IGF 2010, Limbo IS REAL!

Sometimes I think I need to change the slogan (speaking of which, do we even have one?) of this site to "Bringing you news from yesteryear" or "Making old news new again!" Whatever, entrants to the 2010 IGF has been announced, seems like this year we have a record number of 300+ entries...

More entries is always a good thing, but that also means there are more games to comb through to find the real gems. One thing I seem to notice though, is that it's becoming harder to tell the "favorites" that will likely make it into the final round, either the overall quality has risen, or there are no blockbuster titles like World of Goo or Everyday Shooter, which at the time were expected to at least make the finalists.

Nonetheless, here are some of the titles that caught my attention as I went through the list of entries...

There are a number of quality original titles and sequels on the list. AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, has already been released, and proved itself to be a fun and original title. The gameplay of About a Blob seems suspiciously similar to Gish. Captain Forever, having already won the China IGF, is set to dominate again in the main competition. Cogs is one of the more fun and creative puzzle game released recently. It was good to see distractionware's Don't Look Back and VVVVVV, but seriously, I'm still waiting for Ciellus! Galcon Fusion looks really sweet. If the games are judged by their addiction potential, Heroes of Newerth would definitely win. It's good to see Babo Violent 2's successor, Babo: Invasion, in there as well. Is the "Luxe" is Luxe Chalk supposed to stand for "Deluxe"?

So far so good. Of course, there are many more titles worth mentioning, and I would have gone over them if not for... as I skim down the list... what's this I see?

Are my eyes deceiving me? Is that Limbo I see? No way! LIMBO IS REAL! The phantom game's website has been up since the dawn of time, and has been teasing its visitors with a short video and some concept arts for years. Rumors say that the video was created as a proof-of-concept, and the dude who made it is looking for some programmers to help create the game, this was around two or three years ago? The website has been around way longer than that, though. Now, if only they will release a demo, or at the very least, some gameplay footage (keep in mind the video found on that website is not actual gameplay footage).

The maker is labeled as PLAYDEAD, and the only information available states that "Uncertain of his sisters destiny, a boy enters LIMBO ..." Not the most helpful description to say the least.

According to PLAYDEAD's company profile:

PLAYDEAD is a small game studio located in the center of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Our goal is to develop challenging games and experiences for a borad audience of serious gamers.

The first IP under development"Limbo" is an original idea by Arnt Jensen, and was first being developed in the company called Underholdningsbranchen ApS. Later when the first founding from CAT Science was acquired, we transferred all assets and IP to the newly founded company called Limbo ApS. This was also because the publishers and foreign people had problems pronouncing "Underholdningsbranchen" (which means "Entertainment business" in Danish).
The company name was planned to be a temporary name, and in the start of 2009 we changed the name to (hopefully for the final time): PLAYDEAD.

Hmm okay? On the site, Limbo is mentioned as "an artistic black/white platform puzzle game." Something most people can tell by watching that teaser video.

Of course, there's always the chance that the gameplay is not nearly half as good as that promotional video, but we can only hope...