Whoa there? Linux as an actual, factual gaming platform? What kind of space aged, year 3000 world do we live in? The answer to that is an awesome one. Linux users today now have one awesome choice for gaming on their OS of choice and that option is Desura, the indie Steam-like alternative digital distribution service.

Each year I’m continually let down by the VGA indie nominations. Not because I feel like the games nominated didn’t deserve it. Last year’s picks were serviceable, in my opinion. However, for 2009 and 2010 I was always left wondering if all Spike really did when nominating a game was find the most popular games with the biggest media budgets and choose them based on that.

It’s difficult to argue against at this point as it’s increasingly likely that we’ll find our favorite indie games in a bundle of some sort, but could it be that the future of indie games and whether or not an indie game becomes successful depends on whether or not it is “bundled?”

It’s become an unfortunate side effect of the boom in mobile games distribution and the lack of IP checking and confirmation, but as we’ve seen in the past, it looks like more and more popular indie games are routinely getting “stolen” by developers looking to cash in on a quick buck from somebody else’s work. The latest victim? Kingdom Rush by Ironhide Games.

Living the life of Steve (the Minecraft guy) is not only filled with mining, crafting and generally surviving, but apparently it’s filled with a very posh lifestyle with VIP access, bodyguards and, of course, a personal jumbo-sized jet for travel. At least, that’s all according to the official MineCon trailer which premiered this morning… on YouTube.

Perhaps you have, or perhaps you haven’t heard of BlindSide: The Audio Adventure Video Game. If you have yet to, head over to the successfully funded, still open Kickstarter page to read a bit about the project and watch the video pitch. It caught my eye originally because of the concept’s unique nature–a game to be experienced identically by sighted and visually impaired players alike–but what caught both eyes was the fact that my good acquaintance Aaron Rasmussen was part of the tandem (along with Michael T. Astolfi) developing the no graphics episodic title.

Well I just had to talk to him about it, and lucky for us he was nice enough to respond in full to my laundry list of questions regarding the game. In the following interview we discuss the upcoming title’s survival horror elements, the challenges of developing a world that can’t be seen by its players, and overall sources of inspiration. Including Aaron’s own personal brush with blindness.

A few weeks ago we were treated to almost 600 IGF submissions and today, we get an additional 300-ish student entries. While many of these games are often smaller and more experimental there’s still quite a few gems to be had, including A Flipping Good Time (which I wrote about earlier today).

Coming as a surprise to nobody, it appears that Minecraft has gone on to sell its fourth million copy. This means that Notch has essentially made anywhere between $40,000,000 and $80,000,000 depending on the ratio of people who both the game at its varying intervals of prices. When I bought the game, for example, it was quite a bit cheaper than its current $21.95 price.

We previewed a lot, dare I say a butt-load, of games at IndieCade last month. Playing fantastically weird indies wasn’t the only thing to do though, there was also a lot of discussion going on. We were able to stop by a couple of the panels going on throughout the festival with camera in tow, and are please to be able to pass them along here.

Below are a trio of videos that make up this year’s Well-Played Session II Panel, which included Phil Fish and Hye Yeon Nam going over various development aspects of their respective titles Fez and Kiss Controller. (Special Thanks to the IndieCade folks for allowing us to record!)

By: Mike Phillips

As with all things, pitching your game to people goes a lot better with a little know how and some extra effort. Below we cover 12 tips for talking to the press about your game.

Pitch to the right people

Not everyone will care about your game. Certain sites focus on XBLA, other on iPhone apps. Rock Paper Shotgun focusses on PC gaming. And they don’t read releases about games that aren’t on the PC. Make sure you’re pitching to the right people. And don’t forget the little guys, the smaller blogs and online magazines. They may not drive as much traffic, but every little helps and every link will boost your SEO.