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Red Cross Joins New All-Star Humble Bundle

The popular pay-what-you-want bundle has never had a lineup this good.

Since first appearing in May of 2010, the Humble Indie Bundle has raised quite a bit of money for game developers as well as charity while providing excellent games to an eager audience at extremely low prices, and DRM-free to boot. The Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle from this past September actually prompted on the phenomenon.

Regardless, the recent release of the newest bundle, The Humble Indie Bundle 4 (actually the eighth bundle in the lineage), bears mentioning. It also bears purchasing. As great as some of these bundles have been in the past, this latest package easily transcends them all.

Owners of the Xbox 360 console should immediately recognize the presence of Super Meat Boy in this bundle. Famous for its ability to be punishingly difficult while simultaneously extremely addictive, Super Meat Boy's small-serving levels and pinpoint-accurate controls make for a deadly concoction. The fact that you can name your price and get an excellent game like this makes the purchase of the entire bundle worth it and then some, even if you never touch any of the other games. I could stop right here.

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But I won't; there are more that beg to be mentioned. The Humble Indie Bundle 4 also includes Bit.Trip Runner, a "modern retro" combination platform/rhythm game. The fourth installment in the Bit.Trip series puts the player in control of Commander Video in a game with an awesome art style and clever incorporation of music. It also shows great staying power, having originally released as a WiiWare download in 2010 while still managing to win the 2011 Independent Games Festival (IGF) Excellence in Visual Arts award. Not unlike Super Meat Boy, it's also known for being extremely difficult. In fact, Commander Video makes a cameo in Super Meat Boy if you can find him!

In the company of these two awesome games is Shank, another indie game that cut its teeth on consoles (who knew an EA-published game would end up on a Humble Indie Bundle?). Found on both the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE since August of 2010, Shank is a side-scrolling beat-em-up game that was soundly praised for its presentation values. Some critics were won over completely as X-Play awarded it a 5/5 with Joystiq awarding a similar 4.5/5 score. Others were a bit more reserved, with most citing the particularly short play time. But come on... When you buy this bundle and get all of these games at once, you won't mind being able to fly through an enjoyable game pretty quickly so that you can move on to the next!

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And here's a game that you certainly won't be flying through in short order, and one that you'll get if you choose to pay more than the average buying price for the Humble Indie Bundle 4 (the current average sitting at $5.34). Cave Story+ is an updated version of one of the legends of indie gaming, Cave Story. Originally released in 2004, the game has managed to become consistently more and more popular as the years pass, actually earning a nomination for Game of the Year at the 2010 Nintendo Power awards after finally making its console debut! The gameplay is a tribute to the old-school classics Metroid and Castlevania, and back in 2005 was actually called "so massive that it rivals modern GBA Castlevania and Metroid games in terms of scope and play time" by 1UP.com. This new version is yet another top-notch game that you'll get dirt cheap in this current bundle.

Throw in NightSky HD, Jamestown, and Gratuitous Space Battles, and the English language lacks the words to properly describe how ridiculous this deal is. But another new face to the fray that's even more impactful isn't a game at all. While previous Humble Bundles have always allowed for allocating a portion of your chosen price to the Child's Play Charity and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Humble Indie Bundle 4 also marks the arrival of the American Red Cross for donation. With all of these fantastic games as well as even better charity options for donation, this bundle is primed to break records. 100,000 units were sold and $500,000 earned just over four hours.

Yet, another bonus was recently added. Since its release, the Humble Indie Bundle 4 has added soundtracks for all of the included games to the package. And if you've played Super Meat Boy or Bit.Trip Runner, you'd know that this is pretty great news, as if there wasn't enough value yet.

As I write this, 277,665 bundles have been sold and $1,483,331.61 has been contributed. The Humble Indie Bundle 3 currently holds the sales and revenue record at 372,346 and $2,167,519.10 respectively. The Humble Indie Bundle 4 has 10 more days to eclipse that mark. At this rate, the current record won't just be surpassed, it will be demolished.

Support charity and independent gaming developers by being one of the purchases that helps the Humble Indie Bundle 4 to beat that record!

Check out these retailers for your video game needs:

  • Play N Trade, 545 South Broad St., Lansdale. (215) 368-1955
  • , 2612 W. Moreland Road, Willow Grove. (215) 830-8505
  • Classic Game Junkie, 111 S. Easton Road, Glenside
  • GameStop, 1551 Valley Forge Road, Lansdale. (215) 631-1230
  • , 2333 W. Main St., Lansdale. (215) 855-4280
  • GameStop, 801 Bethlehem Pike, North Wales. (215) 412-2900
  • GameStop, Montgomery Mall, North Wales. (215) 362-2036
  • , 222 East Main St., Collegeville (610) 831-8732
  • GameStop, 1838 Bethlehem Pike, Flourtown (215) 836-5947
  • GameStop, 1495 Old York Road, Abington (215) 885-2069
  • , 2500 W. Moreland Road, Willow Grove, (215) 657-4341
  • , 44 E. Germantown Pike, Norristown (610) 279-2078
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