big-downloads posts

Whether you like military shooters, innovative first-person platforming, or racing, Big Download had something for this past week. In fact, we had surprisingly a lot, considering that most game publishers are holding their cards until next week's huge E3 conference.

Next week is sure to be a big week (and rest assured we'll be on top of every new file that pops up amidst the frenzy), but hopefully this will be enough to tide everyone over until then! Here are just a few highlights from the latest new downloads

	HAWX Developer's Diary #1 HAWX is an air combat game in the same near-future world as Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. In this video, a developer talks about the game, and of course there's footage as well.
	Frontlines: Fuel of War Beta Demo Try out this shooter that tries something a little bit different with territory control.
	LEGO Batman Bruce Wayne & Poison Ivy Trailer A humorous sneak peak at a couple of the characters from the fourth entry into the LEGO pop culture franchise series.
	GRID 1.2 Patch The acclaimed racing game gets some important bug fixes.
	Mirror's Edge Story Trailer A beautifully animated sneak peak at the storyline and setting behind Mirror's Edge, an innovative first person parkour game.

This is the first time any one franchise has dominated our Big Downloads list. It's been almost exactly one week since Blizzard announced Diablo 3, and since then everything with the Diablo name attached to it has blown out through the door.

So four out of five of this week's top downloads are Diablo-related. We've thrown in the also-popular S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky trailer for some variety. To the Americans: have a great holiday weekend. To everyone else: have a great normal weekend!

	Diablo 3 Cinematic Teaser Trailer Blizzard has always been known for making lavish cinematics. Check out this gorgeous and forboding introduction to Diablo 3's story.
	Diablo 3 Gameplay Trailer Not much for flair and flash? Want to just get to the point? Download this for gameplay footage from Diablo 3.
	Diablo 2 Demo (Windows) After Diablo 3 was announced, everyone started playing Diablo 2 again. If you can't find your old discs, and aren't sure you want to spend any money yet, grab this demo.
	Diablo 2 Demo (Mac) Ditto for Mac users! Blizzard's a friend to Apple.
	S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky Atmosphere Trailer S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl was praised for its deep atmosphere, inspired by a film of the same name by Russian art-house director Andrei Tarkovsky. Clear Sky aims to follow suit, as this video demonstrates.

	Call of Duty: World at War Trailer Call of Duty is returning to World War II in Call of Duty: World at War. This time the focus is on the Pacific theater of the war.
	WALL-E Demo This Pixar animated movie-based game has garnered some positive feedback from some of our readers. At only 219 MB, you don't have much of an excuse not to try it, do you?
	Stronghold Crusader Extreme Demo We hear that this historical real-time-strategy game from Firefly Studios is extreme in some way. Look at the title! Download the demo and judge its extremeness for yourself.
	SAGA Game Client Saga is a massively multiplayer real-time strategy game that borows gameplay elements from collectible card games. Consider this free client a starter deck.
	Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway Behind the Scenes Trailer This five minute-long video explains the rich historical basis for Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, as well as the narrative implications of telling a darker, less hopeful version of the World War II story.

The bomb has been dropped! That is to say, the Spore Creature Creator demo came out this week! Users have made over 250,000 creatures already (some of them unsavory), and the final version of Spore won't even arrive until September! This week also saw the launch of the skeptically-anticipated The Princess Bride demo, another Team Fortress 2 "Meet the..." video, and the first patch for Blizzard's Diablo II in quite some time.

That means we'll all have plenty of stuff to keep us busy over the weekend. In fact, while you're playing with the Creature Creator this weekend, don't forget to save your best creatures and submit them to Big Download's Spore Creature Creator Giveaway contest. You could win cool stuff. Have fun!

	Spore Creature Creator Demo (Windows) The Spore Creature Creator lets you create a virtually unlimited number of strange creatures for the upcoming life sim Spore. It comes from the mind that brought you The Sims. Yeah, it probably doesn't need any introduction, but we thought we'd give it one anyway!
	Spore Creature Creator Demo (Mac OS) The Spore Creature Creator lets you create a virtually unlimited number of strange creatures for the upcoming life sim Spore. From the mind who brought you The Sims. Yeah, it probably doesn't need any introduction, but we thought we'd give it one anyway! Also on Mac!
	The Princess Bride Demo This is an adaptation that's been a long time coming. The demo features 30 minutes of casual gameplay. Just watch out for ROUSes.
	Team Fortress 2: Meet the Sniper Trailer Meet the Sniper is the latest in a series of class-based promo trailers for Team Fortress 2. It's hilarious, and you'll learn a bit about the sniper class. If you like Guy Ritchie films, you'll enjoy the humor here.
	Diablo II: Lord of Destruction 1.12a Patch It's been 8 years since Diablo II first came out, but Blizzard is still supporting it! This patch removes the CD check on the game, presumably paving the way for a digital download future.

It's Friday night! The work week has come to an end, and some of us will finally have the time to get some gaming done over the weekend. To start you off on your own period of relaxation, we have the five hottest downloads of the past week right here! We hope you enjoy them.

Predictably, the biggest of them all has been the new Call of Duty 4 patch and map pack. But if first person shooters aren't your thing, there are plenty of alternatives. Have a great weekend, dear readers!

	Call of Duty 4 1.6 Patch with Variety Map Pack Call of Duty 4's 1.6 patch includes fixes, new server browser features, and most importantly, four new multiplayer maps!
	Spore Tribe Phase Trailer This new Spore trailer contains footage of the RTS-like tribe phase of gameplay, and features commentary by two (very young looking) developers.
	Devil May Cry 4 Demo The latest entry in a classic, Japanese-developed series of games that stylishly reimagine the beat-em-up genre.
	Iron Man 1.01 Patch This patch for the superhero movie adaptation (which features voice acting by Robert Downey, Jr.) fixes bugs and expands gamepad support.
	Street Fighter IV Gameplay Trailer Oldschool is newschool in this four-minute-long, 2.5D hand-to-hand combat extravaganza!

Every Friday to come, we'll present to you some of the biggest downloads at Big Download. Sometimes they'll be the most popular, sometimes the best rated. Sometimes they'll be our own personal favorites! There's a little of each in today's inaugural round-up. Thanks to the launch of Mass Effect, the huge Ubidays press event, and all the other exciting stuff this past week, there's a lot of great stuff to check out. Here are the Big Downloads!

	Beyond Good & Evil 2 Teaser Trailer Ubisoft dropped the bomb on everyoneat the Ubidays press event: the esteemed Beyond Good & Evil is getting a sequel! Here's the first trailer, our most popular download this week.
	Doom 3 Classic Mod Relive the 90s in the Doom 3 Classic Mod. It's a remake of classic Doom in the more modern Doom 3 engine.
	Prince of Persia Ubidays 2008 Teaser Trailer Also from Ubidays, the Prince of Persia trailer shows off the next installment's colorful, gorgeous visual style.
	Mass Effect Combat Video 3 We can't let this week slip without featuring arguably its biggest release, Mass Effect. Here's a combat video depicting zombies and worse.
	Get a Life Half-Life 2 Mod The Get a Life mod for Half-Life 2 has been popular in the Big Download offices these past few days. It's a full-length single-player affair that has you uncovering the mysteries of the protagonist's past.