Face-Plant Adventures is a platform game with puzzle elements in which development started in 2011 as a side project the title has come a long way since its humble beginning the other year. Coming from being the finalist in Dream Build Play 2012 to the Xbox Live Marketplace by the indie developer Oddworm Games. Check out the brand new launch trailer below to start to get a feel what Face-Plant Adventures is all about:

Face-Plant Adventures looks to of shaped up to be a nice puzzle platformer  with some interesting elements, you play through the game as this strange looking plant creature on a mission to traverse this unforgiving landscape. The levels are all beautifully hand drawn with a constant eerie tone set over the top making for some very beautiful and highly atmospheric gameplay.

Face-Plant Adventures contains 11 challenging levels in the adventure mode tasking the player to solve tricky switch puzzles and retrieving the lost golden leaves. The game also has the selection of three difficulty settings allowing the players of all skill level to still enjoy this crazy puzzle platformer.

Face-Plant Adventures looks to be a worthy addition to the Xbox Live marketplace adding another great title. Face-Plant Adventures is the debut title from the German team Oddworm Games and hopefully will be the first in a long line of great titles released by them. If you are interested in Face-Plant Adventures check it out on the Xbox Live marketplace here or on your console.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – New Release ‘Face-Plant Adventures’ Hits the Xbox Live Marketplace

Ronimo Games have announced the PSN and XBLA release dates for their upcoming, madcap 2D MOBA Awesomenauts, are we excited? Of course we are!

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na…AWESOMENAUTS! For some reason that seemed absolutely necessary. So Awesomenauts has a release date but before we get to that, let’s explain what the game is all about. Awesomenauts is 2D Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game which is designed for hyperactive and rather explosive 3v3 matches.

Each player will take control of one of six elite, intergalactic mercenaries in their battle with the opposition; battling with guns as well as the more exciting backstabbing chameleons, giant exploding robots and laser-wielding flying monkeys. Awesomenauts supports online and local multiplayer and features a very handy drop-in/ drop out system and will not require players to do any waiting in lobbies as AI will take the place of missing opponents or team mates.

You’ll be able to get your hands on Awesomenauts on May 1st for US PSN or on May 2nd everywhere else for PSN and XBLA. If you’re at PAX East over April 6-8th then you’ll be able to play Awesomenauts at Booth #754.

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

Game Connection America have worked their way through the 15 nominations and have picked Wolpertinger Games’ Phobos as the winner.

As with the European equivalent which saw Tink and The Swapper walk away with the top prizes, this first Game Connection America event saw 15 games named as finalists, you can see them all here. Those finalists then received a free Standard Pass to Game Connection America 2012, including a 700€ discount on any exhibitor option, a five-minute presentation of the project to high-level publishers at the Selected Projects Conference, a trailer spot on the dedicated Selected Projects plasma screen that will run throughout the show, and the chance to be named “Best Project of 2012″.

The judging process commenced from March 5th-7th in San Francisco and the winner has now been named as Wolpertinger Games’ Phobos. The game won for its immersive story and its horror-style gameplay. In Phobos, you play a psychopath trying to escape from a mental prison – the result is a Mirrors Edge-ish type horror game. You must maneuver by utilizing floating anchor points to propel through the levels, carefully avoiding slipping into the darkness.

“We invested a lot of time and effort to create Phobos and are very happy and proud of this achievement”, said Sebastian Bender, Managing Director of Wolpertinger Games. “This award takes us one step closer to release – and we’re definitely not afraid of inviting publishers or other partners to join us in this venture.”

You will hopefully be able to look up more information on Phobos on the developer’s official website soon.

Team Meat released two free chapters for the XBLA version of Super Meat Boy yesterday. The two chapters are called Expert Remix and Cramps. The former was created by Team Meat and features twenty of the top levels that were chosen by Team Meat and their fans. Meat Boy is the playable character, and the difficulty is labeled as very hard. Team Meat has not only remixed these levels, but has also increased their difficulty levels.

The latter chapter is the first user created chapter that Team Meat has sanctioned. Meat Boy is also the star of these twenty levels. This chapter merely warrants a medium difficulty level. The developers say this chapter is good for newcomers and those that want cramps, as well.

“The Internets is a chapter that is unlocked by collecting 15 bandages or completing 40 levels in the main game. its the chapter pad to the left of the forest on the mini map,” so instructs Team Meat’s blog. As for PC additions, “Once the level portal and editor are finished and released, we will upload both new chapters to the PC level portal.”

The only potential downside to playing The Internets levels is having to maintain an Internet connection during the gameplay. However, free additions should offset the burden of staying connected.

Source: Team Meat

Whoa, what? Why are we talking about Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 mobile OS launching in just under a months time (November 8th)? Simple, because with a new platform comes a new app store, which means a new avenue for indie developers and indie gamers to get their fix.

Anyway, I’m not here to directly report on all the happenings of the various devices or OS. For that I’ll refer you to Gizmodo who has done a delightful job in rounding everything up:

Windows Phone 7 Live Coverage
HTC Announces a Flurry of New Phones with WP7
HTC HD7: Hello, All 4/3-Inches of Windows Phones 7
The Definitive Guide to Windows Phone 7 Handsets

What I will say, for our part, is that we are really excited to see a third major mobile app store break into the market alongside the dominating iOS and Andoird stores. As those two markets get larger and larger there is less room for indie developers to stand out. So, if you are a developer and you’re thinking about developing an iOS game, I’d recommend giving WinPho7 a try first for a couple reasons. First of all, it’s Microsoft so there’s gonna be an audience. Second, the first games on any platform always have the highest chance of selling better.

Also, if you’re a gamer, then it looks like the whole Xbox Live integration thing might be right up your alley. We’ve already had a chance to see some of the games being released of which there were a few notable indies listed as launch titles and I’m sure, given Microsoft’s robust history in gaming, the selection will only get better. I’ll be particularly excited to see if they bring over a sort of Xbox Live Mobile Indie Games channel in the future.

I’ll have to check with all of DIY’s writers, but, unfortuantely, I don’t believe any of us will be getting a WinPho7 device anytime soon. This means reviews might be a little light in the beginning unless somebody wants to take the plunge and write volunteer reviews for us. We’ll just have to wait and see.

[WinPho7]

City Interactive has announced the release of a map pack add-on for Sniper: Ghost Warrior, with the first piece of DLC for the first-person stealth shooter now available for purchase and download on PC via Steam as well as through Xbox Live for 360 owners.

The pack runs $10 (800 MS Points) and features a variety of new locations across five new maps to expand upon deathmatch, team deathmatch and VIP multiplayer modes. The budget shooter itself is available now for $30 on PC and $40 on Xb0x 360.

The game has sold beyond the developer’s original expectations and has become something of a fan favorite, despite a’ight to mediocre reviews. I guess you could call it a gaming cult classic, especially after the release of an apparent “game saver” update (most likely after most of the reviews were written up.)

[City Interactive]

Obviously, for we Americans, the big convention (E3) has already passed. In fact, it’s been a couple months now since we’ve gotten any real American-specific gaming conventions rolling (don’t worry though, PAX is coming soon!). For Europeans, however, their big gaming convention, GamesCom, is trucking along right now, as I write this…

And, of course, along with any large convention there are bound to be big game announcements. It just so happens that this year’s GameCom is playing host to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 launch games, a number of which are indie games (much like iOS and Android).

For those that don’t yet know, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 (WinPho 7) is launching with deep integration with Xbox Live, Microsoft’s premiere video game community on the Xbox 360. That means that each of these games is not only shipping with all the standard stuff you’d expect in a game, but also achievements, leaderboards, chat, and all the other stuff you love about Xbox Live Arcade games.

Now, like I mentioned above, many of WinPho 7′s launch games are indie games, including a few choice “big ‘uns” like Max and the Magic Marker, and a new game from our favorite XBLIG developers Arkedo. Here’s the full line up of games, I’ve bolded the ones that are indie/independent (to the best of my current knowledge):

• “3D Brick Breaker Revolution” (Digital Chocolate)
• “Age of Zombies” (Halfbrick)
• “Armor Valley” (Protégé Games)
• “Asphalt 5″ (Gameloft)
• “Assassins Creed” (Gameloft)
• “Bejeweled™ LIVE” (PopCap)
• “Bloons TD” (Digital Goldfish)
• “Brain Challenge” (Gameloft)
• “Bubble Town 2″ (i-Play)
• “Butterfly” (Press Start Studio)
• “CarneyVale Showtime” (MGS)
• “Castlevania” (Konami Digital Entertainment)
• “Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst” (MGS)
• “De Blob Revolution” (THQ)
• “Deal or No Deal 2010″ (i-Play)
• “Earthworm Jim” (Gameloft)
• “Fast & Furious 7″ (i-Play)
• “Fight Game Rivals” (Rough Cookie)
• “Finger Physics” (Mobliss Inc.)
• “Flight Control” (Namco Bandai)
• “Flowerz” (Carbonated Games)
• “Frogger” (Konami Digital Entertainment)
• “Fruit Ninja” (Halfbrick)
• “Game Chest-Board” (MGS)
• “Game Chest-Card” (MGS)
• “Game Chest-Logic” (MGS)
• “Game Chest-Solitaire” (MGS)
• “GeoDefense” (Critical Thought)
• “Ghostscape” (Psionic)
• “Glow Artisan” (Powerhead Games)
• “Glyder 2″ (Glu Mobile)
• “Guitar Hero 5″ (Glu Mobile)
• “Halo Waypoint” (MGS)
• “Hexic Rush” (Carbonated Games)
• “I Dig It” (InMotion)
• “iBlast Moki” (Godzilab)
• “ilomilo” (MGS)
• “Implode XL” (IUGO)
• “Iquarium” (Infinite Dreams)
• “Jet Car Stunts” (True Axis)
• “Let’s Golf 2″ (Gameloft)
• “Little Wheel” (One click dog)
• “Loondon” (Flip N Tale)
• “Max and the Magic Marker” (PressPlay)
• “Mini Squadron” (Supermono Limited)
• “More Brain Exercise” (Namco Bandai)
• “O.M.G.” (Arkedo)
• “Puzzle Quest 2″ (Namco Bandai)
• “Real Soccer 2″ (Gameloft)
• “The Revenants” (Chaotic Moon)
• “Rise of Glory” (Revo Solutions)
• “Rocket Riot” (Codeglue)
• “Splinter Cell Conviction” (Gameloft)
• “Star Wars: Battle for Hoth” (THQ)
• “Star Wars: Cantina” (THQ)
• “The Harvest” (MGS)
• “The Oregon Trail” (Gameloft)
• “Tower Bloxx NY” (Digital Chocolate)
• “Twin Blades” (Press Start Studio)
• “UNO” (Gameloft)
• “Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet” (i-Play)
• “Zombie Attack!” (IUGO)
• “Zombies!!!!” (Babaroga)

While I’m already the proud, and loyal owner of an Android phone, I do hope that Microsoft releases a sort of updated, large screened Zune that will also be able to download and play some of these games as many of them look very solid. Also, this is the portable Xbox we’ve all been waiting for and, as a gamer, I’d be crazy not to want one of these.

[While our XBLIG Thursday feature fights against the main issue of Xbox 360’s Indie Games channel–gaming brilliance being lost in a sea of medicore titles and cheap apps–as good as anything out there, there’s just too many total releases for us to try them all.

That being said, we can still highlight them on a daily* basis, and perhaps posting these new titles will benefit both player and developer by allowing a connection to be made before the game floats on down the river and into the backlogs of the channel. Whether it be an all-time great, a one time play-through or a complete lemon; all will have their chance to speak. Here are today’s releases.]

Slowturn Checker (80 MS Points)
“This is a tool used to check a Xbox 360 Controller for any Slowturn symptoms. The Tool recognises and display’s Slowturn in both Axis’ across both thumbsticks. The Slowturn checker was developed to aid those who wish to take their Game to the next level by allowing them to find and identify a perfect Controller.”

Distraction (80 MS Points)
“Plays some music and makes smoky effects on the screen. The behavior of the imagery can be affected by the xbox360 controller. Play with the effects, or turn it on in the background of your next neighborhood rave! Now featuring full 1080p support! Press Start to access the menu.”

[While our XBLIG Thursday feature fights against the main issue of Xbox 360’s Indie Games channel–gaming brilliance being lost in a sea of medicore titles and cheap apps–as good as anything out there, there’s just too many total releases for us to try them all.

That being said, we can still highlight them on a daily* basis, and perhaps posting these new titles will benefit both player and developer by allowing a connection to be made before the game floats on down the river and into the backlogs of the channel. Whether it be an all-time great, a one time play-through or a complete lemon; all will have their chance to speak. Here are today’s releases.]

The No Button Game (80 MS Points)
“The No Button Game is a fast paced button-free platform game that does not require the use of buttons or sticks to be played. Place your wireless controller on a box then tap with your fingers and it is done! Don’t you have a wireless controller or a box handy? No worries, there’s the one button mode.”

Ultimate Electronic Drums (80 MS Points)
“TIRED OF PLAYING THE SAME OLD ACOUSTIC DRUMS?! NOW TAKE YOUR CREATIVITY TO THE “NEXT” LEVEL WITH ULTIMATE “ELECTRONIC” DRUMS, AND SOUND LIKE YOUR FAVOURITE ROCK, INDUSTRIAL, ALTERNATIVE OR FUSION DRUMMER!!”

News has arrived that the guys at Zombie Cow will be releasing their educational shooter Privates next Thursday, August 5. Presumably for PC first with an Xbox Live Indie release likely hitting a bit after when it makes its way through the channel’s approval process.

This according to The Guardian (via IndieGames) which runs a nice, lengthy piece on Channel 4′s influence on changing the perception of the edu-game. The article of course includes plenty of literature on Privates and the developer behind it.

A happy surprise to be getting the game so soon. This is the first Zombie Cow game released during DIYGamer’s existence, so I’m quite sure there’s going to be a knife fight over who gets the review.