Free Video Games

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of playing video games with my friends, mainly Paul and Jason. One of my favorite NES games is The Legend of Zelda. I couldn’t begin to count the number of hours that I’ve spent playing and replaying the Zelda series of both the NES and the SNES.

While surfing the net one day I came across Zelda Classic for PC. Zelda Classic is a tribute to Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda that was written and actively developed and maintained by fans. It has been developed into an exact replica of the NES version. Additionally, Zelda Classic allows the development of new quests that can use either the traditional graphics or enhanced graphics, as well as new enemies, items, and challenges. Visit the Zelda Classic website at http://www.zeldaclassic.com/ and set aside a few hours for some retro fun.

There are a lot of websites that offer free games to download. Here are a few of the sites that I like:

Abandonia Reloaded, http://www.reloaded.org/, is a website dedicated to retro game remakes and community made freeware.

A couple of my favorites from this site include: Free Droid, http://www.reloaded.org/download/FreeDroidRPG/120/, and Tux Racer, http://www.reloaded.org/download/Tux-Racer/37/.

The gaming website 1up.com has comprised a list of 101 free games that call it “The Definitive Guide to the Best New Free Games on the Web”. The website can be found here: http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3148013&did=1.

The website Noodan, http://www.noodan.com/, also offers some interesting free games.

There are also free educational games and software available.

GCompris is an educational software suite comprising of numerous activities for children aged 2 to 10. Some of the activities are game orientated, but nonetheless still educational. I’ve only used the Linux version of this software and both of my boys really enjoy it. In order to promote Linux, the Windows version has a limited number of activities. Read more about GCompris or download it at http://www.gcompris.net.

TuxPaint is a drawing program for kids. Like GCompris, I’ve only used the Linux version of this program too. Nonetheless, it’s sure to bring hours of fun and creativity for everyone. Read more about TuxPaint or download it at http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/windows/.

There are many many more sites that offer free games to download and to play online. Go to HyperDuck and perform a search for “free games download” or “free games online” or “free educational software”.