I'm liking the nice out-of-the-ordinary aspecst of this game, i.e. the inclusion of paddles that are on the sides and top as opposed to just the bottom. It's amazing how new you can make an ancient game concept just by switching up the laws of game-gravity. This aspect is challenging, but not everything has to be easy, right? It is also nice to be able to choose which style of physics you would like to implement concerning the ball's bounce off the paddle.
However, I think I'm going to have to give this one a thumbs down because of some bits that are a little too frustrating for the player, thus making it tedious to get through levels.
The first thing that is not so nice is the fact that if you make a "close save" by quickly moving the paddle over just in time for the ball not to be lost, it bounces off at twice the speed, pretty much solidifying that if the blocks are close to you, you will miss the next hit. This is especially frustrating when you get a multiple ball bonus and are not able to keep both balls in play for long because you move are moving the paddle.
Secondly, when you get certain rewards, your view is unfairly impaired, as when you collect 100 gems and a large notice filling the middle of the screen informs you that you earned an extra life, which you will most likely immediately lose because you can't see the ball.

could not get it to load anything except the loading page .. does not work with Vista

I can not get this to run on either XP Pro or on Vista. The machine I realy want it on is my Vista system. Anyone know of a fix for this? I've tried every imaginable configuration in the "compatability" settings when you open propertys. I set it to run as if in Win98se and selected all options to disable Vista only stuff and set to run as administrator. And it still will not run. Why would any programmer leave garbage like this out on the net if it wont run on any current system, let alone promote it in a place like this???? Looks like a cool game but no one can run it it's worthless.

BOGUS... Doesn't run on XP Sp3..@ good PC's

I, too, could not take advantage of this offering because of the Vista limitation. It would seem that the developer's pool of prospective buyers is shrinking daily as more users buy computers that use the Vista OS.

So, not being able to judge the offering, I would recommend the developer address the Operating System issue if they hope to sell the software to any paying customers.

Runs fine for me on XP sp 2! Maybe because I opened Winzip 1st, and dragged it in? Is that what others had the problem with?? It didn't open WinZip when I just double clicked it.

I really like this game! Great graphics, double paddles, and the bumpers are way fun! I don't usually like brick-breakers, but this one is different & much funner than most! Congrats & Thank you Merscom & GOTD! :) Yes, definitely worth the $9.99 if you bought it!

I also LOVE the game Ingenious by Merscom, and am sooooo addicted to it! I have played it so long sometimes I actually missed many hours of sleep! :) Takes a great game to do that to me! If you don't have it & it's offered again, grab it!
Again, Merscom ROCKS!

Follow up. Looks like it activated something like
Free Ride Games.exe Task Manager flags it in Processes and something
running called GPlayer.exe Nothing cleaned it but did System Restore
to last big Vista download day. Then scrubbed registry manually for
lot of junk names from games Age of Japan, Around the World and such that were still in there. Nothing shows for Ball7 or Ball 7.
Boy, some ugly coding here. Careful. I've been waiting for evening
d/ls now to read the early warning posts.

I have done many many of these game and giveaways. Usually I have no dramas but with this one every time I try to start it I get tt where it says Loading.... then it keeps giving the message "Ball.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close". I have yet to see what it is like to play. What a absolutely complete waste of my time not to mention download allowance. To say I am annoyed is an understatement.

It installed and ran just fine on my XP (SP3) desktop. It's a pretty game, but it gives me a headache. Some levels are like a solo game of Pong with bricks in the middle. I'm guess I'm just too old to try to follow that little ball around and try to keep it in play from two sides at once. I can't get past level 3.

After the comments here, I didn't even try to install it on my Vista system.

A few observations:

1/ This game will run on a resolution of 1440×900. You simply choose 1024x768 at the start-up screen and it plays fine. You can use the other resolutions if you prefer but a part of the game screen may be cutoff at the bottom.
2/ Anyone who prefers a program that includes an uninstall option needs to clue in. Once a program needs an uninstallation routine it has been imported into the system registry. This is a lot more invasive than a simple archive extraction which makes a directory that can be easily deleted.
3/ The game runs fine on several XPSP3 systems, so if you are having issues I'd be looking at your computer not at the game. With the amount of different configurations out and the dummies who use windows, who knows what they have installed or configured improperly and find it easier to blame the game than resolve the issues on their systems? For example, time and time again we get complaints about missing dll files, in most cases those which are associated with DirectX. This is not the case here but it shows the ignorance of many people who have no clue about computers and unnecessarily blame someone else for their problems.
4/ No desktop icon is a bit of an inconvenience but I'll spend 3 seconds adding that vs. having it get incorporated into the system registry.
5/ It is quite clearly indicated under the system requirements that Vista is not supported, I don't know how much more prominent it could be for some of you?
6/ Vista is far from the 'standard' operating system of today.
7/ Would it be too much to ask a large portion of you to actually read what has already been posted instead of either asking the same inane questions or posting the exact same thing? So many times the solution or answer has already been posted, but we see time and again the same goofballs asking the same question over and over day after day, because they don't take the time to even read the solutions posted by others here. It's past the point of ridiculous how lazy some people are here.

Installed OK ( am running XP home sp2)but when I try to run it I cannot get the cursor to move over the menu selections, had to turn computer off to get it to close, looks as though it would have been neat. am a big fan of Jardinains which I guess is somewhat similar. Oh well.....

The game loaded fine in XP, but in Vista it stuck on "loading" even in XP compatibility mode, Win2000 compatibility mode, and Win98/ME compatibility mode. The program showed in task manager as "not responding" as soon as it tried to load. I don't understand why it won't run in compatibility modes for the older Windows, when the purpose of the compatibility modes is to run software that isn't Vista compatible!

Whoops, forgot the most important part. Thanks, anyway GGOTD.

Too bad Merscom won't get around to fixing these Vista issues. Doesn't seem to be worth me donwloading this. Downloaded their Jewel Craft from yesterday and liked it. Have played their Glyph online and liked it, too. They seem to have some unique ideas on how to breathe a little life into genres that can sometimes get stale. You'd think Merscom would want to do things to help them sell more games. ??? Vista may be unpopular with some, but it doesn't seem to be ME. Meaning Microsoft won't likely abandon it, no matter what the Mac commercials say.

Vista HP SP1 same behavoir as #44. After task mgr exit and cold
boot the damn thing actually comes back up to that frozen loading
screen again. As soon as I opened IE7 I was sent to GAOD not home
page. So seems to be hooked in somehow. No uninstall under Programs
or Start Menu. Didn't look in Folder yet. Glad it is sitting on D:
drive so prob just delete Folder. Fear what would do to C:
Taking note of this Company to avoid. Thanks anyway.
Yesterday's game was Ok. This one tho is worst yet from GOTD for me.
Did try in XP compat mode too.

Have again downloaded it after deleting the whole kit and kaboodle and rebooting and the same thing happened - waste of the download!

Love the game, thanks GOTD!!

Nice game. I often find in these types of games that the ball starts moving way too quickly and I can't keep up at all...in this one, speed is more reasonable without making it too easy.

:oops: I meant to say Linux not Firefox. Firefox is a browser, not an operating system. :oops:

JOHN #38 - I haven't heard many complaints from the XP users, just the Vista users and that is rather common around here. There are a lot of people that stay with XP or go to Firefox or other OSs because of Vista. So you go with the 'standard', I will stay with what works.

Tried multiple times, unfortunately can't find a way to get it to run on Vista.

Monday's free games have been posted over in the forums. The first is an old Sega Genesis game called Zombies ate my Neighbor and Horroween:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/4094#post-43903


Have a great week folks

Well, I've downloaded it twice - it won't play at all - I am using XP. Everytime I go to play I get a message that there is a problem with it and to send an error message to Microsoft!

There is no uninstall so I've deleted it completely.

Is there any fix for this - I know it's a freebie but ...

These games should not be offered if they are not compatible with the operating systems available. And the fact that they waited until several people posted problems to even mention that the they don't run on Vista. The marketing people for Game Give away of the Day should specify in the email going out what OS it will run on. Thumbs down for both the game and and Game Giveaway on this one.

I have Vista SP1 and I only get to the loading screen. I have to use task manager to close the program.

I went and took a peek on yahoo to see if this software was compatable with my desktop.
Right on yahoos' web site it says ….....
"Your operating system appears to be Microsoft Windows Vista. Please note that we have not fully certified Ball 7 for compatibility with Vista. We apologize for any inconvenience." But it also said it is Ball 7 Deluxe on the picture of the software. Do not know if that would make a difference or not. Surely if the deluxe is not compatible with Vista this one is not either? Just assuming here. What do you think? Hope this helps some of you make your decision. Thanks for the offer all the same. I think I will wait for another one some other day. But thanks GGOTD. Have a great day!!! :}

I dont know what to say about all the people not being able to get this to run. Works fine on my XP-pro, with the service pack 3. Great graphics, no errors. Takes about 20 seconds to load. I love it! Like the multiple paddles. Pretty challenging game!

This is a whole new take on Break it!
In my opinion it's the best version that's come out in a very long while. It's challenging and a lot ofthe boards are very unique.

This has fast become one of my favourite games.

This game looks really neat, but I can't run it in Windows Vista, even in XP-SP2 mode. Too bad. Thanks anyway.

Does not run on XP or Vista either one.

The program doesn't have an uninstall because it doesn't really "install" in the first place, it only unpacks itself. To remove it from your system, simply delete the directory. This is a lot cleaner than games leaving registry entries behind.

I cant get this to load. I get to the page that says LOADING then it returns to my desktop.

Hangs up on Vista!!! You would think they would mention prominently that the program is not supported on the 'standard' OS of today!

seem to have had problems downloading the last few games, it downloads and then says done and nothing else happens any ideas ?

Runs on XP home edition res 1024. It takes a while before the game is loaded. Very funny arkanoid game, difficult to focus on both paddles.
My son will love this game.

A good giveaway weekend, thanks!

I have XP home sp2 or what it called today and have en error massage and the game closed down before loading

Game loaded and ran great. Xp home SP3. Noticed splash screen that came up at first to select resolution only has 4 choices. One of them is the resolution I am running at normally. Selected that and away we went. Might have something to do with game not starting for others.

Ball 7 installed smoothly on XP-SP3. Played for a while, and it is a BLAST. I've played a lot of Arkanoid (brick-breaker) games and have four on my desktop, but this has some really unique twists. It's not a brain-dead brick-breaker!

*To the Developers: The install package did not give my a desktop icon, which I would appreciate. I know that some people opt not to have one, but having to dig through the files to make my own shortcut is very low-end. In order to please Windows users, you also need to provide a clean uninstall option. (I won't be taking it off of my system, but I know others would like to.) So you have two suggestions for mahor improvements.

If you come back today with a way to install it nicely on Vista, I'll add it to my laptop, too.

hey all can't get setup to accept...firewalls off...says can't connect to giveaway at this time please try later. Anyone else?

xp sp3 here and errors out...
argh and dialup makes me wait only to be denied after install...
looked like it would have been a great one too!

download and installed...when i ran it ..it never went past loading screen..then got the "error report" msg.... :( xp sp3

Unfortunately, like all others I tried to get it to run on Vista Home Premium and no go. I had this on my older computer from last time given and loved it. I hope that they make it run on Vista and re-offer soon!

ibwebb

XP Home, SP2. Downloaded/Installed with no problems. This might take people some time to get used to since you have multiple paddles and things flying around or rotating on the screen. In limited play this morning, it performed just fine on my Dell (2.8 Ghz, 1 Gb ram).

Works great on XP Pro SP3. No uninstall needed -- just delete the dir wherever you left it as you unpacked everything. Sure, it'd be nice to have a more formal installer, but it doesn't take much to drag the program to the start menu if you want a shortcut to run it.

Graphics are gorgeous and gameplay is challenging -- but not so hard that it's just plain impossible. SFX are creative and music is pleasant. Volume for each is adjustable separately, but it doesn't seem to remember the setting after quitting -- a bit annoying. You also get to pick the screen resolution if you need to, for example, trade graphics resolution for speed on an older machine.

8 out of 10. :)

Trying to run on vista - no working, also not working on xp sp2, missed this last time around guess I'll pass this time also

Same problem here... Crashes after initial selection (XP w/ SP3). Does anyone has a clue how to fix it? I'll keep it hoping for a quick fix, otherwise by tomorrow the game's gone!

Excellent...

Nice sound and graphics...

You can pick the screen size...

and this isn't just a bottom up player...

Very fun to play and not really easy...

Best game you have given away in a while...

Thanks :)

Its working for me.

installs fine on XPPROu3; Play requires mouse [touchpad is too slow]; not your basic arkanoid clone; has good "playability" - i.e. tricks you to go for the bonus, so you burn one of your balls; Also offers multiple resolutions, so you can play it on the television if you want;

I don't know if I would buy it, but I will play it. Thanks for the new game!