Gleam is basically a Lumines clone but for the Game Boy Advance. Use the VisualBoyAdvance emulator to run it on the PC.

It runs quite smoothly although the playing area is slightly smaller compared to Mizuguchi's baby. The inclusion of special blocks add an extra dimension to the gameplay.

Download link can be found at the bottom of the page.

Name: Gleam
Developer: Jason Cecil and MaDSouL
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB

Notes is a decent freeware typing game by Lauri Paavolainen which uses a text file to generate new words to type. Made only in a couple of days, it features guitar chords for sound effects and an online high score table as well.

The background color used is a poor choice and controls are slightly awkward but nonetheless it's a pretty good effort with practically no bugs in sight.

Name: Notes
Developer: Lauri Paavolainen
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Pilot Light is a short adventure game with simplified controls, easy puzzles and a story involving the transportation of a cargo. It's intro features a rather mild bed scene which might be unsuitable for children.

There is plenty of inventory space even when less than ten items are collectible during the course of the adventure. It's quite unfortunate that this is the only AGS effort ever made by Brendon Chung.

Name: Pilot Light
Developer: Brendon Chung
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 3MB

Ball Bearing is a four level demo of a work in progress, showcasing colorful graphics but an odd gameplay system. The ball can only be shifted around obstacles by bouncing it off walls or other objects, which is controlled by moving the mouse up or down.

Name: Ball Bearing
Developer: Rob
Category: Action
Type: Demo
Size: 10MB

OutlawThese is probably best described as Gun.Smoke with RPG elements. Tilesets are poor but it's the novel Western setting that saves the day. You play the role of Rico, a lone cowboy who has to hunt down lawbreakers and earn the bounty on their heads.

The configuration menu allows player to start the game in windowed or full screen mode. Press the X key to shoot or confirm selections, and hold the Z key to enable aiming in several directions. Use the exit on the left to leave town and begin your journey.

You can reload at any time by finding a barrel and ducking behind it. The game can be saved by entering a hotel back in town. Gun upgrades and additional protection can be acquired from the weapon shop or tailor.

Quite enjoyable although the lack of an English translation will probably turn most players away from sampling this further than the first few missions.

Name: OutlawThese
Developer: Hiroki Araya
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

G-Force is a brilliant remake that plays very much like a flat 2D Tempest, in which enemies rain down from the top of the screen in an attempt to crash into your ship. Press the Z or Y key to shoot, and tap the X key to activate the special weapon.

Only two directional arrow keys are ever needed, and use of the superzapper is only allowed once in each level. Playing hints can be found in the same forum thread, though simple strategies can be formulated after a few plays. Highly recommended for a quick fix.

Name: G-Force
Developer: Oddbob
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
size: 5MB

Jack-O is a decent carved pumpkin image maker program, with a number of decorations to spruce things up. Once you're done, the picture can be saved as a bitmap file in the game folder.

Name: Jack-O
Developer: BBaller, Chronic, CosMind, Ds
Category: Application
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Another screenshot from Buster... [Guardian of Paradise translated]

Pug Fugly's site updated with The Pyramid information and download page. [The Pyramid review, Retro Remakes Compo Summary]

TubeTwist: Quantum Flux Edition will be released soon.

New 20MB demo for Magical Amber is out. Not much difference except for a new title and menu. (scroll all the way down for a download link)

To play, select the cat, choose your difficulty setting and stage by using the arrow keys, then press the Z key when the joypad twinkles. [Tobi Tsukihime, Tobi Divine review]

Paroxysm is a short platformer demo which is lacking a full screen mode, though the author had promised this feature when the complete game is released.

Prince of Persia minus the angst equals fun. Slightly frustrating at times but the difficulty can be adjusted to your liking. Tutorial works well enough and doesn't require the player to spend half and hour learning all the controls.

Name: Paroxysm
Developer: Tom Vine
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Sam and Max: Culture Shock is the long-awaited release from Telltale Games, in which the LucasArts classic is resurrected and it's titular characters are given another case to solve. Like Bone: The Great Cow Race, this adventure is in 3D with full voice acting and a monthly episodic schedule to keep the fans happy.

Puzzles are made much simpler this time around. The need to combine items no longer exists, and most of the challenges can be figured out with a moment's thought. There are quite a few chuckles to be had from interacting with different people or objects. The developers chose to include an arcade sequence that can not be skipped, though it's relatively easy and shouldn't pose much of a problem to most players.

The entire game doesn't take more than a couple of hours to complete, but the current monthly format ensures that it won't be a long wait for the next one to arrive.

Name: Sam and Max - Culture Shock
Developer: Telltale Games
Category: Adventure
Type: Demo
Size: 70MB

Reviewed by Maenny (www.runtime-hq.com)

Six students have realized a quite ingenious RTS game. While the gameplay does not differ from "genre-brothers", the gfx are very special - and very beautiful. Dark Oberon is a rough diamond among the freeware strategy-games, which could with some additional effort become a true gem in its genre...

The gameplay is pretty much like you know it from other RTS-games: Build, collect, build, train, collect, fight, fight, fight! You normally start with a small homebase or even without that, only with some peasants. The resources that are being collected during the game are wood and gold, food is being automatically added when you construct a farm. The homebase can be upgraded to bigger and stronger buildings, as can the tower and the workshop. Your only units are: peasants, knights, catapults and zeppelins.

They modeled everything what you can see in the game out of plasticine, took a picture of the item and integrated it as sprite in the game. The resulting look is awesome. There even are animations to be seen, the soldier walking cycle for example.

Also perfect is the music, which is dreamy and adds a warm and fairy-like atmosphere to the game. It perfectly stays in the background, and it really is not getting on anyones nerves, even after playing the game for a longer time.

Read the entire review at www.runtime-hq.com

Name: Dark Oberon
Developer: Marian Cerny and Peter Knut
Category: Strategy
Type: Freeware
Size: 30MB

A demo for Crazy Power Disc Perfect is available for download. [Crazy Power Disc review]

Uploaded Aquatic Sun to FileFront, an underwater exploration number by Liberation Games. Scott is currently working on Kingdom Elemental, a strategy title to be published by Chronic Logic sometime this month.

Takase is working on several new characters for Dot Fighters.

TypeStriker XE turns freeware! Download the 16MB full version from this page, then type in the following details after installation to register. [TypeStriker review]

First Name: FreeXE
Last Name: FreeXE
E-Mail: FreeXE@FreeBee.com
License Key: i?rx9x3f$xwbiy!usr_wajrpxt.iu8r@

buloght will be working on a platformer next, right after releasing The Family Treasure 2.

buloght, helm and big brother's pixel galleries can be accessed by clicking on their names.

Ether Vapor updated to version 1.06b. [Ether Vapor review]

XWars version 0.36 released. [Geometry Wars clones article, XWars review]

There's a new DHTML game by Brent Silby entitled Snapple. [Flatland, Swarm, Dark Age, Replicator review]

For Game Developers:

Here are some nice fonts to use in your games. (Thanks to Devlin.)

If you're into Visual Basic programming, then the Students of Game Design web site will be extremely helpful. (Thanks to Kryten!)

Buster's site updated with new info. The new game will be released before January 2007. [Vacant Ark review]

Operation Wolf is being remade with... LEGO blocks? Operation Block is still in early development stages, but looks very promising.

Babarageo is working on a new vertical shooter. Currently playable using either the keyboard or mouse.

Warning: May contain potentially provocative or offensive material.

Tomoyo Fighter is a doujin Final Fight clone by Chinchilla Softhouse, developer of PreCure-ACT. There are some questionable themes in it, for example an entire level featuring otaku bashing action and a special appearance by none other than Mr. Razor Ramon HG himself (who is actually straight).

The story begins with your brother abducted right out of his wheelchair, so like any other caring sister the protagonist embarks on a rescue mission and perhaps beat some sense into the kidnappers along the way. Features standard fight moves, multiple endings and eight stages in total.

Official site carries screenshots but no demo yet, and it's release date was pencilled as a few days away for several weeks now. The 20MB trailer is available to watch though. All links on the page leads to the same file.

A prequel of sorts to Titan Attacks, Puppy Invaders is an excellent shooter playable using any browser installed with Java. Instead of a score, credits are awarded for each sprite destroyed. At the end of each level, you can purchase power-ups such as shields, smart bombs, increase the ship's firepower or even firing rate.

Simple yet addictive.

Name: Puppy Invaders
Developer: PuppyGames
Category: Shooter
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

Imagine turning the Breakout gameplay sideways. Probably the exact thought that the developers of Poing had in mind. It's pretty good for an Arkanoid clone, in which the objective is to smash the opposing wall and access the next stage by sending your ball past the edge on the right.

It will probably take a while to beat the eighty levels included, though all can be accessed right from the start. An award-winning production with several recommendations under it's belt.

Name: Poing
Developer: Firestorm Productions
Category: Breakout
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Neon 2 is a rather bland Geometry Wars clone playable using only your internet browser, which is where most of it's problem lies. The frame rate is poor and common dual analog controls have been replaced with a mouse and keyboard combination.

The worst part of the game is spawn points. Enemies tend to appear right underneath your ship, a pattern that happens a little too frequently for any enjoyment to be had.

Name: Neon 2
Developer: varStudios
Category: Shooter
Type: Flash
Size: 1MB

From the Daily Click (altered heavily):

Crossworld Island is a freeware online platform game. You can build your own world and have up to four players at the same time. You can also develop campaigns with the campaign editor or build your own chat room. The online rating system sorts out user levels which can't be solved. Coins can be collected to buy special items such as the elastic spring, which can then be used in any level. Click here to download the 70MB preview video.

Features:
- login system
- level editor for own levels and campaigns
- objects and tilesets which you get step by step
- an online shop where you can buy items with your collected coins
- a living room which is like your own chat room
- you can choose between different characters with different characteristics (e.g. the diver can dive, the peasant can plant plants and the mechanic can repair things)
- day/night system which is controlled by the server. During the day, the levels are different than at night. For example: Ghosts can only be seen at night.
- wind affects the game. In the level-editor you can adjust the wind
- slippery surfaces. ice blocks can be placed in the level-editor
- teamplay. without teamplay you can't solve some levels. everyone can choose what he wants to play before the level is loaded.
- collecting. if you finish a level successfully, all collected coins and items will be placed in your online account.

Think Under Defeat, but with 2D sprites. Demolition Gunner: In Search and Destroy was originally developed for a three minute gameplay competition, then turned into a complete production featuring seven stages and obligatory boss encounters.

These battles last only twenty seconds each, so there won't be much of a struggle beating them assuming that you're good at dodging an insane number of bullets. Press the Z key to shoot, or hold the X key for a few seconds before releasing the button to launch a napalm bomb. Click on the first link after the title to download.

Name: Demolition Gunner: In Search and Destroy
Developer: DHC
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

N-E-M is the latest effort released by Akatuki Twilight, developer of two other shooters entitled Patchouli and IrK. Your ship has a unique dash attack which can be used to damage enemy ships. By pressing the Z key, any objects caught in your flight path will be destroyed.

If no directional arrow key is pressed when the action button is used, your ship will automatically zip towards the closest enemy. Features boss fights and an innovative save system that is never seen in any other shmups. While watching a replay, you can press the escape key and resume from the point where you've paused the action.

Name: N-E-M
Developer: Akatuki Twilight
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB