It seems like when a high profile indie game gets released there is always some scrutiny about it’s price point. Take Braid, as an example, when that game first launched at it’s 1200 points ($15) there were many vocal gamers who guffawed at the price. Likewise, there seems to be an invisible barrier for all indie games where, after a certain price point, they just aren’t worth it anymore. But just what determines these price points? Who sets that limit?

Machinarium was released yesterday for the price of $20, a steal if you ask me. It was one of the most delightful games I’ve played this year (read our review). The artwork was fantastic, the story was amazing, the puzzles were challenging, and it gave me about 8-10 hours of gaming. There’s little more I could have asked for from the game especially considering it’s relatively low price point.

Linux has always been the other, other OS. By that I mean it’s never really gained any prominence amongst the mainstream consumer. Sure, Ubuntu has paved the way to a better, more user friendly OS, but, by and large, the average consumer would still prefer Windows or OSX. Of course, many Linux users probably prefer it this way; after all, if Linux were to ever become as popular as Windows/OSX then it’d need to become more like them… more “dumbed-down” so to say.

Of course, being such an elite OS comes with drawbacks of it’s own, namely gaming. Gaming on Linux is a difficult process and even if a game does work, it still requires a few tricks here and there to get it fully up and running. This may be one reason why indie gaming has the potential to do so well on a Linux system as long as the game was made for it.

It’s a funny thing; when you release a digital marketplace in this day and age and provide little restrictions as to just what can be uploaded you get content that may not have been originally intended for the platform. Case and point: Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG).

Microsoft launched XBLIG as Xbox Live Community Games in late 2008 and was designed as a way to give small-time indie developers a true digital distribution channel without having to go through the horrors that are ESRB rating and certification. Basically, Microsoft let loose a free XNA development platform and left the review process up to the community to decide what should stay and what should go.

It wasn’t long ago that nobody really knew what an indie game was. The early parts of this decade was a ghost town for indie developers. Think about it for second; there was no mainline distribution channel, next to zero digital distribution services, and even blogs, which accounts for it’s fair share of video game journalism, hadn’t yet become a prominent medium for journalism and reviews. Suffice it to say, if you were an indie developer just seven or eight years ago you were facing a serious uphill battle.

Sony wouldn’t talk to you. Nintendo wouldn’t talk to you. Microsoft wouldn’t talk to you. It was a major league game and the only place you were allowed to play was in your own backyard.

It’s no surprise that multiplayer is booming in the industry. It provides a unique experience that’s very hard to copy from match to match due to the ability of other gamer’s being able to adapt to your strategy. It’s the ultimate “hunt” so to say. But this trend of supplying multiplayer in every major release has begun to have an unintended side effect; the dwindling experience of the single player. As more and more major titles hedge their bets that the multiplayer will be what sells their title we’ll continue to see less single player games attached.

Normally, as an avid gamer who wants to be engaged in a story, this would worry me. Multiplayer is fun, but nothing can live up to the experience of a damn good story. I’m not worried, however, because I see the booming horizon of the indie gaming scene rising up to task to fulfill the single player void missing from more and more industry games.

Sony recently released their brand new PSP Go system, a mild upgrade from the PSP 3000 that features downloadable only games, including the new “Mini” platform for smaller titles (less than 100mb each). My first thought upon hearing about this new service was that it would be perfect for indie developers who are just looking for a different place to distribute their game. I mean, after all, who wouldn’t want to create a portable game? Plenty of indie devs make games for the PC and Xbox Live’s Indie Games section, so it may seem to help you stand out from the pack a little bit if you were able to get your game onto Sony’s popular handheld system.

Unfortunately, it’s just not that easy…

Like with Hollywood, and the recording industry it has become increasingly harder to tell what counts as an independent game. Especially when there are so many big-time game corporations (EA, Activision, THQ, etc.) always scavenging to find the next big craze and capitalize on it. It makes sense for them. Why pay people to come up with a brilliant idea before it’s even tested when you can simply find the best indie games out there and offer the designer a once in a lifetime dream opportunity in exchange for their game? Indie games can draw large flocks of people, despite their relatively small distribution network, and it’s when one of these games “makes it” that the big companies begin to take notice of a possible acquisition target.

Anyways, seeing as how we are an indie games blog, it’d probably be best for us to lay down exactly what we believe is an independent game. This way you won’t ever have to wonder why some games get mentioned and why others do not, or why we may drop coverage of a certain title (in case of a buy-out). Anyways on to the list!