Some sales continue into the new year

A number of companies are continuing special offers beyond Christmas and even into January as part of the festive seasonal period. PopCap is taking 50 percent off its collection of Mac games, Open Door Networks is offering half off on all versions of its reference work Art Authority, and the fourth Humble Indie Bundle collection of multi-platform, DRM-free games -- now much-expanded from the original offer -- is drawing to a close.

PopCap features a selection of casual games for the Mac, all of which are half their normal price during its "Happy Merry" sale. Titles available as part of the offer include popular selections like Plants Vs. Zombies, Zuma and Zuma's Revenge, Bejeweled 2 and 3, Chuzzle, Bookworm, Vacation Quest: Hawaiian Islands, the Amazing Adventures series, the Escape and Mystery P.I. series, Feeding Frenzy, Iggle Pop, Peggle and Peggle Nights.

The sale is for Mac versions only, but the company also has a selection of online-play games and iOS game apps as well. All Mac games feature a 60-minute limited downloadable demo so buyers can play a sample of the games before purchasing. The sale ends on January 3rd.

Open Door Networks and Project A's virtual-museum tour of art history, Art Authority, is also on half-price sale. The app is available in versions for the Mac, the iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad and a newly-announced version for the Kindle Fire. Normally $10, the program will sell for $5 through January 2nd.

Art Authority profiles and displays the artworks of over 1,000 major western artists from antiquity to the present, showcasing some 55,000 high-resolution paintings and sculptures organized into eight period-specific rooms. Users can also search by artist, location, and title or at random, and can "bookmark" favorite pieces. The program's iPad version was picked as part of Apple's Rewind 2011 choices as the best reference program.

The fourth version of the Humble Indie Bundle is into its last day, set to expire at 6 p.m. Eastern time on December 27th. The bundle deal offers a set of up to 12 DRM-free multi-platform games from independent developers at a special, user-set price in aid of two charities. The core bundle of five games (including Super Meat Boy, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Nightsky HD and Shank) have been joined by seven bonus games if buyers purchase the bundle for more than the average price, which is presently $5.36.

Two of the bonus games are new: Cave Story+ and Gratuitous Space Battles, and the bonus was recently expanded with five games from the previous Humble Indie Bundle, including And Yet It Moves, VVVVVV, Hammerfight, Cogs and Crayon Physics Deluxe. All games in the bundle include Steam keys where available, and the bundle also offers soundtracks for several of the games, some of which are making their Mac and Linux platform debuts. Demos are available for all games.

The beneficiaries of the purchase price include the developers, the American Red Cross and the Child's Play charity, the latter of which gives away gaming platforms and games to children's hospitals. Users decide how much they'd like to donate and can customize what percentage goes to what entities, including a potential "tip" to the Humble Bundle organizers. Buyers can opt to "gift" the bundle to others if desired. So far, the promotion has sold 417,000 bundles and raised over $2.2 million for the charities.

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Humble Indie Bundle

by MacNN Staff