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XBL Indie Games Winter Uprising now on Xbox dashboard, Cthulhu Saves the World out tomorrow
After getting off to a shaky start, the Xbox Live Indie Games Winter Uprising may just get a shot in the arm thanks to Microsoft. The Indie Games promotion is now featured on the Xbox dashboard. We reached out to Winter Uprising coordinator, Robert Boyd, who tells Joystiq "the Winter Uprising dashboard advertisement is a great step in the right direction." Boyd added that he's hopeful Microsoft will continue to support Indie Games in the future, perhaps with similar ads on a more regular basis. He also noted that Microsoft has "shown a recommitment" to Indie Games recently, moving the service back under the Games & Demos section on the dashboard and making it more visible. Ska Studios' James Silva tells Joystiq, "I'm super happy to be on the Indie Games Winter Uprising; Robert put a ton of effort into pulling together the promo and the fact that it got on the dash is quite a testament to its success." He added that the reaction to Ska's Uprising title, ZP2KX has been "extremely positive" so far, and that he would "definitely support any future uprisings." In more Winter Uprising news, Zeboyd -- Boyd's own indie studio -- has announced that Cthulhu Saves the World should arrive on Xbox Live on Thursday, December 30 for 240 MS Points ($3). Cthulhu Saves the World is one of the final entries in the Winter Uprising promotion, and is the follow-up to Zeboyd's last title, Breath of Death VII, which is currently one of the top games on the Indie Games service. Watch a (very short!) trailer of the throwback RPG adventure after the break. %Gallery-112189%
XBL Indie Games Winter Uprising falls a little short
Though they may have had the noblest of intentions, organizers for the Indie Games Winter Uprising are admitting things didn't go precisely as planned. The idea had been to launch 14 games on Xbox Live Indie Games in the first week of December as a way of separating the wheat from the massage game chaff on the service. At the moment though, only eight of those games have made it out the door. "The way Xbox Live Indie Games are set up, it's difficult to release on a specific day," organizer Robert Boyd told Edge. "You can't get your game approved and have it come out later at a day of your choosing – once a game is approved it goes up automatically within 48 hours. Likewise, if you submit a game for approval and then find that you have to pull it for whatever reason, however small, you have to wait a minimum of 7 days before resubmitting." It's not all doom and gloom though, with first Uprising release Epic Dungeon moving over 6,000 units. The Uprising's still a great project, and we'd love to see the devs try again soon ... maybe even with a little help from Microsoft this time?
