Weekend Playlist: Thanksgiving Edition

Weekend Playlist is a feature on xIndies where games played over the Friday/Saturday/Sunday play period. All opinions are general impressions and not official reviews. Interested in joining in some indie, xbla, retail, or Netflix fun? Send a friend request to m3talst0rm17 and mention xIndies.

With this weekend being filled with family get-togethers and shopping, I didn't get much indie game time in. However, with the sales taking place on the Live Marketplace and time spent with family, Rock Band was played extensively. I also managed to pick up a few deals that included a blu ray player and several blu rays that kept me away from my normal play time. Hit the break to see my impressions on the Indie title The Deep Cave, a few XBLA games, and Rock Band DLC.

Watch This! Indie Games Winter Uprising Trailer

The Uprising is almost here and if you weren't pumped enough already, check out the above trailer. This developer-led movement is bringing us fourteen games this week that break away and stand out from the mediocre games and massage apps that too often flood the Indie Games channel.

According to Robert Boyd at Gamasutra, we should see our first game of the Uprising today, Eyehook Game's Epic Dungeon. Check out that title and the other games at http://www.indiegames-uprising.com/


[Note about video: Original Source: http://vimeo.com/17314563 Thanks to http://ctrlaltkill.org/ for the youtube conversion of the video.]

Review: Text Zedventure

I was driving home a few days ago with my best gal by my side...um, that is my wife. Anyway, out of nowhere she says to me, "I miss Choose Your Own Adventure books." Grinning, I reply, "Me too." It was silent for a moment and my mind began chugging along. I remembered winning a contest several months ago on twitter and receiving a game that I really wanted to play but never found the time. I tell her that I have a game that I think she'd like, something like Choose Your Own Adventure books. She's very excited because my description of it sounds like fun to her and I'm excited because I found another game to review for my blog. The game I'm talking about is Text Zedventure, the first text adventure game to be released on the 360. Hit the jump to read the review.

Happy Fifth, Xbox 360: Here's Five Original Xbox Indies that are Must-Buys!

Happy birthday, Xbox 360! It's been five years since we waited hours in line to buy you along with CoD2 and Kameo. I'll be perfectly honest, my fondest memory of the console was when I held the controller in my hand for the first time. I agree the d-pad is awful, but otherwise the 360 controller is my favorite of all time, beating out the SNES and Dual-Shock1. To celebrate the joyous occasion, xIndies has brought you five Indies that first released on the service that should be in your collection. Hit the break for a blast from the past!

Weekend Playlist: 11/19-11/21

Weekend Playlist is a feature on xIndies where games played over the Friday/Saturday/Sunday play period. All opinions are general impressions and not official reviews. Interested in joining in some indie, xbla, retail, or Netflix fun? Send a friend request to m3talst0rm17 and mention xIndies.

Weddings. With my Aunt being married on Saturday and my brother on Sunday and both including my children as ring bearers/flower girls, I didn't have much time for gaming. As much as I wish both of the new happy couples the best, I did miss my gaming time this weekend. Hit the break to get to the "love not gaming" edition of Weekend Playlist.

Prelude to the Winter Uprising: Breath of Death VII: The Beginning

In anticipation of the upcoming Indie Game Winter Uprising, xIndies will be looking at some of the quality games that are, essentially, a prelude to many of the titles being brought to you this December. For more information about the Uprising, visit http://www.indiegames-uprising.com/. Zeboyd Games will be releasing Cthulhu Save the World during this event.

Stamped with their own "Awesome: Unoffical Symbol of Approval," Zeboyd Games released the retro parody RPG Breath of Death VII: The Beginning for the Indie Games Marketplace in February of 2010. I've had the pleasure of impulse buying this game as the eight minute demo timer ran out on me. (Am I the only one that demos dollar games?) Anyway, you get an enormous value for your Mr. Washington with Breath of Death not only because of its obvious humor, but surprisingly fun gameplay.

Prelude to the Winter Uprising: Crossfire

In anticipation of the upcoming Indie Game Winter Uprising, xIndies will be looking at some of the quality games that are, essentially, a prelude to many of the titles being brought to you this December. For more information about the Uprising, visit http://www.indiegames-uprising.com/. RadianGames will be releasing Crossfire 2 during this event.

RadianGames' Crossfire is described as "Space Invaders meets Geometry Wars with a twist," and, indeed, that description sums up the aesthetics and essential gameplay nicely. The glowing geometric shapes look fantastic and shooting the back-and-forth enemies stay true to the Space Invader style of shooter gameplay.

Indie Games Winter Uprising

"Prepare yourself, because the first week of December is going to be legendary. The Indie Games Winter Uprising is coming!" The declaration concludes the press release about a group of Xbox Indie developers who have joined together to show the world what the indie service is about: quality games.

The first week of December promises to see the releases from well-known developers and newcomers alike. With sequels of top titles Soulcaster, Crossfire, Decimation X and Aphelion being announced, as well as new titles from those that brought you games like Breath of Death VII: The Beginning and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 1NIT!!!1, this promises to be a week of indie gaming that you won't want to miss. Want to check out the descriptions and other goodies put out by the many developers behind this movement? The Indie Uprising site is full of information to hold you over.

Not enough, huh? Of course it isn't! As a prelude to this epicly epic week of epicness, xIndies will be featuring a look back at the games from the veteran devs that are already on the service, along with previews of the games coming in this wintery uprising.

So, get your microsoft points ready, because, in the next few weeks, we will be featuring many games that are definitely worth your time and money.

[Source: http://www.indiegames-uprising.com/ ]

The Beginning

Welcome to xIndies...

After seeing site after site close down or fall away from dedicated Xbox Indie Game coverage and coming to the realization that I could contribute to the Indie community, I created this blog. I wanted a place where people could get coverage dedicated to games that fall under the Xbox Indie title. With that, I say welcome. Please ignore the mess as I'm getting started and please feel free to critique or give suggestions.

Not only will you find recommendations here, but interviews, contests, news and editorials. If you've ever wondered what hidden gems might be hiding under the Indies section of the marketplace or curious how these games stack up or add to the already impressive selection of Arcade titles, then this is the blog for you.

About the Reviews:
Here at xIndies, we grade on a simple scale: Buy, Try, or Pass. Though the scale is seemingly simple enough to understand, you should know that a "Buy" rating means that the general audience of this blog will enjoy this game and the price is equivalent to the value of the game. "Try," means that the general audience should download a demo of the title and decide if that experience is worth the price the devs are asking. Finally, "Pass" means the game is, in general, something our core audience would be ultimately unhappy spending money on, whether the game is broken, ugly, boring, or adding nothing new, a game marked "Pass" ultimately fails for the general consumer.