In this week’s Indie Flash: Oculus Rift is bought out by Facebook, Goat simulator finally launches, and we get a peek at the upcoming LGBTQ-focused film, Gaming In Color. Indie Flash is a small look into this week in indie games.
Facebook Buys Oculus Rift – [Source]
Facebook has acquired rights to Oculus Rift for massive $2 billion. Gamers across the net are outraged that the VR darling, once a Kickstarter success story, has sold out to the Facebook mega-corporation.
While the Oculus was originally exclusively for gaming, the new acquisition has made many doubt Facebook’s intentions. Most likely, the device will be optimized to create VR social experiences rather than VR gaming experiences. Sure, there will be overlap, but Facebook is not a gaming company.
In a bold public proclamation, Markus “Notch” Persson, creator of Minecraft has explicitly said that he no longer plans to bring his popular game to the platform because of this news. In a blog post, Notch summed things up:
“Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts. Facebook is not a game tech company. Facebook has a history of caring about building user numbers, and nothing but building user numbers. People have made games for Facebook platforms before, and while it worked great for a while, they were stuck in a very unfortunate position when Facebook eventually changed the platform to better fit the social experience they were trying to build. […] Don’t get me wrong, VR is not bad for social…But I don’t want to work with social, I want to work with games.”
Goat Simulator Launches – [Source]
From joke to Kickstarter to actual product, Coffee Stain Studios has hit comedy gold with Goat Simulator 2014. Born as satire of the ever-increasing numbers of strange simulator games, like Woodcutter Simulator 2013, Goat Simulator is everything you could ever dream of and more.
According to the developers, any bug that doesn’t break the game has been allowed to stay, resulting in some beyond-wacky glitches and bizarre scenarios. “We’re only eliminating the crash-bugs, everything else is hilarious and we’re keeping it.” If you haven’t seen the launch trailer yet for this hilariously broken game, check it out:
Some of our very own GS staff, Brian and Amy, took to the land of the goats to cause some serious damage. You can catch their full stream here. The game is available for purchase on Steam for $9.99 on April 1st. Although, do keep in mind that the game comes with this super serious disclaimer:
“Goat Simulator is a small, broken, and stupid game. It was made in a couple of weeks so don’t expect a game in the size and scope of GTA with goats. In fact, you’re better off not expecting anything at all actually. To be completely honest, it would be best if you’d spend your $10 on a hula hoop, a pile of bricks, or maybe a real-life goat.”
Gaming In Color Set To Release In April – [Source]
Gaming In Color is a successfully funded Kickstarter documentary that explores the cross-section of queer culture and gaming culture. With the tag-line “Out of the closet & into the arcade!” Gaming in Color will showcase the story of queer gamers, the rise of gaymer culture and events, and the proliferation (and lack thereof) of LGBTQ themes in video games. This is potentially the most important documentary about gaming culture to date, and we are very excited for its release!
The Kickstarter was funded in May 2013 with over 1,000 people pledging over $50,000. Now, we can see the first official trailer for this upcoming film as the team prepares for the April release date:
