Nominations for Spike TV’s Video Game Awards 2009 have been announced, included in the awards again is the Best Independent Game (apparently fueled by Mtn Dew) with this year’s four finalists being Twisted Pixel’s ‘Splosion Man, Hemisphere’s Osmos, RedLynx’s Trials HD and thatgamecompany’s Flower.

You can vote for your favorite here. Spike’s VGA 2009 takes place December 12, where the winners will be announced.

Last year 2DBoy’s World of Goo beat out other top indie’s Braid, Pixeljunk Eden and Audiosurf for the award.

Wolfire Studios’ third-person action title Lugaru HD has been released onto Impulse and is now available for purchase. The game has players assuming the role of Turner, an anthropomorphic rebel bunny rabbit with combat skills as you seek out those responsible for destroying your village, which only leads you to uncover a far darker plot.

Features include a fast terrain engine, skeletal animation, facial expressions and a combat system that brings attack reversals, counters and more. The combat is the game’s primary feature as it uniquely has Turner fight logically and in context instead of a series of the same button mashing moves.

If you want to read more check out the game’s Impulse page. Lugaru is available now for $19.95.

Just when you thought the zombie-genre couldn’t get any more convoluted (in a good way, of course, because killing zombies rules), EXOR Studios announces its upcoming Zombie Driver for December 4, 2009. The game will be available on Steam and GamersGate for 9.95 dollars, 8.95 euro and 7.95 pounds, with respect to your location. Retail distribution has only been announced for Russia and its surrounding territories, with Akella handling that aspect.

The title features an old school car-driving gameplay style and has you running over zombies left and right. In addition, you will be shooting them with Twisted Metal-esque weapon attachments to your vehicle. The game also features superb graphics run on the PC and to catch a glimpse of it, read on for the trailer!

Wow, what an incredibly couple of months it has been. DIY was started just a couple months ago and already it has grown to become one of the leading blog sites dedicated to the indie game development community. We’ve hosted interviews, review, and previews from some of the most popular indie games and developers. Now, it’s time to reflect a little bit on ourselves.

We initially threw together a design that was, so to say gently… ugly. I make no qualms about it. We’ve been recieving a lot of feedback on our design over the past few weeks and we decided to do something about it. We made it bright, more aesthetically pleasing and included colors that weren’t immediately eye-vomit inducing. It’s been a long, arduous road but I think we are on the right path to getting a good design down.

But we’re not done yet. Feedback from our community is what drives us to shake things up, to offer a new look, and to keep things the freshest of the fresh. So, while this new design may seem nicer and brighter than our last, we need you to critique the shit out of it. What’s still wrong with our design? What do you feel could be better? Also what features in the site do you crave?

Let us know these things and we’ll work our damnedest to get it done. It took us a mere two and a half weeks to get a brand new design up and running based off our original feedback. Now we need to know more so we can truly become your home for independent gaming.

In other words… let us have it!

Also some of you may have caught us half-dressed so to say. In which case, we hope you enjoyed the show!

UPDATE: We are having some technical difficulties regarding photos. We know they are a bit out of sync right now, but we are working diligently on fixing the problem. Fixed!

Also our new logo is not yet live. Give us a few and it will be so! New logo is live!

Dream Forge Entertainment’s fast-paced arena vehicle shooter title Doom Rails has landed on Steam and is now available for purchase and download. The title is likened to Twisted Metal and Carmaggedon with its battle car gameplay. Specifically, players fly around on twisted run-down amusement park rides trying to destroy one another.

The game offers a single-player campaign with different objectives leading to the main goal of training for multiplayer matches. Once the leap is made to competitive mode–the game’s bread and butter–players will be involved in up to eight person games across five levels with nine customizable carts to choose from.

Doom Rails runs $9.99. A 30-minute playable demo is available independently of Steam via the developer’s site.

The one bummer about the recently released zero gravity FPS Shattered Horizon is the development team at Futuremark Games Studio don’t have any plans to release a playable demo for the high-end title. Fortunately through Steam they can offer something along the same lines.

Going by the title’s forums, all current Shattered Horizon players have or will be given three guest passes that they are free to share with anyone. The free guess pass enabled a Steam user to download and play the full version of the game for three days. I know at least one person who’s played the game, and I call immediate dibbs on one of his GP’s.

Don’t have a Shattered Horizon owning buddy? We have you covered with our giveaway of the game, as long as you get in before the November 20 deadline. Even if you don’t win, you can beg the lucky one who did for one of his/her golden tickets.

Developer Yullaby has announced the release of its casual puzzler Magnetis on Steam. The title offers up four person co-op and competitive gameplay where players connect magnets with matching attractions to cause electric explosions, resulting in massive chain reactions and higher multipliers.

Packing three solo modes and three multiplayer modes (Battle, Teamplay and Co-op) and boasting an old school 8bit-esque soundtrack, the frantic puzzler tests you to think quick and plan ahead, anticipating the connections that will result in the most points.

The game’s joining of Valve’s digital distribution hub marks the official US release following a PC and WiiWare release in the UK. Magnetis is available now for that smooth indie price of $5.

Have you been dying for a new, unique, and exhilarating online FPS? Well your in luck because we are giving away a single copy of Shattered Horizon, courtesy of Futuremark Game Studio! For those that don’t yet know, Shattered Horizon is a online first person shooter that takes place in Earth’s orbit. This means you are fighting in a zero-G environment. It’s something that rarely been done before and certainly not on this scale.

We recently gave our review of it and, while I may have got a couple points wrong in the review — my fault entirely — I largely came away with a good impression of the game.

So here’s how to enter!

• Follow us on Twitter, or become a fan on our Facebook fanpage. (Links also available on our toolbar below)
• If you do both you get two chances to enter.
• Fake Twitter accounts and Facebook accounts are not eligible. We will check.
• Available to US residents only and winner must have a Steam account (It’s free!).
• That’s it!

The winner will be randomly chosen next Friday the 20th. Good luck!

I’ve played a lot of FPS’s in my day. I was there when Wolfenstein 3D was first released and I was there when Quake brought us the first true multiplayer experience via the internet. I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to the FPS genre. That said, however, I don’t think I’ve ever played an FPS quite like Shattered Horizon before.

Shattered Horizon, by Futuremark Game Studio, is an online multiplayer FPS. While that may not impress some, I assure you that there’s one caveat that keeping Shattered Horizon on my daily list of “must plays”. You see, while standard multiplayer FPS games are quite common and range from good to bad, Shattered Horizon is the first I’ve ever played that gives you complete 360 degree motion through space. Something that makes sense within the context of the game considering you’re actually fighting in Earth’s orbit.

MStar Games announced the pending release of their new classic-style 3D space shooter and trading sim titled Space Pirates From Tomorrow. While the game is inspired by 80s titles, the developers wished to make note that they are not retro-crazy. Rather, they would like to pay an homage to the retro kind of game by creating something utilizing today’s superior technology.

Upon passing away, your great uncle leaves you his space ship as well as 1,000 credits. You must then journey to 6,000 star systems set over 1,200 light years. Combat, trading, mining, and doing missions are what the game is all about. MStar worked tirelessly for 14 months to ensure that the game will accommodate to the higher levels you achieve. You will be attacked by pirates and forced to defend your spaceship. Since there are so many things to do in the Space Pirates From Tomorrow, MStar claims it could easily be over 500 hours of gameplay. Best of all, the entirety of the game will be available in about 3 or so weeks for only 240 Microsoft Points ($3). For more info, check out the developer’s website.