It has been a long road to release, but Polytron's multidimensional platformer Fez is now one step closer to launching on the Xbox 360. It's time for Microsoft to give a tip o' the hat to Fez.

　　A tweet from Polytron reveals that Fez has been submitted to Microsoft for certification, one of the last steps required before the game can be released.

　　When Fez was first announced in 2009, Polytron expected the title to be out in 2010. It missed that date and was later rescheduled for release in early 2012.

　　Fez has been nominated for two Independent Game Festival awards, including Technical Excellence and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. The 2012 Independent Games Festival takes place March 5-9 in San Francisco as part of the annual Game Developers Conference.

　　A featured title in the documentary film Indie Game: The Movie, Fez is a platformer built entirely using Microsoft's XNA tools. It takes the form of a 2D platformer but adds a third dimension and the ability to rotate the gameworld around playable character Gomez. The game also has a unique retro 8-bit pixel art style, along with a suitably retro soundtrack.