After Tim Schafer had confirmed that Brutal Legend 2 had been canceled in favor of working on four new indie games, the gaming community could only imagine what Schafer’s creative mind would bring us next.   The first indie game Schafer is working on will be Costume Quest, a so-dubbed adventure RPG due for an Xbox Live/PlayStation Network release in autumn.

Hit the jump for more information behind Tim Schafer’s latest. Read more… »

Good news, everyone! The chiptune-inspired electronic music of the Bit.Trip games is easily one of the biggest draws to Gaijin Games’ outstanding Wii-Ware series. The soundtrack for Bit.Trip RUNNER is available now over at CDBaby.com and it is excellent. Whether you are already in love with the games or are just a fan of the chiptune scene, I can wholeheartedly recommend checking this out.

More good news after the jump.

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Today Runic Games announced that it is hard at work on the sequel to its action RPG title Torchlight. Simply titled Torchlight II, the sequel sees some major additions including co-op multiplayer.

Another major change that you’ll notice right away is that Torchlight II takes players out of the mines and allows them to explore the continent of Vilderan. Players can expect “weather, time of day cycles, and random events” on top of the “deep ominous caverns” we’ve all grown to love. Read more… »

Today retail giant GameStop announced that it will acquire the indie game community site Kongregate in a deal that is expected to be signed on August 1. Kongregate, which “hosts 10 million monthly players who spend approximately 23 million hours per month on the site,” will to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

According to the press release, “Acquiring Kongregate strengthens GameStop’s digital platform and its commitment to become the gaming aggregator of choice.” GameStop CEO J. Paul Raine added, “Kongregate advances GameStop’s digital strategy by providing a gaming platform for casual, mobile and browser games that can be promoted and played by our existing gamers.” Read more… »

Every time I hear the phrase “art game”, I throw up in my mouth a little bit. Don’t take that to mean that I believe games should avoid making a statement or attempting to make us feel and think – quite the contrary. It’s because whenever that phrase is invoked, all meaningful critique of the game in question stops and everyone gets wrapped up in some Roger Ebert meta-nonsense. Meanwhile, the game sits forlornly on the sidelines as the Internet discusses everything but the important and salient points.

Can’t a game be artistic without having to be an “art game”? Can’t we just enjoy stellar gameplay and appreciate a masterful presentation at the same time? The answers are yes and yes. Never have I been more convinced of this fact than after journeying through PLAYDEAD’s indie platforming opus, Limbo.

Read on for the official review; I’ll be here brushing my teeth.

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With the retro aesthetic, infectious music, and colourful visuals of their first series, Gaijin Games have endeared themselves to the hearts of many. What the Bit.Trip titles lack in excellent high-definition visuals and Hollywood budgets, they make up with a vibrant artistic style and actually substantive rhythm-based gameplay.

Beyond the addictive gameplay that can unintentionally leave one playing for hours on end, Gaijin Games subtly weaves an intriguing tale about man’s journey through life. Bit.Trip RUNNER shows Commander Video’s journey from adolescence into adulthood. Essentially, it is a story about the maturation of this man, his existential plateau, and his climactic moment.

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Not quite as disgusting as the headline suggests (almost, but not quite) this little indie title is looking rather interesting.  Coming from the makers of the rather agreeable “Ben there, Dan that!“, UK based  Zombie Cow, this title looks to all intents and purposes like a very tasty HD update of the Earthworm Jim formula, mixed with some Worms and add a hint of “indie” flavour.

The edutainment game is being produced in a joint venture between Zombie Cow and the UK TV channel, Channel 4 (snappy title huh!) and was the subject of MUCH controversy a few weeks back due to it’s content.  You see the game takes place inside of people…   I think it best I let Zombie Cow explain this one:

Privates is a platform twin-stick shooter in which you lead a teeny-tiny gang of condom-hatted marines as they delve into peoples’ vaginas and bottoms and blast away at all manner of oozy, shouty monsters. It’s rude, funny, bitingly satirical and technically pretty accurate if you don’t count the tiny people or the germs with teeth.

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Today independent developer Muzzy Lane announced that its World War II turn based grand strategy PC title Making History II has been released in both retail stores as well as digital distribution outlets (Impulse, Gamers Gate, and Making-history.com).

Allowing gamers to “experience grand strategy on an epic scale,” Making History II boasts that it’s “More than simply winning battles, MHII is about exercising diplomacy and waging war. Players might choose to invade a neighboring country, use espionage against allies and enemies, or destabilize a government by crippling their economy.” Read more… »

This past week has been quite an experience for gamers everywhere, with E3 bringing tons of games to make your jaw drop or scratch your head in a “WTF?!” moment. ModDB.com quietly unveiled their new sister site IndieDB.com this past week and announcements quickly got lost in all the E3 hubbub.

IndieDB.com works similar to ModDB.com but with a design that is dedicated to indie games. The great thing is that if you already have a ModDB.com account, then you already have an IndieDB.com account. The two sites do share their content, but IndieDB.com acts as a filter so those who are only interested in seeing the latest news and developments concerning indie games don’t have to worry about those pesky awesome Half Life 2 mods, like Dear Esther and Too Many Crates!

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It is often preached that one of the great pros to the App Store is the little games that would otherwise go unnoticed or would quickly die under the blizzard of AAA mainstream mega-games. Enter, Chase the Dot: an incredibly simplistic and fun title developed by art studio Universal Everything who specialize in handheld media.

If you haven’t heard by now, then let me catch you up to speed on the gameplay: there is a dot that appears, disappears, and reappears in several spots on the screen, and you get points by tapping it before it’s gone. In Double mode there are two dots which disappear and reappear simultaneously, and therefore must be tapped simultaneously. Read more… »

Anyone who is familiar with the indie developer ACE Team should know not to be too surprised when its newly announced game, Rock of Ages, is described as “a game of fast-paced strategy, high art… and gigantic boulders of doom.”

Rock of Ages is strategy game where players must construct defenses and raise armies to help protect their castle from a giant marauding boulder, whom their opponent controls. While this may sound absolutely crazy, you should check out the trailer above before passing judgment. Read more… »

Former Bioshock developers Tyr Edge and Fennec Black have teamed up to form LunaVu, an company devoted to producing indie games. Their first labor of love is called Zero Point and is being billed as a cross between the action and strategy games.

Story details are few and far between this early in development but it seems players will take control of a technician charged with defending research equipment from varying waves of aliens and monsters. Armed with a plasma cannon and an ambiguous device called a lunar shepard, you must destroy the monsters before they can destroy your equipment.

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