Ten Issues Strong

I'm about as romantic as two rats fighting over a chicken bone in a filthy third-world alley, but I have to say that this column is proving to be a labor of love for me each week. I love being at the helm of GameShark.com, but this small little piece of real estate I occupy means a lot to me because I get to share with you, dear reader, the games that I happen upon in my midnight meanderings on the internet all week long. I've been searching through Sourceforge for years, and in recent months I've expanded my searches through indie forums and leading portals that deliver hundreds of games a week, and through all of it I have found some great games made by some dedicated people. So I am very happy that for ten issues I have been able to share some of these great creations with you. I hope that everyone reading this column is checking out these titles and finding some joy in them.

I'd also like to encourage everyone that reads The Indies to give us your feedback on the games we are highlighting here. Your opinions matter just as much as mine do, and whether you want to deliver praise or criticism, I'd be happy to hear from you (contact information can be found on the last page). Now with that lovefest out of the way, let's take a look at this week's games. There are some great ones in there worth learning more about..

Sixty Seconds With...

GODS: Lands of Infinity Special Edition is a reworked release of the cool indie role-playing game from "" available from the good folks over at TotalGaming.net. If you enjoyed the original, then you might want to check out SE because it offers a number of new features and stars model Kyla Cole as the lead heroine. Using the latest version of the Gods engine, SE offers a tactical turn-based combat system, revamped graphics with more detailed environments, a whole new interface, redesigned character animations, a brand new game soundtrack by Pavel Krychtalek, improved sound effects by Clock Work Production, over 200 characters and monsters, bonus weapons & armor and an expanded Alchemy system that allows the player to modify or create items. If you like Lands of Lore style role-playing games, you'll find this re-release of GODS intriguing.

Why should DS and Wii players be the only ones to get brain training when there are plenty of PC games just waiting to stimulate you? One such title, Brainiversity , promises some PC-based brain training that will stimulate your brain with 16 different activities covering Language, Memory, Math and Analysis. The game also includes a Daily Exam mode that records your daily workouts, with the results available via a monthly chart and you can even compare your results with other users on the same computer. You can grab a trial version of the game from the folks over at GameTrove.

Bos Wars is an open-sourced future-leaning real-time strategy game being developed Linux, MS Windows, BSD, and Mac OS X. While the game is still in development, what's available now is pretty promising despite the lackluster presentation. That aside, a lot of work has gone into this game and the development team is actively working on new features on a regular basis. If you are looking for a free RTS game diversion, Bos Wars, might just be what you are looking for.

It is pretty rare to see a sports title in This column, but Tennis Elbow 2006 hits the spot for being arcade enough to work on the PC and good looking enough to warrant a demo download. The 2006 edition of the game is a new title in a long running series of tennis games for the PC that include Tennis Elbow 98, Tennis Elbow 2004, Tennis Elbow 2005, and Tennis Champs. Tennis Elbow 2006 features 7 different surfaces (clay, grass, hard, blue-green hard, synthetic, indoor hard and indoor) 125 tournaments, with 300 players, single & double competitions for up to 4 players, 6 difficulty levels, a full ranking system, 2 characters with customizable colors, split screen play and network play. Finally, the game supports multiple languages including English, French, Deutsch, Italian, Dutch and Spanish.

The idea behind Space Trader is simple enough to grasp: travel the universe in a set amount of time, sell things to different life forms and hunt down fugitives for big fat cash rewards. The game's goal is to make as much money as possible in the time you're given as you travel through the solar system visiting different planets, buying, selling, and repeating - all while taking on dangerous bounty hunting missions. The game offers single and multiplayer modes, large levels to explore, plenty of trading, and lots of gunplay as you track down and take out the solar system's most notorious criminals. Check out the link above to grab the time limited demo.

I'm not sure about the legality of this project given that EA is still using the Wing Commander name to create games, but this Sourceforge hosted title is attempting to recreate a popular classic for modern operating systems. Gemini Gold is a remake of Wing Commander Privateer, with the end goal being to make the game compatible with modern systems while also serving up additional fan made content for this cult classic space exploration and trading game. For more in- depth information about Privateer Gemini Gold you may also want to check out priv.solsector.net ..