Game of the Day - Ricochet Infinity

Amazon's Video Game of the Day is a 99 cent download of Ricochet Infinity, which has all five star reviews. This makes the fourth in the Ricochet series that has been on special this year and the third one I've picked up (spending under $3). This one says it is multi-player as well, so I may even try that out.

Game Description

• Over 210 Action-Packed Levels, With 1000's More Online.
• Unlock New Ships, Balls And Ranks.
• Innovative Recall Feature Makes YOU The Master.
• Travel To The Stars...And Beyond.

Ricochet around the Galaxy in this dynamically brilliant breakout action game! Trek across 216 awesome levels, with thousands more online, earning new ranks in the Galactic Tournament, by yourself or with a friend. Play the re-energized Ring Game, winning new balls and ships with unique specialties to give you the edge! Control your ball with the wildly innovative Recall feature...once you've tried it, you can't go back! Travel to the stars and beyond in your glorious quest to become the Ringmaster Grand Champion!

Free Game Download - Tradewinds Legends

You can get a free copy of Tradewinds Legends ($6.99 Amazon Game Downloads) directly from Sandlot Games this week.

Game Description

• Trade And Battle With Legendary Heroes.
• Choose A Character Or Create Your Own
• Hundreds Of Special Items
• 10 Amazing Ports To Visit

Get carried away in this latest installment in the acclaimed Tradewinds Series. Sail, trade and battle with legendary heroes such as Sinbad in the mythical Far East. Enter a world of danger and intrigue as you complete over 100 unique tasks. Build a flotilla of ships armed with weaponry, both man-made and magic. Sail into the sky to discover new ports and engage in aerial combat with other magical sky ships. Encounter a world of legend, play Tradewinds Legends today!

To get the free game, follow these steps:

1) If you don't have an account at Sandlot Games, create one first (click on Create Account in the banner of the next step or click HERE now). You could do this during the check out process, but if you do, you'll have to start the checkout all over again. The email address you enter will be used both for sending your activation code (which you'll need later) and to send you a newsletter (you can opt out) with future offers.

2) Click HERE for the offer and then on Get It Free! to add it to your cart. Click on Begin Checkout.

3) You'll see a screen asking about a CD backup of your game - be sure to check off "No Back-up CD" , so that the default $7.99 charge is removed from your cart - at this point you should see a zero balance in the cart. Once you do (and not before), click on Continue Checkout and then on Complete Order.

4) Your invoice will be displayed, confirming the zero billing. Scroll midway down and click on Download to get your game installation file (be sure to save it somewhere that you can find it later, and back it up in case you need it again later on - I don't know that you can redownload directly from Sandlot, as you can with Amazon).

5) Install and run the game. You'll be asked for an activation code - that should have arrived via email. If you are using GMAIL (as I do), be sure to check your Spam folder online - that's where my confirmation landed and I had to tell it that it wasn't spam (they apparently use a secondary server for sending out these codes, which triggered some of the spam settings at gmail). You'll be able to play the game for 60 minutes before you need to enter the activation code, but it's easy enough to go ahead and do so the first time you play the game - just click on "Already Purchased" (below the Buy Now button) and enter the code in the box provided and click on Unlock Game.

B1G1F on Kindle: Leighton Gage

Through February 5, 2010, buy the latest (Vol 3) in Leighton Gage's Chief Inspector Mario Silva series, Dying Gasp ($9.99), and receive a free download of the first in the series, Blood of the Wicked (normally $9.99). Two books for essentially five dollars each and both books have very good reviews. Of course, that does leave the middle book of the series, Buried Strangers, to be purchased, currently at $9.99.

Dying Gasp
The granddaughter of a prominent politician is missing. Silva and his team find her in Manaus, a jungle hellhole on the Amazon where an evil female doctor is making gory snuff films. Silva must overcome his own department's indifference and the corrupt local cops before he can obtain a semblance of justice for the victims.

Blood of the Wicked
In the remote Brazilian town of Cascatas do Pontal, where landless peasants are confronting the owners of vast estates, the bishop arrives by helicopter to consecrate a new church and is assassinated.

Mario Silva, chief inspector for criminal matters of the federal police of Brazil, is dispatched to the interior to find the killer. The pope himself has called Brazil's president; the pressure is on Silva to perform. Assisted by his nephew, Hector Costa, also a federal policeman, Silva must battle the state police and a corrupt judiciary as well as criminals who prey on street kids, the warring factions of the Landless League, the big landowners, and the church itself, in order to solve the initial murder and several brutal killings that follow. Justice is hard to come by. An old priest, a secret liberation theologist, finally metes it out. Here is a Brazil that tourists never encounter.

In case you haven't had your Kindle very long, these Buy One, Get One Free offers from Amazon work a little differently for Kindle books, versus other items. When you one-click to buy the first book, you'll find that the second book shows up both on the same Kindle and in your Media Library. You won't, however, see any mention of it on the invoice you are emailed and you don't see the banner at the top of the product page for the second book to indicate that you have previously purchased it. In all other ways, however, it works just like any other purchased book - you can download it to multiple Kindles, read it on your PC, etc. Just don't accidentally purchase the "free" book of the pair or you'll be paying double on these deals - always look for the banner immediately below the list of other formats available that indicates you are on the correct page to get the free book with purchase.

Three Free Books (PDF) from Harlequin

Harlequin has added a few new titles to their free offerings, however these are currently only available as PDF's from their website.

Passion to Die For ($3.60 Kindle), by Marilyn Pappano

Book Description
Little did Ellie Chase know those would be the last words she ever spoke to her estranged mother. When Martha’s body was found the next morning, all eyes were on Ellie… who couldn’t remember what she’d done that night. So when Tommy Maricci—the man she refused to let herself love— came to her rescue, she couldn’t say no.

Tommy believed in his former girlfriend’s innocence—no matter how damning the evidence against her was. She may have broken his heart, but he took her into his home for protection. Because if Ellie wasn’t the killer, someone had set her up. And Tommy refused to let anyone hurt the woman he loved.

The Italian's Inexperienced Mistress ($3.60 Kindle), by Lynne Graham

Book Description
When Angelo sought revenge Gwenna Hamilton added another delicious dimension. Innocent and pretty, she didn’t stand a chance when the Italian tycoon offered her the devil’s bargain: pay for her father’s freedom with her body.

In her naiveté, Gwenna thought that Angelo would tire of her and her innocence very quickly. But he had more in mind that just one night…

Married by Mistake (out of print), by Abby Gaines

Book Description
Do not adjust you set. That really was Casey Greene being jilted by her fiancé on live TV! And that really was Memphis’s most eligible bachelor who stepped in to marry her instead.

Millionaire businessman Adam Carmichael wanted only to help Casey save face. He isn’t prepared for the news that their “fake” wedding is legal and binding.

While they secretly wait for an annulment, media and family scrutiny forces them to put on their best loving-couple act. Except by now, neither one is quite sure who’s acting….

Click HERE to get the titles from Harlequin - you have to locate the cover in the scrolling bar, click on it, then wait for the book info to display, then click on the PDF button to download.

If you have a nook or Sony reader, you can still get the original free "Harlequin 16" titles in their respective stores (they are no longer free for the Kindle).

More New Year's Fitness Deals at Amazon

First, another group of (paper) magazine subscriptions that you can get for $5/year. Included is Eating Well, Vegetarian Times, Fitness, Yoga Journal and Backpacker Magazine, either as a one-year or automatically renewing subscription (but no info on what the cost would be when it renews). Offer expires January 9, 2010.

The second deal is Today's Goldbox Deal of the day: a number of Fitness DVD Bundles for $19.99 each. It looks as though there is one focused on Yoga, one on Dance, one on Pilates and the last one comes with an Exercise Ball. This one will expire tonight at midnight, PDT.