Here's an article that announces this year's winners:
1) Dust
2) Max Blastronaut
3) Rotor'scope
4) HurricaneX2 Evolution

Congratulations to the winners!!

Top 20:

1. Dust: An Elysian Tail – United States
2. HurricaneX2 Evolution – China
3. Kaleidoscope – Canada
4. Max Blastronaut – United States
5. Rotor’scope - The Secret of the Endless Energy – Spain
6. Sol Survivor – United States
7. Duality ZF – Canada
8. Powa Volley – France
9. Echoes – Australia
10. Cloudberry Kingdom – United States
11. Mirror – Canada
12. BAMBOONO – Japan
13. Guru-Guru – Venezuela
14. Magnetic Mind – Germany
15. Square Off – Australia
16. Avatar Golf – United States
17. Creed Arena – Australia
18. Band of Bears: A 1-4 Player Cooperative Adventure – Canada
19. What The?! – United States
20. Masters of Belial – United Kingdom

Where did you get this Top 20 list from (other than Xona.com who don't link any official site that contains that list)? I've searched high and low and can't find any official release of a top 20 list, so I'm just curious.

Please, no "Congrats to the winners" posts. They're spammy and not good for the stomach! :)

Nick...

http://creators.xna.com/en-US/press/dreambuildplay2009

Noogy:

Nick...

http://creators.xna.com/en-US/press/dreambuildplay2009

Awesome. I have no idea how I missed that, but thanks. :)

Of course anyone who goes to the official site http://dreambuildplay.com/main/default.aspx and clicks 'winners' won't see that list... its a little confusing

The ZMan:

Of course anyone who goes to the official site http://dreambuildplay.com/main/default.aspx and clicks 'winners' won't see that list... its a little confusing

Yep, that's what I kept doing. The news post on this site doesn't even link to the winner list; it just links to the official site which is quite useless.

Anyone else notice that the top four in the Top 20 list don't correspond (aside from Dust) to the four winners? The top 20 list isn't sorted alphabetically or by country, either. Maybe it's sorted by score, and the winners were picked more subjectively.

Mentil:

Anyone else notice that the top four in the Top 20 list don't correspond (aside from Dust) to the four winners? The top 20 list isn't sorted alphabetically or by country, either. Maybe it's sorted by score, and the winners were picked more subjectively.

Could also just be a typo.

Actually the top 20 list was made before the winners annoucement.
So my guess is that the 6 finalists are sorted alphabeticaly and from the 7th to the 20th the games are sorted by score.
But I could be wrong.

Personally I have not yet seen any official statement that says that the numbers denote a ranking so they could simply be an enumeration.

I'd be rather interested to know how the top 20 was ordered. For Square Off to be ranked above Band of Bears and Masters of Belial.... that would be incredible. Maybe the Fun Factor really brought it home.

Roonda:

...that would be incredible

Why would that be incredible? when I first saw the trailers of Square Off and Masters of Belial on youtube I (personally) would have chosen Square Off a hundred times over Masters of Belial.

I you are referring to the technically more advanced graphics of Masters of Belial please keep in mind that the contest is about gaming, not about tech demos.

To me Square Off with its simple but intriguing style looked much more like an overall first class gaming experience than Masters of Belial (which to me looks merely overloaded + I definitely detest the finger-giving hands).

This is my personal opinion - I just want to point out how differently opinions can obviously go. Also let me emphasize that I have played neither of them - if your opinion dates from playing them both I wouldn't mind you to correct me, of course.

Nick Gravelyn:

Where did you get this Top 20 list from (other than Xona.com who don't link any official site that contains that list)? I've searched high and low and can't find any official release of a top 20 list, so I'm just curious.

Somewhere near the bottom of that huge article there's a link to http://creators.xna.com/en-US/press/dreambuildplay2009!  It would have been nice to not hide us away in a Word document... :(  Maybe more blogs and what not would have picked us up.

I didn't even realize that the winners were announced until I came here. It seems to be getting less exposure across the web than last years; and the Top 20 thing seems to be the same as last year.

arrogancy:

I didn't even realize that the winners were announced until I came here. It seems to be getting less exposure across the web than last years; and the Top 20 thing seems to be the same as last year.

Some people even have to install an update to Word just to open that Top 20 document... it's too hidden.  Last year they were listed via HTML on dbp.com, which may be yet to come for us:  http://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/Top20.aspx

EDIT:  And it would be nice to post links to our websites and links to or embed the trailers. :)

Matthew Doucette:

Nick Gravelyn:

Where did you get this Top 20 list from (other than Xona.com who don't link any official site that contains that list)? I've searched high and low and can't find any official release of a top 20 list, so I'm just curious.

Somewhere near the bottom of that huge article there's a link to http://creators.xna.com/en-US/press/dreambuildplay2009!  It would have been nice to not hide us away in a Word document... :(  Maybe more blogs and what not would have picked us up.

Oh I see it now. It's after all the videos and in a light grey. But sadly that's the first place I've actually found a link to that page. Even the news post on this site doesn't link to that press page.

Nick Gravelyn:

Matthew Doucette:

Nick Gravelyn:

Where did you get this Top 20 list from (other than Xona.com who don't link any official site that contains that list)? I've searched high and low and can't find any official release of a top 20 list, so I'm just curious.

Somewhere near the bottom of that huge article there's a link to http://creators.xna.com/en-US/press/dreambuildplay2009!  It would have been nice to not hide us away in a Word document... :(  Maybe more blogs and what not would have picked us up.

Oh I see it now. It's after all the videos and in a light grey. But sadly that's the first place I've actually found a link to that page. Even the news post on this site doesn't link to that press page.

If it wasn't for an email from Dean (DBP Winner!! So happy for you!) I would never have known.  Sharp eye.  The "Indie" in Indie Games is true to its word, we really have to do our own marketing!  (Just a joke, I know DBP and Indie Games are separate entities!)

Yeah, it's a little quiet, but I'm attributing that to PAX and Labor Day.  I 'think' I won, but I'm going to wait for an email or something :)

I know they had an exclusive reveal for the finalists with G4, but I'm wondering how that really benefits anyone.  Maybe there's a similar thing going on here?  I'd like to see something like what Xona games did with the top 20 videos.

Noogy:

Yeah, it's a little quiet, but I'm attributing that to PAX and Labor Day.  I 'think' I won, but I'm going to wait for an email or something :)

I know they had an exclusive reveal for the finalists with G4, but I'm wondering how that really benefits anyone.  Maybe there's a similar thing going on here?  I'd like to see something like what Xona games did with the top 20 videos.

I'm hoping they just decided to give us the "heads up" here simultaneously with the Pax announcement, even though there was no one working on the DBP site over the holiday weekend.
 
I wish they would have posted a message on the forums about the six finalists instead of us having to stumble over it on on G4 site, but they redeemed themselves in my opinion by getting us the final results and the top 20 list very quickly.

All's well that ends well at any rate. It's interesting to hear that you haven't been contacted. I would have assumed you'd be off in XBLA land by now :) .

http://dreambuildplay.com/

The official site was updated (under Winners).  It mentions the top 20, and interestingly, says they'll have some sort of announcement in a 'few weeks' regarding the winners.  Considering that this is a pretty recent update, I imagine they have something planned.

Noogy:

The official site was updated (under Winners).  It mentions the top 20, and interestingly, says they'll have some sort of announcement in a 'few weeks' regarding the winners.  Considering that this is a pretty recent update, I imagine they have something planned.

A Dust cosplay party? ;)
Remember that the name change to Xbox Live Indie Games was mentioned on this site before it was formally announced to the public, so it wouldn't surprise me if a more media- and consumer-friendly announcement is upcoming. It would also give them enough time to make plans for any promotions to XBLA.