Even less-alert viewers should recall the recent appearance of Google Pac-Man in celebration of the pizza-prompted pill-popper's 30th birthday, when for a couple of days the search engine's title banner was replaced by a fully-playable version of the game.

The page is now "permanently" online here, but those of us with no faith in corporations to preserve gaming history have been looking for a working offline version (simply saving the web page doesn't work).

Read more »

Via John X.

(Click for full-size source.) (EDIT: Has now been fixed, with a knowing wink.)

Read more »

(Warning: contains Spotify. But if you don't have it, read on.)

Users of the controversial legal music-streaming service have become accustomed of late to more songs disappearing off their playlists than being added to them, so the sudden addition of Tranmere troubadours Half Man Half Biscuit to the archives was a pleasant surprise indeed.

Read more »

As WoSblog iPod Week and Amiga Nostalgia Weekend draw to a simultaneous close, we've got a little treat to finish on.

Alert viewers will know that one of my favourite games from the Amiga era, and perhaps Team 17's one genuine original classic, was Jamie Woodhouse's lovely little Bubble Bobble-inspired platformer Qwak. Actually born on the BBC Micro, Qwak has gone through several very different forms in its life, and last week its latest incarnation appeared in the App Store.

Read more »

It might be trying to look like Grand Theft Auto or Car Jack Streets, but Crime Spree (currently on limited-time free promo) is actually Rally-X.

In keeping with its theme, this is a straight respray of Namco's classic maze-chaser, fast-paced and tricky with responsive swipe controls, and it'll cost you less money than the smallest measurable unit of money in existence. Speaking as a neutral observer who'd never tell you what to do, you should get it right now.

Read more »

There are scores of would-be Geometry Wars imitators on the App Store, most of them flawed in various ways, but this is just about the best effort I've found at the twin-stick vector-graphics arena shooter on iPod.

Geofighter – Light Wars is as basic as they come, with Wave modes and a Survival mode that picks up the difficulty quickly after a gentle start, but it's smooth and enjoyable, has a clever auto-centering system that minimises the problem of enemies hiding behind your thumbs,  and it's going free.

Be quick, though, you've only got a few hours to snag this one.

Read more »

Experience England's exit from the tournament on penalties early with this simple but compelling target-shooter, free for an unspecified limited time.

Progressive Mode is the most fun part.

Read more »

Sequel to the splendid Mr AahH!, not quite as brilliant but every bit as stylish, your "games I got for free" collection isn't complete without this fab little slice of hyperintense arcade action.

It's Mr. Space!!! Woo!

Read more »

This is another personal favourite of mine, that I bought for cash money but which you can have for nothing. It looks better in action than in stills.

Racer is the closest thing yet on the App Store to the immortal and beloved Monaco GP, and since the addition of the Career game it's got a mode for however much time you want to kill. Give it a once-over.

Read more »

As alert viewers will have noticed, it's been iPod Week here on WoSblog.

So in an effort to post something at least slightly more interesting to those of you who inexplicably haven't got an iPod yet (despite them being available for just £6 to WoS Subscribers), and in honour of the appearance of Pinball Dreams for free a couple of days ago, this weekend we're going to look at a couple of Amiga classics that have just made the jump to the 21st century.

Read more »

More big-name giveaways of relatively high-priced games: normally £2.99, you can now pick up the life-consuming match-3 action puzzler previously seen on DS, PSP and XBLA for nothing, this weekend only.

So hey, maybe think about doing that. If you like.

(Chapter 1 and 2 is basically the whole original game plus some extra bits from an expansion pack, such as new character classes.)

Read more »

Rather kindly, EA have decided to provide WoSblog with a handy and timely illustration of why you might want a US App Store account.

For the opening weekend of the World Cup only, the multinational software giant is celebrating what it appears to believe is a match between the USA and Great Britain on Saturday, by slashing the price of 2010 FIFA World Cup to a bargain $0.99 (down from the previous $6.99).

Sadly, the pricing of the app is rather less multinational – while the US price equates to just 59p, British FIFA fans are expected to pay FIVE TIMES as much, with the UK App Store maintaining its £2.99 price point for the game.

Read more »

There's just over one day left to get your picks in for Earth's finest World Cup sweepstake game.

Why wait? Click the banner!

It's pinball! It's dreamy! It's Pinball Dreams!

And now it's free! (One day only.) Hurry! Hurry quickly!

Read more »

Sadly, while Apple have fixed many of the traditional irritating failings of the videogames industry, they still perpetrate the idiocy of region-locking. For no acceptable reason, a significant number of apps are still restricted to certain territories, even when they're free.

The most annoying aspect of the policy is that users of the US App Store alone can take advantage of the promo codes that many developers issue to give away some free copies of their games to alert users via forums and such. Fortunately, it turns out that it's really easy to get round it.

Read more »