IGM - From Cupcake To Gateau: Portal 2's Indie Story

Portal 2 is not an indie game. Big surprise. What it is, however, is the most prominent example of how the indie gaming scene is the figurehead of innovation within the industry. As fellow supporters of indie games, it is our duty to be aware that both of the highly successful Portal games are the results of two, much smaller projects. With a fresh take on gameplay these two games were quickly swallowed up by Valve and transferred from an indie idea, into a AAA experience.

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IGM - Soul Brother Review (PC)

In Jasper Byrne’s delightful 2D platformer, death is the only option. Yes that’s right, Soul Brother is a game in which players control a spirit that travels from creature to creature in order to move around. Being the selfish entity that you are, a small sacrifice is needed to exit a creature’s body to then jump inside another. The cute creatures all have their own ability; such as the double jumping cat, a block pushing worm, and my favourite – the chirpy flying bird.

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IGM - Bela Kovacs and The Trail Of Blood Review (PC)

Eastern Europe has always been perceived as a dark and gruesome place. It has a deep history of culture that defines both melancholy and grotesquery. Hungary-based Extropia Games uses this inherent gloom to stylize their point-and-click murder mystery, Bela Kovacs and The Trail Of Blood.

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IGM - Indie By Name, Indie By Nature? Article

Independent game developers by and large have a united goal: to create the games they want to create. Unfortunately, there is more to simply creating games if you want to take the dangerous path towards becoming a full time indie game developer. There is a ton of marketing to do and at the end of the day; you have to be making money to survive. That is a cold, hard fact that has led to the demise of many an indie warrior that has faced the gauntlet. Those who have managed to successfully create a good game and market it effectively have come out on top. These are independent studios like Chillingo, Wonderland Software and now Firemint who have now been acquired by bigger companies and consequently lost their rights to the indie label.

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IGM - Oozi: Earth Adventure Ep. 1 Review (X360)

While casually flying around the galaxy, Oozi’s spaceship ran out of fuel and crash-landed on Earth. Oozi is now on a mission to retrieve his high-tech attire that was lost upon impact in order to escape the planet. Being stripped naked (apart from his underwear) means that Oozi starts off in this platformer with none of his abilities. Likewise, the game feels very bare at first.

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Hooked Gamers - Bioware: The Cracks Are Starting To Show

Gamers have been polarised by the news that Mass Effect 3 has been delayed until 2012. Some were left weeping uncontrollably on their knees, whereas others were glad to hear that BioWare had grown the balls to spend more time developing one of the most beloved franchises in gaming.

It is an alluring thought that the delay could be a reaction to feedback received from players on BioWare’s most recent release. After all, thousands of fans expressed their disappointment in Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 suffering a similar fate would be devastating to BioWare’s standing in the community. I fear, however, that other reasons are behind the decision.

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Hooked Gamers - The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile Review (X360)

My The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile review has been published on Hooked Gamers.

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