2004 Indie Games of the Year

cyrus_zuo writes "For all those who think that the best games that came out this year were all sequels Game Tunnel presents a different angle on things with their 2004 Independent Game of the Year awards. For those who believe that the best game this year was that badly named expansion pack that they have the nerve to call Halo 2, check out the awards for a different side of gaming than you are used to."

Comments

Unneeded comment

[Albert Pussyjuice]

"For those who believe that the best game this year was that badly named expansion pack that they have the nerve to call Halo 2, check out the awards for a different side of gaming than you are used to."

cyrus_zuo, Save the comments on the article for the comments section please.

Re:Unneeded comment

[spac3manspiff]

I'm afraid to say that he is right.
Halo 2 was over hyped and let everyone down

Re:Unneeded comment

[saltydogdesign]

For all those who think that the best games that came out this year were all sequels...

Strike this -- you can't know who this list is meant for.

Game Tunnel presents a different angle...

"Different angle" is a matter of opinion.

on things with their 2004 Independent Game of the Year awards. For those who believe that the best game this year was that badly named expansion pack that they have the nerve to call Halo 2...

Opinions have no place here.

check out the awards for a different side of gaming than you are used to.

How can the writer know what side of gaming I am used to?

Finally, my edited introduction:

Game Tunnel presents their 2004 Independent Game of the Year awards.

Wouldn't Slashdot be so much better like that? Then we wouldn't have to skim the comments of some boob nitpicking the editors for trying to produce non-cardboard prose.

Re:Unneeded comment

[Artifakt]

Maybe the comment was needed, but why was it needed as part of this article? I happen to think a lot of people need to be reminded as the new year approaches to make that resolution to lose 20 pounds, and to stick to it this time. I'll just throw that thought out here. It's very much needed, so no one should moderate it offtopic, or flamebait either.

True=!on topic

The independant list should be judged on its opwn merits. I don't need someone telling me that I have to like this because it stands in oppposition to Halo 2. How would you have felt if the article said, "Ignore the independent list this year, it's obvious the creators were avoiding any game that would remind you of Halo 2".

Re:Unneeded comment

[databyss]

RTFA Much?

Re:Unneeded comment

[Rakarra]

Game Tunnel presents their 2004 Independent Game of the Year awards.

Wouldn't Slashdot be so much better like that? Then we wouldn't have to skim the comments of some boob nitpicking the editors for trying to produce non-cardboard prose.

But that's not what the introduction is supposed to be for on Slashdot. It's supposed to tittilate and engage the reader, leap out and shout "this is for you!" whether it really is or not. It's marketing.

Re:Unneeded comment

[Minwee]

No, it's supposed to give you something to reply to without having to go to all the bother of reading the article.

Didn't it work?

Game Tunnel is The Suck

[Albert Pussyjuice]

I refuse to read this article because Game Tunnel divided it up across 8 pages just to get ad views up. My stance is that I will not support a site that takes part in such underhanded techniques and makes their readers jump through such silly hoops just to read an article. I suggest you do the same.

Re:Game Tunnel is The Suck

[moosesocks]

Either the parent is a troll, or Game Tunnel realized they were being slashdotted into oblivion and moved the article to a single static page with no ads.

Either way, it's a single page article with no ads as I'm posting this....

Halo 2

[Anonymous Coward]

It was great, more than I had hoped for.

I can accept trolling in comments, but the fact that this article was accepted as is makes me cringe.

Re:Halo 2

[sardiax]

I bought the game and played it through, and i enjoyed it. but to me it honestly seems very much more like expansion pack material than sequel material. a sequel to me atleast generally implies a new engine, or atleast some drastic changes. we've got some a few new graphics, maybe one new gun and one new vehicle, dual-wielding, hi-jacking vehicles, and a whole mess of re-used content on(what appears to me to be) the halo 1 engine. that sounds more like the feature list of most good expansion packs than most good sequels. hell Blizzard has released patches with more changes.

Independant

[FiReaNGeL]

If anything, it shows the power of marketing : these all appear to be good, original and fun games (except for the 3-4 rehashes of old games such as Marbles and Arkanoid), but I NEVER heard of them ANYWHERE. Which doesn't help me to buy them... which doesn't help the independant programmers of these gems... which doesn't help them to pay for marketing I guess. Vicious circle indeed.

I managed to get to the end of the list before a complete Slashdot (happened while I downloaded a top10 game... BreakQuest. Irony?). GISH, the Tarball adventure game is first, and it deserve it. Fun, VERY original gameplay and VERY challenging. Free demo available too.

Re:Independant

[age of reason]

I never heard of any of these games before and that might even be the worst thing to say about them. A lot of games that come from one of the big players aren`t any good, but whenever they realease something decent it definately will find a quite big audience. But when it comes to those independent game developers there seems to be a high chance that even if they produce a really decent game nobody will ever hear about it. That said, if you enjoy turn-based strategy games, you should give Battle of Wesnoth a try - it`s free and open source: http://wesnoth.org/

Re:Independant

[stratjakt]

Why doesnt the games section in slashdot cover this kind of stuff?

All it discusses are Doom 3, Half Life 2, Halo 2, and the odd update to WineX that lets yet another big commercial Windows title run under linux.

I guess I don't understand what motivates /. in general. They have a lot of eyes watching, but don't really use that to the general advantage of OSS.

To me, new and good indie games, or hell - any good game I've never heard of is true "news for nerds". SCO v IBM is "news for IP lawyers".

Halo 2 Rules

[Agret]

Halo 2 had more hype than any other game there was no way it would live up to the hype so I just ignored all the hype. The game was brilliant, heaps better than the first one. There was almost vehicles in every level. There were a few too many ghosts but that was a good thing I got to hijack lots of people. It is playable online with a ping of 300 to a US server and it also has awesome LAN play. I don't see how that could let anyone down!

get off it

[mikeg22]

For those who believe that the best game this year was that badly named expansion pack that they have the nerve to call Halo 2...

Oh for god's sake. Halo 2 had revamped graphics, sound, a completely new single player campaign and XBOX Live support. What is your definition of a sequel anyways?

Re:get off it

[VividU]

You must understand, Halo and Halo2 have acheived a sort of symbolic status here on Slashdot as the game offends both camps of "M$" hater:

First, the Linuxites who can't stand the fact that the Xbox is both cool and a great success (reread early Xbox posts). You see, to them, Microsoft can't do anything right, and so therefore, those who think the Xbox is a good console and Halo a good game are "overhyped" or not true gamers. This despite the fact that both Halo and Halo2 have achieved Game of the Year awards.

Second you have the Mac people. Halo was supposed to be their own. Bungie was their for them and them only. The very idea that MS bought Bungie and released Halo for the Xbox only..well..it's just too much to take.

Re:get off it

[Lisandro]

Oh, come on, let's be fair for a second: Halo & Halo 2 are very well done, fun games, but they're basically regular FPSs (granted; on consoles, where usually FPSs don't work that well). There're a ton of MUCH better games in the genre, for consoles and other platforms, notably the PC.

The hype surrounding them is, IMHO, due to the fact that for a lot of "newbie" gamers is their first approach to a modern FPS, even when it's lacking on some areas. For newcomers is very easy to pick up, and stays fun because it's hard to master (much like Counter Strike). But let's not kid ourselves, they're not the holy grial of gaming.

Re:get off it

[Xzzy]

> Halo & Halo 2 are very well done, fun games, but they're basically regular FPSs

No, they are the pinnacle of refinement in the "old school" style of FPS. Gripes about the single player story are probably valid in a lot of cases, but the multiplayer feels just like playing Doom back in the day, except it's matured in the same way you'd expect aged wine to.

Having been a gamer on both PC and consoles for almost 20 years now I'm not a "newbie" gamer in any sense of the word, and the implication that the only way to enjoy Halo is because it's "easy to pick up" is pure rubbish.

The cautiously balanced weapons and solid feel of the environment is the state of the art, it takes all the classic elements of FPS that causes us to recall Doom or Marathon with fondness and sharpens them to a glistening point. Halo gave it to us on a LAN, Halo2 brought it online.

GISH

[mikeg22]

I agree, GISH is an excellent game, but its a sidescroller, not a traditional adventure game. I love both genres and hope they make a comeback, possibly with the help of these independent developers.

Meh

[SilentChris]

Some of us like big-budget games made by major studios (*cough* World of Warcraft *cough*) because the artwork, sense of "success" and even gameplay is plain old better. Same reason why we flock to New Line's version of Lord of the Rings instead of watching the old hobbit cartoon -- it's just higher quality.

Re:Meh

[ggambett]

I'd say gameplay is different, not better per se. Indies usually target casual gamers, as opposed to hardcore gamers, so the gameplay must be different. A hardcore gamer can spend hours at a time playing a RPG with lots of text to read, but the stereotypical soccer mom just wants a quick 5 minute game. You can't expect a similar level of "commitment" from such different demographics.

Re:Meh

[Mornelithe]

I don't think you understand the definition of "soccer mom". It's not synonymous with "woman".

Do you really mean that a "very large number of MMORPG players" are middle-aged, trendy, suburban mothers?

Re:Meh

[Lisandro]

That's relative. If Gish were published by, say, Nintendo, gamers of the world and gaming magazines would be singing it's praises like there's no tomorrow.

In fact, lately "big" publishers have been focusing in games with a lot of glitter but boring gameplay (90% of modern FPSs go there). Indie games may lack polish, but most (all?) of the games in that list are downright fun to play. That's what counts for me.

Re:TROLL ALERT - MOD HIM DOWN!

[MBCook]

Sorry. Meant to give a link to "N". You can find it here. I don't know how they came up with it, but it's just so much fun (and the graphics are very simple in a clean and elegant kind of way).

Expansion pack?

[Weeb]

The submitter is feigning dramatic ignorance in the hope of generating controversy and attention, methinks.

This will be covered over and over again, but I'm going to try and be concise:

When you code a brand new engine from scratch, it's not an expansion. Expansions are add-ins for existing engines. 'kay?

While I appreciate the edgy tone of effective PR, I do hope that cyrus_zuo understands that his mischaracterization erodes his credibility as any sort of authority on gaming.

I love Halo 2, but there are many accurate gripes you can offer toward it:

- Unsatisfying ending
- Repetitious single player action
- Microsoft is evil

I could go on. Over-zealous "indie" people are bitter and angry in any case. The snarky is to be expected.

Re:TROLL ALERT - MOD HIM DOWN!

[LakeSolon]

Why is it I never had mod points when I actually want them? Please Mod Parent up, I'm now addicted to "N".

~Lake

Interesting anecdote about I of the Enemy

[Pluvius]

At the forum for the warez .NFO site I frequent, the developer of that game actually asked people for their opinions about it. I'm not sure if he realized that everyone there was a software pirate, but either way he managed to guilt-trip a few people out of downloading his game. Brilliant idea, far better than most copy protection.

Rob