• Microsoft Games For Windows Interview: We chat with the marketing manager of their PC gaming team to find out more about their future plans.
• The Top 10 Biggest PC Game News Stories of June 2009: We look back at a particularlly busy month for gaming news.
• Light of Altair review: We give our final verdict to the recent indie space strategy game.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly look at Mac games takes a gander at the space action title Escape Velocity Nova
• Boot Disk: Our retro PC game features looks back at 3DO's turn based strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic 2.
• Big Ideas: Our look at game themes wonders if games should move away from the typical fantasy setting.
• Freeware Friday: Our look at free PC games this week checks out the space shooter title Tyrian.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: June 29-July 5

The Best of Big Download: June 29-July 5 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Reviews: We give our final verdicts for Prototype and Fallout 3: Point Lookout
• Happy 13th Birthday Quake: We look back at the id Software FPS franchise
• The big PC game acquisitions: In the way of id Software's purchase by ZeniMax, we take a look at other PC game industry purchases.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly Mac games column takes a look at the life sim Spouts Adventure.
• Boot Disk: Our weekly look at retro gaming centers on the classic action-RPG System Shock 2.
• Big Ideas: "Can a game make you cry?" That's the topic of our latest weekly game theme feature.
• Freeware Friday: This week our free PC game feature is about the unusual puzzle game Chauk.
• Contest: You still have time to enter our contest where we are giving away some cool Turtle Beach headsets and Say2Play PC game voice command software products

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: June 22-28

The Best of Big Download: June 22-28 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Top 10 Most Anticipated Summer 2009 PC Games: We give our pics for the games we most want to play this summer.
• Interviews: We get some answers about America's Army 3's launch issues and chat with Transformers actor Shia LaBeouf on his gaming habits (he loves Civilization).
• The Virtual US Open: We have a feature on the new web-based PC-Mac game that gives players a chance to play in an official online version of the US Open.
• Contest: You can still register to win one of 25 keys for the full version of Say2Play software along with one of five ay2Play Ear Force HPA2 Headsets.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly Mac gaming column takes a look at the time management title Mystic Emporium.
• Boot Disk: Our weekly retro games column takes a look at Blizzard's classic RTS game Warcraft 2.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes looks at how games could contribute to a new mythology.
• Boot Disk: Our PC hardware column takes a look at how server farms don't need to be super-cooled any more.
• Freeware Friday: Our latest column on free PC games takes a loot at the genre-mixing title Triangle Wizard.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: June 15-21

The Best of Big Download: June 15-21 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• E3 2009: We conclude our E3 2009 coverage with impressions of Heroes of Telara, Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, R.U.S.E, Wolfenstein, DC Universe Online, Singularity, Alpha Protocol, and Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. We also have impressions of the Peregrine PC gaming glove. Plus check out our different take on E3 awards and also point out which major PC games were no shows at E3 this year.
• The Sims 3 review - We give our final verdict on the long awaited people sim sequel.
• Mac Monday - This week's Mac games column takes a look at the RPG Science Girls!
• Boot Disk - our retro games feature takes a look at SimCity 2000
• Big Ideas - Our weekly look at game themes is all about enemies in games
• Freeware Friday - Our weekly look at free PC game examines the creepy horror themed platform-puzzle game Eversion.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: June 8-14

The Best of Big Download: June 8-14 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• E3 2009 game impressions: We have tons of E3 2009 game impressions from both the show floor and behind closed doors including Brink, Left 4 Dead, Rogue Warrior, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Painkiller Resurrection, APB, BioShock 2, Borderlands, Homefront, Dragon Age: Origins, League of Legends, Alan Wake, The Secret of Monkey Island SE and Tales of Monkey Island, Supreme Commander 2, Mass Effect 2, Aliens Vs. Predator, and Mafia 2.
• E3 2009 in pictures: Check out our galleries of banner ads from the convention center, along with pictures from the show floor and even more show floor pictures. We have pictures of some celebs that showed up at E3. And of course we have galleries featuring the return of the E3 booth babes!: Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.
• Team Fortress 2 Spy/Sniper Achievement Guide: Check out Part 6 and Part 7 for the Sniper and Part 6 and Part 7 for the Spy.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly look at games for the Mac checks out the airplane action game Altitude.
• Boot Disk: Our retro game feature takes a look at the original Rollercoaster Tycoon.
• Big Ideas: Our column on game themes discusses the idea of experience in games.
• Big Iron: Our weekly hardware feature laments that E3 2009 was not a good year for major PC hardware reveals.
• Freeware Friday: Our regular look at free games checks out the puzzle shooter Every Extend

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: June 1-7

The Best of Big Download: June 1-7 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Countdown to E3 2009: We conclude our features on the games we want to see at the show this coming week with our picks in the RPG-MMO categories and for the rest of the games. Plus play along in Big Download's E3 2009 bingo prediction game. Finally check out our interview with the ESA on E3 2009.
• Guide to Team Fortress 2 Spy and Sniper Achievements: It's our latest guide to the newly established achievements for two of TF2's character classes. Check out The Spy guide (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) and the Sniper Guide (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)
• The Top 10 PC Game News Stories of May 2009: We pick the big news items for the past 31 days.
  
• Mac Monday: Our weekly look at Mac games takes a look at the adventure title Cleopatra.
• Boot Disk: Our retro game feature this week offers a look at the classic strategy game Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly examination on game themes takes a look at artificial intelligence and their evolution in games.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free PC games takes a look at the very distrubing horror game All Of Our Friends Are Dead.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: May 25-31

The Best of Big Download: May 25-31 originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Countdown to E3 2009: We continue our gallery features leading up to next month's trade show with a look at the action games we want to see at E3.
• NASCAR iRacing Interview: We get the co-founder of iRacing to talk about his plans for returning NASCAR licensing racing sims to the PC in 2010.
• Reviews: We have verdicts on the co-op shooter Killing Floor and the Thrustmaster T.16000M Joystick
• Mac Monday: Our Mac column reviews the recent port of the odd adventure game The Path.
• Boot Disk: Our regular retro games feature takes a look at the original Command and Conquer RTS game.
• Indie Showcase: Our indie games column this week takes a look at three games that are still in beta form: Aces Wild, Arc & Malice and Minecraft.
• Big Ideas: Our column on game themes takes a look at why game adaptation of movies don't usually turn out well.
• Big Iron: Our PC hardware column this week looks at input devices and how they hearken back to old fashioned tech.
• Freeware Friday: In a bit of a twist, this week's look at free PC games is also a retro feature on Grand Theft Auto 2.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: May 18-24

The Best of Big Download: May 18-24 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 24 May 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Countdown to E3 2009: We begin our series of pre-E3 features this week with an overall primer to the show and our wish list of first person shooter games we would like to see at E3.
• First anniversary contests: You still have time to win one of 10 $25 game codes from Nexon America in celebration of Big Download's first anniversary.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly Macintosh feature reviews the Popcap tower defense game Plants Vs Zombies.
• Boot Disk: Our retro games feature is about the Interplay 3D FPS Descent.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly game theme column looks at why non-gamers still see games as juvenile and even harmful
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly free game column takes a look at the free engineering-based game Infiniminer.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: May 11-17

The Best of Big Download: May 11-17 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 17 May 2009 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• 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.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: May 4-10

The Best of Big Download: May 4-10 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 10 May 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• We love the 90s (for PC games): We have a final feature looking at some games that we missed in last week's multi-part feature along with a wrap up of the entire series.
• Top 10 PC game stories for April 2009: We give our choices for the biggest PC game stories for the past month
• Demigod post-release interview: We chat with Stardock's Brad Wardell as he admits to the issues that happened to their RTS game after its launch.
• Left 4 Dead Guide: Survival of the Fittest: We give you a guide to how to play the new Survival mode for Valve's zombie co-op shooter
• Braid Review: We give you our final verdict on the PC version of Jonathan Blow's unique downloadable game
• Nvidia on more PhysX game support: We report on a Nvidia conference call where they talk about more games supporting their PhysX game physics effects
• Mac Monday: Our weekly look at Mac games is another two-fer as we examine Fishie Fishie and Spirited Heart
• Boot Disk: Our weekly look at retro games is about Bullfrog's odd sim title Theme Hospital.
• Big Ideas: How important is creating empathy for games? Our weekly look at game themes tries for an answer.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free games examines the puzzle title Mind Wall.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: April 27-May 3

The Best of Big Download: April 27-May 3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 03 May 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• We Love The 90s (for PC Games): We look back fondly at the decade that some consider to be the golden age for PC gaming. Check out 1990-1991, 1992-1993, 1994-1995, 1996-1997, and 1998-1999.
• Reviews: We give our final verdicts for Demigod and Zeno Clash.
• Mac Monday: Our regular Mac feature takes a look at two games this week; Pixie and Rubber Ninjas.
• Boot Disk: Our weekly retro games feature takes a look at the original StarCraft.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly feature on game themes takes a look back at the text adventure game and if it can make a comeback.
• Big Iron: Our weekly hardware feature is all about sound and speaker set-ups for PC games.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly free game feature takes a look at the free music title osu1.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: April 20-26

The Best of Big Download: April 20-26 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Battlefield Heroes hands-on: We get a chance to play with the upcoming free-to-play FPS from Digital Illusions and EA
• City of Heroes Mission Architect review: We give our final verdict on the recent mission editor for the NCsoft MMO
• Mac Monday: Our weekly Mac game column takes a look at the casual game title Westward 2.
• Boot Disk: Our retro games feature this week is all about the classic action-RPG Deus Ex.
• Independent Minds: Our weekly indie games feature looks at the need for mod support in games
• Big Ideas: Our weekly column on game themes is a little different as the column questions how long Penny Arcade can stay popular.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly free games column is all about the recent puzzle game DUOtris.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: April 13-19

The Best of Big Download: April 13-19 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Interviews: We chat with the head of the PC Gaming Alliance again and also find time for an interview with the VP of the upcoming streaming game service OnLive.
• Mac Monday: We examine the kids game Wandering Willows in our regular Mac column.
• Boot Disk: Our retro game feature looks at the original release of Unreal Tournament.
• Independent Minds: Our indie games feature takes a look at time management when making games.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes is all about failing while playing games.
• Big Iron: Our weekly hardware column is a little different as we review a new Alienware PC system.
• Freeware Friday: Our look at free PC games takes a gander at the arcade game DUO

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: April 6-12

The Best of Big Download: April 6-12 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• GDC 2009: We conclude our coverage of the Game Developers Conference with previews of Paradox Interactive's future game line-up and Dragon Age: Origins
  
• Big Download's top 10 most anticipated spring quarter 2009 games: We pick which PC games are are most looking forward to in the next three months.
• The top 10 PC Game News Stories for March 2009: We look back at the stories that most affected the industry in the last month.
• Reviews: We review the PC version of the Xbox 360 arcade game The Maw along with the Fallout 3 DLC expansion The Pitt. We also review the Paladin F875 PC gaming rig from IBuypower
• Killer Xeno interview: We chat with the head of Bigfoot Networks about their upcoming next-generation gaming PC network card.
• Boot Disk: Our retro game feature looks at the classic PC RTS game Total Annihilation
• Indie Showcase: We take a look at some new indie games in our regular column this week.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes looks at the continuing debate on Diablo III's graphics
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free games checks out the top-down action game Tapan Kaikki Bloodshed.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: March 30 - April 5

The Best of Big Download: March 30 - April 5 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• GDC 2009: Big Download coveraged the OnLive press event (along with exclusive reactions from Stardock CEO Brad Wardell) and we have some GDC coverage of games like America's Army 3.0, CrimeCraft, Majesty 2 and Mount and Blade: Warband. We also have coverage of the new features shown at GDC for Unreal Engine 3.
• Red Alert 3 Uprising Review: We have our final verdict on EA's downloadable RTS game.
• Mac Monday: Our weekly Mac column takes a look at Parallels 4.0 which allows people to run Window games on the Mac.
• Boot Disk: Our retro games column returns with a look back at the original X-Com: UFO Defense
• Independent Minds: Our indie games column takes a look at user interfaces in games
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes takes at look at (shutter) cheating
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free games takes a gander at the puzzle game Blocksum.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: March 23-29

The Best of Big Download: March 23-29 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Blacklight: We get some of the first info on Zombie's upcoming shooter and even more info via a chat with Zombie CEO Mark Long.
• Marvel MMO: We get a heads-up on plans for the latest attempt to turn the Marvel super hero universe into a massively multiplayer game.
• Unreal Atlas: We find out about how Epic Games China plans to make Unreal Engine 3 easier for MMO developers to use.
• Tom Clancy's EndWar review: We give our final verdict on the PC port of Ubisoft's console RTS game.
• Mac Monday: Our regular weekly column on Mac games takes a look at CrossOver Games which lets PC games play on the Mac.
• Indie Showcase: Our weekly look at indie games takes a look at few of the better tower defense based games.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes questions whether games can truly be educational.
• Big Iron: Our weekly hardware column looks at hardware failures.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free games takes a gander at the puzzle title Boom Boom Driller.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: March 16-22

The Best of Big Download: March 16-22 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• PC games on the slow boat: Some PC games seem to take forever to complete. We look back at some titles that did indeed take a long time to develop before they were finally released.
• First Look: Eve Online Apocrypha: Get some impressions and developer comments on CCP's space -based MMO expansion that launched this week.
• Review: Sins of a Solar Empire Entrenchment: We have the final verdict on the first of three expansions for Ironclad Games' space strategy game.
• Team Fortress 2 Scout Achievements: Check out the six and final part of our look at the new Scout achievements in Valve's multiplayer game, plus a round-up of all six parts.
• Independent Minds: In our latest column on indie games we look at how developers should support a game after release.
• Big Ideas: In this installment of our column about big game ideas, we look at some current and possible future game controllers.
• Big Iron: This week's PC game hardware column reviews the recently released 7 inch touch-screen PC monitor the Mimo UM-719
• Freeware Friday: This week's look at free games is all about the strategy-typing (yes, typing) game Typomagia.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: March 8-15

The Best of Big Download: March 8-15 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Guide to Team Fortress 2 Scout Achievements: Check out this comprehensive look at the new unlockable achievements in the Scout character class: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four and Part Five are all available.
• The BigAss 25 - Spring 2009: It's been an internal list of the top games our site follows and now we reveal the current list to the public with Part One and Part Two.
• Puzzle Quest Galactrix Review: We have the final word on this sci-fi puzzle-RPG game from Infinite Interactive and D3 Publisher.
• Mac Monday: This week our look at Mac games reviews two titles: Brainpipe and Ranch Rust.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes takes a look at the history of games with violent content.
• Indie Showcase: Our weekly look at indie games takes at look at the titles in the Java 4K 2009 competition
• Freeware Friday: Our look at free games this week is all about the browser based title Blush.
• Big Iron: Our hardware column this week takes a look at Nvidia's new graphics chip for notebooks.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: March 2-8

The Best of Big Download: March 2-8 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Quake Live open beta launch: We give our impressions of the beta launch and chat with id Software's Marty Stratton on the issues they encounted in the first hours of its release.
• The top PC game news events of February 2009: We pick our top 10 biggest PC games news happenings in the past month.
• Money Matters - Finances and PC games: In these bad economic times, can playing a PC game teach you about how to handle your money?
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II review: We give the final verdict on this long awaited sci-fi RTS game from Relic and THQ.
• Mac Monday: We check out this Wizard of Oz-themed adventure game Emerald City Confidential.
• Indie Showcase: This week's indie games column checks out a number of new titles.
• Big Ideas: Our weekly look at game themes takes another look at storytelling in games.
• Big Iron: Our regular PC hardware column talks about what to do with your hardware when it has reached the end of its useful life.
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly look at free games takes a look at the puzzle-platformer Jed.

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: February 23-March 1

The Best of Big Download: February 23-March 1 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Unreal Tournament III Titan Pack hands-on preview: We get some playing time with Epic's upcoming free expansion for their 2007 shooter.
• First look at NASA's MMO project: We have some of the first concrete info on the upcoming MMO project funded by NASA; Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond.
• Puzzle Quest: Galactrix impressions: We go hands-on with a build of the PC version of Infinite Interactive's sci-fi puzzle-RPG.
• Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box review: Did Criterion Games' first PC title hit the mark? We give our final verdict on the results.
• Mac Monday: Our latest look at gaming for the Mac takes a look at the kingdom sim KingMania.
• Independent Minds: Our look at indie games this week takes on the issue of comparing a game concept to a full version
• Big Ideas: Our look at game themes this week is all about how much developers owe gamers and vice versa
• Freeware Friday: Our weekly free game is a 2D shooter inspired by Team Fortress 2 called Gang Garrison 2

Continue reading The Best of Big Download: February 16-22

The Best of Big Download: February 16-22 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.