Europeans hold off your jealousy from now and forever! Nicalis has announced that the platformer VVVVVV will be hitting the European 3DS eShop on May 10th.

Despite landing on the US 3DS eShop way back on December 29th, VVVVVV still isn’t available on the European version of the online store. However, with this simple tweet, cheers were ignited across Europe. Well, probably not.

But anyway, Nicalis has announced some good news for European 3DS owners, as you can see in that tweet, VVVVVV will be coming to the European 3DS eShop on May 10th. How do we know that’s what that tweet means? Well, apart from the obvious styling of thew tweet, it is a follow up to this one which said:

“VVVVVV passed NOE’s submission process. We’re a couple of weeks out @terrycavanagh Congratulations!”

More information on VVVVVV can be found on the game’s official website.

Indie game developer and icon, Mr. Terry Cavanagh who you’ll most likely know for VVVVVV has started up a new blog that aims to highlight the freeware games that he finds interesting.

It took Cavanagh a little while to find an appropriate domain name, one that was suitable and not already take, but he eventually settled on freeindiegam.es. Cavanagh has already posted a few things on there, mostly it seems he’s going for a simple picture with a sentence and a link to download the game – appropriate really when games should be experienced.

Obviously all of the games he will be posting up there will be free but knowing Cavanagh’s taste, they’re bound to be games that push the envelope, have something to say or are just interesting in a way that not many other games are. Certainly, his picks so far reflect this. Anna Anthropy’s dys4ia, Kyratzes’ The Fabulous Screech and Vlambeer’s Yeti Hunter being examples of this. We’ll be keeping an eye on what freeware titles Cavanagh must share as we, as you would expect, share an interest in a game that is both “free” and “interesting”.

Just to remind you again, the site you’ll want to head over to for Cavanagh’s freeware pick is freeindiegam.es – how can you not remember that?

What’s this? We’re talking about a musical album here on DIYGamer? I know! It’s weird, right? But I think this particular album has a special place in many gamers’ and indie gamers’ collective hearts as this is the same guy who did the wonderful soundtrack for VVVVVV which was widely lauded for its music.

Here’s a post-holiday Christmas present for you all, Terry Cavanagh’s fantastic retro-styled platformer is set to arrive on Nintendo’s 3DS handheld in just a few days time. No longer will Captan Viridian be stuck on your PCs screen, immobile.

Crikey! As if the Humble Indie Bundle couldn’t get any better it appears that the guys running the thing have just thrown everything they’ve got into the Humble Indie Bundle 4 to make it a bit more appealing to those who have yet to splurge on the package.

Silly sale season continues with this Black Friday (move fast!) bonus – the Indie Game Music Bundle. 10 great videogame original and remixed soundtracks by some of the best in the business, including Danny B, Hyperduck Soundworks, Virt and Souleye, all available for whatever you want (starting at $1) with another 7 (!) bonus albums thrown in if you pay $10 or more. And the best part of it all? It’s all digital, so you don’t have to be trampled by crazy people to get it! Unless you like that sort of thing.

Weirdo.

As some of you might have noticed, it’s Thanksgiving! At least, it is in America. I’m fairly sure it’s ‘mooch off of American holiday sales season’ for the rest of the world, and mooch we will! As of about five minutes ago, it’s Day 2 of the Steam Autumn/Thanksgiving sale, and there’s another set of 24-hour indie essentials to grab. Move fast – they probably won’t be this cheap again for… ooh, at least another month, when the inevitable massive Christmas/Winter/New Year sale rolls round. Indie choices of the day and some short thoughts on them after the break.

Everybody’s favourite gravity flipping tough-as-nails platformer has got a new patch on the way, with a selection of new content and features, expanding what was already a complete package. Here’s what to expect with the next version of VVVVVV.

Santa is going to have to be working overtime to make this coming Christmas seem anywhere near noteworthy. The past month or two has seen a chain of Humble Bundles, Indie Royales and more dumping dozens of great discounted indie games on us. Now, indie co-operative Show Me The Games is hosting a 21 game sale for the next two weeks. Check it out.

After waiting patiently for nearly two days, Terry Cavanagh was finally alone. A slight reprieve had finally occurred in the single-file onslaught of adoring fans, aspiring developers, and fascinated media (full disclosure: I am all three) that seemed to be perpetually conversing with the popular indie developer. I had a seam, and took it: “Hey Terry, I’m Erik Johnson from DIYGamer. We met basically one year ago. I heard there was going to be a preview build of VVVVVV on 3DS here.”

The energetic, yet soft-spoken Irishman recognized me after a moment, and produced a 3DS from his shirt pocket. I laughed at my presumptions of how the demo display of his port would be set-up, then focused-in to play one of my favorite (and most frustrating) PC titles on a handheld device.

Terry mentioned the build was close to finished, with just a few bugs to work out. I played for about 15 minutes, escaping out of the first puzzle area in the game to Captain Viridian’s ship. I then enjoyed a tour of the overworld, past a giant crying elephant, and eventually to another puzzle area. Everything looked and felt beautiful as far as I was concerned. The persistent map on the bottom screen is just a perfect match as well for exploring the world map area for teleporters and, of course, shiny things. Perhaps most important of all, the original soundtrack by Souleye is there in all of its glory.

Other than that, there’s really not much to say here. It’s all the greatness of PC/Mac/Linux VX6 right there on Nintendo’s latest handheld. It’s a spot-on port of the game from what I looked at, and once publisher Nicalis launches it on the 3DS eShop it’ll simply be a must have for anyone with access to the service. What of the post-launch content though?

That part appears a bit muddy at the moment. Terry was adamant that the 3DS version was entirely in Nicalis’ hands and out of his own, especially when it came to that topic when I pressed him about it. It looks like where it goes from release is anyone’s guess at this point it appears. We do know that the features list for the port includes “future content updates”, but what content that exactly will be is at the moment a mystery. One wonders if any of the player-created content content from the PC version could make it over the 3DS. Wait and see for now.

Here’s my thumbs running around old hunting grounds. The controls definitely feel just as tight as they are on the PC. (When I mess up, it’s definitely my fault):