The final piece of the puzzle is here. The swan song of Irrational Games, and what Ken Levine has said should be a very satisfying end to the Bioshock saga as IG has told it. My Steam download queue shows the file coming in at 9.1GB, so if bandwidth is an issue, start downloading it ASAP.

Aryok Pinera is doing an amazing job so far in creating a remake of Mario 64, using the free Blender Game Engine. Looks like he's keeping a running development roadmap on his Twitch page http://www.twitch.tv/aryoksini .

Looks quite impressive. Hope Nintendo doesn't...intervene.

Angvik is a platform action game set in a joyful but unforgiving land. The castle has been taken over by a barbarian and no one else has the courage to confront him, so take up your father’s gear and set off on a wondrous journey! And you’re not alone: you’ll find many birds and items to aid you along the way, and you’ll encounter all sorts of creatures to fight as well. But watch your step! You have only one life, so if you die, you stay dead.

I really enjoyed stepping into Angvik, as small of a game it is. A peaceful, fantasy, perma-death platformer, set to an idyllic score. Make your way through 5 levels, picking up loot from chests and fallen foes, with a few secrets to be found here and there. Even has weapon modification by way of potion additives. The weapons deteriorate from use, and your character ages from beginning to the end of each level, eventually dying if you don't complete the level in time (age resets at the start of new levels). Short, but sweet, and the increasing difficulty of the play+ gives a reason to keep coming back, not to mention that you can opt to wear fluffy sheep armor.

Available through Steam and the developer website ( http://angvik.us ) for under $3.

One of the things that struck me as most interesting was that the game was made in Construct 2, an HTML 5 game engine (which is also available on Steam). Anyone interested in getting their feet wet with basic game development should definitely check it out. The community at Scirra.com are quite helpful, and they are making very cool things with the Construct engine.

Construct 2 - https://www.scirra.com/construct2

Just announced, the creators of Indie Game: The Movie are releasing the long awaited Special Edition, which includes a ton of new footage, as well as the original theatrical film (if you purchase the box set). Shipping on this new edition starts on July 24th, so get pre-orders in before then, and save $10 on the DVD, or $20 on Blu-ray. Digital options are there as well, and if you already have the movie, you can download just the bonus features for $4.99.

The Special Edition footage follows the aftermath of the film, and looks to fill in more details around the events that took place with each individual story.

Head over to the site for details, and get those orders in!: http://shop.indiegamethemovie.com/

If any of you have memories, fond or otherwise, of games like Mega Man or Ghosts 'n Goblins, you'll feel right at home in Tiny Barbarian DX.

You are a Conan-esque barbarian, muscling through dungeons and temples, and an amazing amount of snakes, to rescue the girl from a quite powerful wizard (who seriously has a thing for snakes…). Gold coins are collected and enemies slain to increase your high score, while a timer haunts from the top right of the screen, measuring your progress, or mocking it, as the case may be. There is no leveling, no gained abilities, no upgrades, none of that RPG nonsense here. No, its just your phalangeal dexterity, a trusty sword, and a mean elbow drop.

The thing that I love to hate about these types of murder platformers, I mean games, is that I get this feeling like they really do know me. They know that I secretly love to fail a lot in my interactive experiences. Like, A LOT. Try to jump from that chain to the ledge, and there's an incoming snake ball. Dodge the snake ball next time, then there's the flying spear. In one area where I had already spent way too much time memorizing patterns of flying death, and changing strategies in some vain hope of moving forward, I had managed to make it to the checkpoint. With one block of health left, a short sigh of relief turned bitter when I hadn't gauged that final leap, and I landed right into a pit of spikes, the exit a mere few blocks away. Now that's the childhood agony I remember! My successful play through netted a total of 73 deaths. I think I started swearing out loud at around 46, unless it was death by snake which usually triggered it's own set of expletives. Thankfully, Michael Stearns knows how to make it all worthwhile. Even in my many deaths I couldn't wait to see what was coming next.

I played through with a gamepad, and while support for that is a recent feature, the controls were tight, which is essential in any platformer, but more so in one that punishes players who lack precision in their execution. There were one or two instances where I thought there was an issue with not being able to move or attack how I intended to, but I don't know how much of that is bugs, or just my rusty hand eye coordination. I noticed it most in the brief animal riding sequences, which I didn't much care for anyway.

I need to say a quick word about the soundtrack, and really the sound design of the whole game. Good, good stuff here. Jeff Ball is working some serious magic, and I totally dig it.

There is a lot of fun to be had with this first chapter of Tiny Barbarian DX. It's beautiful to look at, and fun to play, with a good amount of challenge. While it is a short ride, there's a king-of-the-hill style Horde Mode to keep us busy until the next chapter comes (how long can you survive?). Three more chapters are planned, part of the game purchase bundle and downloadable when available. They have a great foundation here, and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the experience. One request for the future: Please go easy on the snakes.

Check out the interview that jdodson had with designer Michael Stearns, if you haven't already.

Official website: www.tinybarbarian.com
Jeff Ball music: www.jeffedwardball.com
Cheerful Ghost dev interview: www.cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1392

Amazon has Indie game bundles now, and why shouldn't they. They have everything else. Shipping services never thought they would have it this good. Not so much with these products, however, as they fall strictly in the download only section. While no stranger to downloadable game offerings, Amazon appears to be making an effort to connect specifically with the indie game crowd through some amazingly inexpensive offerings. Like, dirty cheap. Similar to every other bundle site out there. All proceeds - as in 100%, according to the site - of said bundles will go to developers and publishers. I haven't tested them, but reviews on the associated bundle pages indicate that the serial numbers you get after purchasing are usable on Steam.

Lack of presentation aside (seriously, could they have made it more boring to look at?), it's interesting to see Amazon kind of try to support independent gaming, even if it does feel tacked on and non-committal. Cheap games are always nice, too.

Amazon Indie Game store: http://tinyurl.com/m8y42fc

The Stomping Land is a multiplayer survival game about dinosaurs. Create traps, salvage resources, form tribes.

Stumbled on this Kickstarter project when perusing the Massive Chalice, and was surprised I hadn't heard of it yet. One of the fellows that worked on Skyrim (Alex Fundora) is making his own game, that revolves around hunting all forms of dinosaur in a massive 3D world. What he's put together so far looks fantastic, and the first stretch goal has been reached, which is allowing him to bring in other designers to add polish and depth.

I've never played Monster Hunter to any real degree, so I don't know how this would compare, but the realism alone has me hooked. Forming and defending tribes as you go out and hunt dinosaurs, without massive swords or rocket launchers, sounds extremely dangerous. I'm so glad this is happening.

See what I did there, with the word within words? I know... *sigh

The first time I got to play Card Hunter was at PAX Prime last year, and it was a polished treat. Turn-based, tactical RPG, designed as a board game, but played in your browser. It runs on Flash, and it's silky smooth. The team at Blue Manchu have been in closed beta since January this year, and are currently accepting beta applications.

www.cardhunter.com

I love the digitization of physical board games, but only when developed with great care. Card Hunter isn't a physical game (yet, I'm assuming), but it has that same tangible presence. The hand drawn, 3-Dimensional game pieces, and the pen & paper RPG adventure styling give it a depth that you won't find in many browser games. The same feeling I got when I first played Puzzle Quest. Highly recommended.

Finally making it's way to the PC, Zen Pinball FX 2 is on Steam, with a host of the tables that have taken up a good bit of my time on various consoles. As usual, the base of the game is free to download, with tables sold in packs, with trial versions for each table.

I'm assuming most people have at least sunk a few balls in these games, and if you haven't you simply must try it out. It's about as real a pinball experience you'll find outside of dropping quarters at your local Shakey's Pizza.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/226980/

I just saw this pre-alpha trailer for The Forest on Kill Screen. Looks like it's up on Steam Greenlight. Survival horror, with a bit of craftiness. Doing a quick Google search brings up a Slender clone called Forest, which I believe is an entirely different game, though they look similar, I guess (you're in a forest, and you're supposed to be scared). This game doesn't appear to be a Slender clone. If anything, it looks like a photorealistic Minecraft experience.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=143803558