As of today we’ve broken the 20,000 mark in registered users. Hopefully most of these users have found some great new games or at least been able to reminisce on some of the classics they have enjoyed over their gaming years. I know I’ve found some awesome games here as well as finding oldies from my past saying, “hey I remember that game, it was awesome, I should play it again”. There is still so much room for games to be added. Just the other day someone added Tetris. How was Tetris not in the database already?

We’re still getting registrations and I still see news articles and blog posts pop up from people who have just found out about GGE, which is really cool because I’m sure they’ll find some awesome games here. And because I know people like to look at pictures in posts here is a cute little bunny.

-Dr Wiley

The long awaited unnamed FPS now has one.  Fallen Empire: Legions will be available exclusively on InstantAction. 

Tim Aste, Project Director, sat down with IGN for an interview about the game.  The interview posted yesterday gives some insight into what the game will be about and how it’ll play.

"With Legions, we set out to create a fast and furious online shooter.
Now imagine that same game, but with a big freaking rocket strapped to
your back. Freedom of movement is an integral part of the game concept;
we wanted players to feel unrestrained by the world. If a player can
see a spot where they wanted to go, we want them to get there easily."

Full interview with IGN

Head to www.instantaction.com to sign up for the beta and get a look at some of the screenshots for the game.

-Dr Wiley

So today is the beginning of Indie Games Con 2007. We’ll be starting the event today with associates and friends around Eugene and the world. This is going to be short because its the beginning but check back as we’ll be sure to have many images and a lot of cool info from the event.

Tomorrow really kicks the event off with Alex Seropian, the initial founder and the President and CEO of Bungie. Who went on to start Wideload Games. After that its good times hanging out and getting to know people in the industry. Check this link for a full schedule of the events and stay tuned.

I’ll be back!

The people over at HermitWorks Entertainment have announced a playable preview of Space Trader. Because I’m tired and its getting later in the day I’ll just post some snippets from the Press Release below:

“HermitWorks Entertainment Announces playable preview of Space Trader™

Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada (August 8, 2007) - HermitWorks Entertainment, an independent game developer, has announced today the playable preview of their action-trading game Space Trader is now available to the public. Space Trader’s innovative game design lets players experience fast paced trading with intense combat.

About Space Trader
Players assume the role of Space Trader in an alternate future universe. Their goal is to make as much money possible within a time limit. Players make money by leasing cargo ships, traveling to planets and trading with merchants. Merchants trade anything from iron ore to organs, finding successful trade routes between these merchants is the skill of the Space Trader. On the planets surface shady informants reveal the location of black markets while legitimate merchants are extorted by underground gangs. Players can turn a blind eye to these transgressions or hunt down the gangs for rewards and return stability to the markets.

Pricing And Availability
The playable preview of Space Trader for Windows is available at http://www.playspacetrader.com .

The full version of Space Trader is available for Windows and can be purchased at http://www.playspacetrader.com for $19.95 (USD).”

Now that you all know, you should play the demo. Strange, I don’t have anything else witty or funny (at least in my mind) to add to this post. Guess it’ll just be informative.

The GarageGames official blog launches today cleverly dubbed GarageBlog. There you’ll find coverage on cool new games, GarageGames news, interesting information, GGE coverage, analysis by some of the super geniuses of the game world and much, much more.

Check it out, keep checking it out, and let us know what you think. It’s pretty spiffy and you’ll get the heads up on what’s going on in the world of GarageGames and beyond.

We have heard your cries and now your prayers have finally been answered: the forums are now live!

The forums are tightly integrated with GGE and replace the old group discussion modules as well as provide a new place for general discussion and feedback. You can send messages, give kudos, and invite friends from inside a thread; no need to view the user’s profile first. Of course you can easily view their profile if you wish, check out all of their posts, or mute them if they are getting on your nerves!

Full GGE Code is supported in posts so you can easily link to games, groups, and users.You can also embed your XBOX Live gamertag, show YouTube videos and more. Another great feature of these forums is that they are tag-based, just like GGE. If you have spent any time browsing games on GGE, then you will already be familiar with tag-based browsing. The tags allow you to easily search up the topics you care to read about.

So, go ahead, have fun, and be sure to post bugs and suggestions in the Feedback category.

Introducing the Friday Round-Up. Every Friday we’re going to be showcasing blogs that people have written pertaining to the Great Games Experiment.
We’re looking for people that have posted blogs about GGE and trust us, we have ways of finding them. We aren’t looking for anything specific, just blogs expressing your thoughts and feelings about the site in general. What you like, what you don’t like, what you would like to see, how you are using the Great Games Experiment to promote your games. We want to hear everything.

The Friday Wrap-Up will also include new information on the site, including but not limited to: new site features, updates, cool people, etc.

Also wanted to throw out that we’re looking for dedicated people to run subsections in the game categories. We still need people to head the casual, core, educational, and indie sections. If you think you’ve got what it takes to run one of these sections, let me know and we’ll consider you. =) Send me a message from my profile page, Dr Wiley.

Finally, to kick it off, here’s the new cool stuff for this “Friday Round-Up”.

EgoAnt Productions has created a page on their site using game badges of games they have made for clients and EgoAnt.com exclusives. Check out their game page. Also found a nice little blog post from Michael Battle “footloosemoose”. You can read about his experiences at his blog site. Or better yet visit their profiles on GGE and tell them how awesome they are! EgoAnt - footloosemoose

As for the new site features and updates - You can now tag games and edit your gamer badge. Just head to your account page and click “my played games”. Here you can tag games as well as remove games that you may have “accidentally” marked as played, we know you’re just embarrassed. After tagging games you can customize your gamer badge through a tag and change the title of your gamer badge.

There has also been the addition of platform icons. Head over to the games page and you’ll notice the awesome little icons under each game. Easiest way to see which games are on which platform. In addition, clicking on one of those icons will show you other games that are tagged with the same platform. Very handy when building your collection of Amiga or Atari Lynx games.

Feel free to let us know what you would like to see in the Friday Round-Up and we’ll do our best to integrate it into the mix.

I guess that’s it for this “Round-Up”. We’ll be back next Friday with all new good stuff. Stay tuned.

Marek Bronstring has recently posted an interview on his blog with GarageGames co-founder Jeff Tunnell. This interview covers the current status of the Great Games Experiment as well as future goals of the site/community. Excellent read!

Read Jeff Tunnell on the Great Games Experiment here