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[Only a couple of weeks until GDC 2010 and the 2010 Independent Games Festival now, so we compiled some of the neat coverage of the finalists over at the official site, and have crossposted here.]

As the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival at Game Developers Conference 2010 rapidly approaches, we're delighted to note that a lot of prominent video game outlets are covering this year's finalists.

In fact, the coverage is coming thick and fast, even before journalists get to chat to creators in-person at the IGF Pavilion, attend the Independent Games Summit, and see who wins at the IGF Awards on March 11th.

In particular, we wanted to highlight the following articles and series from third-party sites, and thank them for their coverage of IGF-honored indie games:

- UK-based PC game site Rock Paper Shotgun is also interviewing and speaking to a plethora of IGF finalists, with a dedicated landing page for each of the games discussed so far, including Shank, A Slow Year, and many more.

- Kotaku, the world's biggest video game weblog, is doing a daily 'Road To The IGF' feature, profiling each of the Main and Student Competition finalists, with ten articles looking at games from Owlboy through Monaco already posted. Continue reading

[Only a couple of weeks until GDC 2010 and the 2010 Independent Games Festival now, so we compiled some of the neat coverage of the finalists over at the official site, and have crossposted here.]

As the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival at Game Developers Conference 2010 rapidly approaches, we're delighted to note that a lot of prominent video game outlets are covering this year's finalists.

In fact, the coverage is coming thick and fast, even before journalists get to chat to creators in-person at the IGF Pavilion, attend the Independent Games Summit, and see who wins at the IGF Awards on March 11th.

In particular, we wanted to highlight the following articles and series from third-party sites, and thank them for their coverage of IGF-honored indie games:

- UK-based PC game site Rock Paper Shotgun is also interviewing and speaking to a plethora of IGF finalists, with a dedicated landing page for each of the games discussed so far, including Shank, A Slow Year, and many more.

- Kotaku, the world's biggest video game weblog, is doing a daily 'Road To The IGF' feature, profiling each of the Main and Student Competition finalists, with ten articles looking at games from Owlboy through Monaco already posted.

- Several sites have individually profiled the IGF 2010 finalists, with Joystiq sister site BigDownload.com looking at each category in turn, and seminal blog Boing Boing creating video-filled guides to Main Competition finalists and Student Showcase winners.

- Long-time dev-centric destination GameDev.net is continuing its multi-year profile of Independent Games Festival finalists by talking to 2010's crop, with the creators of Vessel and AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! discussed so far.

- Last but not least, IGF sister website Gamasutra is supplmenting its multi-year set of 'Road To The IGF' interviews, with this year's in-depth Q&As already spanning Miegakure, Star Guard and beyond.

In addition, many other sites are covering IGF games in-depth, with DIYGamer talking to IGF Student Showcase winners and sifting through many other entries, for example. Once again, thanks to you all for covering independent games and the IGF.

Paper Cakes may seem like yet another drop in a sea of indie puzzle platformers, but its gimmick is definitely worth investigating: each of the game's 40 stages takes place on a virtual piece of paper that you can fold, flip, and manipulate in other ways to get your navigate your smiling character to a giant cake.

The title was produced by an international team of students from the University of Southern California and the Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherland. Paper Cakes is one of several games and applications the group created as part of a program to develop a project for an external client, which in this case was Wacom (for the company's Bamboo Mini platform).

While the game isn't yet available you to buy, download, or play, Paper Cakes was submitted to the IGF 2010 Student Competition, so perhaps it's in a state that the students will feel comfortable with sharing soon?

In Continuity, each stage is broken into different squares that you slide and rearrange to find the right path for your character. Some levels offer as few as three segments to navigate, while others challenge you with 15 tiles, scattering multiple keys around the maze for you to gather (I haven't advanced far enough to see if there are even more complex stages.).

Despite the game's calming music, it can get frustrating at times when dropping through a pit doesn't work out like you expected, forcing you to restart all the way at square one instead of allowing you to respawn in your current tile. Other than that problem, though, it's very fun!

The creative puzzle platformer was developed by Ragtime Games, a group out of Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Continuity features around 30 levels, according to sister-site IndieGames. You can play the IGF 2010 Student Competition Entrant for free here.

[Just a reminder that Tuesday is the last day to enter IGF Mobile for this year. The line-up is already looking pretty darn strong, but for those with indie handheld (iPhone, DSi, PSP Minis, Android, etc) games who want to get their name out there, enter now, if you haven't...]

Following record entries for IGF's Main and Student competition, IGF Mobile organizers are reminding of a December 1st deadline for the third annual festival honoring handheld indie games.

This year's competition -- the sister event to the main Independent Games Festival -- will again feature independently-developed handheld games for all mobile devices including Apple's iPhone, other cellphone and smartphone OSes, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and other handheld devices.

Now in its third year, IGF Mobile (part of Think Services, as is this website) has blossomed into a major showcase of the handheld form. Apple's App Store created a special Store section just to highlight the IGF-nominated iPhone games from 2009's IGF Mobile competition, which included acclaimed titles such as Fieldrunners, Real Racing, Zen Bound and Galcon. In addition, last year's IGF Mobile 'Next Great Mobile Game' winner Reflection has been signed by Konami for Nintendo DSi.

The overall IGF Mobile winner will be revealed at the IGF Awards Ceremony, which precedes the Game Developers Choice Awards on March 11th, 2010. (Both the IGF Awards Ceremony and the Game Developers Choice Awards are part of the 2010 Game Developers Conference, which takes place in San Francisco's Moscone Center in March.)

IGF Mobile submissions are still being accepted at the competition's official website through December 1, 2009; finalists will be announced in January 2010, and will each receive one pass to attend the 2010 Game Developers Conference. Finalists will compete for $5,000 in prizes, including notable awards for design, art, and technology innovation in mobile game development.

This year, winners in each category (with the exception of 'Best Game') will be announced before the show, on February 8th, 2010. Each category winner will receive $500 in spending money to come to the 2010 Game Developers Conference in March 2010 and showcase their mobile game, alongside their GDC pass.

The five category winners will exhibit their games in a special area of the main IGF Pavilion, the winners will then compete for the coveted IGF Mobile Best Game award, worth $2,500. The prize is presented on stage during the main Independent Games Festival Awards, preceding the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony on March 11th, 2010.

For a complete list of IGF Mobile 2010 information and to enter before the end of Tuesday, December 1st, please visit IGFMobile.com.

[Just a reminder that Tuesday is the last day to enter IGF Mobile for this year, for those with indie handheld (iPhone, Android, DSi/PSP Minis, etc) games who might want to be considered.]

Following record entries for IGF's Main and Student competition, IGF Mobile organizers are reminding of a December 1st deadline for the third annual festival honoring handheld indie games.

This year's competition -- the sister event to the main Independent Games Festival -- will again feature independently-developed handheld games for all mobile devices including Apple's iPhone, other cellphone and smartphone OSes, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and other handheld devices.

Now in its third year, IGF Mobile (part of Think Services, as is this website) has blossomed into a major showcase of the handheld form. Apple's App Store created a special Store section just to highlight the IGF-nominated iPhone games from 2009's IGF Mobile competition, which included acclaimed titles such as Fieldrunners, Real Racing, Zen Bound and Galcon. In addition, last year's IGF Mobile 'Next Great Mobile Game' winner Reflection has been signed by Konami for Nintendo DSi. Continue reading

One of nearly 200 submissions to the 2010 IGF Student Competition, Cut & Paste is a cute little adventure title that has you cutting pieces from the game world and dropping them back in to solve its different puzzles. Each scene is presented as a flipbook animation that you can stop to pull an item from your library of clipped objects.

The project come from a team of developers at Seoul's Sogang University calling themselves Turtle Cream, a name that's either adorable or horrifying, I haven't decided yet. The group has posted an in-progress build for the PC game and plans to release the full version of Cut & Paste in early 2010.