In the event that you’re one of the tens of thousands of gamers attending PAX 10 at the Seattle Convention Center over the September 3-5 Labor Day weekend, expect to get your first look at ten of the wackiest (in a good way) independent games the gaming industry has to offer.
PAX 10 helps encourage independent game development by providing the ten winners with free space on the exhibition floor to get in front of gamers, media and industry-folk. The winners were selected by more than 50 industry experts looking for the best in gameplay, originality and overall fun-factor.
The winning entries are:
- Altitude (PC) – Nimbly Games – Jump into the fast and agile planes and hit the afterburners as you tear enemies to pieces with your 20mm cannons blazing in this cartoon aerial brawler.
- Bastion (Consoles and PC) – Supergiant Games – Build a new world by seeking out survivors, exploring dangerous lands adrift in the air and battling creatures maddened by loss as you unravel the darkest secrets of the past in this action RPG.
- Fowl Space (PC and Mac) — Pixelante — Guide a heroic rooster on a ridiculous space adventure to DESTROY THE SUN as he battles a legion of lingerie-loving Vikings in this new platformer with a wanton disregard for anything wholesome.
- Hegemony: Philip of Macedon (PC) – Longbow Games — Conquer the ancient Greek world in a real-time strategy wargame that follows the rise to power of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.
- Plane Weaver (PC) – Team Plane Weaver — Travel between the planes of reality while taking different forms that hold great power to battle machines that consume the souls of the living in this 3D platform/puzzler.
- Puzzle Bots (PC) – Wadjet Eye Games – Control five robots escaping their inventors…and leaving chaos in their wakes by using special abilities (swimming, flamethrower, etc.) in this laugh-out-loud, retro-style adventure game.
- Retro City Rampage (WiiWare) – Vblank Entertainment Inc. – Battle through a world where modern game mechanics are mashed-up into an authentic 8-bit experience that lampoons not only games, but the TV, movies and pop culture of the NES generation.
- Shibuya (iPhone/iPod) — Nevercenter – Match colors by tapping blocks as they fall, planning combos and massive reactions for maximum points in this atmospheric, fast-paced, challenging and deceptively simple puzzle game.
- Solace (PC) – One Man Down/DigiPen — Experience an interactive, aesthetic game that combines rhythm, shooter and side scroller elements. The dynamic audio and bullet hell overtones provide a unique perspective on the five stages of grief.
- Super Meat Boy (XBLA, Wii, and PC) – Team Meat — Bloody your thumbs on this tough as nails platformer that brings back hardcore NES style twitch gaming. Control a cube of meat trying to save his girlfriend (who happens to be made of bandages) from an evil fetus in a jar wearing a tux.
The pre-registration cost for PAX is $55 for three-day and $35 for single day passes, although 3-day badges are in short supply and will sell out VERY soon (if it hasn’t already). The passes are all-access for events, concerts, parties, panels and freeplay areas. Only “sealed deck” tournaments, which require new physical product in order to be played, have an additional fee.
PAX registration is at http://www.paxsite.com/paxprime/registration.php.
The PAX 10 website can be found at http://www.paxsite.com/paxprime/pax10.php.
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