Girls like robots. The cool ones, anyway. This fact is proven by the new Adult Swim game Girls Like Robots: Nerdfest. It's really just a mini version of PopCannibal's popular mobile gaming series. But this cute 'n' cartoony puzzle game is worth checking out in any form. Your object is to seat people at various events. You must follow certain rules, however. Girls, for example, like to sit next to robots. They don't like to sit next to nerds. (Sorry, nerds.) Nerds don't like sitting next to other nerds. Figure out the proper seating chart and it's on to the next puzzle. Nerds!

 

Is Art Game a game, a joke, an experience, a comment on the modern art scene, all of the above? Yes. You start by choosing your artist, a male or a female, and then leaping head-first into the cutthroat world of modern art. First, you must create your minimalist masterpieces. This is accomplished though a mini-game whose mechanics should be familiar to longtime gamers. Next, you've got to choose the paintings for your exhibit. Will it be a success or a failure? Oh, fickle muse!

 

In the innovative, experimental game 400 Years, you play a big-headed, kind-hearted dude who just wants to save the world. But you've only got 400 years in which to pull it off. Sounds pretty easy, huh? Unfortunately, you'll be doing it through the unusual mechanic of time manipulation. You have the ability to speed the clock, forcing the world to race through the seasons, letting years zip by at the touch of a button. Need a lake to freeze over, so you can walk across it? Just wait until winter. Need a tree to grow to climb higher? Just wait a few years. Suddenly 400 years seems kinda short. You'll spend a lot of time standing around waiting in this unusual game, so patience is something of a virtue. What are you waiting for? Get to waiting.

 

Nitrome, one of the Internet's leading developers of awesome free games has released its newest, Plunger. You control a cute robot thing equipped with four directional plungers. Shoot the plungers vertically or horizontally to navigate a maze. Connect various electrical points with your plunger lines and you move on to the next level. This game's unique control scheme makes it a real standout in the platformer category. Just be on the lookout for the game's increasing hazards.

 

Sometimes fast is good. Sometimes red is bad. As true in real life as it is in the zippy action platformer Fae. Jump your little ... head-thing around a maze of platforms and walls. Don't touch anything that's red. And get a move on, this is a race against time, people!

 

Sometimes you just want to play cowboy, but your wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend/roommate/parents/dog just look at you funny when start wearing chaps and a ten-gallon hat around the house. Might I suggest giving the new Adult Swim video game Westerado a shot instead. This gorgeous 16-bits-style Western-style action RPG is shockingly expansive. You play a red-clad gunslinger looking to find the man who killed your family. Get jobs, question townspeople, fight bandits, wrangle buffalo. Along the way, you'll gather clues as to the killer's identity. A wide variety of tasks and a sly sense of humor make this a blast to play. Just watch where you point that six-shooter, partner.

 

Did you know that today is the 112 birthday of Frank Zamboni. " Who's Frank Zamboni?" you ask. Only the inventor of the most awesome vehicle on the planet, the ice-cleaning Zamboni Machine! Well the fine folks at Google sure know who Mr. Zamboni is. Their latest " Google Doodle" is a playable game in which you're tasked with sprucing up the ice after some careless skaters. Plan your route around the rink carefully, you have a limited supply of fuel. Now get on that Zamboni and ride!

 

Chromatica is your basic shape-matching game. Slide the metallic stars, moons, clovers, etc. around the hexagonal grid (so long as there's an open path) and line them up in rows of four or more. Pile up extra-long chains to unlock special pieces. The jewel-like colors and the classical music accompaniment make this one a soothing exercise in puzzle solving.

 

There's been a movement lately toward posting older, what we call "orphan" games online. (Take, for example, a prime Webgame Wednesday pick from last year, the 20th anniversary release of Wolfenstein 3D. We here at Webgame Wednesday couldn't be happier with this nostalgic gaming trend. So we're super stoked that somebody has ported Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty to the Internet. This pioneering real time strategy game was released in 1992. It more that set the stage for current RTS hits like Starcraft II. Choose your House (Atredies, Ordos or Harkonnen), mine the spice, make money, spend it on troops, power plants, weapons of war, etc. Then get out there and take over the planet, RISK-style. After all, the spice must flow!

 

Adult Swim’s awesomely destructive, Atari 2600-style game Mountain Maniac gets a holiday makeover in Mountain Maniac Xmas. You're Santa (or a poor approximation thereof) and are tasked with smashing huge boulders off a mountaintop. Control their descent to cause maximum carnage. And watch out for rampaging reindeer!