Last month in modding...

Another great months for mods and indies gamers out there (check out the release list!). As the summer months begin for everyone in the western hemisphere, gamers everywhere start to suffer from the drought of new releases on the commercial front. Fortunately for you, modders and indie developers seize this time to ramp up their efforts and release some amazing stuff! ModDB is rounding up a bunch of releases you may have missed in the first half of the year to feature in a new event. It will truly make this season the "Summer of Mods & Indies". Read on for all the details of the happenings in June and what's soon to come on ModDB.

Every year, ModDB strives to recognize the best games and mods that make use of our services through the Mod of the Year Awards. While MOTY 2008 was the most successful event thus far, it still presented the same problem as previous years. Voting for the Player's Choice Awards largely consisted of mods and games that did most of their chest-thumping in the few months leading up to them. How could the short attention spans of voters be harnessed to have them consider the full breadth of releases in a year?

Our solution - the "Summer of Mods and Indies"! This event will focus on rounding up all the major releases since the MOTY's in order to boost exposure for all those great mods and indie games you missed. It comes at a great time of the year too, when most gamers suffer from a drought of high-street commercial releases. All of this is made possible with help from our returning sponsor, the U.S. Air Force:

Bird_of_Prey gives his impressions of the cult favorite (and mod-able) turn-based strategy game Battle for Wesnoth [v1.6]. If you're a fan of the old school strategy-based games, this one's for you!

Ninjadave takes look at indie scene newcomer Aero Empire. This cross-genre, Da Vinci steampunk styled game is still early in development, but looks to be off to a great start. See for yourself by reading the feature article:

The Nameless Mod may have been 7 years in the making to produce a great product, but what did it take to get it done? What went right? What went wrong? Those questions plus more are answered in the post-mortem they recently posted. A great read for developers within the community:

ModDB can be a powerful tool used to grow the community around your game or mod. However, many people still grapple with how to effectively use ModDB and take advantage of all its features. Need some help? Check out Henley's tutorial that covers the basics of using ModDB to increase your exposure:

Winner of ModDB's "Best Upcoming Mod" for 2008 MOTY has finally been released. This first episode - Hell Awaits - packs in a ton of content, and leaves you wanting more. Check out the full impressions article on ModDB:

Prometheus is a UT3 mod that has you working together with yourself to solve puzzles by bending space and time. Check out ModDB's write-up on the mind-bending puzzle mod:

Smashball is a combination extreme sports/fps shooter mod that makes for fast-paced action and teamwork. And now its exclusively available on Steamworks! Learn all about the "world's most violent virtual sport" in ModDB's official impressions:

The popular Source mod, NEOTOKYO°, had been relatively silent for years until now. In its lead up to its initial release, ModDB's stenchy has infiltrated NEOTOKYO°'s archives to show the public all the behind-the-scenes info they can handle. If you'd like to work with ModDB to deliver coverage like this to your fans, contact stenchy for more information:

Essential Release List:

Battlefield 2
- Insurgent Strike v0.11
- Project Reality v0.86

Call of Duty: World at War
- PeZBOT

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
- Tiberian Apocalypse

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
- C&C Retarded: Red Cocaine v1.338

Crysis
- Souleon Storm

DOOM 3
- D3 Demon Wars [beta]

Fallout 3
- Grey Sky

Freelancer
- Discovery Freelancer v4.85

Half-Life 2
- Bisounours Party
- Curse Episodes: Hell Awaits
- Fistful of Frags v2.6
- Heart of Evil: Napalm Edition
- Insurgency [steamworks]
- Radiator: Polaris
- Smashball [steamworks]
- Zombie Panic: Source [steamworks]

Indie
- AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! -- A RecklessDisregard for Gravity [demo]
- Air Master 3D
- Alien Arena v7.30
- Duke Theft Auto [beta]
- Squid Yes, Not So Octopus: Squid Harder
- Spring: 1944 Operation Lyuban
- Zeno Clash DLC

Star Trek Armada II
- Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations

Unreal Tournament 3
- Cheeks of Steel
- Coda v0.2
- Sanctum [alpha]

X3: Reunion
- X1: Past and Future

As always, video footage from these mods can be seen in the Mod Spotlight - a quick 'n' dirty compilation of the best releases of the month. If you have a mod that you think needs a little bit more love, read up on how ModDB can help you promote your major releases. Not only will you receive the adoration of ModDB visitors but interest from outside parties as well. Mods and Indie games that show up in our headlines have been know to make the rounds of other popular gaming sites and magazines.

If you're interested in working with the ModDB staff to get some extra exposure for the project you've spent months/years crafting, contact us and we'll see that your mod or indie game gets the love it deserves. Until next time, happy modding!

Change the game, play something different - ModDB