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Monday, January 12, 2009

Games PAX10 Winner Releases Next Week on Xbox Live

Posted by Sam Machkovech on Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 6:35 PM

Since last summer's Penny Arcade Expo coverage was a mess of tech-speak and nerdgasms, you're likely to have missed my praise for The Maw. Made by a nine-man team out of Austin, this video game blew me away in demo form back in August; you spend your gametime beating an unruly beast-pet into doing your bidding, typically with odd results. This owner-pet relationship is charming and witty in ways most games aren't—nice that it took only nine guys to nail it. Even as nothing more than potential, it's a coup for the indie gaming sphere.

Good, then, that the makers made a surprise release announcement today; looks like The Maw will be on Xbox Live a week from Wednesday. I'll be on next week to talk about it, hopefully with raves rather than overhyped disappointment. At the very least, its demo will be worth the time and non-money.

The Maw is also up for some Independent Games Festival awards this year. As are a ton of other interesting games. If you want a primer to modern indie gaming, and don't want to blow cash on genius titles like World of Goo or Braid, check out some downloadable IGF finalists here. Dyson, for example, is a free, uh, galaxy-building game that I enjoyed being confused by.

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Cave Story is also an indie game of extreme quality that no one should miss...just saying.

It's much older than this new wave of games, though.

Posted by Arsenic7 on January 12, 2009 at 7:28 PM

@1: I talked up Cave Story a few days ago when Paul Constant went on a Zelda bender: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive… ... One of my all-time faves, and I look forward to its Wii remake.

Posted by Sam M. on January 12, 2009 at 7:39 PM

Hey, I forgot about the wii-release (ohhhhh....I'm a terrible terrible nerd).

Glad other people have spread the word.

Posted by Arsenic7 on January 12, 2009 at 8:05 PM

Ut3 on a 8800GT is still the only game i play.

Posted by Necris Technology on January 12, 2009 at 10:15 PM

I remember seeing the promo for Maw at PAX, it looked intriguing. Too bad it's only being released on Xbox.

Posted by Cate B on January 12, 2009 at 10:47 PM

Check this out, if real, this is the coolest technology I've ever seen...a portable "hydrogen generator" that takes water and provides electricity for camping, power outages:

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main…

Watch the video -- it looks real and it's only $400 + $50 for cartridges that last a month.

Posted by H2Lover on January 13, 2009 at 8:13 AM

Nice, a cheap game I can play while my kids are awake. It might even keep them entertained.

Posted by Renton Mike on January 13, 2009 at 10:42 AM