I guess it was Nintendo who invented ice levels in platformers, and since then it’s become a video game standard. Whatever you’re playing, you can bet at some point you’ll be asked to continue what you have been doing for the last few hours, but on slippery surfaces. I’m not a fan, possibly with the exception of the snowy levels in Mario 64.

I Hate Ice Levels is an ode to everything we dislike about these staple levels. It’s unbelievably tricky - I got cramps in my fingers after ten minutes playing! It’s meant to be a satire of ice levels, and as such it works well. It’s also a tough challenge for anyone who thinks they’ve got skills when it comes to platforming. Play it here - requires Flash.

Update: Sorry, there aren’t any codes left. Thanks to all who entered!

We love Battlefield Heroes, the free to play online shooter. It’s unusual in that it’s not serious, with its cartoony style, and the fact you can buy upgrades for your avatar: Costumes, experience upgrades special moves and even gestures (in game emoticons).

The  latest addition to Battlefield Heroes is the Vampire vs Werewolves pack, which for about $10 gets you a new outfit, special moves and more.

Electronic Arts have given OnSoftware 15 Nicolai Vampire packs and 15 Grims Varg Werewolf packs to pass on to our readers. So if you’re a fan of Battlefield Heroes and want to get one of these hellish upgrades for the game, leave a comment including your email address in the ‘email’ field below, telling us which pack you’d prefer. It’s first come first served so be quick!

Once 3D took hold of gaming, one of the early Nineties most popular types of game, the
point-and-click adventure, started to disappear. In some ways, that’s hardly surprising. The games were generally dialog driven stories with puzzles in them, and just the occasional action point - all of these things can be found in newer adventure games, which usually have much more action in them.

Nevertheless, the relaxed, quirky point and clicks were never forgotten, and the rise of downloadable and indie games on all platforms has seen a resurgence. And that’s fantastic: point-and-click is the ideal choice for the casual gamer who wants a deeper experience. They don’t require dexterity or learning complicated controls - if you can use a computer at all you can play these adventures. Currently, there’s a great mix of updated classics and new games available to play, and here are a few ways to get started.

Machinarium: One of last year’s prettiest games, the puzzle element is pushed to the fore in Machinarium, but even when it gets hard it’s cute enough to keep you motivated. There are demos available for Windows and Mac.

LucasArts Adventure Pack: This collection of four classic games from the early Nineties may look outdated, but they are fantastic. There are two Indiana Jones titles, plus LOOM and The Dig - The Indiana Jones adventures have held up especially well, with excellent writing, puzzles and humor. Windows only.

Zombie Cow Studios: This is a two man team, who’ve created two excellent adventures - Ben There, Dan That and sequel Time Gentlemen, please! They are full of jokes, definitely not for children or the easily startled, and the stories are excellently off the wall. The first game is free, too so check it out!

Broken Sword/Beneath a Steel Sky: Touchscreens are ideal for point-and-click games, which is good news for iPhone users. Two of the greatest ever adventures, from Revolution Software, have been remastered and updated with a brilliant control scheme. Both are gripping stories, and Broken Sword looks especially fantastic. You can still play the original Beneath a Steel Sky on your Windows PC.

Telltale Games: This team have brought back both the Sam & Max and Monkey Island franchises in 3D to great success in episodic content, and continued with new series featuring Strong Bad and Wallace and Grommit. These are all excellent adventures, and they bring high production values back to point-and-click games - great if you can’t stand lo-fi retro graphics!

It’s amazing how quickly Super Bowl Sunday seems to come around. This weekend sees the Colts take on the Saints in a game which could be one of the most exciting ever given the offensive nature of both teams. Super Bowl night is always special, but to make it even more enjoyable, why not grab a hold of some football apps for your iPhone? Here are some choices that will help make this Super Bowl Sunday the best ever, regardless of what happens in the match. Note that many of these apps are only available on the US App Store.

Experience the magic with Madden NFL 10

EA’s John Madden series is one of the longest running in the history of sports games. For seven dollars you can experience the thrills and spills of an NFL season on your iPhone. With great graphics and real teams, players and stadiums, this is the most realistic football game you’ll find. The in-depth gameplay includes almost 300 different plays, and an Action Time Control slo-mo mode to help you perfect the.

Get closer to the action with NFL 2010

Although it lacks the ability to trade players like you can do in Madden, Gameloft’s NFL 2010 is an altogether more polished game. The 3D graphics are slicker than those in Madden, and the fact that there are three difficulty levels means that it’s a lot tougher. It’s also pretty addictive, so make sure you keep NFL 2010 well away from you during the game, or you’ll end up missing the whole thing!

Order food with the Pizza Hut app

Pizza is a key ingredient in the recipe for a good Super Bowl Sunday. Don’t even think about getting up out of your chair to get one though. Just install the Pizza Hut app on your iPhone and you’ll be able to order food from your local Pizza Hut without even speaking to anyone! Choosing what to order is as simple as spinning a wheel and tapping the item you want.

Get some virtual booze down you with iBeer

Drinking beer on Super Bowl night is great fun. However, drinking a virtual beer from your iPhone will make you look cooler. So, grab hold of iBeer, tilt back your phone and watch as the succulent amber nectar froths and disappears slowly just like a real beer. There are five drinks to choose from, and you can refill your glass as many times as you like - all for just 99 cents. How many bars offer a promotion like that?

Learn your trivia with Super Bowl Winners

Now it’s time to bone up on your Super Bowl trivia. Install Super Bowl Winners, and you’ll have an at-a-glance reference to the outcome of every final, since Super Bowl I in 1967. Besides listing the winners, the app arms you with enough stats and data to be impressing your buddies all night with your “knowledge” of this great competition.

Scope out the teams with Pro Football Indianapolis/New Orleans Fan

The Colts and Saints versions of Pro Football’s series of fan apps for iPhone are perfect for brushing up on your knowledge of the finalists. They do cost two dollars a piece, but they provide so much information that they’re worth downloading even if you don’t support either team. You get all the latest news, player profiles, stadium plans, standings, plus detailed team histories.

Follow the action with Pro Football Live

Once all the hype is over and the game has started, you can follow all the action with Pro Football Live. The free app will provide live coverage of Super Bowl XLIV, offering end-zone to end-zone updates and impressive game time visuals. It’s packed with social networking elements too, so you can interact with other fans.

Listen live with ESPN Radio

Of course, you’ll almost certainly be watching the game on TV, but what happens if you need to go to the toilet or dash out for more popcorn? Well, just make sure you’ve got the ESPN Radio app installed and you won’t miss a second of the action. The station will be offering live commentary of the Colts v Saints, and the only costs three dollars then it’s yours forever.

Make some noise with Air Horn

The atmosphere is sure to be exciting in Miami come 7pm E.S.T. You can bring a taste of this excitement into to your home by installing Air Horn. Press down the horn and it will release a sound from your iPhone that’s just like the real thing. It’s guaranteed to provide endless amusement during the course of the game. Either that, or it will annoy the hell out of your buddies.

Make your point with 3D Foam Finger

If you forgot to buy the most crucial Super Bowl accessory of them all - the foam finger - then stop fretting because, naturally, there’s an app for that too. 3D Foam Finger places a giant hand on your screen which you can wave around to show your support. You can even change the color! It does cost 99 cents, but I guess you can’t put a price on fun.

This week’s timewaster is casual gaming at it’s best: simple, addictive and relaxing. Gluey is essentially Bejewelled, but with liquid blobs. Click any gluey blob with two or more eyes to make it disappear, and the blobs around it will roll and join together if they’re of the same color.

Start playing, and before you know it you’ll have lost an afternoon! The colorful graphics are well animated and the music suits the relaxed pace of the game perfectly - although eventually you might want to turn that off. Play Gluey from your browser, and install Flash if you don’t already have it!

iPhone: Guitar Hero and Rock Band are two of the most innovative console games of the last ten years. Now you can enjoy the wonders of virtual instruments on the go, by installing Rock Band on your iPhone. The Lite version lets you choose from four different instruments - bass, guitar, drums, and vocals - and all of them are excellently presented. From the animations above the game board to the vibrant neon colors, the graphics are almost worthy of a console - and the sound is superb too.

Windows:  Chrome users worldwide, rejoice! The latest stable version of Google’s web browser is already here. Google Chrome 4.0.249.78 includes a bunch of new features, such as enhanced developer tools, support for HTML5, performance improvements, full Acid3 pas and above all, support for extensions and bookmark syncing.

Mac: Mac fans have been able to try Google Chrome for themselves for quite some time now but this is the first unofficial portable version available that you can take anywhere. However, since it is still a beta version, Google Chrome Portable may be prone to bugs and instability but it’s enough to give you a good idea as to what the finished product will look and feel like. Note, it only works on Intel Macs.

A year ago I was still pretty skeptical about touchscreens. I felt that total reliance on a touchscreens was a mistake, and that devices needed some physical controls, like d-pads, keyboards or keypads.

Having decided to get an iPhone regardless of these fears, and watching the development of apps over the last year, I have changed my mind. While I still can’t touch-text under tables like I used to, I can now tap out emails pretty quickly using the virtual keyboard. I think a physical keyboard is more natural to use, but I have been surprised how quickly I’ve got comfortable to life without one. The gains from touchscreens certainly outweigh the losses: Navigating around a device with a touchscreen is easier and faster - browsing is fantastic. A smartphone without a touchscreen would be a nightmare!

I own a Nintendo DS and a PSP, and never thought the iPhone could compete in game quality. There are areas where that’s still true - driving games on the iPhone are only ever surprisingly good considering they’re on an iPhone. They don’t stand up to systems with more controls - the accelerometer is too imprecise and sensitive (see Real Racing). But when games are developed especially for the touchscreen, they can be fantastic. Space Invaders Infinity Gene is perfect, while Beneath a Steel Sky and Broken Sword show that touchscreens are the best system for point and click adventures.

All in all, touchscreens are a great way to interact with computers - there is plenty of space for them in my life, although that doesn’t mean my joypads and laptop keyboards will be going anywhere soon. Is it a bad idea to say that on the eve of another Apple launch?

Gravity Hook managed to pass me by, which is a great shame. With an extremely simple mechanic, it’s very addictive once it ‘clicks’.

You start the game as a subterranean human, in a craft equipped with a Gravity Hook, and you want to know how far down you are. The space above is filled with mines that explode on touch - you can drag yourself towards them, but must let go before you hit, flinging your craft upwards, to hook onto the next mine. It takes a few goes to get the hang of it, but when you do you’ll be swinging your way upwards with ease. Play it in your browser here.

The twelfth annual Independent Games Festival has released the winners of the Student Showcase category. Don’t think that “student” equals amateurish or poor quality - there are some amazing games in the list, and some will no doubt go on to be commercial titles like DigiPen’s Narbacular Drop, which turned into the wonderful Portal.

The best thing about the list? Of the ten finalists, only two are unavailable, but the other eight are free to play!

There are cool puzzle games (Continuity, Puzzle Bloom and and Puddle), strange 3D experiences (Devil’s Tuning Fork and Dreamside Maroon), art games (Spectre and Ulitsa Dimitrova), and the adrenaline rush that is DigiPen’s Igneous. All are great reasons to be excited about game development, mixing experimentation with great playability.

Dive in and get playing!

Paradox Embrace is a puzzle platformer in which you travel between different times to complete puzzles.  You character can flip between three eras, using portals that exist amongst the platforms.

To progress you’ll need to find keys and potions, which will only be accessible in particular eras. You may need to move from the future to the stone age to avoid a machine, for example. While it could be very confusing trying to essentially play three games at the same time, the creators have put in a great hint system that keeps you on target, without making things too easy.

You can play Paradox Embrace from your browser, and it requires Flash.  It’s not a short game, and thankfully your progress is automatically saved, so as long as you don’t clear your browser history, you’ll be able to play through at your leisure.

Windows: It’s never too late to start using a password manager, and SplashID is probably one of the best alternatives. This awesome tool will take care of all passwords, PIN numbers, web logins and any other secret codes you may use. The database is conveniently organized in categories and encrypted for maximum protection.

iPhone: Family Feud (or Family Fortunes, as it’s called in the UK) is one of those game shows whose format never seems to tire. This iPhone version of Family Feud is perfect for fans of the show. Featuring the silky voice of presenter John O’Hurley and staged in a set true to the original show, the game sees you try to lead your family to glory against other families and scoop the $20,000 (fictional) prize money.

Mac: Retro platform games are nothing new, but with VVVVVV, developer Terry Cavanagh has created a game that is truly special, and that easily stands alongside any of the early gaming greats. There is a story to VVVVVV - you’re a space captain, who has lost his crew in an accident. Teleported to a strange space craft, you must find your crew and escape. By pressing “V”, gravity is reversed and that’s where the real fun begins.

GPS based social-location apps are set to be this years breakout services. Currently it seems that foursquare and Gowalla are the main contenders. Both offer similar, free, services.

Like Facebook, you need to invite friends who can use the service. Then you’ll have a community of people whose location you can see. Wherever you are, you’ll be able to see the places other users have visited and created on the service. When there, you can ‘check in’, which gives you points, or wins you a virtual gift or achievement.

With Gowalla, you collect stamps when you visit a spot, and can collect items other users have left around. This is all added to your Gowalla Passport. You can follow what your friends are doing too. There are also ‘trips’, which are like missions - visit all the places in a trip and you can win virtual pins for your passport. I love the design of Gowalla’s interface, but the community is still a bit small, so the experience is a bit cold. I have to convince all my iPhone owning friends to use it too.

Foursquare isn’t as nice to look at, but its community is more developed. Having said that, here in Barcelona there aren’t many users of either service yet! The competitive nature of foursquare is more obvious - it offers stats on your friends and you, so you can see who has the most points. Visit a place more than your friends and you’ll be crowned ‘Mayor’ of that place! Check into wherever you are, and your friends will see and be able to recommend stuff for you to do. You can also learn about their habit, and maybe places you didn’t know about.

Both Gowalla and foursquare are promising services, but its difficult to recommend one over the other! Gowalla is more fun, foursquare feels more functional. If Facebook is a model for success, then foursquare is most likely to be the service people choose. The best one will be the one with lots of users, and importantly, the one most popular in your circle of friends.

iPhone: Canabalt has been a huge viral hit online - one of the most addictive games of 2009. Now the developer has made it available for your iPhone, for a small charge so you can get your Canabalt hit on the go too! You control a character who is running, ever faster, away from… something. When you start, you’re told to make your escape, and from the moment the runner flies through the first window and hits the ground running, you’ll be hooked.

Windows: Whether you need to take multiple screenshots every day or just the odd screen capture from time to time, Screenpresso is a great choice. This fully featured screen capturing tool lets you take screenshots in several ways, keeps track of all captured images and includes a built-in editor with nice image effects.

Mac: One really annoying aspect of removing applications from your Mac is that they frequently leave behind folders, preference files and other things that waste hard drive space and generally clutter your system. With AppZapper, you can drag and drop programs into the main interface to remove them properly. When you drag and drop the files, AppZapper lists the associated files that you might want to delete with it.

Despite pronouncements of its death, PC gaming still seems to be alive and kicking, even if the consoles get all the headlines! Here’s my pick of 5 games that are worth getting excited about this year.

BioShock 2: One of the most impressive and decisive games of recent years returns, this time putting you in the enormous shoes of a Big Daddy. These huge beasts from the first game look really mean, but it’ll be interesting to see how developers Take Two make that experience as gripping as the shocking first game was.

Mass Effect 2: The sprawling space opera of Mass Effect continues in it’s sequel, released later this month. This action role play promises improved combat and enemy AI, as well as an even more involving storyline that will have you racing around the galaxy once more.

Mafia 2: The wait for a sequel to the 2002 original has certainly been a long one! Taking us back to a fictional city in the US, between 1945-55, Mafia 2 certainly looks beautiful. Crime, car chases and shooting never get old, but will the traditional story of rising through the ranks be interesting in 2010? Read the rest of this entry »

iPhone: Bouncedown is one of those games designed to help long journeys pass by much quicker. The object of Bouncedown is to survive for as long as possible without falling to the furnace below or knocking yourself on the spikes above. You do this by jumping down from platform to platform. There are different kinds of platforms that have different properties.

Mac: In this age of removal drives and external storage space, it’s very easy to lose track of where your data is located. Enter DiskTracker, a simple cataloging utility that helps you keep track of your offline files. If you have several removable media disks, DiskTracker is ideal because it will maintain a local directory of files on removable disks meaning you can search for files without actually having to insert the removable media.

Windows : TimeGT is a complete task management application that supports popular productivity improvement methods like the ones used by David Allen (Getting Things Done) or Stephen Covey (First Things First). It features a nicely designed interface that makes it a pleasure to use. All the basic information is visible at a glance, with small colorful icons that let you identify the most urgent tasks immediately.