Tasty Planet, a new release from indie developer Dingo Games, certainly wears it’s influences on it’s sleeve. In Tasty Planet, you play as a happy little ball of microscopic nanotechnology which is becoming aware of it’s surroundings and begins to devour the planet, starting with the body it’s implanted in all the way to devouring the entire galaxy. Not quite as cheery as Katamari I must say, but for what it is, an enjoyable indie developed casual game, it looks pretty interesting to me, especially since I can play it on my Mac (a rare treat).

Watch gameplay footage of Tasty Planet after the jump..

Read more of “Tasty Planet gameplay trailer – Katamari indie-style“

Limbo, the beautiful platformer from Arnt Jensen, Danish artist and game designer, has announced that they are hiring. Always good news to see an indie game company hiring, Arnt is looking for a developer (C++) to aid in the creation of Limbo, a game which is being backed by the Danish government to some degree. The artwork is brilliant and Arnt certainly knows his way around the industry, having done artwork in the past for major developers. Someone take this job quickly and get Limbo out (preferrably via Steam and/or Manifesto!).

Read more: Limbo is hiring a programmer

Though this is just an early teaser trailer to the upcoming Danish platformer, Limbo, it’s already looking brilliant and I’m already thinking of the possibilities. An indie game to the core, Limbo is being produced by 1 extremely talented individual, Arnt Jensen, who is behind the art, concept and design. Limbo has recently received a healthy grant from the Danish government in order to continue the development of the game, more proof of the good that government funded innovation achieves. More information will be coming soon on the availability of the game and I’m holding out hope that the developer will soon have a dev-blog where he can discuss more about his ideas and game design.

Read more: Limbo – The Game

DEFCON is one of our most anticipated titles of the year currently being polished before release at Indie-powerhouse Introversion Software, makers of the cult-classic Darwinia. Due for release September 29th, DEFCON is a modern take on War Games, allowing you and your friends to anhialate each other in a multi-player, thermonuclear showdown, where everybody dies. Currently on pre-order at Valve’s games portal, Steam, you can pick up DEFCON at an amazing $9.95 US + any appicable taxes, a great deal for what will definitely be the sleeper hit of the year.

Read more: DEFCON pre-order sale @ Steam | DEFCON from Introversion Software

The brave souls behind the Indie Games Festival have released a rather exhaustive list of their entrants for 2007′s competitions, breaking the previous years amount of entrants by a large margin. The list is huge honestly, so I’m not even going to try and list them all, but I will cover my 5 favorites and then I’ll see about dropping a few bones in Vegas on the outcome.

Playthrough’s 5 favorites and link to the huge list after the jump..

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Independent games mega-portal Game Tunnel has announced recently that they will be launching a print magazine, featuring independent games reviews, news, gossip, articles and developer interviews. Issue #1 appears to still be in pre-production, however a preview has been released by the tunnelers in PDF form, allowing site visitors to get a sneak peek into the forthcoming publication. No word on subscription prices or schedules have been released, but I’m sure more information will be forthcoming.

Show more: Game Tunnel launches indie games magazine

The indie gaming world was abuzz after Microsoft announced it’s independent and student game development tool, XNA Game Studio Express, allowing aspiring game creators the ability to begin developing their own games for Windows XP and Vista at no charge. The most exciting bit of news from that announcement was the ability for game creators to develop for the Xbox 360 console starting this holiday season 2006 as part of what MS are calling the XNA Creators Club. This will be a subscription-based service, requiring a yearly subscription of $99, a low fee for any student or bedroom coder who wants to see their creation running on an Xbox 360. To follow that up today, Microsoft has announced the beta release of XNA Game Studio Express for Windows XP and Vista, leading up to the final release at the end of this year with XNA Game Studio Professional launching Spring 2007. Coinciding with today’s beta release, GarageGames has announced the enrollment program for their Torque X beta program, which will include both the Torque Game Builder engine and the Torque Shader Engine, which were developed in conjunction with XNA Game Studio Express.

Read more: Microsoft releases Game Studio Express beta | Garage Games

Manifesto Games, the online indie games distributor and publisher headed by game design legend Greg Costikyan, has finally opened their site and shop for preview and testing. Manifesto features hundreds of independently produced games for various platforms, from platformers to RPGs to online gambling to RTs, all available to purchase using a low, developer-friendly pricing structure, meaning indie game developers receive a higher royalty rate for every one of their titles sold. Finally the indie games market is learning a few lessons from the indie music market, which has been successfully supporting an alternative to mainstream, independent industry for decades, I just hope that Manifesto continues looking at their successes for guidence towards their own.

Read more: Manifesto Games site has gone (somewhat) live

Whew this flew under our radar. A few days ago, GarageGames bigwig Mark Frohnmayer announced that they would be canceling the Indie Games Convention which they host yearly as an alternative to more mainstream gaming conventions such as the GDC and E3 (R.I.P). The reasons stated for the cancelation are somewhat odd to be honest, basically the worry is that, with IGC approaching soon, GarageGames would be unable to deliver a quality event while still fulfilling the products which they’ve planned for the rest of this year, such as updates to the Torque Shader Engine, Torque X, Torque Game Builder, and Constructor. I’m sure they have their reasons, but it’s still a bit disappointing that they couldn’t find a way to throw more resources or bring in someone/some company to organize this for them, but indie business comes first I guess? We’ll wait and see if another entity can pick up the torch and run with it, or if another IGC appears when Garage has the time and manpower to pull it off.

Read more: Mark Frohnmayr announces cancellation of IGC 2006 | Indie Games Convention