May 2010 – Page 3 – The Slowdown

You already know the deal. The sale is coming to its end and you now have exactly one day left to purchase (…more copies of…) the “Humble Indie Bundle”:

Somehow missed the bundle altogether?

Contains five full games: Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru, Penumbra: Overture and World of Goo (plus Samorost 2 as a late bonus from Amanita Design)
The profits all go to the developers as well as two charities: EFF and Child’s Play.
You pay what you want to whom you want.
The games are cross-platform and DRM-free each. Arstechnica recently chatted up Jeffrey Rosen on the topic.

Notably, for the duration of the campaign, Frictional Games are also offering the remaining two Penumbra games, Black Plague and Requiem, at a 75% discount. Furthermore, you can also preorder their forthcoming project, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, at 50% off (a great idea – the team will produce additional content if 2000 preorders are made before the 31st; the meter currently sits at an even 1900):

While you’re at it – and even if you’re not buying the bundle – please also remember to subscribe to Wolfire and Frictional Games’ development blogs; they contain what can only be described as a cornucopia of information, both intriguing and useful, for indie game fans and developers alike.

Almost exactly two years ago in 2008, on April the 22nd, the recovering Interplay had just sent out a press release announcing a new Earthworm Jim game to be developed in conjunction with an animated series and a feature film, with original author Douglas TenNapel working as a creative consultant on the game. ¹⁾http://interplay.com/about/article.php?id=23

Conversely, earlier in the same month, Interplay had just “reinitiated its in-house game development studio, and [was] hiring game developers,” and vouched to “leverage its portfolio of gaming properties by creating sequels to some of its most successful games, including Earthworm Jim, Dark Alliance, Descent, and MDK.” ²⁾http://www.interplay.com/about/article.php?id=20

While we were all painfully aware of the financial and legal turmoil the company had just faced over the past few years, these exorbitant plans sounded good enough – at the very least up until the paragraph in the press release that also cited, in the same breath, the “Safe harbor statement under the private securities litigation reform act of 1995,” which so happens to state that “[t]he risks and uncertainties inherent in such statements may cause actual future events or results to differ materially and adversely from those described in the forward-looking statements.” ³⁾http://www.interplay.com/about/article.php?id=20

Hence: Two years, no game, no series, no film.

(more…)

References [ + ]

1.	↑	http://interplay.com/about/article.php?id=23
2, 3.	↑	http://www.interplay.com/about/article.php?id=20

Month: May 2010

Flight of the Humblebee

Jim, Yes Means No

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