Who says you have to make a 3D game to be considered AAA?  With top notch companies barely scratching a living, even with a million copies sold and barely breaking even, other companies are innovating and producing incredible new titles in 2D.

The first is the infamous indie game “Castle Crashers”:

The second is the company that breathed new life into the 2D genre with their breathtaking game “Odin Sphere”.  Here is their latest title “Muramasa” coming out for the Wii:

And lastly, is a company that is has owned the fighting game genre with “Guilty Gear”.  But since their publisher owns the rights to their groundbreaking fighting game and forced the game to become a 3D RTS, they have broken out and gone indie for their new IP, “BlazBlue” and have rocked the socks out of Street Fighter 4 and King of Fighters 12:

Long Live 2D!

For all you indies out there, this story will warm your heart and give you courage.

A big shout out for the press at Kotaku who brought this story to light to help this kid.  And another for the “Game On Denver” crew who have graciously allowed the new “Game On” store some time to change their name so there isn’t confusion between the two stores.

After the Storm

According to a report on Gamasutra, the gaming industry has lost over 8450 jobs in this economy with over 6300 coming from North America alone. Among some of the reasons cited for laying off so many workers is the decreasing margins due to the increased cost of creating games for the latest high-end systems, upwards from $15-$25 million for two platforms – a risk bigger than most Hollywood movie budgets.

At first, this is incredibly sad news. However with such a large out-flux of talent, many of these people are rallying together and forming independent studios to challenge the big AAA companies. This can present itself as a huge opportunity for indies with the surge of new talent, there is going to be a surge of finding new methods of game distribution and making a living from your passion.