Humble Bundle

The Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle

Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

I was almost going to let this pass by without making a note. Another Humble Bundle has gone up, but it’s one of those in–between ones without a number; moreoever, it was initially offering only one main game, which felt somewhat off and going against the community vibe that the previous bundles have had. But when that one game happens to be my favourite indie game of the year, and on top of that they go and add my second favourite indie game of the year 1)http://blog.wolfire.com/2011/10/SpaceChem-Added-To-The-Humble-Frozen-Synapse-Bundle, I just can’t deny it acknowledgement. There is over a day left and the total purchases just reached the million milestone. So what the heck, go ahead and buy yourself some substantial hours of smart indie gaming.

So what do you get for your voluntarily-sized payment this time? No less than Frozen Synapse and SpaceChem, two indie heavyweights, as well as Trauma and the previous Frozenbyte bundle if you pay above the average. As well as, of course, the opportunity to donate towards two charities, EFF and Child’s Play. As usual there is additional bonus content included with your key that inflates the total value to ridiculous proportions, such as the soundtracks and editors for some of the games, not to mention registration keys for Steam, Desura, OnLive and Direct 2 Drive should you feel the urge to add DRM to your DRM-free games.
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Rumble In The Bundle

Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

The Humble Indie Bundle is back with a new sale in the name of indie games and charity. You know the drill, pay whatever you want for a set of DRM-free games, and divide your payment into portions going towards the developers, charity, and the bundle initiative itself. I’m a little late in posting but fret not, there is still plenty of time before this offer expires. As is the norm for this project, the reception has overwhelming and the sales numbers have already crossed the $1 million mark.

This time around the games are VVVVVV, And Yet It Moves, Hammerfight, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Steel Storm and Cogs. Purchasing the bundle gives you a unique link to download the games completely free of any DRM as well as bonus activation codes for Steam and Desura; additionally, they have thrown in a free trial of Minecraft. If that wasn’t attractive enough, the whole of Humble Bundle #2 will be available too if you pay more than the current average.
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2010: The Year in Review

Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

I’ve not been as active on the Slowdown as I’ve liked lately, something I hope to rectify this year. As it happens, I was actually playing games! Which left me with less time to write about them. 2010 was a very busy gaming year for me; the sheer number of quality titles was staggering, and I’ll try and give a brief mention to some of my personal favourites.

While I did enjoy a handful of the huge AAA releases in 2010, I would have to say that I’ve gotten stuck in deep into the indie scene, playing countless magnificent small scale titles be they fleetingly minimal or elaborately ambitious. RPS brought charming indie effort Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale to my attention, for which I’m ever so grateful. A cute little JRPG that turns the institution on its head and offers a twist on the tired formula of grinding and item management, Recettear had me spellbound for the duration of its campaign – after which there is still much more to discover. I will most definitely return to it to tackle its postgame modes. I spent a lot of time platforming too, mostly with VVVVVV and Super Meat Boy, two triumphant celebrations of the genre. Both incredibly challenging, but hopelessly addicting.

Despite being hopelessly terrible at strategy games, I continue to be fascinated by the many indie strategy offerings out there. Flotilla, from Blendo Games – the same nutters behind oddball Gravity Bone – is a quirky turn-based strategy adventure, reminiscent of previous procedural exploration series Infinite Space. I dig the flat-shaded glowing graphics, the simplicity of its mechanics and the bite-sized gameplay, all of which make for a great quick-fix. I am very much looking forward to the asynchronous turn-based Frozen Synapse, due out very soon. I fired up the beta client often the past few months, and enjoyed the Introversion-like aesthetics and intricately detailed command controls. The second Humble Indie Bundle contained a gem of a tower defense game, Revenge of the Titans, which overcame my dislike for the subgenre and wooed me with its distinct look and tight design.

Having joined the smartphone bandwagon this year, I have been trying to find good games for it, but the selection is disappointingly small save for a few fun time-wasters. Angry Birds has been quite the success story, and I can’t deny that I’ve spent many an idle moment trying to topple some towers. Game Dev Studio, the popular iPhone game about making games, finally came to Android so I was able to get a taste of its completely addictive grind.

I had a good time with all of these titles, but what blew me away in 2010 were the three games I was anticipating the most.

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The Humblebee Flies Again

Martyn Zachary Leave a comment

The de facto pay-what-you-want package deal is back! Colour us surprised, as last May’s Humble Indie Bundle seemed so much like a one-off. But here it is, a fresh assortment of indie titles: Braid, Cortex Command, Machinarium, Osmos, and Revenge of the Titans, each of them cross-platform and sans DRM.

Exactly like last year, buyers can choose how to best split their payment between the five games and two charities, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play; in addition, there now exists a new option for tipping off “Humble Bundle, Inc.” itself, as reward for the actual running of the promotion. So far, bundle #2 has already proved to be a massive success like its predecessor, netting over 500 000 dollars in just over a day, 1)http://twitter.com/#!/humble/status/15083747409924097 and at the time of writing, more than 100 000 bundles have been sold. An all-new development is the transformation of the “top contributors” list into an advertisement board, with clever individuals – like Minecraft developer @notch – using their contributions to advertise businesses and Twitter accounts.

image via http://diglett.blogspot.com/

So, what does [insert price tag here] net you this time around, exactly? There’s Braid (‘Nuff Said), the ambient reverse propulsion clickathon Osmos, the delightfully pixelated Worms-influenced multiplayer blastfest Cortex Command, the cutiepie point and click Flash adventure Machinarium, and finally the highly fashionable and stylized RTS/TD romp in Revenge of the Titans  – overall, quite the diverse cast, as you can see in the image above!

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