altitude posts

The Company of Heroes games are not the only titles on sale this weekend on the Steam PC game download service. Gamers can also check out the indie game Altitude with a nice price cut as well as a chance to play the full game for the price of, well, nothing.

Yep, the 2D cartoony-style aerial combat title from developer Nimbly Games is on sale from now until Monday for a mere $4.99, a big 50 percent price cut from its normal price. But if you don't want to spend those few dollars on an impulse purchase, fear not. You can also download and play the full version of the game for free until Sunday.

Direct2Drive already has a nice indie games sales bundle in place, but now Steam wants in on that indie games sales action. From now until Thursday, Steam is offering seven indie PC game titles for just $2 each. The games are Gridrunner, Space Giraffe, Bullet Candy, Bob Came in Pieces, Altitude, Super Laser Racer, and Galcon Fusion.

But that's not the nice deal. That comes when you buy all seven games in a bundle on Steam. Then the price for the bundle comes to $9.99. That's far cheaper than the nearly $59 you would have to pay for each game separately at their normal Steam prices.

It's been quite a while since GameStop's Indie Game Challenge was announced, but today the list of 12 finalists (six professional, six non-professional) was announced at long last. Unlike the Independent Games Festival, there is also a public vote on the competition's web site that determines which of the finalists look the best to them (via a video only) and then they vote for which game they think should win the $10,000 Gamer's Choice prize. However the two big grand prizes of $100,000 each (one for the pro selections and one for the amateur selections) are selected by a panel of judges from GameStop, The Guildhall and Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. There are a few other prizes for specific areas of excellence (technical, art, design). You can check out the list of games, vote, and watch game videos on the official website.

The list of games covers many different genres, from puzzle to arcade. Four of the IGF finalists have a spot on the IGC list as well: Cogs, Miegakure, Vessel, and AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Some other notable games include Gear, which was an honorable mention in the IGF student showcase, and the multiplayer arcade game Altitude, which had a recent launch on Steam.

This week's Mac Monday game is Altitude, by Nimbly Games. I downloaded this title purely on the strength of its slight resemblance to the Worms series of games, but was pleasantly surprised by its actual gameplay (though on second thought, there is an element of Worms-ness in it).

At first blush a simple arcadey aircraft shooter, there is much more to Altitude than first impressions grant. How much more? Read on to find out!