sales posts

Everybody's doing "pay what you want" sales lately, and frankly, we are so glad they are. With so many mainstream, expensive titles coming out, these sales have been keeping our wallet from getting too light. Caster is the latest of the indie scene to join in on the fun, and it is definitely worth your notice. Also, it's not a potential scam!

Caster is a lo-fi 3D game based around terrain deformation and shrubbery. While that may not sound especially compelling, the game is a ton of fun, especially since you become a jumping, running machine later on in the game. It's all the ridiculousness you have come to expect from cartoons, but in the package of a game. You can check out a previous review of the game (for Mac) right here on Big Download.

Download the Caster Demo on PC or Mac right here on BigDownload!

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.

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.

In order to celebrate his birthday, the developer of Immortal Defense has announced that it will be available through October 4th (this Sunday) for the low price of $3. All you have to do is order the game and, at the payment prompt for BMT Micro, enter the code BMCN000H7 in the coupon/discount area. You will then receive a download link through email. Ordering is done through the site, and if you want to try before you buy, there is also a demo that includes a full third of the game's levels for you.

For those that have no idea what Immortal Defense is, it is an independent tower defense game. It combines unique gameplay through the different towers and the player cursor with a truly affecting and disturbing story. We mean it. This game might give you nightmares, but the depth of its meaning definitely makes it worth playing. There's a reason we included it in our list of the best indie games to buy in holiday 2008, after all.

Canadian gamers looking to expand their library of games need look no further. EB Games and GameStop Canada is holding a month long sale dedicated to reducing their inventory and clearing out as many titles as possible. Included in the sale are discounted copies of Gears of War (PC) as well as the Warcraft and World of Warcraft Battle Chests. The sale includes select peripherals and an assortment of console titles.

The promotion ends on June 22, while some titles are offered for a limited time within the month. Check out the full listing of sale items after the jump.

So little has changed in recent months -- The Sims 2 and World of Warcraft still completely dominate PC game sales. Sure, now and then something usurps them for a short time, but they always come back. The top 10 PC games in the NPD sales report released this past week:

1. The Sims 2 Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff Expansion Pack
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
3. The Sims 2 FreeTime Expansion Pack
4. World Of Warcraft: Battle Chest
5. World Of Warcraft
6. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
7. Sins Of A Solar Empire
8. World Of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack
9. Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition
10. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2

That makes four years that The Sims 2 and World of Warcraft have been fairly consistently pwning the industry. The only other PC exclusive on the list is Ironclad/Stardock's runaway 4X RTS hit Sins of a Solar Empire. The others -- Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 -- are multi-platform titles. WoW's position is no surprise, given the NPD's research with regards to online game revenues. The Sims 2's domination of the charts, however, speaks to a vast, silent market of gamers to whom hardcore games like Rainbow Six don't appeal.