Greg Costikyan and Johnny Wilson's somewhat-vaunted Manifesto Games indie game portal is now open for a 'Beta' version, and it's, well, not unreasonable-looking!

There's the amusingly-named Dispatch From The Central Committee weblog, which is "something equivalent to "Outgoing Mail"; it's where Manifesto's management and employees will post about our plans, our thoughts, and what's going on with the company", and a whole bunch of games to check out, the featured choice right now being IGF finalist Mudcraft.

One notable thing is the good-quality descriptions: "Dune II, WarCraft, Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, and Empire Earth--real-time strategy games have always been about warfare and conquest, right? How could you possibly do a peaceful RTS?... Mudcraft is no high-end high-poly high-budget high-def extravaganza; it's a simple, pleasant, goofy, fun little art game that engages you and brings you back for one level more. And yes, you come to care a good deal more about the mud people than you do about, say, the minutely-detailed soldiers of a big-budget RTS title." This type of rhetoric makes me want to care, amusing communist allegories aside.