XBL Indie shooter Leave Home requires that you don't

oh and uhh what is that stupid internet meme everyone does?

OH YEAH...LAST!!!...errrr wait, no..dammint

firts!

MonKENy, I only partially agree with that statement. In the past quality titles on Indie Games were few and far between, but over the last few months, we've been treated on regular occurrences of some real quality titles to show up on the service - seriously, good titles have been showing up on the service on almost a weekly basis. Quite a few of them better than XBLA/PSN titles that have been showing up of late, for less money than most XBLA/PSN titles.

Some recent winners to make an appearance on Indie Games over the last few months, that have real talent and real game play value, are:

College Lacrosse 2010
Beat Hazard
Jump!
Platypus
The Impossible Game
Johnny Platform Saves Christmas!
Swap!
SFG Soccer
Fishing Girl
Border Wars
Leave Home
Avatar Golf
Megalopolis
Sol Survivor
Streets of Fury
Party Boat
Head Shot 2
Ninja Bros.
Amniotic
Slingstar
Storage Inc
Echoes+
City Rain
Antigrav Racing Championship

And these are a few right off the top of my head . . . all of which have just released since the service was rebranded from Community Games to Indie Games a few months ago. And who could forget about classics like:

I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMB1ES!!!1
Miner Dig Deep
ZP2K9
Groov
CarneyVale Showtime
Biology Battle
NextWar: The Quest for Earth
Weapon of Choice
bricks4ever
Colosseum
Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp
Easy Golf
Veks and Silence
Supercow
Minigolf Mania
Blow
Light's End
Galax-e-mail
Clover
Mithra
Orbyx - Mystic Orbs of Chaos
Headshot

My point is, there are plenty of quality games in every genre imaginable, on the Indie Games channel. And since the service was rebranded over the summer, the entire concept that the good games are few and far between has become hogwash. Quality games are coming to the service all the time; on a weekly basis, almost. And best still, all of these games sell for $5 or less, the majority of them selling for only a measly $1.

Indie Games is a great service. There is nothing quite like it ever in the history of console gaming (including the failed attempts that are Net Yarouze and PSX), which has produced over 650 game titles in the one year, one month the service has been online. True, most of the titles on the service leave a lot to be desired of them. But that is always to be expected any time True, there are too many 'apps' in the way of the games. But even despite that, there has been a whole bucket load of worthy games come out of the service. And when you consider that many of these worthy titles were not made by professional game developers getting paid for their services, but ordinary gamers like you and me, looking to see if they got the chops to bring a game idea all the way to fruition, that just makes the real good games, all the better.

I honestly think, that if more gamers would stop just assuming there is nothing good on the service, and stop badmouthing it, and give it a fair chance, they will come away truly surprised by how much quality game titles actually reach the service. I know that a lot of the negative impression that most gamers have of Indie Games channel is Microsoft's fault. They have failed at almost every turn to successfully market the service, or promote the quality games that show up on the service. Critical pieces to the puzzle, like allowing Indie Games to have Achievements, or the game box art that show up in your Friends List, are completely absent. Or even stuff like allowing Indie Games developers to create and sell Gamer Pics or dashboard themes, once again are completely no show. And all of these things, that help get the message out that Indie Games has quality content, is Microsoft's fault for not allowing indie developers access to. But just because Microsoft has continually failed at their duty to indie game developers, does not mean that the rest of us have to drink the same Kool-aid.

There is good stuff on Indie Games . . . plenty of it. And the pace at which good stuff shows up on the channel, has picked up dramatically since the summer. I just wish more gamers would give the service, and the indie developers making games on the service, a fair shake before simply just dismissing them as if they did not exist.

Sorry for the rant, but I think that it needed saying.

And Joystiq, more Indie Games coverage on your site, is not a bad thing. So, more please.