halloween posts

Filed under: Fun

Happy Halloween! Help yourself to these moldy old posts

by Download Squad Staff Oct 31st 2009

	Halloween costumes from the Internet: happy Hallo-meme! Stepping away from the computer for a few hours to trick or treat or go to a costume party doesn't mean you have to leave the internet behind.		Six classic horror-iffic games for Halloween Turn out the lights and turn up the volume, it's time to scare yourself silly with some good, old Halloween-y games. Enjoy!
	Use your Mac to detect supernatural activity this Halloween! You knew your Mac could detect wireless networks and Bluetooth devices, but did you know it can also detect spirits? If you want to scan for supernatural activity, download an app called EMF6742,...	Also of interest: More Halloween Time Wasters Halloween Screensavers, the good, the bad, and the ugly Halloween goodies on the web, hold the candy corn

Tags: halloween, holiday, roundup

Filed under: Fun, Features

Win one of three Halloween treat bags from Download Squad

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Oct 30th 2009

Have you ever wanted your own bag of leftover schwag from SXSW Interactive? Or how about a new laptop bag? Would an AOL USB LED flexible light help you in any way? Check out each of the treat bags below, leave a comment on the pages that describe the treat bags to enter, and in a week we'll randomly choose our winners.

Sorry, limited to US and Canda, restrictions apply, read the rules, etc. and so on below. Happy Halloween from your friends at Download Squad! Each winner also gets a t-shirt or two from LogMeIn, since they sent us a giant bag of shirts.

Treat bag One: the musical coder.

Treat bag Two: the collector.

Treat bag three: the mobile warrior.

NOTE: Do not leave comments on this post -- you can't. You must leave a comment on the post describing the treat bag you wish to enter to win.

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Tags: giveaway, halloween

Filed under: Fun, Games, Internet, Time-Wasters

Scare yourself senseless with Inculcation -- Halloween Time-Waster

by Sebastian Anthony Oct 30th 2009

I didn't really know what to expect as Inculcation loaded up. 'Best played in the dark with your sound turned up loud' the loading screen tells me. Gulp. I'm not a fan of horror films or games. I accidentally scroll down a bit while it's loading and see a small snippet from the game's author: 'A Point & Click survival horror inspired by Silent Hill, Resident Evil and Exmortis.' Oh shi--

Unsurprisingly, you start off in a room with nothing. It's the de facto rule that all of these Room Escape puzzles share: you don't know how you got there, or why you're there, but damnit -- you're there, and you need to find a way out!

Inculcation is the first room escape game that I've played with real-time combat elements. There are actually monsters -- zombies? -- that pop up and require shooting. Fortunately it's very easy to shoot them dead, but it does mean that you occasionally lose health. There are syringes about the place that can restore your health.

Mostly the gameplay is what you'd expect from such games -- pick up objects, open doors, solve rudimentary riddles that involve some observation skills. It is nothing special in this regard -- in fact, some of the puzzles feel a little random and rely on guesswork rather than applying your knowledge of the game.

I played through the first house in Inculcation, and I can tell you this now: the enhanced elements of music, artistic direction and creatures that can actually kill you really add to the tension, the danger. I admit I yelped out loud a few times. I admit my hand slipped off the mouse a few times when attacked by zombies. I admit I'm a wuss when it comes to the horror genre.

There's one part in the first house where a door shakes -- as if something is behind it, desperately trying to get out -- and it keeps shaking. Over and over. Louder and louder. And when it finally comes to open the door... well... you're in for a big surprise. Give it half an hour of your time at least -- you won't regret it...

[via JayIsGames]

Tags: flash, games, halloween, horror, room escape, RoomEscape, scary, time-waster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

Red Remover gets a Halloween costume and new levels - Time-Waster

by Jay Hathaway Oct 30th 2009

Red Remover is one of the all-time classic casual puzzle games, where the object is to remove the red blocks while keeping the other ones from falling. With Halloween coming up, the game is getting into costume as Pumpkin Remover: instead of blocks, you've got rotten pumpkins to get rid of, and fresh ones to defend. It's not just a reskinning of Red Remover, though, it also features some new levels.

Just like Red Remover, Pumpkin Remover presents a lot of physics-based challenges. Some of the obstacles you'll face include ramps, barricades, and weird directional gravity. It might not be the spookiest Halloween-themed game out there, but Pumpkin Remover is a fun expansion for anyone who just can't get enough of this particular style of puzzle game.

Pro Tip: Definitely play through level 5 for a cheesy Halloween joke. I LOL'd.

Tags: game, halloween, pumpkin remover, PumpkinRemover, Red Remover, RedRemover, time-waster

Filed under: Fun, Games, Time-Wasters

Pumpkin Push -- a Halloween-themed Time Waster

by Sebastian Anthony Oct 29th 2009

You'll never guess what the primary purpose of this game is. OK, OK, stop guessing! I'll tell you: you gotta push pumpkins!

But it's not as simple as that. It's not just a Boulderdash clone with Halloween-skinned baddies and pumpkins for stones -- no, it's like some kind of fantastic mash-up of Boulderdash, Mega Man and Pac Man. In Pumpkin Push you play a plucky pumpkin-pushin' protagonist whose primary objective is to clean the world of various undead ghouls. Vampires, ghosts, robot-pumpkins... they're all here and waiting to be vanquished.

Tags: halloween, miniclip, pumpkin push, PumpkinPush, time-waster

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Humor

Halloween costumes from the Internet: happy Hallo-meme!

by Jay Hathaway Oct 28th 2009

While it's still not possible to download a Halloween costume, stepping away from the computer for a few hours to trick or treat or go to a costume party doesn't mean you have to leave the Internet behind. In fact, Know Your Meme has come up with a guide to dressing up as your favorite online meme. They have instructions for everything from Keyboard Cat to the Flying Spaghetti Monster to that rabbit with a pancake on his head.

Unfortunately, because you can't trick-or-treat the Internet (yet), you and your friends might be the only ones who think your costumes are funny. To be fair, though, some of them are really, really funny, and going door-to-door with your kid dressed as the pancake bunny is a guaranteed candy goldmine.

If you're planning to dress up as an Internet meme or something software-related - anybody going as the Mozilla Firefox? - let us know in the comments. And post some photos if you've got them. This is the Internet, after all: pics or it didn't happen!

Tags: costumes, funny, halloween, meme, memes

Filed under: Web services, Google, Googleholic, web 2.0

Googleholic for October 31, 2008

by Christina Warren Oct 31st 2008

Welcome to Googleholic, your weekly fix of everything Google!

In this Ghoulishly-Google edition:

Gmail supports gadgets
Link to specific parts of a YouTube video
Search Google profiles
Google Toolbar turns 8
Google promotes 'Take a Vote Hour'
Ghoulishly Google Trick-or-Treats

Tags: gmail, google, google gadgets, google toolbar, GoogleGadgets, googleholic, GoogleToolbar, halloween

Filed under: Games, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Six classic horror-iffic games for Halloween

by Lee Mathews Oct 31st 2008

Turn out the lights and turn up the volume, it's time to scare yourself silly with some good, old Halloween-y games. Enjoy!

Escape from Hell via Abandonware Dos

Think of Diablo, in reverse, with really, really low-fi graphics. That might still not be an accurate description of Escape from Hell, but it's as close as I can get to a modern comparison. It's an RPG, and you'll have to fight your way out of Hell, meeting up with all kinds of evil nasties along the way.

Watch out, there's even a (very) little CG nudity (!) in this one.

Tags: abandonware, classic, games, gaming, halloween, horror

Filed under: Fun, Macintosh

Use your Mac to detect supernatural activity this Halloween!

by Jay Hathaway Oct 31st 2008

You knew your Mac could detect wireless networks and Bluetooth devices, but did you know it can also detect spirits? If you want to scan for supernatural activity, download an app called EMF6742, from the Department of the Supernatural. This little program uses your Mac's wireless hardware to scan for anomalies in electromagnetic fields, indicating nearby spirits. A higher number means a stronger anomaly in the EMF.

System requirements include "Mac OS X 10.5 or later, a wide variety of superstitions and/or a sense of humor." Yes, unfortunately, EMF6742 is just a joke. Apparently, some people downloaded it without realizing this, though, so if you're looking for something to show your friends to put the "trick" in trick-or-treat, give it a look!

Tags: emf, halloween, prank, supernatural, trick

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

Halloween Clash and Pumpkin Simulator for fall fun - Time Waster

by Christina Clark Oct 22nd 2008

If you're looking for a little Halloween-themed time wasting, two simple options are Halloween Clash and Pumpkin Simulator. Neither one is on its' way to being game of the year but they are both good for a few minutes of fun.

Halloween Clash pits you against the pumpkin headed goblins trying to invade your house. I was hoping to see big splatters of pumpkin guts all over but instead, you play from an aerial view and see only pumpkin puddles when you kill one of the goblins. You point and click with your mouse to shoot and can play as the Easter Bunny, Cupid or Santa Claus. The graphics are pretty simplistic but they get the job done.

The first level seemed pretty lame as all I had to do was click on a pumpkin and boom, it was gone. In the second level the pumpkins moved in less predictable patterns and made things a bit more challenging (but only a little bit). The third level when the pumpkins were invisible and had only a shadow and they moved faster, well, that's where it started to be more interesting.

Pumpkin Simulator is simply an online pumpkin carving tool. You can carve up your pumpkin in any way you wish, and when you click done, your creation is lit with a candle inside. It might be a good way to try out some of the designs you have in mind for real pumpkins this year or just provide some silliness as you carve up outrageous faces and designs. It might even make a good way to use your computer screens in your Halloween decorating scheme.

Both sites are good for a few minutes and might be something to help get you into the mood of the season if the mini candy bars all over the place haven't done it yet.

Tags: halloween, time-waster

Filed under: Games, Internet, Time-Wasters

More Halloween Time Wasters

by Christina Warren Oct 31st 2007

Happy Halloween! Here are some more Halloween-themed time wasters to help make your day/evening as unproductive as possible.

Carve a Pumpkin

Here at Download Squad, we are pretty bad at carving real pumpkins. Aside from the mess and the smell, we have a tendency to knick ourselves with the Exact-O knife. As truly horrifying as a trip to the ER on Halloween can be, it's just not the kind of scare we enjoy. Luckily, technology has allowed us to take our pathetic art skills to the virtual stage.

There are a ton of flash-based pumpkin carving games; two of our favorites:

Game Garage

One More Level

For the Macabre

Candy Mountain Massacre

5 Minutes to Kill Yourself -- This is a classic [Adult Swim] game, but we think it's perfect for Halloween

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat XTreme -- We wasted 10 minutes playing this while writing this post.

Tags: halloween, pumpkin, pumpkins

Filed under: Fun, Web services

Halloween goodies on the web, hold the candy corn

by Ted Wallingford Oct 31st 2007

It was once considered unconventional to mess with your corporate logo, as if modifying it for a particular event was somehow degrading to your corporate image. But Google's been doing it every holiday (and even Earth Day) for the last ten years or so. Today's Google logo is a spooky-looking house, obviously inspired by Halloween. But Google's not the only online powerhouse celebrating All Hallow's Eve.

Hauntworld.com offers a directory of haunted houses all around the U.S. Like being scared? Get your fright game on at 7floorsofhell.com or Terror Town. Besides a directory of places you can pay to involuntarily pee, Hauntworld has a blog run by scare fans, too.

If you'd rather trick or treat than go to one of those exhibitions, you can still make the most of the web to plot your goody-gathering course. Want to avoid sex offenders? No sweat. Trying to find out where the most frequented neighborhoods are, or where the candy is "full size"? Check out Kidcounter. This site is limited in geography but serves as a model for tracking Treat Distribution online. The site is designed to count the number of trick or treaters an the amount of candy handed out, so next year, you'll know what neighborhoods to plunder, and which to avoid like the plague.

Tags: candy, halloween

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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