Microsoft Teams Up With the Independent Games Festival
The Independent Games Festival has announced a multi-year partnership with Microsoft Games Studios. The partnership will involve a jury of indie game developers awarding an "XBLA Prize" (XBLA being Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service), which will be given out at the IGF, a festival and awards ceremony that happens each March at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The XBLA Prize will involve a publishing deal to release the winning game on Microsoft's various platforms, including the Xbox 360, the Windows Phone and Games for Windows Live. Winners will also have access to Microsoft's first-party publishing services, including an official slotted release on Xbox Live Arcade.

The IGF honors games across a number of categories. Recent winners include Minecraft, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Limbo, and Monaco.