Remember in the first Halo when the Covenant Elite rushed you with energy swords? Oh wait, that was Halo 2.

Originally though, that wasn’t the case. Master Chief was nameless, he looked thinner, and ran around in third person. This original Apple keynote where they revealed the game for the first time offers an interesting perspective on the game, pushing it’s then incredible graphics. The main Halo theme is already in place, meaning maestro Marty O’Donnell was in place from the get go. Many of the ship designs are almost spot-on with their final versions.

For a deeper look, long defunct PC gaming magazine Incite (which also had a console based spin-off of the same name and retailed for only a $1) had a preview on its included CD-ROM. It shows the early physics, and gives and idea of how the third person view would have worked. AI hasn’t been programmed, and Master Chief is still nameless. The foundation is there, but Halo came a long way before it landed on the Xbox.

According to a thread in our Forums, no one seems to remember a game that helped start this crazy world of multiplayer gaming. Yes, I know we talk about old school gaming a lot here, but I believe it’s important for you kids to know the roots of your favorite online games. The game I speak of is called Warbirds, by iEntertainment Network’s Total Simulation series. This game was what got me hooked on online, multiplayer games, and I believe it was one of the first true and pure MMO’s.

Way back in 1995, (yes, in the last millennium) I was reading a gaming magazine (yes, it was made out of paper) and it was touting a title named ‘Confirmed Kill’ that was set to revolutionize interactive and simulation gaming for the PC. The screenshots were enough to captivate me. The article wrote of battles fought between literally *dozens* of real life, real time players in a World War II simulated air-combat theatre. This, quite literally, blew my mind.

Check out the rest of my nostalgic rambling after the jump.

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These games are certainly not new and do not come close to the awesome graphics power found in Call of Duty 4 or the new Half-Life chronicles, but they are still awesome. We are always linking to games that have recently come out, require some serious hardware, or are simply too expensive. I thought it was time to throw together a nice list of games you can play online for free, download for free, or register to get. ALL AT NO COST.

First up is the always awesome lineup from CNET including 10 titles you can download absolutely free! They include:
Abuse
Americas Army: Special Forces
Command and Conquer (yes the first one)
F.E.A.R. (multiplayer goodness!)
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
..and more!

Here is another set of games you can download all for free from DOSGamesArchive.com
This list includes:
Prince of Persia (4D)
Mario
Aladdin
DOOM
SimCity 2000
Duke Nukem 3D
&
Scorched Earth
+many more!

Looking for the real oldies?

Then checkout OldGames.NU which has every old system on the planet ready to play. I am talking about games on the Amiga system, GameGear, NEO Geo, and the list goes on.

This list should keep you busy for awhile, but if you know of a great list that I missed please let me know. Sometimes with all the new games that are out there is it nice to see where it all started. After all, these game developers are standing on the shoulders of giants. Like the makers of Balloon Fight for Ninendo