It’s almost time for Fantastic Arcade, the new independent game festival being presented by Fantastic Fest.

In the interest of  full disclosure, I’m not much of a gamer.  Abraxas is a gamer.  Tron is a gamer.  Why in the world would I, your ever lovin’ Magnificent Bastard, be excited about Fantastic Arcade?  I’m excited about Fantastic Arcade because I love Fantastic Fest, and I’m smart enough to realize that a game festival put on by Fantastic Fest, America’s largest (and coolest) genre film festival, is going to be something… different.  Special, even.  And today, Fantastic Arcade has announced the indie games that will be featured at this, the inaugural, festival.

The centerpiece of the festival is the Fantastic Arcade Spotlight competition.  Eight independently developed games face off in an attempt to win prizes and, more importantly, glory.  The games in competition are:

Enviro-Bear 2000 from game designer Justin Smith in Vancouver

Every Day the Same Dream from Carnegie-Mellon professor Paolo Pedercini (a must play if you’re an existentialist, work in a cubicle, or really like cows)

Feist, by game developers Florian Faller and Adrian Stutz of Zurich (simply beautiful, I could watch someone play this game for hours)

Machinarium from Jakub Dvorský, game designer and visual artist from the Czech Republic (a point and click adventure that looks as if it were designed by Terry Gilliam)

Monaco, from San Diego-based game designer Andy Schatz

Nidhogg, from L.A.-based experimental game designer Mark Essen

Norrland from freeware game designer Cactus in Sweden

Ulitsa Dimitrova from German game designers Gerard Delmas and Lea Schönfelder (I haven’t played this one, but the description is brilliant:  Try to survive in the streets of Russia. An adventure where you play the role of the seven years old chain-smoker Pjotr).

Twenty-one additional games are featured in the Fantastic Arcade Showcase:  Braid (from game designer: Jonathan Blow); Canabalt (Adam Atomic), which will be featured in a special Fantastic Arcade game tournament; The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile (Ska Studios); Dustforce! (Hitbox); Flotilla (Blendo Games); Garden Gnome Carnage (Daniel Remar); Gravity Bone (Blendo Games); Human Centipede The Game! (I-Mockery); Inside a Dead Skyscraper (Molle Industria); Limbo (Playdead); McDonald’s The Videogame (Molle Industria); Oiligarchy (Molle Industria); Operation: Pedopriest (Molle Industria); Overgrowth (Wolfire Games); The Path (Tale of Tales); Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style); Super Columbine Massacre RPG (Danny Ledonne); Sword & Sworcery EP (Superbrothers, Capy & Jim Guthrie); Tiny and Big: Up That Mountain (Black Pants Studio); Trine (Frozenbyte); and Zeno Clash (ACE Team).

Canabalt has been a favorite of the CyberMonkeyDeathSquad for quite some time, and if you’ve seen the movie, trust me, you need to check out Human Centipede: The Game.

Fantastic Arcade isn’t just games, though. There will also be a Machinima film competition, video game art exhibitions, live chiptunes music performances, guest speakers, screenings of games culture films, parties, panels, and much more.  If you like games, you’ll love Fantastic Arcade.

Badges and day passes for Fantastic Arcade 2010 (September 23-26) are available here.