Two new trailers for the upcoming XBox Live Arcade game, Mutant Storm Empire by PomPom Games. [source: Shoot the Core]

Click here to watch

Finalists for the Dream-Build-Play competition (a Microsoft XNA Game Studio contest) were recently announced, with the winners to be revealed on August 13th. A publishing contract with XBox Live Arcade is up for grabs.

The selected twenty finalists are as follows:

Big Sky
Blazing Birds
Burning Angels (pic. right, video)
Chaos *
Gravitron Ultra
Gunstyle
Hasta la muerte *
Hippocrate's Dilemma (video)
HurricaneX PC
Little Gamers (video)
Magic Crystals
Proximity HD *
Ragu (video)
Rocketball (video)
Samurai Soul Hunters
Shuggy *
Sprockets of Strife
The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai (video 1, video 2, video 3)
Viduce
YoHo Kablammo

* - playable

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai is developed by Ska Software (creator of the Zombie Smashers X series).

- download links for warm-up entries
- links to web sites, videos and installers for most of the entries submitted
- Ziggyware version of Advice from the Swamp
- Dream-Build-Play web site

Tatan is a simple vertical shooter by HIZ with minimal movement controls, but still manages to offer a couple minutes' worth of action. Use the space key to switch sides, and aim your shots by moving the target around with the mouse.

One short level only.

Name: Tatan
Developer: HIZ
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB
Direct download link: Click here

Sonic Ironstorm is the latest vertical shooter by DHC, developer of Demolition Gunner and the commercial project Vulkaiser. Much like their recent releases, four difficulty levels are included for the convenience of beginners and to offer a decent challenge for veterans as well.

Use the Z key to shoot, and press the X key to launch a missile. Collectibles marked S increases your shield count, while collecting items marked P upgrades your firepower in small increments. Three stages only.

Name: Sonic Ironstorm
Developer: DHC
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 3MB
Direct download link: Click here

When I think of art that has influenced me most, it is generally work done by individuals. I can't recall the last time a corporation created a brilliant painting. I find that this also tends to be true in the emerging area of art games. Individuals are not generally driven to create purely for profit, and have more leeway to experiment and create according to their own artistic vision.

I thought it was time to compile a "best of" list for art games, because there has only been one other such list that I recall online. I'm sure someone will correct me on that point if there has been in fact another well drafted list somewhere out there. The first list can be found in an article on Artifical.dk, titled Art Games - Artificial's List [...]. I thought that Kristine Ploug had done a great job with her articles, though the list did leave out a number of titles which I thought should have been included.

This was also about two years ago, and since then more art games have surfaced. In the meantime, some of the games are no longer accessible, which is the unfortunate reason for why I could not include or rate them here. The creations of Geoffrey Thomas (i.e. Left to My Own Devices) cannot be played anymore. Torrent Raiders is still available for download, but I had the game crash on me every time, which renders it unplayable. Last but not least, a collection of mods of games and engines used as art is still up at Selectparks.net, though most links are now dead.

As such, I am providing this list of 27 titles. Some of these are older, while others are quite new. Each game was rated based on mechanics, visual style, and auditory stimulus which then determined it's place in the list. Keep in mind that I used my background as an artist to judge the merit of each category. This means that each games place in the list is not based on whether it was simply "good" or "pretty." It's not a perfect system, but it should hopefully serve as a guide to the indy art game scene.

So, without further ado, I present to you the link... Art Games: Best Indy Titles [via Mentisworks].

Covert Front is a short puzzle-based adventure game made in flash. It uses the typical point and click mechanic to find obscure items and use them, and is set in an old house. The game ends on a cliffhanger, with a to be continued, so I assume it'll eventually be completed. A fun way to spend half an hour or so.

Name: Covert Front
Developer: Pastel Games
Category: Adventure
Type: Browser Game

Yeah, I'm sick of top x games lists too! But I came across this and I figure it's worth looking at for those who like Linux: Top 21 Linux Games of 2007.

Warning: May contain potentially provocative or offensive material.

Under Ground the Bowling is a reworked bowling simulator by Yamoto, in which the player has to knock other characters towards a queue of people waiting for the bus to pick them up. A score chart is displayed every few seconds to indicate your points haul, and the angle in which you hit another character determines their flight trajectory into the air and towards the other lane.

Use the cursor keys to move the muscular man around, and press the Z key to wave his hand. There are no special bonuses for perfect scores.

Name: Under Ground the Bowling
Developer: Yamoto
Category: Arcade
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Direct download link: Click here

Shooters

Several new screenshots of x.x's next vertical shooter (pictured right) were recently posted in his development journal. [Blue Wish Resurrection, web site]

A trial version for Gundemonium Recollection is available from the bottom of this page. [download mirror]

Articles/Updates

Plasma Pong was featured in the Washington Post. As mentioned near the end of the article, a multi-player version is in the works.

Screenshots from Blackwell Unbound (including a preview) can be found over at the Wadjet Eye Games' site.

New screenshots from PEKPOK's Penrock (Pengo remake) posted. [Push Push Penguin download page]

Read about Oddbob's thoughts on the entire 'Are Games Art' subject here.

Metablog updated.

Others

Games: Bolt Brain Teasers, Pictogames, Space Trader, Zenix3D
Contests: The Atari 2600 Retro Challenge, Ricochet Infinity competition by Binary Joy

Entries from the latest 3Punge (Three Minute Game) competition was recently made available for download, though most of the games require the installation of RPGMaker runtime package to work.

Switch Lanes (pictured right) and Sutasono (both entry no. 26 and 16) are a couple of playable ones which do not require the runtime package. Crostar did not participate in this edition with a new game.

3Punge download page

Party Pals is a flash game which features soothing music and a simple control scheme. Hover your mouse cursor over Coconut or Licorice to make them jump. One of them can only unwrap gifts, while the other collects them.

Rather fun but unlikely to hold interest for more than a couple of tries. [source: Retro Remakes]

Name: Party Pals
Developer: Unknown
Category: Arcade
Type: Browser

Shoot 'em is a 3D turret action game made completely out of ASCII characters. Your goal is to destroy the falling objects before they reach the ground and to survive for as long as possible. The longer you survive, the more points you will get. You will also get extra points for each object destroyed.

Use the mouse to aim and fire. Left click to activate the machine gun, or right click to launch a mine towards the distance. Health is reduced whenever an object reaches the bottom grid. Increase health by destroying a green diamond.

Shrapnels and particles from destroyed objects are harmless but can be distracting. These can be turned off or doubled by using the command line option 'c' or 'p'. A working online high score table is included for your amusement. [source: TIGS]

Name: Shoot 'em
Developer: Jan Ringos
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Hunted is a remake of an old ASCII DOS game by Markus Rosse. The player's objective is to destroy all the robots in the playfield by luring them towards the mines scattered around each level.

A robot will only move when the player does likewise. Use the numeric keypad to move your character, and tap space to restart the level. Press 5 to remain stationary for one turn.

Name: Hunted
Developer: Markus Rosse
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

This PS3 Fanboy interview reveals some juicy information about Queasy Games' upcoming Everyday Shooter, especially the comment about a demo being available. As confirmed by Jon himself, there is no such thing.

GameTunnel's July Monthly Round-Up was recently posted. Greg Costikyan (of Manifesto Games) and Derek Yu (of Bit-Blot and TIGSource) are guest reviewers.

Exactly two years after its first release, Sword of Jade has been updated to work in Windows XP.

Sword of Jade, by Fyrewulff and Charbile, is an NES/SNES style RPG. It's pretty difficult, especially at the start, but if you don't give up, you'll be rewarded with one of the best freeware RPGs.

Hints: save often, talk to everyone, and after you get Mi'la on your party go back to the town, search behind houses, and use the money you find on training (especially training your defense stat). And choose your enemies wisely (run when they're too powerful), and gain at least five levels before attempting the first dungeon.

It's about 25 hours long, and what the characters do (as well as how strong the monsters are) changes by the time of day. There's also a time limit -- the Jade countdown -- your hope and will power gradually decrease, and performing different side quests will raise the counter a little bit so that your party doesn't lose its determination and give up the quest forever.

CONTROLS: ctrl or enter to talk/use, alt to cancel, hold escape to escape from battles. To play the game in a window rather than full screen, use alt + enter.

Name: Sword of Jade
Developer: Charbile / Fyrewulff
Category: RPG
Type: Freeware
Size: 5.5MB

Return to Sector 9 is the long awaited sequel to Ambush in Sector 9. Featuring nine game modes, fifteen ships to pilot, plenty of weaponry, and plenty of aliens to use it on.

Each of the fifteen ships has its own special weapon. Once you have unlocked the ships and their weapons, learn which game modes they're best suited to.

Submit your scores to the online high score charts to see how you compare with the rest of the world.

Pekka Kana 2 is a charmingly old-school platformer where you must help Pekka the rooster save his friends after they were abducted by an evil crow. The author cites other platform classics such as Super Mario and Jazz Jackrabbit as his inspiration for the game.

As you journey across each of the 24 levels looking for the exit, a healthy array of bonuses, secrets and pickups are scattered across the landscape for you to make use of.

Name: Pekka Kana 2
Developer: Janne Kivilahti / Piste Gamez
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 7MB

Nigoro's Rose and Camellia has been translated to English.

Petri Purho's A Tribute to Rolling Boulder can be acquired from the Gamedev entries download page, along with a number of games from other participants. [source: the2bears]

The results for SourceForge.net's 2007 Community Choice Awards are out. [original story]

This week's GGE indie game feature showcases Cave Story, Polychromatic Funk Monkey and R.

Platformers/Applications

We won't be seeing N+ on the Wii or PS3 until it's out for the Xbox Live Arcade for at least a year. Metanet's platformer is still set to appear on both the Nintendo DS and Sony's PSP.

Boss Arena updated.

Jun Fujiki's Java web toy Individuality gets a new English manual. [earlier mention, OLE Coordinate System]

Shooters

Kevin Glass' beta version of Interferon (arena shooter) is available to play using any Java-enabled browser.

The lead programmer of Söldner-X (Play-Asia's horizontal shooter) was recently interviewed by Press Start. The million-dollar question was asked as well, and here is the response:

What platform(s) are you looking into releasing Söldner-X on?

Marcus Pukropski: I am afraid that I am currently not entitled to answer this question. The game is scheduled for release in late 2007, platforms are likely to be announced during the next couple of weeks...

Pictured below, the first screenshot from DHC's 3Punge competition entry entitled Sonic Ironstorm. The game will be released in two weeks' time. [more DHC games]

A recap of the games mentioned this month, July 2007: