Compose an eternal melody by joining music nodes together in an arrangement with no beginning or end in this sleek abstract three-dimensional music puzzle. A pleasingly 80's futuristic look with refreshingly comfortable New Age feel, and fundamental precepts which have been very effectively crafted into a game that isn't just soothing and enjoyable, but absolutely engaging.

Olav and the Lute, a music-based puzzle adventure game by Shelly Alon, and Johann and Daniel Von Appen has you exploring a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, wielding the power of a magical stringed instrument. Gameplay will be familiar to players of LucasArts' Loom, but Olav and the Lute is an engagingly unique ride, despite its short length.

PicTune is an experimental sound-based puzzle game by IcyLime based around a unique mesh of sight and sound. In each level, you will be given series of tones that represent a picture on a pixelated grid. It makes your feel that you using a part of your brain not often tapped, and though there are some frustrations getting used to the mechanics, the game has an addictive quality that cannot be denied.

Spin round like a record baby in this musical avoidance game. Soundodger makes beautiful patterns in time with the music... just don't touch any of them! Best enjoyed with sound up and lights down, see what percentage of the objects you can avoid. Slow things down to get out of a tight squeeze at the expense of points. Earn enough points to unlock new songs.

A "crowd-sourced" music video for Dutch band Light Light's new single, "Kilo", Do Not Touch is a unique piece of interactive art by Studio Moniker. In it, viewers are directed their cursors along with thousands of others who've come before them. It's a trippy look into the internet hive mind and, while only a game in the broadest of terms, definitely worth sharing.

The Maestro has been waxing lyrical for weeks, but no matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to finish his opus. Maybe a little nap will recharge his creative batteries... Dream Symphony is a vertical launch-like action game by Igor Kulakov and George Zarkua, where the higher you bounce, the closer you scale to musical perfection. Excellent sound design and a quirky visual style make for a game that'll be music to your ears.

You know what's cool? Beatboxing. You know what's cooler? When you get to conduct a squad of digital human beatboxers right in your browser. So Far So Good serves up a simple but slick and stylish webtoy where musical creativity is just a drag and drop away. Warning; may make you irresistibly cooler by association.

Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 4 is all about re-imagining the Guitar Hero experience for your home PC. It improves over its predecessors with amusing presentation and a host of new options and features. You can play every song in two difficulty levels, garner achievements for epic thrashing or embarrassing failure, and battle egregious enemy bosses like the diabolical Puppet or the innocent Pizza Guy through the shear power of Rock. Or you can just put on your headphones and sneak a quick jam in a break in your day.

Originally released as a download version in 2008, this lovely musical game by Alexander Porechnov of Kranx Productions mingles elements of tetris, sudoku and hidden object scenes into a point-and-click puzzle that's both unique and very entertaining. First seek and find the pieces of a musical outline, then use audio, geometric and symbolic clues to place the puzzle pieces in their correct order to reconstruct a classic song. With its melodious instrumentals, gorgeous graphics and challenging puzzles, Musaic Box is as pleasing to the eyes and ears as it is fun to play.

Symphony is a simplified adaptation of the popular music puzzle game Auditorium. Control the colorful streams of light into the target boxes by positioning the arrows to fill them with music.

Developed in 8 weeks as a class project, Orpheus is a puzzle platform retelling of the classic myth of a man's quest to bring his love back from the dead. Players who can look past a few rough edges will be amply rewarded with the lush and abstract yet accessible art.

Sometimes receiving a message can be so exciting that the letters seem to jump off the page. Then those letters form into a giraffe, which will dart across the landscape pursued by snakes, sharks and Godzilla. Okay, that just might be the interactive music video for Japanese rock group Andop's song "Bell". With an amazing combination of typographic and charcoal art, the game so visually interesting that it makes up for the CPU-hogging and somewhat loose gameplay. There are probably easier ways to post a missive, but this is definitely one of the most fun.

In Bullet Audyssey by Rete, it seems we've been invaded by celestial bodies, ones who send out their bullets to a thumping galactic rhythm. It's up to your tiny ship to weave your way through their forces, absorbing energy for your interstellar counterattack. Will the world rave about your shooter skills, or will the aliens just leave you in a trance?

Bicicletas Hoy isn't the first interactive music video on the web, but it's definitely one of the most charming. Developed by Argentinian design team Videogamo, this pixelated piece of interactive art features the musical stylings of rock band Bicicletas and their infectious song Hoy. It's short and not much for challenging, but makes for an engaging two minute romp.

FrozenFire and Jon Sandness are back with a spookified expansion pack to their popular Symphonic Tower Defense. Once again it is time for the master conductor to dust the cobwebs from his baton and take a stand against the awesome power of awesome music in Symphonic Tower Defense Halloween. While the soundtrack is a tad more scary and the aesthetics a bit more orangey, gameplay pretty much the same as the previous installment. That's not a bad thing: those who liked the original will love to have more of it, and those new to the series will find this a perfect place to jump in.

Sure everyone's played a fighter, mage or thief, but few have had experience with the bard. Sapient Games has created a whole world revolving around this character in their text-based RPG, The Bard's Journey. Using your mouse, choose the options below the text to either take an action in that area or to move on to the next area (which can also be done with the compass). You can compose your own music to play in battle, but balance is the key in order to get the set of bonuses you desire. Even without the music writing, this RPG is fun and the story is interesting, so feel free to pack up your lute and use the default songs for a quick dive into a melodic, mystical world.

Tower Defense games have cast you in many different roles as protector. Symphonic Tower Defense, the new music game by FrozenFire and Jon Sadness, however, is the first time that a band conductor has been tasked with guarding against nigh-unstoppable attack. I suppose it's justified though, as this time it's music itself that's out of control. And should it escape, terrible unspecified things will happen to us all. Get ready to take some notes and make your enemies treble with bass fear, as you orchestrate the sharpest defense possible! While a few hopefully-soon-to-be-fixed programming glitches make it a little discordant, overall Symphonic Tower Defense has a nice beat that's easy to dance to.

Muse Quest is an entry in the Project Eden Music Game Contest that combines platforming elements with unique musical gameplay. In it, you are a character that can control the behavior of other potato-like characters by playing different songs acquired across ten levels. With its cooperative elements, a stark graphical appearance and some nifty music, Muse Quest stands out from standard platformers.

Drop is a fine physics-puzzle game with a musical theme that shows a little clever attention to detail can liven up an otherwise ordinary game. Offering both Sandbox and Puzzle modes, the goal of Puzzle mode is to fill all the end pipes with bouncy white projectiles. Draw lines across the screen to maneuver those projectiles around obstacles and to their goal.

Nerdook is back, and once again here to hybridize disparate game genres, this time as an entry for Ubisoft's Project Eden game contest. Jacob and the Magic Piano, a game which deftly combines platforming, music, and tower defense gameplay is the result. A starving artist's unknown Aunt has passed away, leaving him a cat, a chest of drawers, and a piano... a magic piano. Playing the piano releases the spirits resting within, but also the golden stars that are the key to accessing the possible riches of the chest. Can Jacob slay the spirits and save the stars? It's all up to the power of music!

Help a fledgling Dreamsong Catcher's own dreams come true in Nerdook's latest unique game! Collect the imagination and music that emanates from dreamers as they sleep, using it to create fantastic creatures, destroy horrors looking to disturb your work and restful sleep, and experience a whole mess of dreams that are silly, sweet, or just downright weird.

It's the Era of Automation! We automate everything from manufacturing, to financial transactions, to blog updates. So why not automate creativity as well? Okay, that sounds horrible, but there is something fascinating about pre-configured, automatic processes that produce beautiful and seemingly random results. Depending on how you start your composition, you can either create regular repeating patterns, or patterns that subtly shift in interesting ways. It can be difficult to predict how a given setup will act, but that is part of the joy of Otomata.

The passing of a season always makes me nostalgic for it. Lord knows that I'm never too thrilled with skidding my Honda on the icy roads of winter, but now that the May-Flowers-bringing showers of April are upon us (in the Northern Hemisphere, at least), I find myself wishing for one last walk in a swirling frozen cloud of flurries. While Chione is quite unlikely to heed my prayers, I can take solace in January, an interactive art webtoy release from Rich Vreeland. It's an impressive debut release that manages to truly capture the beauty and melancholy of a walk of a blustery winter's evening.

If there's anyone in the land of Casual Gaming that has experienced the work of Amanita Design, and hasn't, in some small way been charmed, I don't think I've met them. That said, while I can appreciate that the success of the Samorost-making company allows them to take their time in formulating each new project, I do start going through withdrawal symptoms round about the eighteen month mark. Fortunately, the nights of the shakes are over with the release of the distinctly surreal and surreal-ly distinct desert-themed Osada. It may be more of an interactive music video webtoy than a game proper, but frankly, I'd be fine watching Amanita Design animate a phone-book.

To paraphrase George Gershwin: I've got rhythm. I've got music. I've got DJManiax, Team Maniax's new rhythm extravaganza. Who could ask for anything more? I've been looking for a music game with excellent tunes, some well-designed note charts and levels of challenge that can appeal to both the casual and hardcore audience, I've got to say I'm pretty well satisfied.

Isle of Tune is a fairly simple webtoy, with a mere six elements that you can control to create a variety of sounds. There's just enough tools available to let you create some rather intricate loops. The pre-made loops are a great way to get an island started, and the simple sharing system is good for spreading your island creations with everyone.

RADiancE is an arcade game that combines the best elements of the classic Breakout with the best elements of the classic game of Snake, but it much more than a slapdash chimera of two different classic games. The colorful neon graphics and inventive use of music and sound make for a bold, flashy presentation. And while there is more than a little bit of randomness in the gameplay, there is also enough skill required to make it interesting to arcade fans.

Step outside your cubicle prison and into a world of beautiful pen and ink art and wondrous music in this soothing platform game.

No puzzles, no enemies, no action... just music. This simple and relaxing little webtoy from André Michelle lets you just click to create some lovely tinkling melodies that arise from expanding and contracting shapes.

Point. Click. Point. Click. Point-p-point-p-point click click space. Drag drop. Drag drop. Drag drop click space space. Excellent, now you already know the words, so you can sing along! No, it's not Excel spreadsheet karaoke night, it's Klikwerk, a new music and reflex game by Bart Bonte.

Mixing rhythm and simulation elements into one browser-based experience, Punk-o-Matic 2 also functions as a hefty musical editing tool. For those who only sing in the shower, you might want to check out that long tutorial!

You Are Games returns with a musical challenge this week. Introducing Nudge, a simple to use musical composition webtoy that gives everyone the ability to create pleasant sounding melodies. And we want to hear what you can do with it. Let loose your inner musician!

Think your amp goes up to eleven? Put your guitar where your mouth is in this rock career simulator slash rhythm game, as you attempt to rawk your way to the top!

Force your affections on total strangers in Party-Tencho's Kissma, best described as… a shooter? Music game? Experimental whatsit? Retro crazy-fest? Anyway, it's very colorful, and it might change your life for the better. Or for the worse.

Music Catch 2 delivers everything you'd want from a sequel to Reflexive's surprise hit Music Catch, especially if what you want is more ways to collect thousands of shimmering doo-dads. You get three more lovely piano tunes by composer Isaac Shepherd, and a few different choices for how the collectibles will bloom and fade away. Some of the new movement patterns make the game dramatically easier than others, but Music Catch was never about challenge anyway. It's just an easy way to relax, scooping up armfuls of trinkets and grooving to the mellows.

The full version of Auditorium is out! The purchase price gets you over 70 levels divided between 15 acts. It's five times as long as the demo was, and features much more particle-manipulating, puzzle-driven gameplay. No saving the universe, no destroying some ancient heart of evil, just a chance to listen to some good classical music and watch a light show.

A rhythm-based Wario Ware type of game from Nitrome, in which you play colorful mini-game levels with a musical timing element. Destroy attacking fighters and tanks as Godzilla! Stake vampires as they rise in their coffins! Um...eat...stuff. It's all here, with three difficulty levels across four distinct stages, a different song in each level, and a final "mix-tape" stage that surreally switches context between the stages over the course of the song.

Auditorium is a fantastic new puzzle game of music and light. Solve each level by manipulating the flow of light to create the perfect balance of music. The streams of light represent sound particles that you bend toward boxes until the audio levels are full. When the flow is correct, the audio levels fill up with the proper color and all the parts of the music will play. Delightful, brilliant and stunning.

Yet again, Mercedes-Benze gives us another serving of what we all love best, aside or beside games. Free music. Good free music. And there's a lot of "nu" music on the newest Mixed Tape, available now.

Music Catch is a game with a very simple mechanic set to a transcendent classical piano piece that could hold your attention single-handedly. The shapes appear in ebb and swell to the accompaniment, diving from foreground to background in a shifting aquamarine rainbow. You'll never catch them all; the most you can hope for is to ride the wave, soaking up as much as possible, darting for extra substance where it appears. In other words, the gameplay is much like listening to a enriching piece of music.

Sometimes, when it's raining, I go outside and sit where I'm sure to get wet. Aside from the free shower, sitting in the rain is a great way to de-stress if Yoga just isn't your thing. Unfortunately, unless you live in Seattle, it doesn't rain every day; but rain or shine you can always find something to help you relax in the latest Mercedes-Benz Mixed Tape, available as a free download and updated every 8 weeks.

Music Bounce is a bit like Breakout, but with an unlikely musical twist. Each level presents you with a different layout of colored bricks. Your job is to wipe them all out by striking them with ammunition from an array of gates on the left side of the screen. And if everything is running properly, Music Bounce can be magical.

If you're like me and suffer from "Funky-Chicken-itis" and are looking for a tool to help you shake yo' groove thang, might I recommend a little dance music? The Tony-b Machine is a cool techno-music webtoy to give you just the right beats. Simply slide the sliders and push the buttons to crank out your own thumping creation.

Fitting in the webtoy category more comfortably than being a game, Music Dodge is an entry from Daniel Gutierrez into our 3rd game design competition. Colored bars streak across the screen in time with the background music. You control a colorful orb and must "scratch" against the edge of the bars to score points. It's a simple game of avoidance and precision made much more interesting when you use your own music.

One part shooter, one part visual/audio toy, Cubex by RoboJAM is a stunning Flash game reminiscent of the Dreamcast/PS2 musical shooter Rez. The first person view sends you flying through a futuristic corridor defending yourself against polygonal enemies that appear in the distance. With the mouse, simply move the target around the screen and pelt your foes with weapons fire. The throbbing techno beat in the background keeps things running right along, and each time you fire and destroy an enemy you add to the music.

A soothing sound toy with which to bathe the aural senses, Pianolina is a beautifully designed and gorgeously sounding Flash application created to introduce you to the sounds of the Grotrian piano. Choose between several different compositions and see how the notes react to gravity as they bounce around the display.

Take this not as an announcement that Mixed Tape #15 was just released, but rather as a last call to get it while you can. While I had made a regular practice of posting an announcement here when Mercedes Benz releases a new FREE mixed tape for everyone to enjoy, I skipped it when number 15 was released in December primarily because things were already quite busy for us here.

by Elizabeth Reynolds is one of the puzzle games submitted to our first Game Design Competition. Four instruments sit silently on the right side of the screen, each in a different colored chair. Using the corresponding controls to the left, activate the instruments to produce a green wave on the bottom of the screen. Get the wave to match the pattern and you'll win!

Musicovery is an interesting little web app that blurs the line between interactive toy and radio. Musicovery lets you choose and explore music by mood, style, genre, decade and much more. Mix and match filters and customize your internet radio experience to suit your tastes, even if that happens to be dark energetic pop or jazz from the 80s.

In this charming little game, you play the role of a bored tire manufacturing worker named Dink. Dink's tired of his pathetic day to day existence doing the same old thing. In fact, he'd quit his job were it not for his eight starving children and warehouse load of credit card debt. Today though, things are going to turn around for poor Dink as he discovers his inborn talent to make music from old factory machinery.

A Break in the Road is a unique game that puts you in the role of a DJ recording sounds throughout the city to mix into a one minute song. An amazingly well-produced cut scene, complete with top-notch voice acting talent, introduces the back story and drops you right into it.

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.

Phase Toy is a simple Shockwave sequencer that allows you to create compositions using a point-and-click interface. Just click on a cell to have the sequencer play the corresponding tone when the 'play head' sweeps over it. Click and drag to add several tones at once. Phase Toy makes a nice little diversion that is as mesmerizing as it is relaxing.

Another competition entry that was only narrowly edged out of an award, Jewel Drop by Nick Redmond consistently received high marks from each of the four reviewers. This ear-training, color-layering game features a clean and appealing interface and a luxuriously rich soundtrack that together create a unique and original game play experience.

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. =)

Daxo is an interactive portfolio created by musician and designer Hans Reichel. The style is similar to Blue Suburbia, another non-game we featured recently on JIG, and pulls together sound and image in a fusion of interactive multimedia.

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? =)

A completely different approach to a DDR game, Beat Bubbles offers an enjoyable music-game experience that doesn't rely on precise rhythm to do well with it. Instead, the player must repeat the sequence of keys shown within the time limit to advance, while making music in the process.

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.

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.

This silly and surprisingly fun audio game with Simon-says gameplay is disguised as a quirky little Japanese title. Your task is to unlock all the flowers and climb as high as you can by repeating the sequence of notes, or tune, that each flower plays. Ridiculous fun.

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....

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 ...

Created by Macoto Yanagisawa of Japan, this Shockwave work of art is a nice diversion from the usual fare, and there is much to see and hear in this electro-luminescent piece. Click the mouse to cycle through the displays; move the mouse to interact with each. Although it's not Electroplankton, it is very reminiscent of the musical wonder-toy for Nintendo's dual-screened handheld.

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...

la Pâte à Son is an amazing sound toy created in France. This original musical piece and compositional tool was conceived to encourage musical experimentation, and its achievements surpass its goal. Not only is this toy fun to play and experiment with, it is also capable of creating some very beautiful music.

Finally, a full-featured rhythm and sound loop utility written in Flash. From Rockstar Games comes this free Web-based application that lets you create loops and mixes from a variety of sources, even your own. Mix and play with the pre-loaded library of drum and synth samples and loops, or upload...

A veritable Flash music construction set, Drum Lab features a wide assortment of phat beats and other percussion sound samples and a unique interface with which to manipulate them. In Basic mode, simply mousing over each of the various instruments will play the associated sound. DJ Stain, an animated character...

And now for something completely different. Bip Hop is an audio game created by Paul Farrington under his Studio Tonne name. The Shockwave game features small colored icons that can be freely moved with the mouse about the interface. By placing them on the play bars that wipe back and forth, sounds are created from the samples contained in each of the icons. When the icons are placed in the correct locations, it is promised "you will get a nice surprise."

We all need Safeplaces to hang every now and then to rest, relax, recharge, review, rebound, replenish, release, receive, renew, and reward ourselves. So take a break, and take time to take in that which is around you. Smile, giggle, laugh and love. Play.

Fun stuff over at Andre-Michelle.com. Andre is a Flash designer extraordinaire from Germany who has put together a personal playground of a site full of experiments and whatnot all done in Flash. This one is simply called Cell Talk, which I found to be infinitely relaxing and mesmerizing playing in the background while I was doing some writing for ...

Audiogame est musique interactive by Frenchman marc Em. This Flash ‘game' is a collection of works incorporating feats of multimedia genius. Combining audio and video elements with interactivity and motion graphics, marc Em draws you into each of his creations as conductor, director, performer, and player. The entire project has evolved over the last 2 years, and Audiogame continues to be a work in progress. As dynamic as the compositions it contains.

This gorgeous game, titled "The Malibu 9 Rescues Mr. Malibu (and 6/9 of the Deepfried Posse)", was originally from a club, Club Malibu, in Stockholm, Sweden, that may not even be in existence any longer (you know how clubs just come and go). Top notch production in a fun little Flash game.

Not a game per se, but definitely fun to play with. Infinite Wheel is a series of Flash movies by Jim Johnstone that borrows samples from various 'Dub' artists and presents them in a virtual playground in which you click, drag, and mouse-over the unique and compelling interactive controls to create your own dub music mixes.

Here's a beautifully crafted Flash multimedia piece by Drew Cope and Sam Lanyon Jones from their multi-award winning site called TokyoPlastic where they will be rolling out version two in May. Not new, I just think it's cool. Enjoy. Click....