pay-what-you-want
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Sonic Adventure, Nights headline Humble Sega Bundle
Sega peeks into its storied past this week with the Humble Sega Bundle, a pay-what-you-want collection featuring a handful of classics adapted from the Saturn and Dreamcast eras. Pay any amount for the bundle and you'll get the surreal score-attack action game Nights Into Dreams, kart racer Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and the Dreamcast Collection, which includes PC versions of Sonic Adventure, Sega Bass Fishing, Crazy Taxi, and Space Channel 5 Part 2. The package also offers Total War: Rome II's "Caesar in Gaul" expansion and the Miles' Tactic DLC for Football Manager 2015. Beat the bundle's average purchase price (currently $3.68) and you'll unlock Empire: Total War, Company of Heroes 2 - The Western Front Armies: Oberkommando West, and additional games that will be revealed as the bundle enters its final week. Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai is up for grabs as a $12 incentive, and you can also get an exclusive Dreamcast-themed t-shirt with a purchase of $50 or more. The Humble Sega Bundle will be available through December 9. [Video: Humble Bundle / Sega]
Humble Weekly Bundle revs up with Joe Danger 2, Dirt 3
Start your engines, race fans - the latest Humble Weekly Bundle collects a handful of PC racing games, with Codemasters' Dirt 3 available as an incentive for supporters who pay $9 or more for the package. All bundle buyers receive copies of motorbike stunt sim Urban Trial Freestyle, offroad racer WRC Powerslide, and top-down driving game Real World Racing. Pitch in $6 or more and you'll also get Dirt Showdown and Hello Games' Joe Danger 2: The Movie. A customer-chosen portion of proceeds benefit the SpecialEffect and Save the Children charities. Humble Weekly's Racing bundle will be available through November 13. [Image: Hello Games]
Humble Indie Bundle 13 features Jazzpunk, OlliOlli
Comedy adventure game Jazzpunk and side-scrolling skateboarding sim OlliOlli headline the latest Humble Indie Bundle, with Shadowrun Returns available as an incentive for buyers who pay $12 or more for the package. All bundle buyers receive copies of OlliOlli, 2D exploration game Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, and twitch FPS Tower of Guns. Beat the average purchase price (currently $6.93) and you'll unlock Jazzpunk, survival horror sequel Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and four giftable copies of the 2D action-roguelike Risk of Rain. Humble Bundle's organizers are also offering up Teleglitch: Die More Edition free of charge for Halloween. The Humble Indie Bundle 13 is up for grabs through November 11. [Video: Humble Bundle]
Humble Weekly Bundle features crazed plants, chemical bonds
The latest Humble Weekly Bundle is designed to test your squishy brain matter, offering up to seven PC puzzlers for a price that you choose. Pay $1 or more for the bundle and you'll get Steam keys for BulkyPix's typographic adventure game Type:Rider, Ovos' spacefaring puzzler Ludwig, and botany-themed breed-'em-up Crazy Plant Shop. Toss in a few dollars more to beat the average (currently $5.79) and you'll also receive Draknek's chemistry puzzler Sokobond and Three Flip Studios' language-learning game Influent. Purchases of $9 or more will additionally unlock Spotkin's Contraption Maker and Little Worlds' Counting Kingdom. The bundle will be up for grabs through October 30. [Image: FIlament Games]
Humble Flash Bundle serves up shooters, Store launches summer sale
Humble Bundle's network offers all sorts of deals this week, with a new shooter-focused Humble Flash Bundle accompanying a series of discounts at the Humble Store. Today's 24-hour Humble Flash Bundle features pay-what-you-want copies of Boss Baddie's procedurally generated side-scroller Really Big Sky and Studio Evil's Amiga-inspired Syder Arcade, along with Danmaku Unlimited 2 and Aqua Kitty for buyers who beat the bundle's average purchase price. Pay $7 or more for the package and you'll also get Yotsubane's recently released vertical shooter Crimzon Clover: World Ignition. The Humble Store delivers its own collection of bargains this week, including Hitman: Absolution for $4.99, Goat Simulator for $5.99, Octodad: Dadliest Catch for $4.99, and Proteus for $1.99. New flash sales are introduced daily, and all listed prices are effective through September 22. [Image: Yotsubane]
Humble Indie Bundle returns with Gunpoint, Gone Home
Humble Bundle breaks away from its recent mobile focus with a new Humble Indie Bundle, offering up downloadable PC versions of SteamWorld Dig, Gunpoint, and Gone Home for a buyer-chosen price. Pay any amount for Humble Indie Bundle 12 and you'll get stealth-puzzler Gunpoint, hack-and-slash dungeon crawler Hammerwatch, and mining-themed sidescroller SteamWorld Dig. Beat the average purchase price (currently $7.38) and you'll also get Fullbright's atmospheric exploration game Gone Home, monochrome shoot-'em-up Luftrausers, and immigration inspector sim Papers, Please. Humble Indie Bundle 12 also offers an Early Access key for Prison Architect with purchases totaling $10 or more. Bundle proceeds benefit the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child's Play Charity. [Video: Humble Bundle]
Humble's Modern Retro Bundle features AVGN Adventures, Tiny Barbarian DX
If you enjoy modern takes on classic gameplay formulas, the latest Humble Flash Bundle has a lot to offer with pay-what-you-want copies of Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures, Full Bore, and more. Pay $1 or more for Humble's Modern Retro bundle and you'll get Steam codes for the Oregon Trail-spoofing shoot-'em-up Super Amazing Wagon Adventure, side-scrolling wild hog sim Full Bore, and hack-and-slash action game Tiny Barbarian DX. Purchases totaling $6 or more will also grant access to the retro-styled multiplayer RPG NEStalgia and the foul-mouthed platformer Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures. The Modern Retro bundle will only be available through tomorrow, and proceeds benefit the American Red Cross and Child's Play Charity. [Image: FreakZone Games]
Humble Bundle adopts Mobile tab, launches Sega Android bundle
Humble Bundle organizers have added a dedicated Mobile tab to the Humble storefront, pledging to increase the frequency of Android-focused bundle releases from today forward. Humble Bundle kicks off its new initiative this week with the Humble Sega Mobile Bundle, which collects the Android versions of ChuChu Rocket, Virtua Tennis Challenge, and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 for a buyer-chosen price. Beat the bundle's average purchase price (currently $3.83), and you'll also get copies of Crazy Taxi, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, and Sonic 4: Episode 2. Bundle proceeds benefit the Child's Play Charity, WaterAid, and UNICEF. The Humble Sega Mobile Bundle is available through September 4. [Video: Humble Bundle]
Humble Weekly Bundle collects Ys Origin, Gigantic Army, Astebreed
The latest Humble Weekly Bundle sets its sights on Japanese developers, offering up a collection of games from Falcom, Edelweiss, and other standout creators. All bundle buyers receive copies of the off-kilter apartment management sim Unholy Heights, autoscrolling roguelike One Way Heroics, and the Cybernator-inspired side-scrolling mech shooter Gigantic Army. Pay $6 or more and you'll also get Falcom's action-RPG Ys Origin, Zenith Blue's hack-and-slash action game Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae, and Q-Games' search-and-rescue shoot-'em-up PixelJunk Shooter. Pitching in $10 or more will also unlock Astebreed, the latest Steam release from Ether Vapor Remaster creator Edelweiss. Humble Weekly Bundle: Japan Edition is available through August 14. [Video: Humble Bundle / Falcom]
Humble Mobile Bundle 4 adds Gunslugs, OLO, Color Sheep
If you threw some cash toward Humble Bundle's latest Android collection, you're entitled to three additional games unlocked today as part of Humble Mobile Bundle 4. Buyers who beat the bundle's average purchase price (currently just under $4) will receive downloadable copies of Sennep's strategy game OLO, Trinket Studios' arcade-style action game Color Sheep, and OrangePixel's run-and-gun shooter Gunslugs, in addition to previously featured games Catan, Vector, Riptide GP2, Zombie Gunship, Badland Premium, and Breach & Clear. Humble Mobile Bundle 4 will remain available through Tuesday, March 18. [Image: Humble Bundle]
Indie Gala Interstellar bundle includes Cubicity, PixelJunk Shooter
The bundle barons at Indie Gala have released a new pay-what-you-want collection of seven Steam-redeemable PC games, with a buyer-chosen portion of proceeds benefiting the Able Gamer charity. Indie Gala's Interstellar bundle includes the 2D physics puzzler Cubicity, tactical FPS Interstellar Marines, and music-driven platformer Rush Bros for a minimum donation of $1. Pay more than $6 and you'll also receive the first-person pugilism sim Beast Boxing Turbo, action-strategy game Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves, point-and-click adventure Finding Teddy, and Q Games' PSN-ported PixelJunk Shooter, along with the bonus-bundled Spearhead Edition of Interstellar Marines. The Interstellar bundle will remain available through February 19. [Image: Q Games]
Spelunky, Ridiculous Fishing, more soundtracks now 'pay what you want'
Composer Eirik Suhrke isn't just the man behind some of the finest indie gaming soundtracks in recent memory, he's also generous enough to offer up those soundtracks at whatever price you'd like, just in time for the holidays. A visit to Suhrke's Bandcamp page reveals that his discography includes the tunes from Spelunky, Ridiculous Fishing, Super Crate Box and more. Even better, you can own or gift any of these albums on a "pay what you want" basis. Running low on funds? Maybe kick a dollar toward Suhrke. Feeling more generous? Spend $20. Whatever the amount, it's entirely up to you, and as the 62-track Spelunky soundtrack demonstrates, you're getting a lot of quality video game music for your money. Helpfully, Suhrke's albums are available in most major audio formats, including MP3, AAC and FLAC. According to his recent Twitter announcement of the sale, Suhrke's albums will remain at this floating price point through the end of the week.
Pay-what-you-want Interplay bundles on GOG for a limited time
In addition to all that Mac OSX hoo-haa that happened earlier today, GOG announced a trio of pay-what-you-want Interplay bundles, featuring games such as Shattered Steel, Messiah, Earthworm Jim and Fallout.Available for the next 14 days, the bundles' incentivized pricing structure should be familiar to anyone who's bought a Humble Bundle. Any price entered will purchase the basic bundle of eight Interplay games, which includes Conquest of the New World and Evolva, among other things. Paying more than the average price ($11.50 as of press time) unlocks 12 more games, and dropping down $35.00 or more brings the bundle's total up to 32 games.The $35 bundle also includes 21 different soundtracks, 37 wallpapers, 410 pieces of artwork, a 205-page "Fallout Bible" and "much more." Click here for the full list of games in each bundle.
IndieGameStand open for business, pay what you want for Escape Goat
IndieGameStand takes the standard indie bundle formula and shoots it out of a cannon, hosting a new indie game for "pay what you want" every 96 hours. The first game to hit IndieGameStand launches today: Escape Goat from MagicalTimeBean.Escape Goat previously launched on XBLIG and PC, and tells the tale of slumbering sheep, a headstrong goat and his mouse companion as they solve puzzles to escape the Prison of Agnus. If that story does nothing for you, it's a retro-inspired puzzle platformer and it has a level editor, and it is redeemable for PC via Desura.MagicalTimeBean is giving 10 percent of its sales to the American Red Cross, and will hopefully spend the rest on extra spaces for its own name and IndieGameStand's. Escape Goat will be available for four days, with a new IndieGameStand game announced on September 30 at 12:01 a.m. ET.
IndieGameStand channels Humble Bundle, Woot starting September 26
IndieGameStand is the permanent, quickfire extrapolation of the seasonal indie bundles, hosting a new indie game every four days for a nominal fee of "pay what you want," launching September 26.IndieGameStand will feature DRM-free games, many of which include Steam and Desura keys, and 10 percent of whatever you do decide to pay benefits a charity of the developer's choosing. More than 50 indie developers are signed on to throw a game on IndieGameStand, including Spiderweb Software, Cipher Prime, Digital Eel, Magical Time Bean, Headup Games and Zachtronics Industries.Those who create an account before September 26 will get Brilliant Blue-G's platformer Chester for free.Anyone interested in getting in on the ground floor of the latest indie distribution service, or indie developers looking to generate some publicity and sales, check out IndieGameStand here.
Humble Bundle returns with five pay-what-you-want games for Android, Mac, Windows and Linux
So let us get this right. You can pay what you want, and get another stack of games for your Android -- or, indeed Mac, Windows or Linux machine? And help charity? And this is actually proving very popular? Yes, Fieldrunners, Bit.Trip Beat, Uplink and SpaceChem, are the latest games to get the Humble Bundle treatment on the aforementioned platforms (the latter two are tablet-only when buying for Android). Oh, and if you're generous enough to pay above the average, you'll unlock the Spirits platform-puzzler, too. We're finding it pretty hard to argue with, especially as you get to decide the distribution of cash (between charity, the hardworking devs, or the platform-providing Humble). Judging by the real-time stats on the site, people aren't holding back on the cash, either. Still not convinced? Hop on the free-for-life video after the break to see the games in action.
Pay what you want for a Monaco shirt
Get a jump on Monaco fandom by buying merch in advance of the game's release -- even in advance of any announcement of a release! Pocketwatch Games is taking orders on Monaco t-shirts, in order to help support the ongoing development of the heist game. It's a gesture of courtesy, considering the team has all the inspiration it needs for moneymaking initiatives right in the game. Pocketwatch is selling the t-shirts under a "pay what you want" model, sort of like the Humble Indie Bundle, but for a more tangible, wearable bundle. You have to pay at least $8 for the shirt and $6 shipping to cover costs, but you're free to throw in as much extra as you like. If you pay $19 or more, you'll get a button; $94 or more gets you a set of four. And the developers get to continue eating food while making Monaco.
New Humble Bundle features Frozenbyte games and prototype
Humble Bundle's third, pay-want-you-want indie games collection, "The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle," is now available from the official site for the next fifteen days. As the name implies, the new set features the works of Finnish developer Frozenbyte, including the platformer Trine and the top-down shooter series Shadowgrounds. The bundle also includes a pre-order license -- no, not for Trine 2, but for Splot, a mysterious (yet adorable-looking) title that's still under development. Most intriguing, Frozenbyte has tossed in the source code for a canceled project called Jack Claw. According to Edge, the developer hopes to crowd-source the game to completion and offer it for free to everyone that helps. Like past Humble Bundles, this one is DRM-free and -- with the exception of the Windows-only Jack Claw code -- all the games are available to download for PC, Mac and Linux. Additionally, purchasers are entitled to Steam, Desura and OnLive product keys for compatible titles, as well as the soundtracks for Trine and the Shadowgrounds games. Oh! And how could we forget? Any two portions of your purchase can be donated to the Child's Play Charity and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public interest nonprofit that protects consumers' digital rights. Check out the Frozenbyte Bundle promotional video after the break to find out more about this most awesome offering -- or just go buy it already! [Thanks, Luis!]
Game + Music Bundle offers three 'pay what you want' indie deals for charity
'Tis the season, as they say, for paying whatever you want to both support charities and get some great indie downloads. You've probably already seen the Humble Indie Bundle 2, and now a group named YAWMA is offering a deal on both indie games and music with the Giving Game + Music Bundle. Paying whatever you want will grant you access to seven days of various bundles, featuring one indie CD and one indie game at a time. Indie musicians like Girl Talk, Black Moth Super Rainbow and Twin Sister are teamed up with indie games like Beat Hazard, Multiwinia and Max and the Magic Marker for a pair of downloads each over the seven days, and there's one special secret bundle coming up on day 7. Yes, you need to buy each bundle separately, but it's pay what you want, and 25% of the profits for each day's sales will even go to charities like Child's Play and Save the Music. To take advantage of the deal, head on over and hit the "PWYW" button right now. Who knows, not only do you get some sweet tunes, but it might earn you some much-needed karma before Santa comes down the chimney. Check out a video after the break to learn more.
Today only: Pay what you want for And Yet It Moves
This year has seen the concept of "pay what you want" sales explode onto the indie scene, with the likes of the Humble Indie Bundle and, more recently, Tale of Tales' catalog briefly going PWYW (or "pwhu-yew"). Now today -- and only today -- Broken Rules is breaking the rules of traditional pricing structures and letting you name the price for its world-rotating platformer, And Yet It Moves, for PC and Mac. YAWMA, the online indie game and music site that's hosting the sale, is even willing to let you have the game for zero dollars, but you wouldn't be able to live with that on your conscience. Really -- we're telling you that you couldn't. What you can live with is knowing you bought a cool game and helped an independent dev afford to make another cool game. If you're not a PC or Mac gamer, you can try a demo of AYIM on WiiWare next week -- but, if you like it, you'll need to PWNW ("pay what Nintendo wants").
