Free former commercial Games

[Oliver]

So there seems to be a new trend out there: Ad supported Games.
While I don't bother about an advertisement while the game is loading,
most download sites are rather slow and the file-sizes of those games
can be some Gigs.

But what the heck: It's free

Examples:

Far Cry Free Full Game (Ad Supported)​

Rising Eagle: Futuristic Infantry Warfare v1.3.1 Free Full Game ​

The Suffering Free Full Game​

Area 51 Free Full Game​

TrackMania Nations Forever Free Full Game​

Full Spectrum Warrior Free Full Game​

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Free Full Game (Ad Supported)​

Rise & Fall: Civilizations At War Free Full Game​

Grand Theft Auto (Full Version)​

FEAR Combat v1.07 Free Full Game

So what are your experiences? Is there any downside to this trend?
​

 

[Zax63]

Thanks for the link. I'm downloading Area 51 right now. It's about 2 GB and my browser is reporting over 5 hours to go.

 

[Oliver]

Thanks for the link. I'm downloading Area 51 right now. It's about 2 GB and my browser is reporting over 5 hours to go.

Well, I thought the game is quite interesting and also funny concerning
some NASA conspiracy theories. But the stupid slaughtering aspect of
the game was rather annoying IMHO.

 

[quixotecoyote]

All the OP's links are from here:

http://www.gamershell.com/fullgame_download_archive.html

Wikipedia also has a list. You have to work a bit to find the downloads, but still....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_games_released_as_freeware

 

[Zax63]

Hmm, the download ended after 3.5 hours, no error message, and I ended up with a corrupted zip file. I'll give it another try over the weekend.

 

[Oliver]

Hmm, the download ended after 3.5 hours, no error message, and I ended up with a corrupted zip file. I'll give it another try over the weekend.

That's bad - I used the free download manager FlashGet Classic to receive
the file without problems...

 

[Oliver]

All the OP's links are from here:

http://www.gamershell.com/fullgame_download_archive.html

Wikipedia also has a list. You have to work a bit to find the downloads, but still....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_commercial_games_released_as_freeware

Thanks for the Wiki-Article - what a great resource for future releases...

 

[grmcdorman]

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Free Full Game (Ad Supported)​

No longer available; this was a one-time promotion.

ETA: Same for Far Cry.

 

[logical muse]

Thanks for the link. I'm downloading Area 51 right now. It's about 2 GB and my browser is reporting over 5 hours to go.

I was lead programmer on a version of this game many many years ago. Guess I'll have to download it to see if it's my one.

If it is the one I did, I apologise in advance.

 

[Oliver]

No longer available; this was a one-time promotion.

ETA: Same for Far Cry.

Are you sure that's correct? I can still download FarCry here:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_20867.shtml

Same is true concerning Prince of Persia:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_20868.shtml

 

[grmcdorman]

Are you sure that's correct? I can still download FarCry here:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_20867.shtml

Same is true concerning Prince of Persia:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_20868.shtml

You can download them - but in order to install them you need a registration code that is no longer available. I found this out the hard way for Prince of Persia.

In particular, look at the end of the description for both games:

Update:
The promotion is now closed and it is no longer possible to play the game for free. If you are interested in further information on this title, visit the Ubi official website at http://www.ubi.com/

 

[thrombus29]

I was lead programmer on a version of this game many many years ago. Guess I'll have to download it to see if it's my one.

If it is the one I did, I apologise in advance.

Was it the Arcade shooter with the yellow barrels? I used to piss all my money away at the mall getting to the secret areas.

 

[logical muse]

Was it the Arcade shooter with the yellow barrels? I used to piss all my money away at the mall getting to the secret areas.

I did the PC version, but yeah, that's the one. There was a different development team for the arcade version and for each of the console and PC versions.