Activision announces winners of its first Independent Games Competition

Two indie games are worth a quarter of a million bucks to Activision, and they’re the winners of the first round of the inaugural Activision Independent Games Competition. Peter Angstadt’s Dstroyd got the huge $175,000 prize, while the second place $75,000 prize went to Rigonauts: Broadside by Engient. Details about the second phase of the contest are coming soon. “The first round of the competition was very impressive, and we have thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to show our commitment to supporting the creative spirit and innovation of independent developers,” said Dave Stohl, Executive Vice President of Studios at Activision.”We look forward to continuing to reward independent developers for their remarkable efforts, and inspiring them to turn their dreams into reality.” Here are videos of the winning titles.

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A third ‘Humble Indie Bundle’ hits the virtual shelves

Everyone’s favorite pack of pay-what-you-want games for charity, the Humble Indie Bundle, is back. This time, five DRM-free titles are on deck — Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cogs, VVVVVV, Hammerfight and And Yet It Moves. Packaged separately, these would go for over $50, but here, the average donation is currently down to $4.23 (seriously, people?), with Linux users paying the most on average. (All of these games are available to play on Windows, OS X and Linux, by the way.) As usual, you can split up your donation amongst the developers themselves, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Child’s Play and Wolfire (since they do have to pay to host everything). Here’s a trailer for the latest iteration. Try not to think of this.

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PAX 10 crowns the top 10 indie games

There were over 100 submissions, but this year’s PAX 10 have been announced. These games are, according to a group of industry professionals, the top ten of the bunch. They range from things you’ve probably heard of (Atom Zombie Smasher, Word Fighter, Fez) to others…well, you’ll know them in good time. My personal favorite of the bunch? Alexander Bruce’s Antichamber, which was once known as Hazard: The Journey of Life. All winners will be featured at PAX Prime in late August. The winning entries are: A Flipping Good Time (PC) – Digipen Institute of Technology – Players will have a flipping good time in this fast-paced free-flowing 2D platformer as they flip and fly through an expansive underground world using the fluid nature of gravity to avoid hazardous terrain.   Antichamber (PC) – Alexander Bruce -  Journey through the depths within a non-Euclidean labyrinth where geometry and space follow unfamiliar

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The Indie Game Uprising is upon us once more

For the love of indie games, Xbox LIVE’s independent developers are banding together to promote outstanding independent games during the Indie Game Summer Uprising, right after Xbox LIVE’s Summer of Arcade. From August 22-31, this merry band will release one game a day as voted on by developers. However, the community at large does get a chance to provide some input. From August 1-15, anyone on Facebook can vote on two favorites from the list of more than 70. The community’s two picks will release on September 1 and 2. How do you know which 10 titles make the cut? Pay attention to Twitter! The day after the polls close on August 16, the winner’s will be announced on IGSU’s Developer Twitter chat at 8 PM, which you can follow by searching the hashtag #IGSU. Don’t be afraid to talk, either! Here’s a full schedule: July 4 – July 18:

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Indie Games Festival accepting submissions through October

The UBM TechWeb Game Network has officially announced that submissions are now open for the 2012 Independent Games Festival, held during the 2012 Game Developers Conference next March. This is the fourteenth annual showcase for independent video games, and all finalists’ games will be playable at the IGF Pavilion on the GDC show floor. The Main Showcase entrants have a due date of October 17, while Student Showcase games have until October 31. All finalists will be announced next January. The showcased games will be competing for $60,000 in prizes. The big whammy is the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, and its value has been increased to $30,000. On the smaller side, awards for Visual Art, Audio, Design, Technical Excellence, Mobile Game, Student Game and the Audience Award now come with a $3,000 price. No chump change, for sure. Winners will be announced at the Independent Games Festival Awards on March

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Indie game ‘Proun’ to use a ‘Pay What You Want’ philosophy

Indie racing game Proun is finally releasing on PC after six years of work by Joost van Dongen, co-founder of Ronimo Games. van Dongen has released a features trailer to show off his hard work. It looks pretty interesting — almost like you’re racing through modern art. Trust me, it’s probably not like anything else you’ve seen. The best part is that the game is really easy to try, since van Dongen is implementing a “Pay What You Want” model. Decide how much you want to pay beforehand, or just download it and make the decision afterward. Or, if you want, don’t pay anything at all. Those who do pay something get an extra level, so there’s a bit of incentive. Joost goes into his reasoning for the decision on his blog, but it’s half-wanting as many people to play as possible, half-knowing that a commercial product has to meet

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National Endowment for the Arts officially recognizes games for 2012 grants

No matter what any critics think, games are now officially art. Well, they are if the National Endowment for the Arts has any say in the matter. The Fiscal Year 2012 grant guidelines now state that in the now-expanded “Arts in Media” category, “all available media platforms such as the Internet, interactive and mobile technologies, digital games, arts content delivered via satellite, as well as on radio and television” are now eligible. Grants are available to media projects that “can be considered works of art,” which now includes interactive games. If you’ve been looking to make an artsy game, this might be the financial boost you need — grants typically range from $10,000 to $200,000, so that might be enough to keep an indie studio going for a while. Applications are due September 1, 2011 — I hope to see that a game or two makes the cut.

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Finalists announced for Independent Propeller Awards at SXSW ScreenBurn

Online community indiePub (which is backed by Zoo Entertainment and South by Southwest) announced their finalists for the Independent Propeller Awards, which is held during SXSW ScreenBurn – the gaming portion of the festival. There were seven total finalists chosen from the initial 150 submissions. Prizes to be awarded amount to over $150,000 and a chance for publication. Here they are in convenient list form: The Uncanny Fish Hunt (Uncanny Games) – An adventure game where players take on the role of Siméon, to fight an unleashed ocean. Skinny (Thomas Brush) – An exploration and adventure game where players help Skinny, a skinny freak, save the apocalyptic world from their minds. Chewy (Happy Candy Co.) – A 2D platformer in which players control Chewy, a sticky piece of gum. CREO (Peter Angstadt) – A physics puzzle game in which players must create and experiment to succeed by helping Creo and

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Humble Indie Bundle 2 raises $1.8 million

The Humble Indie Bundle 2 is now over. We previously reported that they had hit a mark and had added a bonus to their sale. Now that the sale is over, we have the results. The bundle included five games (Braid, Cortex Command, Revenge of the Titans, Osmos, and Michinarium), last year’s bundle (World of Goo, Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD, and Penumbra Overture) and a bonus game (Samorost 2). This year they managed to raise $1.8 million. The bundle was purchased 232,849 times. You can check out the graphical breakdown here. There you can also sign up for notification as to what the next bundle may be. A portion of the proceeds go to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play.

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Time for more indie games with a great price – Humble Indie Bundle 2 is now on sale

The Humble Indie Bundle features five games – Braid, Cortex Command, Machinarium, Osmos and Revenge of the Titans – that would normally cost $85 – If you bought them all separately, anyway. Today, however, that’s not the case. Today (and until the bundle ends) – you’re setting the price. Which could be nothing. You could pick $5, or $10. Some people out there have ponied up over $200. Why spend more than they’re worth? On the website, you get to make a choice that explains this behavior. So, do you want all of your money to go directly to the developers? You can also opt to send all of it to charity – this time, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play. Or, you can choose to make a “Humble Tip” and give money to the people running the bundle site. It’s your choice, and you can divvy up the

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