blitz-1up
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Blitz closes 'Blitz 1UP' service, moves to Indie City
The 'Blitz 1UP' program, an initiative by developer Blitz Games meant to provide free development and QA assistance to indie games, has closed after three years of activity and support of "over 30 games." "We've had some great successes during our time working on this initiative," said producer Neil Holmes in a statement on the forums. "But unfortunately we haven't consistently reached the levels of success we had hoped to, and sadly we have now closed the programme to new applications." Holmes said that the lack of success is partly due to the fact that Blitz 1UP couldn't afford a great deal of marketing for its titles. "The other issue we have had is with the portals we have worked with," he said -- meaning Steam. "Getting their approval on indie games is difficult and their decision making process can often appear quite random. Even when we have succeeded in getting games on to Steam they've often only stayed on the dashboard for a few days before disappearing into the indie games section, which results in a massive drop in sales." Blitz is launching a website called Indie City in order to continue promoting Blitz 1UP games. The new site will offer "powerful community tools through blogs, forums, achievements and global leaderboards to help keep indie fans coming back for more," as well as recommendations tailored to each user.
XBL Indie 'Weapon of Choice' chosen by Blitz for PC release
The debut Xbox Live Indie Game from former Insomniac designer Nathan Fouts, Weapon of Choice, is headed to the PC by way of Blitz Games Studios and its Blitz 1UP label. It's not the first Indie picked up by the publisher; Binary Tweed's Clover: A Curious Tale was released for Windows via a number of different digital distribution services earlier this year. Blitz doesn't have a launch date yet for the port of WOC, but creator Fouts has made a strong case for PC players to be excited. "With the help of Blitz 1UP, we hope to relieve your monitors from constantly displaying games in browns and grays," he stated in today's announcement, adding, "It's time to vomit up some vibrant color with trip-inducing visuals of alien viscera!" Kevin Butler, watch your back. You can try (and, if you like, buy) the second XBL Indie release from Mommy's Best Games, Shoot 1UP, right now from the Xbox Live Marketplace. [Handy-dandy Marketplace link!]
