Indie promotion tries to make up for Microsoft's XBLIG apathy

A group of independent developers has once again taken matters into their own hands to promote Xbox Live Indie Games and their releases on the platform, trying to make up for Microsoft's apathy with the service. Now in its third year, the Indie Games Uprising campaigns highlight standout releases coming to XBLIG. Unlike Xbox Live Arcade promotions (e.g. Summer of Arcade, House Party), these campaigns are run by independent developers, not by Microsoft. Many have criticized Microsoft in the past for doing very little to increase the visibility of XBLIG or to help users discover games on the platform. Other than adding a shortcut to the Xbox 360 dashboard in February, the company has hardly made any other efforts to promote the service recently. XBLIG offers the easiest route for developers to get their games on the Xbox 360 without a publisher, but it's been difficult for many to find success on the platform, and a number have abandoned it to focus on PC or mobile instead. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell even called XBLIG "a waste of time from any sort of commercial point of view." Indie Games Uprising's summer event this year will feature nine different XBLIG titles, with one released each day from September 10 to 20. The featured games include Smudged Cat Games' Getaways, Hermitgames' qrth-phyl, Michael Hicks' Sententia, and Chris Zukowski's City Tuesday. Also joining in, Tricktale's Diehard Dungeon, Gristmill Studios' Xenominer, Autovity's Entropy, Ratchet Game Studios' Pixel, and Andreas Heydeck's Smooth Operators. All of the games can be previewed in the trailer below: