A full announcement of the 2008 IGF will be made in June. From the IGF's web site:

IGF Main Competition
- Open to all independent developers to submit games for PC, console digital download, and Web formats.
- Final submission date: Monday, October 1st, 2007.

IGF Student Competition
- Award for the best student games. Student 'mods' to existing games will be included this year. As a result, the number of Student Showcase winners will be increased slightly.
- Final submission date: Monday, October 15th, 2007.

Information about a new competition will also be revealed in due time. The IGF itself will take place alongside the earlier GDC 2008 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco - the awards will be the night of February 20th, 2008, and the IGF Pavilion will be open from February 20th-22nd, 2008.

Guxt v.1.0.0.0 released.

Ranking and Score Attack Mode are only accessible after completing the game once, but here's a cleared.bin file (with No Miss Clear replay) which can be unzipped in the temp_guxt folder (automatically created after running the game once) to unlock the new extras.

Some noticeable differences:
- Trial Mode is now called Score Attack.
- The cleared.bin file from the previous version cannot be used to unlock this new mode, although all replays will work.
- Several sprites and enemy flight patterns changed.
- An additional bonus (like Ikachan) can be found by shooting one of the middle tiles halfway through Stage 3.
- There's a proper ending sequence now, in which the entire cast (enemy ships and bosses) are properly introduced as the credits roll.

This should be the final version of Guxt released by Pixel for a long while. [Score Attack replay, more entries about Guxt]

In MatheMagic, you take on the role of a young boy who is transported to the maths dimension by an evil mathemagician. You must stop his evil plan to divide by zero, simultaneously breaking the laws of mathematics and destroying the universe. The target audience is five to fifteen year olds.

This is the current work-in-progress version lacking many more levels, a completed game engine and main menu.

Name: MatheMagic
Developer: J-Factor
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Shooters

New screenshot from Ether Vapor posted, featuring a battle with an arachnid-type boss - not textured yet. [Ether Vapor review]

Mu-cade is now available for the Mac OS X. [Mu-cade review]

Ben-H is currently working on an arena shooter entitled Biddie Crisis. [Axion review]

Postman (Shoot the Core) and Hunter will be collaborating with Bill Whitman on a comic strip.

Miscellaneous

Grubby Games is currently working on a sequel to Professor Fizzwizzle.

DigiPen Institute of Technology has a new campus set up in Singapore. Applications are accepted as of April 2007.

More screenshots of Braid posted, featuring character art by Edmund McMillen.

Another impressive-looking doujin 2D versus fighting game by NRF named Big Bang Beat, with a gameplay video posted to demonstrate the characters in action. Release date: 26th of June 2007.

Sydney Treads the Catwalk announced.

The bum turned star finds his new career in the media has hit a hiccup when his television show receives mediocre ratings. Keith warns Syd that if he can't even compete with the fashion channel he'll be forced to axe the show and throw him back on to the streets. [Sydney Finds Employment, warning: mature content]

Acidbomb 2: Rearmed will undergo several changes next month as the game turns from freeware to shareware. The bomb diffusal simulator will be distributed by Oberon Media, then on all other major game portals under it's new name - Shellblast. Exclusive features include:

Virtual Bomb Simulator - choose an empty shell and set your preferences to make the bomb you want to defuse
Endurance Mode - a huge, massive bomb with seven quadrants and increasing pistons
Shell Editor - make your own bomb from scratch to swap and share with friends, or play custom levels by others.
Shell-Drop - the original ShellBlast game in Acidbomb 2 is unlocked from the get-go, complete with enhanced scoreboard features
- All original 51 levels from the freeware version
- Windows Vista support
- New music, along with a jukebox feature that lets you change tracks on the fly.

More screenshots from Shellblast can be found in this forum thread. King of All Cooks (Ore no Ryomi 3) will also be a commercial release under this new banner. [Acidbomb 2 review]

Lighthouse Lunacy - a block-pushing puzzler/platformer with solutions provided after several unsuccessful tries.

Darwin the Monkey - a single-screen platformer with Rare-style graphics.

FilePlanet recently compiled a list of ten free games which surprisingly consists of mainly FPSes, mods and MMOs. [source: xii games]

1. F.E.A.R. Combat
2. Puzzle Pirates
3. Future Pinball
4. Beyond the Red Line (Demo)
5. Penumbra
6. America's Army
7. Anarchy Online
8. Trackmania Nations
9. World of Padman
10. Linus Bruckman

GameTunnel's April Monthly Round-Up was recently posted.

Here's a summary, presented Famitsu-style:

'My current project got a style overhaul to make it look less blocky. The sprites are drawn behind the backgrounds. That looked kind of nice in Cave Story.'



'There's also a small inventory. And: The red dots under the heart to the left determine how many moves can be performed in a row.' - Bernie. [origamihero.com, Darkside Adventures, A Game with a Kitty, Reactor 09, Cedric and the Revolution review]

Trial and Ranking are two new additions to Guxt v.0.9.0.0 (previously unavailable for selection). Both options are only accessible after completing the game once, but here's a cleared.bin file which can be unzipped in the temp_guxt folder (automatically created after running the game once) to unlock the new extras.

Some noticeable differences:
- the color of enemy bullets changed from red to orange.
- you only get one ship for Trial mode, but your score will be saved in the Rankings section.
- the major difference between the normal and Trial mode is the inclusion of a final boss battle, pictured right.

Click here to download a replay file for Trial mode. Drag and drop the play-record file into a running Guxt window to watch the replay.

A post from Pixel's BBS as translated by Shih Tzu: 'It looks like I'll be able to get version 1 out by the end of the month. Things are looking good.' [LJ post, more entries about Guxt]

In Sumotori Dreams, each bout starts when both players touch the ground with their hands and ends when a player falls to the ground or steps outside the circle. A cube of the winner's color is then thrown in to signal the end of a round.

To win a game you need to have two points more than your opponent, and a total of at least five. Use the enter or backspace key to push, or press the arrow keys to move your character around the circle and change the camera angle view. Hold the down arrow key to touch the ground. A hidden mode can be unlocked during the main menu display by breaking one of the walls on the far right.

Name: Sumotori Dreams
Developer: Peter Sotesz
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

GameHippo.com, a site which featured a large collection of outdated freeware games, was recently sold due to Boson losing interest in the scene.

More details will be revealed in the coming weeks, though it's quite certain that the new owner would be looking to recoup the amount spent on his investment one way or the other.

Fairy Attackers is a brilliant retro platformer by Alpha Secret Base, creator of the excellent Umihara Kawase Shun tribute called Gambare Natsuki-San. Press the Z key to throw your weapon at enemies, or hold the down arrow key to use your shield and reflect harmful projectiles.

The up arrow key can be used to open doors, activate objects and initiate conversations with other characters. Touch the stone with inscriptions to save your progress, or drink from the tiny fountain to restore health. Once you've gained a travel companion, press the C key to hold it for an additional float ability. A map can be accessed by using the S key.

Name: Fairy Attackers
Developer: Alpha Secret Base
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB

Millenipede is a PC version of the classic 8-bit shooter Centipede, developed in less than seven days. Your aim is to zap all of the centipedes on each wave, while dodging spiders, snails, mushrooms and the centipedes themselves. They'll make their way down the screen until eventually they hit the bottom, and at that point they will roam around the player area until you shoot them.

Centipedes will grow into a mushroom when shot at, which serves no purpose aside from blocking the movement of other centipedes and hindering your bullets. Each mushroom takes four shots to completely destroy.

If you touch any enemy, be it a centipede, spider or snail, you lose a ship. Use the cursor keys to move around and hold the left control key to shoot.

Name: Millenipede
Developer: Firestorm Productions
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB