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Humble Mozilla Bundle: Try in your browser, redeem at Steam
Humble Bundle adopts a new approach with its featured offerings today with the The Humble Mozilla Bundle, a collection that lets you test drive HTML5 versions of featured games in your browser before you commit to a purchase. The pay-what-you-want package includes Steam-redeemable copies of Terry Cavanagh's Super Hexagon, Dejobaan's Aaaaa! for the Awesome, Hemisphere Games' Osmos, Secret Exit's Zen Bound 2, and Hitbox Team's Dustforce DX. Beat the average (currently $5.25) and you'll also get Voxatron and FTL: Advanced Edition, while purchases that exceed $8 will additionally unlock Democracy 3. Full versions of all games included in the Humble Mozilla Bundle are playable in HTML5-supported browsers upon purchase. The package will be available through October 28. [Video: Humble Bundle]
Scale reward tiers just got bigger: $20 gets 5 extra indie games
Scale has raised $41,000 in three days on Kickstarter, almost half of its $87,000 goal, and its reward tiers keep growing. A new $20 tier called "Friends of Scale" offers a copy of Scale developer Steve Swink's LA Game Space project, Inputting, along with Steam keys for Incredipede, Osmos, Electronic Super Joy and Noitu Love 2. You'll also get Scale, of course. The new $15 tier includes a copy of Scale and Inputting. The Kickstarter updates for Scale each take place in-game and show off the mechanics, puzzles and strategies players can expect from the final build. The second update provides a look at Scale's resizing gun once it becomes outrageously powerful and can no longer hit individual objects – instead it shrinks and grows entire worlds. Plus this update shows a really embarrassing photo of Swink himself. Take a peek at more improv Scale gameplay in the first update below.
PBS mini documentary showcases the creativity of indie games
The latest episode of PBS' Off-Book, a web-series on online arts, is a celebration of indie games and their creativity. While the mini documentary probably won't tell you anything you don't already know, it is an excellently produced primer for getting into indie games.The seven-minute video is introduced by Kill Screen's Jamin Warren, then following on from Warren is SpellTower creator Zach Gage talking about the emotional and immersive value of game mechanics. Bastion creator Darren Korb then describes how he feels indie developers approach sound design differently from developers of AAA games. Eddy Boxerman and Andy Nealen explain the efforts they put into Osmos' art design, before Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander closes by looking at how indie games handle storytelling.If you like watching interesting stuff about indie games (and why wouldn't you?) you should also check out Indie Game: The Movie, which came to Netflix earlier this week. On a side note, if you can name all the games featured in the Off-Book video, you'll almost certainly win something completely awesome*.*by 'almost certainly' we mean 'definitely not'
Osmos gets its multiplayer update
Hemisphere Games has released a big update to the great indie game Osmos that adds in a new multiplayer mode. You can face off against a friend on another device and enter an arena where both players need to consume variously sized orbs around them, each one vying to become bigger than the other and consume the opponent. There are six different arenas to play in, and each adds a different set of elements to the gameplay. It's not a huge update, but if you and your friends really love Osmos, it seems like a fun way to face off. Osmos is currently available for $2.99 on the iPhone and $4.99 on the iPad. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Latest Indie Royale bundle is the All-Charity Lightning Pack
A new Indie Royale bundle featuring Osmos, B.U.T.T.O.N., The Shivah and Blueberry Garden has debuted. Unlike past bundles, all of the proceeds from this one don't go to the developers – proceeds go to charities chosen by the developers.In addition to the games, the All-Charity Lightning Pack also tosses in a trio of chiptunes albums should you pony up $7 or more: Level by Disasterpeace, IN1ep by 6955, and FX4 by Jake "virt" Kaufman. Cruise past the break for some video previews of all four games.
Humble Bundle for Android includes mobile and home versions of Anomaly, World of Goo, more
No smartphone is safe from cheap indie games (unless it's a Blackberry). Just as the Steam mobile app goes out of beta, allowing unfortunate impulse purchases from iOS or Android devices, the Humble Indie Bundle has announced its first Android release, available now.Under the same "pay whatever, support charity" pricing scheme as previous Humble Bundles, the Humble Bundle for Android offers Android versions of Anomaly: Warzone Earth, Osmos, and Edge, with a bonus copy of World of Goo available to anyone who exceeds the average payment.All of these games are cross-platform, so you get them on your Android phone and Windows, OSX, and Linux. That's a pretty appealing deal for the price of however much you end up paying.
Osmos tips to help push you along
We've seen a couple rounds of Infinity Blade tips so far, but what if your iOS gaming tastes run a little bit less combative and a little bit more trajectory-based? Here are some excellent tips for the physics-based puzzle game Osmos, hosted by the game's music composers. The core mechanic of Osmos is that you control a globe of mass, and you can trade that globe's mass for movement, by kicking a stream of mass out in a various direction, trying to reach and "eat" other globes on the screen to get more mass. Controlling the game is simple, but winning it is another thing entirely. Fortunately, these tips should help. And they also go a long way to showing just how complex and well constructed Osmos is. You can not only use your mass to propel your planet forward, but you can also propel other planets away from you, and even push those into other planets, causing a domino effect to your own advantage. And using walls is another big one. They can affect your movement strongly without costing you anything, which make the edges of the screen very valuable. All good stuff. If you haven't played Osmos yet, you definitely should: It's available on the App Store right now, for iPhone or iPad.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best iPad game
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your votes for the best iPad game of 2011. This was a tough call, as we had a wide spectrum of nominations, all of which are excellent and top-rated games for iPad. There are six nominees in this category: Osmos for iPad (US$4.99), Words With Friends HD ($0.99), Carcassonne ($9.99), The Bard's Tale ($4.99), Army of Darkness Defense HD (free), and Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer ($4.99). And now, let the voting begin! The results will be announced on December 31, 2011. %Poll-72371%
A few apps on sale for St. Patrick's Day
Erin go bragh-se the App Store today, because there are a few cheap games out there for the holiday! Real-time strategy/action mashup Legendary Wars (as seen back at Macworld) is on sale for just 99 cents. Stoneship (another Daily App choice) is also on sale for just 99 cents, as is the award-winning Osmos. Comixology has a few Green Lantern and Green Arrow comics on sale for just a buck each -- good deal if you've got a new iPad 2 to read them on. EA (surprise!) has games back on sale, including Scrabble, Tetris and its MMA title. Lifelike Cards HD is also on sale for just a buck. Putting apps on sale for holidays seems to be the growing tradition on the App Store, so there are probably a few more out there (and I'll bet a few developers will start up their sales this weekend after seeing these out this week). If you see something good, let us know in the comments below! And from all of us at TUAW, have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day!
Humble Bundle 2 closes, earns over $1.8 million
The Humble Indie Bundle 2 -- which added last year's bundle during its promotion -- has raised over $1.8 million. The name-your-own-price, DRM-free set included indie darlings like Braid, Machinarium and Osmos, along with several others. Purchasers could decide whether their years of saved pennies went to developers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation or the Child's Play Charity. They could also provide a "humble tip" for the bundle's organizers. Humble Bundle organizers plan on releasing more detailed statistics later but, beyond the final sum, we know that there were 232,849 purchases, with an average payment for the 12-game bundle of $7.83. Windows operating systems made up a majority of the purchases, but Linux users offered up the most support with an average purchase of $13.76. If you're all good little boys and girls, the Humble Bundle might return next year with a new set of indie greats.
Indie iPhone games marked down to 99 cents for Child's Play
The latest indie gaming charity drive allows you to simultaneously be stingy and charitable: six popular iPhone games have been discounted to 99 cents each through December 31, with one third of that lowered price (after Apple's cut) going to Child's Play. The games in the Indie iPhone Holiday Sale include Canabalt, Solipskier, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, Osmos, Drop7, and Eliss, all of which we can safely say are required for your iPhone to work properly. And unlike other charity game bundles, which allow you to pay what you want, these are locked at 99 cents, so you can't feel guilty for not paying more. Well, you can, but you won't be able to do anything about it.
Humble Indie Bundle 2 grosses over $500K in day-one purchases, led by Minecraft's Persson
"Humble Bundle" no longer seems like an appropriate name. In less than 24 hours upon release, the pay-what-you-want indie game collection Humble Bundle #2 earned over $500,000 in revenue and appears to be well on its way to beating the first bundle's seven-figure returns. The Humble Bundle website offers an interesting look into purchasing trends by providing real-time stats. As of writing, over 70,000 people have purchased the pack, including Minecraft creator Markus Persson, who paid an extraordinary $2,000, and Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling, who went with a generous $500 payment. The average selling price for the bundle is currently $7 and change. The Humble Bundle #2 includes five celebrated indie titles: Braid, Cortex Command, Machinarium, Osmos and Revenge of the Titans. Purchasers can divide their payments between the developers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Child's Play Charity as they see fit.
Humble Indie Bundle 2 offers more Mac gaming deals
The Humble Indie Bundle is back for round two, which means that you've got another deal with some terrific indie games to run on your Mac, completely DRM-free. This time, you get Jonathan Blow's excellent time-shifting platformer Braid, quality puzzle game Machinarium, iOS favorite Osmos, and Cortex Command and Revenge of the Titans, two titles still under development. Just like last time, you can pay any price you want. While the games by themselves would cost you $85, people have paid up to $1000 just to promote and support independent game development -- and just like last time, all of the games are playable on Mac, Windows and Linux as you choose. You can also give any or all of the money donated to charity, so really this is about as awesome as a game deal gets. Pay whatever you want to someone worthy of the money, and you get five games to do with as you please. Last time around, the bundle raised upwards of a million dollars, and Linux users, we're told, were twice as generous as Windows users. That seems to be the case this time as well (with Mac users only a little better than Windows), so let's head on over and represent, since it's definitely true that Mac users are willing to pay a quality price for quality software. I can tell you outright that Braid and Osmos are worth a $20 donation on their own, so head on over, give some money, and support some more than generous independent game developers.
Humble Indie Bundle 2 revealed, name your price for Braid, Machinarium and more
Looks like the organizers of the second annual Humble Indie Bundle are busting out the big guns for this year's charity drive -- the name-your-own-price, DRM-free package includes Jonathan Blow's time-twisting platformer Braid, the infinitely charming adventure game Machinarium, the side-scrolling shooter Cortex Command, the super soothing (and equally pretty) Osmos and the tower defense-meets-RTS gem Revenge of the Titans. That's a whole lot of bang for your buck, or nickel, or thousand bucks. This year, purchasers can choose how much of their donation goes to four possible recipients: The games' developers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Child's Play Charity or the Humble Indie Bundle organizers. Yes, you can not only customize how much altruism you're going to exhibit with your purchase, you can also customize where that altruism goes! Unless, of course, you pirate it, sending out no altruism to nowhere. You monster.
Osmos only $2.50 as Game for Windows Live's Deal of the Week
$2.50 doesn't buy a lot these days -- we remember when two bucks and fifty cents could get you a few movie rentals, a nice big bag of candy, or even a sweet comic book. But nowadays, it barely buys you a cup of coffee. One thing you can do with your $2.50 this weekend, though, is take advantage of Games for Windows Live's Deal of the Week -- Microsoft is offering up the terrific indie game Osmos for just two dollars and two quarters. The game's great -- it was an Indiecade finalist last year, and has you playing as a celestial body trading off mass for movement and always trying to eat orbs bigger than you are. $2.50 doesn't go as far as it used to, but this deal, on through Wednesday of next week, is money well spent. Update [11/15/10]: This deal is also available through the newly relaunched Games for Windows Marketplace.
Developers drop prices on super popular App Store apps
If you thought yesterday's App Store sales were nice, you haven't seen anything yet. For some reason, a whole bunch of terrific apps are dropping their prices this weekend, and Touch Arcade has put together a nice roundup. TUAW Daily App choices Osmos, Archetype, Civilization Revolution, Secret of Monkey Island (and its sequel) and Hybrid 2 are all on sale for as cheap as 99 cents, as is Telltale's Puzzle Agent, Popcap's Bookworm and Peggle, and a host of other high-profile titles. Pretty crazy -- some of the App Store's most popular titles, including EA's Need for Speed series and Activision's Call of Duty Zombies games, are seeing the biggest drops in their lifetimes. My best guess for the big drops is that the financial year 2010 ends today, and these companies are trying to pad out their mobile app sale numbers before (or while) the quarter turns over. But whatever the reason, we consumers benefit -- if you've been waiting to pick some of these games up, now's your chance. And I think we'll be seeing a lot more of this. Companies, especially companies that have been premiering their apps as high as $9.99, are learning that dropping the price like this moves copies quickly, so as we move into the frenzied holiday season for gaming, we'll probably see more than a few big sales come down the pike. Stay tuned.
TUAW's Daily App: Osmos for iPad
I first saw Osmos last year at the IndieCade festival in Culver City, California, and a few months back, (creators) Hemisphere Games shared the news that they were bringing the excellent art title to Apple's platforms. Now, Osmos for iPad has been released on the App Store, and it's just as beautiful and entrancing as the original indie game. The idea is that you control a kind of planet/blob thing by floating around a space-field; your goal is to "eat" the orbs that are smaller than you are by touching them. The challenge, however, is that the more you move, the smaller you get, so the goal becomes to navigate without becoming smaller than the orbs you need to eat. That may sound confusing, but the extremely ambient game is anything but. Excellently detailed graphics, a great electronic soundtrack, and intelligently considered controls make for a really intoxicating experience. I can tell you firsthand, especially since I heard from Hemisphere a few times during the development of this one, that a lot of thought has been put into this title and how to best implement it on the App Store. The game is US $4.99, but for the excellent experience you'll get from it on the iPad, it's more than worth the price. If you're looking for a great, original gaming experience on Apple's magical tablet, Osmos is it.
Indie games bundled on the cheap for V-Day
So what if Sophie/Samuel didn't return your request for a weekend getaway to that little bed and breakfast in New Hampshire? Wouldn't you rather spend your weekend falling in love with a handful of indie games -- And Yet it Moves, Auditorium, Aztaka, Eufloria, Machinarium, and Osmos -- from an all-star list of developers? We knew you'd see our point! Besides, it's only $20 -- that's way less than the price of two nights for two people at The Buttonwood Inn, not to mention a steal considering each game individually purchased would add up to 85 buckaroos. And hey, now you can spoil yourself with an extra large box of tissues and a matching ice cream tub.
Games for Windows Live adding Games on Demand beginning Dec. 15
Games on Demand, a.k.a. full game downloads, is one of the more recent additions to Xbox Live -- and today Microsoft has announced that it's bringing the service to its Games For Windows Live platform beginning December 15. GFWL creative director Chuck Osieja calls the initiative "Microsoft's return to delivering Windows games built on unique LIVE experiences." The service has a rocky history of sporadic supported releases and last summer ditched its subscription fees in the face of competition from the likes of Steam. The move puts Microsoft up against Valve's digi-distribution service, which similarly offers community features and its own Achievements system, but boasts a much larger catalog at present. The GFWL Games on Demand initial lineup will include Resident Evil 5, Red Faction: Guerrilla and Battlestations Pacific along with new GFWL-enabled versions of 2D Boy's excellent World of Goo and Hemisphere Games' Osmos -- all titles currently offered by Steam, with some available via Stardock's Impulse service. Microsoft hasn't divulged pricing for titles offered via GFWL Games on Demand. A reworked version of the former Windows Vista Ultimate Extra Tinker will be made available free to GFWL users when the Games on Demand service launches a week from next Tuesday.
IndieCade 2009: The finalists
IndieCade 2009 was held in Culver City, CA this past weekend, and the local art galleries and restaurants were filled with independent games and their developers from all over the world. The festival billed itself as the "video game Sundance" and lived up to this self-made reputation, putting 29 different indie games on display, both throughout the weekend and during a Thursday night opening ceremony MC'd by Uncharted 2's Richard Lemarchand (shown above with festival founder Stephanie Barish).We've rounded up the festival's finalists in the gallery below. You may be familiar with a few of them, including Twisted Pixel's The Maw and a selection of well-known iPhone titles, but all of these titles deserve your attention -- and a playthrough!%Gallery-74606%
