Itatake have now submitted Pebble Universe to the App Store and are just awaiting the thumbs up, until then you should certainly check out this charming little game – there’s even a sneak peek at some gameplay in here!At first impressions, Pebble Universe didn’t really stand out to me. I mean, that title doesn’t really get me enthralled, as it were. Investigating further I find some art for the game and then the cutest little pebble creatures I have ever set my eyes upon. I had no idea rocks could be so adorable.What did it was the story trailer below. The outline of the game is that these pebble creatures are being eaten by the soot-like winged buggers from above

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.

As far as sales pitches go, T-17 Tanky walks a fine, charming line between brutal honesty and comedy. The trailer bills it as a ‘High fidelity made up tank simulation! Ballistics! Locational damage! Melons! My first game! Immersive universe for up to 1 players! Everything looks like a polygon! Airplanes? Game of a year!’.  And all that is completely true. And that’s exactly why you should be paying attention right now.

As you can see from the delightful teaser trailer above. T-17 Tanky is an odd bird, about even odder birds. Cute, round ones that hate evil rats and love watermelon, and seemingly are quite adept in the art of driving modern armored vehicles. The birds currently get an arsenal based around modern American hardware, while the rats get a variety of cold war-knockoff Russian army surplus, trading toughness and technology for numbers and tenacity.

Currently available in alpha-funded preorder form over at 8-Bit Funding, this bizarre hybrid of cartoon whimsy and gritty armored warfare simulation hopes to raise $1000 capital in order to develop into a game of persistent campaign-based land and air warfare with cute cartoon animals. If you put down $10 now, you’re promised access to development builds along the way, as well as the final product (which is estimated to be priced at around $30 when complete). I reckon I might just do that after playing a few rounds of the current pre-alpha test build.

While not a brutally realistic real high-end simulation, the sacrifices made in the name of accessibility feel logical. While the developer recommends a gamepad, you can play the game straight away with just your WSAD keys (throttle and steering), mouse to aim, LMB to fire, RMB to zoom, MMB to turn on rangefinder-aided elevation assistance, and your mousewheel to cycle weapon and ammo types. Despite the initial simplicity, armor is simulated quite well, with shells deflecting if they don’t have the power to penetrate, and systems damage taking its toll on vehicles over the course of a battle. There’s no campaign right now, although you can stage your own battles across several maps using all the vehicles in the current build, so there’s a fair amount of playtime to be found even in the current version.

It’s an unusual, fun and accessible take on the military simulation genre, and well worth a look. Try out the demo, and see whether it tickles your fancy. For a ‘My first game’ project, it’s already addictive, solid fun.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Don’t ask me who exactly… just they. Well, whoever they are must have really influenced indie developers Frozen Software, the developers of the recent Xbox Live Indie Game: Angry Fish, a game which is essentially Angry Birds but with fish and cats instead of birds and pigs.

So, I’m not really one to judge developers for copying features from other games. I believe it’s a fundamental part of the industry and it’s how we are able to have so many great games. After all, isn’t every FPS today really just a copy of id’s Wolfenstein 3D and Doom? We copy, we improve, and people either enjoy or don’t enjoy the products. Such is the way of game development. But Angry Fish might have taken the whole “copy/paste” idea a little too extreme. Even the graphics and, yes, promotional art is very reminiscent of Rovio’s mobile classic. All they seemingly did was replace the sling shot with a cannon, the birds with fish and the pigs with cats.

But it’s really no surprise that somebody would see the kind of success Angry Birds has had and attempt to copy it to the Xbox 360. After all, there is no official Angry Birds for the Xbox 360 yet. So perhaps they just saw a market opening…

If you were ever looking for a game like Angry Birds to play on your Xbox 360, this might be your best and only chance for the foreseeable future.

Angry Fish is 80 MS points and is now available on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel.

[Xbox]

There was also a much larger Develop Awards ceremony encompassing all sizes of companies in the game industry. This year, DIY is happy to report that indies took many of the awards.

Minecraft and its developer Mojang Specifications won three honors (New Studio, Micro Studio, and New Download IP) and Rovio (indie turned indie superstar with Angry Birds) was named best Handheld Studio and also collected the ultimate accolade of the show: the Grand Prix. Finally, Playdead’s Limbo won the Visual Arts honor.

What’s even more impressive is that these indies beat out huge AAA finalists. For instance, Limbo’s visual arts were chosen over Crysis 2 and and Killzone 3. Way to go, Playdead! The New Download IP was basically a battle of upper echelon indies: Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games), Dead Nation (Housemarque), Hydroventure (Curve Studios), Limbo (Playdead), Minecraft (Mojang Specifications), Tiny Wings (Andreas Illiger). All of thee titles were extremely exceptional.

I especially encourage gamers to try Curve’s Hydroventure or (Fluidity in the US), though I imagine the WiiWare only platform restricts a good amount of DIY’s audience from playing it. Compared to the other titles, this game hasn’t received as much press, and I imagine it’s because of the platform. Ok, shameless Curve plug incoming:

What’s the main point? Indie games are taking over the world? Maybe not yet, but thanks to new distribution methods on computers, smart phones, and consoles, indies and their creations are increasingly going toe-to-toe with the big chums and even delivering a few knock-out blows.

Everybody’s favorite bird-slinging mobile game received a large update on the Android mobile OS today with the total amount of levels increasing to an astounding 195, up from 150 originally. I’m not sure how many levels come with the paid iOS version of the game but it seems like Android users are definitely getting the better end of the stick on this game. Free with updates? Yes please.

In additional Angry Birds news, the developers, Rovio Mobile, have announced that QVGA phones are now able to play the game. Previously they were not able to. For those who don’t know what QVGA is, it’s typically a smaller touch-capacitive screen used on devices less than 3 inches.

That’s all. Enjoy your daily dose of Angry Birds.

[Rovio Mobile]

Good news for those of us who are packing Android devices instead of iWinBerries, as it looks like our version of Angry Birds is coming to us as a completely free version. Of course, the hook is that we’ll get ads instead, still though, I think I prefer it that way.

In any case, the developers emailed me early this morning to let me know that the complete Android Angry Birds version is now available for download via something called GetJar. I guess it’s an app store that’s not the official app store or something. You can download it from there right now, although, Rovio did say the game would be making it’s way toward to traditional Android Market soon. If I download it, I think I’ll just wait for it to land there.

Which leads me to my own opinion of the game: I don’t quite understand why it’s so popular. Bar none, Angry Birds has become the most popular mobile OS game since the release of the modern smart phone. People seem to love it beyond everything else, but I just don’t see why it has reached that caliber. It’s alright, I suppose, but I’ve probably played a dozen games that were similar in concept or gameplay and they never massed a huge fanbase because, well, the gameplay gets kind of stale after a while.

To each their own I guess.

Download Angry Birds via the GetJar app store now.

[GetJar, Rovio Mobile]

It’s an all avian affair this morning on DIYgamer.com as the fine folks at Rovio Mobile have let me know that the “Beta 2″ version of the Angry Birds Android beta has now hit unsuspected Android devices this morning.

I can’t find any hard information on just what is new in this beta version does, but, if I had to wager a guess, I’d say it’s merely a more stable version that allows a greater range of Android devices to now play the game without any hiccups. We can’t all own amazing Nexus One phones after all (my phone).

Anyway, the beta 2 is now available to download if you have yet to pick up the game, or if you picked it up prior and immediately removed it due to your phone’s inability to play. If you do already have it installed then you’ll have to manually update the game.

Enjoy!

QR Code

Speaking of great Android games, I figured now would be a nice time to let all of our Android regulars know that the incredibly popular iOS game Angry Birds now has a beta version available on the Android Market, for free.

I haven’t played the game too extensively yet, but from what I can tell it seems to be a pretty good port. The graphics (on my Nexus One) are fantastic and the game runs fairly smooth.

Anyway, the beta version is out right now. Have at it and let us know what you think. With all these great Android games coming out it seems like brighter future lie ahead for our choice of mobile OS.

[Rovio]

QR Code:

To those of us who have opted for Google’s smart phone flavor — as opposed to Apple’s — we are finally getting one of the iOS’s biggest games ever: Angry Birds. Now, the game will eventually be available for sale on Google’s Android Market, however, before it can hit the market Rovio is putting the game through its paces by offering up a beta version.

Of course, the catch is that this beta isn’t simply going to be available to anybody who just wanders over to download it. There’s a list, a procedure, a waiting period… Basically, you have to go register your email, name, and Android device over at Rovio’s website to get an official invitation. It only takes a few minutes though so, if you’re interested, check it out!

The beta, as with most betas, will be free of charge.

[Register]

You know, we really don’t talk about Sony’s PSP Mini service enough. Despite being ripe with indie games, for some reason we’ve just been completely oblivious to the happenings going on over there for some time now. But don’t worry, we are working on remedying that content gaf very soon. In the mean time, we do have some choice news for anybody curious as to what all this Angry Birds nonsense is.

Developed by Rovio Mobile, an independent developer that focuses on mobile games (primarily Symbian and iOS), Angry Birds is a fun “flinging” type game where your object is to use various types of birds to knock over structures. The game is quite addictive and is, surprisingly, much more difficult that you’d imagine it would be.

Now, with the help of publisher Chillingo, it looks like the game is heading to Sony’s PSP Mini channel where the game will be available on the millions of PSPs sold around the world.

Angry Birds currently sits at the top of the iOS charts and shows no indication of slowing down in the near future.

No word yet on price, but if Angry Birds follows other iOS to PSP ports, then you can expect the title to be anywhere from two to four times the iOS cost.