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Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Time-Wasters, Web

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

World's Hardest Game 2.0So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.

Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.

The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, and you need to move around the game board collecting yellow coins or keys, and make your way from the green starting area to the green end, without getting touched by the blue hazard balls. The only controls in the game are the arrow keys to control where your red square goes.

Like I said, it looks simple. But in practice, I gave up at level 4 after over 100 attempts. I wouldn't same I'm a video game expert, but I've certainly played my fair share of games in my time, and this one is certainly one of the most difficult.

How far can you get?

Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Time-Wasters, Web

Sleepy - Time Waster

SleepyThe best time wasters are games that are intellectually challenging, but not necessarily frantic or anxiety-inducing. Too many puzzle games rely on a beat-the-clock scenario to make games more challenging instead of simply making the puzzles more challenging. Well, Sleepy is a time waster that doesn't do that.

In Sleepy, the goal is to remove all of the colored blocks from the screen without waking them up. If you wake them up, a wakefulness bar starts to drop, and if it reaches the bottom, you lose at that level. The more blocks that wake up, the faster the bar moves, until they settle into new positions and fall back asleep.

The challenge in the game comes from the fact that you can only remove blocks of the colors given on one of the two indicator cards at the bottom of the screen. When one of the colors is a block that is sitting on top of a pile, it's not a problem, but soon you'll run into a situation when the only block you can remove will dislodge a bunch of other blocks, waking them up.

Sleepy is a cleverly-designed game with lots of replay value, a perfect distraction for your coffee-break or lunch time. And the soundtrack is perfect if you've got insomnia - just play Sleepy for a little while and you'll be headed back to bed.

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

Skyfyre is a side-scrolling, shoot-em-up frenzy on the back of a dragon - Time Waster

Something about the frenzied action of Skyfyre made me wish I had Dragonforce blasting out my Altec Lansing three-piece. Somehow I don't think that would fly here at my day job...

If you're lucky enough to be at home (or have a nice set of headphones, though), fire up some fast-paced tunes and get your turrets ready for aerial combat. This challenging and addictive side scroller is a perfect Friday afternoon time sink.

In addition to the stylish, pixelated graphics there's plenty of depth to Skyfyre. Start with four classes - warrior, hunter, knight, and paladin - each with their own advantages. Add in weapon upgrades and the ability to increase your stats, and this casual blast-fest can become quite engrossing.

Skyfyre also gives you three savegame slots so you can return to more productive pursuits for a few minutes and then get back to your game in progress later. Nice!

Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Time-Wasters, Web

Water Werks - Time Waster

Water WerksWater Werks is another Time Waster where the aim is to get the balls to the goal. In this iteration of the well-used concept, you can only influence the balls by spraying water at the objects in the environment around them. The balls themselves are impervious to the water's effects.

You can move your hose around and adjust the spray nozzle from a wide to narrow stream, which influences the strength of the stream as well as its direction.

I found Water Werks to be more difficult than an average time waster, but certainly not impossible. It's a fresh take on a potentially tired genre.

Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Time-Wasters, Web

Destroy the Wall 3 - Time Waster

Destroy the Wall 3Destroy the Wall 3 is a straightforward puzzle game. Your goal is to throw a ball so that it knocks down a wall (or walls) in such a way that a specific number of blocks fall out of the level, without losing your ball out of the level. The challenge is that you can only grab the ball in a small pink area, so you really have to actually throw the ball in the direction you think will cause the most destruction.

The more difficult levels later in the game can involve using levers to knock the blocks about, or pushing larger balls around. There are even levels featuring teleports that move your ball about the screen in confusing ways.

The somewhat random result of throwing the ball using your mouse (this is not a game that plays well when using a trackpad) means that even though you might have the right idea, it can take multiple frustrating tries to pass the level. The game unfortunately does not remember your progress, but you can start from any level, so you're not stuck back at square one if you reload the page or come back to the game at a later date.

Destroy the Wall 3 is one of the more addictive time waster's I've tried recently. Give it a shot, and let us know what you think. What levels are the toughest?

Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Time-Wasters, Web

Gravitex 2 - Time Waster

Gravitex 2Gravitex 2 is a classic gravity-based time waster. You pick a direction and amount of power, and shoot a ball off into space where various orbs' gravitational pull affect its trajectory. The goal is to collect all the green coins and get the yellow ball safely to its goal.

Interestingly, the green coins are not persistent; if you collect one and get the ball to the goal, that coin does not return again if you replay the level. That means that you don't have to come up with a single magic trajectory that will collect every coin in one go, but instead you can tackle a level multiple times in multiple ways to try to conquer it.

The graphics in Gravitex 2 are simple but do the trick, which can also be said for the soundtrack. The game offers both mouse-based control, and keyboard control. Given that this is very much a trial-and-error based game, you'll want to get comfortable with the keyboard controls, though for very tough levels the only way to finely control the settings is to use the mouse.

Gravitex 2 is pretty much a perfect casual game for people who enjoy physics games. You can play it for five minutes on your coffee break, and come back to it for a few minutes on your lunch hour.

Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Time-Wasters, Web

Savanna Blocks - falling block puzzle Time Waster

Savanna BlocksSavanna Blocks is a falling-blocks puzzle game created by Clockwork Monster that uses a fresh take on a tired genre. In Savanna Blocks your goal is to draw a line through groups of blocks that are touching either horizontally or vertically (not diagonally) to clear them from the board. As soon as you release your mouse button, the blocks that you've drawn on will disappear, but if you draw outside of the group of touching same-color blocks, your line will disappear.

Adding to the challenge is the fact that while you're busy connecting 10 blocks together, rows are being added to the bottom of the screen, shifting the blocks in play and potentially ruining your current line.

There are also special blocks available that will slow down the addition of new lines, blow up an entire line, or simply give you bonus points. The special blocks can be added on to any adjacent grouping you are making.

Savanna Blocks takes only seconds to learn, but I was surprised at how addictive the gameplay is given how tired I am of falling blocks games. Give it a try, you might be surprised too.

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

7 Talk Like a Pirate Day Timewasters

[Creative Commons licensed image removed at the request of the rights-holder]


Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day, ye filthy barnacles!

In the spirit of the day, we've put together a few fun, Pirate-themed timewasters. We've got trading games, tower defense, hack-and-slash (and cannonfire), and other saber-rattling goodness. It's all in the gallery after the break -- so crank up the Alestorm, grab yourself a rum, and enjoy!

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Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Time-Wasters, Web

Go Home Ball - Time Waster

Go Home BallGo Home Ball calls itself a physics game, but is really more of a time-based puzzler. Your job in the game is to get the red ball from the top of the screen, where it rolls out of an opening in a tree, to the bottom of the screen where an opening in the top of a tree trunk awaits, ensuring to collect all the gold stars along the way. Your tools to move the ball along vary across the levels, but they are typically a stick that you can temporarily lay to allow the ball to cross gaps, and a hand that you can use to nudge the ball in the correct direction.

Don't let the simple and cute appearance of the game fool you; the timing and placement for each move is crucial, and your skill with a mouse will play a big part in the success you have at the game.

(after the break, Happy Gilmore weighs in with his thoughts about balls going home...)

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Filed under: Fun, Time-Wasters, Humor

Kanye West apology generator - Time Waster

To appreciate the Kanye West apology generator, you may need some background: by now you've probably heard about rapper Kanye West's outburst at the Video Music Awards, interrupting teenage country star Taylor Swift as she accepted an award. Even if you don't have a TV, I'll bet you've noticed that "interrupting Kanye" has gone viral, and it's almost unavoidable on the web. While Kanye's stunt is kind of played out as a joke already, his blogged (but quickly deleted) apology to Taylor Swift is a more fertile comedy goldmine.

Kanye's propensity for blogging in all caps is already mildly hilarious, but when you combine that with a heat-of-the-moment defense of his actions -- written and posted while he was still at the awards that night -- you've got something really special. All you need to do is fill in the required fields, Mad Libs style. No description I could write would do justice to Kanye's original post, so I'll just present this apology I generated for some of Download Squad's lead bloggers:
I'M SOOOOO SORRY TO GRANT ROBERTSON AND VICTOR AGREDA, JR. FOR WRITING THE POST. I SPOKE TO VICTOR AGREDA, JR. RIGHT AFTER. GRANT ROBERTSON IS VERY UPSET !!........... I'M IN THE WRONG FOR POSTING AND DELETING!!!!!! I'M SORRY TO MY FANS IF I LET YOU GUYS DOWN!!!!! I'M SORRY TO MY FRIENDS AT DOWNLOAD SQUAD. I WILL APOLOGIZE TO GRANT ROBERTSON 2MRW. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!!!! EVERYBODY WANNA BOOOOO ME BUT I'M A FAN OF BLOG!!! Y'ALL KNOW!!! BOOOOYAAAWWWWW!!!!!!! AIGHT I GAVE MY APP TO MIKE ARRINGTON WHEN THEY DESERVED IT... THAT'S WHAT IT IS!!!!!!!!!! I'M NOT CRAZY YALL, I'M JUST BEING REAL. SORRY FOR THAT!!!MUCH RESPECT!!!!!
It probably won't be as funny next week, when this whole thing is ancient history, so strike while the iron is hot. Post your own Kanye Apology in the comments.

Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Time-Wasters, Web

Semantic Wars - Time Waster

Semantic WarsSemantic Wars is a castle defending game with a little bit of hangman thrown in. The idea of the game is that you are building various types of combatants to advance across the screen from your castle to the enemy castle, fighting any opposing warriors they encounter. The goal is to protect your castle while advancing far enough to attack the opposing castle.

Creating combatants costs you points, and aside from getting lucky and acquiring some through a bonus box that is dropped by the blimp overhead (really), the only way to increase your points is by guessing letters in secret words, hangman-style. You earn 8 points for each correct letter you guess, but you lose 3 points each time you guess a letter that is not in the word.

Though the fighting element of the game isn't particularly well done, the combination of that aspect of the game with the word game is enough to really get your head spinning. It can be challenging to shift gears from guessing letters in words and ensuring that you are creating enough troops to defend your castle, but if you space out for even a little bit, you will get overrun.

Semantic Wars is a fun little time waster that should get your brain juices going.

Filed under: Games, Freeware, Time-Wasters, Web

Johnny Rocketfingers 2 - NSFW mature Time Waster

Johnny Rocketfingers 2First things first, we need to put up a big Not Safe For Work / Kids warning on this one. This Time Waster is strictly for adults 18+. Johnny Rocketfingers 2 is a point-and-click puzzle game that follows the story of the title character through an adventure that involves mature themes, situations, violence, and naughty language. If you're easily offended, you'll probably want to take a pass on this one. And if you're not at least 18 years old, please don't continue reading.

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Filed under: Freeware, Social Software, Web

Your World of Text - a collaborative text editing experiment

Your World of Text

I hesitate to call Your World of Text a Time Waster, though that might be all it's really good for. The concept of Your World of Text is that you are looking at an infinite grid of text that any anonymous user can edit. If you're thinking "Warning, warning Will Robinson!", then we're on the same wavelength. Beware -- if you visit this site, you're looking at the uncensored internet.

Users can click anywhere but in the center of the screen that loads when you first load the site and edit text. That first area is locked as it gives you a description of what you're looking at, as well as a list of other Your World of Text sub-sites.

Scrolling around a bit, the site seems to be full of ASCII art, random ramblings, and more than a few impromptu chat sessions. It's hard to see what the point of Your World of Text is, but like a train wreck, it's also hard to look away.

Filed under: Design, Games, Macintosh, Apple, Freeware, Time-Wasters, Mods, Web

Download OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard's desktop pictures now

Snow Leopard desktop picsIf you're anxious for Snow Leopard to ship, you might be excited to know that you can grab copies of the built-in desktop images, thanks to the developer previews and a crafty blogger over at Uneasy Silence.

While there are four images out of the set of 35 that feature leopards, the rest of the images run the gamut from beautiful landscape photography to classic pieces of art. The images are offered as JPEGs, so even Windows users might like to pick up a few.

It seems to be a requirement now that major operating systems release with a relatively substantial set of beautiful images to be used as desktop wallpaper.

No longer can OS manufacturers get away with offering eight photos and a few tiling images -- remember tiling your desktop? Does anybody ever do that anymore?

Filed under: Fun, Games, Kids, Time-Wasters, Web

Balltoucher - Time Waster

BalltoucherThough it's a very unfortunate name for a game, Balltoucher is a fun little quick Time Waster. The concept is painfully simple - you're a black square, and light and dark colored balls are flying at you from all sides. Dark balls are bad, and when one touches you the game is over. Light ones are good, and the more you touch, the more points you get. There are also gold balls that give you special powers like slow-motion, invincibility, or they can even make all balls light colored for a period of time.

Each game is very short, less than a minute. Maybe the games are so short for me because of my skill level, but I like it because you can play three or four times without making any sort of real time commitment.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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