While Live Arcade and Netflix hog the limelight, there's a gold mine of great content hidden deep within Xbox Marketplace. The Indie Games channel offers oodles of cheap gaming, but who has the time to sort the grit from the gems? Lucky for you, we've done the hard labor; read on for our list of the indies you should be playing right now!

I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1

(Ska Studios, $1)

Made by James Silva (of Dishwasher: Dead Samurai fame), this ludicrous twin-stick zombie shooter is a busy game. Flashing backgrounds, dozens of baddies, and hilarious music make it absurdly endearing and totally worth a buck. It’s tough to tell what’s going on sometimes, but picking up flamethrower and laser upgrades to turn zombies into paste is a hoot.

Trino

(TrinoTeam, $5)

So cool and clever, it’s a wonder it hasn’t been picked up for an XBLA release. You bag baddies in a triangular trap built by placing vertices in strategically advantageous positions. Trino would be a generic 2D geometry war if not for the weird and challenging map designs, a solid variety of enemies (man, do we hate those aggressive vertex munchers!), and the ability to build combos with quickly placed, consecutive traps.

Storage Inc.

(Stolpskott Studios, $5)

Who knew that managing stock as a forklift driver could be so enjoyable? Stolpskott’s problem-solving puzzler demands a speedy work ethic and organizational skills to match — heck, you could probably put it on your résumé as work experience. It sounds lame, but unloading docks and shipping product while keeping your warehouse tidy for your trio of co-op pals is a forkin’ blast.

Lines

(EdAndersenUK, $2.50)

This Lumines-like block dropper restricts rotation to certain colored blocks while you connect, you guessed it, lines. There’s no color-matching here, which puts a different spin on a predictable puzzle brand; it actually adds a surprising layer of difficulty while you wrap your head around the basics of the line dance.

Groov

(Funkmasonry Games, $2.50)

Like XBLA, the Indie Games channel is full of twin-stick shooters, but Groov’s melodic mixture of combat and music are still hypnotic. We slipped into the groove right away and found it hard to pull out. Keeping yourself alive just to hear the techno beats radiating from exploding enemies is a bizarre blend of tension and relaxation…and we love it!

Veks and Silence

(Edible Entertainment, $5)

Zombies, guns, gore, and an asylum for videogame heroes? Count us in! Veks is a super-fun 2.5D shooter with a sense of humor so brutally dark, it made us ponder our principles. Should we be laughing at a dumpster labeled “No babies, please”? Probably not, but hysterical imagery and comic-book cutscenes give this already awesome ghoul-slaughtering side-scroller even more grisly charm.

Colosseum

(ShortfuseGames, $5)

A four-player fighting game sounds awkward and messy, but Colosseum’s simplistic flick-the-stick combat and different fighting styles make for an engaging arena fighter. We loved the back-and-forth battles with buds, and only fell deeper for the game as we earned fat stacks of gold and traded ’em for freaky-huge hammers and new protective equipment. The saturated colors and striking cel-shaded visuals make it real easy on the eyes, too!

Mithra — Episode 1

(Afiction Games, $4)

Despite our inability to solve its decently clever riddles without the official guide (http://bit.ly/Mithra), we really liked the first episode of this episodic adventure series. Escaping a sci-fi prison as two lovable weirdos was an enjoyable first step; what’s next?

Wacky Karts

(KrollWare, $5)

Trade plumbers and princesses for pirates and robots, and you’ve got a mighty fine little go-kart racer. Yet another 16-bit clone, Wacky Karts is blatantly “inspired” by Super Mario Kart — but you won’t hear us complaining about zipping through tweaked variations of familiar courses and setting traps for three local buddies.

CarneyVale Showtime

(Gambit, $5)

Here’s a bit of irony for you: negative reviews is what kept us hooked on CarneyVale. Normally we dish out the criticisms, and now that we’re being judged on our in-game performance, complete with explanatory text, we have a point to prove. We’re absolutely infatuated with the ragdoll physics and charming circus setting of this wacky puzzle/platformer.

Johnny Platform’s Biscuit Romp

(IshiSoft, $1)

This delicious throwback to 8-bit platformers is adorable. The seemingly endless number of short, candy-coated stages have you collecting scrumptious grub and stomping on robo-noggins while working your way to the exit. Jumping puzzles get wonderfully challenging later on, but never hit Mega Man levels of masochism. Terrific all-around.

Word Soup

(Fuzzy Bug, $5)

Think of it as a big, Boggle-esque word jumble. You’ll link adjacent letter bricks to build big points, which is great for us word junkies. We especially liked that we could jumble the letters around when we got stuck — and boy, did we — because it kept us desperately hunting for the next big score.

Machiavelli’s Ascent

(Naturally Formed Studios, $2.50)

Ascent is a game you can literally play in five seconds…but we guarantee you’ll want to play longer. With a button tap, you’ll launch a jellyfish from the depths of a seabed to the highest point possible. To accelerate upward, you’ll have to hit pockets of points, nail launch pads, and gobble up other sea creatures. It’s mindlessly simple, but we found ourselves sinking into the straightforwardness.

A Fading Melody

(Anchorcast, $3)

A standard 2D platformer with a few oddities to discover, Melody is intriguing nonetheless. We were anxious to keep the comatose heroine alive by completing surreal dreamworld stages — not only for the challenge, but also so she could finish spilling her guts about an emotionally distraught history.

Weapon of Choice

(Mommy’s Best Games, $5)

Developed by a husband-and-wife team with some experience on the Sony side, Weapon is fantastically crazy. Its mish-mash of bizarre art, freaky-lookin’ enemies, big-ass guns, and buckets of testosterone make it the best, strangest new Metal Slug game you really ought to play.