David vs. Goliath: Machinarium, Canabalt and other indies challenge FarmVille for Webby Award

A couple of award-winning indie game darlings, an experimental MMO and a turntable-inspired Flash game are taking on Zynga’s Facebook juggernaut FarmVille in the Games category of this year’s Webby Awards.

The list of nominees includes:

• SemiSecret Software’ Canabalt, an indie browser-based hit that was ported successfully to the iPhone;
• Amanita Design’s exquisite adventure game Machinarium (read Gamezebo’s review);
• Record Tripping, a unique Flash game by Bell Brothers that uses the mouse’s scroll wheel to mimic a record turntable through a variety of unique Alice in Wonderland-themed challenges;
• Monopoly City Streets, an online version of Monopoly that used Google Maps to recreate a giant interactive Monopoly board using real city streets that ran from Sept. 2009 to Dec. 2009.

The question is whether any of the four challengers, critically acclaimed though they may be, can compete with FarmVille‘s massive player base, which currently sits at nearly 81.5 million monthly active users (MAUs).

When we headed over to WebbyAwards.com to cast our vote earlier today, FarmVille was enjoying a healthy lead with 46% of the total votes.

The Webby Awards are hosted each year by the international Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, recognizing excellence across a wide range of categories within the areas of websites, interactive advertising, online film & video, and mobile. The public is invited to vote on the People’s Voice Awards categories. Last year, nearly half a million votes were cast.

The winners will be announced on May 4 at WebbyAwards.com. In the meantime, head on over to the voting area and vote for your favorite game!

Erin Bell