Thank you to all who took the time to post feedback about yesterdays game, it was very much appreciated. Also, I would like to congratulate the Game Giveaway team for exactly 10 years of service to the community. They opened the game site back on December 6th 2006, exactly a decade ago earlier this week. I know things have changed significantly since those early days, and more so since around Easter this year; however, if you take into account the financial climate since the giveaways went to weekends only (apart from recently where we have been regularity getting games on Fridays and/or Mondays as well) for example arcade game prices crashed from $19.99 to around $7 per game literally overnight (around Easter 2008 and around the time the site went to weekends only with a message saying it was only temporary), the closure of some of the largest arcade game distributor/developers such as Reflexive Arcade and Sandlot games and the proliferation of other free game sites, as well as the availability of hundreds of dollars worth of indie games via indie game bundles for as little as $5 a bundle, I think the giveaway team have done an admirable job of providing the community with free games regularly since October 2006 (we got 2 or 3 games every week via the giveawayoftheday site, until the game site opened on the 6th December 2006; from then we received games every day (apart from the odd weekend when the site was undergoing maintenance).

The recent introduction of Steam games although a little contentious from the point of view of some community members has opened up a whole new community to this project and has seen us get some very different games from the usual fare we've been getting for the past several years since the project went to weekends only, so as far as I'm concerned getting developers who give us Steam keys is a good thing. Sadly it's impossible to please everyone. :)

If anyone still has an un-redeemed Steam key for The Last Survivor that was given away on the 1st December. I missed the giveaway and really wanted this game. I have over 450 decent games in my Steam inventory most of which are duplicates and quite a few that are no longer available on Steam (i.e. have been removed - you can tell which these are because they have no image of the game, just an image of the Valve logo and says Steam Gift ). There are some that are already spoken for, but most I'm happy to exchange for a working key of a similar value to Last Survivor which I believe is £10.99/$14.99. You can see my Steam inventory HERE. If you don't see the games click on Steam then from the drop down menu select gifts and then you can search through the 18 pages of spare games that I have. I've also got over 10 000 Steam keys (yes that is ten thousand) that I've collected over the last several years from pre-orders, Kickstarter, giveaways and indie game bundles, so if you don't see anything you fancy in my Steam inventory in exchange for your Lone Survivor key, I may still have other games you want and would be really happy to swap for something of a similar value or more. Just let me know if you have a key and let me know which game from my inventory you'd like - select a few alternatives, or list other games and I'll search through my massive list of spare Steam keys and I'll email you (I can see everyone's email when I'm moderating via the admin panel).

Please only post comments about the game being given away today; 'most' other comments that are either 'inappropriate', or 'not about the game' will be deleted. That said, light banter among community members and with the moderator to keep this a friendly place to visit will be allowed, and will be judged by the moderator as to whether it is suitable or not to be left.

I am posting this in light of the massive increase in negative comments, usually unrelated to the actual game, inappropriate comments and spam that have occurred over the past several months since the site was updated and in particular since the site started to give away games from the Steam world. I truly believe that if we get lots of decent feedback about the games we get here, more developers will be happy to give away their games. Seeing lots of complaints instead of feedback about the game will not persuade developers to give their games away for free. So please bear this in mind when posting your comments. Negative feedback about the game is welcomed as that can also be very constructive for developers, however, complaining about the way the site is operating or problems about downloading or installing the games should be directed to the giveawayoftheday contact form which I've linked to HERE, alternatively, if the problem is game related and it is late in the day (I can't moderate 24 hours, please also post in the forums where you may also get a response. Often, such problems are related to your computers set up. i.e. your security may block the installation (for example yesterday's game was blocked by my Zemana Anti-malware suite) Also please read the moderation policy which can be found HERE and/or the FAQ's thread HERE

Today we have two games, Sky Kingdoms and Boom, plus the Steam game Lapland solitaire is still live for another two days (ends Monday morning). At this time, those who have gained the maximum number of entries stand a 1 in 14 chance of winning a key. If you've not applied for the game yet, and complete all of the tasks, you will still have around a 1 in 26 chance of winning a key. :) Today's other game Boom is available via Itch.io and once tied to your account you can either play it directly from your browser while signed into your Itch.io account, or download the game . It's DRM free. :).

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There will be a limited giveaway tomorrow morning (100 keys) when this giveaway ends, plus the results for Lapland solitaire will be announced.

In Brief

An excellent marble popper on the lines of the Luxor and Zuma games. Well worth downloading.

Whether you like or dislike Sky Kingdoms please give some feedback about your opinion of the game, for example, what you liked or disliked about it, and how it could be improved from your point of view. If you don't like this genre at all, please explain why. What improvements would change your opinion? There are thousands of subscribers to the game giveaway of the day every weekend which makes this an ideal forum for giving developers ideas as to what their consumers (i.e you) would like to see in a game. For example, you could suggest extra content such as better or more original mini games, or a level editor that you would like to see that would make it more appealing to you. Maybe you think the graphics are a little dated and are in need of re skinning, or maybe you've just had enough of the genre and want to see something different or something with more originality?

If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE. You can check out Luxor 3 for free from FreeRide Games; I've not downloaded from that site before, so you do so at your own risk. Also from MyPlayCity is the decent Secrets of the Six Seas.

The game downloads to a 35.2 MB zip file that unzips to four files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper, the set up file and a read me). Those with multiple hard drives are able to save games on any drive they wish. The newly installed game is MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default, but can be changed by the user if you prefer:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\

Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop. three of which can be safely deleted (Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game which vary each week). Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure you uncheck the box when the additional tasks window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window)

Sky Kingdoms are the luxurious places full of green lush plants and peaceful inhabitants. The air is perfectly clean there and you can hear the pleasant sounds of the water and the warm wind blowing. There is nothing more harmonious, you may say. Well, everything is not so good now. The life used to be perfect there but one day a frightening dragon came to steal one of the magic crystals. What will happen to these Sky Kingdoms now? In a couple of hours here will be nothing except the damage and devastation if nobody helps and deals with the problem. Come on, everybody's waiting for your help! Here are some hints for you: use a special weapon to spoil magic spheres which will come again and again. Prepare to make fast decisions because the speed of the moving spheres is rather high and you'll have practically no time to think. Good reaction and attention will help you to save Sky Kingdoms. Remember that good work is always rewarded so do your best and collect bonuses which will be of great use when you feel weak and tired. But there is no much time to relax: level by level everything will become more complicated and each of 90 challenges is designed for you to pass through and have a lot of fun. These adventures will bring you to the magic worlds. Colorful backgrounds, nice sounds and perfect visual effects will add something special to the atmosphere. So you just have to complete the levels correctly and save Sky Kingdoms from disappearance. Download this game right now and forget the boredom of the reality!

Reference accessed HERE. 11th Dec 2016

If you have a problem installing or activating or getting Sky Kingdoms to work please visit the problems section, which I've now incorporated into the FAQ's thread, and which you can find HERE

Features:

1) ...Get better upgrades

2) ... dozens of special effects

3) ... Different ways of destroying spheres

4) ... Desktop wallpapers

Not all games are for all players. Developers often create their wares with specific audiences in mind, and it seems clear that this fantasy-themed marble popper game originally released via Alawar Entertainment new, is geared not for people new to the genre or even casual fans of such games, but rather hardcore ball blasters who play these games for hours on end until they become so proficient that they can fly through even the fastest-paced, most twisty levels while half asleep. It is, in other words, a challenging game, though not because of any great innovation on the genre’s classic formula.

Sky Kingdoms‘ premise is simple: Players control a winged, ball shooting ship that flies around an island floating high in the sky as they search for a dragon that has stolen one of the gems that keeps these airborne atolls from crashing to the ground.

Our goal, as in all marble poppers, is to destroy lines of balls that snake their way over winding paths toward a game-ending terminus. This is done by firing colored spheres from our craft at like-hued balls in the encroaching line. Match three or more, and they’ll disappear.

There are more than 90 levels scattered over ten chapters, and many have special objectives, such as clearing balls while avoiding incoming blasts or using special power-ups to clear levels as quickly and as spectacularly as possible. What’s more, there are three dozen different—and surprisingly lively—environments, which keeps environmental repetition at a minimum.

Also helping to maintain freshness is a healthy selection of bonus balls (created by matching a ball with a glowing white ring around it) and power-ups (earned by clearing a certain number of balls quickly enough), though their effects and abilities are pretty standard for the genre. Firing a marble at a lightning blast ball, for example, will send bolts of purple electricity down from the top of the screen that take out a random selection of balls from within the line. Hit a bluish white ice ball and it will freeze a small group of neighboring balls; fire again to make them shatter. You’ll also earn the one-time ability to sort all balls in a given line into groups of colors, as well as the opportunity to set up a provisional cube-shaped blockade to halt a line’s progress.

It’s all pretty typical stuff for a marble popper, with the only real novelty being that we can not only buy but also sell upgrades for bonus balls. Players collect silver coins as they play which are spent on ball improvements that significantly enhance their effects (the difference between a level one and a level two stop marble—a bonus ball that temporarily arrests a line’s movements—is a good five or six seconds). If you find you don’t much care for the effects of a particular kind of bonus ball you can sell off any upgrades you may have purchased and use the coins you get And this is where things get a bit tricky. Players are given only three lives with which to work through the game’s generous helping of levels, and extra lives cost a whopping 20 coins a piece—coins most players would rather spend on equally pricey upgrades. Should you run out of lives you can restart the game from where you left off. However, you’ll have lost not only your score but also all of the upgrades purchased prior to the loss of your last life, which will make further progression within the game far more difficult. Indeed, so challenging are some later levels (tracks become short and balls begin to move mighty fast) that I found them almost impossible to complete without starting the game over again and trying to earn upgrades more quickly. Even then I often failed—and on the easiest of the game’s three skill settings, no less.back to upgrade another kind of ball—or purchase an additional life.

But I’m not going to complain too loudly about the difficulty. As mentioned at the outset, not all games are made for all players. Alawar Entertainment clearly designed Sky Kingdoms for rabid fans who lament the ease with which they complete most games in the genre. Gluttons for marble popping punishment will likely have a blast. However, one thing I will grumble about with some volume is that the game wasn’t designed with any consideration paid to widescreen displays. Selecting “fullscreen” when using a wide monitor results in the image being stretched across the screen, making both environmental objects and marbles look fat. What’s more, the desktop wallpaper that becomes unlocked as the game progresses is provided only in a low resolution format, which means if you try to set it as your desktop it will either be stretched to fit or simply occupy the center of the screen with black borders all around.

Of course, these are common issues in the casual gaming scene, but they feel particularly shameful in this instance since the game’s art—which consists of simple but subtly beautiful and dynamic fantasy landscapes—is quite appealing. Still, this is a fairly minor grievance. The take-home message here is that Sky Kingdoms is a rudimentary but competent marble popper with a fiendishly challenging level of difficulty. If you fancy yourself a master of the genre, it’s probably worth a try.

Edited reference accessed HERE. Original review by Chad Sapieha Apr 7, 2009 edited by Whiterabbit-uk 11th Dec 2016

You can see community reviews of Sky Kingdoms HERE and more information such as problems etc via the Big Fish forums HERE

if you want to see Sky Kingdoms in play you can see some videos HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. You can also see a slideshow of over 50 images HERE

This is an excellent marble popper, that I like as much a smy favorite marble poppers Luxor 111 and a couple of the Zuma marble poppers. it doesn't have anything innovative, but it has been put together with lots of features found in the best of this genre plus it also becomes very challenging as you progress through the levels. Well worth downloading this game. Ideal for all but the youngest of the family and only then becasue of the difficulty. With help from parents even the little 'uns could enjoy this game. If you want to end a level quickly catch one of the flying bugs, it takes you to the next level, but you don't collect any coins fr that level.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away Sky Kingdoms minus the usual MPC checkboxes (original developer was Argonyt and distributed by Alawar) and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games, in this case Steam keys.

If you miss the giveaway, or prefer not to have your browser opened when you close the game down, this game is available for purchase from several outlets, but the cheapest is from Gamersgate for $2/£1.40 (50% off at the moment). You do need a Gamesgate account to buy from Gamersgate. You can also get it via Alawar Entertainment for $6.99/£5.84 or from Big Fish Games for $9.60/£7.70. I used to buy arcade games from both Alawar and Big Fish Games, but I didn't like the changes alawar made to their sales and the method by which you registered their games and Big Fish hardly ever seemed to released arcade games that i likes, so dumped my monthly subscription when my game credits passed 10 months worth. Gamersgate have lots of decent sales and sometimes good bundles, for example I purchased £300 worth of games for less than £50 when i first jpined Gamersgate so have purchased most of my non Steam arcade games from Gamersgate for the past three or four years; that said, now that Desura has been saved from closure, i'll also be purchasing from Desura as well. :)

The problems section that used to be posted here in the Game review is now included in the Game Discussion FAQ's thread; which you can find HERE.

I've updated the games section that used to be posted with the review. The thread is now called 'Weekly round up of game deals', formerly the games section of the weekly reviews. You can find the new thread (which I've posted in the sticky section of the game discussion forums to make it easier to find if you are perusing the game discussion forums) HERE.

If today's game was not to your liking, you may find other games either free or for less than the price of a cup of coffee (from your favorite coffee house) via the 'Weekly Roundup of Game Deals' thread which I've posted a link to above, or HERE.

The latest free game over on Origin is still the old classic Dungeon Keeper. You can get it HERE and see a couple of videos of game play HERE and HERE Please note that you do require the Origin game platform to be able to download and install the game.

Assassins Creed III is now available for free as part of Ubisofts 30th anniversary celebrations (I thought FarCry 3: Blood Dragon was the last, but I was wrong). You can see a couple of videos of game play HERE and HERE. They have given away several good titles over the past several months. You do require a free Ubisoft account and the free uPlay client installed to get the game, which you will find HERE.

Also available at this time from Planet Auran via Failmids site is the very first version of the train simulator Trainz v1 HERE. You can see a video of game play HERE. To get it you may need to create a free Planet Auran account to get the game (I think). I was already signed into my Trainz account, so not sure whether it is necessary to create an account, but would assume you do..

Finally, check out the Steam stores specials tab, you'll find over 849 games on sale ranging from 10% to 90% off, with over 200 games less than a dollar (£0.69p)