The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth caused quite a stir when it came out in October. It wasn't the DLC itself that caused the uproar, though, but rather the complex ARG it kicked off, which began with what appeared to be a bug that left promised elements of the game inaccessible. Hopefully the launch of the "mini DLC" tentatively entitled Afterbirth+ will go a little more smoothly, or at least make fewer people angry when it rolls out.

And yes, Afterbirth+ is actually something that will exist sometime next year. Tyrone Rodriguez of Nicalis made the announcement on the Binding of Isaac blog, although the details were heavily redacted by "Evil Edmund," aka Binding of Isaac creator Edmund McMillen.

"Afterbirth will have a bunch of new ***** ********, including a couple of new bosses, a few transformations and new items/trinkets. How many? That s a ****** you ll find out on *******," he wrote. "Oh, also, ***** ***** **** and maybe something else related to ***** ****. There s also a *** ****** I m leaving out until a later time so you can wonder and conjecture/speculate ***** ****."

Got that? Afterbirth+ will also include a Bestiary that will provide detailed information about enemies you've encountered, as well as support for mods, which Rodriguez said is the "big news" in the announcement, and a "user-friendlier" room editor, mod editor, and Lua support.

"It s a lot of changes to the game and I m really excited to see what all of you make. Thanks for sticking around and being patient while we continue to improve the game," he wrote. "Keep sending your good/bad feedback. We are listening, even if you think we aren t."

A launch date more precise than "next year" was not mentioned.

When it comes to expansions, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth is a monster: according to the game's official website it has more than 100 hours of extra content. That includes a new 'Greed Mode', daily runs, 10 new challenges, 1000+ new rooms and more than 100 new items, among other things.

It won't be long before it's available, either: according to that trailer above, the expansion will release October 30. "Trust me when I say this DLC makes Rebirth feel like a completely new game," says the announcement. "It's rare that I design a game that I really look forward to play testing daily."

The expansion will cost US$9.99. Preorder info is due next week, and will apparently involve substantial discounts.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth will feature daily runs with leaderboards, co-creator Edmund McMillen has announced, allowing players to compete on a more-or-less level playing field for the best score on the internet. Yes, all of it.

"Every day the game will generate a specific seed that will be generated the same for everyone (minus locked things) and you can now compete against the internet for best score in the run!" McMillen explained. "This feature was one of my favorites in Spelunky and i always wanted to do it in Isaac… But how do you score a game like Isaac? More on that in a later post."

The "minus locked things" comment refers to the fact that some players will have unlocked more powerful items than others, giving them a potentially significant leg up on everyone else. Hey, life's tough—and McMillen's promise of more information about how the game will be scored suggests he has a plan for redressing imbalances, at least partially.

The post also revealed a pair of new items for the game: Dead Eye, "a fan suggested item that raises damage with each consecutive hit and causes your tears to become red glowing balls of death if you play well," and Continuum, which turns your eyes purple and causes your tears to "loop back" when they're shot off the screen.

If you're a Binding of Isaac player, you've probably already moved on to Rebirth by now, the recent, spritely remake that adds new content and performs way better, on account of it not being made in Flash. Well now you have a reason to return to the original game. Florian Himsl—co-developer of the original version—has just released his promised update that adds a new Hard mode, "eternal" enemies, and makes bug fixes and other changes to the game. The free update is on Steam now, and you'll need the Wrath of the Lamb expansion to play it.

The above video details some of the changes, which should make for a nice challenge for Isaac pros.

The Binding of Isaac creator Edmund McMillen has answered a huge selection of questions surrounding his and Nicalis's remake project The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Taking the form of a Q&A between McMillen and a (hopefully fictional) foul-mouthed and belligerent question-asker, he reveals how the game will contain double the content of the original, how the developers are planning to add shared seeds, and how - typically - it will be "done when it's done".

Not all of it is new, but it's a nice consolidation and clarification of info surrounding the top-down Zelda-inspired roguelike. Rebirth's biggest improvement is that it isn't being made in Flash, which - as players of the original will be pleased to hear - will mean less bugs, quirks and inexplicable slowdown. In fact, responding to why Rebirth is being made, McMillen explains that a second expansion had been planned, but that the limitations of Flash meant it wasn't possible.

Of the new info revealed about the game, McMillen explains that no Early Access-style release is planned because, "Rebirth is a game loaded with secrets and fun stuff I dont want anyone to see before anyone else." Excitingly, he also mentions that Spelunky-style daily runs and shared seeds are planned, giving the game a constantly updating competitive edge.

You can read the full Q&A here, or prepare yourself for the game's eventual release through the creepy-ass trailer below.

The original Binding of Isaac pushed Flash (and my computer) to its limits, so I'm looking forward to Nicalis' remake, which recreates Team Meat's roguelikey thing in a new engine, while replacing the art - which Ed McMillen was "sick of looking at" - with 16-bit style versions of Isaac, Mom and the rest of the lovable gang. I was hoping this teaser trailer would show a bit more of that, but I can't say I'm disappointed by the live-action, puppet-based video we got instead. I mean: wow. Also: screaming. Never stop screaming. Venture below to witness it for yourself.



The Binding of Isaac Rebirth is coming to Steam in 2014. Have you stopped screaming yet?

Don't worry. Gamescom's other news is less nightmare inducing. Find it here.

Just as promised, Steam Trading Cards is now live. The virtual cards can be earned by playing participating games on Steam, trading with other users, or buying on the Steam Marketplace. Complete a set to create a badge, earn rewards and XP, and level up. The user with the highest Steam level at the end of the year gets to high five Gabe Newell while announcing Half-Life 3. In space.

In other true facts, I'm already hearing from users playing the Steam marketplace to profit off the cards' initial popularity. One user I spoke to has been buying low and selling high to pad his Steam wallet, even creating scarcity by buying up low-value cards in quantity. I'll keep an eye on marketplace prices as more users start trading the collectibles.

I was hoping to find a good deal on a 1952 Mickey Mantle card, but unfortunately, baseball isn't a participating game. You can see which of the games you own are participating here.

Now there's even more reason to use that holiday cash Aunt Myrtle sent you on something charitable. The ongoing Humble Indie Bundle 7 has just expanded its indie game offerings to include The Basement Collection of Flash games, the action puzzle platformer Offspring Fling, and the retro 2D platformer Cave Story. The original bundle was packed with indie hits Snapshot, Closure, The Binding of Isaac and its Wrath of the Lamb DLC, Shank 2, Dungeon Defenders and its DLC, Legend of Grimrock, and the documentary Indie Game: The Movie. So, for the next six days, you can snatch up nine full games and one movie for a price that's absurdly close to free.

If you haven't done a Humble Bundle before, here's how it works: You can donate any amount of money and receive Snapshot, Closure, The Binding of Isaac, Shank 2, and Indie Game: The Movie. But if you pay more than the average ($6.41 as of this writing), you'll also get Dungeon Defenders, Legend of Grimrock, The Basement Collection, Offspring Fling, and Cave Story. The folks at Humble Bundle estimate the total value of this collection at $170. You can even choose how you'd like to have your payment divided between the developers and the two benefiting organizations, Child's Play Charity and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

For more information on the games included in the bundle, check out the trailer for Humble Indie Bundle 7 here.

The seventh Humble Indie Bundle is upon us, just in time for the holidays. For whatever cash you've got left over after your shopping's done you get a slew of indie winners that include The Binding of Isaac, bloody platformer Shank 2, the surreal Closure, the gross-tastic Binding of Isaac (and its Wrath of the Lamb DLC), and colorful sidescroller Snapshot.

You'll also get the Indie Game: The Movie documentary, and clearing the average price—$5.87 as of this writing—gets you the excellent Legends of Grimrock and Dungeon Defenders (plus included DLC). That's the holiday spirit!

The bundle's organizers introduce each game with terribly hilarious puns in the trailer below.

Following its official announcement in a Gamasutra post-mortem, Binding of Isaac creator Edmund McMillen has provided details of the upcoming remake in an FAQ posted to his blog. Titled Rebirth, it's billed as a "totally remade game based on the flash version of the Binding of Isaac + Wrath of the Lamb."

The game is being developed by Nicalis, who were behind the Cave Story+ update, and is planned for release on Steam (and those console things) towards the end of 2013.

One of the main draws of the remake is the new engine that will power it. Binding of Isaac was excellent, but saw a flurry of bug fixes as the creaky Flash architecture struggled to hold under the weight of McMillen's constant content additions. Even today, the game is no stranger the occasional bout of frame rate problems. Rebirth is set to become the definitive version, with a pre-order loyalty discount planned for those who own the original.

But a quicker, stabler engine also offers the possibility of new features. " will also feature another Wrath sized expansion over the top that will feature a new final chapter, ending, 2 new playable characters and tons more items, rooms, enemies, bosses and the like."

The changes don't end there. McMillen's also promising a completely new 16-bit makeover for the graphics. "I'm doing this because I think the art is tired and I'm sick of looking at it ... I think its kinda appropriate/funny to do a demake for the remake."

With Nicalis on development duties, McMillen's free to work on the second Team Meat game, the mysterious Mew-Genics, which is currently in full-time development.