I just ran across one of the coolest uses of Google Earth I’ve seen. Planet in Action has created an online simulation built on top of Google Earth. You can pilot several barges, a re-fuel ship, a container ship, a cruise ship, or even a blimp. This looks to be a proof-of-concept type game according the the banners they have plastered on the boats you get to drive.

Investors wanted to bring this game to the next level.

Regardless, it is a pretty neat use of the Google Earth technology. I can’t way to see what games come out of this when/if they get their inivestors.

It’s that time of year again folks. The Finalists for the 2009 Independent Games Festival have been announced. Ever since I discovered this festival a few years back, I’ve been coming back yearly to see the new games that make it to the finals, and then ultimately win the competition. This year’s winners will be announced in late March, but definitely go and play with the games that are listed (many are a free download). This competition usually has some really creative games that are very different (FUN!) from most mainstream games available.

I just spent about a half hour playing this beautifully designed (and addictive) flash game, Auditorium.

The game is all about directing a stream of particles using small spheres that redirect them in different ways. You want to get the particles running through audio containers that play different parts of the beautiful soundtrack in the game. I guess this game is just a demo so far (only 3 levels). The developer promises up to 20 levels when this thing is done. Take a play, it will be tough to stop.

Remember the last Nintendo Cartridge Nintendo? This one takes it a step further, adding a controller and a screen to the package. Now you don’t even need to have a TV to play your cartridge-sized Nintendo. This one doesn’t look like you can play more than one game though. Oh well, it’s still pretty cool.

Just when you thought they couldn’t get any smaller, this guy (blog in French) mods an entire old school Nintendo Entertainment System to fit into a Super Mario Brothers Cartridge. Sweet!

This is nothing short of impressive. Nihilogic has written a partial level of the original Super Mario Brothers game in 14kb of code entirely with javascript! This is the technology that makes your websites work being used to write a game that was pretty cutting edge when it was released. Give it a try!

I ran across a really cool looking game tonight called Crayon Physics Deluxe. The game itself isn’t out yet, but you can download and play a prototype of the game (minus the “deluxe”) from the Kloonigames Blog. This looks pretty cool, and I’m looking forward to the release of the full version.

Crayon Physics Deluxe on a TabletPC

Awesome online game site, Play This Thing puts up a game and a review every day.

Some of my favorites:

• Good ole Desktop Tower Defense
  
• “The Most Sacrilegious Game Ever” Bible Fight

I really like these little game developer competitions. They usually have some nice results that are not only fun to play, but outside the realm of your typical games. Jayisgames.com recently had a competition where entries were judged on repeat plays. They wanted games that kept you coming back for more. The winners have been announced. The winning games are pretty fun, but be sure to scroll to the bottom and play all the entries.

This is somewhat along the lines of my previous old school computer games posts. Now it’s not just old computer games, but you can now play old school console games right inside your browser too. Nintendo 8 offers a nice list of your favorite NES games via java from inside your web browser. They all seem to work pretty well, but I did have a few issues getting used to the controls. Using a computer keyboard is a lot different than using a Nintendo controller!

Jack is back! The crazy pop-culture game You Don’t Know Jack is online again. These were originally CD-ROM party games back in the day. I can even remember playing an early Netshow version of these games in the mid 90’s, back before the dot.com boom (it took quite a while for them to load on dial-up). If I remember correctly, it used to be a multi-player game where you could screw your friends while playing. This new one is just the single-player version, but hopefully now that they seem to be releasing new episodes somewhat regularly the good ‘ole multi-player version will be back again soon.

I played a round, and it is a lot tougher than I remember! Maybe I’m not as quick as I used to be.

I like to keep my eyes open for different logos, whether that be on the web or driving around in the real world. This fun little game test how well you remember common logos from several prominent web companies. I got a 68.92%. See how well you fare a logo identification. (hint: Amazon is smiling at you)

Ever wish you could pit your favorite old-school video games characters against each other? Ever wondered what it would be like if the Metroid man woman were in a battle to the death with Mario, or what would happen if Sonic the Hedgehog were to fight Link from Zelda? Well, wonder now more… Super Smash Flash is a flash game that lets you throw old-school video game characters into battle with each other (street fighter style).

Just like you could drive a racecar through New York, You can now fly an airplane over several cities around the word. Googles, the Google Maps Flight Sim is a little Flash app that puts you in a little green and yellow plane where you can fly all over Google Maps satellite pictures of the world.

Not 99, not 100, but 101 FREE Games on the internet. These are the cruddy flash games you see everywhere (there have got to be WAY more than 101 of those). Computer Gaming World has put together a pretty extensive list of actual decent games to download free from the net. So, if you were just saying to yourself, “Self, we need to find something to do this weekend… I wish we had a new game or two to play!” worry no more, 101 free games list to the rescue!