Over at major Australian newspaper The Age's 'Screen Play' blog, they've interviewed ACMI's Helen Stuckey about the Melbourne-based exhibition of 'The Best Of The Independent Games Festival 2007' which opens early next week, and which we've previously mentioned.

Some excellent points are made about the rise of indie games (pictured: Ball Of Bastards), thanks to publicity around the launch of the exhibition: "Ms Stuckey says low budgets are a major challenge, but independent developers often overcome hurdles "with creativity and ingenuity to produce games with interesting gameplay and smart ideas". The biggest problem can be finding an audience. "(Fortunately), a growing focus on digital distribution has really helped the indies become more available and easier to find. Xbox Live Arcade has also introduced many people to independent games such as Wik and Alien Hominid.""

And, as I've said before (and bias as the Chairman of the IGF notwithstanding), it's nice to see someone in a position of power at a cultural institution pushing games as a valid art form with multiple different exhibits - the previous Melbourne House and Sonic exhibitions also looked to be excellent: "Ms Stuckey says her aims for the [Australian Center For The Moving Image's] Games Lab include exploring different areas of game culture and the history of games, engaging visitors to think critically about games within a cultural context, raising awareness about Australia's game creators, and focusing on the inherent creativity of games and players."