Back again with another cheap game to share. I hope you guys have been enjoying the comic posts that have been happening these last two weeks. I have had fun putting them together. I think they are filling out the content holes on the site nicely. We’re always trying to think of new features to bring to the site, but it’s sometimes difficult to discern what might be interesting to read, watch or play.

With that said, I think this week’s cheap game fits the bill nicely. Not only is it free, but it’s the first MMORPG that we’ve covered here. Both published and developed by NCSoft, Dungeon Runners has been available for free or paid play as a download for just about over a year now, but starting last week retail boxes have been hitting shelves. While my boxed copy is still in transit to me (B&Ms are for suckers!), I’ve been playing on a free account and I am ready to recommend it to you guys.
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After last week’s comic post I found that I am much more excited about reading my comics. I really dig recommending stuff that I love, especially if it’s possibly not getting the attention that it deserves. Though I am sure that his name alone is enough to sell most people his books, I’ve fallen for Rasl, the latest creation both drawn and written by Jeff Smith. You may know of Jeff from his work on the fabulous Bone comics, which were adapted into a two episode adventure series by TellTale, the same great folks who are now bringing us Sam & Max episodes.
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In lieu of a game recommendation this week, as various recording software is strongly disagreeing with the games which I’m trying to cover, I’m going to talk about what I think may be relevant to the interests of those who normally read my posts. Comics! Rather, *a* comic. I may do more of these types of posts every now and then instead of games posts since they don’t rely so heavily on technical things working out perfectly. I may not need to include video in every post, but I really want to. I don’t feel I’ve made a full post unless I do. But I may not always have it from now on. Fair warning!
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And I’m back! I had to skip a week. I ran out of good ideas to show you guys. I have some new things in bag now, though. We’d been wanting to promote Beyond Good & Evil for a while and decided that PseudoKnight is the most passionate about it here, so it’s only appropriate that he do the post. I hope you enjoyed that, and I hope some of you ended up checking out BG&E. It really should not be missed.

Attack or defend? This is the question at the very core of any good combat strategy game, once you look past all the tech trees and resource management, diplomacy and build orders. This week’s featured game from Introversion Software entitled Defcon: Everybody Dies will have you asking yourself this question during every crucial second of gameplay.
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When I first considered tackling the vast library of GameTap games for our cheap gaming feature, the first title that popped into my mind was Beyond Good & Evil. Subsequent deeper considerations unavoidably retrieved the same result. It grabs you by the soul. I’ll try and restrain repeating the “propaganda”. So, with news of the sequel on its way, let’s discuss the original.

Released in late 2003 to positive reviews, the game nevertheless sold rather poorly. It was a new franchise with an image that didn’t grab gamers’ attention… until later. Through word of mouth alone BG&E steadily grew a base of adoring fans long after it was considered a financial failure.
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Due to a mishap involving two ferrets, half a jar of peanut butter and an unstable set of crutches, this week’s post is a few days late as well. That is, relative to my regular schedule; if you’re simply expecting a new post every 7 days, I am right on time. In that case, disregard this prelude.

I’ll preface the rest of my post with a caution that this week’s game is not for everybody. It can be irritating, frustrating and a general source of vexation. I’m willing to bet that it just won’t be fun for you unless you’re a certain type of person who has a high threshold for pain. That said, if you enjoy playing games like Riven: The Sequel To Myst with no walkthroughs or you aren’t satisfied walking away from a challenge in Tony Hawk without a “Sick” rating, then Trials 2: Second Edition may be for you. I am hoping that I have not steered you wrong with my recommendations up to this point. If you’re ready to take a chance on me, I’ll cue some inspirational music and tell you about this game.
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I’m a little late this week. I am coming off of several days of testing various Linux distros on my notebook in an attempt to find one that will cooperate with my Wi-Fi cardbus adapter. Now that that’s behind me, I can get on with writing this week’s cheap game post. I settled on Ubuntu, by the way.

I have another “Shmup” (Shoot’eM-Up) for you here today, similar to Geometry Wars from a couple of weeks ago. Unlike Geometry Wars, however, and more similar to Every Extend Extra Extreme from Q Entertainment, the object of this twin stick shooter is to create chains of explosions over top of some pretty interesting music. The game is Everyday Shooter, created by Jonathan Mak of Queasy Games, and this formerly PS3-exclusive shooter is now on the PC. As the winner of three IGF 2007 awards including Design Innovation, Excellence in Audio and the GameTap Indie Award, it’s very much worth a look.
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If you are anything like me, you’ve tried to do well by your wallet and living space by not falling into the trend of buying the console-based music games, and subsequently, a glut of plastic instruments. I’ve got nothing against them as games, but they can be costly, so I have resigned myself to latching onto the fallout of the rhythm gaming revolution by playing the PC-born music games like Audiosurf or Frets On Fire instead of two or more Guitar Heroes per year.

This week I have finally gotten around to playing IGF’s 2007 winner of the Best Student Game award, Synaesthete. Created by four students at DigiPen, Synaesthete is something of an “action-rhythm” game set to electronic music. It received some press a few months ago when the awards were doled out, and I am sure there are others, like me, who downloaded it but just let it sit in a forgotten directory for all this time. Time to give it a look!
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From Xbox to Xbox 360, from there to the PC, Wii and DS, this week’s cheap game has made the rounds. Despite its rather pronounced presence, it’s still good, still cheap, and still worth a look.

The game is Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved for the PC. Developed originally as a mini-game within Project Gotham Racing 2 for the Xbox, chances are good that you’ve played at least one iteration of this highly popular game. However, you may not be aware that it is available on the PC, and for less money than anywhere else.

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This week’s cheap game combines a classic puzzle concept and independent flavor. Also, it’s free!

The game this week is a puzzle game by the name of Tripline. It was independently developed and distributed by one Joakim Sandberg. You may have seen him recently on the 1UP Show during a segment about his most recent game, Noitu Love 2. If you didn’t, you should probably go check that out; it’s a very nice interview and Noitu Love 2 looks incredible. We’ll leave talk of that for another time.

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