Humble Indie Bundle #2

[General Zod]

It's now live, and includes Braid, Machinarium, Osmos, Cortex Command and Revenge of the Titans. More options on how you can spread around your money to various charities as you wish, still DRM free.

http://www.humblebundle.com/

[Stark]

Woo! The last one was excellent value.

[Lord Relvenous]

Well, that depends on what you paid for it.

I've been considering how much I want to pay, as I haven't tried any of the games. I don't want to pay a lot (relatively) and find out i hate the games when there's no return. At the same time, I'd feel like a douche if I paid a cent as I want to support indie developers. So I'm paying $15 USD for it and if I really like the games I'll buy it again at whatever price I think the bundle was worth and check the "all to developers" button. I think it's really cool how you can send all your payment to charity too.

[General Zod]

Well, that depends on what you paid for it.

I've been considering how much I want to pay, as I haven't tried any of the games. I don't want to pay a lot (relatively) and find out i hate the games when there's no return. At the same time, I'd feel like a douche if I paid a cent as I want to support indie developers. So I'm paying $15 USD for it and if I really like the games I'll buy it again at whatever price I think the bundle was worth and check the "all to developers" button. I think it's really cool how you can send all your payment to charity too.

Most of the games have demos on Steam.

[adam_grif]

I bought a retail copy of Machinarium for 30 bucks, was good. The game is gorgeous, although I've always been terrible at puzzle games. I've heard braid is fantastic but never played it.

[Stark]

Braid might not be so good on PC, but it was a fantastic XBLA game an worth $15 by itself.

Osmos is a bit meh, though. Still, the onyl way you get ripped off is if you do it to yourself.

[adam_grif]

Can't you just plug a wired 360 controller in for Braid if you're so inclined?

[General Zod]

Can't you just plug a wired 360 controller in for Braid if you're so inclined?

Some people are religious about their mouse and keyboard.

[Stark]

Can't you just plug a wired 360 controller in for Braid if you're so inclined?

Why assume someone buying the bundle even has a controller? The default is keyboard, and platformers suck on keyboard. <ref = the 90s>

[adam_grif]

Those people wouldn't play it on 360 anyway. If it's really better with an analogue stick, then you can just use a 360 pad or some other gamepad if you have one, unless the game doesn't support them (which was what I was asking). Don't shit this thread up with more pc vs console bullshit.

Why assume someone buying the bundle even has a controller?

Why assume the person buying the bundle has an XBOX 360 with which to play the "superior" version?

[Bounty]

An X360 controller is hands-down the best accessory I've ever bought for my PC.

Braid, Osmos and Machinarium are good, never heard of the other ones. If you pay $20 even for those three you've got a steal.

[open_sketchbook]

Cortex Command is addictive and highly moddable fun, so it's also worth it.

[General Zod]

An X360 controller is hands-down the best accessory I've ever bought for my PC.

Braid, Osmos and Machinarium are good, never heard of the other ones. If you pay $20 even for those three you've got a steal.

I just dropped $15 for Braid and Machinarium. Everything else is a bonus.

[Stark]

Cortex Command is addictive and highly moddable fun, so it's also worth it.

It's fucking hilarious they're at release 24 and still in beta fully three years after they were at release 18 and in beta. Game's still broken, but at least ladders work now.

Machinarium is pretty disappointing. A no-risk flickscreen Flash game? Deary.

[General Zod]

Machinarium is pretty disappointing. A no-risk flickscreen Flash game? Deary.

It's not like I had very high expectations from Machinarium. I expect a basic flash puzzle game and I get a basic flash puzzle game.

[Stark]

That's the downside of buying games you've never even heard of, I guess. It's not bad as puzzle games go, but the 'no fail' thing means it's a bit boring... but it's not really heart-pounding material. Its still worth what I chose to pay for it. They seem to be making even more money this year - and they're keepign some for themselves.

[CSJM]

It's fucking hilarious they're at release 24 and still in beta fully three years after they were at release 18 and in beta.

Well, that's not much of an indicator in and of itself. Dwarf Fortress is still an alpha after what, eight years of development? Major version number went up from .21 to .31.

As for the bundle itself, it's a mostly fun collection of games, worth any value you assign to it. I like the Bundle. You can take it with a low price, and pay again later according to how much you enjoyed it.

[Stark]

And Dwarf Fortress also sucks. That's 2 for 2.

They'll be getting most of their sales from Braid, I guess, since its the highest profile game. Osmos is cool but not for everyone, like Machinarium, and RotT is just bleh. Still, they raise an assload of money for charity, so you can't really complain.

[CSJM]

And Dwarf Fortress also sucks. That's 2 for 2.

*marks Stark down in the "eternal enemy" list*

But seriously. The HIB doesn't sell because of any given game. Personally, I enjoy Cortex Command much more than Braid (or Osmos. Or Machinarium. I'm kinda enjoying RotT though.), so you shouldn't consider your opinion above someone else's.

[Stark]

Cortex Command is neat in multi (although it's astonishing that they still don't have actual multi) but it really needs polish. By contrast, Braid is an interesting platformer with an interesting premise and huge levels of polish. I wonder which one made more money? :V

I wonder how people break down their payments. I didn't give anything to the games, just charity and HIB themselves.

[Lord Relvenous]

Humble Indie Bundle #2 just got better. Now it comes with #1! If you already bought #2, they updated the download page to include #1. If you haven't bought it, seriously do. This is riduclously cool.

[Sarevok]

I have to recommend this even if just for Osmos. That game is one of the most innovative I have played.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I have to recommend this even if just for Osmos. That game is one of the most innovative I have played.

For some reason Osmos has TERRIBLE low blocky resolution on my laptop, despite looking great on my home pc. (It's just blue or red squares with blobs).
I even bought a DVI-HDMI cable, Didn't help. I set my laptop to use it's standalone GPU (Asus U35JC) as a default for everything, but it doesn't help. I set rendering details to high ingame - no difference.
Help?
(The same problem also existed in Revenge of the Titans with the ingame text, then I set it to windowed mode and it went to being sharp and great. That hasn't worked with Osmos).

[Sarevok]

Try asking in the official Osmos forums at http://www.hemispheregames.com/forum/

They have a lot of tech threads about solving all kinds of problems with Osmos.

[General Zod]

I have to recommend this even if just for Osmos. That game is one of the most innovative I have played.

For some reason Osmos has TERRIBLE low blocky resolution on my laptop, despite looking great on my home pc. (It's just blue or red squares with blobs).
I even bought a DVI-HDMI cable, Didn't help. I set my laptop to use it's standalone GPU (Asus U35JC) as a default for everything, but it doesn't help. I set rendering details to high ingame - no difference.
Help?
(The same problem also existed in Revenge of the Titans with the ingame text, then I set it to windowed mode and it went to being sharp and great. That hasn't worked with Osmos).

Maybe the game just doesn't like the graphics card on your laptop?