This Week's Waste of Time

It looks like flushing Rainbow Brite down the toilet, but it's way more fun.

If it isn't obvious by the very nature of this blog column, I love free stuff. "Stuff" refers to the furniture in my apartment to the shirt on my back, but it also extends to video games. Today's Waste of Time, is another free browser game that you can buy for the iPhone or wait until November to download to your PS3 or Xbox. But why pay?

I suppose I should be supporting the indie game scene more, but if a developer is offering their game gratis they must assume it's in their best interest to do so. That's how I sleep at night anyway.

This week's game comes from Phildelphia's Cipher Prime, makers of another fine game in the Bust-a-Move/Bejewelled mold. That game is called Fractal. You can play it online for free or buy a more fleshed out version for $10. The latter option is for the Fractal diehards.

Their previous game, which was released before I started blogging about browser games (hard to imagine such a time existed), received critical acclaim and a handful of awards. Auditorium offers puzzling levels that present the player with shooting beams of light. Beams that only reveal themselves as portions of an audible symphony when directed toward boxes scattered throughout the screen. Bend and shape the sound beams to intersect all the boxes and graduate to the next level. The controls are a bit sticky, but the minimal art design and soothing tones makes for a less hectic gaming experience than you might be used to.

Spend the $10 for the full version if the mood strikes you. I'm going to let this blog post serve as my support of the scene in lieu of cash. Stop judging me.

Click here to play Auditorium.