Five of the most highly-regarded independently-developed video games of the last few years, including World of Goo, are being bundled together in a package called The Humble Indie Games Bundle that allows its purchasers to name any amount and donate the proceeds in any way amongst two charities and the developers.
More and more companies are installing draconian methods of DRM for PC games because they believe that games are being shared or stolen at unacceptable levels. That might be why it's so refreshing to see the distribution method being championed by the independent developers who have contributed to the Humble Games Bundle, highlighted in the humorous video above. The developers of World of Goo, Penmbra: Overture, Gish, Lugaru, and Aquaria HD (2D Boy, Frictional Games, Cryptic Sea, Wolfire Games, and Bit Blot Games, respectively) are putting their five games -- normally available for $80 when purchased separately -- on sale online with unprecedented choice given to the customer.
Not only do customers have a choice of setting any purchase price for the bundle (except for zero, as some have humorously leared), but they can also choose how the profits are distributed. Customers have the choice of evenly dividing the money between two major charities -- Child's Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- and the five developers, or picking exact amounts for each bucket. The week-long drive still has over six days left, and has raised over $100,000 already. Whether that money's mostly going to charity or developers is still yet to be revealed, but we can rest assured that it's creating positive change in the computer gaming marketplace.
The purchase link for the Humble Games Bundle is shown in the source link below.
SOURCE The Humble Indie Games Bundle (pay what you want for five awesome indie games) [Wolfire.com]
Source: Daily News from GamePro.com
Tuesday, May 4, 2010