It isn't often that I come across an addictive browser-based Flash game with which you can play against a friend over the Web. I was pleasantly surprised to find the latest game from Gamesheep is just that kind of game. Crystal Clear is a simple casual game with gameplay similar to the classic game of Lines, and yet with some subtle differences that turn the classic into a compelling two-player battle.

Eight Days is the latest point-and-click adventure from that fabulous French duo, Anode & Cathode. The 4-part episodic game is scheduled to "go live" today (October 19th) at 10:30PM GMT. And judging from their past successes with The Museum, The Casino, and L’expresso Empoisonné, we are likely in store for another excellent adventure.

Nimian Flyer Legends is a 3D action adventure game by Protopop Games. You play the role of a young dragon named Salamond on a quest to defeat seven legendary beasts. Armed with fire-breath and the ability to pick up many objects, you'll have to use your speed and wits to battle each unique foe. Nimian Flyer Legends has a remarkably full 3D world to explore coupled with a grand soundtrack. It's a surprisingly lengthy game that feels more like an epic journey than a pick-up-and-play flash title.

Frets on Fire is an open source clone of the ever-popular PlayStation 2 music/rhythm game, Guitar Hero. And just like Guitar Hero, Frets on Fire features a handful of songs and allows you to play the guitar sections by pressing just a few keys. Instead of using a separate controller to mimic the guitar, Frets on Fire lets you pick up the keyboard and jam in right front of your desk. Best of all, a built-in editor lets you tab any song, spawning a growing community of music-modders on the web.

Somewhat because I feel compelled to, but also because I do so enjoy the music that I just want to share it with the world. Mixed Tape 14 is out, and just in time to help make the weekend that much cozier.

Geosense is a multiplayer geography game, created using DHTML and Ajax, that can also be played alone. The game itself is all about location and consists of 10 or 20 rounds, each of which involves clicking on the map where you think the given city is located. You receive points for speed and accuracy, although the latter is given more weight. Be careful, you just may learn something.

The Museum of Broken Memories is a beautifully woven interactive narrative that may even be considered a work of art. It is a point-and-click game, yes; and yet it is so much more than that. Like any work of art, personal interpretation plays an important role here, as there are many images and words to browse through and interact with, and an array of emotions that will be evoked.

Run n' Roll is an online multiplayer flash game that lets you play chase with people from around the world. Your character runs on his or her own, all you have to do is jump over or roll under objects. You stay ahead by, well, not falling behind. Grab a few fun power-ups to stall your opponent as you race around a giant sphere in the sky.

Just launched by the BBC History team along with the design and technical prowess of those amazing Preloaded folks (wasn't I just pining for something new from them?), CDX is a brand new multi-episode adventure game that uses real actors and video segments to spin a tale of mystery and intrigue around an ancient Roman sacrificial blade.

We've just launched our own IRC channel, which you can get to by clicking "Chat" in the menu above. That will take you to an open source Java client and automatically log you onto the chat server being hosted at Casual Gameplay. If you prefer to use your own IRC client, then point it to irc.jayisgames.com and join channel #casualgameplay. See ya there!

You've managed to make it to lunchtime. It's been a rough day but you are free for an hour and you'd love to spend it laying the smack down on some monsters RPG-style. However, it's going to be hard to install World of Warcraft on your puny work PC, and besides, you simply don't have time. What do you do? Fire up a game of DragonFable.

Created by Robert Kabwe of Montreal, Nimian Hunter makes use of an engine that creates the illusion of 3D in Flash, and it's very, very good. Play as a hunter on a mission to feed the beast that commands you. There is a narrative that unfolds as you play, with at least two different endings. Altogether a unique and unusal game.

An action puzzle sorting game filled with bugs and grubs and leafy plants, Ant Tracks puts you in control of an army of ants on their way back to the nest after a successful foraging. This magnificently beautiful and enjoyable game is extremely well-polished from its photo-realistic graphics to its tranquilizing, almost Pikmin-like, soundtrack. Wonderful.

Just in case you were not already aware... 13 is out, and just in time to help make for a lovely weekend(!) Listen online, or download for later. Either way, it's always nice to get something for free. =)

Kudos is a turn-based life-simulation downloadable game recently released by Cliff Harris, otherwise known as Positech Studios, in the UK. It's a game in which how you spend each day, over time, defines who your character becomes: Does she prefer to stay at home and watch TV all day, go to evening classes to improve job prospects, or hang out with buddies down at the local boozer? Find out with Kudos.

Chris Benjaminsen of Cosgames has come up with a simple and yet intensely effective multiplayer version of the classic arcade game, Asteroids, playable in any browser with the Flash plug-in. Each player (up to 16 in a room) pilots a ship in an all-out deathmatch, melee style, with the objective being to rack up more kills than deaths. Mad multiplayer mayhem, classic arcade style.

Ryan Dewsbury of Toronto has created this multiplayer no-limit Texas Hold'em game, called gpokr, in Java using the Google Web Toolkit (GWT), which is a software development framework for Java developers to create AJAX applications. The latest version even has a Jayisgames table where many fun folks from here have been playing and carrying on. Come join in the fun! =)

Gibbage is a one-panel player verses player bloody shoot-out that was created over the period of 2 years by the talented indie game development newcomer, Dan Marshall. Its gameplay is not quite like anything else currently available on the market and has the graphical sensibilities of the pixel games of yore.

Sudoku Combat is a browser-based multiplayer version of the popular puzzle game that offers a new experience for those that prefer a more competitive challenge. Just enter a user name, select a puzzle difficulty, and then choose to play against a friend or a random stranger. Then it's a race to the finish.

In Blue Suburbia, artist and flash designer Nathalie Lawhead creates a magnificently dark and dramatic world filled with striking imagery and haunting vignettes. The project began as a small animation on her website and grew to incorporate her own poetry and a number of small scenes commenting on western society and the modern school system. The application is more like an experiment in interactive poetry rather than a game, as there's no real goal, purpose or progression. Even still, Blue Suburbia is an absolutely stunning piece of artwork that you'll want to explore to its fullest.

Bicycle Texas Hold'em is a free-to-play tournament-style card game for eight (8) players and is a fairly standard game for its kind. It features rounds of increasing blinds and classic all-in, no-limit betting. The buy-in is $100, though no actual money is ever won or lost in the game.

Getty Images has enlisted five artists and designers to produce 10 interactive Flash or Shockwave pieces, collectively known as 10 Ways. Each uses Getty's extensive collection of stock photography and is based around a related concept, such as light, space or transformation.

Just in case you were not already aware... 12 is out. Listen online or download for another time, either way it's music. And did I mention it's FREE? =)

Brucker writes: "Hey, anybody playing that puzzle game that links in to Lost?"

Nightmare Escape is a horror-themed, room escape game created by Robert Mac Nelly. It combines a macabre and bloody setting with some tricky riddles that will scare you and puzzle you at the same time. Be observant, know your surroundings, and think literally to find the answers.

For the better part of the last five years, alternate reality games (ARGs) have fallen into two categories: large, corporate-sponsored advertising campaigns, or smaller, player-run games. Starting last year, however, Mind Candy Design made the first concerted effort to break the mold: an entirely self-sufficient yet wide-ranging ARG named Perplex City.

Another diamond in the rough of the Adult Swim games section, Fullmetal Alchemist: Iron & Flame is a Shockwave-based scrolling beat 'em up, reminiscent of arcade favorite Final Fight. Iron & Flame benefits from and is faithful to it's license, and fans of Fullmetal Alchemist will appreciate the cut scenes featuring several familiar characters, as well as attempts to place the story within continuity.

Travian is a browser-based, massively multiplayer, quasi-real-time strategy game, developed and maintained by a German team dedicated to its upkeep. The goal is to build up economic and military power through the development of land and construction of buildings and armies.

Flash developer and blogger LUT! has a few unique point-and-click adventure games just begging for your attention. They're short, moderately difficult, and one oozes style while the other tries to scare the ActionScript out of you.

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What exactly is Kawa, anyway? Is it a point-and-click adventure game? An art experiment? An accidental merging of random code snippets on a website? The opening text says it all: It might be an exit; It might be a trap; It might be just a dream. Kawa is the flash-based equivalent of being stuck in an interactive MC Escher nightmare.

Created as part of the Experimental Gameplay Project under the theme of "violate", Troy was designed and built in one week as a Web-based augmented reality game. In it, the player explores the topic of invasion of privacy and... well, if I told you any more then I'd be spoiling the game.

Legend of the Green Dragon is a free, browser based homage to, and extension of, the Legend of the Red Dragon, an original and humorous RPG from the golden years of modems and BBSes. The creator, Eric Stevens, has done an excellent job preserving the style of the original while adding tons of new features, characters and monsters, as well as vastly enlarging the world to include multiple cities and an afterlife.

Remember the amazing, jaw-dropping, Shockwave 3D first person shooter (FPS) demo that surfaced last year just prior to GDC? The game was called Phosphor Alpha and it was created by Nick Kang of Rasterwerks. Well, he's done it again: Phosphor Beta 1 kicks the action into high gear by including multiplayer deathmatch functionality, with additional mods being added regularly.

Albatross18: Realms of Pangya is a free downloadable, massively multiplayer online (MMO) golfing game for the PC. I know what you're thinking... MMO golf?! Well, its not so hard to imagine, is it?

It is that time again: Time to head over to the Mercedes Benz website and download, or just listen to, the latest mixed tape that has just been released. Be the first on your block to have the freshest and the best freely available music the Web has to offer.

Fastr is a multiplayer guess-the-image-tag game similar to the previously reviewed single-player game, Guess-the-Google. Instead, this game makes use of the flickr API to create a well-designed and enjoyable multiplayer experience that can even be rather addictive with a sharp group of people playing.

Pow Pow's Mini-Golf is an impressive Shockwave 3D implementation of classic miniature golf gameplay that runs in any browser. The game even features RPG-like elements with saved character stats that can be 'leveled-up' with experience points.

"Gorgeous" is the only word to describe the award-winning Dofus, a feast of sight and sound in the form of a Flash-based MMORPG created by the folks at Ankama Games. The art and music of Dofus follow in the finest traditions of anime, making the game something of a cross between WoW and Pokemon (with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor thrown in for good measure).

From South Korea comes this stylized side-scrolling shooter that features over-the-top action and two (2) playable characters, Happy & Smile, a bunny and a cat. But don't let their cartoonish good looks fool you: these cute and adorable animals pack a mean punch, carry lethal weapons, and have fearsome special attacks that will fry any enemy to a crisp.

In the last century, an extraordinary man called Tulse Luper archived his entire life in 92 suitcases. It seems he was a witness to several key events in the 20th century. The Tulse Luper Journey is a game that is part of an ambitious series of multi-media projects initiated by film director Peter Greenaway and based on the adventures of this mysterious lead character. Discover new research material that appears each week.

The latest in a string of movie-licensed, multiplayer, turn-based strategy Flash games from BigSpaceship is here, and it's very pretty. In fact, the company's co-founder and CEO, Michael Lebowitz, claims it could well be the first major Flash game release to use the impressive new features of Flash 8. But do the impressive new features make this game fun to play?

You might know XGen Studios as the makers of Fishy, Motherload, Stick RPG and Defend Your Castle. Well, they have created another excellent Flash game, only this time it is a top-down shooter and features over-the-top multiplayer melee action in any browser. In Stick Arena, you take the role of a stick figure aiming to kill everyone else in sight to elevate yourself within the ranks.

For those who still are not on the MB mixed tape mailing list, and because I really enjoy turning people on to really good, free music. Number 10 now available for download. Listen online or download all of the tracks, and share the music freely as you please. All courtesy of Mercedes Benz.

Frappr, which is short for Friend Mapper, is a new Google Maps powered site that lets you map the zip codes for locations of anything you like, even a group of people such as the visitors of this site. So, why don't you add your zip code, and a nickname that you go by here, to the Jayisgames map and we'll see how many different countries are represented and where everyone who visits is from, hmm?

Well, the folks at the BBC are building themselves quite a reputation. All the point-and-click games they turn out are just golden. And The Seven Noble Kinsmen is no exception; possibly their best work yet. SNK is a murder mystery in six (6) acts, all of which are now available to play.

Toulouse is played with three to five human or computer players, and a well designed interface and beautiful presentation make this web-based version user friendly and highly enjoyable. The folks at AsoBrain.com have also recently added the option of playing with up to two expansions to the original board game, making this as involved a Carcassonne experience as one could hope for.

This Texas Hold'em poker game offers something a little different than most games in this category. Launched sometime in late September, Last Call Poker combines elements of alternate reality games (ARGs) and online poker tournaments to do its bidding for Activision's soon-to-be-released wild west video game, Gun.

With Texas Hold'em poker games being all the rage these days, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to avoid seeing a game being played on ESPN, across the street, or even on Wisteria Lane. (Very Funny) Texas Hold'em is a straightforward Flash poker game that offers standard play against computer opponents.

Penance is an escape-the-room type point-and-click adventure set in a purgatorial train station. The object of the game is to figure out why you are there and how to leave. It is a critical thinking person's game about suffering and atonement, and one in which your answers will ultimately affect the outcome.

Sporting stylized graphics and an infectious soundtrack, GunRun delivers the goods with flair in classic arcade action style. This beautiful 2D side-scrolling shooter was created in Flash by Felix Reidl of Germany.

It's about Chi power. Lead Artist for Lionhead Studios, Mark Healey, set out to create a video game of his own in his spare time. Over the course of a few years, an innovative and new, gorgeous and outrageous fighting game took shape under the name: Rag Doll Kung Fu. And now, a free demo is available!

Just a quick note to tell you that Mercedes Benz has just released their ninth Mixed Tape online. Listen online or download all of the tracks, and share the music freely as you please. All courtesy of Mercedes Benz. Click....

So you like turn-based strategy games, do you? Were you among the first to play Tactics Arena Online months ago, and still you can't get enough? Did you run through Spybot with nary an invalid checksum, only to crave more ever since? The wait is over.

From Digital Seed Entertainment comes Tactics Arena Online (TAO), a turn based strategy game the likes of Final Fantasy. By commanding an army of characters on a battlefield, your goal is to decimate your opponents team in a battle of weapons and abilities.

A game that makes excellent use of Flash video (FLV) segments to form an engaging interactive narrative, A Race Against Time puts you in the driver's seat of a brand new Saab 9-3 SportWagon on a mission to Hazard Point. What could possibly go wrong?

This odd pair of Flash puzzle games comes complete with a geeky title expressed in XML. Use the mouse for interaction within each puzzle: point, click, drag, whatever it takes to solve its mystery. The author offers up this description: "Within the confines of this virtual space cyclicality is deemed a violation of basic human sensibilities." I'll leave that for you to ponder.

Do you yearn for a game to challenge your massive intellect? Did you beat My Diamond Baby in a half-hour without cheating? Want something harder? Well, here it is: God Tower. This is the toughest puzzle game I've ever seen. I'm not going to lie to you; it's currently unbeaten. But that shouldn't be a problem for you, right?

NFH Propaganda is a creepy point-and-click adventure game created using a combination of Flash and a series of HTML pages. The result is highly reminiscent of the 99 Rooms, and as equally artistic: just replace all the graffiti with ghoulish animation and weirdness.

Avoid suspicion. Lie to your friends. Eliminate your enemies. Cry Wolf is a multiplayer Web game created to promote a movie of the same name coming to theaters this September. And if the movie is executed as well as the game has been, it will likely be a hit at the box office.

As the world mourns the passing of this great pop icon, one cannot help but wonder why he was taken from us at such a ripe young age. For someone whose life had enriched all who came to know him, and whose music had filled so many hearts with love, the sudden death of Jamie Kane will echo tears of sadness throughout eternity.

In case you haven't yet put yourself on the mailing list to be alerted each time a new one becomes available, Mercedes Benz has just released their eighth Mixed Tape online. Just surf on over to their website to listen via a very nice Flash player interface. Or, download all 15 tracks in mp3 format to burn onto a disc, import into iTunes, share ...

The very talented guys at Square Circle Co., Chris "iopred" Rhodes and Chris "DayDream" Hildebrand, have just released their third Heli Attack game, and it's available exclusively at Miniclip.com.

Filed under music, this is to remind anyone who appreciates excellent free music to check out the latest Mercedes Benz Mixed Tape now online. Providing both streaming feeds and mp3 tracks to download separately or in its entirety, Mercedes Benz proves time and time again they care about their present (and potential) customers. With each new mixed...

And what would Halloween be without a little gore? Five Finger Fillet, from the now defunct 13th Street website of Universal Studios, is a Shockwave game to test your reflexes and your stomach. Be careful or you'll lose a finger. =p

Zoom Quilt is the collaborative art project of 15 talented artists, all contributing to a final media presentation that is both beautiful and mesmerizing. The piece is available in 3 different media formats: HTML via a series of static jpeg images; AVI compressed video; or the best format, a Shockwave interactive movie.

From the Adult Swim website, Cartoon Network's saucy animated programming for adults, comes a series of Flash games featuring characters and scenes from the Adult Swim animated features. Although many of the games rely on rehashed gameplay elements to make them work, each one does so with flair and originality taken directly from its respective ani...

From the Adult Swim website, Cartoon Network's saucy animated programming for adults, comes a series of Flash games featuring characters and scenes from the Adult Swim animated features. Although many of the games rely on rehashed gameplay elements to make them work, each one does so with flair and originality taken directly from its respective ani...

Alien Hominid is a fast-paced 2D side-scroller in which players must run, jump and shoot their way across the globe in pursuit of the alien's coveted UFO. Also sporting 2-player madness, this game is a truly original title with outstanding hand drawn cel-shaded graphics and animation.

If you have ever seen or played one of these Megatouch coin-op video games before, usually found in bars and restaurants, then you're probably familiar with a game on it called PhotoHunt. The game presents you with two identical appearing photos, placed side by side, with one of the photos having been modified in five (5) locations using an image manipulator. The objective is simply to find all the differences.

If you have ever seen any of these before, you will be happy to know Jennifer Shiman of Angry Alien has just released the fourth in her re-enactment series: “Alien in 30 Seconds (and Re-enacted by Bunnies).” Each one is only 30 seconds long—obviously—so you can’t help but watch them all. Jennifer captures the essence...

If you like board games and you like playing against others over the Internet, give Conqueror! a try. This full-featured, multiplayer, turn-based strategy game is very similar to Risk, and yet its gameplay is a lot richer. An ingenious system of simultaneous turns means that you don't have to wait for other players to make their moves.

Today marks the day that the Spring quarter is officially over for me. This evening our group, for Andy Phelps' 3D Graphics Programming class, presented the game we've been working on all quarter: BattleLaX, a battle lacrosse game for the Windows platform, coded in C++ using Microsoft's DirectX (V9.0b) advanced graphics API. Our game kicked virt...

In January, 2004, Chris Hilgert created a Flash game which spread across the Internet like wildfire. The gameplay mechanics were simple and surprisingly fun: Bat a penguin with a Yeti to see how far you could throw him. Since then, Chris has created a trio of games featuring penguins, a yeti and other arctic mammals, and a fourth one is on the wa...