multiplayer posts

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Time-Wasters

Hedgewars: multiplayer weaponized hedgehog action, now with a Mac port - Time Waster

by Jay Hathaway Jun 8th 2009

The first line in the game description of Hedgewars is "each player controls a team of hedgehogs." Ok, where do I sign up? Hedgewars is similar to old-school games like Worms Armageddon or Scorched Earth, in that your weapons can remove chunks of terrain from the playing field, deforming the game board and destroying your opponents. Your hedgehogs take turns moving and attacking with everything from baseball bats to dynamite.

The game would be pretty fun to play against a computer, but it gets better with the addition of multiplayer online games, and even tournaments. Go tap into the community at Hedgewars.com to find teammates and opponents. Hedgewars is free and open source, and also has a recent Mac port, so friends on all operating systems can get in on the hedgehog-battling action.

Tags: game, hedgehogs, hedgewars, multiplayer

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

Wreck your team's afternoon with SNK League Bowling - Time Waster

by Lee Mathews Feb 12th 2009

There's no reason that you should be alone in your Time Waster-ing. If you're feeling social and want to bring your teammates down with you, head over to GetBack's arcade and go for 300 in SNK League Bowling.

Yep, it's the classic NeoGeo title done up for your browser. I still remember drooling over ads for the console and thinking that the NeoGeo was probably the best at home arcade system I'd ever see. Well, so much for that.

Still, League Bowling is a fun way to kill some time at work with your buddies.

Grab up to three friends and compete for bragging rights, or play on your own if you prefer. The controls are simple: position your bowler along the line using the arrow keys. Use the a key to set your aim and s for power. It's all about timing - stop the indicator at the wrong time, and your ball is headed straight for the gutter.

Tags: bowling, emulator, flash-game, multiplayer, neogeo

Filed under: Games, Internet, Google

Google and Multiverse to announce virtual worlds built on Google Earth

by Brad Linder Oct 9th 2007

Part of the appeal of virtual worlds like Second Life and World of Warcraft are that they let you escape from the real world. But who's to say there's isn't a market for virtual spaces based on real places?

CNet reports that Google and Multiverse Network are set to announce a partnership that will let anyone create a virtual world/MMORPG using data from Google Earth and 3D models created with Google's SketchUp.

You could set your virtual world in real cities, allowing visitors to interact with realistic representations of buildings, streets, terrain, and other landmarks.

According to CNet, the Multiverse partnership has nothing to do with the rumor that Google is developing its own virtual world technology.

Tags: google-earth, mmorpg, multiplayer, multiverse, sketchup

Filed under: Fun, Games, Internet, Social Software

Gaming on Facebook: way more fun than solitaire

by Lisa Hoover Aug 6th 2007

Since we're all about the social networking around here, lots of us are signed up with Facebook. No longer content to just write on each other's walls or ask a Question of the Day, a few of us have started playing online games at Facebook with the other people in our networks. Some of us like cerebral games like Scrabulous, a version of the popular Scrabble board game, while others like to kick our friends' butts in Pirates vs. Ninjas.

Tech[dot]Blog has a great round-up of 20 different gaming applications you can add to your profile on Facebook. There are classic Nintendo NES games, trivia and word games, and even some virtual reality apps that let you create an aquarium of fish or adopt penguins, giraffes, turtles, and so on (what, no koalas?) Boy, have we come a long way since the days of single-player solitaire, or what?

Tags: facebook, games, multiplayer, Nintendo

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Multiplayer Asteroids - Today's Time Waster

by Jordan Running Jul 13th 2006

What do you get when you take Asteroids, add a bunch of other players, and, er, take out the asteroids? Multiplayer Asteroids. It's an extremely fast-paced and addicting Flash space shooter that takes its aesthetic cues from the classic arcade rock-blaster and adds a dozen or more players from around the world. The controls will be familiar to Asteroids players: Left and right rotate your ship, up and down move you forward and backward, and the space bar fires. You can also press enter to get a text box to broadcast messages to other players, and you can pick up power-ups to boost your health or weaponry. The game can be different depending on how many players they are: With three or four players there's a little more strategy involved than when there's 10 players, in which case the screen is a blizzard of projectiles. This is a game that's hard to stop playing.

[Via Waxy.org]

Tags: action, asteroids, flash, fun, game, multiplayer, shooter

Filed under: Fun, Games, Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Massively Multplayer Pong - Today's Time Waster

by Jordan Running Mar 1st 2006

Pong is about as simple as games get, but what if 30 people are trying to control the paddle at once? That's the premise of Massively Multiplayer Pong, a Flash game in which you and a few dozen other people play an endless game of pong against a few dozen other people, but with only two paddles and one ball. Though in essence little more than a cute experiment in the wisdom of crowds, Massively Multiplayer Pong is surprisingly fun. Playing it feels kind of like driving a car in a dream—you're sort of in control but there are larger, more mysterious forces at work. At least, that's what my driving dreams are like.

Tags: hivemind, mmo, multiplayer, pong

Filed under: Fun, Games, Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Freeware

Time Waster of the Day: Play pictionary online with iSketch

by Jordan Running Aug 11th 2005

iSketch If somebody told me I could play Pictionary online I don't think I'd exactly hoot, "Finally! My prayers are answered!" and when a friend invited me to iSketch it took a bit of cajoling to get me to log on. iSketch is a free multiplayer Shockwave (beware: it can bog down your system a bit) game in which the players take turns drawing a word chosen by the server while the other players try to guess the word. Like I said, Pictionary. Unlike the old dinner party stand-by, however, iSketch is fast-paced and very addicting. To log on to iSketch you just need to pick a username (no registration, password optional) and then choose a room or create one for you and your friends to play in. If you create your own room there are lots of lots of options you can configure, including how long each round lasts, what word list to use (e.g. "U.S. Basic," "Nintendo," "Portuguese," "XXX," etc.), and even how many people can draw at once.

Time Waster of the Day is Download Squad's newest daily feature. If there is a Flash game, web toy, or fun download that you find yourself spending way too much time playing with or staring at, please tell us via our tip form.

Tags: chat, fun, games, isketch, multiplayer, pictionary

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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