I’ve recently joined the Beta testing program for Football Superstars, a new massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) which includes both an online soccer simulation and a Second Life-style social networking aspect. You start by creating your own character, join a team, then hone your skills playing matches online. Once you get good enough you’ll start earning virtual cash for new clothes, cars, houses, etc. You’ll also be able to hang out and compare bling with the rest of the Football Superstars community in one of the game’s many bars and clubs.

Football Superstars isn’t the first game to allow players to live out their sporting dreams in this way.  For instance, in Fantasy Tennis, players must defend the mythical FantasyLand by playing tennis against the gods. Likewise, Project Powder appeals to extreme sports fans, who will get the chance to snowboard on unspoiled mountains across the whole of Space; while Shot Online offers budding golfers the chance to pitch and putt their way to the very top. There’s even an X-Factor-style MMOG called Super Dancer Online, which allows players to bust moves against each other using their dance mats.

Clearly today’s MMOG developers are turning to sport as a way to attract new communities into the market, and if the formula’s right there’s every chance virtual worlds will move into the mainstream. After all, a teenage girl is much more likely to get excited by the prospect of becoming a dancing queen than she is of being the goblin princess.

Defense:

The back line would be formed of two strong central defender in the shape of Agnitum Outpost Firewall, a secure tool that won’t let any rivals past, and TuneUp Utilities, which can clean up if there are any defensive blunders. Outside of these would be two fast and reliable defenders, in the shape of Argente Registry Cleaner and CCleaner.

Midfield:

In the middle, sitting just in front of the defense, would be GetDataBack. As well as helping to prevent the team losing the ball, it is also great for retrieving balls (where the ‘balls’ are made of data, of course). On the wings, we would have Trackmania Nations, a game noted for its speed and the fact it’s available on a free transfer, along with Google Chrome, the Messi of web browsers – young, fast and with plenty of technical ability. The real brains of the midfield is Scanner, a disk usage analysis tool that would the players functioning well as a team.

Strikers:

In attack we would have to plump fort Pando P2P, which is feared for its pace and effectiveness in finding the goal. Partnering Pando up-front would be our “fox in the box”, Firefox, a versatile forward with the ability to adapt to any situation. I reckon this line-up would destroy any opponent but if you think you can make a better footballware team then let us know.

You start off by riding with a cute robot on a shabby bike, but as you progress through the game (and you have quite a handful of levels to beat) you can obtain new drivers, better bikes and hidden tracks. Each race charges you with a series of challenges – such as finishing in the top five places or gathering a minimum number of items – and if you complete them you’ll be rewarded with new unlockable stuff. Jumping is also important, because it’ll give you points to boost up your bike’s speed and overtake any other competitors.

CycloManiacs is controlled with the usual WASD or cursor keys combinations (plus the spacebar or X key to jump). The game is complemented by a nice background soundtrack.

Incoming search terms:

• cyclomaniacs 3

If you’ve ever been to Finland then you’ll know how cold it can get – especially if you’re walking around naked. Sweaty Boy finds himself in this predicament every day and in order to keep him from turning into an icicle he needs regular visits to the sauna. The trouble is, he’s too cold to even walk. This is where you come in. You need to get Sweaty Boy to the sauna by rolling him along the floor using a elaborate system of seesaws, ramps and falling blocks. Tap the white objects to remove them and watch what happens.

The presentation of Sweaty Boy has a decidedly menacing feel with bizarre graphics, dirty sound loops and some warped sound effects that combine to make you feel decidedly uneasy. Riveting logic problem-solving fun.

The rules of English spelling are so varied that learning them off by heart is a difficult task. Rather than sitting down with the Softonic” >dictionary and a very strong cup of coffee, it might be a good idea to learn while doing something else and there’s no better way than reading. If you’re looking for an occasional alternative to the books, however, you’re in luck, because spelling games are some of the most widely available, both on and off the computer. Watch out for crosswords, word searches and hangman games and play them whenever possible. Even if you find them hard at first, keep trying; they get easier with repetition, especially if you concentrate on just one, such as doing the crossword in a particular newspaper every day.

When you’re surfing the web, make sure you have a spell-check/dictionary add-on so that you can learn as you browse. DictionarySearch is one that you can customize with whatever online dictionaries you like best, while Firefox Add-Ons have a selection of spellcheckers that will check text while you write. Don’t get too dependent on spellcheckers though, because although they will catch any incorrect spellings, they won’t realize when you have used the wrong word in a sentence or accidentally crossed paths with a homophone (words that sound the same but are spelled differently, like here and hear).

There area also plenty of games that will make the task more fun. It has to be said that as a category, spelling programs are not the slickest in cyberspace, but that doesn’t mean they won’t keep you entertained. If you think that that traditional is best, there are plenty of crosswords and word searches out there. There are also lots of games that manage to combine spelling with a variety of other methods to keep you busy. One of my favorites is Find A Word, while Speak N Spell is also a bit of fun. If you’re looking for something more flashy, you could take a look at WordGrid, Letter Rack 3D or Word Up, but bear in mind that some of the more colorful games are clearly aimed at children. This doesn’t really matter for practice, but after a while you might find yourself wishing uncharitable thoughts towards the singing worms and dancing books they usually contain!

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Math

Part 3: Reading

It seems strange to think that it was just over a decade ago that you had to run PC games through DOS. Many of us remember fondly these first forays into the world of computer gaming, when all adventures started with a flashing command prompt.  If you’re tired of this modern world of flashy 3D graphics then take a trip back to when it all started by revisiting DOS. Here’s a simple guide to how to enjoy DOS gaming on your PC.The first thing to do is get hold of the game files. There is a fairly wide selection of abandonware sites where you can pick up DOS games for free. Abandonia offers probably the most comprehensive choice, and each game is reviewed by the site. You can even download instruction manuals and box art. If you don’t find what you’re looking for here you could always try Dosgames.com or Free Game Empire.

Nine times out of ten you’ll find that the game downloads come packaged as a Zip. Create a folder on your C drive game and call it ‘dosgames’. Unzip the game files into a folder within the dosgames folder and make sure the name of this folder is no longer than eight characters. Now it’s time to pay a visit on our old friend the command prompt. Do this by clicking Run from the Windows Start menu. Make sure ‘cmd’ is showing in the text field and click OK.

Switch to the root directory by typing cd\

Navigate to the games folder by typing cd dosgames (or name of your folder)

Now switch to the saved game folder by typing cd foldername (where folder name is the name of the game folder)

Next, you’ll need to look for the EXE file, which you can do by typing dir and hitting Enter

Type the name of the EXE file and hit Enter. You’ll now be transported back in time to a land where blocky graphics and MIDI audio ruled supreme.

Lemmings – 386 machines gave you plenty of reasons to feel suicidal but you could always count on these lovable critters to cheer you up

Elite – Recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. It’s taken me about that long to figure out all of the controls and I’m still on the first level

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – Riveting adventure game where the pixelated star looks better than Harrison Ford did in his last Indy outing.

Prince of Persia – Now regarded as a console classic and with a film spin-off in the works, PoP was once a humble DOS game, albeit one that was way ahead of its time

Doom – The daddy of all DOS games, Doom was as big a craze in the 90s as shell suits and Tamagotchis. It looks very, very dated compared to today’s first-person shooters but without Doom the gaming landscape might look pretty different

Sensible World of Soccer – Fine football management game where you also get to play matches using the fabled Sensible Soccer engine

Rockstar – In the days before X Factor the only way you could follow your dreams of rock stardom was through text-based strategy games such as Rockstar. I will remember it as the only game in history where you get to take drugs with your granny. Now that’s rock and roll

Shadowgate – If you like purple you’ll love Shadowgate, an adventure game in which you must track down an evil wizard and stop him taking over the world

Speedball 2 – Ported to DOS from home computers such as the C64 and Atari ST, Speeball 2 was one of the great sports games of the early 90s. Fast, furious, and very violent

Starflight – If you wanted to be Doctor Spock when you grew up then no doubt you were into Starflight, one of the greatest Space adventures of all time

You wake up in some kind of chamber, naked next to a tiny bicycle. As you come to your senses, you see another chamber, but the occupant races off on a motorbike almost before you can see them. That’s how the lovely Icycle begins.

You guide your naked cyclist through barren, but beautifully painted and animated landscapes, in pursuit of the mystery biker. Using the cursor keys to accelerate, brake and jump your way is pretty easy to grasp, although you can’t go backwards at all. You need to learn the events of some areas to beat them – timing your jumps to avoid falling rocks, or cracking icy floors. It occasionally gets trciky. The gameplay is simple, but it looks absolutely fantastic, and you’ll certainly want to play through to the end!

Play Icycle here, which requires Flash.

Leading the resurgence of point and click adventures, Telltale Games have decided to celebrate September 19th, International Talk Like a Pirate Day (what, you hadn’t heard of it?) by giving away the first episode of their new Monkey Island series for free. It’s a one day only offer, and you have to sign up with your email address on their site. They will email you a reminder when the download is available. I really enjoyed the demo, released a couple of months ago, and this is an offer you don’t want to miss! Sign up here!

[Via: Eurogamer]

Break Stuff! It’s unclear why the Dad in DadGame likes to break stuff, but he does, and he does it well. In this browser based carnage filled platform game, take control of Dad on a hilarious, but very destructive adventure.

Featuring great cartoon graphics, animation and brilliant story cut scenes, DadGame seems fantastic even before you are let loose at the controls. Thankfully, the gameplay is also really good. It’s chaotic for sure, but as your main task is just to break stuff, using your fists, swords, throwing objects, it’s enjoyable chaos. Creating carnage increases your carnage meter, and when you reach 100%, Dad goes on fire! When on fire, Dad is invincible, and has a range of cool attacks including, of course, lasers coming out of his eye!

What’s not to like?