hidden exit

Who knew giving to charity could be so easy? Last week it was hard. Last week I was accosted in the street by a lady holding a basket full of teddy bears and flowers. Her fixed smile and glossy eyes frightened me and I had to restrain her with an ankle lock. She told me she represented the puppies, but I know a cover story when I hear one.

Now if the puppies had approached me in a decent manner (say using Rock Paper Shotgun as a go-between), and then offered me five awesome indie games along with the opportunity to give money to charity, that ankle lock would have stayed out of sight.

It just so happens that the third Humble Indie Bundle had that exact idea in mind, and now I have five awesome indie games and I can pretend I did it all for the privilege of giving money to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play. Oh all right, I admit to feeling a glimmer of warmth at that.

For the record, those indie titles are Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cogs, VVVVVV, Hammerfight and And Yet It Moves (always wanted to use the word “and” twice in succession like that). Incidentally, Terry Cavanagh has just released a gargantuan update to VVVVVV, so extra rabbits of happiness all round. (EDIT: Oh, heavens to Betsy, I forgot to mention that it’s all pay-what-you-want, so you can be a right indie-rustling bastard if you feel like it, but that wouldn’t be nearly as cool as it sounds. It wouldn’t be very humble either.)

I could get used to being an altruist.