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Aquitania Giveaway
$9.99
EXPIRED

Game Giveaway of the day — Aquitania

Go on an unforgettable trip to a forgotten time where the trees are taller and the animals are less shy. Upon entering, you will find a once idyllic world that has been troubled by a series of events both magical and mysterious. Can you help a heartbroken Princess?
$9.99 EXPIRED
User rating: 175 29 comments

Aquitania was available as a giveaway on October 10, 2015!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$9.99
free today
Go on a wild road trip through a fairy tale realm!

Go on an unforgettable trip to a forgotten time where the trees are taller and the animals are less shy, if only for a second, and anyone with the will to explore may approach its tricks and games. It takes more than courage to explore the mythical land of Aquitania. Upon entering, you will find a once idyllic world that has been troubled by a series of events both magical and mysterious. Can you help a heartbroken Princess?

System Requirements:

Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8; CPU: 1.0 GHz; RAM: 128 MB; DirectX: 8.1; Hard Drive: 58 MB

Publisher:

Xing Interactive

Homepage:

http://immanitas.com/

File Size:

22.2 MB

Price:

$9.99

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Comments on Aquitania

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#29

Aquatania keeps crashing when I start it up. It says Runtime Error! This application has asked Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information.




.............................Moderator comment..................................

There's a section on this problem in the FAQ's thread. See Suckies post above. i've linked to the FAQ's thread there and in my review at comment number 1.

Reply   |   Comment by Reality Check  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#28

Hi Stephen,

Well, after reading the review and comments, even all those saying the game was too frantic, I decided to give the game a whirl. Very quick download (with down them all). I have now played through second set of levels (the tablet), and have even gotten best or ace time a couple times. It is a bit different than many match-3's, and I will continue playing to see how far I can get. While I am not sure this game would be as interesting with an untimed mode, it probably would be worthwhile offering various levels of experience like beginner or expert, thereby appealing to a wider audience. Thanks to you, GGOTD and Imanitas.

Cara in NC

Reply   |   Comment by Cara  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#27

Hooray! Finally a match 3 game! I've been hoping for something new that I would enjoy. I love Cradle of Rome 2 so much I play it almost every day, but I really wanted another to try. Thanks, GGOTD.

Reply   |   Comment by Laurie Nelson  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#26

Downloaded and installed on my new Win 10 without any hiccups of any kind. I started playing it right away as I remember getting this on my XP when it was available last time. I know the music is somewhat repetitive, but not annoyingly so. I made it through the first 3 sets of levels with only losing all my birds once. I guess all those hours on Candy Crush haven't been for nothing. I know I never did these levels that well back in '11!

Thank you for this fun, and sometimes very rushed game. I do enjoy all you do on this site to bring an extra dose of fun to our weekends!

Reply   |   Comment by Susan  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#25

I too think the pace is to much. I find myself frantically looking for any match to make instead of strategically working my way through the level. I enjoy match 3 games but this one is just not that enjoyable. The graphics are ok but the music does get annoying after a bit... even the in game sounds get to me eventually. Overall it's not a bad game.. just to rushed. :(

Reply   |   Comment by HOSS  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#24

Downloaded easy no problems at all. I can see this game being a time waster. There goes the housework. LOL

Reply   |   Comment by Suzanne  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#23

An interesting game but too frantic for my tastes. (I play games to relax, not to get wound up. lol) But it rates a thumbs-up anyway.

Reply   |   Comment by jgf  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#22

Thanks for your help. I must read carefully ;)

Reply   |   Comment by Jag  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#21

Download and installation without a problem.

Graphics are great and game is fast.

I am not sure if I like this kind of game, played the first level.
I remember having a similar one with gems (from here maybe?) - the storyline was on an island - and I got nowhere with that one.

Thanks for the game anyway - it's worth a try in my eyes.

Reply   |   Comment by Anu  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#20

Played 3 levels and I will delete it, not a bad game just to stressful for me I like to relax and play. A relaxed mode and I would love it.

Reply   |   Comment by Doug  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#19

I didn't recognize the game by the name before I downloaded and installed it. I had the game before and uninstalled it after failing a number of times to complete a level before sending the line of birds to their death. That was a while back, so when I saw this Cradle of Rome-esk game I thought, why not? I found to my mild dismay it was the very game I played and failed at months ago. Oh well........I am playing it in small spoonfuls. It's okay for a diversion or if you have some time to kill waiting in a dr. office or between dryer loads. It's not as engaging as the Heroes of Hella series or as engaging as the Season Match games which I cannot tear myself away from. I have my iPod playing in my ears while I play the game so I cannot comment on the music or the sounds. The graphics are cartoonish as they are on the Cradle of Rome and Heroes of Hellas but not unbearable. Kids would find it upsetting to have to rush to complete the levels as the items drop faster with each level. I'd love to have a slow mo level myself, or more of the hourglasses dropping to briefly stop the drops.

Reply   |   Comment by Deborah1962  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#18

Excellent! I got 3 Awem shooters and 2 match 3 a few years ago from GGOTD and lost all but one of them, now I've gotten 3 of them back! Only need Alien Stars, Immanitas. (hint, hint) Thanks for these!

Reply   |   Comment by watcher13  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#17

Ok Win 10 x64 Pro. Turned music way low, soon to off probably. Crisp graphics for the pieces. So far at start plays fair with nice variety. Can see where this will get really too tough higher levels, usually do. Agree with comments a relaxed or time free mode be nice. Ace times were 4x faster than my first try.
Will hang on it for a bit, thanks.

Reply   |   Comment by beergas  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#16

Can't get the setup to run. It keeps telling me "Failure to connect" when it tries to check for the game availability. Is something wrong with your site?

Reply   |   Comment by Linda  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#15

Loaded a lot faster than most of the recent games, up and running in a hurry! Interesting game, but the pace of the dropping items is a bit fast for a newbie, would like to be able to slow it down enough to see how everything works. (I haven't seen yet what happens when the empty squares on top get filled...) Accumulating the axes/hammers fills in the picture on the side and makes that item available, however if you continue gathering them, it doesn't add to the number of that item that is available, you have to use up each one before adding more. I prefer to gather several and use them when things get tight, usually several one after the other. Similar games like this will let you swap the dropping token with one of the game pieces in order to complete 3 in a row, this one will not allow you to move the dropping piece at all, just the pieces around it. I prefer the other way, but knowing the rules, I can work with it. Thanks for the variation on this genre, I really appreciate your dedication to this site.

p.s. - I didn't mean to complain last week about the link between GAOTD site and this one to make you drop the link from your site. I really find the links convenient and prefer to keep them up and available. (My 2-cents worth)(...or is that 2-pence worth?)

Reply   |   Comment by bebop  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#14

Guilty as charged, m'lud . . . (signed) Another Fishdom Fan . . .

Reply   |   Comment by Basilica  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#13

The game loads OK but the pace is too frantic for me. I'll pass and see what's up for tomorrow.

Reply   |   Comment by Therese  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#12

Quick download.
I submitted the package to virustotal, virscan, jotti, metascan-online: no problems detected.
I also check it with SuperAntiSpyware, Malwarebytes and WinDefender: no problems detected.
Hence no antivirus should complain...!!!

The game "installed" itself well on windows 10 (standard/home) x64.
Started without problems
On the exit, the windows compatibility app manifested itself.

Thanks for this game, as usual, to Whiterabbit-uk (aka Stephen), to GGaotD and to Immanitas!!!

I just want to signal that the game.giveaway.com TICKER is NOT visible on a forum (where I put it as my sign).
It isn't visible even in the "Spread the word" section of this website.

Reply   |   Comment by xilolee  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#11

I can't squeeze out a anything this morning except a bunch of NOPE juice. Nope, Nope NOPE! I'm just not interested in a game without a relaxed mode. I hate getting really involved in a game and reaching a level that I just can't seem to get pass. That happened to me in "Around the World in 80 Days." Never again. It just ain't worth it.

Reply   |   Comment by Swamp Thing  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#10

I love match-threes, but the fast pace of this game at even the beginning levels sucks all the fun out of it. :-(

Reply   |   Comment by FeAudrey  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#9

The game downloaded and installed as expected but I had to run it in compatibility mode on my win 10 machine. Apparently the game is most compatible with win 7 and this time the game looks best windowed. Other then that, as far as a match 3 games go this is quite challenging. I found the Tetris style delivery of the pieces interesting, and the little birds at the top a cute touch, the little background story touching - but the music is just gosh awful - it's almost a game killer I had to turn it off. As the music is supposed to be part of the fun of a game, I challenge the publisher change it to something more quieter/softer but still suiting a bright and playful match 3 (if that's even possible). I'm not sure if people really want to mess with the games files to change it themselves but there are a few that will. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Mikki  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#8

I got this game last time, and I love love LOVE it! After you get to the end, you can start from level 11-1 again, and as often as I play, I still can't get through it again. Relaxed mode would ruin this game, which is probably why they don't have it. My enjoyment comes from coming up with strategies to make it through the levels when my normal inclinations for match 3 games don't work. Towards the end, you just kind of need to let most of the birds die and keep one alive until you've gotten as much done in that area as you can. Then go click on the egg bonus to bring all the birds to life, and work on the other side, and not worry about the birds that are dying in the area you don't need to work on. Yes, the music is annoying, but that is part of its charm :-) I thrive on frustration, and this game is PERFECT for that!

Reply   |   Comment by barbara  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#7

I received this game in the first offering in 2011. I gave it a thumbs up and it is worthy of thumbs up but it is a fast paced game.

I found the game too hard for me so I never finished it. It times out similar to Tetris where it's over if you don't make 3 object matches quick enough. The objects used to make 3-object matches are too similar looking except for the tomato.

If you love fast moving and the need for quick thinking games then you'll love this. If you prefer a less stressful game then this is not for you.

Reply   |   Comment by Nan Grif  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#6

I've had this game for a couple of years now. I love this game - BUT - I never play it BECAUSE it does not have an option to turn off the timer or to play in a relaxed mode!

I've tried several times to play it because it's different than any of my other match 3 games and I really like the graphics - BUT - I absolutely hate the stupid timer! It's not just challenging - this one is very stressful for me!

I'd be happy to pay for this game IF they added an option to play it WITHOUT the timer - seriously. I really like everything else about the game but the timer totally spoils it for me!

I'll never play the game the way it is now because I play to relax - NOT for stress! Please add an option to play WITHOUT the timer. Thank you! :)

Reply   |   Comment by Lynn  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#5

Hooray!
So far this page has not been irreparable improved, like its big brother!

Reply   |   Comment by Hugo  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#4

My antivirus (ESET NOD32) detected "Generik.CDIJVJO" - trojan



.........................................Moderator comment.......................................

Please read my message at the beginning of the review, (See comment number one) . What you are getting is a false positive due to the Themida based setup.gcd file that is used to protect the games executable from hackers. Themida based code is often tagged because it has the potential to hide malware. But in this case it isn't malware, but a false positive.

Reply   |   Comment by Jag  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#3

Any possibility to set the game to not-timed?



.........................................Moderator comment.......................................


Unfirtunately ther eis only one mode of play. no way to set an untimed mode. :(

Reply   |   Comment by Casey  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#2

Fast download, easy quick installation (now that I'm used to turning Avira on and off), game in game file (where it belongs), create desktop shortcut from there. Game play slightly challenging in that it's somewhat different from some other match threes. Fairly easy at least during the first five-round level I played. Fairy tale narrative is present but not intrusive, looks like there are lots of levels for future idle time game play. Level one had five rounds and I even beat the bonus time on one round. I imagine this gets harder as it progresses. I never found out what happens when the items to match that fall from the top Tetris style reach the top of the screen, but it adds incentive, though frankly I would have preferred a "relaxed mode" because I play games to avoid stress.
I have no idea why the items to match that fall from above are pooped out by Angry Bird clones. And I have never hated the music in a game so much before, although going to options and turning it down or off is no trouble. And I thought the weird spooky mystery music in Solitaire Mystery was oddly inappropriate, but at least it wasn't this awful.
In a further unrelated note, I think Mini-Hockey is the only game I've had from here that required hooking up to their site. One night the game refused to load and I almost deleted it but a day later it played again, so I guess their web site was down for maintenance or something. Glad I didn't delete it because for such a silly, simple game, it really is a daily addiction lately.
Speaking of daily addictions, remember Fishdom 3 from a while back? "You know you're addicted to a game when you get stuck on level 877."




...................................Moderatro comment........................................

Haha, you must have been playing it virtually every day since it was given away to reach such dizzying heights, lol. Thank you for your feedback Napoleon.Park, much appreciated. You should be able to replace the music with something you like. See my review above for details (see the Music section).

Reply   |   Comment by Napoleon.Park  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#1

......................................Moderator comment..........................................

For those of you who think they are getting hits by your security suites, it will almost certainly be a false positive; the reason you may be getting a hit is because your anti-malware suite is picking up the Themida based protection, which was put in place to protect the game from unscrupulous community members that were hacking the giveaway wrapper which then gave them unlimited access to a registered copy of the game, and which was being put on peer to peer sites. Some community members were even uploading video tutorials on You Tube telling you how to do it yourself.

Themida based applications are sometimes seen as a threat by anti-malware. I can assure you this game and hundreds before, that have given community members cause for concern have been totally safe. The game giveaway team have managed to secure well over a thousand games for us since they first started giving games away back in late 2006 (firstly via the main site back in Oct 2006, then via the game giveaway site early December 2006). There has never been an infected game given away.

If you are able to configure your anti-malware suite to allow the 'offending' file through security, the game should then install normally. If you can't, or don't know how to, then the other way would be to temporarily turn off your protection. You do so at your own risk, but please do take into account what I've already said above; in a nut shell, every malware occurance reported here since the game giveaway went live in Dec 2006 have been false positives due to overly sensitive anti-malware suites.

It would be against the teams best interest to allow such any malware to be downloaded as it would destroy their good standing with the big search engines and I'm sure many who have frequented this site for a long time would leave. The giveaway team use several antimalware suites to test every game given away here and to ensure we all get a game and not an infection.


Another thing to consider when you think the game is infected, if it really was, there would be hundreds of community members posting about the infection; we rarely see more than a few posts for any particular game. Since the gcd file was introduced over the summer of 2012 I have seen many more community members reporting infections due to the Themida based code found in the giveaways wrapper protection. However, out of the thousands of downloads each week, those community members reporting a malware hit are considered insignificant and support the fact that the results they are getting are actually false positives. They have always been proven to be so.






Aquitania:


aquitania 001
aquitania 002
Installation:

Aquitania downloads as a 22.2 MB zip file that unpacks to a read me document that contains the terms and conditions and a wrapped dual activation and set up module and a security set up file (setup.gcd). Just for the newcomers amongst today’s users that means the game will be registered once it’s gone through the set up process, so there’s no registering the game with an activation code. The instal path is:

C:\Games\Aquitania_Game

There is no desktop or Start menu shortcuts intalled. Sometimes I've found the installation path shows the previous game I installed from this site, so to be sure you don't install the game inside a previous game, check the installation path when you start the installation. You can usually find where it's supposed to go by looking in the read me file that comes with the download. To stop this happening, clear your cache. The installed game is 52.1 MB in size






If you have any problems installing or registering Aquitania, check the problems section below and if none of the fixes work, it is available free from MyPlayCity HERE 24/7. Please do take care when installing from such sites as you may install toolbars or have your home page or browser provider changed. Make sure you uncheck all check boxes during installation. :)

aquitania 003
aquitania 004
Introduction:


Aquitania was previously given away back in January 2011 and received a positive 74 % thumbs up from 477 votes, with 88 comments which can be read HERE




Welcome to the magic world of Aquitania! Peaceful kingdom with kind inhabitants which used to be the most beautiful place is now suffering from evil wizards and criminals. Travel around its lands and help locals solving puzzles and putting everything back to its order. Enjoy this matching game and use the spare time to relax and have fun. Match objects in rows of three or more and clear the board slowly. Funny birds sit above your game board and send you new lines of objects from time to time. Unlike other games your board should be at least not full all the way to the top! Otherwise a bird can die and you will begin receiving very few feathers or other things which are going to slow down your progress. Break all blue tiles to get a crystal. Collect all crystals to clear each of 11 wonderful Aquitania locations! Sometimes you get bonus bombs or line-cleaners which are good to help you out in a difficult situation. Use sandglass to make birdies fall asleep for some time, or hit any tile with a special hammer. Unlock the power of lightning and destroy 15 random blue tiles. Work fast to get extra points for beating ace time! Make all possible moves to block the board and for another 1000 points. Every 50000 on your account give you an extra life that you will use for the name of free Aquitania people! Download this unbelievably easy but extremely captivating game Aquitania right now for free and bring some entertainment in the everyday life.



Reference accessed HERE Oct 10th 2015


aquitania 005
aquitania 006
The Game:

The name Aquitania, at first glance, sounds like an underwater adventure. It’s actually a Roman division in the southwest part of Gaul. The game indeed radiates ancient Rome much like Awem Studio’s previous hit, Cradle of Rome. Despite quickly turning frenzied and missing an introduction to the story, Aquitania‘s match-three gameplay entertains.

Rather than facing a grid full of objects to match, birds perch on top of the grid discharging objects down each column while you work to make matches clearing barriers and tiles. As soon as all tiles are clear, a gem falls into the grid and it’s your job to free the gem by helping it reach the bottom of the grid.

The freed gem finds its way into its rightful place on the special item appearing to the left of the grid such as a ring, scroll, and chalice. Every level brings a new gem for the object, which becomes complete when you’ve collected all gems for the stage. From what I could piece together – as there is no introduction to the story or information in the Help – you rescue special or sacred objects for the citizens of Aquitania. The game provides a tidbit about what happens to the object, and the people let you pass through to the next area where you play the next stage.


aquitania lrg3
screen1



Usually when a player runs out of moves in a matching game, either the board pieces reshuffle, you lose a life, or the game ends. Aquitania takes an original approach in awarding bonus points for running out of moves and reshuffles pieces so you may continue. Another rare trait of the game is that objects don’t fall straight down to refill the spots left from the matched pieces – they move diagonally, so you can’t be sure where they’ll go.

The frenzied part enters while players try to clear all the tiles. Not only do you need to break chains and clear doubled tiles, but you must also do a lot of bird watching. This is not identifying species, but rather keeping on eye on the piling objects to prevent them from reaching the birds. If all the birds die, you lose a life. You can still play even when all except one dies; however, when this happens, you’re most likely dealing with heavy object pile-up and trying to stay afloat.

Those birds are a hoot – they look panicky when the objects pile up in their columns knowing they might die, yet they keep dropping objects that could mean the death of them.

The game has two kinds of power-ups: One kind you can use right away and randomly shows up on the grid, like the hourglass that puts birds to sleep so they stop dropping objects for a few seconds and a lightning bolt that destroys random objects.

screen3
4 189


The other type of power-up builds up as you match enough hammers, feathers, or eggs. When the hammer power-up becomes available, use it to break any tile or chain. Feathers don’t show up on the board until a bird dies. Once you have enough feathers to activate the feather power-up, it destroys all feathers on the grid. However, feathers slow you down, which another reason to avoid killing any birds. (Well, that and the animal rights people won’t come after you.) Actually, you can earn their forgiveness by using the egg power up to restore the birds’ lives – the best kind of power up.

I lost a couple of birds here and there in stages two and three. I hadn’t ventured far in stage three when I went from losing one bird to all of them. Power-ups wouldn’t come save the day and my sanity. Challenge makes a game more exciting, but not when you feel on edge constantly and can’t get any help. While the good and bad in this game is the frenzied pace, you can’t help but keep matching and surviving the more challenging levels.




Reference accessed HERE Oct 10th 2015

Reviews:


You can see Big Fish community reviews HERE




Video:

You can see several videos of game play HERE and HERE.


Music:

If you find the in game music irritating you can change it by exchanging the music files found via the following path. you must rename the files you are going to use to the original files being replaced and also convert them to the .ogg format. Just in case problems arise I would recommend keeping the original files as a back up:

C:\Games\Aquitania_Game\Music\x.ogg

The following files can be changed, bonuslevel.ogg, menu.ogg, track_01.ogg, track_02.ogg, track_03.ogg, and track_04.ogg




5 189
aquitania review 05
System Requirements:


Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8
CPU: 1.0 GHz
System RAM: 128 MB
DirectX: 8.1
Hard Drive: 58 MB


Conclusion:

The game has one game mode and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, adding an easy mode for the easily stressed player would be a boon. Also, a little more back story would be helpful. The music and sound effects rate average – I continuously turned down the volume and left the sound effects at a lower level becasue they eventually irritated me.

The game will look familiar to those who have played Cradle of Rome, which uses similar objects like hammers and ladybugs. Beyond that, however, they don’t have anything in common. Aquitania may not grip a player right away, but after a few rounds that changes. The game isn’t for the birds, but for its match three fans, especially those who love tough competition. The game gets progressively harder.

Thanks to Immanitas entertainment for todays game and for supporting the giveaway project and to the giveaway team for continually bringing us free games.

Scoring:

I've included new categories to reduce the scoring bias that is inevitable when a single person is scoring a game. The following scores are based on only 20 minutes of game play so may not be a true reflection of this game from my point of view.

Game play ------- 7
Graphics ------- 7
Audio ------- 6.5
Replayability ------- 7
Originality ------- 6.5
Fun Factor ------- 7


Total = 41 out of 60 which equals 6.8 out of 10





------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Problems:http://steamcommunity.com/id/sigoya/


If you have any problems installing or getting today's game working, please go HERE for help. I've posted most of the common problems and solutions in a FAQ thread, which you can find in the sticky section of the forums by following the above link.




If you are posting late in the day I would also suggest posting in the main giveaway forums; in the game discussion section, because I cannot moderate 24hrs a day over the weekend. I've created a thread HERE for that purpose. If you've installed the game but it doesn’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at a later date. Unfortunately if your problem is actually downloading it, once the giveaway deadline is reached you will no longer be able to download the game unless you've already started downloading it before the cut-off. Sometimes you can still register the game after the giveaway has ended so long as you managed to start the download before the giveaway ends. I've tested this and the grace period lasts for up to 1 hour. Apart from the above instances; i.e. already installed, but having problems running the game, (with the possibility of receiving help from the community via the giveawayoftheday game discussion forum); or still downloading after the cut off period, but within the 1 hour grace period, or registering within an hour of the cut-off period. Once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done to get the game (unless its available from one of the free game sites) until the game is given away again (though that isn't always guaranteed).







It's worth checking the giveaway game discussion forums the day before the giveaways go live to see if we are getting a large sized file (I usually post a comment about approximately how large a file is, though if I'm particularily busy I may neglect to do this). It is especially important for those who have slow connections and even more so if the game is popular. We can have up to forty thousand (40 000) community members downloading over the 24 hour period, with the bulk of community members downloading in the first 12 hours of the giveaway going live, there is always a massive strain on the giveaway servers. The bigger the file size, the more community members will be downloading at any one time. Because the bandwidth is shared equally amongst all community members, downloads can become excruciatingly slow, so if you do have a slow connection, its important to start your download as early as possible to avoid disappointment. Because these games are free, the giveaway owners cannot invest in more bandwidth without compromising the whole project, so we have to be satisfied with what we have at present.

A download manager can help speed the download up and also protect the download in case of an interrpution. There's nothing as frustrating for those with really slow connections to have the connection break after an hour or so, then have to start from the beginning again. I would ask community members if you do have decent bandwidth please avoid using a manager as it does add to the number of downloads occuring at any one time, for example some download managers will download your requested file in up to 32 packets simultaneously, that will take 32 download spots, thus slowing down everyone else's download speeds. For those with slow downloads (due to having a slow connection e.g. a 2MB Broadband connection or less) I would advise using a download manager if the file is larger than around 200MB. My broadband connection is 100MBs, so I don't need to use a download manager, (I do have one called Internet Download Manager, but don't use it when downloading files from the giveaway site). For me a 1GB file usually downloads in about 1.5 minutes or less. My connection is quite a long way from the provider so it is slowed a little, but is still quite good at a download speed of around 12 to 14 MB's per second.

I hope the above goes some way in expalining why we sometimes have really slow downloads.


It’s always worth checking out the free games sites because sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them. MyPlayCity (MPC) has the most with over 1000 games to choose from. Today's game is available from MyPlayCity (MPC) 24/7 HERE . I've not checked the other free game sites.



If you do download any games from MyPlayCity, or the other free game sites please 'do' watch out for toolbars etc. Make sure you un-check the check-boxes during installation, and, in the case of MyPlayCity, every time you boot the game up, (this may have changed now as these free game sites tend to change the format frequently)....... I've posted links to all of the common free game sites below in the games, games games section. If you do download a game from any of these sites you do so at your own risk. We cannot be held responsible for problems arising from an installation recommended here. :)


For now I won't be recommending you download games from Jenkat Games. They have changed the way you get games from their site. Diane has posted information about this over in the game discussion forums. If I have time or remember, I'll link to it. TooMyk Games are now safe to download from. They have removed the games that were suspect and have cleaned up their act. As always, you download from those free game sites at your own risk. The giveaway site is the safest site I know of where you can get free software and games. The only disadvantages with downloading from here is you have to download and install within the day of the giveaway (apart from the instances mentioned above and if and when you upgrade or buy a new computer legally you aren't allowed to transfer games given away previously, unless they are being given away on the day you upgrade, or if you've purchased a licence. :)

You just have to look at the sites track record since the game giveaway site was created back in December 2006. Zero games given away have been infected with malware, there are no toolbars installed, nor home pages hijacked or browsers changed. There is one slght annoyance, but that only occurs if a community member isn't paying attention when the final window pops up after installing a giveaway. That is the Software Informer installation. Some community members have complained that they were given no choice in its installation. That is not true; when the final window pops up, there are two buttons, one asking if you want Software Informer installed and the button to close the giveaway window down. Some community members have clicked on the wrong button, probably because they weren't paying attention. Thankfully Software Informer is a genuine application, that can easily be uninstalled by the usual means. It's actually a useful piece of software, especially if you have a lot of applications running on your computer. Basically the program will list the programs that need updating, or programs that have available updates. They wont be automatically installed (thus cancelling many giveaway registrations); you have to click on individual buttons to update each program/application. :D


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------






Games, Games, and yet more Games:




There are 372 games on sale over on Steam this week, ranging from 10% to 90% off. The weekend deals include up to 75% off the Telltale games catalogue Walking Dead seasons I & II, Tales from the Borderlands, The Wolf Among Us, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead: 400 Days, Back to the future: The Game, Night 2, plus loads more. There's also 40% of Darkest Dungeon, and 66% off Depth. There are too many other great deals to mention here, just check out the specials section for all 650 plus titles on sale HERE.

There's loads more in the weekly sales and the 48 hours sales to choose from. almost certainly something for everyone. The next set of weekly sales starts on Monday with usually a few hundred titles added. :)





You'll also find some excellent deals over on the following Game sites.

GreenManGaming They usually have coupons to the value of 23% and sometimes more off pre ordered games. I've just pre ordered Just Cause 3 XL and XCOM 2 using a voucher and saved £22 on the price paid in the Steam store
Gamersgate Summer Sale
GOG (DRM free games)
Gamestop
GameFly (soon to be sold off)

I've removed the Desura link because the owners are bankrupt and there has been no activity on the site in months. The servers are still live (at least until Bad JoJo's subscription to the servers has ended, Bad JoJo are the owners of Desura and Indie Royale, or were until filing for bankruptcy). If you own any games via Desura I advise downloading all of the drm free games you have on that platform and on the Indie Royale site before the sites are taken down.




Free Game Sites:


MyPlayCity (over a 1000 games to choose from)
Gametop
FreeGamePick



To be honest there are too many game deals around too list them all. Just visit the sites I recommend above and I'm sure you'll find something that suits you for a very decent price. If like me you prefer Steamworks games, many of the above sites also sell steamwork games.

If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums HERE for details of other games either free or on deals such as the Indie Game bundles (there's over 20 of them - If you purchased all of them you'd be paying around $80 for around a thousand dollars worth of games); or check out the four day sales at IndieGameStand. you'll find the indie bundles thread HERE. The thread is outdated, but all of the links will still take you to the latest bundles.






The latest IndieGameStand game is Escape goat (this was also given away via IGS when it first started up)
Escape Goat is a new take on puzzle platforming:

• Developed with a unique physics engine that allows pixel-perfect world manipulation and destruction
• Use the environment to your advantage to overcome the infernal traps, puzzles and machinery of the prison.
• Over 50 rooms of puzzles in the main campaign
• Bonus campaign with 50 rooms of torture platforming, if you dare
• Easy-to-use editor and level sharing forum

You can get the game for $0.99; pay over the average to get two more games (Soulcaster I & II)

The deal ends Tuesday 13th Oct 2015 5am (GMT)



The latest DIG game is Space Farmers:
You get a double pack. Grab a friend, grab a gadget, grab a gun and get ready. Space Farmers is the most fun you'll ever have in a co-op game.

You're trapped on an alien space station and forced to share your secret British agriculture secrets. With no means of escape or tea making facilities this is all very uncivilized!

Luckily a hoard of hungry robots are attacking the station and your captors have vanished. Stopping only to pick up an Energy Shotgun and a Pie-O-Matic you begin your quest for freedom!

In Space Farmers you and a friend will encounter gadgets, guns, puzzles, pigs, a horde of killer robots and more. This one of a kind co-operative action adventure will make you laugh, cry and bring the human race together.

Pay £0.99 for the double pack or you can get two packs if you pay more than the average of $1.00 (at the time of writing ). One Steam key to share with a friend or family member perhaps? You'll find that deal HERE. They also have five bundles of several games that'll cost you less than $1.50 each HERE (DIG Bundles 40, 41 42 & 43 a Topware bundle). You get Steam keys for all of these games.
The single game deal ends just after Midnight Mondayday 12th Oct 2015 and will be replaced with Tribloos 2, later we will get The Defenders: The Second Wave then Pahelika: Revelations

Most of the bundles available retail for around $5 give or take a few dollars (apart from the Daily Indie bundles that only cost $1.49 for six games), but you can pay as little as a dollar for some. There are some excellent bundles out at the moment. Check out the following:

Groupees (5 bundles)
Indie Gala (? bundles)
Humble bundle (2 Bundles)
Indie Royale (this bundle is no longer live)
Bundle Bandits (0 bundles)
Blink Bundle (0 bundles)
Play Injector (0 bundle)
Get Loaded (0 bundles)
Games Rage (0 bundles)
Flying bundle (0 bundles)

The free game from Origin has changed from Zuma's Revenge to one of Command & Conquers later games Red Alert 2 plus you get the expansion Yuri's Revenge. This is another AAA game, well worth having if you are into strategy war games.

The world erupts in conflict as Soviet forces invade American soil in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. Time travel has helped to eliminate the German threat, and now the Soviets are expanding into the West unchecked. You are the Supreme Commander. Arm yourself to the teeth with top-secret technologies and lead the Soviet or Allied troops to victory.
Plus, defeat an army of mind-controlled Soviet forces in the expansion Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge.

Game Features:

Many ways to play. Lead Soviet or Allied forces in a gripping single-player game or a Skirmish game, where there's no particular objective other than destroying everything else on-screen. Who will win the war for world domination?
No need to play nice. You'll need to pull out all the stops if you're going to win this war. Thankfully, you've got a well-stocked arsenal of legitimate and illicit technologies from Prism Tanks and Terror Drones, to Psychic Mind Control devices and Soviet Cloning Vats. Use them.
Deliver the fury. Dominate land, air, and sea battles with the help of over 80 units and structures. Plus, you'll benefit from a enhanced veterancy system that turns newbie forces into battle-hardened war machines -- and brings you closer to victory.


Check it out HERE.


You do need a free Origin account and install the Origin client to get these free games. Once you've installed the Origin client and signed into your account select 'On the house' from the 'Free Games' drop down menu. Then select download now. The game will then be registered to your Origin account permanently.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Request for help:

Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game please take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are going to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with the search engines. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of 'potential' cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away even more decent games.

Please leave some feedback once you’ve checked the game out. It can be positive or negative, but please explain what your reasons were for the feedback you post. You could also leave suggestions for improving the game, for example, this game could do with more block types for the levels editor, add more power-ups, describing the ones you think would be suitable, add some mini games (which seem all the rage in some arcade games now) or enable the user to be able to change the in game music easily.

Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment, and a big thank you to immanitas games for sharing and to the game giveaway team for getting these games.



Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  9 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
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