Although Steam's full Christmas sale hasn't launched yet (or so we assume), plenty of other outfits are already partaking in the festivities. We typically reserve game sales for Fridays, but we're covering two indie offerings today because they don't fit the format of our deals post and they deserve a little attention. The Humble Indie Bundle has launched its fourth event (excluding developer-specific sales), while Indie Royale is holding a similar promotion.
The latest Humble Indie Bundle is comprised of no less than seven titles, including Super Meat Boy, Bit.Trip Runner, Jamestown, Gratuitous Space Battles, Cave Story+, Shank and NightSky HD. Most of those are rated favorably by critics and users alike, with Super Meat Boy scoring particularly high at 90/100 across most major review sites. Cave Story+ is also a noteworthy mention, bringing improved graphics, music and more to the cult classic.
As always, all seven games are DRM-free and work across Windows, Mac and Linux. You'll only get all of the titles if you pay the average purchasing price (currently a meager $4.86), but you'll lose Gratuitous Space Battles and Cave Story+ if you shell out less than that. You can slice your payment up between the game developers, the Humble Indie Bundle organizers and charity (the American Red Cross and Child's Play). The top contribution is $3,500.
Meanwhile, Indie Royale has borrowed the Humble Indie Bundle's pay-what-you-want concept, but it's not entirely identical. The service forces you to pay a minimum (currently $4.00) for four games instead of allowing you to pay less and receive less. Folks who pay significantly more than that amount (currently $10 or higher) lower the minimum price for everyone else. Paying $10 drops the minimum by a penny while paying $100 cuts the price by $1.
The Xmas Bundle will be available for another 12 days and includes The Blackwell Trilogy: Remastered (debut appearance), Eets (from the makers of Shank, which is available above), Dino D-Day and The Oil Blue. Three of the games are available as DRM-free downloads, but Dino D-Day is only offered through Steam. It seems Eets is the only Mac-compatible title. Indie Royale has at least three more events scheduled to roll out over the next eight weeks.