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This Week In PC Games: June 29-July 5

Posted Jun 29th 2009 8:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Action, Driving, FPS, Meta BD

A Wild West shooter and a open world driving game are the highlights in the new PC game released this week:

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood: Developer Techland and publisher Ubisoft team up again on this sequel to the 2007 Western shooter. Play as one of two of the McCall brothers as they try to find the lost gold of Juarez while engaging in some six shooter firefights.

Gallery: Call of Juarez: Bound In Blood

Continue reading This Week In PC Games: June 29-July 5

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The Best of Big Download: June 22-28

Posted Jun 28th 2009 5:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Meta BD

We actually thought news would be slow this past week; boy were we wrong. Let's check out the big events and exclusive content for the past seven days at Big Download
Exclusive features

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

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This Week In PC Games: June 22-28

Posted Jun 22nd 2009 8:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: RPG, RTS, Simulation, Strategy, Meta BD, Fallout 3, Spore

After the last few weeks with only one or two new releases, this week has a bunch of PC game titles being released to stores. In addition we get the latest downloadable expansion to last year's big RPG release.

Overlord II: Developer Triumph Studios and publisher Codemasters put this sequel to the unusual action-strategy-RPF game to stores. As with the 2007 original you are playing the "bad guy" in a fantasy universe controlling his Minions to destroy and maim the members of a Roman Empire-like land. You can download a playable demo of the game right here at Big Download.

Gallery: Overlord II

Continue reading This Week In PC Games: June 22-28

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The Best of Big Download: June 15-21

Posted Jun 21st 2009 5:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Meta BD

For some reason this week was a big one for demos and full games including the America's Army 3 release. Let's look, as we always do on Sundays, at the highlights of the past seven days:
Exclusive Features

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

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Demigod giveaway winners announced

Posted Jun 16th 2009 8:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Contests, Meta BD

Thanks to everyone who entered our recent Demigod game giveaway contest. We have now selected the 10 winners who will get a downloadable copy of the RTS game from Gas Powered Games game via Stardock's Impulse service.

Congrats to Sha Naya of Markham, Ontario, Canada, Emilio Malaguti of Pembroke Pines, FL, Jon Borgetti of Dyer, IN, David LeNoir Jr of Miami, FL, Stephen Sweeney of Red Hill, PA, Craig T. Russell of Houston, TX, Zeb Southard of Kaukauna, WI, Adam Hardiman of Salt Late City, UT, Soren Silkenson of Pflugerville, TX, and Cameron C. Jones of Atlanta, GA. Thanks again to Stardock for the donation of the prizes.

Gallery: Demigod

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This Week In PC Games: June 15-21

Posted Jun 15th 2009 8:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Action, FPS, Meta BD, America's Army 3

This week, PC gamers can look forward to getting slimed and getting shot at with a new retail release and the next version of a popular free multiplayer shooter.

Ghostbusters: After switching publishers and getting delayed for several months, developer Terminal Reality and publisher Atari release this long awaited movie-based action game made with the assistance of several of the original film's cast and writers. Time to cross the streams as you get to play a new Ghostbuster alongside the classic team to fight new and returning beasts. Unfortunately the PC version lacks the multiplayer modes that most of the other ports of the game will have.

Gallery: Ghostbusters

Continue reading This Week In PC Games: June 15-21

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The Best of Big Download: June 8-14

Posted Jun 14th 2009 9:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Meta BD

Post E3 week is always a time to reflect, to look back and also to look forward. We did all of that and more in the last seven days. Let's check out the highlights together, shall we?
Exclusive features

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

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The Best of Big Download: June 1-7

Posted Jun 7th 2009 7:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Meta BD

E3 2009 has come and gone and we have the pictures to prove it. Check out our coverage of the annual show and keep checking next week for more post-E3 reports:
Exclusive Features

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

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The Best of Big Download: May 25-31

Posted May 31st 2009 11:30PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Meta BD

Yep, we are just hours away from E3 2009 madness. But we had a lot of pre-E3 activity to talk about last week. Before we head to the LA Convention Center let's look back at the last seven days:
Exclusive Features

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

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This Week in PC Games: May 25-31

Posted May 25th 2009 8:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Action, Adventure, FPS, Multiplayer, RPG, Meta BD

This week PC games return to a long running military shooter series, investigate a series of serial killings and experience the latest Pixar game adaptation.

Delta Force Xtreme 2 - The first new game from Novalogic in four years, this budget-priced game is in the vein of the company's previous military shoooters, featuring large outdoor levels, two single player campaigns, co-op missions and multiplayer support for up to 150 players at a time via their Novaworld online service.

Gallery: Delta Force Xtreme 2

Continue reading This Week in PC Games: May 25-31

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The Best of Big Download: May 18-24

Posted May 24th 2009 7:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Meta BD

It's a long holiday weekend which means watching basketball and racing on TV, going to the movies or for some of you reading Big Download's highlights from the past 7 days (and you are a sad lot if that's the case). Check it out now.
Exclusive Features

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 Joystiq
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

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Killing Floor contest winners announced

Posted May 22nd 2009 7:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Contests, FPS, Meta BD

Thanks once again to all of you who entered our First Anniversary giveaway contest where we gave out six free Steam codes for people to download a copy of Tripwire Interactive's recently released co-op themed game Killing Floor.

We can now announce the winners of the giveaway. They are Max Aller of Seattle, WA, Steven Claypoole of Spring Hill, TN, Alexander Chan of West Windsor, NJ, Nathan McKean if Scottsville, NY, Abdul Ali Shaikh of Woodbridge, VA and Tashfeen Bhimdi of Somerville, MA. Congrats to all the winners and a big thanks once again to Tripwire Interactive for the free Killing Floor codes.

Gallery: Killing Floor

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WoW Insider morphs into WoW.com

Posted May 20th 2009 1:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Meta BD, World of Warcraft

Our sister site WoW Insider is already one of the biggest site devoted to coverage of Blizzard's hit MMO World of Warcraft. Today it just got bigger with its relaunch as WoW.com. But this isn't just the same old web site with a new name and a new web address. No sir; the new WoW.com has a lot more to offer.

The site will continue to be the best place on the net for all of your World of Warcraft news but they are also launching the beta of WoW.com Profiles. Basically its a new way for you to express your own love of the game via creating your own blog and galleries, communicating with fellow players and guild members and showing off your World of Warcraft characters to the world. It will even let you make blog posts and upload screenshots while you are playing the game via the new WoW.com add-on. We at Big Download want to extend our well wishes to our friends at WoW.com. We think it's pretty cool.

GoG.com game code contest winners announced

Posted May 19th 2009 8:00AM by John Callaham
Filed under: Contests, Meta BD

We would like to thank everyone who entered our recent First Anniversary contest to win one of five free codes to download a game from GoG.com. We can now announce that the winners of the contest are Nathaniel Edwards of Travelers Rest, SC, Matthew Snively of Smithville, OH, Kyle Loera of La Mirada, CA, Michael Leung of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada and Vicente Guerra of Hesperia, CA,

Congrats to all the winners and thanks to everyone who entered. Thanks also to GoG.com for providing the game codes. Stay tuned as we reveal winners from our other First Anniversary contests later this week and launch even more contests to celebrate Big Download's first anniversary.

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The Best of Big Download: May 11-17

Posted May 17th 2009 9:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Meta BD

With E3 now just two weeks away the rumors and the announcements will be coming in quickly. Big Download is on top of things on the PC gaming side and we will have extensive coverage of the show. But until then we will have some pre-E3 features alongside our regular news and feature coverage. Let's look at the past seven days on the site.
Exclusive features

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.