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Top 11 Free Brain Games

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Sep 21st 2008 at 11:01AMFeatured Story

Not all video games are bad for you. In fact, most video games actually engage different parts of your brain to help develop logic, decision-making, mental speed, and even creativity. Now, a new trend in gaming called "brain games" aims at actually training your noodle to help you improve your mental facilities. Problem is, many of these games require some sort of site subscirption fee or even a Nintendo DS to play "Brain Age".

Fear not, dear Switched reader. We scoured the net to find 11 of the best brain games -- and even better, they're all free.

1. WordCrunch
WordCrunch Brain Game

WordCrunch is your basic word-search game, but it changes themes on a daily basis. This one is easy to learn but tough to master. This is the ultimate test of your vocabulary, mental speed, and visual acuity.

Five Flash Games to Waste Away the Afternoon

by Thomas Houston, posted Apr 18th 2008 at 3:51PM

Stuck at your desk with some time to waste before a meeting? Flash games are perfect for filling in your spare time: The games load quickly, they require no installation or downloads, and, most importantly, they can be quickly minimized and replaced with that spreadsheet you should be working on. We picked out five of the most addictive and creative Flash games that are sure to make the hours fly by.



Line Rider

We still can't quite figure out why creating tracks and loops for a little man to slide down is so much fun, but it's the kind of gameplay that has made Line Rider a classic entry in the ever-expanding world of time-wasting Flash games. Though it has no defined goals or scoring systems, Line Rider can keep you entertained for hours while you try to perfect a huge jump-backflip-loop combo. Don't miss the insane levels created with the simple track editor on YouTube.

Play 'The World's Hardest Game'

by Thomas Houston, posted Mar 25th 2008 at 5:24PM




In need of a break? 'The World's Hardest Game' should keep you entertained with at least a half-hour of time-wasting fun and frustration.

The rules are simple enough: Move the red square using the arrow cursor keys on your keyboard and avoid the moving blue circles while collecting the yellow ones. To finish each level, move to the green section. Simple concept, but it's easier said than done (and it's all set to a frenetic techno soundtrack).

Because 'The World's Hardest Game' is a flash game, it loads in your browser and you can start playing quickly -- no installation necessary! While we don't know if it lives up to its title, the game is pretty hard, and does a great job of taunting you with discouraging text messages onscreen -- "I guarantee you will fail," among others -- as you move along to the each new level.

Play now!

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Nintendo Holocaust-Era Game Draws Criticism

by Will Safer, posted Mar 10th 2008 at 4:02PM

Nintendo DS logo.Putting players in first-person situations is one of the most popular narrative devices in video games, and a French video game developer, working for a British distributor, has done just that with his latest digital adventure. Typically, this would not draw much fanfare but his game topic is startling to some: a first-person experience of a first-person experience of a young child in France during the Holocaust.

The game, 'Imagination Is the Only Escape, 'puts players in the role of a young boy in Nazi-occupied France during the war, and follows his attempts to escape the horror of the times by pursuing a fantasy world of his own devising.

Unlike most games developed for the Nintendo DS, which typically caters to kids titles, this game portrays often brutal scenes, with startling imagery and events.

Early outcry on online message boards indicates that the game distributor, Alten8, may not export the game to stores in the United States (although that's not a certainty) but it will be available in Europe.

The 21-year-old game developer says he does not consider the topic of war to be a game, and doesn't intend to demean the concept. Another game he's developed, also distributed by Alten8, puts players into a fantasy realm where the world has been destroyed by global warming.

Tackling serious issues head on, and with a first-person experience, seems to be catching on as a popular device in France. French president Nicholas Sarkozy recently introduced a new education initiative that "pairs" all his country's fifth-graders with the story of one of the 11,000 French children who were killed by the Nazis during World War II.

Sarkozy has come under significant fire since announcing the education plan, with critics saying the learning experience will be traumatizing to the students.

The video game will not depict violence, according to the developer, and is intended to be educational, and not exploitative of the events.

From The New York Times.


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Michigan Boy Burnt By Pocketed PlayStation Portable (PSP)

by Will Safer, posted Feb 8th 2008 at 2:26PM



Are Sony PSPs going the same way as burning cell phones and batteries? According to WebPro News, a Farmington Hills, Mich., middle school boy felt something warm happening in his pants during band class -- and, just as you suspected (dirty monkeys!) -- it turned out that his Sony PSP was heating up to the point of causing second-degree burns.

In an almost cliche-like instance of coincidence, the disc he had in the portable gaming and media device was for a popular driving game called 'Burnout.'

There's no official word on the cause of the flare-up, but the Sony PSP Web site says to use only PSP batteries and charging packs "that meet our quality standards to avoid hazards such as firing or explosion. Using batteries with such protective devices may cause a failure or an accident." No word on if the boy was using a third-party battery or had damaged the device. He did return to school the same day after receiving treatment in the hospital for his injury.

From Engadget

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Mini Atari Key Chains That Play Games!

by Tom Conlon, posted Sep 28th 2007 at 5:02PM

Mini Atari Key Chains That Play Games!

Whether you say it like Keanu Reeves or Joey Lawrence, there's only one word to describe these new mini Atari key chains from Firebox, and that's, "Whoa." The baby joystick and paddle aren't just inspired by their legendary forefathers -- they actually have old Atari classics built right into them! Each key chain comes with a pocket-sized reel of cord with RCA jacks on the end and a battery inside. Plug one end into the controller and the other into a TV and in no time you're getting your 1983 on.

The joystick comes in two configurations, either with 'Asteroids' and 'Millipede' or with 'Centipede' and 'Yar's Revenge.' The paddle has 'Pong' and 'Breakout' built in.

Granted, it would be a lot cooler if you could simply plug the controller directly into the TV without having to hump the reel around with you too. But at $15 a pop, that's not going to stop us from buying both.

Now, if only there was a way to connect these little guys to the Atari emulator running on our PSP ...

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Upcoming Video Games You Can't Miss

by Switched Staff, posted Jul 18th 2007 at 4:02PM



Last week, the video game world gathered at the annual E3 conference in Santa Monica, California to give the public a peek at the next year's worth of button-mashing fun. Switched.com has returned with all used thumbs, and the video above highlights what we're most excited about.

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Camera Phones Replace Darts

by Evan Shamoon, posted May 7th 2007 at 9:39AM



A new game for your phone delivers all the fun of darts with none of the accidental eye stabbings. It also does something pretty cool: Instead of using your keypad to fire off virtual projectiles, the game uses your camera phone to detect motion in much the same way an optical mouse's sensor does. Sadly, Santa Monica-based developer GoSub 60 gave this new game just about the least creative name in the history of entertainment: 'Camera Phone Darts.'

Camera. Phone. Darts.

But we digress, because the game is really fun. The dartboard is placed on a virtual wall in front of you. You must then twist and turn the phone until the cross hairs are where you want them. Pressing the OK button throws the dart.

Motion sensing isn't all this nifty little game uses the camera for. You can also snap photos of friends and throw tomatoes, spitballs, water balloons and other projectiles at their heads.

'Camera Phone Darts' will be available for download from most major carriers by the end of May for around $2.99 per month (or $7.99 for unlimited access).

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