From the mouth of Patrick:
Part 1: A Restrospective on 2008.
2008 turned out to be a surprising year. Yes, I could go on and on talking about all the crazy real-world events that took place in the longest year on record (Bonus points to the first person to mention why that was), but you can do that on any news site around. Yes, the USA elected a new president. Yes, the Canadian government almost ended up in the hands of a coalition, but all of that's unimportant in my world. What made 2008 so surprising for me was that I went into every single month of this year not looking forward to a single game's release, and yet ended up with a couple of new favorite games.
And what's even better is that all but one of those games were independent.
2008 was the year that independent gaming finally entered mainstream. A lot of this was to do with the the consoles letting independent developers gain access thanks to content delivery systems such as WiiWare, XBOX Live, and, you know, that five-lettered service that PC owners have. That solved a problem that indie developers have always had – lack of exposure.
Secondly (And this is just my opinion), mainstream developers dropped the ball when it came to the PC. If someone offered me a hundred dollars to name five big name titles that got released for the PC in the last year, I would still have the same amount of money in my bank as I do now. Well, let's take a look at my list:
-Left 4 Dead: A game that shouldn't technically be on this list because there's a XBOX port of it, but it is, in my mind, a PC game. This game, while incredibly fun and intense, does start to lose it's replay value rather quickly. Still, I do play it regularly, and look forward to the custom content if/when it comes out.
-Spore: Any game that makes it difficult to play legally thanks to the magic of DRM barely deserves a mention. Plus, every single one of my friends who's played the game says it gets dull very quickly.
-WoW:Wrath of the Lich King: I have never played this game, nor do I ever intend to play it. RPGs aren't my thing, and subscription games
certainly aren't my thing.
Now, if that same person were to ask me to name five independent games made for the PC last year, I'd be able to buy a new hard drive. DROD:RPG, Audiosurf, World of Goo, I-Fluid, Crazy Machines 2, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Multiwinia, Sam & Max 2. The list goes on. I've played all of the games above with the exception of one, and they were all fantastic. In fact, one of these games I would even claim to be the greatest game of 2008. But which one? Well, I'll cover that next month.
Right now, we need to get onto the news at hand.
Belated Holiday Greetings
First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a rather belated holiday season. I hope it was filled it laughter, joy, and a lot of food (That's usually my sign of a good holiday season). Of course, if your holiday season wasn't as great as you expected, look on the bright side: you have more than three hundred days to plan out the next one!
You Owe Us An Illumination!
My apologies to everyone in regards to last month, but the lack of an Illumination last month was not only due to the busy holiday season, but I took a new job at the start of the month. The problem with that? A couple of days before I started, they told me I would be spending the first week of my job in Altona, Manitoba, a small town where my company's headquarters are located. This meant an entire week of no non-job computering.
Things should start to be a little bit more regular now, especially considering that because I'm working around computers all day, I can type out articles like this in my free time.
DROD:RPG nominated for the 2009 Independent Games Festival
Well, it got a spot in as an entrant, but sadly didn't make the finalists. Still, there are other interesting games on the list, and they're worth taking a look at.
http://www.igf.com/02finalists.html (List of Finalists)
http://www.igf.com/php-bin/entry2009.php?id=626 (DROD:RPG entrant page)
DROD Hops Onto The Online Content Delivery Train
No, it's not on....that five-letter-word system. The entire DROD series has been released onto Direct2Drive, a system run by IGN that promotes games that don't have DRM attached to it, including indie games. Yes, the DROD series is completely DRM free if you buy it online through them. Its game library is rather large too, and pricing does seem competitive with most other online retailers.
And yes, it takes Paypal, which is always a good thing.
http://www.direct2drive.com/ (Direct2Drive)
http://www.direct2drive.com/buy-indie-games-download (the Indie Games section)
Great New Holds Released
There's been a few great ones since I last wrote here, so be sure to check them out!
http://forum.caravelgames.com/holds.php
Have a great rest of the month!
-Patrick
____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.
[Last edited by mrimer at 01-18-2009 05:44 AM]
