Over at Wired News, a new column by the excellent Clive Thompson sums up his indie games of the year, adding to the top tens he's busted out in previous years, but he's "decided it's impossible." Huh? But why?

According to Thompson: "This is not because I can't find any games to praise. It's because I can find too many. Two years ago, the number of people making genuinely polished indie games was pretty small, numbering in the dozens or scores. A single columnist could reasonably hope to sample the year's offerings and make some picks."

However, there's been quite a change: "But in the last two years, things have blown up spectacularly. There are now hundreds and hundreds of superb indie games coming out every year, from creators in the United States, Japan, India, China and all points on the globe. I'm not counting the crap games, by the way. Throw them into the mix and you're well into the thousands... No, I'm talking about the good ones."

Can't say I disagree. Thompson goes on to randomly pick a few favorites for different esoteric reasons, and leave us with the following grinning-visage statement: "Indie gaming is a field that's come of age, such that you can sample its enormous variety all year long. The best-of column is dead. Long live the best-of column!" [Chalk randomly but happily pictured.]