Freeware

Indie games are getting more and more recognition in the U.S. and Europe, so what's the scene like in China?

There are quite a few fans of indie games in China. Of course, the scene is not as big as its U.S. or European counterpart, but it's there nonetheless (and hopefully growing). China is known for piracy, and where there's indie games, free downloads of (paid) indie games aren't far behind. We won't talk about these things here.

Anyways, to start things off, some Chinese websites on indie games. There used to be quite a few, but unfortunately some of them disappeared or is quite inactive.

Approximately six months ago, the big orange hippo went belly up, marking the end of an era. Just when people finally got over the loss of their beloved hippo and moved on with crayon in one hand and goo in the other, the great freeware deity casted Life1 on the great hippo, and so the great orange hippo was back, bigger, stronger, and (hopefully) better than ever.

Basically, if you don't know what GameHippo is, here's a description of the site from many-a-post ago:

Many should have come across GameHippo at one point or another. Nearly a decade old, GameHippo (http://gamehippo.com/) is a freeware PC game download site with a huge index of games of all kinds, no shareware, no demos, just free games. At its prime, GameHippo was THE site to go to for updates on the latest freeware games, and GameHippo was the site that got many people into independent/free games (myself included).

Many should have come across GameHippo at one point or another. Nearly a decade old, GameHippo (http://gamehippo.com/) is a freeware PC game download site with a huge index of games of all kinds, no shareware, no demos, just free games. At its prime, GameHippo was THE site to go to for updates on the latest freeware games, and GameHippo was the site that got many people into independent/free games (myself included).

Of course, two things usually happen to big sites that are really, really old. They either get bigger, or they become stagnant and die a slow death. Unfortunately, GameHippo seems to have taken the second route, as updates slowed and fewer and fewer new games showed up on the site (all the while newer, more hip sites popped up everywhere). In April 2007, GameHippo's founder and writer Boson (who, according to rumors, can't blow bubbles with bubblegum) sold the site after "losing interest in the scene."