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It may be Thursday but today is when most of the PC game download sites present their deals for the weekend and more. Get ready to spend a little or a lot of money (depending on how many sales you hit):

• Steam has both episodes of Penny Arcade Adventures on sale in one bundle for just $2.99 until Monday. Steam has also finally added The Sims 3 and all of its expansion packs to the site. You can get all of them in one bundle until February 3 for $89.97, a 50 percent price cut.
• Direct2Drive has the first Red Faction game on sale for today only for a mere $2.50.
• Impulse has a number of games on sale this weekend including Star Trek Online for $7.49. Also Red Faction Guerrilla is on sale for today only for $5.
• GamersGate also has a number of games on sale this weekend.
• Games For Windows Marketplace has put Battlestations Pacific on sale for the next week for $14.99.
• GoG.com has put all 11 TopWare games on sale for 30 percent off each or all in one bundle for 50 percent off.

So you are looking for a new experience in gaming. But the mainstream market is getting you down with its high price tags and extensive DRM. But there's a lot of great games out there that you can get cheap. The indie market is strong, and some of the best games around can be found for half the price of the price of more mainstream games like Dead Rising or Fallout 3. They've also got far less rigorous specs than their mainstream counterparts, which is also a welcome change of pace. We've got a list of some of the best indie games money can buy, ranging from the puzzle extravaganza World of Goo to the clever and addicting Armageddon Empires. So indulge in the little guy this holiday season. You won't be disappointed with the results you get.

Click on the image above to continue reading Big Download's 2008 PC Game Holiday Gift Guide

It's here at last. NDOORS's free-to-play MMO Atlantica Online launches today at 6 PM PDT. Those of you in the beta, rejoice: NDOORS has promised no server wipe, so your characters will live on in the new world. For those of you completely new to this title, welcome to our First Impressions! Remember, kids: this is not a review. We spent a few hours with Atlantica Online, and here's what we walked away with. If Atlantica Online seems interesting to you, you can download the client right here on Big Download. Enjoy!

Project Powder, the snowboarding multiplayer online game, has recently finished its first closed beta, and is ramping up for closed beta 2. We recently had a chance to check this title out at Outspark's San Francisco studio, and can vouch for its exciting gameplay.

As some of what we've seen will likely change by launch, we'll refrain from going into too many details here. Rest assured, however, there is a good chance will be bringing you some first impressions soon enough! Until then, enjoy these screenshots of actual gameplay!

The post-apocalyptic world of the Fallout franchise has always been rife with humor and innovative imagery. While we all think we know what the aesthetic should resemble, it's up to the actual artists to try to find new ways to spin that aesthetic in novel ways, to keep the look fresh and appealing. Leading the charge is Bethesda's Adam Adamowicz, Concept Artist on Fallout 3.

In his latest Diary, Adam details the sometimes rigorous brainstorming sessions and countless revisions it takes to arrive at a truly immersive look and feel for the game, and presents several concept art sketches for our enjoyment. Included in this overview are the clothing, machines, architecture, robots, and assorted mutants and bad guys that populate the ravaged world of Fallout. If the finished product is anything even remotely like these sketches, we're all in for quite a treat. Enjoy!