PDA

View Full Version : Free Full Games!

Telefrog
10-02-2008, 03:08 PM
Filefront just posted up (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170301) some free full games. Area 51, Full Spectrum Warrior, and Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War are available as ad-supported free downloads. You only have to watch a video ad on each startup. Not bad when free is free.

By the way, I'm all for this type of game advertising.
J Arcane
10-02-2008, 03:09 PM
I was tempted for FSW but after my last encounter with "ad-supported" games, I'd frankly rather not.
LordDon
10-02-2008, 03:11 PM
Free is good. Rise and Fall looks tasty.
Telefrog
10-02-2008, 03:41 PM
I was tempted for FSW but after my last encounter with "ad-supported" games, I'd frankly rather not.

I'm not too experienced. Rise and Fall is my first one. I haven't seen anything too bad so far with it.

What did you not like and which game was it?
J Arcane
10-02-2008, 03:47 PM
I'm not too experienced. Rise and Fall is my first one. I haven't seen anything too bad so far with it.

What did you not like and which game was it?
Well, the last one I tried was the "ad-supported" release of Rayman Raving Rabbids, and that was the most incredibly irritating thing I have ever seen. There was only really one sponsor, and one ad, and it played at every loading screen and start up, over and over again, until I reached near homicidal rage, and wound up pirating the game because inside of a few hours I figured I'd already seen enough ads to pay for 20 copies of the damn game.
Telefrog
10-02-2008, 04:01 PM
Yikes. Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. To be fair, you were trying to squeeze value out of Raving Rabbids, so I'm not sure what amount of ad-watching would be tolerable.
J Arcane
10-02-2008, 04:03 PM
Yikes. Yeah, that sounds pretty bad. To be fair, you were trying to squeeze value out of Raving Rabbids, so I'm not sure what amount of ad-watching would be tolerable.
Dude, I loved Rayman. Hard as hell, but lots of fun, and the comedy factor was brilliant.

But man, that mode of ad support was not a good pick at all for a collection of mini-games that sometimes last less than a minute.
King3567
10-02-2008, 09:43 PM
Whatever happened to Full Spectrum Warrior? That game series was hella fun.

Off-top: I can post blogs now! w007!
J Arcane
10-03-2008, 12:18 AM
Whatever happened to Full Spectrum Warrior? That game series was hella fun.

Off-top: I can post blogs now! w007!
There was a sequel, FSW: Ten Hammers. Haven't played it though.
KingGorilla
10-04-2008, 12:26 AM
Whatever happened to Full Spectrum Warrior? That game series was hella fun.

Off-top: I can post blogs now! w007!

Squad command games have never really taken off. Rainbow Six was really the end. Generally it is games that pepper those elements in like the Clancy titles have in more recent years. I think that the problem is that the genre got its start just as online shooters were hitting the scene, and why bother with bungling AI when you had real people?

If you like FSW, I suggest looking into Mech Commander, it is older and Isometric, but you control a squad of BattleMechs.
balhem
10-04-2008, 12:56 AM
You can also get the game The Suffering for free from there, which in my opinion was an excellent game of its type.

The Suffering (http://files.filefront.com/The+Suffering+Sponsored+by+the+US+Air+Force/;11846564;/fileinfo.html)

Sorry for the way the link is, not sure hot to hypertext it. hmm I suppose I should try to figure that out. Or maybe I figured it out, not sure.:confused:
WhyThree
10-04-2008, 11:45 PM
I've been thinking that this could be a viable revenue source for games that could cut down on piracy. Hulu-style, essentially. Offer games for free with ads every few minutes. People would sit through ads if they didn't have to go through the trouble of pirating the game (other than J Arcane). Like J alluded to, the trick would be in finding good breaking points to put them in so they aren't too intrusive.

Pacing would be most difficult for open world games, so ads might not work too well for those. For something with a lot of loading screens like Rabbids, it's clear that the ads should be just a still instead of a video, or maybe a video after every three or four still ads. Sports games would have perfect space for ads in between quarters or rounds. Racing games would also work with an ad after every race.

Eventually I think more narrative-focused games could be designed around this structure, especially episodic games. They could be paced like TV shows with mini-cliffhangers every 5 or 6 minutes, each episode of the game being half an hour or so. It would fit well with something like Sam and Max which won't kill you if you have to stop a little while for the ad.

I don't like advertising in games any more than the next guy, but that's mostly when I'm paying for them. Like buying the DVD box set, since I pay money for a game I expect it not to be interrupted by ads, but if I'm getting something for free, I would be okay watching some advertising.

Yikes, sorry for the length.