Coming Attractions: Indie & Esoterica Comments by Oli Welsh

Multi-player Portal? Sweet!

I still await the release of Age of Decedance with the wide eyed optimism of a simple child.

and I'm looking forward to flower!

I'm looking forward to The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom - hopefully they will announce what console it will be released on soon! Need pie.....

Some interesting stuff there.

It's a shame these sort of games are the fringe, the cult, the niche, where innovation usually happens and then filters down (over years) into the mainstream. Like any other medium, I suppose, but I can't help but wish that games were different. None of the big pubs will touch a real indie or esoteric game (EA think they're being adventurous when they do a new IP in an established genre).

None of them seem to understand that you need a constant flow of new ideas, even if the games containing/sprouting from them are not commercially profitable. AFAI can see, big publishers would rather push out sequels and yearly reiterations and grind the medium into shit until it dies. I find it hard to believe, when they make millions in profit (not total revenue, clear net profit that they get to take home and gloat over), that they cannot fund, publish and distribute even one game like those listed by EG (especially considering the small dev teams and dev costs often involved).

They'd be improving the medium and their own business interests in the long run, but no.

No need to look forward to Carneyvale Showtime - it was released over a week ago on the 360's community games section. And very nice it is too.

I had long ago lost/forgotten Samorost. Thanks for the link. Machinarium looks great.

But the essence of esoterica is games whose very strangeness and extremity is what makes them appealing. The circumstances of their creation defy logic, they laugh in the face of received wisdom and they revel in their cultish fringe cool, but they're not necessarily niche.

In short, games for the Wii that look like they might actually be good but will inevitably sell poorly because they're not aimed at young children or the "lifestyle" crew.

So a game published by Sony is an indie game? What a load of crap!

Very much looking forward to Machinariu.

Madworld, Sin and Punishment 2, and Flower are my highlights. A multiplayer version of Portal would be a programming nightmare. I'll be surprised if that got announced.

No mention of Eskil Steenberg's Love? Shameful omission. Good editorial decision for the article though.

The Unfinished Swan is the one I want to play the most - looks fascinating

"No need to look forward to Carneyvale Showtime - it was released over a week ago on the 360's community games section. And very nice it is too."

I stumbled on this two days ago. Never heard of it, and it became the first community game I was willing to spend cash on ($5). Suprisingly fun, especially for only a fin.

Muramasa and Monster Hunter tri look immense, I'm surprised by the number of "core" games I'm looking forward to on Wii. The console is really starting to deliver.

Beyond them unsurprisingly it's the PC that has the most interesting gameplay concepts; Mightier, Snapshot and ibb & obb all look very special.

Enjoyed reading this feature, bookmarked the lot of em - FEIST would make for a wonderful PSP game if Sony were to sign it for being published, btw what about the Colony Wars esque No Gravity: The Plague of Mind for the PSP, thats 'indie' right, not on ze list? Why not? *waggles*.

I hope I'll enjoy whatever Introversion ends up procedurally generating. Things look good so far, mind.

I hate to be a philistine, but I had a look at the tech demo for The Unfinished Swan and didn't see the point. I mean, it's functionally the same as a game where you have to explore a maze with a flashlight, only things that you've revealed stay revealed instead of going dark (or light, in this case) after you've moved away.

Gnort: Yeah, exactly my impression of it. I remember actually doing that already using an ordinary gun in at least one game where it was unreasonably dark and there was no flashlight. To be honest, I actually can't see the point in the unfinished swan at all. Where's the actual gameplay?

Not in the tech demo that's where

What about Fat Princess? Or is that not indie/...esoterica (how you made me hate that word EG)

"Nintendo reworks Pikmin, Mario Tennis, Metroid Prime and the brilliant Donkey Kong Jungle Beat", and Klonoa!

Noby Noby Boy :)

Dyson is missing from the Indie section.

A glaring error.

Feist and Limbo have very very similar looks. I'll probably buy and play both :)
http://www.limbogame.org/

Surprised Mad World is the Star Attraction tbh. The dev's pedigree is unquestionably impressive, but the game itself looks like Fighting Force or something.

CRIMSONLAND 2!

please!!!

i thought heavy rain would have got a mention if only to shed more light on it for my sozzled caffeined up brain.

Wii is the format of choice for stylish score-attack craziness in 2009

That comment excites me more than any other thing in the Coming Attractions surely will, I love score-attack craziness.

great article..