XBLIG Companion for Windows Phone gives indie Xbox 360 games the attention they deserve

While Microsoft has been loosening restrictions and providing a little more discoverability for independent Xbox 360 games lately, it appears the developer community thinks Redmond could be leveraging its mobile platform a little better. The result is XBLIG Companion, a Windows Phone app that allows users to browse through the latest independent games for the Xbox 360. The combined effort of Dave Voyles and Casey Young, it works by pulling the RSS feed from XboxIndies.com, culling the XML and CSV data for each game to create an instantly-updated library — complete with a "best-of" section voted on by the game developers themselves. Links on each game page then direct users to the Xbox Live Marketplace, where they can purchase their games per usual. While the basic functionality here is nothing new, the app is a strong statement from independent developers that their work deserves as much attention as big-name titles, and if Microsoft won't provide it, they'll be happy to find a way to create it for themselves. XBLIG Companion is still in beta testing, with no firm release date as of yet, but its creators are already making plans for Android and iOS versions as well.