A Fine Selection of Games

1up.com has a selection of 101 free games (found in the recently renamed Games for Windows magazine- formerly Computer Gaming World).

Meanwhile, Gamespot has what looks like a selection of every single game coming out in the next year, although they state it is only a list of 'promising' games, or those they they expect will have a significant score when released (I would hate to see the full list of games coming out in 2007). BTW, far too many of these games look exactly the same. Where's the unique art and style? The 1UP selection of games seems far more individualistic and interesting. Is the cutting edge 'art' of games only to be found in the casual game sector?

The best things in life are free

There is an enormous list of free to play/try MMOGs at mmolist. Although not an MMOG by any stretch of the imagination, I highly recommend Allegiance. Microsoft, of all companies, released it for free (including the source code) awhile back. There is a steep learning curve, however, and it may take some time getting used to all of the gameplay elements. With games like BF2, however, I think that a lot of the novel elements that were in place when Allegiance came out are more acceptable/known to the gamer community.

Groundbreaking gameplay elements included a commander who controls the technology tree, miners who help mine resources for your side, and various combatants who fly everything from small nimble fighters to larger attack craft (wikipedia entry here).