The Best of Big Download: May 4-10

by Joystiq Staff @joystiq on May 10th 2009 7:00PM

Wow! It's been a huge week for news: Lawsuits, new game reveals and the shutdown of a game developer that was working on one game for about 13 years. Oh, and we celebrated our one year anniversary this week! Let's take a look at the past seven days at Big Download.

Exclusive features

First anniversary contests: We turned one this week so we want to give our readers a chance to win cool stuff all month long. We began on Friday with contests where folks can win codes to win free copies of Left 4 Dead and any GoG.com game.
The graveyard of online PC game services: We take a look at the many online game services that launched and failed ... and a couple that didn't even launch.
A look back (and forward) at PC Star Trek games: With the new movie now out, we look back at some of our favorite Trek PC games over the years and look forward to two upcoming Trek PC titles.
The Long (Dead End?) Road for Duke Nukem Forever: We look back at the history of 3D Realms' FPS which may now never be released.
Mac Monday: Our weekly Mac feature takes a loot at the sim game Virtual Families.
Boot Disk: Our retro game feature takes a look at the turn based tactical game Jagged Alliance 2.
Mods: Before the release of Killing Floor this week we look back at the UT 2004 mod that was the basis for the new co-op shooter.
Big Ideas: How do you manage to promote a game without over-hyping it? Our weekly look at game themes has some answers.
Big Iron: Our weekly PC hardware column takes a look at the importance of backing up your files.
Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free PC games also turned one year old this week so we look back at some of our personal favorite titles.

Downloads

Zeno Clash demo: Now you can download and play a sample of this very odd looking first-person action game from ACE Team that has a mother-father character ... really.
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity Demo: Try out this alpha version of the upcoming base jumping game.
Unreal Tournament 3 patch: Download this latest patch for Epic Games' 2007 shooter.
Fallout 3 mod tools update: It's the latest update for making mods in the recent RPG from Bethesda Softworks
Prototype Full Cinematic Intro movie: Check out the introduction to Radical Entertainment's upcoming open world action game.