Tripwire Interactive started off as a modding team, taking its win in the Make Something Unreal contest for Red Orchestra and transforming themselves into a full-fledged developer and now a publisher. Tripwire has taken its own game, Killing Floor, to retail, and now they are doing the same thing with ACE Team's wildly popular Zeno Clash. Zeno Clash was released on Steam earlier this year, building up a rabid fan base relatively quickly. Now Atlus is bringing the game to Xbox Live Arcade, and Tripwire is bringing it to PC game resellers across North America.

Tripwire vice president Alan Wilson comments on the parallels between the two developers.

"Zeno Clash is one of those truly stand-out games that we are really proud to be associated with and to have as our first third-party title to publish. The game is genuinely memorable and has the best melee combat mechanics we've ever seen. What makes this deal even more memorable for us, is the fact that the ACE Team's history parallels our own – an ex-mod team that has funded themselves and succeeded in developing and releasing a great first title."

Zeno Clash should be hitting retail shelves "soon."

Super Meat Boy is a classic platformer based on the the flash game Meat Boy, which you can still play over at Newgrounds. It puts you in the shoes...erm. Feet? Does it have feet? Hell, I'll just let the press release explain it.

Well, what if you woke up to find you were made of a lump of juicy raw meat, your girlfriend was made of band-aids and to top it all off she had been kidnapped by a fetus in a jar wearing a suit and monocle? Would that be totally awesome? or just kinda awesome?

The game is being completely rebuilt for WiiWare, with more than 100 single player levels, insane bosses to defeat, competitive modes, and co-op play, which all adds up to one beefy chunk of gaming.

Edmund and company will be keeping us up to date on the game's progress via Supermeatboy.com, where you can get all the latest news about meat and meat-by-products.

Are you a fan of small cubes of animated meat?

Do you enjoy the sound of buzz saws?

When you hear the term "wall jump" do you get excited?

Well, what if you woke up to find you were made of a lump of juicy raw meat, your girlfriend was made of band-aids and to top it all off she had been kidnapped by a fetus in a jar wearing a suit and monocle? Would that be totally awesome? or just kinda awesome?

Well I'm hoping you chose totally awesome, because that's basically the premise of Super Meat Boy.

In Super Meat Boy you take the role of a small animated cube of meat on his quest to save his lady love Band-Aid girl from the clutches of the evil Dr. Fetus! Sliding his way through saw mills, salt factories and even hell itself, Meat boy jumps into action in this fast paced and extremely challenging platformer that will "melt your face off".

Super Meat Boy is based off the popular flash game Meat Boy hosted by Newgrounds.com. http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/472826

Super Meat Boy will be completely remade from the ground up for its release on Wiiware™ and will feature over 100+ single player levels, insane boss fights, competitive vs modes, beefy co-op play and a slew of unlockables that are rumored to fill your life with great happiness!

SMB (best abbreviation ever) is being designed by Gish co-creator Edmund McMillen, Tommy Refenes and "Big" Jon McEntee.

We will be documenting Meat Boy's rebirth for Wiiware on our development blog via Supermeatboy.com so feel free to pop in and tell us all your lame ideas we will never use!

Thanks for the support! and keep indie gaming alive!

-Team Meat

Nintendo trademarks used under license. WiiWare is available only through the Wii console.

The winner of the 2007 Independent Game Festival's Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Aquaria tells the story of Naija, a lone aquatic dweller searching for her family in an underwater world filled with mystery, magic, music, and danger. It truly is a beautiful game, with some of the best music I've heard in an independent title, innovative music-based gameplay mechanics, gorgeous hand-drawn graphics, and an incredibly enchanting voice over performance.

While the game normally runs $19.99, it is now available on Steam for $15.99 through December 31st. If you've yet to play Aquaria and you have a PC capable of doing so, I highly recommend picking it up.

Aquaria On Steam [Steam - Thanks Jonas]

In case you are wondering what Crayon Physics Deluxe is all about, you can check out the new website where Petri's posted a neat video of the gameplay in action. It's a little bit The Incredible Machine, and a little bit Simon, whose things he draws come true. It's brilliance.

Crayon Physics Deluxe [Official Website]

We recommend IndieGame's Top 50 Game Guide, which includes plenty of free downloads to heal your currently blockbuster-violated pocketbook.

Want Games? An In-Depth Indie Game Guide [via gamasutra]

... At risk of showing my unsophistication here, I must admit some of them make me feel like the hayseed who wanders into MoMA and stares, perplexed, at the often odd experiments on exhibit. Like, I know that Jenova Chen's fl0w is great. But, you know, I didn't really get it. It's simple; there's not much to get ....

I've played it, I guess it's fun enough, And as beautiful as the above Flower trailer is ("it's Flower, not Fl0w-er!") I just don't know what it's about. Perhaps my overstimulated little brain is just habituated to more... stimulation, and I guess if I were a truly enlightened, spiritual individual I could just chill with fl0w.

Just like their big league relatives, indie games run the gamut - but there's something irritating about indie pretentiousness when the goods don't live up to the idea, be it music, film, or gaming.

Indie is the New Popular [Sexy Videogameland]

Chief Operating Officer Christopher Davis forms the head:

We have the men. We have the tools. We have the plan. And now...We have the way to create a truly exciting, visceral experience for the new age of game player. There are some powerful ideas about to be unleashed in the near future, and I am exceptionally proud to be a part of it!"

EA Veterans Unleash Atomic Robot Games

Ex-EA veterans unleash new development studio in Vancouver.

Vancouver, B.C. May 3rd, 2007

Industry veterans, formerly of Electronic Arts and Black Box Games, are proud to announce the newly formed independent development studio Atomic Robot Games!

Containing a powerhouse think-tank of some of the greatest minds in the video-game industry, Chief Operating Officer Christopher Davis had this to say: "These guys are masters of their craft with more than 24 games under their belts. They have created some amazing and hugely successful titles making us a supremely well-built team of top-notch game veterans. We have created a truly unique company at a great time in our industry."

By embracing cutting edge in-house tools and engines, Atomic Robot Games' focus is on creating innovative games by pushing the boundaries of what the industry thinks of as standard. Like only an independent studio can, Atomic Robot Games will blaze a trail into a new generation of handheld and console games.

Tristan Grimmer, Chief Technology Officer, says, "One of the most important aspects of any game company is their in-house technology. Atomic Robot Games is no exception. We've developed a proprietary engine and in-house tool-set that will allow us to create some remarkable game-play experiences."

Creative Director, Ken Thurston, says, "These guys are like family - we have a lot of history. From Black Box to EA with titles like 'Need For Speed' we're veterans in the industry, and we know our stuff! Since day one our mantra has been 'game play first.' At Atomic Robot Games that will be the creative foundation for all our titles. I'm very excited."

Currently in talks with publishers, Davis says, "We have the men. We have the tools. We have the plan. And now...We have the way to create a truly exciting, visceral experience for the new age of game player. There are some powerful ideas about to be unleashed in the near future, and I am exceptionally proud to be a part of it!"

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Well, this looks lovely: a game in which you appear to play a gigantic fat baby covered in paint who must roll through a drab, monotone city and infuse magical color into the world. It's The Blob, a heavily Katamari inspired project from some clever Dutch students:

The game was a school project for an outside client. The station area of the city of Utrecht in The Netherlands is getting a thorough face-lift, as the station and many buildings around it are being rebuilt. Our task was to make a game that plays in the station area as it will be ten years from now, so that while playing, the audience is informed about what is going to happen. The game was to be played in a centre with information about the changes, but also be downloadable for players at home. This means the main target audience will walk by, play for a few minutes, and then walk on, but it should also be fun for people who download the game.

It's a beautiful little game and we'd love to see this expanded into a full project. Check out more over at TIGSource. Florian Eckhardt

De Blob [TIGSource]