Humble Bundle V

The latest Humble Bundle has a total of 5 games (4 if you don't meet the minimum which is just under $8 at the time of writing this), all of which are redeemable through Steam. The games included are:

• Limbo
• Psychonauts
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent
• Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
• Bastion

All of these games are well known indie titles these days and definitely worth a buy if you haven't played them already (I can't say personally for Superbrothers as I haven't played that yet but I have heard good things about it). Bastion is the game you get if you beat the minimum and I would highly suggest doing so as it is an awesome little game.

Also this Humble Bundle is the highest grossing bundle they have done so far according to Indie Game Magazine beating it's previous record of $2,417,659 made during the Humble Bundle IV with 11 days still to go before this current bundle expires. Along with the games mentioned above you also get the soundtrack for each game included with your purchase of the bundle. Also check out Unfair Reviews 'Should I Buy?' video of the bundle for a little more info on each game.

The Spring Bundle

It's Indie Royale time and once again you can pay whatever you want for this little bundle of indieness so long as you meet the minimum which tends to stick around the £3 mark, give or take. This bundle includes the 6 following games:

• Unstoppable Gorg
• Depths of Peril
• Tobe's Vertical Adventure
• Inferno+
• Slydris
• Ballistic

All of these games are available on Desura to download, if you want Steam versions of the games you can get them for the first 3 in the list but the rest are currently not available on your favourite digital download service. But at a couple quid for 6 games you can't complain at all.

St Patricks Indie Bundle

So St Paddys Day is nearly upon us and not only do we get to celebrate the drunkenness of the Irish we also have another Indie Royale bundle on the go. This one is available now and we have just under 5 days left to get this bundle of goodness. The games included in this one are:

• Hard Reset
• Jolly Rover
• Vertex Dispenser
• DLC Quest
• Lair of the Evildoer
  
  The first three games are available on Steam, the last two however are not, they are available on Desura though. The minimum at the moment is round about £3, but as always it is subject to change. I would highly suggest getting this if anything purely for Hard Reset, it is a great little game I picked it up in a Steam sale a while back and love it. The other games would just be a bonus but as I said before Hard Reset is awesome and is a hell of a bargain if you pick it up for the minimum.

Defining 'Indie'

This topic arose due to this article about Notch and his thoughts about if Mojang are indie any more due to their increase in popularity and size. I was sat reading through the comments, a lot of them about what exactly is Indie. How is it defined? 

I have always thought of indie games to be developed by a person or group of people that are an independent company. A company that are in charge of the structure of their business and development of their own games. A company that doesn't rely on third party publishers such as EA, THQ and Activision. Others define indie developers as a company or group of individuals that make games purely due to a desire to make one over making money, not to say making your cost back isn't important, it just shouldn't be the primary goal, or that they have a low or none existent budget and are generally small in the amount of people working on a project.

While I agree with those points, the last one not so much. An indie developer usually do start off small. But this leads to the question, "When are an indie development team no longer classed as an indie developer?" This is why I believe indie is more about having control over your own company and product than the actual size and finances behind it. 

Take indie music for instance. At one point indie bands were the likes of garage bands and bands without labels going round getting themselves gigs and venues by them self rather than being signed and under a record company label of some sort, and of course there still are many bands like that, infact they are on the rise, just as indie games are. This is because publishers and third parties are needed less and less these days due to the amount of ways artists/developers etc can communicate with their audience. This is largely due to the openness of the internet these days. But getting back to my point there are many indie bands that have had major success over the years. They are still an indie band though the fact that they have become successful doesn't change that fact. The principle is the same no matter the medium. 

Is Mojang still an indie developer? Until they lose control of development of their games, budgets and deadlines by third party publishers I would say yes, they still are. Just because a development team is indie doesn't limit them to the likes of casual games such as Super Meat Boy, Limbo and Bastion. Most of them choose to go down the more casual game type due to smaller budgets. If they have the time and dedication, I see no reason we can't see much bigger Indie titles in the future. It will just take them longer get it finished and out to the public than you big name developers.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet on PC

ESRB have rated a PC version of that strange little Xbox Arcade game. It would appear us PC gamers are getting another Indie title to add to our arsenal of games. As for its release date, that has yet to be set or at least released to the public. From the gameplay I have seen, it does look like a cool game but due to me not having an Xbox I haven't had the chance to play it. Well all that will change soon. I hope more games follow suit.

New Humble Bundle

If you don't know what the Humble Bundle is, it was set up to raise money for charity by sell a random assortment of indie games for what ever price you found fit. The amount you pay can be literally anything and can be split between the developers of the game, the charity and the guys at humble bundle. 

As an incentive for you to pay more they give you an extra game or two if you pay over the average price paid, most of the times I've noticed it's been round about $5-10. Considering if you bought these games separately it would cost about £100, it's quite a ridiculous bargain.

This bundle includes: NightSky, Shank, Super Meat Boy, Bit.Trip Runner, Jamestown, Cave Story+ and Gratuitous Space Battles. The last two games you get if you pay over the average which stands at $4.58 at the time of me writing this. I will be getting this bundle on Tuesday when I get some money. I dunno how much I will pay yet but I will do more than the average. So if you want to pick up a few new games to keep you occupied in the up run to christmas send a few quid there way. There is only 14 days left on this offer so get in while you can.

The Binding of Isaac

This game has been out for a few months now on Steam. I have just come across it though. It is a quite random little indie shooter from a top down perspective where you fight through dungeons full of weird and random enemies. Each time you start the game, the levels are randomly generated so you get a different game each time you play. The game isn't all that long but I find it strangely addictive and I have put a good number of hours in to it already. It is 50% off on Steam at the minute bringing it to the low, low price of £1.99. For £2 you can not go wrong with this game. If I hadn't bought it already I'd be more than willing to pay more than full price for it.