For many PC gamers, QuakeCon is bigger than Christmas. The joy of meeting up with friends, guzzling pure caffeine, gorging on junk food and fragging until the wee hours of the morning is a thing of beauty -- especially considering event attendance is free!

Unfortunately, the trek to Texas is too long and arduous for many, resulting in lost opportunities for fun times galore. Don't worry; Big Download's got your back. We were in attendance this year to pick our way through sleep-deprived gamers cuddled up with their keyboards (minus the drool, it was actually quite touching) and discarded pizza boxes to sample some of the gaming products on display.

Compiled here are our announcements from the show, including new bits from John Carmack's annual keynote address, as well as hands-on and impressions articles. Early next week, we'll feature a write-up from a hardcore PC gamer and id Software fan who had never attended the event before -- namely, me.

Read on for all the goods!

At its simplest, Oosah is a free to use website that lets users store and share their media, especially photos and screenshots. To this end, Oosah offers a whole terabyte of free personal storage for pictures, video and music. Once users upload their media to Oosah, they can immediately get to sharing them via direct links to Facebook, Picasa, Flickr and YouTube. Users can simply drag and drop videos and photos onto these site links while Oosah formats them to put them without any fuss. Oosah also has an uploader that automatically takes screenshots and uploads it to the site for sharing. So in order to appreciate everything that Oosah has to offer, you have to be the kind of gamer that really likes to capture big, heroic, moments while playing to share with others.

Read more about Oosah after the jump...

Identity is a fluid concept, particularly in today's Internet Age. When your self is displayed by an avatar whose image is infinitely mutable, the potential for mischief is great -- as is the potential for true representation. Some people use their avatars as masks to hide behind, while others see them as a means to finally show the world what their real selves are like.

In games, however, there is often a more limited set of choices available to the player. Massively multiplayer online games offer a wide range of options, and non-MMOs usually have far fewer. When you're playing a first-person shooter, for example, regardless of the ostensible story, you are the gun, not an actual character with a personality. The question is, then, does it matter if you don't get to play as yourself? How important is the concept of identity in a game?

Have you ever spotted information about a game floating around the Internet, practically waving its hands and jumping up and down for your attention? Did you ignore that friendly, lonely information asking you to just give it a chance? Shame on you! Well, sorry, not shame on you, since you're obviously reading this Fallout 3 preview. Actually, calling this a preview would be a bit misleading. Instead, think of this as a look into the reasoning for you to love Fallout 3.

In the spirit of Fallout 3, we've created our own mutant rats. We call them love-rats, which are foot-sized rats possessing shockingly tiny front-legs and disturbing large hind-legs. We hope that you're highly resistant to love-rats, because we're about to unleash them unto your face so they can skitter and nibble you with their filthy infected love-maws!

Download the latest Fallout 3 HD Trailer

With David Craddock and John Callaham out this weekend at QuakeCon, the rest of us are left to our own devices game-wise. Here's what we'll be playing this weekend. Be sure to let us know what games will be occupying your time!

• Rafe Brox: WoW, Supreme Commander / Forced Alliance, Dyson
• David Craddock: I'm covering QuakeCon, so.... nothing. Because when I get home on Sunday, I'll be writing QC-related features. Catch me next weekend!
• Kyle Horner: I'll be zapping everything in sight with tesla coil weapons in the Red Alert 3 beta!
• Steven Wong: I too will be playing the Red Alert 3 beta. Maybe some Team Fortress 2 if I can find the time.
• James Murff: I'm going to be played the Eegra Shindig games this weekend. Also gonna be relaxing with some Civilization IV. Someone I know just recently got hooked into one-turn fever through Civ Revolutions, so I have to show her the power of Civ 4.
• Krystalle Voecks: I'll be noodling around in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and EVE Online when I get the chance.

The Grimm Fairy Tales were originally written as adult-oriented fables featuring very dark themes and plenty of violence. All of that was wiped away when Disney adapted some of them into family-friendly animated features. American McGee, famous for imaging a grown-up and gothed out Alice running through a demented Wonderland, plays off the change in attitudes and applies a darkened point of view to childhood fairy tales with American McGee's Grimm. Grimm is a weekly series of episodic games, each focusing on a different fairy tale. The premiere episode, A Boy Learns What Fear Is, establishes the tone and gameplay for the rest of series. Although the game literally focuses on transforming bright, go-lucky, fairy tales into dark stories, the aim isn't to tell a "mature" story. In fact, the quirky art style and toilet humor practically guarantees that these stories won't completely get back to its dark roots. Instead, American McGee's Grimm provides an experience much different than expected.

Download American McGee's Grimm: A Boy Learns What Fear Is [Full Game] (193 Mb)

Continue the American McGee's Grimm: A Boy Learns What Fear Is in-depth after the jump...

Just as you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs, so too is it impossible to merge two gaming juggernauts without losing a few games -- and studios. News that the recent Activision Blizzard conglomerate will see many Sierra titles become casualties is well known at this point, but should the legendary Sierra studio itself be put out to pasture?

Though the idea may seem blasphemous, it may not be such a bad thing. In fact, EDGE magazine writer Kris Graft thinks it would be better to remember the studio for its memorable contributions to the industry (especially many PC gamers' favorite adventure titles) rather than be thought of as a shadow of its former self.

Such fond memories also seem preferable to Al Lowe, venerable designer of the Leisure Suit Larry series. Lowe feels that the once great development house let Sierra become nothing more than a logo on box fronts. "It was 'Sierra' in name only. They allowed the brand to wither into meaninglessness," lamented Lowe.

The article is a great read and recommended for all Sierra enthusiasts, as well as PC gamers as a collective. From this writer's own perspective, I agree with Lowe. Sierra has long been one of my favorite studios, and I'd rather remember it for some of my favorite gaming memories (King's Quest and Gabriel Knight, I'm lookin' at you!) than a broken, feeble brand that no longer remembers what its name once represented.

Most gamers will tell you not to expect much from a twenty dollar, old-school, point-and-click adventure game. Although we've seen some very good adventure games lately, Art of Murder: FBI Confidential definitely needs some low expectations to enjoy. While the game has very low system requirements along with some generally decent art and animation, the game elevates itself from an annoying game to being a dull one.

Continue reading Art of Murder: FBI Confidential in-depth after the jump...

E3 2008 is over now but it appears the reactions to the latest edition of the event were even worse than last year's E3 in Santa Monica, and that's saying something. The latest to state these facts is Dennis McCauley, the editor of GamePolitics in his latest Political Game column for our sister site Joystiq.

McCauley points out that Into the Pixel, the video game art exhibit, got more square footage at the convention center than the actual game exhibit hall where people went hands-on with a number of titles.That and a number of other issues mentioned in the opinion piece made the show the worst it has ever been and if McCauley is to be believed, " . . . you can go ahead and schedule that trip to the beach you were planning for next July. You won't be coming to Los Angeles.E3 is dead."

With E3 going on, it's possible that the Big Download staff has spent more time watching videos of upcoming games than playing current ones. But the weekend is finally here, and we're looking forward to getting some time that's hands-on instead of just eyes-on with our favorite hobby.

Lead blogger David Craddock will be taking a break from almost single-handedly holding the site together while John Callaham has been at E3 to play Final DOOM (a classic!) on his PC and Civilization Revolution on his Xbox 360. James Murff will be taking a break from his usual indie fare to play Team Fortress 2 and Company of Heroes with his buddies. When they're not around, he'll be laying the SMACdown with Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. Eli Shayotovich is going to be lopping off limbs in Age of Conan.

Lastly, I'm in the middle of moving halfway across the continent, and I had to ship my desktop via UPS ground, so only my notebook is gonna be accessible over the next few days. Therefore low spec games are the flavor of the weekend -- Sam & Max Episode 4 and Fallout. I'm also going to be playing a bit of Rule of Rose on the PS2 (well, technically PS3). But that's us. How about you? What aRe yoU Playing?

Ever since the Diablo 3 announcement, we've hosted a ton of downloads for Diablo 2, for both Mac and PC. However, if you're running the latest and greatest Mac hardware, you're likely shut out of reliving your D2 days of glory, unless you run it in Boot Camp. It's clear that the gameplay of D2 holds a special place in our hearts. So much so, in fact, that any game featuring similar gameplay is usually warmly received, if not continued to be played once the initial romance wears off.

Such a game is Depths of Peril, a top-down isometric RPG in the style of Diablo, Ultima VIII, etc. There are many qualities unique to this title that makes it stand out from the pack, including some of the most complex and vast histories in any game I've ever played, and gameplay which does a great job of simulating the MMO experience, even though Depths of Peril is a single-player game. We take a look after the jump.

Ah, E3. The time of year when game writers go into overdrive. The next week ahead will involve long nights, lots of transcription, and spending quality time with the lovely and talented C₈H₁₀N₄O₂ -- caffeine. We here at Big Download will be no exception to this, and as such, we bring you the E3 roundup for WRUP; the "dude, where's my plane" edition.

Our fearless Managing Editor, Steven Wong suggested a networked game of Diablo II before we all jumped on planes this weekend, but several of us who still had packing to do just looked at him funny. As such, he's been hanging out in Civ4 and City of Heroes. John Callaham figured he'd take the "jump in, frag someone, jump out" route and opted for a little Team Fortress 2 to ease the stress. David Craddock was one of the people who thought Steven had a good idea, though and replied to Steven's request with "Is there any other game besides Diablo II? Yes - there's Diablo III. But that's not out yet. So I play Diablo II. Always. For long time."

On the writer side of the table, both Rafe Brox and Xav de Matos expressed plans to spend some time in WoW. Of course, Rafe said he'd also be playing with power tools, and Xav expressed the intent to play the "omg, get caught up on features" game, which this blogger certainly knows all too well and will be joining him in playing. James Murff is relaxing (not having to jump on a plane) with some zombie love in Survival Crisis Z. When he's not buried in brains, he'll be hopping between Team Fortress 2 and Dwarf Fortress. And of course, most of the crew will be playing the uber-leet Sleep Deprivation game. Luckily, we've all managed to beat that game several times over and we've memorized the content.

So, readers -- What aRe yoU Playing this next week? Will you play Sleep Deprivation with us and stay glued to the tubes for all the news, or will you instead kick back with your favorite game and relax?

Since the early 1990s, Sid Meier's Civilization franchise has challenged strategy enthusiasts to shape an empire and make their mark in virtual history. While PC gamers enjoy the latest expansion for Civilization IV, Beyond the Sword, they may not realize Firaxis Games has been hard at work redefining the conventions that made the original series so popular in the console exclusive, Civilization Revolution.

Promising a more streamlined and accessible entry into the franchise with Revolution, the Big Download team decided to visit both virtual worlds in our latest installment of Big Versus.

Are PC gamers missing something with Revolution? Find out today, on Big Versus.

Coincidentally, Ubisoft recently announced that it would opt to space out future Assassin's Creed releases instead of putting out a new game every year. The declining sales of the Prince of Persia sequels were proof that gamers can grow wary of game franchises. Technical issues are often blamed for Spore's numerous delays. It's a slow progression, but development companies are coming to the realization that slow and steady wins the race, while dashing out to milk a franchise for all its worth doesn't always work.

Can games afford to stay in development indefinitely? How long does it take before interest starts to fall? Does it always have to be a choice between quality and timeliness? Sound-off after the jump.

The idea that video games could be classified as art is a fairly recent one, emerging right around the time that we began to include narrative as a game element. All too often, the subject is brought up by detractors of the form as a way to look down upon a medium to which they feel no attraction. The underlying conceit is ridiculous of course -- if video games aren't art, then they have no lasting cultural value, and may therefore be dismissed as mere juvenilia. Yet video games are, nevertheless, quite a large part of our culture, and the lingering perception that they are made only to be entertainment for adolescents does the entire industry a disservice.

However, merely positing the possibility that video games might be art isn't enough to ensure that they are art. Part of the problem lies in our definition of what art is, and what it isn't. Once we've defined that to our satisfaction, we have to endure the much more difficult task of judging whether it applies to video games. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we need to ask ourselves the question "Does it matter?"