great post,thanks for sharing this.
http://www.freemahj.com/free-mahjong/

This software was available as a giveaway on November 17, 2012, this giveaway is not available any more. You can download the trial version of this software at http://game.giveawayoftheday.c....

where is the link to download trial???

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

Follow the link to the developers site. I've linked to it in the reference following the intro to my review. You can also get this for free 24/y from Gametop and MyPlayCity together with a couple more from the series.

Well, I downloaded the Gametop version and it actually installed it on my computer. However, when I try to launch it, it reverts to the install screen again and doesn't launch the game.
Probably only certain types of games will work on linux. Perhaps just the stand alone games.
Thanks again for your help. If I do find a game at some point that works with Linux I will report that so that others may benefit.



........................Moderator Comment........................

We tried; Cest la vie.

Thank you

RE #28

Yes I have wine installed and I tried it several times. Comes up with an error that says it can't recognize the format.

Thanks anyway. I will try todays game and see what happens.

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

Hi Jack, before you give up on Helic completely try the Gametop version. The giveaway version is slightly different, so you may find it will work. I've linked to it above somewhere.

Sorry folks but I didn't like this one. Helo was very hard to control either with the mouse or keyboard. Way to sensitive. Graphics were choppy and very old style like about 5 years out of date. Definitely something I would not spend money on.

......................Moderator Comment..................

Thanks for your feedback.

RE# 17

Thank you for your response.

I did try to run it in Linux but it did not work. It probably needs the Windows environment to work.

Was worth a try. Thanks

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

Did you install the Windows emulator? That should allow you to run the game. If you miss the giveaway, you can still get a copy from Gametop. I've linked to it above somewhere.

Hmm, got this game long time ago. Forgot about it! Deleted from hd and moved into my external hardrive! Works well as portable game! I am installing everything into external so it doesn't slow my computer down! Moderator mentioned less games offered due recession!Maybe more games that were given away in past, can be repeated! Got lots of games from gotd, but lots were given that I missed! Thanks Fly Games for an exellent game!

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

Hi Dido, unfortunately some of the developers that gave us games no loger exist, others such as Realore have their own free game giveaways now. That said, Alawar are back with us and have been giving us more games never given before. As yet they haven't done any repeats, but you never know. :) Other developers such as Playrix have been repeating games as have Fly games.

Generally we get around 33% repeats these days. :) hopefully you will find more of the games you missed. Many of the game giveaways can also be found on sites like MyPlayCity and Gametop. Gametop are quite reasonable at the moment, with some games not even asking for permission to install toolbars.

Of course all those games do open your browser at the close of a game, but that is totally safe. There's no hidden extra's. MyPlayCity are at the moment asking for toolbar installs and home page changes every time you boot up a game so there's the chance you may forget to uncheck the checkboxes. that said, they do have a massive library of over 600 arcade games, many of which are classics. Gametop seem to have reduced the number of games they have, but they still have some excellent games. you could also try FreeGamePick. Some users may also suggest Jenkat games, but I'd personally steer clear.


:D

Looks good, although it sounds similar to Air Assault 2. Anyway, I'll try it.

....................Moderator Comment.............................


Air Assault 2 is a much faster vertical scrolling shooter, linear in game play and top down (well sort of). You can't fly around an open environment in Air Assault 2. Both games are excellent in different ways. To anyone that's interested, you can get both Air Assault games from Gametop and MyPlayCity 24/7

Air assault II:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/helicopter-air-assault2/


Air Assault I:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/helicopter-air-assault/

Desert Hawk:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/desert-hawk/

Also Helic:

http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/helicopter/


I've only linked to Gametop as MyPlayCity is quite aggressive at the moment. (i.e. wants to install toolbars and change your home page every time you boot the games up. you can stop that by un-checking the checkboxes, but its easy to forget and end up with toolbars etc. Gametop isn't quite as aggressive at the moment.

To download from Gametop click the red download button that's directly below the game image. I checked all four games and they do ask if you want Gametop set as your home page (aprt from Desert Hawk, which was clean), they only ask the once during installation. Uncheck the box and the game is basically clean apart from the innocuous browser opening when you close the game down.

Excellent gameplay, love it. Been keeping a lookout for this one since my hard drive crashed and burned a couple of years or so ago, missed one re-run but nabbed it again this time around.

I've only had it crash out once on my PC, but using a Ubuntu live CD's memory test, found a bad stick of memory. Replaced the memory stick, problem solved untill HDD failed!

Thank you again GGOTD and Fly Games for the re-post!


..........................Moderator Comment.......................

:)

Where is the option to download the 64 bit version? only one download is offered.


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

There is only one version available. It should play on both 32bit and 64bit systems.

The shooter is fun but there are too many errors. The opening splash screen says "Splash2.jpg" rather than display something. I play for a while and then get memory access violation and the game quits. That is a big disappointment. There are phantom blue patches that appear in the game that are distracting. The jets have identical controls as the helicopters so it is difficult to determine where the differentiation is. Still it is not supposed to be a flight simulation--it is supposed to be an arcade game and for that it works. However, please figure out why there are memory access violations (Windows 7 64-bit system?) and fix them. It is really irritating to be in the middle of a game and then randomly be dropped out due to an error.


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

Have you tried the fixes I suggested in my review at comment #1? I've not seen the random blue patches, maybe you need to update your graphics drivers? The reference to Splash2.jpg is I think an image that's been removed that advertises the developers page. Pssibly other games.

Hey Stephen, no review now as, unfortunately, I have to run out and won't have time to play today. I wouldn't normally find this type of game appealing however, I am downloading it based solely on your review.
Who knows, maybe I'll find a new genre of game I enjoy playing! As always, thanks for all you do here!

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

Please do let me know if you found it likeable? :)

installed and when I launch game get error notice: error loading art\loadingb.jpg

thanks WR for the info for last week's game error, didn't see that until today, so it's too late to do


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

Does the game work one the error has been presented? If not consider defregging your hard drive.

Not bad, a bit touchy for a regular ol mouse, but not nearly as much as incinerate. Thanks

I must admit that I have found that "Every day we offer licensed games..." line on the GAOTD site quite annoying, too. How hard would it be to change it from "every day" to "every weekend" since that's what it really is?

....................Moderator Comment.........................

The giveaway team manage to get us free games at a time when many developers are having to sell their games at giveaway prices. in real terms the cost of games have dropped drastically from five years ago, when the average arcade game cost $19.99. AAA games have not increased in price for the past 15 years, so in real terms they are getting less than half hat they used to. Granted some money is earned via dlc's.

Personally I don't see what's to be annoyed about? (Still that's your prerogative). What's in a name anyway. The team have always said they would return to daily giveaway when they are able to. At the moment its not possible. Besides, its a brand name. The search engines know the brand name to be a safe one. changing the name may compromise the reputation they have built up.

Ok Win 8 x64 Pro. Old fave again. Full screen, options. NOTE when game is at load screen - if go into Options there is a Tutorial offered in there. Don't select it if know the game already OR when go to PLAY from that begin screen you will have to REPLAY that same stupid Tutorial over again. Mistake by me to go into the dumb Tutorial way. Ran thru the stuff & got near end. It suddenly said I had done all the Tur stuff. Threw me into the first set of game selections where First Mission made me have to replay the tutorial. So I bailed in that for now.
When shooting key is to shoot from standoff position nearly stopped. Wait until circle indicates on target. Blast away.
Do expect some in game black screens between events so just give it a few seconds to load. Of course a freeze or such is different. For me game ran lot better than first time years back on lesser gear.
Thanks guys. Happy birdness....

I asked this last week but no one had an answer. Maybe someone knows this week.

Does anyone know if you can run these games in Linux, using wine, or does the Themida prevent this.

Thank you in advance.


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

:-o

Hi Jack, the only posts I can find of yours were two posts from September where you asked (under the name John) where my usual extensive posts were. (I've not looked into the spam folder though). I was quite ill over the September period. As for the question you ask, I think other users have said game giveaways have worked using wine, but I can't confirm that as I don't use Linux. The only way to find out is to down load and try for yourself. Please let us know if it does work. Thank you.

;)

The game was not to install on W2k. After a double-click on the Setup.exe there was a pop-up window with the following error message:

"Setup.exe is not a valid Win32 application."

:-(

comment deleted

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

What a load of hogwash. You need to grow up.

I was skeptical since i don`t usually like this type of game, but this one is easy to learn how to play. Good for a beginner like me, great graphics and sound. I give this game a thumbs up. I will have to play around a bit to learn how to control it better but think i can get the hang of it eventually. I remember this one before but passed on it. This time i decided to at least give it try even if i don`t like this kind. Thanks GGOTD this is a keeper!!


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

Check out today's 24hr Steam deal. Its the best helicopter sim available today (apart from its upgraded sister DCS: Black Shark 2) called the DCS (Digital Combat Simulator): Black Shark. I paid £30 for it a few years ago. Now you can get it for less than £5 with 75% off). Deal ends in about 4 hours time. It has a true sim mode where you are effectively flying the helicopter using simulated controls (there are over 300 key combo's) or an arcade version with mouse and a few keyboard buttons. (you can use a joystick as well)

http://store.steampowered.com/app/61000/


That deal has ended but there's a similar deal called Dogfight 1942. It's similar to Helic except the game play is far superior (ad a lot more fun) as is the environments you play in. You can get the game for less than £5.99 (50% off) for the next 24hrs. It was only released 2 months ago. There's also 2 dlc's available both with 50% off as well (total cost for the game and two dlc's £9.97) Well worth it IMO. You can find the deal via the following link, plus I've posted a You Tube video of game play:


http://store.steampowered.com/app/217790/


Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiSMKBNtYSU

Its 5:30am PST on a Saturday and I've just tested out this game for awhile. Either I need to go back to bed and get some more sleep or this game is just too sensitive. On the first level, the camera angle changes and it makes me wonder if the game malfunctions but it was the opening to the game.

Controls are too jerky, graphics are a bit jerky even on this mid range computer. I got dizzy playing and hit the escape button as quick as I could and selected End Game.

This game needs a mouse sensitivity option for sure in order to be a better game, graphics need to be smoothed out more. Moving the plane up and down should result in the ground view increasing and decreasing like a real plane. Not a fixed view each time. I've played many games where you fly a plane and this one is a bad example.

Sorry for being such a harsh critic but this game needs lots of work.


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


Hi Little Bear, if you have a gaming mouse such as a Razer (Mamba, Copperhead, Lachesis etc), Cyborg (rat), Microsoft (sidewinder) or logitech (G9 or G500) mice. with any of these (and other models) you can adjust the sensitivity of your mouse either via a button on the mouse or via software.

I found the same problem with the game initially, but I'm able to change the sensitivity and it makes is so much better to play. Unfortunately you can't adjust the sensitivity via the game.

I wish to thank GOTD and all the developers who give these games away. I'm 54 and most of the games are new to me. I don't play a lot, don't have the time, but if it's free, why complain about the game? Helic is a challenge to me and I do buy a game once in a while just because of trying something similar on GOTD. So, once again, thanks to all who help put this together. Happy Thanksgiving.


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


Beat you by 2 years, lol Thanks Jimmy

What? No Windows 7 support in 2012? You guys...


..........................Moderator Comment........................

It works in win 7 (64bit) for me.

Good day stephen,nice synopsis-as usual.Good game after a little practice,don't know at what levels of completion new heli's become available but I expect 'when needed to finish next level'.Flys pretty good but altitude adjustment is non-existent or limited by cursor limits.Still a keeper,but as always it needs an option to import your own music without having to go into music folder and paste and rename.Thanks FLY&GGOTD for another good one


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

Thanks Bobby

Thanks, but I prefer Arcade games in 2D.

It's a shame.

"Every day we also offer licensed games you'd have to buy otherwise, for free! Today's giveaway is Helic."

And there is no game every day.... Only one time every week ! Hopefully....



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


The Gamegiveawayoftheday stopped giving games every day when the supply dried up shortly after the recession hit back in 2008; but they have always hoped we can return to dally giveaways. Hopefully when things improve we will get more games. Please do remember that these developers are giving away as many as 25 thousand copies each giveaway (the average is around 14 thousand, that's a lot of potential cash given away).

Many of the developers that donated commercial games for free no longer exit. some of the bigger developers latched onto the giveaway idea and do their own giveaways. Many of the developers also use the free sites such as Gametop and MyPlayCity to earn cash from their games. You'll find quite a few of the games given away here can also be found on those sites. the difference is that the giveawayoftheday versions don't have the browser opening every time you close the game down, nor the checkboxes asking for permission to install toolbars and change your home page.

The giveaway team try their best to get more games, but times are hard in the gaming industry. We should be thankful that we are still getting games twice a week most weekends.

I do not see any improvement over the previous version given away in 2010. Th game is not bad but it is not as good as it could be...
Improve it!

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

It is the same version as the last time this was given away.

Have you any suggestions for improvement? One of the uses for this comments section is for community members like yourself to give the developer some ideas as to how the game could be improved. (Its always nice to give some positive feedback as well) ;-)

What's the difference between the now version (http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/helic-3/) and http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/helic-2/ and http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/helic/ ?

It's a new version or an up-date or same version ?

i think it's the same version
because have same mission (for 1,2,3 and 4th after i don't know because the game cut off) AND THE SAME ERROR.
WHY ?




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


Yes, this is the same version. There's probably an error in the coding. I've been getting MAV's but I still think the game is worth keeping as its a lot of fun (in short bursts).

I get error message:

This request is blocked by the SonicWALL Gateway Anti-Virus Service. Name: Suspicious#themida.4 (Trojan)




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


The game is okay. there's no malware. what you AV software is picking up is the security software that's protecting the rights of the developer. It's a false positive. Once the game has been installed you delete the security file (setup.gcd).

Stephen, I always love your intro posts on games, and read them, but I usually read yours after I read the Publishers stuff they post about their software.

I hesitated to read yours after becoming confused on a couple of words in the publishers intro, and wanted to post this BEFORE I read further just to point out that, without you posting, people like me wouldn't "get it". So, just know, that you may have already answered my question in your post, but my objective is for the publisher to redo their wording if they want to attract more people to their product.

These 2 words: projdenia and gazmestites, both of which are in the intro above, confused me. Do they mean something in the gaming world? Are they typo's? Those words totally took away from the publishers description of the game they want to sell, because I have never seen nor heard of them.

IF Stephen did not write up a long post afterwards, I would never download or buy this game just because of not knowing what those words were.

We are here to give feedback to the publisher right? Well, this is mine. I hope it helps.

..........................Moderator Comment........................


Hi Mary:

I think the developer is Slovak or Czech. I'm sure projdenia means progress and gazmestites I'm not so sure about but if you look at the context: i.e.

"There are levels where you will find not only the helicopter, but the steering wheel gazmestites? fighter."

I think its referring to controllable fighter planes but can't be absolutely certain. I think the developers intro is just poorly translated. The actual game is fine. It's been given away thee times now and is available 24/7 on most of the free game sites (though technically its not free, those sites give the developer money for being allowed to give it away)

What about W2k?


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



I no longer have a copy of W2k or the ME editions installed. I got rid of them when I updated to XP so can't confirm whether the game will work. (actually I think I still have my original ME disk but gave the W2K disk away.

It's a free standing game so all it should cost you is a little time downloading, at a minimal cost in bandwidth of less than 50MB and deleting the installed folder if it doesn't work.

When I say free standing, it means there's no other files or registry entries related to this game apart from the original zip file, the installed game and the unpacked zip file with the setup read me and gcd file, plus a couple of registry entries related to the zip file. There's no hidden folders or complex registry entries to remove.

This is a pretty good game but the lack of audio options is a huge drawback for me. The only audio option you get is to turn the music on or off, and you can't adjust any of the audio levels at all. To me the music is way too loud. Also, the way my head phones, computer, and keyboard are set up, I have no way of adjusting the volume except to exit the game and adjust my system wide volume settings.
This assessment is based on version 4.1 of this game and I don't know if this is a newer version or not. I have extremely slow dial up internet and it will take me 4.5 hours to download this just to see if it is a newer version or not. Whiterabbit it would be extremely, extremely helpful for people like me if you would post the version number of these games if it is available. Is this version 4.1? Actually I just noticed that version 4.1 shows up in one of your screenshots, but I still don't know if the screenshots are up to date; some of them could have been recycled from a previous giveaway.
Thanks.

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

You can adjust the games volume by right clicking on the speaker icon in your sys tray and select 'open volume mixer' from the drop down menu. That allows you to adjust system noises and any programs that have separate audio:

1)............. Right click on the speaker icon:

2) ...... Select Open volume Mixer from the drop down menu:

3) ..... Adjust the volume slider specific to Helic;

In BriefL>


I'm really pleased to see this one has been repeated again as I've lost it twice now following reformats and a hard drive failure. This game is part of a series of games of this genre that cover the world wars, modern avionics and helicopters. It was originally given away back in October 2010 and received a positive 50% of votes out of 414 votes. There were 39 comments which can be seen HERE, then again earlier this yar back in February where it received a positive 63% out of 321 votes with 37 comments which can be read HERE. The game is basically an arcade flyer with 3D graphics. You can fly through stylized environments destroying ground targets and shooting down enemy planes and helicopters. Controls are very simple, with flying accomplished either via a keyboard or mouse.

Good news is you can also use Joysticks, in fact joysticks work the way you'd expect then to work, i.e. pull back on the stick to increase in altitude (nose up) push forwards on the stick to reduce altitude (nose down). Mouse controls need to be reversed, but once you get used to it, the helicopter is easy to fly.

Also good news; if you have an X-Box controller for windows that will also work so long as you install the drivers for it. You can get those from Microsoft or various other sites. Make sure you get the 64 bit version if you have a 64 bit platform and 32 bit if your running the 32 bit platform. :)

Helic



The game downloads to a 47.8MB zipped file containing a read me and a dual activation and setup module as well as a .gcd security file (the addition of the gcd file explains why the download size has increased from 42.2Mb to 47.8MB). (The first time this was given away we were given a registration code and the set up file was at least 20MB more).

To newcomers this means to install and register the game just click on the giveaway wrapped set up file and select your installation path (if you wish the game to go to somewhere other than the default path). Once installed the game is automatically registered The installed games footprint is 68.9Mb in size (this is also around 30MB smaller than the first time this was given away, but the same as last Februaries version). On starting the game It installs to:

C:\Games\GAME_Helic\Helic.Exe

The game plays okay on XP Pro with SP3 32 Bit, Vista Home Basic 64 bit and Win 7 Pro 64 bit. I've not installed my copy of Win 8 yet so can't say whether it will work on win 8.

No shortcut is installed to the desktop or the start men programs folder nor is there an uninstaller installed so to uninstall you just have to delete the installed folder.





IntroductionL>

Players can try their flying and shooting skills at three campaigns: Islands, Europe and the Middle East. As they complete levels, players gain access to new, more maneuverable helicopters, more powerful enemies and unexpected surprises. Easy game controls allow new players to quickly get in the thick of things. In addition to helicopters, some missions can be completed at the controls of combat fighters. Survival mode offers a rapid-fire shooting gallery option for game play. Ready for takeoff? Wheels up!

Reference accessed HERE 2nd Oct 2010

The GameL>



Helic uses the same games engine as previous Fly games that have been given away such as Sky Aces: World at War, Sky Aces: The Red Baron and Sky aces: Cold War, though the game looks to have been improved somewhat. The environments are much the same with perhaps a few more buildings. All ground buildings are destructible. Flying is easy, you can use either the mouse or the keyboard to control your plane. To fire weapons use the left and right mouse buttons (chain gun and rockets). You can pick up health packs and resupply ammo and rockets by flying over bonus coins.

The game has two modes; the first is standard play which is the main campaign, where you start with a training flight then are taken through missions that take you through different locations that include European Skies, Islands and Afghanistan. In survival mode you can choose where to go from the above locations as well as choose the time of day, which include, Early morning, Sunny, Cloudy, Evening and night, you can also choose three levels of escort from Easy, Standard and Armada. Both modes have three levels of skill, Tourist, Warrior and Hardcore. The difference between the three is the number of enemies you have in the sky at any one time.

There are three helicopters to choose from, the first being the only one unlocked at the start of the game. The demo only gave me 15 minutes of play, so I didn’t get the opportunity to find out how you unlock the other two choppers. You get a Gazelle Eurocopter, a SA320 Puma and a UH34 Choctaw helicopter.

You can change the screen resolution between 800 x 600 x 32 to 1920 x 1080 x 32 with 30 different resolutions to choose from. There’s also a quality slider, which is useful if your computer isn’t so powerful. If you get any lag, reduce the screen resolution and quality settings to a point where the lag disappears. There’s also a music toggle which allows you to turn off the in game music if you wish.

ControlsL>


• Mouse Movement – Direction
• Q/W/E – Turns
• WASD – Power/Strafe
• F1 – Display Help
• F2 – Display Map
• Up Arrow – Low speed
• Down Arrow – Full speed
• Left Arrow – Turn & Strafe Left
• Right Arrow – Turn & Strafe Right
• LMB – Machine gun
• RMB - Rockets

FeaturesL>


• 10 helicopters based on actual models

• 3 campaigns, 20 fast-paced missions

• Survival quick game play mode

• Original soundtrack




System RequirementsL>


- Windows 98/ME/XP/Vista
- Pentium III processor
- 256 Mb RAM
- 50 Mb hard drive space
- 32 Mb video memory
- Sound card
- DirectX 7




ConclusionL>



Overall I loved playing this game. It’s easy to pick up and hard to put down. Compared to my DCS: Black Shark Helicopter Simulation it’s the easiest helicopter game I've played in a long time; it's similar in game play to the many freebies available from Gametop, MyPlayCity and FreeGamePick (see below, with two big differences, 1) ... you are flying in an open 3D world (compared to flying in a scrolling environment) and 2) ... All ground objects are destructible. The game is well made and an improvement on earlier games in this series (mentioned above). It’s reminiscent of some of the arcade flying shooters I remember playing many years ago in the arcades, but today's game has much better graphics.

I think Helic is worth a good 8 out of 10 for ease of play and a well rounded campaign; however, I’m a little biased with respect to scoring this game; so some may think I’m overly generous.


ScoringL>



Download and installation – 10
Registration process – 10
Graphic Appearance in Game – 7+7
Audio – 7
Game Play – 9+8
Replayability – 7
Originality – 7


Total score 72 out of 90 which equates to 8 out of 10

I've scored this game quite high because I think it's different from your run of the mill HOG's, TM games and match threes, which have become the main stay of the arcade business. Though a burgeoning indie movement is slowly taking over (thankfully). It's got some reasonable game play and is easy to pick up. As already mentioned elsewhere, it would have been much improved if you were able to reverse the mouse movement. I always crash when I first play this type of game after a break. (I've still got a couple of these from previous giveaways).

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

More Gamesl>



If today's game doesn't take your fancy then check out the game discussion forums and the free games synopsis. We’ve posted a couple of thousand free games over the last four years, many of which are excellent alternatives to their commercial cousins.


Steam has several games on sale at the moment including the 24 hr Steam deal which today Dogfight 1942 a game similar to todays game giveaway, but with far better graphics and game play. You'll find DogFight HERE. It has 50% off it's a steal at £5.99 (approx $9). There's also two dlc's available with 50% off.

This weekends big deals are the excellent sim game called Tropico 4 which you'll find details of HERE. with 75% off the game and most of the DLC's and 25% off the recently released DLC's its a great bargain. There's also a free weekend plus 50% off with another game ago called Awesomenauts a n acyion strategy platformer. rel="nofollow">Snapshot an indie platformer also has 50% off and there are at least another 20+ games with varying percentages off, ranging from 10% to 30%, including unreleased games like Hitman Absolution which is due for release any day (competing with the likes of Call of Duty which was released a few days ago and as always is one of the most expensive games on sale - it'll cost you almost £90/$135 for the deluxe edition plus a season pass for future DLC) Another game to watch is the complete Saints Row the Third pack, with all DLC content plus the main game for only £29.99$45 that's a saving of £50/$75 compared to what it costs at the moment. That will be available on the 17th November HERE. Oh yeah, nearly forgot, you can get Bioshock for free from Gamefly at the moment; check it out via the game giveaway forums HERE (I'm not sure whether the offer is only availble to those that installed the Beta client. If you owned any Direct 2 Drive games you're likely to have installed the beta; then again it may be open to all.




Check out Gamersgates offers. There's loads of 50% to 75% off offers (for example Cities in Motion, Grand Theft Auto , Dragonage Origins, Dragonage II, Sleeping Dogs, Super Meat Boy, Grotesque Tactics, AI Wars, Future Wars, Unstoppable Gorg, Trapped Dead, Need for Speed: The Run, Crash Time I & III, plus more. Some of which come with Steam keys. Gamefly and Desura also have a sale on as well.

I've also posted several links to sites where you'll find loads of decent game deals. Just look in the Game Discussion sticky section for the thread.

This months Alawar game is still The Curse of Montezuma (despite being on for six weeks - hopefully they will change it for another soon). for those that are new to the game giveaway project you will need Alawar's free game box to be able to download their free monthly game. this months is an excellent match three. You can download the game box HERE.


















Oh yeah, nearly forgot, you can see all of the live indie bundles that are available HERE . They don't update it every day (Indie Gala X is showing as still live, but that ended a few days ago), still it'll give you an idea as to whats still available. alternatively you can visit the giveawayoftheday Game discussion forums as all bundles are detailed there as well.

Also check out the latest game available on IndieGame stand HERE. You can pay as much as you want but no less than $1. The present game has just changed to Syder Arcade, which is a free scrolling, multi directional shoot 'em up, an uncompromised old-school experience. There are several $5 bundles available from the Indie bundle site HERE, each bundle has three games. There's quite a few decent deals over on Desura HERE also the latest Indie Royale: Harvest Bundle is in full swing with just over a day to run (ends on Sunday afternoon GMT) . Virtually all of the bundles mentioned above include a combination of Steam and Desura keys as well as DRM free copies or a combination of 1, 2 or all three. Sometimes you also get a choice of operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android) .Another Humble bundle called the Humble Bundle 4 Android was released last week. It still has five days to run and you can get nine excellent games (Splice, Eufloria, Waking Mars, Machinarium, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery, Avadon: The Black fortress Trilogy, Canabalt, Cogs, Sword & soldiers, and Zen bound 2. I paid around 4180 for the above games when they were initially released, now you can get all of them for just over $6. Definitely one to get. You can have PC and Android versions (as well as Mac and Linux versions). Also most l of the games have Steam keys as well as a downloadable DRM copy plus at least one comes with a Desura key.



You'll find details of all the bundles still available over in the first two pages of the game discussion forums as well as several of the main game distributors that seem to have permanent sales HERE



Additional Helicopter/flight gamesL>






Please Read this before downloading any of the games I've linked to!L>

Please be aware that when installing games from MyPlayCity (MPC) you do have to install a toolbar and allow your browsers home page to be changed to MyPlayCities home page. The home page can be changed back once the game has been installed and you can turn off the toolbars by going into view and selecting toolbars. A drop down menu will list all of the toolbars you may have. Just uncheck the MPC toolbar. You can delete the toolbars by finding where the executable has been installed to and deleting it then going into the registry and deleting all registry entires associated with the toolbar. If you go ahead and install any MyPlayCity games and aren't sure what to do please post a request in the forums where either i or one of the usual regulars will help you. Personally i don't usually post links to these gaes, but they were already posted from back when MPC was clear of such practices.

As for Gametop, I think you can still uncheck the check-boxes that ask for permission to install toolbars and change your home page, but haven't tried installing a Gametop game for over a year, so they to may have hanged their policy. All games from these distributors will open up your browser when you close any game that you got from them. This is a totally innocuous action that has no impact on your computer apart from opening your browser. Nothing is downloaded or taken from your computer when this happens. It's just a tool the distributors have coded into the game to take you back to their web site. Just click on the X and it's gone with no residuals left behind.

You can get several excellent helicopter games or similar from Gametop, for example:

Desert Hawk

Incinerate

Air Assault II

Air Assault



Also there’s some online examples such as Desert Fire online, Zenon Online, Helicopter Strike Online, which you can find via the following link, just look to the bottom of the page:

http://www.gametop.com/category/action.html


You can also get some helicopter games (some of which are the same as those from Gametop and FreeGamePick) from MyPlayCity, for example:

Helicopter Wars

Airforce Missions

Helicopter Game


Air Invasion; and you can get the following games from FreeGamePick for example:

Aerial Fire

Air Shark

Air Shark 2. Finally, there are several decent helicopter browser games which can be found HERE


If you like real helicopter sim’s a great game to buy is DCS: Black shark, which can be purchased either from Steam or Direct 2 Drive. If you consider there are nearly 300 key bindings for the game you can imagine how much of a simulation the game is. :lol: There are some older Helicopter sims that you can get from abandonware sites like Abandonia such as HIND – The Russian Combat Helicopter Simulation

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Problems:

If you have any problems with the game, either installation issues or getting the game to work check out the FAQ's section over in the Game discussion forums. you can find it HERE


I have had a couple of Memory Access Violations while playing this game. If you get a Memory Access Violation (MAV) with an older game try the following fixes:

Run in admin mode

try using compatibility mode for XP

turn off UAC

What is a MAV?

A Memory Access Violation occurs when the program attempts to use something which does not actually exist or an error due to incorrect syntax being used for a command.

Calling commands on 'entities' (a line of code or discreet program within a program) which don't exist is the most common cause of MAVs, but other common sources of MAVs include referring to images and sounds which don't exist.




If you are posting requests for help late in the day I would suggest posting in the main giveaway forums in the game Game Discussion . If you’ve installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn’t guaranteed). It’s always worth checking out the free games sites as sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them as well.




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.

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen