gear posts

GameStop's first annual Indie Game Challenge promised to give $100,000 each to games made by pros and amateurs. Last night at the DICE Summit they did just that, giving the $100.000 professional award to Cogs, the impressive puzzle title made by the three man team at Lazy 8 Studio. Cogs also won two smaller $2,500 prizes for Achievement in Art Direction and Achievement in gameplay.

The $100,000 non-professional indie game award was given to Gear, a 2D puzzle platformer created by a team of students at the Digipen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington. In addition Altitude, a 2D side scroller from Nimbly Games, won the $10,000 Gamers Choice Award and $2,500 for Technical Achievement.

GameStop has already announced they will sponsor the second annual Indie Game Challenge which will officially launch on May 1.

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.