aquaria posts

The team at the Humble Indie Bundle have been generating a lot of money already with the second batch of games with its 'pay what you want" business model. But now the team has upped the anty. The Humble Indie Bundle 2 now includes all of the games from the first Humble Indie Bundle.

Yes, you can get all of the bundle's current games (Braid, Machinarium, Osmos, Cortex Command and Revenge of the Titans) plus all of the game's in the original bundle (World of Goo, Gish, Aquaria, Penumbra Overture, and Lugaru HD plus the freebie Samorset 2). People who have bought Bundle 2 can download the Bundle 1 games now. People who have yet to purchase Bundle 2 can get the Bundle 1 games if they pay more than the current average which is currently $7.35. Paying $7.35 to get a whopping 10 great indie games (plus one freebie) is still a massive bargain.

The Humble Indie Bundle - a pack of six games available for whatever you want to pay for it - has now ended its deal, raking in over $1 million in a single week. This alone is impressive, but what is also cool is that about 30% went to charity. The developers made a detailed breakdown of all money received as well as money received after merchant costs (credit card fees, Paypal fees, etc) that can be viewed separately.

Along with this news comes another surprising tidbit. Out of the six games featured, four will be releasing their source code to the general public for budding game developers to pick through. The four games that are releasing their code are Aquaria, Lugaru HD, Gish, and Penumbra. Only Lugaru HD is currently available, but the other developers are busy converting their goods to open-source and will be releasing them soon! This is great for freeware communities, as all of these engines are worth working with.

Earlier this week we alerted you to the Humble Indie Bundle which lets you pay whatever you want to get five great indie game titles (World of Goo, Gish, Aquaria, Penumbra Overture, and Lugaru HD). Now with just under three days to go before the deal disappears, the bundle has generated over $560,000 in revenue as of this post. The average contribution is about $8 or so, but one anonymous contributor paid $1,000 for the bundle. Linux users have contributed the most per donation with an average of close to $14.

You still have two days and 23 hours to jump on this deal. Remember that you can also choose to put a portion of your money for the bundle to contribute to two charities (the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Child's Play).

[Via Blue's News]

Pay what you want has become the newest craze in the indie community, with developers offering the deal left and right. Now comes the best deal we've ever seen regarding this new payment scheme. Five classic indie games are available in a pay what you want bundle, and as a kicker, the bundle also includes two charities for the division of money. Altogether, the bundle is worth $80 if bought at standard prices for each game.

The games included in the pack are World of Goo, Gish, Aquaria, Penumbra Overture, and Lugaru HD. We've raved about most of these games on the site before, and with good reason. They are all incredibly good, and one of them (World of Goo) pioneered the pay what you want gimmick. The two charities involved in the deal are the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Child's Play. You can pay what you want and divide it however you want, from even among all involved to giving to a single developer or charity. You get all five games, free of DRM, regardless of who you give the money to.

So you are looking for a new experience in gaming. But the mainstream market is getting you down with its high price tags and extensive DRM. But there's a lot of great games out there that you can get cheap. The indie market is strong, and some of the best games around can be found for half the price of the price of more mainstream games like Dead Rising or Fallout 3. They've also got far less rigorous specs than their mainstream counterparts, which is also a welcome change of pace. We've got a list of some of the best indie games money can buy, ranging from the puzzle extravaganza World of Goo to the clever and addicting Armageddon Empires. So indulge in the little guy this holiday season. You won't be disappointed with the results you get.

Click on the image above to continue reading Big Download's 2008 PC Game Holiday Gift Guide

Bit Blot's Aquaria is a breath of fresh air ... even if it's a breath taken through gills. It's a gorgeously-drawn 2D adventure that feels disarmingly old-school in these days of 3D over-the-top action. This game feels fresh, from its identity-seeking hybrid protagonist to its slew of nimble and colorful adversaries. Although it's dual-platform, Aquaria could not have arrived at a better time for Mac gamers who might have been giving up hope for unique new titles. Of course, it's being published by none other than Ambrosia Software, a Mac mainstay for many years, so it's in good hands.

So, exactly what is Aquaria, and why should you love it?

Welcome to the Indie Showcase, a semi-regular column on Big Download that takes a look at games we haven't covered on the site that we really think you should play.

There may be a lot of quality freeware games out there, but there's also a lot of amazing shareware games. In fact, most of the truly amazing or classic indie games are indeed shareware! So for those of you that want a decent selection of games to spend about $20 on, here's four of the many classic and great shareware indie games for you to pick from. They may not be all that new, but everyone, indie connessoir or not, should play these games at least once.

Independent Minds aims to take various aspects of indie gaming and present them to you each week. From game round-ups to design elements to interviews with prominent members of the scene, it's an exploration of what makes indie gaming great as well as what makes someone an indie.

It's a phenomenon normally only seen in amateur communities, among people that do not have the drudgery of a nine-to-five job in their field. The freelancers and visionaries, the next great creators of the future. From writing, to art, to movie-making, competitions are not so much the realm of professional-level creation but rather for those that can crank out a prototype, an early draft, or a short movie in a single weekend. For these competitions, none seems to be as interesting as those created by the independent game development company.