Through our affiliation with PlayFirst, we are able to offer a 50% discount to our readers for the entire month of December for Sweetopia, the hilarious action puzzler from Gamelab that you can also try freely online. The following coupon codes expire December 31, 2007:

PC version - decsweet
Mac version - decsweetmac

In this fast-paced chain-popper, something in the candy factory has gone dreadfully awry. The latest batch of sweets on the conveyor belts has explosive potential and it's up to you and Kate to return the factory to the Sweetopia it once was. Simply stop the Sherbet Sizzlers from colliding before you enter a sugar shock!

Click here or on one of the links below to go to the PlayFirst Website and enjoy!

Through our affiliation with PlayFirst, we are able to offer a 20% discount to our readers for the entire month of November for Egg vs. Chicken, the hilarious action puzzler from Gamelab. The following coupon codes expire December 1, 2007:

PC version - noveggvschicken
Mac version - noveggvschickenmac

Click here or on one of the links below to go to the PlayFirst Website and enjoy!

Leonie Manshanden - marketing director at Midway - has announced they will be producing the classic adventure game Myst for the popular dual screen portable console by Nintendo. Now this is a favorite of mine. I wonder if the other 'episodes' will also become available.

John Carmack - one of the Id software founders - has shown interest into the possibility to create a special Quake-Arena version for the Nintendo DS. He was inspired by playing Metroid Prime Hunters - which is quite a good fps on the Nintendo DS btw! - read more.

As you know, running a site such as Armchair Arcade takes money, and, while we'd still do this even if the Website didn't generate a penny to help offset our hosting and bandwidth costs, it's nice when something we offer does work. This brings me to our affiliate program with PlayFirst, publishers of fine small form games for platforms like the PC, Macintosh and Web. That's been by far the biggest hit of our modest efforts and we just wanted to take a moment to thank all the AA'ers who took the time to click on the links, play some of the games offered and make purchases of their favorites. It's very much appreciated! For those who haven't checked it out yet, click on over to PlayFirst with the following links:

DEFINING PAST AND PRESENT GAME GENRES

Why past and present?  Certain game types, while still alive through the efforts of thousands of active hobby programmers, are no longer available in mainstream retail outlets and thus don’t knowingly exist to large portions of the game playing public.  Therefore, described in alphabetical order is what has been and what is still available.  Keep in mind, however, that one of the beauties of gaming is that many games don’t fit neatly into one specific category.  When example software titles are listed, only the publisher or developer is noted in parentheses, along with one of the systems or platforms the game appeared on.

DEFINING HOME VIDEOGAME, COMPUTER AND HANDHELD ERAS

What is often lacking in casual discussion of eras or time periods when certain systems or types of technology dominated is an agreed upon definition of what these really encompassed.  Below is one attempt at defining the significance of eras in the key classifications of home videogames, computers and handhelds.  As with any type of grouping, it's important to remember that there can be significant overlap, as some systems lasted a year or less, while others have been going strong for a decade or more.