Games

Do you type a lot of SMS or Twitter messages? Watching your character count closely? Maybe you should check out the Thsrs, a new thesaurus from Ironic Sans. Put in the grandiloquent word you were planning to use, and it will give you a shorter synonym to help you save characters while still making sense.

What inspired Thsrs? Well, David at Ironic Sans thought people needed a little help composing understandable messages “w/o needing 2 use ugly abbrev’s.” Seems like a fine idea to us! There might still be a few kinks to work out — one commenter noted that ‘awesome’ humorously returned ‘awful’ as a synonym — but Thsrs worked pretty well when we tested it. Try it yourself, and let your messages be understood!

START A NEW THRILLING COSMIC ADVENTURE

Very Big Games announces the release of a sequel to a sparkling space saga, Crystals of Altaxia 2: The Dark Galaxy. A whole new universe is awaiting valiant travelers to endure an epic quest that will require browsing giant areas of unexplored space inside out. The sequel shines with sleek visuals, giving much more fun from the addictive challenges.

Harmony is unachievable at all times. Even two thousand years from today in a high-tech future with a tremendous expansion to space, theres still no peace. The upholders of chaos were discovered by a small expedition that stumbled upon the unknown hostile forces in a distant sector of a galaxy. With terrifying speed, a local conflict raged throughout the entire realm leaving our forces completely devastated. Now begins the time of a hero that must explore galaxies to search for the crystals of Altaxia. They are a power source to the humanitys last trump card, the luckily discovered battleship of the Ancients that can turn the tide of the war.

The setting of Crystals of Altaxia 2 follows the traditional storyline for sci-fi space shooters but the gameplay it provides certainly makes the game a real standout. First of all you are invited in a space RPG with places to visit, a spaceship to upgrade and a giant territory to explore. The spaceship is subject to a number of functionality and firepower upgrades that you can purchase in spaceports to have an edge in combat. As for the territory, its a randomly generated galaxy divided in to 192 sectors each composed of 192 levels - sub sectors . Imagine that youre free to browse space in any direction you like creating your unique way of unfolding the space warrior saga.

START A NEW THRILLING COSMIC ADVENTURE

Very Big Games announces the release of a sequel to a sparkling space saga, Crystals of Altaxia 2: The Dark Galaxy. A whole new universe is awaiting valiant travelers to endure an epic quest that will require browsing giant areas of unexplored space inside out. The sequel shines with sleek visuals, giving much more fun from the addictive challenges.

Harmony is unachievable at all times. Even two thousand years from today in a high-tech future with a tremendous expansion to space, theres still no peace. The upholders of chaos were discovered by a small expedition that stumbled upon the unknown hostile forces in a distant sector of a galaxy. With terrifying speed, a local conflict raged throughout the entire realm leaving our forces completely devastated. Now begins the time of a hero that must explore galaxies to search for the crystals of Altaxia. They are a power source to the humanitys last trump card, the luckily discovered battleship of the Ancients that can turn the tide of the war.

The setting of Crystals of Altaxia 2 follows the traditional storyline for sci-fi space shooters but the gameplay it provides certainly makes the game a real standout. First of all you are invited in a space RPG with places to visit, a spaceship to upgrade and a giant territory to explore. The spaceship is subject to a number of functionality and firepower upgrades that you can purchase in spaceports to have an edge in combat. As for the territory, its a randomly generated galaxy divided in to 192 sectors each composed of 192 levels - sub sectors . Imagine that youre free to browse space in any direction you like creating your unique way of unfolding the space warrior saga.

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master level and popular Chinese Chess Game software. Whoever you are, beginner or expert, you will have FUN and EXCITING playing with her. Play against computer or a friend;Automatic playing chess features inside. Operation is very simple. Almost any other chess software or client of online games, including MoveSky.net, OurGame.com, ChinaGames.net, QQ, 263.net, etc., can be connected.

You may select challenge mode in the game. On the way to Prophet, your volition will be chastened and you may get rapid progress. The mode includes nine tests, which become more and more difficult. A title will be awarded after qualifying each test. At last, you may challenge the final boss-PROPHETIf you defeat the boss, you may get the greatest royal title and own an expert ability involuntarily.

master level and popular Chinese Chess Game software. Whoever you are, beginner or expert, you will have FUN and EXCITING playing with her. Play against computer or a friend;Automatic playing chess features inside. Operation is very simple. Almost any other chess software or client of online games, including MoveSky.net, OurGame.com, ChinaGames.net, QQ, 263.net, etc., can be connected.

You may select challenge mode in the game. On the way to Prophet, your volition will be chastened and you may get rapid progress. The mode includes nine tests, which become more and more difficult. A title will be awarded after qualifying each test. At last, you may challenge the final boss-PROPHETIf you defeat the boss, you may get the greatest royal title and own an expert ability involuntarily.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Even children can play this jolly game. This addictive puzzle is free of violence or stress. Just have a try and you won’t put it down! Cheating won’t not work, whereas logic will be of great use for players.

Playing this game is easy as a pie but victory implies here a much more strenuous and challenging undertaking. Simply use the mouse and choose two adjoining balls you want to swap, so that you’ll get a one-color line. A subsequent explosion will mean that you’ve just scored your first points. The smaller the board, the more precious your points are. If you are deadlocked and no moves are left, then the game is lost.

Along with an engaging gameplay, you will discover nice graphics and a lighting effect that gives the balls a cute 3D look, adding elegance to the whole game. What’s more, you can adjust the light sensitivity to your comfortable level. Apart from playing, you can listen to the gentle voice of the built-in midi player which is another novelty. Vividly textured balls are one more reason to buy this brilliant puzzle. Try Magic Balls and become a puzzle expert!

Key features:

* Nice graphics and lighting effects;

* A built-in midi player.

Even children can play this jolly game. This addictive puzzle is free of violence or stress. Just have a try and you won’t put it down! Cheating won’t not work, whereas logic will be of great use for players.

Playing this game is easy as a pie but victory implies here a much more strenuous and challenging undertaking. Simply use the mouse and choose two adjoining balls you want to swap, so that you’ll get a one-color line. A subsequent explosion will mean that you’ve just scored your first points. The smaller the board, the more precious your points are. If you are deadlocked and no moves are left, then the game is lost.

Along with an engaging gameplay, you will discover nice graphics and a lighting effect that gives the balls a cute 3D look, adding elegance to the whole game. What’s more, you can adjust the light sensitivity to your comfortable level. Apart from playing, you can listen to the gentle voice of the built-in midi player which is another novelty. Vividly textured balls are one more reason to buy this brilliant puzzle. Try Magic Balls and become a puzzle expert!

Key features:

* Nice graphics and lighting effects;

* A built-in midi player.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Lode Runner, originally developed by Broderbund in 1983, was one of the first games to fuse arcade with puzzle elements. Now you can enjoy reworked classics with Lode Runner series by ZX Games.

The first episode features the very first 75 levels introduced in 1983.

The rules of the game remain unchanged: collect treasures, dig traps for enemies (a.k.a Bungelings) that are trying to hunt you down and move up the screen to get to the next level. Refer to Lode Runner Manual for detailed description.

Infinite lives let you enjoy the game. Quick save & load help you challenge difficult levels. There is level editor for you to get creative. You can easily browse through levels to edit and/or play them over.

You will definitely appreciate smooth control, which lets you focus on the game, not on figuring out how to mount a ladder. Switch between full-screen and window modes at your convenience.

Lode Runner, originally developed by Broderbund in 1983, was one of the first games to fuse arcade with puzzle elements. Now you can enjoy reworked classics with Lode Runner series by ZX Games.

The first episode features the very first 75 levels introduced in 1983.

The rules of the game remain unchanged: collect treasures, dig traps for enemies (a.k.a Bungelings) that are trying to hunt you down and move up the screen to get to the next level. Refer to Lode Runner Manual for detailed description.

Infinite lives let you enjoy the game. Quick save & load help you challenge difficult levels. There is level editor for you to get creative. You can easily browse through levels to edit and/or play them over.

You will definitely appreciate smooth control, which lets you focus on the game, not on figuring out how to mount a ladder. Switch between full-screen and window modes at your convenience.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

There is a battle for the hearts and wallets souls of our young surfing children on the interwebs. Parents are obviously concerned about the appropriateness of the world wide web being a kid’s playground, so are looking for suitable controls to help them feel their children are protected online.

We looked at 2 kids browsers, Glubble and Kidzui, and gave them a test spin as well as subjected them to an unscientific kid focus group. Check out our results after the jump.Glubble

Glubble is a Firefox add-on which offers kid safe web browsing and parental controls. The browser passed the 100,000 user mile mark as of June, adding 60,000 users since January 2008. The interface is reminiscent of social networking sites - family members can write on the Family wall and you can see the sites your children last visited. Also, children can connect with other family members by sending messages and asking for new sites to be added to their homepage.

The site revolves around “Glubbles” which are essentially bubbles of web content that are kid friendly and safe. Included on the site is content from familiar places like Disney, American Girl, Cartoon Network, Sesame Street, Nick, Scholastic, etc.

After you download Glubbles and restart Firefox, you are prompted to add your users as well as specify which Glubbles can be activated for your children. For households with multi computers, you need to install Glubble on each computer your children access. A nice feature is the ability to add authorized helpers who can grant permissions to your children to add new sites so you’re not the only one person with that duty.

Once you add all the users, you will have a Userbar in which all your family members will have their own user tab running a personalized multi-user copy of Firefox. The children’s user tab requires no password and switches to Firefox restricted mode. If your kids are cagey, they could click on your user tab to access Firefox with no restrictions, however they would have to know your user password to pull it off. If you have clicked the Remember Me option in the login screen, then you can be assured all bets are off.

Within their own user tab, kids can safely search Google for content, but admittedly in restricted mode, there’s not a whole lot to see. For example, a Glubble keyword search for pirates yielded one result and it was for a Neopet product. This is the main reason my 9 year old wrote on the Famly wall “I hate Glubble.” That, and for the fact Toontown is not supported for Firefox, she is not drinking the kool-aid.

Since the point of a kid’s browser is restricted access, I found it easy to get beyond the attitude and restricted web search. (Toontown, not so much). In any event, Glubbles comes loaded with default content and if you’re ok with your children accessing it, there is an “activate all” button for you. Otherwise, you can select which Glubbles you want to show on your family’s homepage on an individual basis.

To add additional content to your Glubbles, you can click on the “add this page to a Glubble” on the Firefox toolbar. On your homepage, Glubble lists recent children’s favorite sites and a link to the Glubble shop, powered by Amazon featuring different children product categories. Thankfully, this link does not appear on the children’s user tab, only on the user tabs which have administrative privileges.

All in all, Glubble is a nice kid and parent friendly site which offers a streamlined user interface with all the parent controls you need to keep your kids safe online. If you’re a Firefox user, then Glubble is a natural choice, however, if you use IE7 or Safari, you may want to try something different.

Kidzui

Kidzui is a web browser for kids and until recently was only available as a subscription. Now, a free version is offered, as well as a membership option which has additional features for $49.95 per year. The membership option provides enhanced parent emails and online reports as well as access to certain kid features.

Kidzui is compatible with both Mac and Windows and requires Safari 3.0 or later, IE6.0 , Adobe Flash Player 9. High speed internet is recommended.

Parents download Kidzui and create their child’s user account which includes a “zui” or avatar which can be customized with certain free features (skin tone, eyes, clothes). If you have the membership option, your kids can pimp their zui out with all different types of clothes and accessories.

With access to over 600,000 websites, pictures and videos reviewed by parents and teachers, Kidzui is an immersive web experience. To compare Glubble and Kidzui in terms of user experience, Kidzui is the slick Ferrari loaded with features, while Glubble is your basic Toyota Camry, dependable but drab. Gubble will get you there, but if you like style and features, Kidzui’s the sweet ride. You can just imagine which one your children will choose.

According to my 7 year old, Kidzui is better because it’s “Poptropica-ish” and you can make an avatar. Definitely, Kidzui has vast more content to explore with web, photo and movie sections and various categories like science, most popular, games, animals, favorite characters, music, and totally girl. My 9 year old was thrilled to watch kid appropriate YouTube videos and gain access to the ever important Toontown.

Kids can tag sites with emoticons as well as add friends. When a friend is added, parents are notified by email and can block the friend if they want. Having a friend on Kidzui appears harmless as there are no chat or email functions and the parent is notified immediately when the child adds a friend. The friend appears in the child’s “My friends” section listing the name, number of points, and the avatar.

Children are rewarded with points which are earned for exploring new videos, websites and photos. They can then use these points to unlock features to customize their zui avatar. A search with the keyword “pirates” resulted in numerous options to explore including Talk like a Pirate Day, which for the record is September 19th this year.

One annoyance is the full screen mode Kidzui defaults to at the child log-in screen, however, you can change this under the parental control section at the parent website. The good news is Kidzui’s help function is very customer service oriented. My email question was answered within 24 hours.

Kidzui and Glubbles are great at what they do. Both offer parental control and a nice user interface of the interwebs for children. If the genie is out of the bottle and your kids have already experienced the internet without browser parental controls, then Kidzui will be the better choice, especially if they are in the tween category. If, on the other hand, your children are young (ages 3-8) then Glubbles is a terrific browser for the younger crowd.

Although Kidzui is targeted to kids 3-17, we think that’s a mighty tough stretch to sell to teens. Let us know what browser you use to keep kids safe on the internet.

A brand-new and cute variation of the Minesweeper style game. You have a limited time to uncover mine field with a an unusual task to switch off the certain mines in the corners of the game field. Several levels of difficulty are available, high scores are recorded, and an honor roll keeps track of the family experts giving them nice funny icons. Combat Engineer is one of the longest time wasting I know.

A brand-new and cute variation of the Minesweeper style game. You have a limited time to uncover mine field with a an unusual task to switch off the certain mines in the corners of the game field. Several levels of difficulty are available, high scores are recorded, and an honor roll keeps track of the family experts giving them nice funny icons. Combat Engineer is one of the longest time wasting I know.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Even children can play this jolly game. This addictive puzzle is free of violence or stress. Just have a try and you won’t put it down! Cheating won’t not work, whereas logic will be of great use for players.

Playing this game is easy as a pie but victory implies here a much more strenuous and challenging undertaking. Simply use the mouse and choose two adjoining balls you want to swap, so that you’ll get a one-color line. A subsequent explosion will mean that you’ve just scored your first points. The smaller the board, the more precious your points are. If you are deadlocked and no moves are left, then the game is lost.

Along with an engaging gameplay, you will discover nice graphics and a lighting effect that gives the balls a cute 3D look, adding elegance to the whole game. What’s more, you can adjust the light sensitivity to your comfortable level. Apart from playing, you can listen to the gentle voice of the built-in midi player which is another novelty. Vividly textured balls are one more reason to buy this brilliant puzzle. Try Magic Balls and become a puzzle expert!

Key features:

* Nice graphics and lighting effects;

* A built-in midi player.

Even children can play this jolly game. This addictive puzzle is free of violence or stress. Just have a try and you won’t put it down! Cheating won’t not work, whereas logic will be of great use for players.

Playing this game is easy as a pie but victory implies here a much more strenuous and challenging undertaking. Simply use the mouse and choose two adjoining balls you want to swap, so that you’ll get a one-color line. A subsequent explosion will mean that you’ve just scored your first points. The smaller the board, the more precious your points are. If you are deadlocked and no moves are left, then the game is lost.

Along with an engaging gameplay, you will discover nice graphics and a lighting effect that gives the balls a cute 3D look, adding elegance to the whole game. What’s more, you can adjust the light sensitivity to your comfortable level. Apart from playing, you can listen to the gentle voice of the built-in midi player which is another novelty. Vividly textured balls are one more reason to buy this brilliant puzzle. Try Magic Balls and become a puzzle expert!

Key features:

* Nice graphics and lighting effects;

* A built-in midi player.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. So, give yourself a little break and play Magic Beads, a new rotate-and-match puzzle from Agentix Software. Featuring a simple, yet addictive gameplay, nice graphics and music, this brain-teasing game will be your true desktop companion whenever you feel dull and bored.

How to gain points in this game? Like a piece of cake - simply swap colors of blocks to build a one color line with at least 3 beads in it. The more beads your line has the more incredibly your score grows. You can change the look of the blocks by choosing the skin you like. Feasting your eyes on these beads, you give your mind a shelter from the storm of annoying thoughts. Splendid graphics, visual and sound effects make you feel simply enthralled with the game. The objective of the game is obvious, but the style of the interface is left to your discretion. The standard background color doesn’t impress you? So opt for another one! The midi music accompanying the game is another delicate choice for you to make. Try the puzzle and feel the pure pleasure.

Key features:

* Several colorful skins for falling blocks;

* Changeable background style;

* Built-in midi player.

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. So, give yourself a little break and play Magic Beads, a new rotate-and-match puzzle from Agentix Software. Featuring a simple, yet addictive gameplay, nice graphics and music, this brain-teasing game will be your true desktop companion whenever you feel dull and bored.

How to gain points in this game? Like a piece of cake - simply swap colors of blocks to build a one color line with at least 3 beads in it. The more beads your line has the more incredibly your score grows. You can change the look of the blocks by choosing the skin you like. Feasting your eyes on these beads, you give your mind a shelter from the storm of annoying thoughts. Splendid graphics, visual and sound effects make you feel simply enthralled with the game. The objective of the game is obvious, but the style of the interface is left to your discretion. The standard background color doesn’t impress you? So opt for another one! The midi music accompanying the game is another delicate choice for you to make. Try the puzzle and feel the pure pleasure.

Key features:

* Several colorful skins for falling blocks;

* Changeable background style;

* Built-in midi player.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Magic Games Collection is a pack of six puzzles, including Magic Lines, Magic Balls, Magic Beads, Logic Trainer, Magic Tetcolor and Combat Engineer. Whether you want to improve your brain power or simply unwind and relax after a hard day, this joyful collection will tease your brains and help you regain a peaceful state of mind.

The collection features Magic Lines, a brilliant remake of the famous Lines game. Here, you have the square game board where you should move multicolored balls to make lines of five balls that match in color. They explode and you score. Remember that each move there appear three new balls. So the quicker you clear board, the longer you survive.

Magic Balls puts you behind the game board which is crowded with colored balls. Your objective will be to swap neighboring balls to explode three or more lines of matching balls. As the line explodes, the new balls fall from the top. The more lines explode at one swap, the more you score.

Quite a different gameplay is in Magic Tetcolor, a variation of the legendary Tetris game. You have to match falling blocks into horizontal, vertical or diagonal one lolor lines that explode. To get the maximum score, you need to remove more blocks at one drop.

A Tetris-like gameplay comes to life in Magic Beads. In this game your objective is to make lines of at least three matching blocks. The novelty is that here you deal with falling lines, composed of three multicolored blocks. As this line is falling, you must change the color of the blocks to make a match at the drop. For an incredibly high score, try to match more blocks a one drop.

In Logic Trainer and Combat Engineer is all about guessing. In the first game, your objective is to guess the combination of six colors in four positions which are hidden from you. Combat Engineer is a new remake of Mine Sweeper. Here, you must disable bombs located in the corners of the playfield. Additional challenge is that you must do it in the limited time.

Magic Games Collection is a pack of six puzzles, including Magic Lines, Magic Balls, Magic Beads, Logic Trainer, Magic Tetcolor and Combat Engineer. Whether you want to improve your brain power or simply unwind and relax after a hard day, this joyful collection will tease your brains and help you regain a peaceful state of mind.

The collection features Magic Lines, a brilliant remake of the famous Lines game. Here, you have the square game board where you should move multicolored balls to make lines of five balls that match in color. They explode and you score. Remember that each move there appear three new balls. So the quicker you clear board, the longer you survive.

Magic Balls puts you behind the game board which is crowded with colored balls. Your objective will be to swap neighboring balls to explode three or more lines of matching balls. As the line explodes, the new balls fall from the top. The more lines explode at one swap, the more you score.

Quite a different gameplay is in Magic Tetcolor, a variation of the legendary Tetris game. You have to match falling blocks into horizontal, vertical or diagonal one lolor lines that explode. To get the maximum score, you need to remove more blocks at one drop.

A Tetris-like gameplay comes to life in Magic Beads. In this game your objective is to make lines of at least three matching blocks. The novelty is that here you deal with falling lines, composed of three multicolored blocks. As this line is falling, you must change the color of the blocks to make a match at the drop. For an incredibly high score, try to match more blocks a one drop.

In Logic Trainer and Combat Engineer is all about guessing. In the first game, your objective is to guess the combination of six colors in four positions which are hidden from you. Combat Engineer is a new remake of Mine Sweeper. Here, you must disable bombs located in the corners of the playfield. Additional challenge is that you must do it in the limited time.

[Read the rest of this entry...]