrayne
7. Sensible Soccer 2006
8. Disciples II: Rise of the Elves
9. realMYST 3D
10. Samurai Shodown
11. Twinkle Star Sprites
12. Ghosts 'N Goblins
13. Neo Turf Masters
14. Restaurant Empire
15. Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition
16. Space Invaders
17. Mega Man: The Power Battle
18. Fatal Fury
19. Metal Slug
20. Fast Lanes Bowling
21. 1941
22. Baseball Stars 2
23. Captain Commando
24. Zoo Keeper
25. Rainbow Islands
26. Bust a Move
27. Buku Sudoku
28. Bubble Bobble
29. Rampage
30. Ikari Warriors
31. Shock Troopers
32. Final Fight
33. King of the Monsters
34. The Last Blade
35. Defender
36. Root Beer Tapper
37. Zoo Empire
38. Joust
39. Black Tiger
40. Elevator Action
41. The New Zealand Story
42. Mercs
43. Myst Online: Uru Live