Marathon, Marathon 2: Durandal and Marathon Infinity could be considered the fathers of first-person shooters. But unless you have a computer that can run Mac OS 9, you couldn’t relive fond memories of destroying a Pfhor armada…until now. Along with compatibility with OS X, Windows and Linux, developers have also added improvements such as modern OpenGL shader support, high resolution graphics, Internet co-op and multiplayer, and plug-in support for modifications…all for free.

You’ve got wishes? Well, Steam has the magic wand. Or, maybe Steam is the magic wand, and Valve is waving it. Regardless, the Daily Wishlist Giveaway has begun. Each day, the online gaming platform will award 10 people the top 10 games on their wishlist. The Giveaway is now underway and will continue into the holiday season.

If you happen to be a fan of Valve’s Portal game series but you don’t have a copy of the original Portal for Mac or PC, you’ll be happy to know it is absolutely free on Steam until September 20th. Valve is giving away the title as a part of its “Learn with Portals” educational program, hoping to emphasize the role Portal plays on educating gamers in physics and critical thinking skills.

Valve has launched five Free to Play (F2P) games on Steam, including Spiral Knights (the only one that’s Mac compatible), Forsaken Worlds, Champions Online: Free for All, Global Agenda: Free Agent, and Alliance of Valiant Arms (AVA). Starting today, each of the five F2P games will offer exclusive in-game content for those who play the “F2P game of the day” on Steam.

Today’s the last day for entries into Appletell’s pirate game giveaway, in which we’re awarding one winner copies of Freeverse’s Jack Keane and Coladia’s Destination Treasure Island. But is that all? Of course that’s not all. We’ve decided to throw in two games of your choice from the Appletell review vaults. Which games? Well, you’ve got to find the treasure chest before you can open it up.

Pirates are bad. They steal. They kill people. They’ve got horrible hygiene. It’s just not a pleasant thing. But that hasn’t stopped Hollywood and the gaming industry from glamorizing them, and why should it? I’m guessing sword fighting skeletons would be nasty in real life, too, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be included in every movie ever made. And although we’ve got no skeletons for you, we do have some pirate games we’d like to give away this weekend.

Pirates have sure made a comeback, huh? No longer relegated to goofy musicals and crazy notions like the idea that Geena Davis could ever be a respected ship captain, pirates are now back where they should be: the subject of big budget action movies and sexy Halloween costumes for the ladies. Even better, they’re now the subject of an Appletell giveaway.

As we near the end of Appletell’s Mac OS Classic game giveaway, I’m happy to say we’ve received enough entrants to bump the total number of games up to 30. The winner will be able to choose 30 games out of the 40 available—including classics such as Fly!, Redneck Rampage and Oni, as well as more »

Amidst news of layoffs and announcements that game developers are abandoning the Mac in favor of the iPhone, it’s heartening to see some people are still fighting for the users. Mac Games Arcade, the new digital download application for Mac games, has been released. And to make sure you know about it, they’re offering five free Mac games over the next five days.

Mac Games Arcade allows users to browse, download, buy, and manage their Mac games through Mac-like interface. Nearly 400 games are already available. And yes, I know you’re thinking that probably 480 of them involve trying to quickly serve cake to impatient customers. There are some of those games in here, sure, but it’s not all about he casual gamer at the Mac Games Arcade. To prove it, the free game they’re offering today is, appropriately enough, Pangea Arcade. It’s only available today, however, so get it now before they switch over to free game number two.

The deadline for entering Appletell’s iMac/game giveaway is swiftly approaching, so be sure to enter now if you haven’t already. As a reminder, we’re giving away up to 40+ games for Mac OS Classic (the total is dependent upon how many entries we get). And since we assume you’re currently enjoying the benefits of a more modern Mac running Mac OS X, we thought we’d throw in a suitable computer, as well: a used 400MHz G3 Indigo iMac.

To enter, you simply need to give us your name and e-mail address (for notification purposes only), and also let us know if you agree with me on what’s the worst Mac OS Classic game of all time…