Oh, boohoo. Hubby would rather play Call of Duty than snuggle with honeybear. And I'm supposed to care why? You guessed it. It's another silly survey making the rounds: "Could computer games spell the death of your relationship?" (considering that most gamers can't spell anything, much less "deth" and "realashionship," I guess the answer to that question is "hellz naw.")

Wow! I just saw this on Gamesetwatch and had to share. Some clever folks have remixed the original George Romero zombie classic into a playable YouTube "choose your own adventure" style game. It's really creative and fun to boot. It's a good thing the movie is in the public domain! Be sure to check it out.

Welcome back to Matt Chat! This three-part episode features the first-ever video interview with Arnold Hendrick, the award-winning designer of Microprose's Darklands. The interview covers his background and interest in military history, the ups and downs of Darklands' developments, what it was like working with Sid Meier, and the tragic bug that robbed Darklands of its deserved financial success and sequels.

Back by popular demand here at Armchair Arcade, we have Neave Frogger, Neave Asteroids, Neave Pacman, and Neave Tetris N-Blox for play directly in your Web browser! Just click on Games on the left-hand menu. All we ask in return is that you provide feedback and comments for the great content we provide, like Armchair Arcade Radio, and occasionally click on an ad or two (also see our special offers). Have fun!

Please enjoy these free games, courtesy of team members at Armchair Arcade, as well as Neave Games:

Match 3 InvadersMatch 3 Invaders is a hybrid of two classic genres: the shoot'em up (Space Invaders) and the Match 3 (Bejeweled). Can you concentrate on lining up color matches while simultaneously dodging enemy fire? Can you endure the excruciating time limit as the aliens descend lower and lower upon your position? Most importantly of all: Can you rack up enough points to enter you name on the hallowed High Score Table? Wouldn't you like to know? Match 3 Invaders was created in Unity and runs right in your browser.


Thrust LifterThrust Lifter is a game of timing and precision. Guide your lander into narrow tunnels, avoiding collisions with walls, fires, lava, electricity, and all manner of aliens. Get to the Chilenoids before they run out of oxygen and bring them back to the home pad before taking off to your next destination. Features 15 beautiful levels and an original soundtrack, available as a separate download. If you like the game, purchase a registered copy.


Jeepney JeepersJeepney Jeepers is an homage to classics block-busting games like Arkanoid and Breakout but with a crazy twist! Blow up blocks, roast the invaders, rescue your fellow humans and--above all else--get to the last level and take on the awesome might of THE GORFINATOR. Collect upgrades and unleash the unbelievable block-busting power of the five-pronged MULTIBALL. Bust that crit bubble for the amazing SUPERBALL. Bounce up them balls as much as YOU want, no more, no less! If you have trouble downloading the game, try right-clicking on the link and use "save as." See the original announcement page for the game here.


MayhemMayhem is a combination platform and shoot'em up game that is playable in your browser. Shoot the aliens, snatch the power-ups, but don't fall to your death! Features destructible terrain, lots of power-ups, a variety of aliens, and of course, a menacing end-game boss. This game was made with Gamemaker HTML 5 edition. If you have issues with Firefox, try using a different browser or hit enter or space after clicking on the game window.

TRS-80 GamesTRS-80 Emulation Page features a full TRS-80 Model III emulator which functions entirely inside of your browser. Multiple classic games from the machine's heyday are offered for your enjoyment, via a simple 1-click "Load 'N Run" option. You will also be able to play Retro-ZAP!, the new retro-game release written by Shawn Delahunty. (The emulator and games function best in Google's Chrome browser, but all major browsers will work with sufficiently fast system hardware.)

Neave Frogger | Neave Asteroids | Neave Pacman | Neave Tetris N-Blox

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Here's a fun Breakout Flash game that uses individual pixels as "bullets." Simply knock a few loose, and they become extra balls for your paddle. Pretty soon the screen fills up with wonderful colors. Nice take on the classic arcade hit. Via Boing Boing.

OK first of all where did this come form all of a sudden?
Secondly, I cannot afford yet another open source handheld already!

GamePark's GP2X Caanoo handheld hits this August, picks up where the Wiz left off.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/gameparks-gp2x-caanoo-handheld-hits-t...

Alcazar - The Forgotten Fortress
(Activision, 1985; ColecoVision)
via Retro UprisingI'd like to provide the latest update to my list of working emulator sites for various platforms. All of these enable play directly within your browser, so there's no sticky business of downloading software and finding the necessary game files to get it all going. These are all great sites and we should all show our support. This is the "July 2010" edition of the list and, naturally, I'd love to keep adding to it, so suggest away. Here goes:

* 2600online.com - Play various Atari 2600 Video Computer Systems games
* Another World (aka, Out of this World; 1991)
* Atari.com - Play select Atari 2600 and Atari arcade favorites
* BBC Micro News - Parrot - News stories and a speech synthesizer directly from a cluster of BBC Micros
* c64s.com - Play various Commodore 64 games
* First-Person Tetris (NES version)
* Freearcade.com (Scott Adams section) - Play various Scott Adams/Adventure International text adventures
* Google Pac-Man - The popular browser-based re-imagining of the classic arcade game
* JEMU - Emulate and play on the Acorn BBC Model B, Amstrad CPC464, Dick Smith VZ-300, Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K, Sinclair ZX80, and Sinclair ZX81
* JSVecX - Play GCE/Milton Bradley Vectrex games in your browser
* nintendo8.com - Play Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom games
* Play Infocom Adventures Online
* The Gallery of Zork - Play the Infocom games online
* Retro Uprising - Play a wide range of videogame and computer systems (arcade, Atari, Coleco, Nintendo, Sega, etc.) in your browser and through a custom software interface
* Sandy White's Ant Attack
* Sarien.net - Play Sierra adventure games
* SC-3000 Survivors - Play Sega SC-3000/SG-1000 games
* Timex/Sinclair 1000 Emulator
* Virtual Apple 2 - Play Apple II and IIGS games
* Virtual Atari - Play Atari 2600 games
* vNES - Play Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom games
* ZX81 Software, Books and Hardware Collection - Play ZX81/Timex Sinclair 1000 games

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what makes games fun. I've read quite a bit on the topic, including Raph Koster's A Theory of Fun for Game Design, and of course there are plenty of great articles on Gamasutra and in Game Developer magazine. However, it seems most people who bother with the subject end up with some very general criteria (just challenging enough, lots of rewards, etc.) rather than contexts. My primary thought here is that whether a game is fun or not may have little to do with the actual game. Rather, it's the context of the game and the gamer that's important. Even something like good marketing and packaging can have more to do with making the game fun than anything done by the developers or designers. However, the focus here will be on the social contexts that are often taken for granted by even the best game designers.