More free video game resources

Many resources on the internet advertise "free" games. More often than not, the magic word "free" has those quotes around it. Often, you're being asked to play a demo of a commercial game - a crippled version of what you'd purchase in the store. Or the game will expire and become non-functional after 30 days. The games and resources listed here are truly free (note the lack of quotes around the magic word. I'm sure most of the authors would accept donations, but we the consumers are under no legal obligation to pay for anything. Whether from the goodness of their hearts, or other reasons stated above, the authors have released these games for free copy and use. Take advantage of this.

http://sourceforge.net

From their own website: "SourceForge.net is the world's largest Open Source software development web site, providing free hosting to tens of thousands of projects." And no, they're not exaggerating. This is a gigantic resource for things including and beyond the games we're reviewing here. Communications, database, education, entertainment, security and business applications are just a sampling of their many categories. Log on, type a few keywords of what you're looking for in the search tool on the left. Or use the "Software Map" link near the top to browse by category. Keep in mind that most of what you see are works in progress. Check the "Development Status" to make sure that what you're getting is usable software. (The sourceforge-located games reviewed for this article all have a Development Status of "Production/Stable" or "Mature". That way we get software that's bug free and ready for us to use it.)

http://www.tucows.com/

Tucows offers free games and games available for purchase. Click to find what category you're interested in (they cover everything from pinball games to Chinese language training programs). The important thing is when the games are listed, look at the "License" column. Only the programs labeled "Freeware" are truly free for the taking. Everything else will cost you. (For system stability reasons, I also recommend you stay away from the programs marked as "Adware".) The website also has a "cow rating system" for each program: Just like a dairy farm, the more cows the better.