Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Humble Indie Bundle V
Humble Indie Bundle V, which was released on Friday June 1, 2012, may be the best Bundle for Linux users to date. The new Bundle brought with it many welcome changes that were long overdue. These changes are not too “humble” by any means. For beginners, the download process is not only fast, but also extremely easy. The quality of the games is second to none when compared to other Humble Bundle releases. The gameplay for all releases is limited only by your hardware and not by the software. Last but not least, the buying process hasn’t changed a bit, it is as simple as simple can be, and you can still name your own price.
Purchase, Download and Installation
You can no longer purchase Humble Bundle V, but, for the first time ever, if you are using Ubuntu, downloading the Humble Bundle was as easy as 1-2-3. After making the purchase at whatever price you decided, you received an email with a link that took you to the download page. At the download page you chose how to download your Humble Bundle. For the first time ever, thanks to Canonical, if you are using Ubuntu you could click a button that said “Download for Ubuntu”. By clicking the Ubuntu button, you were basically allowing the games to be downloaded through the Ubuntu Software Center. At the time of this writing (June 2012), all of the games were available to be downloaded through the Software Center, except for Psychonauts, which was available to download only through the Humble Bundle download page. With the exception of Psychonauts, I had all of the games installed in my system in less than 30 minutes! It doesn’t get any faster than that.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
As far as the games themselves, the selection this time around was as good as it gets. My personal favorite is Amnesia: The Dark Descent – which has been favorably received ever since its original release for the PC as evidenced by its rating of 9.25 (out of 10) in Game Informer magazine. The graphics are among the best I’ve seen in recent years. However, what makes this game a must-have for any true Linux gamer lies in the way it scares you like no other game can. The first time you play the game, when you are going through the setup process, the game recommends a couple of things for better enjoyment. First, it is recommended that you play in a dark room, with the lights off and the graphics set as dark as you can have them while still maintaining visibility. Second, it is recommended that you play with headphones turned up loud. Last, but definitely not least, it is recommended that you play to have fun rather than to beat the game, in other words you are encouraged to explore as much as you can. The last recommendation, I must admit, is the hardest to follow due in great part to the fear you acquire very early in the game, that prevents you from opening a door or turning down a dark corner. The last thing you want to do is explore because the game sucks you in so much that all you really want is to get a little bit of your long lost sanity back. Unlike other horror games, you have zero weapons at your disposal; instead, you are constantly either running away or looking for good places to hide, while at the same time staying away from the light because the light brings about insanity. No other game I have ever played has stirred emotions in the way that Amnesia has, and, after playing this game, all other so-called Horror games seem like a family trip to Disneyland. The game is rated M for Mature.
Bastion
If you happened to pay more than the average amount for the Humble Indie Bundle, you also received Bastion, the 2011 game developed by Supergiant Games. Much like Amnesia, Bastion also fared well among game critics and fans alike. Like Amnesia, the protagonist wakes up to get re-acquainted with a mysterious yet familiar world. However, the similarities end there. Bastion is a very colorful and fun game to play, in which you don’t mind exploring at all. It received an ESRB rating of E10+, but it is definitely not for kids only, but rather a game that can literally be enjoyed by anyone, no matter how old or young at heart. Bastion is an action RPG in which you play The Kid who must explore a floating island and battle all sorts of creatures in order to restore peace to the land. Throughout the game there are many weapons and skills to acquire; however, The Kid can carry only two weapons and one special skill at a time, which are interchangeable and upgradable. One aspect that is unique to Bastion is the way the game is narrated by one of the game’s non-playable characters. The narration is actually pretty fun to listen to, and often funny. Not only do the upcoming challenges affect the narration, but so do your choices as well as your playing style. Originally the game was released for Xbox Live Arcade, but we in the Linux world are now fortunate to be able to play this game in our system and enjoy the fantasy-like colorful graphics, superb soundtrack, instinct driven controls, and fascinating storyline that Bastion has to offer.
Limbo
Much like Bastion, Limbo was originally exclusively released for the Xbox Live Arcade in 2010 but, as of May 2012, the game has been made available for the Linux platform, just in time to be released with the Humble Indie Bundle V. Limbo is the first game ever developed by Playdead. Limbo is a 2D side-scrolling puzzle-platformer that is entirely in black and white from beginning to end. Very much like Amnesia and Bastion, in Limbo you wake up in a rather foreign and definitely violent world. Also, much the same as Amnesia, in Limbo the main character has no weapon at all. Instead, you must solve many puzzles to survive, sometimes relying on your surroundings to defeat your enemies. When you fail to solve the puzzles, the boy often suffers a very graphically violent death. Although black and white, the artwork is one of the defining aspects of Limbo. Playing it feels almost as if you were watching an old, silent, black and white movie in a rundown theater with a projector that might need replacement soon. The puzzles range from easy to extremely hard to solve. However, the game is highly addictive and can be solved in under 15 hours. Once you start, it’s pretty hard to put it down. The controls are pretty standard and straightforward. The boy in the game can move only from left to right, jump, and grab things – whether it’s a rope, a box, or a canoe. The game uses a very minimalistic approach in all aspects, from sound and graphics to controls and storyline. From the beginning of the game until the very end, the only thing you know is that the boy is on a quest to find his sister. Due to the often gruesome death sequences, you can’t help to wonder why the game received an ESRB rating of T instead of M. Perhaps if the game were in color and you could see the red blood, the game might have gotten the Mature ESRB rating.
Other games and Conclusion
At the time of this writing there were eight games available that were all part of the Humble Indie Bundle V. Originally, the games included with the Bundle were Amnesia, Limbo, Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery, Psychonauts, and Bastion if you paid above the average amount of money paid at the time of purchase. Then, on June 7th, three other games were added to those people who had paid more than the average. These games are Braid, Super Meat Boy, and Lone Survivor. Perhaps the other games will be reviewed in an upcoming FCM issue.
Overall, the release of the Humble Indie Bundle V has been a great success. In its first 15 hours after being released, the Bundle had already sold more copies than the previous best selling Bundle which was Humble Indie Bundle IV. At the time of this writing, the Humble Indie Bundle V had sold 522,042 copies and counting. Ever since the Humble Indie Bundle 1, Linux buyers have paid, on average, more than Windows and Mac buyers. It could be this factor that has led to such great and significant progress to Linux gaming as a whole. It is undoubtedly hard to deny that the Linux community is willing to spend money to play video games, and lots of video game companies have taken notice of this fact. Not only have independent companies profited from Humble Indie Bundle sales, but also there have been talks lately of establishing a Linux port for Steam, thus making available a whole new world of video games for those of us who love Linux gaming.
For the most recent bundle see: www.humblebundle.com