Nothing sounds sweeter in a slow economy than pay-what-you-want. The Humble Indie Bundle has been a phenomenal success, generating millions of dollars for developers and two charities: Child's Play and Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The third bundle launched today, and has racked up nearly $100,000 in sales, as of this writing. That number is increasing every second, however, and will assuredly be out of date as soon as you read this. If you want to keep tabs on the money, the counter updates in real-time on the website. It's mesmerizing.
Humble Indie Bundle #3 includes Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cogs, VVVVVV, Hammerfight and And Yet It Moves. All five games are built to run on Windows, Mac and Linux without DRM--and include Steam keys.
I've played all but Hammerfight, and can vouch for the quality of those four generously. The bundles tend to include the best of the best, so all this means is that I'm being introduced to something new and great.
Plus, if you've been looking for a finger destroyer, VVVVVV is it. I'm still having nightmares from beating that one, but with the addition of new levels, the temptation to jump back in again is strong.
The average contribution is currently $4.25, but pay-what-you-want means exactly that. If you don't have more, pay less.
If you're feeling generous, pony up! Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Perrson is at the top of the contributor leaderboards, having thrown $2,000 towards the feel good cause.