Great news for Android game developers today as a report by Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE) has concluded that between the months of January and February the gaming market on the platform grew by an astounding 50% in terms of revenue. That means actual apps bought, not freebie downloads.

Gaming revenue paid out to developers by Google are estimated to be about $900,000. Still a fairly low ball number in comparison to the iPhone App Store, but the fact that it’s increased by $300,000 means a lot to both the developers and to Google.

Additionally, the report adds that the gaming market has had huge growth on the service so far in 2010 with 1200 new titles being added in just two months. Broken down that’s 20 games every day.

Here’s the breakdown for highest selling games:

1. Robo Defense – 24,000 downloads
2. SNESoid
3. NESoid
4. GamBoid
5. Fishin’ 2 Go – 16,000 downlaods

In other Android news (i.e. not gaming related but still interesting anyways) the report found that approximately 289,000,000 apps have been downloaded off of Android thus far.

All around some good news for a service that boasts primarily indie games. Good job Google!

The nominations have been listed since January, but it wasn’t until this very evening that the awards and prizes were handed out. There really isn’t a bad game in all of the selections, so it’s tough to break out one from another. I’ll be continuing my previews of all of these titles for the next few days, so feel free to ask away if you have any questions about them. But fresh from the Awards Show, here are your 2010 IGF Winners:

Best Student Game
Continuity (Read our interview with the developers)

Technical Excellence
Limbo

Excellence in Design
Monaco (Read our brief, recent preview)

Excellence in Audio
Closure

Excellence in Visual Art
Limbo

Nuovo Award
Tuning

Audience Award
Heroes of Newerth

Direct2Drive Vision Award
Max and the Magic Marker

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Monaco (Read our brief, recent preview)

Feel that any of your favorites were robbed? Let us know. It’s a tough call unless you’ve played them all.

Just in case you haven’t read our GDC coverage on what the guys over at Dejobaan Games are up to, I figured I’d lay out a prime piece of news for you right here in the open. Ichiro and Leo, from Dejobaan, have confirmed that their popular indie hit: Aaaaaa! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity is coming to the iPad.

What this means exactly? Can’t say, although our own Peter Eykemans did get a chance to check out the iPhone version of the game where by you stand up right and look down at your iPhone, using tilt controls to control your fall. I’m assuming this will be similar to the iPad version but with a higher resolution and larger screen… Whoa I’m almost getting a sense of vertigo just by thinking about it.

By the way, did you know that we are giving away ten copies of this game for the PC right now? Check out our super cool forum contest for more details!

P.S. I’d like to thank Dejobaan for providing an excellent argument against my recent editorial on how crappy iPad gaming will be. Touche’ guys, touche’.

We’ve reviewed AAAaaa! and have been in close contact with Dejobaan games in their series of nominations at both the Indie Game Challenge and here at the Independent Games Festival. We’re even giving away 10 copies of their hit game in our forum contest.

So while they’re showing the game here at IGF, I wasn’t quite ready for what they were showing. I met up with Leo and Ichiro on the show floor, where they casually threw out the fact that AAAaaa is coming to the iPhone and the iPad. They had a playable build of their iPhone version, which isn’t complete just yet. I must say, it’s strangely compelling in a way the PC version never can be.

Imagine standing up straight and staring downward at your iPhone’s screen. You slide yourself off the top of the building with your fingertip, and then the tilt controls take over. So here you are, peering downward into a simulation of plummeting from the top of a tall building. I found myself immersed in the experience, having to blink myself back to the show floor at the end of each run. This sense of immersion, of falling into the phone, excited me to the idea of being able to play the title on an iPad. It could be an experience that triggers a players’ vertigo by simulating the true elevation and speed of falling, really falling. I’ll admit that the tilt controls are more difficult than a mouse and keyboard, but the perspective alone makes the switch worth it.

Ichiro also hinted at what’s next for them. They’re working on their rhythm title [double check, I think it's called OOOM OOM OOM OOM] which allows players to create their own music based on the elements in the game (which plays similar to AaaAAAa), rather than follow a set pattern of preordained notes. Their project beyond that is a mystery to me. It involves math and “making math your bitch.” That’s enough of a selling point for me.

We’ll keep you posted on all the news surrounding these new versions of AAAaaaAA as info is available.

The show floor at the IGF is a mess of people, all scrambling to play these top notch indies, so it often takes a few minutes to snag a spot playing. I found a gap in the action to talk to Andy Schatz, the one man force behind the Grand Prize and Design nominated title Monaco.

He’d been running the preview with groups of single or double players, but we managed to line up a four player demo. Oddly enough, I ended up playing alongside Luke Schneider of Radiangames, who Arsen just mentioned recently. Each player chooses a class, which range from specializing in hacking, neutralizing guards, smoke bombs, seeing through walls, and other unique characteristics. No two players can choose the same class. At present, there appeared to be four playable classes and at least four locked classes remaining to be revealed.

I ended up running the class who could use smoke bombs to evade capture, and we were soon infiltrating a mansion in search of the trophy prize.

Andy suggested the best route is to play remaining together, but being new to the game, we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Cliches aside, this is literally the best description of our ability to play Monaco. The players are differentiated by four colors, set forth in the beautiful basics: red, blue, green and yellow. We stormed through doorways, hid in closets, operated toilets (a pointless, yet hilarious addition), and managed to die several times. Any team member can revive a dead comrade, so there is incentive to remain close to each other and avoid danger. We snuck from room to room, collected coins for valuable points, terrified the mansion’s maid staff, and avoided guards who bring a swift death to your small, pixellated character.

The layout is reminiscent of Gauntlet, though rather than storming into a fray of bad guys, Monaco wants you to avoid them. Its simplistic graphics break it down to the basics, leaving you focused on the job at hand. They’re simple, yet show everything they need. The game is about stealth and teamwork, using your class skills to the best of your ability.
From my short time with the title, it’s sure to be the kind of game that grows on players as they get better and better at utilizing their abilities and working together. Without the developer’s guidance, we would have been corpses littering the hallway of a large mansion, with no glorious treasure to call our own.

Andy’s only been working on the game for a couple of months, and it’s impressive to see how far it’s come. But at the same time, it’s still a ways out from becoming available. That said, if you like playing with friends, Monaco is something to keep an eye on.

The iPad, Apple’s new love toy, was recently announced as the next “boon” for Apple, now that they’ve successfully penetrated the phone and mobile gaming market. Naturally, like almost every company, they are thinking bigger, better, faster, and more powerful for their newest device, which not only promises to be a step in between a phone and a laptop, but is also promising to be a great new portable gaming device.

Well, I’m hear to tell you that’s probably not going to happen. And the simple reason lies within our cover picture above (click to enlarge).

Before I explain, I will say that Apple has definitely proven themselves in the gaming market. They took their iPod line and launched something that I never, ever expected, a true portable gaming system that could not only match Sony and Nintendo, but could actually beat them in many ways. It truly is remarkable how gaming adept the iPhone and iPod Touch are.

Now fast forward to the release of the iPad. Apple’s newest can play all the same games that the iPod Touch can — despite a bit of pixelation — so this should be seen as a boon for the device right? Not really. You see, on damn near every game I’ve ever played on my iPod Touch I’ve held the device in a certain way. If it was a multi-touch game I would hold the device much like this:

In fact, it’s pretty much the same way I hold my PSP. If it’s a single touch interface then I’d hold the device with a single hand with the other handling all touch movements, similar to the way I hold a DS, actually. Like so:

This method of control works when using a mobile gaming device because… well they are small, lightweight, and have their weight evenly distributed. If even one of these things weren’t true gaming on these devices would not be preferential, it would be annoying.

Now let’s re-examine the iPad. While I can’t really comment on the weight, or weight distribution of the device, I can tell you right now that the size is absolutely not optimized for gaming. Take another look at our cover picture — beg pardon for the sloppy Photoshop job. As you can see that’s a person’s hands wrapped around the iPad in a similar function as what somebody would do with the iPhone/iPod Touch. Now if that person were holding an iPhone/iPod Touch their thumbs (the two primary modes of interaction with many games on the service) would be able to touch any part of the screen. This enables many games to have a fully functioning user interface that allows for advanced controls, menus, and buttons that otherwise wouldn’t be possible without.

Now apply that same idea to the iPad (as pictured) and you’ll instantly notice that the thumbs now only have access to the bottom two corners of the device. Worse still, if the game is a one-handed game (ala Peggle or Plants vs. Zombies) you are then stuck holding a 10 inch device with a single device. Now, I don’t care if the device weighs less than a pound, it’s going to be awkward and uncomfortable to hold. It’s simple logistics, really.

Now some of you may be thinking: “well what about games that are made exclusively for the iPad?” Games that really take hold of the power of the iPad and include these same logistics to make for a better ease of gaming. That’s a good argument. Games tailor-made for the iPad will probably address these issues and at that point it won’t be such an issue, however, how many of these games do you really think will exist?

Apple is promising developers the ability to have their games spread across the already wildly popular iPhone/iPod Touch platform as well as the iPad. While iPad development may eventually get to the point where developing exclusively for that system may be worthwhile, the allure of 20+ million more units is hard to ignore. Bottom line, even future games that come out for the platform won’t have much of a reason to not optimize their game for the iPhone/iPod Touch given the much larger market penetration and userbase.

I’m not saying there won’t be a few games exclusive to the iPad that won’t be jaw droppingly awesome, but I am saying that, for the most part, iPad gaming will not live up to Apple’s expectation. It’s the same basic reason why we don’t see a DS with a 10 inch screen or a PSP with a 10 inch screen. At some point, mobile gaming becomes more than a hassle than it’s worth.

Of course, I’m not clairvoyant. If I missed something, or if you know something I don’t then drop a line in the comments. I read em all!

Indie studio Incubator Games is looking for feedback on the concept  art for their upcoming puzzle adventure game, Tribes of Mexica. Tribes uses the mythology and history of Mesoamerica as the setting for a new combat-heavy puzzle game. Players will travel Mesoamerica, help the Nahua tribe, and fight mythical beasts and gods.

Incubator has four competing designs for boss Cipactli, an Aztec crocodile monster. Here’s one version:

Head over to their site to check out the rest of the concept art and cast your vote.

In a brief interview with The Rumble Pack, Torchlight CEO Max Schaefer has confirmed a very juicy detail concerning their recently released action RPG, Torchlight (which we were quoted on the retail box, btw). Now I don’t want to go raising any hopes or anything, but in the interview Max has basically confirmed that Torchlight will be coming to consoles in the future. I believe his exact words were: “We are definitely moving in that direction.”

Anything could happen, of course. This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard of a great PC game being promised to come over to the consoles and then just never show up. But the fact that they seem to have a plan in motion to get this port started makes it seem like it’s a definite possibility.

You may be wondering why I’m making such a huge deal out of this. Well allow me to start by saying that, while I love action RPGs and I love gaming on my PC, I’ve always felt like that particular knd of RPG experience has been tailor made to work with a console controller (360 or PS3… no thank you Wii). I can just imagine now, sitting on my couch, and sinking oh so many hours into what I believe is the spiritual successor to Diablo 2.

Good times… now make it happen!

[Listen viat The Rumble Pack, read our own review of Torchlight!]

In celebration of the announcement that Electronic Arts will be publishing Klei Entertainment’s highly anticipated violent 2D brawler, Shank, the developer has revealed a brand new and gruesome trailer for the upcoming title. Shank will be released to the XBLA, PSN, and PC this summer and will also be available on the GDC showroom floor from tomorrow until Saturday (March 11-13). The exact time and location is listed below in their press release.

Unfortunately, I’m unable to embed the video but the gameplay trailer is truly something to behold. Therefore, I encourage anybody over 17 and even remotely interested in the title to check out the new gameplay trailer here.

What: Coming out of last week’s exciting announcement of a publishing deal with EA Partners to bring Shank to XBLA, PSN and PC this summer, Klei Entertainment released a video of its upcoming 2D cinematic brawler today, showcasing new levels, new moves and new bosses coming to the game.

This video supports its showing at this year’s Game Developer Conference in San Francisco, Calif. March 11-13, 2010. As one of the 2010 Independent Game Festival (IGF) finalists (and recognized for its excellence in “Visual Art”), Shank will be on display at the IGF Pavilion during regular Expo Hall hours.

When: New video available Monday, March 8, 2010
GDC demonstrations running Thursday, March 11 through Saturday, March 13, 2010

Where: Shank game kiosk in the IGF Pavilion, GDC Expo Hall (South Hall), Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Calif. during the following hours:

Thursday, March 11 10am-6pm
Friday, March 12 10am-6pm
Saturday, March 13 10am-3pm

If you’re a stranger to the indie gaming community, then Tale of Tales–comprised of leads Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn–is a developer worth knowing. If you’re not a stranger, then chances are you know exactly who Tale of Tales is and just how obscure their titles can be (flash back to October 2009 with Geoff announcing Fatale). After releasing an iPhone/iPod Touch exclusive title in Vanitas, Tale of Tales has now released The Graveyard–two years after its original release on PC and Mac OSX.

The Graveyard is a short game in which players take control of an elderly woman walking through a cemetery. Yup, that’s about all the game entails but obviously there is a lot more to uncover in the actual experience.

“The Graveyard offers a player the opportunity to imagine themselves in a certain situation. It’s not a game in the sense that there is a way to win or lose or a puzzle to solve, or even a story to uncover. But the interaction does immerse you in a virtual world filled with narrative, an equally powerful feature of the medium of videogames. The iPhone version of The Graveyard is the same as the PC version. Only a few elements have been removed or simplified to allow it to run on the iPhone hardware. But the fact that you hold the game in your hand and touch it with your finger, adds to the sensation of fragility and preciousness.”

- creators Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn

The Graveyard is available on the App Store for $1.99. As with the PC/Mac versions, there are both a lite and full version available. According to the developer, the only feature that the full version adds is the possibility of death. For a gameplay video on PC, check out the following.