IGF

As if every other website hasn't already reported this to death, the finalists for the 2010 IGF main competition have been revealed.

There were some expected winners, as well as a few surprises. Quite a few people seem unhappy with the fact that VVVVVVV didn't make it... maybe it's a sign that Ciellus needs to be finished? Hah!

Another interesting read is the IGF judging process, check it out, it's neat.

Now, for the very few who saw this here first, below are the finalists in no particular order:

Sometimes I think I need to change the slogan (speaking of which, do we even have one?) of this site to "Bringing you news from yesteryear" or "Making old news new again!" Whatever, entrants to the 2010 IGF has been announced, seems like this year we have a record number of 300+ entries...

More entries is always a good thing, but that also means there are more games to comb through to find the real gems. One thing I seem to notice though, is that it's becoming harder to tell the "favorites" that will likely make it into the final round, either the overall quality has risen, or there are no blockbuster titles like World of Goo or Everyday Shooter, which at the time were expected to at least make the finalists.

Nonetheless, here are some of the titles that caught my attention as I went through the list of entries...

Indeed, mG is still alive! It's just that real life is getting busier and busier =(

So many things to talk about, where to start? First of all, finalists for this year's IGF is out for a while. As (somewhat) expected, games like Blueberry Garden, Dyson and Night Game made it in, while some other unexpected entries, like You Have To Burn The Rope, also somehow ended up in there, lol. Congratulations to Cortex Command for finally making it in, and Machinarium is looking mightily good.

In other IGF news, the 2009 IGF Student Showcase winners are out, and voting for the Audience Award is currently underway.

A year in the making. A list of entries for the 2009 Independent Games Festival has finally been revealed. This year there are 226 entries in the Main Competition (last year there were 173 entries), and 145 Student Showcase entries (last year's was 125 entries). What a big jump in numbers! Now if only the IGF site can revamp their entry-browsing capability so users can actually navigate the list with ease...by we can always dream ;)

Joking aside, looking over the huge list of entries, first impression: there are a lot of good titles, but no "killer title" that stands above the rest...last year, there were a few games that were REALLY good and people somehow knew they were at least going to make it to the finalist round (like World of Goo or Noitu Love 2), there was that "spark" in them that made them shine. This year, while there are many fun games, nothing particularly stood out...or it could just be that the really good ones are still hiding in a sea of good-but-not-yet-there games. Or it could just be that I'm too ignorant to tell the good games from the bad ones, after all, a majority of the entries aren't even playable...which brings me to my second complaint (was there even a first complaint? lol)...