Sunday 19 October 2014

Chess and chess-like games

The trend for computer games is for them to be purchased online. While this is convenient to the user (except for those with limited download capacity) it is making the traditional game store obsolete.
The biggest online store is probably Steam, and purchase a lot of games from there (including a number I have never actually played). While they have lots of first person shooters etc, they don'y have a lot of chess programs. Of course dedicated chess programs are a bit of a niche product, but the number one chess program on there is Fritz 14. This is followed by some familiar titles like Battlechess, while the chess variant Chess 2, features prominently.
Below that are what I would either call chess-like or chess-inspired games. Khet 2.0 is one example, while the venerable Archon still seems to be around. After that it is a bit of a mixed bag, where the game may be inspired by chess (eg it is a turned based strategy game) but after that it is anything goes.
As a source for games Steam is usually a little cheaper than the non-downloaded versions so if you are looking to stretch your dollar, it may be a sensible place to shop.

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