Survive the ordeals of modern day life as you strive toward the career of your dreams in My Life Story. Get this game FREE on GOTD.

#41

Greetings from Carolina! I'm bored to tears at work so I decided to check out your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I love the information you present here and can't wait to take a look when I
get home. I'm surprised at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I'm not
even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, amazing site!

Reply | Comment by ria envios de dinero online – 11 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#40

As promised, I am following up on What Comodo has said about the false positive. I submitted the file 'MyLifeStory.exe' that is in the main folder after the program is installed. This is the file that Comodo classified as suspicious, not the setup.exe file.

It was marked as suspicious because it linked a Windows OS DLL. Here is the link to the automatic analysis from their Comodo Instant Malware Analysis (CIMA) service:
http://cima.security.comodo.com/report/39e3630aec2fb5e127253cb7f34cabd474fb460a.htm

The tool: http://camas.comodo.com/

I also uploaded it to their 'File Verdict Service' (http://v.comodo.com/Default.html) which also identified it as suspicious. It had the option of submitting it to a live analyst who would analyse the file. The whole result, both the auto and the annual, are here:
http://v.comodo.com/Result.html?sha1=39e3630aec2fb5e127253cb7f34cabd474fb460a

The final result is that it is 'normal', so truly a false positive.

I think that there needs to be an analysis of the final installed files and not just the setup.exe file to be certain that there truly isn't a virus. In this case it was a false positive, but there might come a time where it is not.

Thank you for all the work you put into this site. I hope you can use some of this info and/or tools in the case of any future false positives.

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

Thank you Bawdyn

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

#39

Wow, awesome blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your website
is great, let alone the content!

Reply | Comment by Save 30% off heating bills – 11 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#38

Thinking the virus detect has something to do with the way in which the "ASK toolbar/search engine" is snuck in, in the install, both the GOTD and the home site version have it! was able to stop this on second install by repeatedly going next then back then next again and back again and voila it reveals itself with the opt out option! quickly selected it out and continued, seems to run with out it but it keeps connecting to internet, not sure for what prpose during game play. I know a little late post, but won't turn off my may anti-badstuff programs for anything! not worth a reinstall of W7x64 again although it has been fairly crash proof.

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

#37

Not going to vote up or down. The non-realism of this game throws me a little. I played a long time, about 50 weeks and was about 2/3rds done, but the later levels take longer and longer. Longer to complete the classes, longer to get the next experience level. I find myself moving around a lot, and it doesn't feel like I'm spending a 40 hour week working or studying, though it may be that the days are 16 hours, or, more correctly, the work week's 80 hours. In other words, you spend the days studying or working and the nights recreating. But it still seems like I'm just running around a lot trying to replenish so I can get just a little studying or work done. And the logical way seems to be to finish one level of education and then do a work level, or vice versa. This means I don't go to work one whole week, and don't go to school the next. Hard to get away with that in real life.

Quite possibly, it's taking so long because I'm naturally cheap and usually use the lowest expense ways to regenerate. In any case, my game play feels like, well, a rat race. Only it's not the real right race, but a fantasy rat race with strange choices to make. A lot of the choices are counter-intuitive. Mom's home cooking is bad for your health (eating too much?) and so is resting at home (getting slothful?) or swinging in the park (sorry, that one's unjustifiable.)
That's one of the reasons I'm posting so late, vice not at all, to make a couple suggestion to the developer. My main suggestion would be to not feel you have to have every choice effect every category. Choices could have neutral elements, like none of the above activities could be bad for your health. Also, it seems a little surprising that as you move up in responsibility, you lose your perks. Maybe you're too busy to eat in the restaurant you're maitre'd in, or see a movie in the theater you work in, but that's not very real world.

Anyway, unless I can figure out how to speed this up, I don't need to simulate the rat race. That experience is readily available, lol. There are choices to make, but you spend a LOT of boring time watching gauges move. Also, the comic statements don't interest me that much, especially because, when you get deep in the the game, you've seem them practically all before. In other words, that benefit gets old quickly. The game needs a rethink, I think.

Also, there should be volume controls for the sound and music, not just a mute option. Volume controls are practically an industry standard.

Not going to vote up or down. The non-realism of this game throws me a little. I played a long time, about 50 weeks and was about 2/3rds done, but the later levels take longer and longer. Longer to complete the classes, longer to get the next experience level. I find myself moving around a lot, and it doesn't feel like I'm spending a 40 hour week working or studying, though it may be that the days are 16 hours, or, more correctly, the work week's 80 hours. In other words, you spend the days studying or working and the nights recreating. But it still seems like I'm just running around a lot trying to replenish so I can get just a little studying or work done. And the logical way seems to be to finish one level of education and then do a work level, or vice versa. This means I don't go to work one whole week, and don't go to school the next. Hard to get away with that in real life.

Quite possibly, it's taking so long because I'm naturally cheap and usually use the lowest expense ways to regenerate. In any case, my game play feels like, well, a rat race. Only it's not the real right race, but a fantasy rat race with strange choices to make. A lot of the choices are counter-intuitive. Mom's home cooking is bad for your health (eating too much?) and so is resting at home (getting slothful?) or swinging in the park (sorry, that one's unjustifiable.)
That's one of the reasons I'm posting so late, vice not at all, to make a couple suggestion to the developer. My main suggestion would be to not feel you have to have every choice effect every category. Choices could have neutral elements, like none of the above activities could be bad for your health. Also, it seems a little surprising that as you move up in responsibility, you lose your perks. Maybe you're too busy to eat in the restaurant you're maitre'd in, or see a movie in the theater you work in, but that's not very real world.

Anyway, unless I can figure out how to speed this up, I don't need to simulate the rat race. That experience is readily available, lol. There are choices to make, but you spend a LOT of boring time watching gauges move. Also, the comic statements don't interest me that much, especially because, when you get deep in the the game, you've seem them practically all before. In other words, that benefit gets old quickly. The game needs a rethink, I think.

Also, there should be volume controls for the sound and music, not just a mute option. Volume controls are practically an industry standard.

Save | Cancel

Reply | Comment by watcher13 – 11 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#36

I haven't tried too many Sims so I thought I would grab this one. Not happy with the option of a toolbar but thanks to That Wrascally Wabbit, I was aware of it and avoided it. It installed fine on Win7.

I am not fond of Time Management games as I don't like to be hurried so this was a pleasant change. I can go at my own pace. Nice graphics and the story line is not boring. It's life..how can it be?

But 2 suggestions..unless I am missing something. You can only mute the music. I would like to have a slider so I could turn it down... I don't mind the music if I can turn it down. And it's annoying to close my game and find my browser all smashed up in the left hand corner. Fix those plus get rid of that stupid toolbar and you will have a very nice game.

Thanks to GGOTD and GameFools for a cute little game and Wabbit for his review.

PS Happy New Years to all. And hugs to Wabbit Family. :)

Reply | Comment by delenn13 – 11 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#35

Fun little diversion! Having been a fan of the game Jones in the Fast Lane as a kid, My Life Story reminds me of a cross between Jones and The Sims. This isn't something I could play for hours on end, but I'll come back to after a day or two to pick up where I left off. Do be careful with the installer, though; I was glad I read the comments, since either I accidentally double-clicked the Next button on the installer, or the step was intentionally skipped, but I almost installed the GameFool foolbar-- er, toolbar. Proceed with caution, and consider going back a step just before installing.

Reply | Comment by Chris H. – 11 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#34

I will continue to moderate tomorrow morning.

Reply | Comment by Whiterabbit-uk – 11 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#33

Game installed and registered fine on 64-bit Windows 7; flagged as malware by Comodo, to whom I reported it as a false positive.

The game play seems OK. I don't usually play time management games, so am needing a bit of learning curve to find my way around it.

Would be nice to be able to start fresh after getting messed up.

In addition to the problems reported by previous posters, the game has a very loud splash screen, and it re-sizes, and jams into the upper right of your screen, all open browser windows.

So it has a heavy freight of petty annoyances.

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

Thank you for your feedback.

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

#32

I purchased the full version of this from another site a few years ago. It is surprisingly fun and engaging. I certainly recommend downloading it for free!

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

#31

@ Whiterabbit
yes i understand what you want say, and your reasoning ; but after my mind it's better you explain the quality of the download by a virus scan AFTER your 1st comment (like my post at n'5) and you too you say "when someone early on has said Oh my god the game has a virus, the download numbers significantly reduce."

personally i have no doubt between the GAOTD wrapper, and between your pré-scan behind the linked of the download.
no doubt between your result for virus in the program,
but spy ... i have a doubt.

if have a spy what is the problem ? any problem, all people are in perpetually survey by other in Internet(exp : google, Browsering, mailing ...) and in real life (exp : CB card, camera, phone, gps ...).
just meaning fail of the world.

thank you and good night.

HAPPY NEW YEARS AT ALL,
i wish you good health (in priority) and peace in home.

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

Hello Sacha,

The virus Scan was posted to attempt to show that those getting positive hits were in fact false positives. In the event i didn't actually scan the correct file. Meant to do that after i was informed, but things are hectic here. Spent lot of today preparing for a family gathering tomorrow. So haven't had time. In the end its up to each individual to decide whether they want to trust the game giveaway team when such virus alerts are posted. Personally I trust them implicitly and have no problems installing any game from them. That said, even if I did get a virus, it wouldn't actually bother me because all I'd do is format my disc and reinstall everything (I must reinstall my Acronis software to help re installation). I always back up all my important data and software. Okay it's an inconvinience, but to be honst I like to format occasionally as it helps to get rid of all the rubbish accumulated over time.

I hope 2013 brings you and the giveaway community lots of luck and happiness. :)

W.R.

@ Whiterabbit
yes i understand what you want say, and your reasoning ; but after my mind it's better you explain the quality of the download by a virus scan AFTER your 1st comment (like my post at n'5) and you too you say "when someone early on has said Oh my god the game has a virus, the download numbers significantly reduce."

personally i have no doubt between the GAOTD wrapper, and between your pré-scan behind the linked of the download.
no doubt between your result for virus in the program,
but spy ... i have a doubt.

if have a spy what is the problem ? any problem, all people are in perpetually survey by other in Internet(exp : google, Browsering, mailing ...) and in real life (exp : CB card, camera, phone, gps ...).
just meaning fail of the world.

thank you and good night.

HAPPY NEW YEARS AT ALL,
i wish you good health (in priority) and peace in home.

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

Hello Sacha,

The virus Scan was posted    to attempt to show   that those getting   positive hits   were  in fact false positives.  In  the event i didn't actually   scan the correct  file.  Meant to do that  after i was informed, but  things are hectic here.  Spent  lot of today preparing for       a family gathering tomorrow.  So haven't had time.   In the end its up to each individual to decide whether they want to trust  the game giveaway team   when  such virus alerts are posted.  Personally I trust them implicitly and  have no problems installing any game from them.  That said, even if I did get a virus, it wouldn't actually bother me because all I'd do is format my  disc and reinstall everything (I must  reinstall my Acronis software   to help re installation).  I always back up all my important data and software.  Okay it's an inconvinience, but to be honst I like to  format occasionally as it  helps to get rid of all the   rubbish accumulated over time.

I hope 2013  brings you  and  the   giveaway community lots of luck and happiness.  :)

W.R.

Save | Cancel

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

#30

didnt see about having to save the code so closed that popup window, thinking it was just spam. Now have to delete the game. What a hassle. Have had trouble with G-GOTD downloads for months now. Drivers are all up to date and none of the FAQ's help me. Have had great games in the past.

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

Hi Brick, there's no code to save. You'll find the registration code in the read me file that unpacks from the zipped download.

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

#29

Shoot! Wanted to play this one but when I try to install I keep getting "setup files are corrupted. Obtain a new copy [or somesuch]"
I've downloaded twice now.....no love. :(

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

Try downloading the demo from Gamefools site:

http://www.gamefools.com/downloads/mylifestory/2995.html

Then register it using the supplied code (read me)

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

#28

I did not have any problems downloading this on Windows 8, and I appreciate your warning about the toolbar. This is not the sort of game that I would normally choose to play for myself, however as a teacher, it is an excellent game for me to use to help my students get an idea of what is needed in real life, plus it gives them some ideas about the importance of budgeting, planning for emergencies, what type of life they can expect to live based on the type of income they have coming in versus expenses going out etc.... In fact, this is the fourth game that I have downloaded from this site that I have found to be useful for teaching purposes. I do plan on keeping it on my computer as well for those days when I just want to play something without really having to put a lot of energy into it. Overall, I think it is a nice little time-killing game for those days when you want to do something fun, but do not want to become so involved that you have to break a sweat. I appreciate all the games that GGOTD has made available, and especially the ones that I am able to use in my classroom. Please keep up the good work, and have a Happy New Year!!!

STORM

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

Thank you for your feedback Storm, much appreciated. :)

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

#27

A good game, but there is a bug. It seems like my save file is corrupt, it says: Property not found #current script error. continue?

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

#26

My apologies. Changed my screen resolution down to 1280 X 800 on my desktop computer and the game went full screen with no problem. I rarely, if ever, have problems with GOTD programs, and this is the first time I have ever posted. Thanks for the reply, and I always look forward to your games and applications. Keep up the good work! :)

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

Glad you sorted it. :)

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

#25

Downloaded game with no problems, but it was only a 60 minute trial, which stated trial was expired before I even started.

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

Did you check the read me? You'll find a name and registration code supplied. ;-)

Reply | Comment by winechick13 – 11 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#24

I've downloaded it twice and each time a message comes up that says, "Windows cannot open the file.

I've never had this problem before. Any reason for this to happen or what I am doing wrong.

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

Are you trying to install the game directly from the zip file or are you unpacking it first? you need to unpack it first. If you still get problems try downloading the demo from Gamefools site:

http://www.gamefools.com/downloads/mylifestory/2995.html

Then register it using the supplied code (read me)

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

#23

Let's start off by saying that I'm biased in this review. I've had this game for a long time now (even have the 2nd one of it) and I adore it. It's easy to play, great to just waste some time and isn't one of those with lots of flash bang graphics that can be distracting or overload your system. Nor is it like one of those time management games that gets so frustrating that you end up screaming at your computer. It's a rather relaxed play that I like

That being said, there are issues with it, as the synopsis of it said. Once you start heading towards the end, things start to drag because you've gotten through most so it's more of a push to find the easiest way to do whatever to restore your bars and either get through a job or school to move up. How to improve that, I don't know because it becomes an issue in the second game in this series as well. Up until then, though, it's fun though not very challenging.

I would suggest adding some better graphics, more things to do and other things with interaction that would improve the somewhat dull feel to some of it.

Overall, I adore the game and recommend it.

On another note that has me snickering... some of the screenshots you posted of it don't come from the game itself. one I believe is from a Build A Lot game and another is from the second game in this series. That gave me some amusement though!

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

Thans for your feedback Danyealle. I know which ones they are. Meant to delete them, but never got around to it. :(

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

#22

Disappointing that we get a game with a toolbar. Not had that before with GGOTD. Game play also proved to be boring so it's an uninstall for me.

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

Hi Ann, I thik we have a couple of times previously, but very rare. You don't actually get a game with a toolbar. You can choose not to install the toolbar by unchecking the box.

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

#21

This looks like an old Sierra game, called Jones In The Fast Lane

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

#20

***** To the Moderator (not for posting) *****
I'm pretty sure your software does not, repeat NOT, contain a virus. You would be ruined. And we wouldn't have those nice software you are giving away. But again my virusscanner reports a virus in the extracted setup file (more specific the pih.dll). When installing the trial from gamefools I don't get a viruswarning.
Strange thing is that I also get the same viruswarning on GOTD-software. And then I suspect the wrapper because it is used on both sites?

It is strange however you scanned a file by virustotal and that the GDATA-virusdetection on the virustotal website differs from my GDATA-detection. I've already send a mail to GDATA asking for an explanation.

Kindest regards

Bert

.......................Moderator ~comment.................................

Hi Bert, it seems that I scanned the wrong file. I scanned the wrapped setup file, wheras apparently the game executable is in the .gcd file (I hadn't realized)

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

#19

Game will not go to Full Screen, even after registering.

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

Are you using a computer monitor, a laptop or a net book?

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

#18

Here I am again 1 hour later and I finally got it going. I have always liked the sims and still use it the odd time. Played it pretty steady for close to 3 years and have all the editions. sorry about the trouble. I do give this a thumbs up.
I like my high security virus program but I do truse this site and had no problemes by temporalily removing my portetion. And put it back on as soon as installed. thanks again for a nice game.

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

Glad you got it to work Myrna :)

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

#17

P.S. number 2 found the product key but it said it was invalid. I diouble checked it too.

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

Make sure you are copying it exactly (with no spaces at the end).

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

#16

I run windows 8 in a virtual machine under windows 7, both systems x644. The game runs fine under the virtual win 8 (at least to the end of the tutorial.) The game seems very basic. I have only played about 15 minutes on each platform so I'm not ready to give it a rating one way or the other, but it's at least good enough to play some more.

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

#15

Well, you guys delete my Virus Reporting anyway, so, I don't expect to see this one posted either ... but for what is worth, here is my 2 cents ...

1) Game installed A-OK on Vista Hm Prem., x64. & I did see the Toolbar thingy which I unchecked ... game installed under x32 Programs Folder.

2) My Antivirus Avira did Not warn me but my Comodo Firewall caught an illegal activity for a DLL ... see link
http://cima.security.comodo.com/report/39e3630aec2fb5e127253cb7f34cabd474fb460a.htm

Anyway, I uninstalled it since when I played he game, it seemed kind of "Stupid" ... to me anyway ... LOL!

Q1: for "dadams" why do you install your games to a different Hard Drive different from your PC or Laptop?

Q2: Can all of the GGOTD games giveaway be moved to a different Game Folder "After" install has been done ... and still work?

Thanks to WhiteRabbit and the Entire GGOTD Team. Thanks Folks! And Wish You All & Your Loved Ones A Great, Prosperous, Healthy New 2013 Year!

G! :)

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

Hi G, yes you can move any of your games to anywhere else on the same computer. :) ditto to you to G and to the whole civeaway community (was watching Ghost yesterday, hence the Ditto) lol

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

#14

Whiterabbit, while I'm not aware of it ever happening here on the games site, you should note that there have been some confirmed cases of malware being included on the main giveaewayoftheday.com page.

More importantly, I'm afraid that the virustotal scan you posted doesn't actually prove anything, since the only thing you actually scanned was the GAOTD wrapper, not the game installer itself.

(Remember, the whole point of the GAOTD wrapper is to prevent access to the installer. One of the effects of that is that it makes it impossible to run the installer through a malware scan. Also, the game installer is actually contained in the Setup.gcd file anyway (presumably encrypted), not the Setup.exe file that you scanned, which is identical every time.)

The virustotal analysis linked by Sacha, on the other hand, is far more reassuring since that's probably the same installer/program being distributed here (although it's unfortunately impossible to be sure, thanks to the wrapper).

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

The only malware I'm aware of was found in the now defunct freeware library. As soon as it was discovered it was removed (It had been uploaded by a non giveaway staff member). There has been no software given away from either side of the project that has ever contained malware.

Thanks for reminding me about the gcd file. I thought it was just a security software, didn't realize it actually contained the executable.

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

#13

P.S. I cannot find where it installed to I am operating on vista

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

Read the beginning of my review for details of where the game is installed to.

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

#12

Hi there my Av did come up but I briefly unchecked it to download and no problems doing that. However it said it was trial version and had 1 hour to play. I ignored and started the game. It was not on 2 minutes when it kicked me out and said I had to buy the game.
I ask how can I correct this.

Thanks

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

Read the read me.

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

#11

Whiterabbit and other Mods, let me say thanks for the very helpful work all of you do to bring these games to us. Hope your new year is happy, healthy, and full of fun too!

I downloaded this game without problems and installed it in Win XPx32 with no difficulty. I watched carefully for the tic box about the toolbar, but I did not see one and no toolbar was installed into my Chrome or IE browsers. One extra icon was placed onto my desktop, but it was only a pointer to a URL, so I simply deleted it. After the game installed itself in program files, I moved the My Life Story folder (with one MyLifeStory.exe there, and another in a subfolder gamefiles) to my Games folder, and it seems to run there without problems. My Symantec antivirus showed no concern throughout this process. Keep up the excellent work!

Reply | Comment by Jim-1 – 11 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#10

Thank you for the link to fix the runtime error I was getting. I tried a couple of the things suggested so I'm not exactly sure what helped but the game is installed and working fine now. :)

My Life Story is different than any other games I've played and I'm really enjoying it. The graphics seem to be a bit dated but it's still a fun game in my opinion. :)

I'm going to check out the Game Fools website to see if they have other games I might like.

Thanks again for the help and for the game - I like it a lot! :)

Lynn

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

glad you got it to work. It could have been a conflict with one of your programs running in the background. :)

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

#9

Downloaded/installed fine on Vista 64-bit. No virus/malware warnings.

First, I'm glad you (Stephen) mentioned the toolbar thing. I was watching for it during the setup process and either passed it or it didn't show the first time. When I got to the Install option, I hadn't seen it, but went back and there it was. Unticked! No trouble with toolbars or reassigned homepages here.

I like the game! It seems very generic -- the graphics, the music, most of it, but I enjoyed its simplicity. The graphics and main screen remind me of Who Framed Roger Rabbit on the old NES console. The music is really bland, but no suggestions and I can't think of any way to make it better.

I like the story and the life accomplishments, and I like the power-ups (can't think of what those cards are called now). It is very much like a simplified The Sims. It would have been awesome before The Sims came out, not it just seems like a weak substitution.

My best suggestion would be to add something to the outside of the buildings that tells you what you can gain in there, like heath, or fun, or whatever. I hate having to go into a place to see what I can get, only to find it's not what I'm looking for and have to go somewhere else. I just want some energy! LOL

My conclusion is that this is a good game for the GGOTD, and why I check every weekend. Thanks!

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

Thank you for your feedback.

W.r.t. toolbars, it could be that I installed the demo directly from the developers site rather than used the one from the giveaway project. The registration code still worked. I didn't think to try the actual giveaway exe, so maybe there isn't a toolbar check box to uncheck. I've seen this before where the giveaway version has had the toolbars etc de-activated????

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

#8

NO legitimate software should add any nuisanceware, malware, etc unwanted toolbars, advertising, or any other such crap to your system. I absolutely hate the way so many software vendors and download sites like Cnet that used to be reputable but now try to sneak in toolbars, change your homepage and search preferences, sneak install advertising and shopping apps along with legitimate programs and other such crap. Also you should be able to choose the folder you want to install a game to.

..............................KModerator comment................................

I think many sites like this have been forced to use such practices; consider the following:

Prior to 2008 all arcade games (or most) cost a minimum of $19.99 each and all AAA games cost around $45 each. Arcade games held their price virtually for the life of the game, whereas AAA games would reduce in price perhaps several months to a year later. Spin forwards a few years and you see sites like Real Arcade and Big Fish undercutting independent developers by selling games at around $6 each, with regular sales occurring where you could get the same games for less than $3 each, That's a massive reduction on what arcade games were costing only a few years previously. Post 2008 sites like Steam and Direct 2 Drive started selling AAA games at sale prices within a few months of release for as little as 75% less than the release price. Now come to the last year where you could purchase literally hundreds of dollars worth of arcade games for less than $5 from projects like the Humble Bundle, Indievania and Indie Gala ( the last Humble Bundle had over $400 worth of AAA games selling for less than $6). No one seems willing to pay what these games are worth any more, (IMO). We all want them seriously reduced in price or for free. With lowering of prices comes a reduction in quality and game development houses closing their doors due to lack of profits. The gaming industry is in serious trouble right now because of this with some well known developers for example THQ on the verge of collapse (The Humble bundle I mentioned above sold 9 THQ games plus extras for less than $6 for the lot (though you could pay more if you wanted, however, the average price never rose above $6). Apparently THQ received a massive influx of revenue by selling those games so cheap as many users who wouldn't normally purchase such games jumped on the band wagon to get some brilliant games (Darksiders, Red Faction: Armageddon + dlc, Metro 2033, all three Company of Heroes games, Saints Row the Third, Titan Quest and Warhammer 40 000: Dawn of War

Anyway, to the point, toolbars and home page hijacks can bring in extra revenue; it is for this reason why we are seeing more and more sites adding toolbars and other annoyances. Even Alawar now include toolbars. Thankfully you can avoid these by un-checking the boxes. The games themselves have no toolbars attached, so once you've installed them and ensured you've unchecked the boxes you will be toolbar free. :)

NO legitimate software should add any nuisanceware, malware, etc unwanted toolbars, advertising, or any other such crap to your system. I absolutely hate the way so many software vendors and download sites like Cnet that used to be reputable but now try to sneak in toolbars, change your homepage and search preferences, sneak install advertising and shopping apps along with legitimate programs and other such crap.  Also you should be able to choose the folder you want to install a game to.

..............................KModerator comment................................

I think many sites like this have been forced  to   use such practices;  consider the following:

Prior to 2008  all arcade games (or most) cost a minimum of $19.99 each and all AAA games cost around $45 each.  Arcade games held their price    virtually  for the life of the game, whereas AAA games  would reduce in price    perhaps several months to a year later.  Spin forwards a few years and you see sites like Real Arcade and Big Fish  undercutting independent  developers  by selling games at   around $6 each,   with  regular sales occurring  where you could get the same  games for  less than $3 each, That's a massive reduction on what arcade games were costing only a few years previously.   Post 2008  sites like Steam and Direct 2 Drive  started selling AAA games  at sale prices  within a few months of release  for as little as 75%  less than the release price.  Now come to the last year where you could  purchase literally hundreds of dollars worth of arcade games  for less than  $5 from  projects like the Humble Bundle, Indievania and Indie Gala  ( the last  Humble Bundle   had over  $400 worth of AAA games selling  for  less than $6).  No one  seems willing to  pay   what  these games  are worth any more, (IMO).  We all want them seriously reduced in price or for free.  With lowering of prices    comes a reduction in quality and  game development houses  closing their doors  due to lack of profits.  The gaming industry is in serious trouble right now because of  this with   some well known developers for example THQ  on the verge of collapse (The Humble bundle I  mentioned above    sold 9 THQ games  plus extras for less than $6 for the lot (though you could pay more if you wanted, however,  the average price never rose above $6).  Apparently THQ    received   a massive influx of   revenue  by selling those games  so cheap as many   users who wouldn't normally purchase such games jumped on the band wagon to get    some brilliant games (Darksiders, Red Faction: Armageddon + dlc, Metro 2033, all three Company of Heroes games, Saints Row the Third, Titan Quest and Warhammer 40 000: Dawn of War

Anyway, to the point,   toolbars and  home page hijacks can bring in extra revenue; it is for this reason why we are seeing   more and more sites adding   toolbars and  other  annoyances.  Even Alawar now include toolbars.  Thankfully   you can avoid these by un-checking the  boxes.  The games themselves  have no toolbars attached, so once you've installed them and ensured you've unchecked the boxes  you will be toolbar free.  :)

Save | Cancel

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

#7

Well I'm disappointed. This is the absolute very first time I've ever had any problem installing a game from Game Giveaway of the Day.

I've tried several times but all I get is the "Game Fools Presents" splash screen for just a few seconds and then this error message...

Runtime Error (at 38:93):
Access is denied.

I don't know what that means but it won't install at all because of it. :(

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated - I was really looking forward to trying this game.

Thank you.

Lynn

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

Check the following link for help:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000380.htm#runtime

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

#6

What you are getting Christian is a false positive. It's your choice not to download, but it will be you and those you and others who post such comments scare off that5 will losre out on what is possibly a decent game.

My own anti malware suite and 45 out of 45 other anti virus programs via Virus Total say there isn't a virus present in this game. that plus the fact that no virus has ever been found in any previous game giveaway (despite many users reporting such attacks) would indicate yet another false positive.

Some anti malware programs are notorious for flagging flase positives. Who would you trust, a program that regularly gives false positives or a team that have over a period of six years given away over 1000 games and over 2200 applications all of which have been totally free of malware.

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

#5

I find strange that the comment of Whiterabbit start with an analysis antivirus.

personally that does not reassure me, you can put it after the comment it is better.

usually the viral alert is not in the setup of GAOTD but in installation of the software itself.
in this example is not the "setup.exe" is in the unwrapped "My Life Story.exe" (HERE I HAVE NO ALERT, NO PROBLEM)

the install file unwrapped* by GAOTD is THE SAME as http://www.gamefools.com/downloads/mylifestory/2995.html

if you don't want tell your mail address, the direct download of the file is
http://games3.gamefools.com/games/MyLifeStorySetup.exe

you can find the scan result of the same file by gamefools :
https://www.virustotal.com/url/301999217626345d8cbd58a774ed87ba4d670ff362da8733f2b293ff7b890659/analysis/

cordially Sacha

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR AT ALL

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

I posted the virus results because two users had posted saying there was a virus. All I'm trying to do is reassure the community that the game is safe because whenever a community member does post such information before its been properly tested it results in many community members not downloading a perfectly safe game. I've seen it time and time again, when someone early on has said Oh my god the game has a virus, the download numbers significantly reduce.

As I've said countless times before, all game giveaways are throughly tested and no game ever given away in the six plus years the game giveaway has ran has been infected with malware.

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

#4

Thank you for the review and the installation information. Not being able to choose where I want to install a game is a big thumbs down from me and a HUGE no thank you. By the way publisher the program files folder is for programs. I have a game folder for games. Thank you anyway GGOTD team. Keep up the great work.

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

Once installed you can manually move the game to your games folder. I also always install to a separate games folder on a different drive.
you will have to create new shortcuts and delete the ones created.

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

#3

Installed, activated with the key provided, and launched successfully on Windows 8 Pro x64. I havn't actually had time to play the game at all, just to test that it launched, so I don't know how it plays on Windows 8, but I do know that it will start.

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

#2

While posting my first comment your review was posted so I didn't see it until after I posted.

In your review you state that the security wrapped file 'setup.gcd' might cause a false positive. It was not this file that triggered my antivirus alert but the MyLifeStory.exe file that was created during the install. After the install completed, it continues to be identified as a malware.

I've submitted it to Comodo as a false positive. If they confirm it I'll let you know.

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

Hi Bawdyn,

As I've said countless times, all game giveaways are throughly checked for malware, and the giveaway teams (both the games and applications) have never given away a game in the six plus years that they have been operating, yet there have been many false positives, many of which have stopped a significant percentage of users from downloading the safe games because of the fear factor. Every time someone reports a virus warning, the number of downloads reduces significantly. It's a shame because it's 'very' unlikely that the game is infected. It's distributed via many of the well known sites such as Big Fish.

Still, each community member has to make the decision whether or not to install themselves. I'm just trying to put things into perspective. The giveaway team stand to lose a lot if they started allowing malware infested games and applications through, most notable their clean standing with the search engines and no doubt a significant portion of the community.

What you may be seeing is the extras that the game distributor tries to install. These are an annoyance at the very least, but can easily be avoided by ensuring all tick boxes are unchecked before you proceed with the installation. Thankfully two of the tick boxes are already unchecked; only the Gamefool toolbar is checked when you open up the installation wizard. It's likely that your AV software is picking this up as malware. The actual game once installed should be totally free from such inconveniences.

See the results I've posted in my review at comment #1 that show 45 out of 45 of the top anti malware packages clear this game of any malware attacks including the software you are using (Comodo).

While posting my first comment your review was posted so I didn't see it until after I posted.

In your review you state that the security wrapped file 'setup.gcd' might cause a false positive. It was not this file that triggered my antivirus alert but the MyLifeStory.exe file that was created during the install. After the install completed, it continues to be identified as a malware.

I've submitted it to Comodo as a false positive. If they confirm it I'll let you know.

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

Hi Bawdyn,

As I've said countless times, all game giveaways are  throughly checked  for malware, and the giveaway teams (both the games and applications)  have never  given away  a game in the six plus years that they have been operating, yet there have been many false positives, many of which have stopped   a significant percentage of users from downloading   the  safe games  because of the fear factor.   Every time someone reports   a virus warning,  the  number of downloads  reduces significantly.  It's a shame because it's  'very' unlikely  that the game is infected.  It's  distributed   via  many of the well known sites such as Big Fish.

Still, each  community member has to make the decision whether or not to install  themselves.  I'm just trying to put things into perspective.  The giveaway team stand to lose a lot if they started  allowing malware infested games and applications through, most notable their  clean standing with the   search engines and no doubt a significant portion of the community.

What you may be seeing is the extras that  the game distributor  tries to install.  These are  an annoyance at the very least, but can easily be avoided by ensuring all tick boxes are unchecked before you proceed with the installation.  Thankfully    two of the tick boxes are already  unchecked; only the Gamefool  toolbar   is checked  when you   open up the  installation wizard.   It's likely that your  AV software is picking this up as malware.  The actual game once installed     should be  totally free from such inconveniences.

See the results I've posted in my review at comment #1 that show   45 out of 45 of the top anti malware packages  clear this  game  of any  malware attacks including  the software you are using (Comodo).

Save | Cancel

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

#1

Please Note:

Yet again some community members are reporting a virus. Every game giveaway since the project started back in Dec 2006 has been free of malware. The giveaway team stand to lose a lot if they started to allow malware infested games through. As it is, the giveaway team use several anti malware suites to test all game so its 'very' likely that what those community members have seen is a false positive.

I've already installed the game so will re test the installed games files using one of the well known online anti malware suites and report back the results soon. (My anti Malware suite didn't pick up anything).

What those who are picking up a virus are seeing is possibly the toolbar practice that Gamefool seems to have adopted. When the installation wizard starts you'll see a toolbar checkbox which is ticked. Make sure that is unchecked to avoid getting the Gamefool toolbar added to your internet browser. There are other check boxes, but thankfully those are already unchecked.

It's up to each individual to decide whether they are going to believe that the giveaway team have made sure this game is safe or believe anti malware suites that are notorious for giving false positives.

Please don't let what are almost certainly false positives stop you from downloading todays game, which i can say is very different from the usual games we get

I've scanned the main executable (the orange wrapped file) with Virus total. you can see the results below. It had already been scanned two days ago and i rescanned it. both results showed a detection ratio of 0 out of 45 different anti malware programs. Hopefully these results will stop those of you who always err on the anti-malware side when they report a positive hit to think again. :)

Latest Scan done at around 10.15am 30th Dec 2012:

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

My Life Story:

In Brief:

Set off on a whimsical adventure to discover your true calling! Dump your dead-end job, find a mentor, and take charge of your destiny. Explore the town to learn talents, complete quests, and unlock powerful skills and upgrades.

Installation:

My Life Story downloads to a 49 MB zip file that unpacks to a read me and a wrapped setup file (the orange colored file with the key symbol), plus there's a security file that protects the wrapped file from being hacked called setup.gcd. This file may case some security software to alert the user to a possible malware attack, but it will be a false positive. The game giveaway team check all game giveaways for malware using several well known anti -malware suites. There has never been a game giveaway infected with malware since the project started back in Dec 2006.

Today's game comes with a name and registration code, which you'll find in the read me.

I don't like the fact that during installation if you don't uncheck the Gamefools toolbar checkbox you'll end up with an extra toolbar in your browser. also you can't select where you want to install the game, it automatically installs to the following path:

C:\Program files (x86)\MyLifeStory\MyLifeStory.exe

If you have a 32 bit system ignore the (x86) in the path above. Two shortcuts are installed to the desktop. The game shortcut and a shortcut to the game distibutors site (gamefools.com). There's also a shorcut installed directly into the program list (via the start menu) plus a folder containing a shortcut for the game and an uninstaller shortcut again installed to the Start Menu/programs list.

I've only tested the game on win 7 . My other operating systems are not available at this time due to updating my older computers. According to the developer the game should also work with XP and Vista, but no mention of Win 8 has been made yet. anyone running win 8, please confirm whether this game works Thanks.

Introduction:

Survive the ordeals of modern day life as you strive toward the career of your dreams in My Life Story. As a recent high school graduate living in your parents' basement, life is just getting started. It's time to find a job, move into an apartment and work your way through the collegiate ranks. As you explore the town, you'll uncover special events, intriguing encounters and even home furnishings that improve your weekend. Difficult choices lurk around every corner, and only you know the true path to success.

Reference accessed HERE Dec 29th 2012

The Game:

The game starts with a short tutorial. You have four bars that summarize your needs: Fun, Energy, Hunger, and Health. One larger bar, Happiness, is the average of those four. Every activity in the game affects these bars in some way. You might go to the club for a relaxing night out, but it'll drain your Energy and Hunger while boosting your Fun. Like your mom always said, everything is important in moderation. If you overdo it, it's a round trip ticket to the hospital, costing you half your bank account and a big chunk of your week. Just like real life

Every activity is measured in hours, and everything, even pretending you're John Travolta, counts towards the weekly total. The white clock at the bottom of the screen counts off the hours to the weekend, when you go home for a well-deserved rest. Over the weekend, your possessions in the house help recharge your various stats according to their quality. My Espresso maker gave a big boost to my Energy, while my crappy VCR gave a small boost to my Fun. Your surroundings matter too: as soon as I upgraded from the Shady Apartments to the hip Camelot Condos, my weekend bonuses were doubled. As you become more successful, this changes your playstyle significantly, as you go from relying on the coffee shop's stream of caffeine to waiting until the weekend, when you can drown your fatigue in a river of espresso.

Added to this is an interesting mechanic borrowed from tabletop games like Risk and Monopoly as well as the Xbox Live achievement system. As your character lives his or her life story, they'll be presented with decisions at the various buildings they frequent in town. Marked by a yellow exclamation point, these decisions usually result in boosts and drains to your stats or cash reserves. However, answer enough of them positively and you'll get the Optimist award, accompanied by a Life Card.

Life Cards are like Community Chest cards in Monopoly: they give you bonuses to your stats and other benefits. The 'Day Spa' card replenishes all your stats at once, while another, 'Gut Bomb', means you never get hungry in the week that it's active. Life Cards can be lifesavers, covering your hospital bills when you forget to watch your Fun meter, or giving you a steep discount on all the cash services in the town. You only gain them when you win Awards, but fortunately you win Awards for doing pretty much everything in the game, from visiting the spa to sitting in front of the TV. It adds a lot of freshness to what could otherwise be a pretty boring sim.

Ultimately, that's the goal of My Life Story. You have two ranks, Experience and Education, which determine what jobs you're eligible for. Each job gets you a varying amount of Experience while stressing you out and damaging your needs bars. For example, my brief stint as a bouncer paid very well, but it wasn't fun and was quite unhealthy for me. Similarly, studying at Dreams University drains all your bars quickly, just like real school. More than once, my character collapsed at school from exhaustion, malnutrition, or severe depression. The game is done when you have both bars completely filled and you achieve the best job available based on your education, career and life decisions.

Reference accessed HERE Dec 29th 2012

Features :

☆ Incredible gameplay
☆ Fantastic storyline
☆ Meet entertaining characters and shape your destiny!
☆ Find your life’s true calling!

System Requirements:

• Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7
• 1GHz
• DirectX 9.0
• 512MB RAM
• 100MB

Video & Images

You can see a video of the initial tutorial for My Life Story HERE and you can find videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

Conclusion:

Like the Sims, balancing work and pleasure for your avatar is a lot of fun at first, but watching bars fill gets old quickly. The retro pixel graphics and often funny comments from the people in your town help for a bit, but eventually the game starts to drag. That's when the game turns from a Sims-like virtual life simulator to a time management sim, courtesy of the game's weekly structure.

Some activities boost or drain activities more quickly than others. The real meat of the game is in determining the best jobs and relaxing activities to get the most experience out of every week. At one point, my character was moving from her job as a video game tester, which drained her health rapidly, to the coffee shop to replenish her energy and then to the gym to try and counteract the effects of sitting and playing games all day. That's when I realized the game had become a stunningly accurate representation of my life. :) except I don't drink coffee because of the drugs I have to take, it makes me feel sick. (I used to love coffee)

That part of the game is pretty fun! Unfortunately, if you play your Life Cards right, eventually you'll find that you've figured out the best way to replenish your stats, and then the game becomes a merciless slog through one job after another. This isn't helped by one late-game unlock, which replenishes all your stats super-quickly for the right amount of cash. In theory, this cash limit stops you from just using it all the time, but at that point I had enough money saved to buy Atlanta.

All in all, if you've run out of things to do in the Sims, then you'll like My Life Story. There's a lot of replayability if you're into the game play, since every career and educational choice affects the outcome of the game. There's a lot of humour in the game too; every character has something funny to say, and more often than not I found myself chuckling at the game's jokes at its own expense. If you want a simple, pleasant-looking and sounding career-building sim, then My Life Story is for you.

According to one user who played this game, there's possibly a bug in the game. When you are in event-action like being taken to hospital, don't try to quit otherwise your save file may be corrupted.

Scoring

Gameplay – 7
Graphics – 7
Audio – 7
Re-playability – 7
Originality – 8

Total = 7.2

Problems:

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

Games, Games, and yet more Games plus Download, Installation & Game play Problemsl>:

If you have any problems installing or getting to work today's game please go HERE for help.

If you're looking for something other than today's game check the didimatic site via THIS link for some brilliant deals.

There are several other deals available from Steam as well as many more from Gamersgate, Gamestop, Greenman Gaming and GOG; all of which you can find via the Didimatic site, which I've linked to above (apart from Greenman gaming.

Steam's Christmas sale is on at the moment with prices slashed on hundreds of games.

The usual monthly free game from Alawars game box is still Finding Doggy. (You need to install the free Gamebox from Alawar to access the free games, which for newcomers change approximately every month). If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums HERE for details of other games either free or on deals.

Check out the Game discussion forums HERE for details of any Indie Game Bundles that are still live.

If you want something to play, but todays game isn't for you and you want something for free, then check out Gametop, MyPlayCity and FreeGamePick for loads of free games (MPC have at least 600 quality free arcade games)

Do be aware that these sites may add toolbars and home page hijacks to your web browser, but these can be avoided by un-checking the appropriate boxes during installation. Also when you close any of their games down, your browser is opened and directed to the sites home page. This is innocuous so don’t worry. Closing the page ends any connection and nothing is downloaded.

========================================================

A Request for helpl>:

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

========================================================

Please Note:

<blockquote>Yet again some community members are reporting a virus. Every game giveaway since the project started back in Dec 2006 has been free of malware. The giveaway team stand to lose a lot if they started to allow malware infested games through. As it is, the giveaway team use several anti malware suites to test all game so its 'very' likely that what those community members have seen is a false positive.

I've already installed the game so will     re test the  installed games files   using one of the well known  online  anti malware suites  and report back  the results soon. (My anti Malware  suite didn't pick up anything).

What   those who are picking up a virus are seeing is  possibly the   toolbar  practice that Gamefool seems to have adopted.  When the installation wizard starts   you'll see a  toolbar checkbox which is ticked.  Make sure that is unchecked to avoid getting  the Gamefool toolbar added to your internet browser.  There are other check boxes, but thankfully those are already unchecked.

It's up to each individual to decide whether they are going to   believe  that the giveaway team have made sure this game is safe or believe    anti malware   suites that are notorious for giving false positives.

Please don't let what are almost certainly false positives stop you from downloading todays game, which i can say is very different from the usual games we get</blockquote>

I've  scanned the main executable (the orange wrapped file) with  Virus total.  you can see the results below.  It had already been scanned  two days ago and i rescanned it.  both results showed a detection ratio of 0 out of 45 different anti malware programs.  Hopefully these results will  stop those of you who always err on the anti-malware side when they  report a positive hit  to think again.  :)

Latest Scan  done at around 10.15am 30th Dec 2012:

My Life Story:

In Brief:

Set off on a whimsical adventure to discover your true calling! Dump your dead-end job, find a mentor, and take charge of your destiny. Explore the town to learn talents, complete quests, and unlock powerful skills and upgrades.

Installation:

My Life Story downloads to a 49 MB zip file  that unpacks to a read me and a wrapped setup file (the orange colored  file with the key symbol), plus there's a security file that protects the wrapped file from being hacked called setup.gcd.  This file may case some security software to  alert the user  to a possible malware attack, but   it will be a false positive.  The game giveaway team  check all game giveaways for  malware using several well known  anti -malware suites.  There has never been a game giveaway infected with malware since the project started  back in Dec 2006.

Today's game comes with a name and  registration code, which you'll find in the read me.

I don't like the  fact that during installation if you don't uncheck the Gamefools toolbar checkbox you'll end up with an extra toolbar in your browser.  also  you can't select where you want to install the game, it automatically installs to the following path:

C:\Program files (x86)\MyLifeStory\MyLifeStory.exe

If you have a 32 bit system ignore the (x86) in the path above.  Two shortcuts are installed to the desktop.  The game  shortcut and  a shortcut to  the game distibutors site (gamefools.com).  There's also a shorcut installed directly into the program list (via the start menu) plus a  folder containing  a  shortcut  for the game and an uninstaller shortcut again installed to the Start Menu/programs list.

I've only tested the game on win 7 .  My other operating systems are  not available at this time due to updating my older computers. According to the developer the game should also work with XP and Vista, but no mention of Win 8 has been made yet.  anyone running win 8, please confirm whether this game works  Thanks.

Introduction:

<blockquote>Survive the ordeals of modern day life as you strive toward the career of your dreams in My Life Story. As a recent high school graduate living in your parents' basement, life is just getting started. It's time to find a job, move into an apartment and work your way through the collegiate ranks. As you explore the town, you'll uncover special events, intriguing encounters and even home furnishings that improve your weekend. Difficult choices lurk around every corner, and only you know the true path to success.</blockquote>

Reference accessed <a href="http://www.gamefools.com/downloads/mylifestory/2995.html" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> Dec 29th 2012

The Game:

The game starts with a short tutorial. You have four bars that summarize your needs: Fun, Energy, Hunger, and Health. One larger bar, Happiness, is the average of those four. Every activity in the game affects these bars in some way. You might go to the club for a relaxing night out, but it'll drain your Energy and Hunger while boosting your Fun. Like your mom always said, everything is important in moderation. If you overdo it, it's a round trip ticket to the hospital, costing you half your bank account and a big chunk of your week. Just like real life

Every activity is measured in hours, and everything, even pretending you're John Travolta, counts towards the weekly total. The white clock at the bottom of the screen counts off the hours to the weekend, when you go home for a well-deserved rest. Over the weekend, your possessions in the house help recharge your various stats according to their quality. My Espresso maker gave a big boost to my Energy, while my crappy VCR gave a small boost to my Fun. Your surroundings matter too: as soon as I upgraded from the Shady Apartments to the hip Camelot Condos, my weekend bonuses were doubled. As you become more successful, this changes your playstyle significantly, as you go from relying on the coffee shop's stream of caffeine to waiting until the weekend, when you can drown your fatigue in a river of espresso.

Added to this is an interesting mechanic borrowed from tabletop games like Risk and Monopoly as well as the Xbox Live achievement system. As your character lives his or her life story, they'll be presented with decisions at the various buildings they frequent in town. Marked by a yellow exclamation point, these decisions usually result in boosts and drains to your stats or cash reserves. However, answer enough of them positively and you'll get the Optimist award, accompanied by a Life Card.

Life Cards are like Community Chest cards in Monopoly: they give you bonuses to your stats and other benefits. The 'Day Spa' card replenishes all your stats at once, while another, 'Gut Bomb', means you never get hungry in the week that it's active. Life Cards can be lifesavers, covering your hospital bills when you forget to watch your Fun meter, or giving you a steep discount on all the cash services in the town. You only gain them when you win Awards, but fortunately you win Awards for doing pretty much everything in the game, from visiting the spa to sitting in front of the TV. It adds a lot of freshness to what could otherwise be a pretty boring sim.

Ultimately, that's the goal of My Life Story. You have two ranks, Experience and Education, which determine what jobs you're eligible for. Each job gets you a varying amount of Experience while stressing you out and damaging your needs bars. For example, my brief stint as a bouncer paid very well, but it wasn't fun and was quite unhealthy for me. Similarly, studying at Dreams University drains all your bars quickly, just like real school. More than once, my character collapsed at school from exhaustion, malnutrition, or severe depression. The game is done when you have both bars completely filled and you achieve the best job available based on your education, career and life decisions.

Reference accessed <a href="http://jayisgames.com/archives/2010/04/my_life_story.php" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> Dec 29th 2012

Features :

☆ Incredible gameplay
☆ Fantastic storyline
☆ Meet entertaining characters and shape your destiny!
☆ Find your life’s true calling!

System Requirements:

•	Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7
•	1GHz
•	DirectX 9.0
•	512MB RAM
•	100MB

Video & Images

You can see a video of the initial tutorial for My Life Story <a href="http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/ss160/Whiterabbit04/My%20Life%20Story/?albumview=slideshow" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> and you can find videos of game play <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpQuc0ZqaxE" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCLanuK--dg" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXIUnAF6dOg" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtvwK9LQLUI" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>

Conclusion:

Like the Sims, balancing work and pleasure for your avatar is a lot of fun at first, but watching bars fill gets old quickly. The retro pixel graphics and often funny comments from the people in your town help for a bit, but eventually the game starts to drag. That's when the game turns from a Sims-like virtual life simulator to a time management sim, courtesy of the game's weekly structure.

Some activities boost or drain activities more quickly than others. The real meat of the game is in determining the best jobs and relaxing activities to get the most experience out of every week. At one point, my character was moving from her job as a video game tester, which drained her health rapidly, to the coffee shop to replenish her energy and then to the gym to try and counteract the effects of sitting and playing games all day. That's when I realized the game had become a stunningly accurate representation of my life. :)  except I don't drink coffee because of the drugs I have to take, it makes me feel sick.  (I used to love coffee)

That part of the game is pretty fun! Unfortunately, if you play your Life Cards right, eventually you'll find that you've figured out the best way to replenish your stats, and then the game becomes a merciless slog through one job after another. This isn't helped by one late-game unlock, which replenishes all your stats super-quickly for the right amount of cash. In theory, this cash limit stops you from just using it all the time, but at that point I had enough money saved to buy Atlanta.

All in all, if you've run out of things to do in the Sims, then you'll like My Life Story. There's a lot of replayability if you're into the game play, since every career and educational choice affects the outcome of the game. There's a lot of humour in the game too; every character has something funny to say, and more often than not I found myself chuckling at the game's jokes at its own expense. If you want a simple, pleasant-looking and sounding career-building sim, then My Life Story is for you.

According to one user who played this game, there's  possibly a  bug in the game. When you are in event-action like being taken to hospital, don't try to quit otherwise  your save file may   be  corrupted.

Scoring

Gameplay –  7
Graphics – 7
Audio – 7
Re-playability – 7
Originality – 8

Total = 7.2

Problems:

Games, Games, and yet more Games plus Download, Installation & Game play Problems:

If you have any problems installing or getting to work today's game please go <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/11647#post-101133" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> for help.

If you're looking for something other than today's game check the didimatic site via <a href="http://didimatic.com/dd/en/onsale/steam/" rel="nofollow">THIS</a> link for some brilliant deals.
 
There are several other deals available from Steam as well as many more from Gamersgate, Gamestop, Greenman Gaming and GOG; all of which you can find via the Didimatic site, which I've linked to above (apart from Greenman gaming.

Steam's Christmas sale is on at the moment with prices slashed on hundreds of games. 
 
The usual monthly free game from Alawars game box is still Finding Doggy. (You need to install the free Gamebox from Alawar to access the free games, which for newcomers change approximately every month). If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/forum/17" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> for details of other games either free or on deals.

Check out the Game discussion forums <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/forum/17" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> for details of any Indie Game Bundles that are still live.

If you want something to play, but todays game isn't for you and you want something for free, then  check out Gametop, MyPlayCity and FreeGamePick for loads of free games (MPC have at least 600 quality free arcade games)

Do be aware that these sites  may add  toolbars and  home page hijacks to your web  browser, but these can  be avoided by un-checking the  appropriate boxes during installation. Also when you close any of their games down, your browser is opened and directed to the sites  home page.  This is innocuous so don’t worry.  Closing the page ends any connection and nothing is downloaded.

A Request for help:

<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

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