Titles like Notch's wildly popular Minecraft and the astoundingly atmospheric first-person horror game

Titles like Notch's wildly popular Minecraft and the astoundingly atmospheric first-person horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent are on the mouths and minds of gamers everywhere, gaining the recognition they so richly deserve.”From scrappy single person start-ups to more robust indies, and from surprising debuts to surprise replica Panerai FER00015 Men's Watch successes, this year's finalist line-up is a perfect showcase of the breadth and diversity of what it means to be 'independent',” said IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer. “I'm excited to see all the developers represented gaining more recognition from a wider audience for what they've worked so hard to create, as the importance of the independent games community grows even further.

“Minecraft is up for three awards, including the grand prize, Technical Excellence, and Excellence in Design. Amnesia is competing with it for the grand prize and Technical Excellence, while receiving a nod for Excellence in Audio as well.Other big names a showing include the WiiWare version of Nicalis' Cave Story for Excellence in replica Panerai FER00005 Men's Watch Visual Art, and Gaijin Games' Bit.Trip series, which has two different titles up for awards: Bit.Trip Beat for Excellence in Audio and Bit.Trip Runner for Excellence in Visual Art.If you're new to the indie gaming scene, don't think of the following as a list of nominations. Think of it as a list of games you absolutely have to experience.

Then you'll know which to root for when the awards are held at the 25th annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco late next month.Seumas McNally Grand PrizeAmnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games)Desktop Dungeons (QCF Design)Minecraft (Mojang)Nidhogg (Messhof)SpyParty (Chris Hecker)Honorable mentions:Bit.Trip replica Panerai FER00013 Men's Watch Runner (Gaijin Games); Neptune's Pride (Iron Helmet Games); Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (Carpe Fulgur); Retro City Rampage (Vblank Entertainment); Super Crate Box (Vlambeer)Excellence In Visual ArtBastion (Supergiant Games)Bit.