Best of IGF returns to Melbourne's ACMI

Melbourne's Australian Centre for the Moving Image will present the "Best of the Independent Games Festival 2012" exhibition, featuring winners, finalists, and honorable mentions from this year's IGF competition. Opening on March 27 (the day after its ongoing Best of IGF 2011 exhibition ends) and running until July 8, this annual curated installment invites attendees to play independently-developed games previously featured at San Francisco's IGF event, held by Gamasutra parent UBM TechWeb Game Network. Several of the titles, which visitors can play for free, have not yet released to the public. The showcase will display 14 games from local and international developers, including IGF's Seumas McNally Grand Prize winner Fez (XBLA) from Polytron, Excellence in Design winner Spelunky (XBLA) from Mossmouth, and Excellence in Visual Art honorable mention Dustforce (Windows) by Australian developer Hitbox Team. Other games set to be featured at ACMI include PC titles like Amanita's Botanicula (Excellence in Audio winner, pictured), Thechineseroom's Dear Esther (Visual Art winner), and Mode 7's Frozen Synapse (Audience Award winner). Joost van Dongen's Proun (Visual Art honorable mention), Firebird Games' To The Moon (Audio finalist), State of Play's Lume (Visual art finalist), and Ed Key's Proteus (Audio honorable mention) will be exhibited there, too. iOS games that will be on display include Powerhead Games' Async Corp (Best Mobile Game finalist), Simogo Games' Beat Sneak Bandit (Best Mobile Game winner), Game Oven Studios' Fingle (Nuovo Award finalist), and Imangi Studio's Temple Run (Best Mobile Game honorable mention). More information on the event will be made available at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image's official site.