Game Giveaway of the Day

#20

Hi, Bob. In case you come back, I noticed this during that Giveaway, but thought better of opening that can of worms as I didn't have time to verify what I'd found, which is: There's no common update to Open GL currently, btw it's up to 4 now, hasn't been such an update package - as opposed to Direct X - for a long time because it appears that all of the driver manufacturers have included compatibility in their driver updates. So, that is the short answer. Open GL error? Update your video driver.

I guess I should post over there too. Don't know if the problems with that still rage on, or if that's now a dead thread. I'll look.

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

#19

I played a little more this morning. Here's my suggestion - be able to pick up where you left off. Simple.

Even as a total novice, levels 1 and 2 are getting boring because you always have to go back and start at the beginning. When you lose you should have to replay that level, or maybe even get bounced back to the one before it, but starting over at Square One every time is lame - and I make dumb mistakes and miss easy moves because I want to get back to where I was - which is all the way to Level 5 (in EASY mode) in just one day.

Good game. Minor tweak would *really* be appreciated. Thanks.

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

#18

A nifty "ahooter" game. It's a genre I don't usually play, but I thought I'd give it a try. Quick download, easy install. Plays well on Windows7 64 bit - clarification: the *game* plays well, but I don't. Even in "Easy" mode I have not gotten past Level 4 LOL. I'll keep trying - off and on - telling myself it's a good test of hand/eye coordination.
Thanks to Stars Ashes, and as always, to White Rabbit.

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

#17

Thank-tou for that elaborate detail info on the DEP , will now have to review that ,
earlier on ranted a bit about the game GoblinDefenders_BattlesofSteel'n'Wood that would not run for me ,
before deleting them , found open Gl needed updating , found such for the gateway machine OK but for the HP machine not so good , says #1 seller in laptops but now even after BIOS update and trying to update video driver for the Open GL for version 1.5 was able to go from 1.0 (default) to 1.2 to now 1.4 but need 1.5 to run that game it says.
However the driver that intel supplies that will fix this,
HP and Windows won't let it install or even overwrite the default driver , what now form the looks of the comments back their should be posting over there ,
link to http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/goblin-defenders-battles-of-steel-n-wood/#postcomment

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

#16

I just saw this and thought I'd share it here for anyone interested.
(I hope that is allowed. If not, please just delete this message.)

GreenmanGaming.com is having a summer sale with up to 80% Off
+ Extra 20% off with coupon code "SLICKD-EALGMG-SALESV "

P.S. As always, thanks to GGOTD team and Stephen for all the fun you bring us.

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

#15

Fun game from prior giveaways. Just me but found those saws and bat get kinda tough to use. But your plays tips will help.

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

#14

Off topic to this game, but an update on my recent post about making exceptions to Windows Data Execution Prevention - DEP - causing games not to start WITHOUT always giving it's standard warning: (In a box notice that says Data Execution Prevention) "To help protect your computer, Windows has prevented this program from starting. I burden you good folks with this, because Whiterabbit intends to update the DEP section on the excellent forum page he links above that you should consult 1st when you're having any problems.

On the recently given away game Angry Daddy, I was given the message (I have seen this occasionally) that "This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way." So I tried a DEP exception. That message turns out to be one that a DEP exception is unlikely to help with BUT, I discovered a couple of things when I was playing around and afterward researching that add to the discussion. I had 3 combat flight simulators from Fly-Games that were not launching and DEP exceptions had not fixed that. But, returning DEP to it's default, that it only protects Windows Processes and Services, vice screening every running program on your computer, did fix these 3 games. Furthermore, and this was the reason I posted on this issue a few weeks ago, it's become clear that DEP errors don't always produce warnings. Quoting from a blog called Tech Journey about 4 years ago: "To make thing worse, DEP normally does not or fails to display or show any warning or information or acknowledgment message prompt that can let you know that DEP has shut down a process, thus causing you unaware of the reason why your setup file cannot run, or why your computer cannot start a service and etc." Or a program, in this case. However, I feel this is actually an overstatement. I would not say "normally", but occasionally they are at the bottom of a program not starting/launching. Not a miracle cure by any means, only sometimes, but worth a try.

Some background for those less tech obsessed, DEP was rolled out in Windows XP Service Pack 2 to plug a couple of holes in old programming techniques. To a computer, code and data are composed of the same things. 1 and 0s. So, early developers found that they could use a shortcut and get data to perform some of the work of code - to get the computer to do something - and, in some cases, this was reported to actually work better for some functions. 2 bad things, though. 1: most of the protections against malware were looking for malicious code, not malicious data, so bad guys could give you bad things through this loophole. 2: the main, effective way to do these bad things, was to get this hidden code to implant itself and do it's dirty work in parts of memory reserved for Windows. But that opened another can of worms, because that was also was a bad loophole for honest developers. They would try to cut out the middle man and write benevolent instructions that wouldn't be filtered through windows but would go directly to your cpu or graphic card for smoother, faster operation. But, when Windows would detect this memory conflict with data acting as code and trying to do benevolent things in Windows protected memory areas - THE DREADED B.S.O.D! (BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH CRASH ERROR). Microsoft came up with ways around this that greatly reduced B.S.O.D.s and DEP was just one of the 1st of them. And, more importantly, DEP helped plug that malware hole. But, when developers use those old techniques, even though benevolently, DEP can interfere. That's it's job.

So, As I say, for those getting either explicit DEP warnings, or whose programs that won't start, DEP has 2 settings. Just protect Windows, or protect everything. Protect Windows only is, again, the default setting. If ur a security paranoid, such as yours truly, you might be inclined to turn on protect everything. You can then then make an exception for the game that won't run, and see if that works. Note, you can't do that in the default setting. Or you can try going back to the default, protect windows only setting, if you've already set the stronger setting in the past.

So, 2 points. 1: Just because there's a setting for DEP exceptions, that doesn't mean it's the better way to go, because it might stop some programs you want later on. Even with the exception. Probably because it interferes with some other modules - Windows is ALL modular - loading into memory, even though you've made an exception for the actual game. 2: Is the stronger setting actually necessary or better? I suspect it is. After all, what if you do lose an ocassional - rarely I'd say - old game because you've got it on the higher setting? Is 1 game out of maybe a 100, when there's probably a ton of games just like it or better too, really a great loss?
But, as to the technical question as to whether full DEP is better, I'd love to here from one of our coder regulars, especially mike, who's expertise I've always admired. Wouldn't mind if one of those more savvy folks cleared up any murky points in my explanation, either. :P

But, I mainly post for our outstanding moderator, Whiterabbit, who, as I say, is faced with updating the forum post on common game problems. So, a verification of not always getting a DEP warning, but an added complication as to which setting to use, WR. Hope this helps more than hurts, though. :)

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

Thanks for the update. Much appreciated. will add this to the FAQ's eventually.

Off topic to this game, but an update on my recent post about making exceptions to Windows Data Execution Prevention - DEP - causing games not to start WITHOUT always giving it's standard warning: (In a box notice that says Data Execution Prevention) "To help protect your computer, Windows has prevented this program from starting. I burden you good folks with this, because Whiterabbit intends to update the DEP section on the excellent forum page he links above that you should consult 1st when you're having any problems.

On the recently given away game Angry Daddy, I was given the message (I have seen this occasionally) that "This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way." So I tried a DEP exception. That message turns out to be one that a DEP exception is unlikely to help with BUT, I discovered a couple of things when I was playing around and afterward researching that add to the discussion. I had 3 combat flight simulators from Fly-Games that were not launching and DEP exceptions had not fixed that. But, returning DEP to it's default, that it only protects Windows Processes and Services, vice screening every running program on your computer, did fix these 3 games. Furthermore, and this was the reason I posted on this issue a few weeks ago, it's become clear that DEP errors don't always produce warnings. Quoting from a blog called Tech Journey about 4 years ago: "To make thing worse, DEP normally does not or fails to display or show any warning or information or acknowledgment message prompt that can let you know that DEP has shut down a process, thus causing you unaware of the reason why your setup file cannot run, or why your computer cannot start a service and etc." Or a program, in this case. However, I feel this is actually an overstatement. I would not say "normally", but occasionally they are at the bottom of a program not starting/launching. Not a miracle cure by any means, only sometimes, but worth a try.

Some background for those less tech obsessed, DEP was rolled out in Windows XP Service Pack 2 to plug a couple of holes in old programming techniques. To a computer, code and data are composed of the same things. 1 and 0s. So, early developers found that they could use a shortcut and get data to perform some of the work of code - to get the computer to do something - and, in some cases, this was reported to actually work better for some functions. 2 bad things, though. 1: most of the protections against malware were looking for malicious code, not malicious data, so bad guys could give you bad things through this loophole. 2: the main, effective way to do these bad things, was to get this hidden code to implant itself and do it's dirty work in parts of memory reserved for Windows. But that opened another can of worms, because that was also was a bad loophole for honest developers. They would try to cut out the middle man and write benevolent instructions that wouldn't be filtered through windows but would go directly to your cpu or graphic card for smoother, faster operation. But, when Windows would detect this memory conflict with data acting as code and trying to do benevolent things in Windows protected memory areas - THE DREADED B.S.O.D! (BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH CRASH ERROR). Microsoft came up with ways around this that greatly reduced B.S.O.D.s and DEP was just one of the 1st of them. And, more importantly, DEP helped plug that malware hole. But, when developers use those old techniques, even though benevolently, DEP can interfere. That's it's job.

So, As I say, for those getting either explicit DEP warnings, or whose programs that won't start, DEP has 2 settings. Just protect Windows, or protect everything. Protect Windows only is, again, the default setting. If ur a security paranoid, such as yours truly, you might be inclined to turn on protect everything. You can then then make an exception for the game that won't run, and see if that works. Note, you can't do that in the default setting. Or you can try going back to the default, protect windows only setting, if you've already set the stronger setting in the past.

So, 2 points. 1: Just because there's a setting for DEP exceptions, that doesn't mean it's the better way to go, because it might stop some programs you want later on. Even with the exception. Probably because it interferes with some other modules - Windows is ALL modular - loading into memory, even though you've made an exception for the actual game. 2: Is the stronger setting actually necessary or better? I suspect it is. After all, what if you do lose an ocassional - rarely I'd say - old game because you've got it on the higher setting? Is 1 game out of maybe a 100, when there's probably a ton of games just like it or better too, really a great loss?
But, as to the technical question as to whether full DEP is better, I'd love to here from one of our coder regulars, especially mike, who's expertise I've always admired. Wouldn't mind if one of those more savvy folks cleared up any murky points in my explanation, either. :P

But, I mainly post for our outstanding moderator, Whiterabbit, who, as I say, is faced with updating the forum post on common game problems. So, a verification of not always getting a DEP warning, but an added complication as to which setting to use, WR. Hope this helps more than hurts, though. :)

<blockquote>
.................................Moderator Comment...................................

Thanks for the update. Much appreciated. will add this to the FAQ's eventually.</blockquote>

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

#13

A fun game that is in my 'classics' section. Glad to see it re-offered as I too lost it on an old computer.
And I can confirm it works on Windows 10, build 10240 (the RTM candidate we are running now) as I have ran it twice so far with no problems. More Fun Games like this giveawayoftheday! And more shooters please!

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

#12

Thanks a lot for adding, Aky’s XP Breakout. Yet a bit out of date, it'll be a lot of fun for my Grandson and me. We're having a great time "nerding computer" together. I love the retro part - my Grandson is almost 4 yo - and doesn't care about modern interface at all. Isotope is bookmarked. Thanks again - and have a great weekend.

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

#11

excellent -- have had much fun with this over the years

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

#10

I've seen and played this giveaway when it was offered before at an earlier date. There are much better games that are in the same genre as this. And free if you look. Thanks anyways GOTD.

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

#9

I wish they would give us a way to edit our notes -- That's 31,520 LEVELS, not Level sets.

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

I've edited it for you. :)

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

#8

I've got this game from some years ago from GameTop (It's also available from MyPlayCity). Note that it may be called "SawBlaster".

It's a nice game and is a bit more difficult and faster than some of the other breakouts.

Note to WR -- Ricochet Infinity is STILL adding levels. It's currently got 4375 extra level sets (beyond the 14 sets - 216 levels of the original game). As of last night, the 4375 levels were 68,210 levels for a maximum of 342,140 rings. I bought it from Amazon almost 3 years ago and I have reached the top ranking of "Ultimate Legendary Supreme Master of Infinity" at 100,000 rings! My current stats (yes I keep these in a spreadsheet) are: 31,520 levels completed, 157,600 Gold Rings, 1,128,676,905 points, 697 Hours, 27 Minutes, 12 seconds time spent (minimum - doesn't count re-dos to get all the rings), 8,565,278 bricks, and 3,464 lives lost. I don't have a stat of the number of extra lives I've given up at the end of a level set (they don't carry over). I have all level sets downloaded in case they decide to stop that server (it's locked up a few times).

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

Impressive Stats. I downloaded most of the levels available before Ricochet Infinity was released; (at least those rated to C using the old rating before Infinity was released), I spent weeks downloading them and then backed them up to disk, but haven't backed up any since I purchased Infinity from Reflexive Arcade when it was released. I tend to format my discs a couple of times a year and never remember to back up the level sets I've downloaded. Must do that sometime soon as I'm sure Amazon won't support it forever. Although I don't think Infinity is the best breakout, it's still one of my favorites. I've never bothered with the stats myself.

The previous games in the series didn't have the facility to download the custom levels from in game. You had to download them and add them to the games level folder manually. I'm sure a lot of those levels were deleted when Amazon purchased Reflexive Arcade becasue I've not been able to find many of the level sets I downloaded.

I've got this game from some years ago from GameTop (It's also available from MyPlayCity).  Note that it may be called "SawBlaster".

It's a nice game and is a bit more difficult and faster than some of the other breakouts.

Note to WR -- Ricochet Infinity is STILL adding levels.  It's currently got 4375 extra level sets (beyond the 14 sets - 216 levels of the original game).  As of last night, the 4375 levels were 68,210 levels for a maximum of 342,140 rings.  I bought it from Amazon almost 3 years ago and I have reached the top ranking of "Ultimate Legendary Supreme Master of Infinity" at 100,000 rings!  My current stats (yes I keep these in a spreadsheet) are:  31,520 levels completed, 157,600 Gold Rings, 1,128,676,905 points, 697 Hours, 27 Minutes, 12 seconds time spent (minimum - doesn't count re-dos to get all the rings), 8,565,278 bricks, and 3,464 lives lost.  I don't have a stat of the number of extra lives I've given up at the end of a level set (they don't carry over).  I have all level sets downloaded in case they decide to stop that server (it's locked up a few times).

<blockquote>
.....................................Moderator Comment...................................

Impressive Stats. I downloaded  most of the levels available before Ricochet Infinity was released; (at least those rated to C using the old  rating before Infinity was released), I spent weeks downloading them and then backed them up to disk, but haven't backed up any since I purchased Infinity from Reflexive Arcade when it was released.  I tend to format my discs  a couple of times a year and  never remember to  back up the level sets I've downloaded.  Must do that sometime soon as I'm sure Amazon won't support it forever.  Although I don't think Infinity is the best  breakout, it's still  one of my favorites.   I've never bothered with the stats myself.

The previous games in the series didn't have the facility to download the custom levels from in game. You had to download them and add them to the games level folder manually. I'm sure a lot of those levels were deleted when Amazon purchased Reflexive Arcade becasue I've not been able to find many of the level sets I downloaded.</blockquote>

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

#7

yay! One of the games my old external hd ate. I love this game!

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

#6

Fast download, quick setup, plays fine on my Win7-64 laptop. It's a solid breakout with gameplay similar to its Egyptoid siblings. It's the kind of game I enjoy occasionally for a bit of diversion, but it's not particularly immersive for me. After a couple of levels I'm ready for something else.

I agree with Stephan about the bat. I don't like the style - it feels awkward to maneuver, and I end up loosing lives as a result. The Egyptoid bats were easier to handle. I guess you could just consider it part of the challenge of the game, but I find it a little frustrating. I'd rather concentrate more on the action at hand.

Thanks to GOTD, Stars Ashes, and Stephan.

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

#5

I'm real glad to see this offered again! I lost many GOTD games when I had a computer die over a year ago. This was one of them. I am looking forward to playing it again! Any chance we will see the Egyptoid games and Nuclear Ball again?

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

#4

Ha, Sawoid

The games from this dev tend to end up on my system when they are given away here, I install, play and have a few hours of retro fun. After that they are gone again. Don't know why but it happens every time again. Fun enough to download and play, does have replay value but apparently not enough for me to keep it on the system :) (yet it is downloading once again, will be played a few hours once again and no doubt will be gone in about two weeks again lol)

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

I keep them simply because they have a very small footprint on my system. I've moved all of the game giveaways I know i'll play again to one of the back up drives, which include all breakouts, all shmups, tower defence games plus the better HOG's and Match three's and other rarer genres. I Don't keep any of the TM games becasue I really don't enjoy playing them, apart from maybe the Farm Frenzy series, but I have the early ones of those still from purchasing or getting for free for Beta Testing. (I think: I gave quite a few of my Alawar games away some years ago. Can't remember whether I gave any of the Farm Frenzy games away??

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

#3

I wish, I could suggest anything to make Sawoid better. I just loved it, when I tried it for the first time - years ago. It's just the kind of game, I need, when I'm stressed and need to pass some time and space - in my own little World. I imagine, it'll be a lot of fun with my Grandson....if I dare challenge him :P

Thanks a lot to, Star Ashes, for suiting my needs today - and, Whiterabbit/Stephen for fair review....and just for being here. Cheers from Denmark.

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

One of the best Breakouts I've played over the last 10 years is a game called Aky's XP Breakout. It's looking a little dated now, but still plays brilliantly. It has so many surprises as well as the usual stuff like power ups and the old flying saucer that randomly travels across the top of the arena. It also includes a level editor and extra levels are available from the developer. There's a mode you can unlock but to do so you have to attain specific goals like not bounce off the sides, only bounce off the ceiling from the bricks, collect specific poer ups etc. These fill special bars that when full open up the new mode, which plays differently from the main game. There's another one that unfortunately the name escapes me at the moment something like Brixout where every level looks totally different from the next from the types of bricks to the way you play. It also has some great power ups that i've never seen in any other breakout. There's decent free ones as well, which I've posted aobut in the forums several years ago and have linked to in my review. The one I can't remember the name of is also probably mentioned there. Oh yes, not forgetting the Ricochet series. The last one is probably the best because they integrated all the communities custom made levels that amount to tens of thousands of free levels into the game. Thankfully, Amazon (who purchased the original arcade/developer Reflexive have maintained the site where the custom levels are stored.

I wish, I could suggest anything to make Sawoid better. I just loved it, when I tried it for the first time - years ago. It's just the kind of game, I need, when I'm stressed and need to pass some time and space - in my own little World. I imagine, it'll be a lot of fun with my Grandson....if I dare challenge him :P

Thanks a lot to, Star Ashes, for suiting my needs today - and, Whiterabbit/Stephen for fair review....and just for being here. Cheers from Denmark.

<blockquote>
..............................................Moderator Comment.................................

One of the best Breakouts I've played over the last 10 years is a game called Aky's XP Breakout. It's looking a little dated now, but still plays brilliantly. It has so many surprises as well as the usual stuff like power ups and the old flying saucer that randomly travels across the top of the arena. It also includes a level editor and extra levels are available from the developer. There's a mode you can unlock but to do so you have to attain specific goals like not bounce off the sides, only bounce off the ceiling from the bricks, collect specific poer ups etc. These fill special bars that when full open up the new mode, which plays differently from the main game. There's another one that unfortunately the name escapes me at the moment something like Brixout where every level looks totally different from the next from the types of bricks to the way you play. It also has some great power ups that i've never seen in any other breakout. There's decent free ones as well, which I've posted aobut in the forums several years ago and have linked to in my review. The one I can't remember the name of is also probably mentioned there. Oh yes, not forgetting the Ricochet series. The last one is probably the best because they integrated all the communities custom made levels that amount to tens of thousands of free levels into the game. Thankfully, Amazon (who purchased the original arcade/developer Reflexive have maintained the site where the custom levels are stored.</blockquote>

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

#2

Thanks Star Aches, GGOTD and WR,

installed on W7 home 64b and W8,1 64b.
Perfect for the younger ones, my daughters do liArkanoidke it, while most Arkanoid quickly get to hard, they played a few levels in the first go!
I had the impresion that the gameplay on W7 was a little faster than on W8,1

Your discription covers all,

A keeper for us

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

#1

Sawoid is a reasonable breakout game that was created by Stars Ashes, the developer who also created two other familiar breakouts called Egyptoid and Egyptoid 2, as well as a shooter called Incinerate. All have been given away previously and are now available for free via Gametop. (If you really like breakout/arkanoid games, Gametop have a nice collection of 11 breakouts). :)

Sawoid has been given away seven times previously. Last year May 31st 2014 where it received a 62% approval rating out of 313 votes and reveived 12 comments which can be read HERE. Previous to that it was given away September 2013 where it received a positve 68% out of 312 votes with 10 comments and prior to that it was given away December 2012 where it received a positive 73% out of 290 votes with 12 comments, (May 2012) where it received a positive 69% out of 290 votes with 30 comments that can be read HERE, previous to that it was also given away back in July 2010 where it received a positive 47% out of 213 votes with 35 comments then again Feb 2011 when it received a positive 72% of 350 votes with 45 comments and finally September 2011 where it received a positive 65% from 306 votes with 34 comments; all of which you can read HERE (July 2010), HERE (Feb 2011) and HERE (Sept 2011), HERE (Dec 2012), HERE (May 2012) and HERE (Sept 2013). You will need to click on the view all comments link to see all the comments. Don’t let the relatively low number of positives put you off this game. It’s actually a well-made breakout with decent graphics that was released several years ago.

The download size is 20.0Mb which when installed expands to 25.9MB. The game unpacks to a dual setup and activation module a security file called setop.gcd and a read me file. There is no activation code required as it is automatically activated via the dual activation/setup module. The default installation path is:

C:\Games\Sawoid_Game

There is no shortcut installed or a start menu shortcut. If you're not sure how to create the latter, there's a short tutorial available in the game discussion forums. You'll find it easily as it's in the stickies on the front page of the gaming forum.

The game works on Win 7 and win 8.1. I've not tested it recently on the other versions of windows, but I've previously tested the game on XP and Vista and it worked on those as well.

I've checked to see if there is a version number but cannot find one. The downloaded file and the installed game are both slightly different to the previous giveaway, but have not detected any differences that i can remeber, so I'm assuming this is the same version. It's an old game, so unlikely to be upgraded. Right clicking on the executable, selecting properties then checking details and previous version tabs gives no information as to whether it is an upgrade.

Story:

You volunteered to be assigned to the VIOLATOR ship. Your objective is to conduct a raid into enemy territory and destroy the troop supplies. For this particular long-term mission away from the supply ship, the scientists have developed Sawoid, a totally new type of armament not requiring resupplying! Nothing can stand the wrecking Sawoid; however, there is one shortcoming, Sawoid is hard to control!

Good luck, private!

reference accessed HERE 1st July 2010

The Game

There’s not a lot you can say about a breakout/arkanoid that most community members won’t already know, so I’ll try and keep this short. I’ll describe the features I found in Sawoid before writing a brief conclusion to the game.

The most striking difference between Sawoid and most other breakouts is that Sawoid doesn’t have a ball; instead it has circular saws. You get three lives to start with, but can easily build these up to several lives as there are a generous number of bonus lives available. Otherwise it’s a typical 3D breakout with average looking graphics. The game has 20 bonuses that include ball and bat changers, additional lives, bombs, a magnet, armor, different types of cannon and four different types of Sawoid power ups as well as a few other bonuses.

You can change the games resolution if needed to one of several choices via the options menu. There’s also the usual sound and music sliders, a windowed toggle and the ability to turn on improved lighting. I’ve posted a couple of screen-shots to illustrate the difference between the advanced lighting and no lighting.

When you complete a level the level scrolls onto the next level as though you are in a ship. There are three difficulty settings. On medium I found the Sawoid was a little too slow for me unless I picked up the speed up bonus a couple of times. You’ll find gun emplacements, and moving ships that fire back at you. When you start a level your ship has 100% armor. If you get hit by the pulse cannons or missiles you’ll lose 5% of your armor by each hit. They fire dual cannons so this can result in a 10% loss depending where you are in relation to the incoming shots; however, there are armor bonuses that are quite common, though most armor bonuses give only 1% armor back.

Thankfully there are three or four different sizes of armor bonus available. There is a damage indicator to the bottom right of the playing area. Some of the gun emplacements and ships are protected from damage when hit from the front. To destroy these you need to use your guns or hit them from behind.

You don’t get unlimited ammo with the guns and lasers, so you need to use these sensibly. I counted about 30 shots, which is ample to do a significant amount of damage to the level in terms of destruction.

When you are left with only a few bricks they are automatically destroyed by powerful lasers. All bonuses apart from new lives are lost when you move on to a new level, though any damage to your ships armor is automatically repaired.

Images

You can see lots of images of Sawoid as a slide show via the following link:
HERE

System Requirements

Processor - Pentium 1.0 GHz or equivalent
System RAM - 128Mb
Direct3D compatible3D graphics card
32 MB Graphics RAM
Windows 98/ ME/ 2000/ XP/ Vista/ 7

Conclusion

I found the default speed of the Sawoid too slow, and therefore too easy to win. (though I have played a lot of breakouts regularly for years so could be considered an expert) However you can pick up speed ups which when set can increase the Sawoid speed to a more challenging level. However if you are a novice to this genre of games I’m sure the speed of the Sawoid is fine. :) I’m a little biased over this issue because arkanoid's/breakouts are one of my favourite arcade genres. Another problem for me was the bat. It was mounted on two arms that took it a significant way into the level. You can see from the images posted that it protrudes about an eighth of the total depth of the playing arena. I rarely lose balls (or in this case saws) when playing breakouts but lost a significant number in this game despite me finding it easy. This occurred more often when the saws came at you in an acute angle as it was hard to judge where the saw was in relation to the bat. I would suggest the developer adds the ability to choose different sizes of bat at the beginning of the game to counter this problem or change the bat style altogether.

Compared to the 200 plus arkanoid's/breakouts that I’ve owned over the many years that the first breakout was created by Taito Corps I’d give this one a 7 out of 10 for decent game play and graphics. It’s not the best, but is playable and better than most free breakouts that are available.

Scoring:

Gameplay: 7
Graphics: 7.5
Sound & Music: 7
Replayability: 9
Originality: 6.5
Fun Factor: 7.5
Upgrades: 7.5

52 out of 70 which equals 7.4 out of 10

I've also posted this review over in the forums where the images are visible. you can see that review HERE

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Problems:

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

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

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

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

It’s always worth checking out the free games sites because sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them. MyPlayCity (MPC) has the most with over 1000 games to choose from (todays game isn't available from any of the sites I know of). Other sites include Gametop, TooMyk Games (I've not included a link for this yet) and FreeGamePick.

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

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

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

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Games, Games, and yet more Games:

Similar Games available for free

You'll find loads of Arkanoid/breakouts HERE, HERE (Giveaway forums) and HERE (Caimans - 169 breakout games - watch out for toolbars etc))

You can also download today’s game every day for free over at Gametop as well as several others such as A-Ball (which is also known as Nuclear Ball), Geometry Ball, Scaraball, Cosmoball plus others, though you will get your browser opening every time you shut the game down. Thankfully this is one of the games they have had for quite some time so there’s no tool bar or home page tick boxes to bother with, but just in case they've changed it since I last checked make sure when you are installing the game that you watch each step of the installation wizard.

There's at least 13 breakout titles over at MyPlayCity HERE, that now include several of Alawars breakouts such as all of the Strike Ball games (Strikeball, Strikeball 2 and Strikeball 3), as well as one of my early favorites called Actionball Deluxe and it's sequel Actionball 2; oh yeah and not forgetting the second Hyperballoid game, which in my opinion was a big improvement on the original despite the first one having a massive number of levels (over a thousand) with gorgeous graphics called (not surprisingly) Hyperballoid Complete Edition (or if you purchase it from Big fish Hyperballoid Gold edition) - the down side w.r.t. the original, was that even with the speed up power-ups, the ball used to go too slow for me, (however; GMMan did create a speed-up mod for me); there's also previous giveaways (though not Alawar games) such as Egypt Ball and Egyptian Ball as well as several others that you can download for free. I recommend all of the Alawar titles especially Hyperballoid 2 (Which has an editor for making more levels - there may be custom made levels to download via Alawars site, but I've not checked in some time) and the original Actionball Deluxe (the sequel also has upgradeable power-ups) and Strikeball 3 (The third in the series is similar to the earlier Magic Ball games {Magic Ball 2} but with better graphics and power ups that are also upgradeable, plus the game is slightly more challenging than any of the Magic Ball series (which for some reason Alawar decided to change the name from Magic Ball to Smashball Frenzy)). Unfortunately the best (IMO) arkanoid/breakouts such as Ricochet infinity, Acky's XP Breakout, Reaxxion and Shatter are not available for free via any of the free game sites apart from illegal ones. You can purchase Shatter from Steam for £6.99, though during the big sales over the summer and Christmas period and maybe thanksgiving you can get up to 75% off. Both Ricochet infinity and Acky's XP Breakout have editors and for the former thousands (literally well over 60 000) of downloadable levels for free. There are also free level packs for Acky's XP Breakout, but not to the same extent as Ricochet. you download the levels for ricochet directly from the game and can upload your own creation from the game as well (which probably explains why there are so many - all the levels are graded for game play, graphics etc and get a score of A to D with +'s and -'s (for example B+; though the best of the best are starred as well). Please be aware of the problems associated with downloading games from the free sites such as Gametop and MyPlayCity, i.e. Toolbar installation, home page changes and search engine changes. TooMky Games have 16 arkanoids, which you can find HERE

I've not checked MyPlayCity's games for over a year, so there may be more breakout aditions since I last counted.

There are 299 games on sale over on Steam this week, ranging from 10% to 90% off. You can find a full list of all sale items HERE. You can play the StreetFighter IV base game and all dlc for free all weekend, plus, if you decide to buy it, it's 66% off till Monday.

You'll also find some excellent deals over on the following Game sites. For example, there's a 23% off coupon that can be put towards the pre order of Fallout 4, the long awaited sequel to Fallout 3, (one of (if not) the best open world rpg's with a post apocalyptic survival theme around).

GreenManGaming
Gamersgate Summer Sale
GOG (DRM free games)
Gamestop
GameFly (soon to be sold off)

I've removed the Desura link because the owners are bankrupt and there has been no activity on the site in a couple of weeks. If you own any games via desura i advise downloading all of the drm free games you have on that platform before the site is taken down.

Free Game Sites:

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

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

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

The latest IndieGameStand game is called FIST OF AWESOME:

Key Features:
- A lumberjack who travels through time punching bears in the face to save humanity
- Develop Award Nominated soundtrack by Brendan Ratliff aka Echolevel
- Okay-ish pixel graphics
- An impawsible number of bear-themed puns

PLUS, if you pay over the average, which at the time of writing was $1.70 you will also get the OST (soundtrack). You can pay as little as $0.01 to get a drm free version of the game, to get a Steam key you'll need to pay at least $1.00.

The deal ends Tuesday 21st July 2015 5am (GMT)

The latest DIG game is Fine Sweeper a re-envisioning of the good old casual game we're all familiar with since Windows 3.11 came along, and we collectively sunk millions of productive hours into an ugly little thing called Minesweeper. Still itching for a fix but you can't look at the hopelessly outdated and functional presentation any more? Now there's cure: Fine Sweeper inherits and expands upon the best traits of the genre.

You can get two keys if you pay more than the average of $1.00 (at the time of writing - this price is sure to go higher). One key to share with a friend or family member perhaps? You'll find that deal HERE. They also have five bundles of several games that'll cost you less than $1.50 each HERE (DIG Bundles 33 & 34 plus DIG reBundle 7, DIG Meridian 4 bundle and DIG Greenligh Bundle 1). You get Steam keys for all of these games apart from the Greenlight bundle; however, if they are Greenlit, you will receive Steam codes.
The single game deal ends just after Midnight onday 20th July and will be replaced with a new game; (details haven't been posted yet)

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

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

The free game from Origin has changed to Zuma's Revenge the sequel to the excellent Luxor style marble popping match 3 game. This is one of the better Marble poppers. Check it out HERE.

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

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

A Request for help:

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

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

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

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

Sawoid is   a  reasonable breakout game that  was created by Stars Ashes, the developer who also created two other familiar breakouts  called Egyptoid and Egyptoid 2,  as well as   a shooter called  Incinerate.  All have been given away previously and are now available for free  via Gametop.  (If you really like breakout/arkanoid games,  Gametop have a  nice collection of 11 breakouts).    :)

Sawoid has been given away seven times previously. Last year May 31st 2014 where it received a 62% approval rating out of 313 votes and reveived 12 comments which can be read <a href="http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/sawoid-7/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. Previous to that it was given away September 2013 where it received a positve 68% out of 312 votes with 10 comments and prior to that it was given away December 2012 where it received a positive 73% out of 290 votes with 12 comments, (May 2012) where it received a positive 69% out of 290 votes with 30 comments that can be read <a href="http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/sawoid-4/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>, previous to that it was also given away back in July 2010 where it received a positive 47% out of 213 votes with 35 comments then again Feb 2011 when it received a positive 72% of 350 votes with 45 comments and finally September 2011 where it received a positive 65% from 306 votes with 34 comments; all of which you can read <a href="http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/sawoid/#comments" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (July 2010), <a href="http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/sawoid-2/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (Feb 2011) and <a href="http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/sawoid-3/#comments" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (Sept 2011), <a href="http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/sawoid-5/#postcomment" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (Dec 2012), <a href="http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/sawoid-4/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (May 2012) and <a href="http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/sawoid-6/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (Sept 2013). You will need to click on the view all comments link to see all the comments. Don’t let the relatively low number of positives put you off this game. It’s actually a well-made breakout with decent graphics that was released several years ago.

The download size is 20.0Mb  which when installed expands to 25.9MB. The game unpacks to a dual setup and activation module a security file called setop.gcd  and a read me file.  There is no activation code required as it is automatically activated via the dual activation/setup  module.  The default installation path is:

C:\Games\Sawoid_Game

There is no shortcut installed or a start menu shortcut.  If you're not sure how to create the latter, there's a short tutorial available in the game discussion forums.  You'll find it easily as it's in the stickies on the front page of the gaming forum.

The game works on Win 7 and win 8.1.  I've not tested it recently on the other versions of windows,  but  I've previously tested the game  on  XP and Vista  and it worked on those as well.

I've checked to see if there is a version number  but cannot find one.  The downloaded file and the installed game are  both slightly different  to the  previous giveaway, but have not detected any differences that i can remeber, so I'm assuming this is the same version.  It's an old game, so unlikely to be upgraded.    Right clicking on the executable, selecting  properties then checking details and previous version tabs  gives no information as to whether  it is an upgrade.

Story:

<blockquote>You volunteered to be assigned to the VIOLATOR ship. Your objective is to conduct a raid into enemy territory and destroy the troop supplies. For this particular long-term mission away from the supply ship, the scientists have developed Sawoid, a totally new type of armament not requiring resupplying! Nothing can stand the wrecking Sawoid; however, there is one shortcoming, Sawoid is hard to control!

Good luck, private!</blockquote>

reference accessed <a href="http://starsashes.com/sawoid.html" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> 1st July 2010

The Game

There’s not a lot you can say about  a breakout/arkanoid that most  community members  won’t already know, so I’ll try and keep this short.  I’ll describe  the features I found  in Sawoid before  writing a brief conclusion to the game.

The most striking difference  between Sawoid and most other breakouts is that Sawoid doesn’t have a ball; instead it has circular saws.   You get three lives to start with, but can easily build these up to several lives as there are a generous number of   bonus lives available.  Otherwise it’s a typical 3D breakout with  average looking  graphics. The game has  20 bonuses that include ball and bat changers, additional lives, bombs, a magnet, armor, different types of cannon and four different types of Sawoid  power ups  as well as a few other bonuses.

You can change the games resolution  if needed to one of several  choices via the options menu. There’s also the usual sound and music  sliders, a windowed toggle and   the ability to  turn on  improved lighting. I’ve posted a couple of screen-shots to illustrate the difference between the advanced lighting  and no lighting.

When you complete a level the level scrolls onto the next  level as though you are in a ship.   There are three difficulty settings.  On medium I found the Sawoid was a little too slow for me unless I picked up the speed up  bonus a couple of times.  You’ll find gun emplacements, and moving  ships that fire back at you.  When you start a level your ship has 100% armor.   If you get hit by    the pulse cannons or missiles you’ll lose 5% of your armor by each hit.  They fire dual cannons so this can result in  a 10% loss  depending where you are in relation to the  incoming  shots; however, there are  armor bonuses that are quite common, though most armor bonuses  give only 1% armor back.

Thankfully there are  three or four different sizes of armor bonus available.  There is a damage indicator to the bottom right of the playing area.  Some of the gun emplacements and  ships are protected from  damage  when hit  from the front.  To destroy these you need to use  your guns or  hit them from behind.

You don’t get unlimited ammo with the guns and lasers, so you need to use these sensibly.  I counted about 30 shots, which is ample to do a significant amount of damage to the level in terms of destruction.

When you are left with only a few bricks   they are automatically destroyed by powerful lasers.  All bonuses apart from  new lives are lost when you move on to a new level, though any damage to your ships armor is automatically repaired.

Images

You can see lots of images of Sawoid as a slide show via the following link:
<a href="http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/ss160/Whiterabbit04/Sawnoid/?albumview=slideshow" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>

System Requirements

Processor - Pentium 1.0 GHz or equivalent
System RAM - 128Mb
Direct3D compatible3D graphics card 
32 MB Graphics RAM
Windows 98/ ME/ 2000/ XP/ Vista/ 7

Conclusion

I found the default speed of the Sawoid  too slow, and therefore too easy to win. (though I have played a lot of breakouts regularly for years so could be considered an expert)  However you can pick up  speed ups  which when set  can increase the   Sawoid speed   to a  more challenging  level.   However if you are a novice to  this genre of games I’m sure the speed of the Sawoid is  fine. :)   I’m a little biased  over  this issue because arkanoid's/breakouts are one of my favourite  arcade genres. Another problem for me was the  bat.  It was mounted on two arms that took it  a significant way into the level.  You can see from the images posted that it protrudes about an eighth of the total depth of the playing arena.  I rarely lose  balls (or in this case saws) when playing breakouts but lost a significant number in this game despite me finding it easy.   This occurred more often when the saws  came at you in an acute angle as it was hard to judge  where the saw was in relation to the bat.   I would suggest the developer adds the ability to  choose   different sizes of bat at the beginning of the game to counter this  problem or change the bat style altogether.

Compared to the 200 plus arkanoid's/breakouts  that I’ve owned over the   many years that the first breakout was created by Taito Corps I’d give this one a 7 out of 10 for decent game play and graphics.  It’s not the best, but is playable and better than most free breakouts that are available.

Scoring:

Gameplay: 7
Graphics:  7.5
Sound & Music:  7
Replayability: 9
Originality: 6.5
Fun Factor: 7.5
Upgrades: 7.5

52  out of 70 which equals  7.4  out of 10

I've also posted this review over in the forums where the images are visible. you can see that review <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/9355#post-88673" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>

Problems:

If you have any problems installing or getting today's game to work please go <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/11647#post-101133" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> for help. I've posted most of the common problems and solutions in a FAQ thread, which you can find in the sticky section of the forums by following the above link.

If you are posting late in the day I would also suggest posting in the main giveaway forums; in the game discussion section, because I cannot moderate 24hrs a day over the weekend. I've created a thread <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/257721" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> for that purpose. If you've installed the game but it doesn’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at a later date. Unfortunately if your problem is actually downloading it, once the giveaway deadline is reached you will no longer be able to download the game unless you've already started downloading it before the cut-off. Sometimes you can still register the game after the giveaway has ended so long as you managed to start the download before the giveaway ends. I've tested this and the grace period lasts for up to 1 hour. Apart from the above instances; i.e. already installed, but having problems running the game, (with the possibility of receiving help from the community via the giveawayoftheday game discussion forum); or still downloading after the cut off period, but within the 1 hour grace period, or registering within an hour of the cut-off period. Once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done to get the game (unless its available from one of the free game sites) until the game is given away again (though that isn't always guaranteed).

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

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

It’s always worth checking out the free games sites because sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them. MyPlayCity (MPC) has the most with over 1000 games to choose from (todays game isn't available from any of the sites I know of). Other sites include Gametop, TooMyk Games (I've not included a link for this yet) and FreeGamePick.

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

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

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

Games, Games, and yet more Games:

Similar Games available for free

You'll find loads of Arkanoid/breakouts <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/2607#post-17584" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>, <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/4534#post-48404" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (Giveaway forums) and <a href="http://www.caiman.us/scripts/fw/fbreakout.html" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (Caimans - 169 breakout games - watch out for toolbars etc))

You can also download today’s game every day for free over at <a href="http://www.gametop.com/download-free-games/sawoid/" rel="nofollow">Gametop</a> as well as several others such as A-Ball (which is also known as Nuclear Ball), Geometry Ball, Scaraball, Cosmoball plus others, though you will get your browser opening every time you shut the game down. Thankfully this is one of the games they have had for quite some time so there’s no tool bar or home page tick boxes to bother with, but just in case they've changed it since I last checked make sure when you are installing the game that you watch each step of the installation wizard.

There's at least 13 breakout titles over at MyPlayCity <a href="http://www.myplaycity.com/free_arcade_games/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>, that now include several of Alawars breakouts such as all of the Strike Ball games (Strikeball, Strikeball 2 and Strikeball 3), as well as one of my early favorites called Actionball Deluxe and it's sequel Actionball 2; oh yeah and not forgetting the second Hyperballoid game, which in my opinion was a big improvement on the original despite the first one having a massive number of levels (over a thousand) with gorgeous graphics called (not surprisingly) Hyperballoid Complete Edition (or if you purchase it from Big fish Hyperballoid Gold edition) - the down side w.r.t. the original, was that even with the speed up power-ups, the ball used to go too slow for me, (however; GMMan did create a speed-up mod for me); there's also previous giveaways (though not Alawar games) such as Egypt Ball and Egyptian Ball as well as several others that you can download for free. I recommend all of the Alawar titles especially Hyperballoid 2 (Which has an editor for making more levels - there may be custom made levels to download via Alawars site, but I've not checked in some time) and the original Actionball Deluxe (the sequel also has upgradeable power-ups) and Strikeball 3 (The third in the series is similar to the earlier Magic Ball games {Magic Ball 2} but with better graphics and power ups that are also upgradeable, plus the game is slightly more challenging than any of the Magic Ball series (which for some reason Alawar decided to change the name from Magic Ball to Smashball Frenzy)). Unfortunately the best (IMO) arkanoid/breakouts such as <a href="http://www.ricochetinfinity.com/" rel="nofollow">Ricochet infinity</a>, <a href="http://www.isotope244.com/games/ab/media.html" rel="nofollow">Acky's XP Breakout</a>, <a href="http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/1276/reaxxion/index.html" rel="nofollow">Reaxxion</a> and <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/20820/?snr=1_4_4__13" rel="nofollow">Shatter</a> are not available for free via any of the free game sites apart from illegal ones. You can purchase Shatter from Steam for £6.99, though during the big sales over the summer and Christmas period and maybe thanksgiving you can get up to 75% off. Both Ricochet infinity and Acky's XP Breakout have editors and for the former thousands (literally well over 60 000) of downloadable levels for free. There are also free level packs for Acky's XP Breakout, but not to the same extent as Ricochet. you download the levels for ricochet directly from the game and can upload your own creation from the game as well (which probably explains why there are so many - all the levels are graded for game play, graphics etc and get a score of A to D with +'s and -'s (for example B+; though the best of the best are starred as well). Please be aware of the problems associated with downloading games from the free sites such as Gametop and MyPlayCity, i.e. Toolbar installation, home page changes and search engine changes. TooMky Games have 16 arkanoids, which you can find <a href="http://toomkygames.com/free-download-games/genre/arkanoid" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>

I've not checked MyPlayCity's  games for over a year, so there may be more breakout aditions since I last counted.

There are 299 games on sale over on Steam this week, ranging from 10% to 90% off. You can find a full list of all sale items <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/search/?specials=1&os=win" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. You can play the StreetFighter IV base game and all dlc for free all weekend, plus, if you decide to buy it, it's 66% off till Monday.

You'll also find some excellent deals over on the following Game sites. For example, there's a 23% off coupon that can be put towards the pre order of Fallout 4, the long awaited sequel to Fallout 3, (one of (if not) the best open world rpg's with a post apocalyptic survival theme around).

<a href="http://www.greenmangaming.com/hot-deals/" rel="nofollow">GreenManGaming</a>
<a href="http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">Gamersgate Summer Sale</a>
<a href="http://www.gog.com/" rel="nofollow">GOG</a> (DRM free games)
<a href="http://www.gamestop.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">Gamestop</a>
<a href="http://digital.gamefly.co.uk/#!/pc" rel="nofollow">GameFly</a> (soon to be sold off)

I've removed the Desura link because the owners are bankrupt and  there has been no activity on the site in a couple of weeks.  If you own any games via desura i advise  downloading all of the drm free  games  you have on that platform before the site is taken down.

Free Game Sites:

<a href="http://www.myplaycity.com/" rel="nofollow">MyPlayCity</a> (over a 1000 games to choose from)
<a href="http://www.gametop.com/" rel="nofollow">Gametop</a>
<a href="http://freegamepick.net/en/" rel="nofollow">FreeGamePick</a>

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

If that's not enough, check out the Game Discussion forums <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/forum/17" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> for details of other games either free or on deals such as the Indie Game bundles (there's over 20 of them - If you purchased all of them you'd be paying around $80 for around a thousand dollars worth of games); or check out the four day sales at <a href="https://indiegamestand.com/" rel="nofollow">IndieGameStand</a>. you'll find the indie bundles thread <a href="http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/100253#post-202848" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. The thread is outdated, but all of the links will still take you to the latest bundles.

The latest IndieGameStand game is called  FIST OF AWESOME:

<blockquote>Key Features:
- A lumberjack who travels through time punching bears in the face to save humanity
- Develop Award Nominated soundtrack by Brendan Ratliff aka Echolevel
- Okay-ish pixel graphics
- An impawsible number of bear-themed puns </blockquote>

PLUS,  if you pay over the average, which at the  time of writing  was $1.70   you  will also get  the OST (soundtrack).  You can pay as little as $0.01 to get a drm free version of the game,  to get  a Steam key you'll need to pay at least $1.00.

The  deal ends Tuesday 21st July 2015  5am (GMT)

The latest DIG game is  Fine Sweeper a re-envisioning of the good old casual game we're all familiar with since Windows 3.11 came along, and we collectively sunk millions of productive hours into an ugly little thing called Minesweeper. Still itching for a fix but you can't look at the hopelessly outdated and functional presentation any more? Now there's cure: Fine Sweeper inherits and expands upon the best traits of the genre.

You can get two keys if you pay more than the average of $1.00 (at the time of writing - this price is sure to go higher). One key to share with a friend or family member perhaps? You'll find that deal <a href="http://www.dailyindiegame.com/" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>. They also have five bundles of several games that'll cost you less than $1.50 each <a href="http://www.dailyindiegame.com/bundle_2.html" rel="nofollow">HERE</a> (DIG Bundles 33 & 34 plus DIG reBundle 7, DIG Meridian 4 bundle and DIG Greenligh Bundle 1). You get Steam keys for all of these games apart from the Greenlight bundle; however, if they are Greenlit, you will receive Steam codes. 
The single game deal ends just after Midnight onday 20th July and will be replaced with a new game; (details haven't been posted yet)

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

<a href="https://groupees.com/" rel="nofollow">Groupees</a> (5 bundles)
<a href="https://www.indiegala.com/" rel="nofollow">Indie Gala</a> (? bundles)
<a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/" rel="nofollow">Humble bundle</a> (2 Bundles)
<a href="http://www.indieroyale.com/" rel="nofollow">Indie Royale</a> (this bundle is no longer live)
<a href="http://www.bundlebandits.com/" rel="nofollow">Bundle Bandits</a> (0 bundles)
<a href="https://www.blinkbundle.com/" rel="nofollow">Blink Bundle</a> (0 bundles)
<a href="http://www.playinjector.com/" rel="nofollow">Play Injector</a> (0 bundle)
<a href="http://getloadedgo.com/" rel="nofollow">Get Loaded</a> (0 bundles)
<a href="http://gamesrage.org/" rel="nofollow">Games Rage</a> (0 bundles)
<a href="http://www.flyingbundle.com/" rel="nofollow">Flying bundle</a> (0 bundles)

The free game from Origin has changed to Zuma's Revenge the sequel to the excellent Luxor style marble popping match 3 game. This is one of the better Marble poppers. Check it out <a href="https://www.origin.com/en-gb/store/free-games/on-the-house" rel="nofollow">HERE</a>.

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

A Request for help:

<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, and a big thank you to immanitas games for sharing and to the game giveaway team for getting these games.</blockquote>

Regards

Whiterabbit aka Stephen

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