limbo posts

The second annual Indie Game Challenge has announced its finalist for the 2011 edition of the independent game competition sponsored by The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, GameStop and The Guildhall. Like last year, six finalists each were picked for the non-professional and professional categories. You can check out the finalist after the jump.

All of the nominated teams will be flown to the DICE Summit in Las Vegas where the winning game and team in each category will be announced on February 11. The winning team in both categories will get $100,000. All of the team will also be able to have meeting with top publishers. In addition the Indie Game Challenge will also name the winner of the Kongregate Award for best browser-based game.

Earlier this week we reported that the upcoming indie platform-puzzle game Limbo was listed on the ESRB web site as coming to the PC. Previously the game from developer Playdead was announced as an exclusive for the Xbox 360 console's Xbox Live Arcade service. Well, as it turns out it will still be an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive.

Despite the earlier ESRB listing for a PC version, our sister site Joystiq has confirmed with Playdead that the game isn't coming to the PC at all. Indeed the ESRB site has now complied with Playdead's request that the PC listing for the game be removed. It's too bad since we think the game would have a solid audience on the PC platform but that's just us.

One of the more interesting upcoming indie games is Limbo, a black-and-white puzzle-platformer title from developer Playdead. Even before the game has been released to the general public it has already generated lots of pre-release praise from reviewers. It also won two of the awards at the recent Independent Games Festival (Technical Excellence and Excellence in Visual Art).

The game has been announced as coming to Xbox Live Arcade sometime this summer but today the ERSB web site posted a ratings update that shows Limbo listed as a Windows PC title as well. So far Playdead has not yet confirmed that a PC port is coming. You can check out a gameplay trailer for Limbo after the jump.

With the IGF finalists announced, game makers only have a short while longer to find out the best of the best in indie games from last year. From the best overall game to the one with the most impressive art, there's several different categories for indie game designers to aspire to be the top of. This week we're going to take a look at a few of the games that have made it to the finals.

The games which truly exhibit technical excellence in the indie realm are often praised beyond all potential comparison. After all, technical advances here such as HDR lighting aren't the real technical advances. It's things that alter the gameplay in interesting ways while still being smooth and presentable that really excite indie gamers. It's interesting how graphics advances are praised as advances in visuals, not in technical creation, where other things are. Here's five games that just can't fit in any other category at the IGF thanks to their unrelenting technical improvements.

With the IGF finalists announced, game makers only have a short while longer to find out the best of the best in indie games from last year. From the best overall game to the one with the most impressive art, there's several different categories for indie game designers to aspire to be the top of. This week we're going to take a look at a few of the games that have made it to the finals.

People love a good art style. Sure, you can make your game so that it's all black pixels and monotony, but if you have a cohesive and engaging visual style, players will like it more. Everybody likes something done well and clearly, and the members of the IGF judging team are no exception. Here are the five games that made the top of the list in visual artistry.