Xbox Live Indie Games don't sell well for the most part; that's why a group of developers joined together last winter for the Indie Games Winter Uprising. And with summer already in full swing, the next uprising has been announced. The Indie Games Summer Uprising is looking to pick up where its predecessor left off, while making some changes to ensure that it's more successful in terms of producing sales.
The fun begins on August 22, when eight games—selected by a crack team of XBLIG developers—will be released daily. Following that, two community-selected games will launch starting September 1. Voting begins on the first day of August, and will be taking place at the IGSU Facebook page.
One of the issues encountered in the initial Uprising promotion last year was that, due to technical issues with the way games were released, it was difficult to ensure that a title would be released on a specific date. Previously, once a game was approved, it would automatically be published sometime in the next 48 hours. Microsoft has since changed this, allowing developers to release games on a specific date once they pass peer review. To ensure that there aren't any issues this time around, games need to have passed peer review at least two weeks prior to the beginning of the promotion in order to be considered.
The promotion has also shrunk this time around, moving from 14 games to eight (plus the two community-selected titles).
"We wanted to really focus on the quality offered on the platform without throwing too much at gamers at once," IGSU coordinator Dave Voyles told Ars. "14 titles would mean that we would either have to have the promotion stretch over a longer period of time, or release titles on the weekends, which we were trying to stay away from."
The timing also means that the IGSU will be taking place alongside two other promotions. The Xbox Live Arcade "Summer of Arcade" kicks off on July 20, while Dream.Build.Play.—a Microsoft-run contest for games that utilize XNA Game Studio which boasts a $40,000 top prize—will be announcing its winners in August. While the timing could take some focus off the IGSU, the move was actually intentional.
"The Summer of Arcade naturally draws lots of attention to the dashboard, much of which comes from gamers who may not commonly go there," explained Voyles. "The large sales, great titles, and additional promotion ensures this.
"Moreover, Dream.Build.Play has developers scrambling to create the most polished titles they can in a brief period of time, in an attempt to vie for an opportunity for an XBLA contract."
There are a total of 67 entries for games vying for a spot in the promotion, and you can see each one of them, along with further details about specific games, right here. The line-up includes everything from shooters like Dragons vs. Spaceships to 3D action games like T.E.C. 3001, all the way up to kart racers like Dirchie Kart - World Tour. Though the Uprisings are driven by the development community, the first managed to capture Microsoft's attention, culminating in IGWU ad on the dashboard. Will we see something similar this time around?
"We can't say much at the moment," said Voyles, "other than the fact that they are most certainly aware of it."
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