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Welcome to Freeware Friday, a weekly column showcasing excellent games that you can play free of charge!

Most of the browser games that have been talked about on Freeware Friday have been by the esteemed Flashbang Studios. However, it's time to break that trend with a game that is just as good as anything Flashbang can or has come up with. Farbs' Captain Forever was released a while ago to those who have donated, with the promise of it being released for free at a later date. That later date has arrived, and Captain Forever is now available to the general public. It's an excellent game, and one that you can easily lose a lot of time to, which makes it both a great freeware game and an amazing browser game.

It's been just a few days since we have given anything away. So let's do this thing. Today the folks at Electronic Arts and Valve have given Big Download five Steam codes that can be used to download the full version of Left 4 Dead 2. Are you ready to shoot some zombies with your friends? You had better be if you are one of the folks picked to win this very cool prize.

As with most of our contests, entering the giveaway is simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on November 23
  
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Those five winners will be sent a Steam code that can be used to download a full copy of Left 4 Dead 2 (valued at $49.99 each)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.

Our thanks to EA and Valve for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.

While some games have attempted to merge the first person shooter genre with elements from RTS games (The Savage series, Command and Conquer: Renegade) none have been deemed a complete success. Today publisher Reality Gap officially launched Battleswarm: Field of Honor, a sci-fi themed free-to-play online game that was originally developed by Asian developer Gameworld Tech. The game itself has one side (the human solider) in a first person view point. They go up against the other (side the bug-like aliens) who have an RTS game play design.

On the occasion of today's official launch of Battleswarm, Big Download got a chance to ask some questions to Reality Gap's Chief Operating Office Mark Hood as he talks about the game, how Pong creator Nolan Bushnell is involved and more.

Games that are coming out soon have a lot of unknowns that the average person might not know. Who is this character inspired by? Is all the talk of volumetric fog or cel-shaded graphics really worthwhile? Do the game mechanics really seem solid, or are they lackluster? In All You Need To Know we provide information to help you fully appreciate what these upcoming games have to offer.

Feed your head after the jump.

Check out our collection of Assasin's Creed 2 related downloads here on Big Download!

Let's admit it, this whole "zombie" thing in pop culture has pretty much run its limits. Not only do we have tons of zombie based games come out, but movies, TV shows and novels seem to be in love with the undead. However, the phenomenon doesn't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

With that in mind, playing Valve's zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2 feels a lot of the like a retread of the original game that came out a year ago. Like before, the is designed for four players to come together and shoot fast moving "Dawn of the Dead remake/28 Days Later" infected humans alongside special infected sporting extra abilities. However, even though it's generally a well-made game, it's hard to not think of Left 4 Dead 2 as a glorified expansion pack.

Video games are definitely maturing as the medium grows older. What once might have been a simple diversion has become a massive industry, rivaling Hollywood in scope and budget. Though the mainstream media -- and therefore much of America -- might still see the very concept of playing games as juvenilia, it's clear that games are able to willing to broach nearly any subject matter, including some that might be controversial.

Is there any topic that is beyond the scope of a video game? What's taboo these days?

While folks are waiting on their PCs tonight to unlock Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam (that should happen at midnight Eastern time tonight) another developer is working on his own version of the original game. The difference? He's making it as a 8-bit NES-style title. Yep, it's supposed to be a fully playable version of the game with support for just a few pixels and support for just one or two players (sorry no four player co-op in NES's timeline).

The game's creator is budding game designer Eric Ruth and while he has created a number of original NES-style games this is apparently his first attempt to port an existing franchise to his game design style. As you can see from the video above he's got the general idea behind Valve original game down patch. Thankfully you won't have to have a modded NES to play the full version; Ruth says he will release the game for free for the PC in early January. Big Download got Ruth to answer some questions about his upcoming reimagining of Left 4 Dead.

Sometimes you just need to sit down, slide a floppy into your A: drive, and enjoy gaming retro style. We know this all too well! That's why we have a list of the best and brightest from days long gone. These are some of our favorite games of all time, and we're sure that you'll love them as much as we do, if not more. Welcome to Boot Disk, and enjoy the retro ride!

The Fallout series is a highly esteemed one in the annals of role-playing game history, and for good reason. They presented one of the first cohesive non-fantasy worlds to explore and manipulate, and were extremely open-ended. Fallout is still considered one of the best CRPGs of all time, alongside other classics such as Baldur's Gate 2. It's sequel may not be as fondly remembered, but it's still a great game, and exemplifies all of the things that Black Isle did right with the Fallout series. Fallout 2 is now available through a number of channels, and is a must play for any fan of role-playing games.

Welcome to Mac Monday, where we highlight some games for your Macintosh that you might want to try ... or try to avoid. This time around, we're looking at Big Fish Games' Drawn: The Painted Tower, and New Star Games' New Star Soccer 2010. Two completely different games, and both intriguing for different reasons. Find out more after the jump!

Nazis. Dinosaurs. Without a doubt these are two of pop culture's biggest and most used groups of bad guys. But what if these two totally different groups suddenly joined forces? That's the uber-cool premise behind Dino D-Day. The upcoming Source Engine based game has the Nazis bringing in the big lizards to help them in their quest to take over the world in World War II. The game comes from new developer Digital Ranch Interactive which has just released a free Half-Life 2 mod that serves as a demo for what they have planned for the full game. You can download that mod right now at Big Download.

Big Download got a chance to ask some questions to Digital Ranch Interactive's co-founder Abe Scheuermann to find out more about their plans for the game, his reaction to how well the mod release has been received and more.

Welcome to Freeware Friday, a weekly column showcasing excellent games that you can play free of charge!

Dragon Age: Origins is out there amidst consumers, garnering both critical and commercial recognition for its dark atmosphere, excellent story, and entertaining combat. However, there's more to the Dragon Age series besides Origins. EA2D, makers of the excellent Mirror's Edge 2D, decided to take the 2D browser approach to the Dragon Age franchise. The end result is Dragon Age: Journeys, a spin-off game that manages to be good on its own while still providing you with bonuses in the main game itself. Those that love strategy and role-playing games should definitely try it out.

The Warcraft III map Defense of the Ancients (or DotA) is becoming much more of a separate genre of its own, thanks to the many imitators. One of the first was the game Demigod, created by the folks behind the Total Annihilation and Dungeon Siege games. Now there are a few more, such as Heroes of Newerth. One of the best of these knock-offs, and a game that rivals its inspiration in scope and excellence of execution, is League of Legends. It launched recently with a big celebration, and while it still has some issues that need ironing out, it's easily a retail-class game that any strategy or role-playing fan should give a try.

All right. It's time to separate the men from the geeks. You may have read a bunch of reviews of how great Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is but we bet that most of them have concentrated on the console versions. After all of the hubbub about no dedicated servers, no mod tools and only 18 players allowed online, can Infinity Ward's latest first-person shooter be any good on the PC?

Actually, there's quite a bit to like about the game as it turns out... but many of our concerns regarding the PC port of Modern Warfare 2 also proved to be true.

Check out all Modern Warfare 2 downloads

It's a game that many of you might have never heard of yet it has been one of the most influential PC game titles in history. Archon, created by Free Fall Associates in the early 1980s, mixed fantasy battles with chess-like strategy elements to create a game that developers have since taken elements of and put into their own games.

Last year the new game developer React Games announced it had gotten the rights to the Archon franchise and after a release for the iPhone earlier this year they are close to releasing their version of the game for the PC which will include both the classic game and a new version with lots of new features. Big Download got a chance to chat with the company's founder Chad Lee to find out more about the game which is currently in beta testing. People can get the beta version now by pre-ordering the game at the Archon Classic web site.

Games that are coming out soon have a lot of unknowns that the average person might not know. Who is this character inspired by? Is all the talk of volumetric fog or cel-shaded graphics really worthwhile? Do the game mechanics really seem solid, or are they lackluster? In All You Need To Know we provide information to help you fully appreciate what these upcoming games have to offer.

Feed your head after the jump.

Check out our collection of Starcraft II related downloads here on Big Download!