Posted 01/26/09 at 11:00:00 AM by David Murphy

Sometimes gamers just have to go back to their roots.  It's inevitable.  Blazing, next-generation graphics can be a blast to check out, and all the crazy advances in storytelling and immersion have allowed games to penetrate peoples' lives more than ever before.  Don't get us wrong, these are all good things for the industry and its many, many fans.

But gamers always get that urge--a tickling--to give their turbocharged video card a break and fire up some titles that have withstood the test of time.  Or better yet, modern reinventions of classic gameplay motifs. Some of these titles can be a blast to play, which is exactly why we're jumping into the gaming remake scene with this week's freeware roundup.  If you loved the originals that these games are based on, you'll find yourself sinking just as much time into these freeware remixes as before.  Don't worry if you've never played some of the genres that these newer titles are based on.  Spend a few minutes downloading these titles, fire up a game or two in your spare time, and see what you think!

Click the jump and check out the games!

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Posted 11/07/08 at 02:00:00 PM by David Murphy

Here we go again!  In honor of devnull's yearly tournament for the still-popular ASCII dungeon romp NetHack, we're taking a look at the five greatest modifications to this ancient classic.  But in case you've never even heard of NetHack before, here's the deal: it started out as an ASCII-based dungeon exploration game that, in many ways, has become a precursor to all sorts of genre-busters.  Even to this day, games like Fable II have borrowed from some of NetHack's better features (a travelling animal companion, in this case). 

The game's dungeons are randomly generated each time you play. You can master the nuances and inventory management skills of NetHack, but there's always that little chance that the next step you take could spell you death in any number of creative ways--in fact, finding all the possible ways to die is a near-impossible task in itself, a fun little challenge for yourself in case you get tired of trying to "ascend," the term used for beating the game.

Strap on your adventuring sword and join us after the jump for the top 5 NetHack... hacks!

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