Dark Reign Redux, a remake of 1997's Dark Reign: The Future of War, a real-time strategy game for PC, just published on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel yesterday, without Activision so much as stapling a flyer to a telephone pole or putting up a card on a café barter board for its marketing.


[Update] There's a reason for that. The game actually is self-published by Magnetar Games, which seems to have reached a licensing agreement with Activision, the game's owner. The title being sold over Xbox Live Indie Games has been QA-checked by Activision testers, reports Armless Octopus. Original post follows.

Dark Reign Redux costs $5 (400 Microsoft Points) and was developed by Magnetar Games, which also is handling a browser-based version. This version supports two- to eight-player multiplayer, either online or through system link. Everything else appears to be a faithful port of the original game. Armless Octopus assures us that it runs at 1024x768 resolution and has widescreen support, so it's not totally kicking it old-school.


This isn't Activision's only foray into indie territory, of course. It also runs the Activision Independent Games Competition, whose submission period just closed.

Activision Clandestinely Releases Dark Reign Redux on Xbox Live Indie Games [Armless Octopus]