Black Jacket Studios have just announced that their multiplayer shooter Metal Drift, which originally surfaced in 2009, is now relaunching with new features and bug fixes.

The game is available for $9.99 through Direct2Drive, Steam and GamersGate. For more information check out the game’s official site.

Here are the official changes and fixes that have popped up with the game’s relaunch:

Feature list:

• New account system – Allowing players to play each other on any PC platform.
• New Master Server – Faster, more reliable with more accurate player counts.
• New Tank Skins – Now identify players by rank.
• New East Coast and European dedicated servers – Low pings across the western world!

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed inaccurate player counts in servers.
• Fixed incorrect weapon bonus damage.
• Restored and fixed ‘Drakon Fire’ Steam achievement.
• Fixed collision issue with the ball bouncing off boost tunnels.
• Fixed ‘Team Fake’ boost color issue.

Misc. Changes:

• Added cockpit glass to the 1st person tank view.
• Reduced number of players necessary to record leader board stats from 6 to 4.

Here’s the trailer:

Alright, I’ve already spent over $80 on Steam games today. I’ve maxed out my limit, seriously. That said, however, I still have yet to even scratch the surface of the Steam Holiday sale. As such, I figured it would be fun to put together my top 10 indie games you should check out for this year’s holiday indie sale.

Keep in mind, these are of my personal opinion. I’m not basing these top 10 games off of score, pricing, or anything of that nature. Also this list is in no particular order.

Super Meat Boy – $3.75

This game released, literally, a few weeks ago. It is quite possibly a game the year contender for both myself and DIYGamer and, really, should be an instant purchase for anybody who doesn’t yet own the game. Seriously, it’s amazing.

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Metal Drift – $4.99

Released back in 2009, I”ve recently fallen back in love with this game’s unique multiplayer ‘splodey action. It’s a fast and furious gravity tank game that allows for a progressive leveling to assemble bigger and more bad ass weapons.

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The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom – $0.49

Some people didn’t care for this game, I loved it. It’s whimsical and very charming in that early 1900s sort of way. Plus at less than what a candy bar costs at the local super market? Easy choice.

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Zero Gear – $4.99

Zero Gear, in my opinion, was a better game than the newest Mario Kart. They have some fundamental differences, granted, but on a pure kart-game basis, I’d choose Zero Gear any day. It’s just plain ol’ fun.

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AI War: Fleet Command + expansions – $9.99+

Probably the most expensive game on my list but oh so worth it. Seriously, this game offers an incredible amount of depth for a fraction opf what it would cost elsewhere. And now it costs even a fraction of that! Solid choice for strategy fans.

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Delve Deeper – $2.49

Charming, hot seat action involving Dwarves mining for gold, fighting monsters/dragons and competing with other teams of Dwarves. Seriously, does it get any better than this? Not by much. A great strategy hot-seat game.

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Amnesia: The Dark Descent – $9.99

Does the phrase “scary as shit” mean anything to you? Pardon my language, but that’s literally the best way to describe this very, very frightening game. People willing to subject themselves to horrors such as this should definitely enjoy the sale.

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VVVVVV – $2.49

Another great action platformer in the same vein as Super Meat Boy, only this time your taking control of Captain Veridian as he attempts to save his ship mates from impending doom. It’s a challenging, but very satisfying game.

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Plain Sight – $4.99

Another fantastic multiplayer game that features none other than robot ninjas. Combined with some amazing 3D action and a few unique game modes Plain Sight is a great catch for anybody who’s looking for a new multiplayer game.

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AaAaAA!!! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity – $4.99

Last, but certainly not least, who can certainly not enjoy a game about base jumping and flippng people off? While the game is getting a little older, this is certainly one of the best first person indie experiences available today.

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Solid list if I do say so myself. Of course, don’t let this stop you from trying other indie games. There are a lot of really, really good games for sale this holiday season and chances are, even if none of these sound appealing to you, there’s something on Steam that you’ll really enjoy.

Happy holidays.

It’s an unusually fantastic weekend for indie sales, what’s unusual for us is that it all comes from one outlet. Yes, Steam is having one of its semi-annual blowout sales that sees the vast majority of games in the digital distributor’s catalog discounted somewhere between nice and blatantly absurd, including over 60 indie offerings. Let’s highlight some of the biggest and best, as well as some of the other sites (yes, there are other sales going on this weekend.) Another thing to note about the Steam sales, these go through the 4th of July, but there are also ridiculously cheap daily deals that we’ll have to miss here, though I must mention Galcon Fusion for $2.50 until tomorrow morning!

Out of the many offerings available, Sacraboar at 90% off would seem to take the cake, the well received $20 tile is now $2. Altitude is 66% off at $3.40, AI War carries the same 66% discount as does its expansion. Chains is 75% off at just $1.24, Invent4′s Bad Rats: the Rats Revenge is $0.95 down from $5. Puzzle game Quantz is $2.50 down from $10, Super Laser Racer is $1.25, the list goes on.

Looking to save a bundle on a bundle? Steam’s offering several at big discounts including:

Introversion Complete Pack for $5 (87% off) – Packs Darwinia, Multiwinia, Uplink and Defcon.

Action Indie Pack for $6.24 (75% off) – Packs Larva Mortus, Penguins Arena: Sedna’s World, RIP – Trilogy, Space Trader: Merchant Marine and Tank Universal.

Puzzle Indie Pack for $3.74 (75% off) – Packs Chains, Gumboy – Crazy Adventures, Obulis and Vigil: Blood Bitterness.

Northern Lights Indies for $20 (64% off) – Packs Blueberry Garden, Bob Came in Pieces, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Plain Sight and Saira. That’s a quality bundle of games right there.

Summer Indie Action Pack for $20 (60% off) – Packs Aaaah! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, Gridrunner Revolution, Metal Drift, Starscape and Zombie Driver.

Maybe most importantly Steam also offers 50% off on almost every big indie title you can think of over the past couple of years with titles including (just to name a few): Machinarium, Zeno Clash, Trine, Cogs, Eufloria, Gratuitous Space Battles, Time Gentleman/Ben There, Dan That and much more. If you were waiting for any of the various titles we mention on this site to go down in price its more than worth your time to browse through the list and pick up some wonderful games at amazing prices.

Impulse carries a lone independent sale with Zoetrope Interactive’s Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage for $18 instead of its standard $30, a 40% discount.

Direct2Drive also gets in the mix with Kerberos Productions Fort Zombie for 75% off, bringing the title down to $2.50.

Many, many indie games get released each year. Big ones, small ones, ones that suck, ones that are great. In fact, in some ways, the indie “industry” isn’t all that different from the mainstream video game industry. We have our superstar, sure-to-be-a-hit titles like: Torchlight, Machinarium, and Trine and then we have our sleeper hits like: I MAED A GAME WITH ZOMBIES!!!, JUMP! and Osmos. Finally, we also have our games that should have been a hit, but, for whatever reason, just seemed to slip through the cracks of the gaming world. Here are our top ten picks for 2009′s most under-appreciated titles:

Before I begin, allow me to simply state that I am, in no way, calling these titles a commercial failure. I don’t know the goals set out for these titles, nor do I know the final sales numbers. This list is largely based on my own opinion about games that should have been more appreciated but, ultimately, weren’t. For all I know, every single one of these titles could have been a commercial success.

There’s a reason why multiplayer games are so popular these days. They give a traditional game near-endless amounts of hours of entertainment after you’ve completed the main storyline — if in fact there even is one. However, while multiplayer may be wildly successful amongst the mainstream games — Halo 3, Call of Duty, Uncharted 2 — the same level of success does not necessarily translate over into the indie game.

Black Jacket Studios recently released their first game called Metal Drift. It’s a multiplayer, team-based future sports title that has you playing a “capture the ball” type of gameplay. The game is actually pretty good. In fact, you can read about it in our preview that we recently wrote. Unfortunately, after the launch while attempting to give a proper review I was never able to find anybody else online to play with. Therefor I’ve been constantly delaying the review.

Black Jacket Studios has announced the release of their futuristic vehicle combat title Metal Drift, now available on Steam. Additionally, a demo of the title has been released, giving a test drive of the game.

In the game, battles are had in high powered hover tanks (56 customizations in all) against one another, apparently for hover tank supremacy, that’s my kind of future.

The multiplayer slanted Metal Drift is out now for $12.50. Check out Geoff’s preview.

What do you get when you combine arena style gladiator matches with goal based objectives all set in the distant future with hover tanks? That’s right, Metal Drift! Your so clever!

Arena styled multipayer games are nothing new. I’ll be the first to say it, Metal Drift doesn’t really innovate in any way. What Metal Drift does do, however, is supply some fairly good arena multiplayer matches.

Metal Drift is set in the distant future where arena tank battles are the new sport and you, their newest sportsman. There are two teams (6 vs 6) in a no hold bar deathmatch to get the ball from the middle of the arena into the other teams goal. Think soccer, but with missiles, tanks, and… well… drifting.

Independent developer Black Jacket Studios will release their highly-anticipated vehicular combat sport game Metal Drift on October 22nd. The good news for Steam users is that there is a 20% off the price for pre-orders (making the price $9.99). Likewise, you will receive access to the Metal Drift beta.

The polished game features command of a futuristic hover tank in a sports arena. It requires gamers to utilize well-fashioned teamwork in order to complete objectives in intense multiplayer combat. Through experience, players will earn rewards such as power-ups, ranks, and weapons. With 56 possible tank configurations, the player’s preference is strongly at heart and therefore allows for what seems to be a very personalized selection. The game is also packaged with 18 Steam Achievements and Black Jacket promises to add more.