a South Park gnome

Yes. That's a self-portrait (of sorts), with strong allegoric meanings and zero gaming relevance, brought to your screens via the South Park Create-A-Character web thingie.
In case of further artistic needs, oh most excellent reader, have a look here, here or/and here.

Related Tags: Gnome, South Park, Art, Gnomes, Weblog, Blog, Pic, Portrait, Entertainment

Half-Life ancient promo video

It might not be a Museum Monday, it might be about a random video on an otherwise unimpressive Wednesday (here it is...just), but it is about a really interesting Google Video find. What follows is one of the pre-release promotional videos of the first Half-Life. It's considered vintage now and I am feeling really old and tired.

Unimpressed? Try something really impressive, or read a review. A Telltale Texas Hold'Em or a Lula 3d review for example.

Related Tags: Half Life, Half-Life, Video, Promo, FPS, Game, PC

Cutting Edge: Morrowind mods...

Apparently people have been drooling over Oblivion. According to reviews and lustful moans everywhere, people are probably right too. Still, Oblivion costs money. Morrowind mods don't. And I'm not talking about the simple add-a-texture or modify-to-hit-tables mods, but about full-blown total conversion, relive-the-experience attempts.

The first one goes by the sad name Ashes of Apocalypse. It's a tacky, sci-fi post-apocalyptic affair, with a not-so-medieval soundtrack and FPS aspirations. Of course it fails. Tragically. The poor thing unfortunately looks like this:

Then, there is the Wizards' Islands mod (or according to its creators the unofficial expansion). This one is actually good and provides more than 20-30 gameplay hours, very good visuals, new cities and will even walk the dog and fix you coffee. All you'll need is Morrowind (obviously) and a 20th level character... Ah, the pic:

A close contender to Wizard's Islands' throne of quality is the Sword of the Perithia mod, which offers a new (and not improved) storyline, more than a 100 NPCs, new monsters, new weapons, new grammar, the full monty. Doesn't look bad either:

Then again, you could give Sea of Destiny -and not density- a try. But, I won't get into that. Nope, no screenshot either... Try to enjoy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Related Gnome's Lair articles-posts: a Quake mod without guns, the Ultima V mod, a DOOM 3 mod and a nice list of hand picked freeware games.



Related Tags: Elder Scrolls, Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls, Mod, Mods, Total Conversion, Expansion, Expansions, Game, Games, PC Game, PC Games, RPG, CRPG, RPGs, free, freeware, weblog, blog, Entertainment

Museum Monday #7

Monday. The day right between Sunday and Tuesday, and definitely not a particularly good one. I hate Mondays. Really. Not very inspiring either, are they? Of course they aren't. I can't even write a decent introduction to this Monday's virtual Museum.

Oh, sod it. Just follow the link to the amazing (really) Infocom Gallery. I guess you know what you'll find there. Good. Here's a teaser:

Related Tags: Zork, Infocom, Adventure, Monday, Museum, Weblog, Virtual Museum, Game, Games, Retro, Adventures

Space Quest 4 Easter Eggs

Imagine you are Roger Wilco, Sierra's pathetic but sort of heroic space janitor. Imagine you are on a Quest for the Space Quest IV easter eggs. What would you do? Probably something rather silly and quite fatal, so don't. Heed my advice. Do as I tell you. Always. (ahem)

Anyway. Just get yourself a time-machine, preferably the Timebuster 2000 SUX the Sequel Police have parked inside an arcade in Space Quest X. Save. Type the code you see on the following screenshot (click for a larger view):

Good. You are now on the dangerous planet Ortega from Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon.

Exit the Timebuster. Die.

Restore, and learn that gnomes aren't always to be trusted.

Now, enter this code:

Enjoy something pointless. This:No more easter eggs for you. For more on Space Quest IV, on the other hand, you'll just have to wait for my review and walkthrough, that will appear on the next issue of Adventure Lantern. For further adventure related articles you can have a look at my review of Spooks, the AGS 2005 Awards or a Sam and Max video.

Related Tags: Space Quest, Space Quest 4, Space Quest IV, Roger Wilco, Sierra, Adventure, Adventures, Adventure games, easter egg, easter eggs, Game, Games, PC, video game, video games, Vintage, Entertainment, Funny

Episode VI: The Return of the Warhammer Rumors

Let's get one thing clear. There is a difference between a rumor and a fact, and everybody knows it. Accordingly, everybody is aware of the truth, that a fact that has just been announced constitutes news. No news, good news, but that's not the point. Anyway, without any particular reason, I'll start with the things that Games Workshop has already announced, thus the news:

-The new starter Warhammer boxed set will be called Battle for Skull Pass and it will include more than 100 miniatures (Goblins and Dwarfs) and a condensed version of the new rulebook.
-The new Giant is already available for advance order and is one of the (component-wise) richest minis ever released. There is also a nice interactive construct your own Giant-thingy over at GW.
-The goblins will get their Spider Riders (and apparently Forest Goblin too), which will more or less look like this one.

On, to the rumors then:
-According to a certain website this picture should provide us with detailed information on the Warhammer boxed set:

-Orcs and Goblins will be released right after the release of Battle for Skull Pass boxed set.
-Then the full blown 7th edition Warhammer rulebook should follow, which might include changes in the magic system and the combat resolution bonuses, but for such speculation you should take a look at what the rumor experts at Warseer have to say.

Finally, if you are interested in more Warhammer related stuff, get surprised by either clicking here, here, here or even here.

Related Tags: Warhammer, Games Workshop, Rumor, Rumors, Rumour, Rumours, News, Goblins, Orcs, WHFB, Miniatures, Miniature, Wargames, Game, Games

PC (meta) Review: 'Lula 3D'

To be quite honest, the way this review was written was heavily inspired by the review summaries posted by dear Elderly Gamer over at his excellent blog. To be even more honest, pc game pr0n (porn for the old-fashioned) has been something of an interest since my days in elementary school, when I first laid my poor innocent eyes on the exquisite Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards.

Now, being the much older git that I am, and having avoided the previous Lula offerings, I decided to buy Lula 3D. Not only was it featuring naked ladies engaging in gratuitous sexual acts, not only was it the first game ever to incorporate the Bouncing Boobs technology, it was also quite cheap (less than 20 euros). Apparently cheap in every respect.

Being of course cheap isn't necessarily a bad thing. Lula 3D does have a certain charm, in the way Plan 9 from Outer Space, Dungeons and Dragons the Movie and Jesus Christ Vampire Slayer do. It's so unbelievably bad it is almost interesting and enjoyable. Mind you, it's not funny per se. The funny thing is that people decided to sell this kind of crap and I decided to buy it. And there is no such thing as a Bouncing Boobs technology. Lara Croft in the first incantation of Tomb Raider had bouncier assets. It's neither particularly entertaining, nor sexy (unless of course you are really sad), and even though Lula 3D is (supposedly) an adventure game, it's such a poor experience, that having a dog hump your leg sounds exciting and fun.

And here comes the Elderly Gamer inspired bit. I'll present you with what a series of esteemed publications had to say about this sorry excuse for interactive erotica, but before that please imagine this: all of Lula's inventory is stored in her extra-small bra. Anyway. On to the pros:

Eurogamer (2/10): 'So, to conclude, let's return to the Lula 3D box. Turn it over and you'll see a warning message which reads: "CAUTION: intense erotic scenes may lead to CHOKING, SWEATING and RAPID HEART BEAT." No one could argue with this as a general statement of fact, but with regard to Lula 3D, the words RAPID BANGING OF HEAD AGAINST MONITOR would be more appropriate.'

PC Zone (31/100): 'As lovely as it must be to live in Lula-land, with its never-ending intercourse and women who won't talk about anything other than dildos, I still think that I prefer having sex with real people. It's a strange hang-up of mine - I'm sure I'll get over it.'

Jolt (1.8/10): 'Lula herself would probably be the only person to gain any satisfaction from Lula 3D as, to lower ourselves to using the game'’s terminology, she “loves fucking– and Lula 3D is fucking awful.'

Metacritic (19/100)

Gnome's Lair: that's a (three and a half) out of (ten).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The non-meta Gnome's Lair reviews include (among other games): Apprentice Deluxe, Star Wars Battlefront 2 and Spooks. On the other hand, stay in style, be cheap, and have a look at some nice free games.


Related Tags: Lula 3d, Lula, CDV, erotic, review, reviews, PC, Game, Games, Video, Adventure, Adventures, Entertainment, Adult, Humor, funny

Where is the Home of the Underdogs?

Well, here it is, and it should be back at its normal URL soon. Just thought I'd let you know... And in case anyone was wondering, the 'Home of the Underdogs' is the oldest, biggest and best abandonware games site this side of the galaxy.

(Update) Try this link instead... http://www.underdogs.kirit.com/
(Update #2) This link is even better ;)


Related Tags: Home of the Underdogs, News, Link, URL, Abandonware

In the dark future there is only 40k

Now, this is a truly impressive video. It's the introductory sequence from the (definitely above average) very good-looking RTS Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War by Relic. Since Shawn of War has yet to be produced (hey Universal, I'm open to offers) and causality is a trivial thing, amaze your friends and pets by showing them this:



Related Gnome's Lair articles: The Warhammer video games feature, Space Hulk (a modest review) and Warhammer Fantasy tactics.



Related Tags: Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, Warhammer 40000, Relic, RTS, Dawn of War, Strategy, Video, Game, Games, PC, Intro

Olde Gamies and Farty Owls

You know... a good post doesn't have to be 440 words long, or have a comprehensible title, or even feature a nice pic. All a decent post needs, in order to achieve ultimate greatness, is a link to the Game Oldies website. That's why I'm linking to it. Have a look over there and enjoy a full blown Java emulator of the Sega Genesis, the Sega Master System, the S(ega-it's quite obvious you know) Game Gear,the NES, the SNES, the Gameboy, the PC-Engine, the Colecovision and even some classic arcades. It seems rather legal too, but if it isn't, have a look at a wonderful collection of legal threats.

On the other hand, this might just not be your thing, in which case you wouldn't be advised to click on the 'retro' category link (it's there, look at the -left- sidebar)...And here's a nice picture:

Related Tags: Retro, Sega, Nintendo, Colecovision, Emulation, Arcade, Genesis, Megadrive, Nes, SNES, Gameboy, free, freeware, Java, Emulator, PC-engine, TurboGrafx-16, pc engine, Master System, Entertainment, Web, Weblog

Museum Monday #6

Monday. Another one in the long series of painful Mondays. Another horrible instance in the lives of us all (humans, gnomes, elves, managers). Resistance is futile and our lack of faith disturbing. I wish I could say that things could be worse, but then I'd be just another filthy liar, and an instrument of the (secret) Promote-Monday-Society.

Still, it's the day of the week, when I lead you to nice, comfy and hopefully virus-free virtual museums. Today, it's all about vintage Citadel (Games Workshop for the young 'uns) miniatures. Visit the Stuff of Legends and get all misty eyed. Try to enjoy. It's rather interesting (as long as you're into miniatures that is).

Related Tags: Museum Monday, Monday, Museum, Virtual, Virtual Museum, Museums, Funny, Weblog, Citadel, Games Workshop, Vintage, Miniature, Miniatures, Wargames

PC Review: ‘Spooks’

Well, in a nutshell: Spooks is the first creation of a person named "The Ivy"” along with a very small team, it'’s a freeware adventure, it looks good, sounds ok, is size-wise a very modest download and anyone who is smart enough to have reached this review, shouldn'’t have any trouble downloading it from the xii games website. And to wet your appetite, here is a nice screenshot:Nice, isn'’t it? Of course it is, and it should be enough to convince you to have a look and to stop me from writing this review. Problem is, Spooks is a very good game, and one worth having a (slightly) more detailed look at. First of all the graphics are unique, mostly in grayscale and with a rather innovative use of color. Then, the three very important pillars of a comedy adventure game are there: the story is good (albeit a bit short), the dark humor is sarcastic and actually funny, the puzzles are varied, interesting and decently implemented.

Naturally, as Spooks is the Ivy'’s first foray in adventure game design, not all is rosy (what a weird and subtle pun -–eh?). Puzzles are a tad on the too easy side, which isn'’t necessarily a bad thing, as is for example the lack of obvious hotspots, which eventually leads to some annoying pixel-hunting. Other minor problems include a few quite obvious time-triggers, lack of a full soundtrack, the inclusion of one (easy yet uninspired) Myst-style puzzle and a lack of polish here-and-there.

On the plus side, the dialogs, handled with a typical multiple-choice interface, are very well written, the finale is unexpectedly unexpected, the Sierra styled interface works in an okay way, and as I'’ve already said everything is fine and dandy. Even the lead character is like Diamanda Galas in joke-mode. I guess that in order to find out more you should rather download and play the game. Here are more screenshots, and a hint on the plot: It'’s about ghouls. The female kind. That should do it. I'’m sure I'’ve convinced you to have a look.

That'’s an (eight) out of (ten).

And if you get stuck in Spooks, don'’t blush. Avoid being ridiculed by asking for hints in the comments section. On the other hand, you could have a look at my reviews of Telltale Texas Hold'’Em, Apprentice Deluxe or And Then There Were None.

Related Tags: Adventure, Adventures, Adventure Games, Game, Games, PC, Spook, the Ivy, AGS, free, freeware, funny, Review

Fictional Miss

Happy news #1: The March issue of Fictional Reality is already available for download, and it isn't even April yet. Hooray. Hop over to fictionalreality.org and download a 23mb pdf magazine, that includes 80 pages of RPG, wargame, board game and miniature related reviews, previews, how tos, battle reports and more importantly nice and well thought-of ads. It's free, nice and definitely not so funny.

Happy News#2: The 10th issue of the amazing, ueber, extra and all that jazz webzine Critical Miss is available (right) here. Apparently has been for quite some time... Seems that the Magazine for Dysfunctional Gamers hasn't died yet. Great, and definitely hilarious. An absolute must-read.

Old news: Vintage D&D review, a silly RPG related video and a review of Zombies!!!

Related Tags: Miniature, Miniatures, Fictional, Reality, Critical Miss, ezine, e-zine, Magazine, Magazines, pdf, free, RPG, Wargame, Wargames, Game, Games, Board Games, webzine

Darth on Darth

Every Darth Vader groupie, gnome or human, was waiting for this. Darth Vader (the statesman and keeper of the peace) directing Darth Vader (the theme song). LEGO style. Pure class.

Related Tags: Darth Vader, John Williams, Video, Music, Star Wars, LEGO, humor, humour, funny

The shortest walkthrough ever

Remember Apprentice Deluxe, a beautiful little adventure game I reviewed the other day? Good. Here is the complete walkthrough, directly lifted from the Herculean Effort website. Apparently it's the shortest one ever (seen by me).

Without further ado then, let me present you with the...

Apprentice Abbreviated Walkthrough

Brevity is…wit.

(Pib’s bedroom)

- TAKE scroll

- LOOK at scroll

- WALK to downstairs

(Downstairs)

- TAKE coffee bean grinder

- USE right cabinet

- TAKE ??? (sandwich book)

- USE Master’s door

- WALK to the far right side of the room (by the stairs)

- While Master is in the kitchen, WALK to upstairs

(Pib’s Bedroom)

- USE laundry chute

(Downstairs)

- TAKE broom

- WALK to outside

(Outside tower)

- WALK to cliff

(Tree by Cliff)

- TALK to snake (until you ask if you can borrow objects)

- TAKE book

- TAKE picnic blanket

- WALK to outside tower

(Outside tower)

- USE gate

- USE plant ID book with plant

- USE broom with sheep (left side of field)

- TAKE oregano

- USE picnic blanket with the grinder (or USE the grinder with the dish towel in the tower)

- USE oregano with grinder

- USE broom with sheep (right side of field)

- USE gate

- USE sandwich book with sandwich

- WALK to barn

(Barn)

- TAKE stool

- TAKE pail of milk

- USE stool with saddle

- USE broom with saddle

- WALK to outside

(Outside tower)

- USE picnic blanket with horse

- USE saddle with horse

- USE pail of milk with saddle

- TAKE saddle

- WALK to tower

(Downstairs)

- WALK to upstairs

(Ending cutscene)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Doesn't feel that short when you play it. Believe me. And this post seems to contain quite a few spoilers. Ooops. You could still test your wits at And Then There Were None, or even try a nice board game.

Related Tags: Walkthrough, Apprentice, Apprentice Deluxe, Cheats, Hints, PC Game, Adventure, Adventures, Adventure game, Herculean Effort

The Cow Race is on!

It's rather obvious, isn't it? The second episode of Bone is ready to be unleashed. In April. The webpage over at Telltale's joint has gone live, previews are appearing all over the place (well at IGN and Adventure Gamers, to be more precise) and the official forums have just opened their gates. In case you haven't got it, the name of the game will be Bone: The Great Cow Race, and it seems like it will be richer, longer, more detailed and less action-oriented than the original Bone. Joy. Screenshot (for more take a look here):

Related Gnome's Lair articles: Apprentice Deluxe Review, And Then There Were None review, Sam and Max video, the 2005 AGS Awards

Related Tags: Bone, Bone 2, The Great Cow Race, Adventure, Adventures, Gane, Games, Telltale, News, Entertainment, PC

World of Warhammer: the paint 'em up MMO

Warhammer inspired video games have such a brief history, that I fully covered it here, at Gnome's Lair (follow the link just before the parenthesis and see for yourselves- wink, wink, nudge, nudge, etc). But, what about the human being? What about our planet, what about incoherent writing and the future of Warhammer games?

Things couldn't be more simple. We humans will be mass-abducted by incredibly advanced alien psychologists, who will eventually rape every living thing on the planet (to death, and yes, that includes flowers too), thus bringing the imagined Warhammer universe to an untimely end. Before those climactic events I have foreseen the release of not one, not three, but two more Warhammer video games.

The first one, and the one I am really interested in, will be the Mark of Chaos. Apparently, a visually stunning RTS, with minor gameplay twists and non-existent resource gathering. It will even feature the abominable Skaven hordes. Yes! At last. We will be able -for once- to kill-kill man-things on our monitor. Imagine the joy, and take a look at what some other imaginative people imagined about Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, or visit the official website. Oh, here's a screenshot:

The second game, as the title of this article subtly implies, is Warhammer Online. Again. Only that this time it seems to be in the hands of a more serious, relatively bankruptcy-resistant developer, Games Workshop isn't directly involved and the whole thing seems like World of Warcraft but with Warhammer inspired models. I guess Blizzard had it coming... They started it after all. They invaded Poland, and then they got heavily 'inspired' from Games Workshop's world. Anyway, follow the links to official info, to some screenshots (and see a Slayer with a shield!!-the heresy of it) and to an excellent teaser video.

Hurry. Alien doom is nigh.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Related Gnome's Lair articles: WDfD (Warhammer Diverting for Dummies), Warhammer rumors, a review of Civ4 and some freeware games.



Related Tags: Warhammer, Warhammer Online, Mythic, Namco, Game, Games, PC, video games, news, rumors, video, Mark of Chaos, Skaven, Entertainment, Games Workshop, MMORPG, MMO

Museum Monday #5

Monday. One of the worst. Ever. Infuriating and mondayish. I could scream you know. But I wont. I will instead try to feel better by looking at pixelated and rather nude ladies, hosted by a very interesting Museum. A virtual museum of course. The girls of '64 archive, whose noble cause is to preserve the sexy side of the C64. And to wet your appetite, let me present you with one of the best known exhibits: the introductory screen of Covergirl strip poker.

Related Tags: Monday, Museum, Virtual Museum, blog, Strip poker, Covergirl, C64

Feel the flow...

The flOw is a beautiful (free) java game, created by a Mr. Chen as part of his thesis on game design theory, processes, innovation, yada and yada. Apparently Mr. Chen's studies have something to do with the "flow theory", and this is where it gets quite interesting. But, unfortunately, this is no time or place for theorizing. This is play-time. Go take a look at the flOw game. It's relaxing, it is.

Related Gnome's Lair articles: A fat and nice freeware games list, old PC emulators, online C64 fun

Related Tags: flow, game design, free, freeware, java, Game, Games, mini games

The Thorians have arrived

Inquisitor, a rare hybrid of RPG and wargame by Games Workshop (set in the grim Warhammer 40k universe, where dark eras and war is all you get), is a game I should have already reviewed for your eyes -oh! most revered and wise readers. Apparently I haven't, but I can promise I soon will. While you are waiting (please don't stand, take a seat, it might just take a while) you could of course download the free pdf version of the Inquisitor rulebook from the Specialist Games site.

Now, take a look at the following picture.

Good. Like it? Even better, for this is the cover of a very nice and totally free Inquisitor source book, just published from Specialist Games/Games Workshop. As you should have gathered it's about the Thorians, an inquisitorial cult dating from the ancient days of the 36th millennium, usually looking something like this:

You can download the Thorian sourcebook from here. Then again, you might just want to read something about Warhammer or even Space Hulk. Some rumors perhaps? No? Ok, I'll give you a simple tactics article instead.

Related Tags: Games Workshop, Specialist Games, Inquisitor, Thorian, Thorians, Miniatures, Miniature, Free, Freeware, Downloads, Game, Games, Wargame, Warhammer, Warhammer 40000, 40k, Entertainment, RPG

The Heart of the Dungeon (and the Dragon of course)

Everybody has heard of pen and paper RPGs, the plague of our modern society, the bane of civilisation, the great Devourer of the Pure. Take a peek at (this documentary, well almost a documentary) the way innocent children (20somethings actually, but who cares) are transformed into hideous looking beasts and are forced to engage in terrifying, blasphemous and orgiastic activities. Or perhaps see (by following the link, that is) what wargamers had to say about Dungeons and Dragons, back in the 70s... But no matter what, do not give in to temptation!

Related Tags: RPG, D&D, Humor, Humour, Funny, Dungeons, Dragons, Dungeons and Dragons, Video, Parody, Entertainment, 70s, Game, Games, Videos

Is that a gnome? Yes, it is...

Three cheers and a thanks to the creative people from Gateway 73. It is a great post, and the picture really feels gnomish (like me?Nah...).

Of course Gnome's Lair does have it's (definitely much less impressive and quite limited) share of artwork. It's a gnome and something more RPG related...

Related Tags: Art, Artwork, Gnome, Gnomes, Fantasy, RPG, weblog, link

Is everything quiet on the adventurers' front?

Hmmm. Guess not. A new version of the very good, manga-styled, indy adventure the White Chamber has been just released, featuring 4 more alternative endings (that's 8 altogether), a voice-over and multilingual text support. In case you were wondering, it's a horror game, that just so happens, doesn't cost a thing (it's freeware dummy). Had I bothered to review it, which apparently I haven't, I guess I'd have assigned it a grade of around 7/10. It is , of course, wiser to see for yourselves. Visit Studio Trophis. That should do it.

Onto the Vampyre Story front then. Well, nothing much is happening there, but the fact that the news page of the Autumn Moon Entertainment website has been updated (featuring only a few links though), reveals the rather happy detail, that this project hasn't died. Mind you, it is not any project. It is Bill Tiller's (and co.) of Lucasarts fame project. Find out more by clicking here, here or just visiting the games' site.

Related Gnome's Lair articles: Apprentice Deluxe review, And Then There Were None review, the AGS 2005 Awards, Sam n Max vid(eo)

Related Tags: Game, Games, Adventure, Adventures, Lucasarts, Freeware, Horror, Vampire, Vampyre Story, White Chamber, free, news, Entertainment, PC Game, PC Games, Bill Tiller, Autumn Moon

They don't make 'em like they used to... Right.

Today's PC Games are much more than a danger to our youth. Beside turning society's future to sadistic madmen, kinky murderers and sex-crazed heretics, contemporary games try to bore the rest of us to death. Sad. But, that's is where philosophy can help us. The future is written in the poetry of the past, said one of the well-educated full-bearded brigade. Same thing goes with games. You can corrupt yourself and the neighborhood kids using older games, without getting bored. This time it will not be just another Dune 2 or Wolfenstein 3D clone. It will be something totally different and (usually) inspired. Problem is your average 2006 PC doesn't look like this:

Problem solved. Mr. Emulation Mostly, using his powerful C++ arsenal, came to the rescue of our gaming values and memories. Take a look at the following links:

DOSbox: The ultimate way to enjoy Wing Commander and probably the best DOS emulator available. It's free too, but so is every other program on this (tiny) list. Unless of course it's shareware.

ScummVM: SCUMM. SCript Utility for Maniac Mansion. Also, something you'd rather wouldn't like as an adjective attributed to yourself. Also, the best way to run every old Lucasarts adventure and more (Beneath a Steel Sky, Simon the Sorcerer, Gobliiins ...). Extra simple interface, with added friendliness.

Sarien: Something like ScummVM, but for the early Sierra games, and definitely less polished.

WinFrotz: Something like Sarien (and apparently like ScummVM), but for the ancient Infocom text adventures.

VDMSound: An old soundcard (Adlib, Sounblaster etc) emulator. Or to put it in a fancier way: "a modular, extendable soundcard emulator".

CPUkiller: A shareware little program, that lets you slow down your PC. Seems strange, but does come in handy.

DodGE: It's a DOS game emulator. Again. A great one too.

Abandon Loader: In the words of the publisher: "Abandon Loader provides a front-end interface designed to maintain compatibility and simplify configuration of old DOS games on modern PC's".

Mind you, beside corrupting young people, you might want to try some of these tools on the free games included in this cute list. On the other hand, you could just take a look at a nice DOOM 3 mod, or help develop a Half Life 2 one.

Related Tags: Download, Downloads, Abandonware, Abandon, Emulator, Emulators, Free, Freeware, Dos, Sierra, Lucasarts, Infocom, Retro, Games, Game, Gaming, PC, Adventures, SCUMM, ScummVM, Entertainment, Weblog

It's not the Oscars. It's the 2005 AGS Awards!

At last. Everybody has been holding his breath since the 2004 AGS Awards, and now a huge army of undead and quite scary adventurers are ready to feast upon the newer award-winning adventure games. Mind you, all of these games, the AGS 2005 award-wining games, are free and created with the AGS games creation software. This list was originally posted at the AGS forums, and since I don't particularly like verbatim quoting other sites, I've added links to the downloads of the games mentioned, (quite a few) links to their respective reviews and (were applicable) links to their creators' homepages. Without further ado then:

The 2005 AGS Awards (tadah)

Best Game Created with AGS: Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 4 - Horror at Number 50, review, download, homepage

Best Gameplay: Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 4 - Horror at Number 50, review, download, homepage

Best Story: Prodigal, download, homepage

Best Dialogue Writing: Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 4 - Horror at Number 50, download, homepage, review

Best Puzzles: Cedric and the Revolution, download, review

Best Player Character: Emily Enough: Imprisoned, download

Best Non-Player Character: "Invisible guy" from Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment, download, homepage

Best Background Art: Stargate Adventure, download, review

Best Character Art: Mind's Eye, download

Best Animation: Mind's Eye, download

Best Programming: Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment, download, homepage

Best Use of Sound: Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator Case 4 - Horror at Number 50, review, download, homepage

Best Music: Apprentice 1 Deluxe, download, homepage, review

Best Documentation: Anna, download, homepage

Best Short Game: Cedric and the Revolution, download, review

Best Demo: Star Wars Shadows of the Empire: Graphic Adventure - TECH DEMO, download, homepage

Best Non-Adventure Game Created with AGS: Missing In Action, download

Best AGS Resource: AGS Wiki (you google that yourselves...)

The P3N1S Award (Worst AGS Game): No, I Am Spartacus!, download, homepage

Apparently Broadback Mountain didn't do so well. Oh, well. You might be interested in a rather rich selection of (around 30) freeware games, some free Board Games, or even a review of And Then There Were None. Don't be shy. Have a look.

Related Tags: Adventure, Adventure Game Studio, AGS Awards, 2005, Awards, Free, Freeware, AGS, Adventures, Adventure games, Adventure game, Game, Games, PC, Video game, Video games, download, downloads, weblog, entertainment, links

Monday Museum #4

Monday. It was, of course, bound to happen. Monday is almost over (at least here, in Greece, that is) and the publishing service of Gnome's Lair (blogger.com) just doesn't seem so operational. I know it all has to do with that cursed day, I know everything will soon be fine, as well as I know that Tuesday is only a few hours away. Fancy, that.

Hoping things will radically improve, let me (try to) present you the Dig Museum. A place full of interesting, rare and definitely rich exhibits. If you manage to navigate yourself through the first and rather tricky page of this beautiful site, you 'll learn everything. Everything related to the Dig at least. Make that almost everything I guess... And in case you were wondering, the Dig was an excellent Lucasarts adventure, with exceedingly high production values and quite a lack of humor. Mighty Spielberg also got a bit involved in it. Don't be afraid. It's almost Tuesday, take a peek.

Previously on Monday Museum: MM1, MM2, MM3

Related Tags: Museum, Museums, Virtual Museum, Virtual Museums, Monday, Adventure, Adventures, Game, Games, the Dig, Lucasarts, Entertainment, Spielberg