Broke Gamer – Issue #2

Now that 2012 has arrived, you probably are waiting for all the great new games to come out. Mass Effect 3, Twisted Metal, Soul Calibur V, Ninja Gaiden 3, Max Payne 3… the list goes on and on. However, some of you are still left with very little money to spend on games yet pretty much still want to keep playing a lot. I know what it’s like being a gamer with a thin wallet so I thought there would be no better advice than to introduce you to my favorite Indie Game bundles hitting the Internet every month.

Humble Bundle

If you are actively following people from the gaming industry on Twitter, chances are that you have already heard about the Humble Bundle which is arguably the biggest organization creating awesome Indie bundles. How the bundle works is very simple: pay what you want for the games offered, distribute your money between game developers, Humble Bundle organizers, as well as charity (usually Child’s Play and the American Red Cross). Buying the bundle not only gives you access to a Steam/Desura code, but also a DRM-free version you can download at no additional cost (for Windows, MAC, or Linux) which is quite awesome. Want even more awesomeness? Well, you usually are given access to most of the games’ soundtrack as well. And it doesn’t end there… The Humble Bundle also gives away bonuses (more games and other items) to the buyers who pay more than the average price paid by previous buyers, which is around three to six dollars normally.

This is all beautiful and everything but you are probably asking: What games can I get in the Humble Bundle? While every bundle is different, here is a short list of games that were included previously:

Super Meat Boy

Braid

BIT.TRIP RUNNER

World of Goo

Penumbra: Overture

Machinarium

VVVVVV (pronounced as “The Letter V Six Times”)

The Binding of Isaac

Jamestown

Shank

Cave Story +

There is no bundle currently available but I suggest you keep a look at www.humblebundle.com or follow them on Twitter at @humble.

Indie Royale Bundle

This other great bundle is more or less the same as what the Humble people are doing; you pay what you want starting at a minimum price, help great causes, and can get extra games by paying more. The big difference here is that the price goes up as people are buying the bundle and the price goes down if generous people give more money than what is asked. In short, this means that the earlier you buy the bundle, the cheaper it will be. Another notable difference is the fact that you get individual Steam/Desura codes for each game instead of one code for the whole bundle. This means that in the case you already own one of the games included in the bundle, you can give the code to someone else.

While the games included in the Indie Royale bundles have been somewhat less interesting than those included in the Humble bundle, the list is quite impressive for the low price you can pay for them. Here is a short list of games that were in previous bundles:

Eets

Super Crossfire

Max & the Magic Marker

Fractal

A.R.E.S.

Sanctum

Cthulhu Saves the World

Runespell: Overture

You can get up-to-date news about Indie Royale bundles at www.indieroyale.com or follow them on Twitter at @indieroyale.

Stay tuned to That Gamer Hub to discover more new and great games that won’t hurt your wallet in future articles!