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Humble Bundle 2 Is Live
Dayofswords writes "The first Humble Bundle was a monster success, with over 100,000 people donating over $1 million in total to support the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Child's Play, and of course the developers behind the games. The second bundle is now live (bundle site), containing five great games: Braid, Cortex Command, Machinarium, Osmos, and Revenge of the Titans. Each game is DRM-free, the games work on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and you pay what you want and decide where your money goes."
I wonder if they will make this lot "open source" too?
And, as with the first Humble Indie Bundle, Linux buyers are more generous than Windows buyers. :)
The games are fun, they work on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and the charities are good causes.
This is pretty much just win-win for everyone, a great way to not only *get* some nice games on Linux but *support* games on Linux, and to support a bunch of good causes as well. I'm less familiar with these games than the last bundle but I'll check them out and likely donate if I like even one of them.
Considering that the original Humble Bundle didn't receive the updated version of Gish, this sounds like a bad deal...
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
I don't know if it is just the day one attention but has anyone else had a long delay in getting their key? I already tried re-sending it to my email and checking my junk folder, just wondering if this was just an email typo on my part; although my payment confirmation went to my email just fine.
While I applaud the effort, I'm not really sure you can label this as a "monster success". A decent - though not obscenely large - number of people paid 1/5 the normal price of a single game for five games.
Nor is the absolute number - 1 million bucks - all that much money in the game development world. 10 people's salaries for a year? 20 on the outside? Hardly seems like the costs of development would be covered!
Disclaimer: I've not played the games, so maybe they're one-man jobs, I don't know.
Games already made + money to fantastic charity + money to fantastic rights foundation = monster success
I live in constant fear of the Coming of the Red Spiders.
They all said I was crazy to wait for a linux version of Braid. CRAZY! ME!
Well, not that far-fetched. Still, this is the reason I bought the bundle. I'm really pumped to finally enjoy Braid to the fullest, even if it does mean resorting to joy2key for optimal playing.
Nobody disputes big box stuff (like Fallout 3) isn't going anywhere, and the indie stuff like this is doing great, but whatever happened to the middle tier stuff? You know, Stuff like No One Lives Forever & Blood, or Independence War or even Fallout Tactics? Is it just me or did they get squeezed out this generation?
:(
Indie games are fun in spurts, but I'm starting to miss the days of a steady stream of B grade titles with the budgets to do something a bit more meaty, but without the baggage of a big budget release. Anyone see gamespy's PC release list this month? They're listing stuff like 4 packs of girls games and emulated Sega Genesis games released on Steam for Pete's sake...
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I was a big fan of the original Humble Bundle. I paid a fair price for the collection, but this time around I'm just not impressed. The only name in that collection that really sounds bells with me is Braid, and I'd be surprised if anyone didn't have a copy already. Osmos wasn't all that fun. I played the demo on steam a while back and felt like it was trailing behind free flash games. Two games aren't even finished yet and one of them is really early in development, and no idea when they'll be in a finished state (they can't all be Minecraft in terms of releasing early).
To be honest, I'd feel bad making the offer I think this bundle is worth.
I guess Linux users are desperate for games...the platform sucks for gaming...deal with it.
I use Linux as my single OS, and while I will admit we rarely (if ever) see a big-name release, I'm in no way desperate for games. Here's a list of the commercial games I have installed on my computer right now:
UT 2004
Prey
Machinarium
Osmos
Gish
Aquaria
World of Goo
Minecraft
And yet it moves
Braid
Cortex Command
Penumbra Overture
Penumbra Black Plague
Penumbra Requiem
Amnesia: the Dark Descent
Titan attacks
Revenge of the titans
Droid assault
Ultratron
Lugaru
Caster
Color Cube
Sun Blast
Brukkon
Samorost 2
In addition you have all the ID games, The Clockwork man, Heroes of Newerth, Anchron, Overgrowth(soon) and What makes you tick. That's just off the top of my head. Not to say that I'd be opposed to a big famous studio like Valve or Blizzard bringing games to Linux -- I've said many times that I'll buy every Linux game I hear about if only to support the platform -- but don't make it out like it's worse than it is.
As to your statement that the platform sucks for gaming...I can see that being true if you're using the open-source video drivers, but the binary drivers are exponentially more powerful. I've got an nVidia GTX 465. If I was going to use the open-source driver I could've saved myself $150 or so, but I enjoy gaming, so I beefed it up. Sure, in comparison to the selection for Windows the amount of Linux games is much smaller, but it was the same (to a lesser extent) for Mac before Steam. It's a Chicken/Egg problem; big studios don't port games to Linux because it doesn't seem a viable platform, and Linux is thought of as a non-viable platform because of its lack of AAA titles. Maybe the guys behind the Humble Bundle can upset the paradox a little.
Ah, the Humble Indie Bundle... the event that provided conclusive proof that many, many people who claim to pirate because "I can't afford", or "DRM sucks", or some other principle are completely full of shit. I hesitate to say most, but it was a significant enough number to really leave a bad taste in one's mouth
Here's hoping this one doesn't have a bunch of asshats essentially ripping off charity, but I rather don't think that'll be the case.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
I just noticed the top contributer is an advert for hosting.
Actually, I think that's kind of cool. That's another 1k going to charities/devs that wouldn't have been there.
The Internet has given stupid people the resources of intelligent people.
Is there a good (and current) Linux alternative to Fraps?
Since I have multiplatform games I'd prefer not having to boot into Windows just to record the output.
Braid is an amazing game, and even though I have already paid for a version of it, I donated because I think the whole concept of pay what you want is fantastic for those who can afford it (like me) and those who cant (like someone else).....not to mention helping EFF out on a day like today where they just scored a major win for email privacy!
Gee, 4 or 5 articles ago Amazon EC2 gets massive free advertising on slashdot, and now I can't buy anything because of this:
http://ec2-50-16-43-113.compute-1.amazonaws.com/#temporary-url-for-traffic-reasons
I would say, Humble Bundle is succeeding just fine where Anonymous failed. So much for using Amazon to help coping with webload! I hope the indie authors didn't pay too much for using the "most invincible website" service.
The payment stats seem to update in realtime on that website, pretty cool. To see yourself in the top10 you'll need to part with >313$ though (as of now). They should show a longer version of the "highscore list", that would definitely be an incentive to donate (apart from knowing that part of it will go to charity).
I'll pay double if there is. I really liked messing with the source of the games from the previous bundle.
About 2 weeks ago I got an email from the Humble Bundle guys because they were sending out Steam keys for the 1st Humble Bundle pack to those who bought it, which is really handy for me. I wonder if they'll be doing the same for the 2nd one?
Jonathan Blow posted in his blog about issues porting to Linux.
He said then that it was tabled. I wonder what methods he used, or what changed that made things easier for him.
Yea that link is down for me too. It's not the first time I encountered really crappy performance of Amazon CDN services either. They're often fairly slow. Maybe Amazon just sucks around here (central EU)?
Coincidentally Amazon's own shopping site recently went offline in the EU for some time due to "hardware failure".
They're not as invincible as they'd like to be.
I dual boot linux and windows.
I paid double of the average Linux user. (before this was a slashdot story)
But is there a bias for Slashdot users?
Either way they actually aren't bad games and even if your not feeling generous, a few bucks doesn't hurt for a good cause.
We should start a new Slashdot and return control to the geeks. It actually wouldn't be that hard to get some users to
... is actually finished. We released the game on the Bundle instead of our own site (www.puppygames.net) (though it's still there, but I doubt anyone is interested right now ;))
I hope a few slashdotters give it a play - it's taken us 3 years to make. The devil is in the details. We're working on some Linux .deb installer problems at the moment.
Cas :)
Either way they actually aren't bad games and even if your not feeling generous, a few bucks doesn't hurt for a good cause.
I don't see the point of buying games that "aren't bad". If you want to donate something to charity, just do it but don't feel you have to compensate the game makers for mediocrity.
It's the same with people who buy shitty chartiy records. It would be better just to donate the money directly to the charity.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
They use that extra server capacity to serve their custom "The website is down" page while their website is down.
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So I have a 6 year old laptop with ATi X700 (think DirectX9.0b era), which means that the manufacturers driver no longer supports my card. So I have to use the open source KMS drivers from Xorg. This card is no slouch as it accelerates many FPS games under WinXP which I dual-boot into for games only.
While performance in Windows is what it is it pains me to see how slow the machine seems using the KMS driers in Linux. While I understand that small teams of Xorg devs cannot compete with the optimisations of ATi^W AMD employees, it's just a pain to use the machine for any 3D. Even compiz struggles with the desktop cube.
My experience with HIB2:
- Braid refuses to run because it requires Shader Model 3, ATi X700 has SM2
- Osmos is painfully slow as described above
- Machinarium is Flash based. Full-screen the game is totally non-playble as the cursor feels like it is moving inside a jar of honey, however, windowed it is very enjoyable.
I have to say that I have had similar experiences with the first Humble Indie Bundle. Seems I should just accept that developers want to use the latest and greatest APIs even for 2D platformers.
Mild poor student rant over. :) I have to say I have a much better computing experience with my desktop machine because it is so much cheaper to upgrade incrementally.
Just like the Humble Bundle, you can also get a copy of The Witcher 2 without DRM. Pre-order it on GOG.com
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Is that if you really want to support Linux gaming, like show that Linux people are willing to pay a reasonable amount for games on their platform, they you need to actually pay a reasonable amount. That does NOT mean $10 or the like.
Last time this was done, Linux users were practically spraining their elbows they were patting themselves on the back so hard over the fact that their average price was higher than Windows. What they didn't look at is that it was still pathetic, it amounted to like $2 per game which is insultingly low if you are actually saying you are giving a good amount.
So if you want to do right this time around, you need to pay a good price. Go and look up what the games cost to buy either from their site, or from Impulse or Steam. Right now looks like Braid is $10, Cortex Command is $18 (or $38 for the 'support us' version), Machinarium is $20, Osmos is $10, and Revenge of the Titans is $13. So $71 is the current market price for those games. Now give yourself a reasonable discount, since that is the point of a bundle. 25% would be a pretty normal bundle discount so $53, maybe round it off to an even $50.
THAT would be a purchase that shows support, that says "I understand games take time and effort to produce and will pay a reasonable price." If Linux users pay that, it says something. However $10 or less? Hell no. It's fine if you cannot afford any more (particularly in non-OECD countries where you just have far less money) and you aren't on about how great you are, you are just trying to pay what you can affird and do the right thing. That's fine. However if you like in the US, Canada or the EU and you give that, recognize you are being very cheap and you really aren't supporting them, or showing your platform as being that supportive.
I'm not trying to tell people this is what they need to do, they set the rules as "pay whatever" those are the rules. I just want people to understand that if you are honestly trying to pay something that shows support, you need to make a significantly bigger contribution than most people do.
For a platform to be viable for game sales it not only needs a substantial number people who play games on it, and people who will pay for those games. It needs people who will pay a reasonable amount for those games. You can't expect companies to want to spend large amounts of money to bring games to your platform if $2/game is seen as a "fair price". It would just not be economically viable.
Just keep that in mind if you are donating to make a statement about Linux gaming.
A good place to look for them in Impulse. It is a service like Steam, and they do have AAA titles too, but they also seem to have more low end publishers signed on. People like Paradox Interactive, 1C, and Meridian4. These aren't indy games, they aren't self published games from one person. The companies listed are game publishers, however they work on lower budget titles. So you don't go to sell them a $50 million game, they won't, can't, fund it. However you might go to sell them a $2 million game.
As such you get games in between indy and big titles. They do not have the polish a AAA game does, but they are generally larger and more in depth than an indy.
If you are looking for recommendations in particular, look at the King's Bounty series. Some interesting and very well done RPGs, different style than you normally see. Not AAA fully voiced amazing story Bioware RPGS, but pretty damn good.
For the most part you need to look online for those kind of games, the publishers can't get them in to the retail market. Sometimes you'll find them on the shelves, but not usually. As I said, Impulse is a good place to look. Steam has some as well, but Impulse just seems to have more of the small publishers signed on (and less of the big ones unfortunately).
Also as for releases this month, WTF did you expect? It is too late to release for Christmas, you had to be in stores and magazines last month to have a realistic chance. No point in releasing now, you'll miss big money. Releases go in cycles and this is an absolute dead time because of so many releases in the couple months preceding it. Come January/February of next year, it'll pick up again.
Besides, I know you haven't played every good game released in the lat couple years. Hit up Impulse and Steam and looks for older titles you missed, or hell even go check Best Buy. My problem isn't games to play it is time to play them. I have games I haven't even installed off Impulse and Steam.
Two of my great weaknesses! I may have to give it a try.
Any timeline for when it goes on sale on your site? I just already own the other games in the bundle that I would wish to own, so I'd rather simply purchase it directly if I decide to after trying the demo.
Anybody else notice and enjoy that @notch is currently the single biggest current contributer at $2000?
For linux users only 2 of the 5 games were available before the bundle. It's good timing for me as I have been to busy with work/school to play games, and thus haven't tried any of them, but will over the break.
Is a totally fantastic game. I purchased it last year, and played it probably for 40 hours (which is a lot for me). Its one of those simple to understand, total PITA, to master, games. Similar in that regard to tetris. That said, the level difficulty progress at just the right rate. I definitely had to try some of them multiple times before I succeeded, but it never got to the point where I though, damn this is too difficult. Plus, the levels are very repayable once you unlock them all. In some cases there are multiple strategies that can be successful, so winning with one strategy, leaves the level repayable with a different strategy. It also has a simple beauty, both with the graphics and the music, which blend together very nicely. Most games just don't seem very polished, this isn't one of them. Its obvious that while the game is pretty simple, a lot of time was spent on the small details.
While i'm reviewing games:
I also purchased the last humble indy bundle, but really only played one of the games, Penumbra, which was pretty good. The game itself had a fairly good story, and was quite entertaining. Enough so that I put up with the annoying controls for the few hours it took me to get through it. The remaining games, didn't really get me very excited and I didn't play any of them for more than a few minutes. If it wern't for the control suckage I might have purchased the next penumbra game.
I don't see the point of buying games that "aren't bad".
Actually I really wanted to play Revenge of the Titans
If you want to donate something to charity, just do it but don't feel you have to compensate the game makers for mediocrity.
I couldn't agree more, I guess some people like the "gift basket". Personally I give away (almost too much) money to many small organizations and large alike, and can confidently say that I never got more than a "thanks" on many occasions...and I'm OK with that!
who buy shitty chartiy records
(Every holiday at my parents, I notice they are suckers for this...donate but don't torture everyone's ears! Funny you would mention this haha)
We should start a new Slashdot and return control to the geeks. It actually wouldn't be that hard to get some users to
Trying to raise the Windows average.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
I can't help but to think about the MAC bundle as well. Great concept. However, I wonder how many will take the al cheapo route and gave only a dollar?!
This is nice! Someone can develop a closed-source project, sell it for a while, recoup costs and some profit, then make a big sale to launch it open source!
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