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As we compile larger stories from elsewhere on our network, here's the top full-length features of the past week on big sister 'art and business of gaming' site Gamasutra, plus our GameCareerGuide features for the week.

As GDC nears, there's still room to compile a bunch of neat pieces from last week, including good longform interviews with Capcom's Christian Svensson and the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 creators, as well as an overview of the Nordic dev scene, a look at how agile methods are being adapted in the game space, and some choice GCG features, including Game Developers Conference tips and tricks and more besides.

Cha cha cha:

Battlefield Logistics: A Bad Company 2 Interview
"EA DICE's console-targeted shooter makes its second foray into the market this week, and here senior producer Patrick Bach discusses the series' and the gaming audience's evolution -- and how that touches the game's design."

The State of Agile in the Game Industry
"Certified Scrum trainer and veteran developer Clinton Keith takes a look at the state of agile acceptance at gane studios, using survey data to identify common stumbling blocks, and presents here comments from developers on the process at their companies."

Persuasive Games: Shell Games
"Just what will the achievementization of the world mean? Author and game designer Ian Bogost ponders Jesse Schell's DICE talk and blends his interpretation with research. Will it work... and, more importantly, is it good?"

The State of the Nordic Development Scene
"We speak with Nordic developers about the current state of the region's game development scene, focusing on the struggles and strengths of a region known for top-notch games and business challenges."

Careful, Capcom: Christian Svensson Speaks
"Capcom's U.S. VP speaks candidly about the company's plans, its development strengths, business realities, and recent comments made by its Japanese management that the U.S. will no longer be a force for IP generation."

The Aesthetics of Play Control: The Role of User Interfaces Discussion of Games as Art
"Daniel Gronsky, adjunct professor of Media Studies at Pine Manor College, delivers this look at the connection between the aesthetics of a game and its play control -- refined from discussions originally taking place at PAX."

GCG: GDC Tips For Students
"Planning to attend next week's GDC as a student? Two-year veteran of the show and developer Grant Shonkwiler, who attended in 2008 as a student, shares his tips on how to maximize the show."

As we round up bigger stories from elsewhere on our network, here's the top full-length features of the past week on big sister 'art and business of gaming' site Gamasutra, plus our GameCareerGuide features for the week.

A number of neat things this week, including an excellent Patrick Redding interview, a designer analysis of game UIs, a chat to Visceral Games' head, a postmortem of Super Monkey Ball's iPhone sequel, as well as GameCareerGuide's latest Design Challenge winner and a new competition.

Coat an old anvil with lard:

On Changing The Shape Of Interaction
"Narrative designer Patrick Redding (Splinter Cell Conviction, Far Cry 2) discusses the techniques employed to create more complex and satisfying character interaction -- including an examination of Conviction's co-op mode, which he directed."

In The Loop: Planning for Feedback in Video Game Audio Production
"Veteran audio designer Rob Bridgett (Scarface, Prototype) here outlines how audio designers can avoid creative fatigue and deliver the most compelling audio while collaborating on large studio projects."

Postmortem: Sega/Other Ocean's Super Monkey Ball 2
"The first was an App Store sensation, but what of its sequel? Sega's associate creative director on Super Monkey Ball 2 spells out the processes that led to the creation of the second game in the series -- including all the major triumphs and mistakes."

Sponsored Feature: Do-it-yourself Game Task Scheduling
"In this sponsored technical article, part of Intel's Visual Computing section, Jerome Muffat-Meridol takes a look at Nulstein, his creation for in-game code task scheduling on multi-core processors."

Game UI Discoveries: What Players Want
"EA DICE designer Marcus Andrews examines the UIs of several recent games and picks apart what's required for both a novel and player-satisfying interface -- one that serves the needs of the game and its audience."

A Distinct Vision: Nick Earl And Visceral Games
"EA's transformed its Redwood Shores development organization into Visceral Games, committed exclusively to high-profile action titles. How does that transition work? We speak to Nick Earl, the studio's general manager, to find out."

GCG: Game Design Challenge: Romance
"In our latest Game Design Challenge, we invite competitors to try and figure out what sort of romance game might appeal to Western tastes... a task that may even be impossible!"

GCG: Student Postmortem: Devil’s Tuning Fork
"Student developers discuss the creation of Devil's Tuning Fork, in which 'some things were done right from the beginning and some things just never seemed to come together.'"

GCG: Results from Game Design Challenge: A New Vision
"Our latest challenge asked readers to re-envision a game that was too ahead of its time to be properly appreciated when it was first released; what makes the grade?"

As we compile larger stories from elsewhere on our network, here's the top full-length features of the past week on big sister 'art and business of gaming' site Gamasutra, plus our GameCareerGuide features for the week.

Highlights include an immaculately detailed NPD analysis for January 2010 from Matt Matthews, an interview with Square Enix CTO Julien Merceron, a neat in-depth piece on crunch, Silent Hill character artist and art director Takayoshi Sato on making video game characters with feeling, and more.

(Besides these pieces, a number of us were at the DICE 2010 executive summit in Las Vegas this week - you can check out the Gamasutra write-ups of talks spanning Bobby Kotick to Randy Pitchford.)

Go go go:

Ten Vicious Years: A Retrospective Interview
"North Carolina's Vicious Cycle (Robotech: Battlecry, Matt Hazard, the Vicious Engine) was founded 10 years ago, and in that time the company and the industry have changed drastically -- Gamasutra spoke to its founders, Eric Peterson and Wayne Harvey, to find out more about that journey."

The Dust of Everyday Life: The Art of Building Characters
"Silent Hill character designer and CG artist Takayoshi Sato examines the art of creating believable computer-generated characters in this in-depth feature, originally created for Game Developer magazine."

The Art Of International Technical Collaboration At Square Enix
"When Square Enix acquired Eidos, it didn't just get IP and a distribution network -- it got a Western understanding of game technology in a generation where Japan has lagged, and new group worldwide technology director Julien Merceron here speaks about taking the helm of this global organization."

A Closer Look at Crunch
"Dave Prout approaches the oft-discussed topic of crunch from a different angle as he searches for the root cause. "When a team is already in production without a compelling, fun gameplay experience, it's in trouble," he says."

NPD: Behind the Numbers, January 2010
"Gamasutra analyst Matt Matthews reviews NPD Group's January 2010 sales figures, which reflect evergreen Nintendo-published titles and how Sony is headed towards a single-platform focus."

GCG: What Are Game Designers Trying to Do?
"Educator Lewis Pulsipher offers an analytical breakdown of the possible aims designers have in mind when creating games."

GCG: Concurrent Programming in the Design of a 3D Game Engine
"UC Santa Cruz senior and independent game developer Jarret Tierney covers the ins and outs of developing parallel programming in a paper written as part of his studies."

As we compile the notable long-form pieces of writing elsewhere on the network, here's the top full-length features of the past week on big sister 'art and business of gaming' site Gamasutra, plus our GameCareerGuide features for the week.

This time around - the features are headed up by interviews with Funcom's Ragnar Tornquist (over The Secret World), and Patrick Gilmore (on LA developer Double Helix), as well as a super-neat postmortem of WayForward's A Boy And His Blob, plus TV and games, achievements analyzed, a Dead Space narrative review, and lots more.

We're a team:

A Little Piece Of Hell: Building The Secret World
"Veteran developer Ragnar Tornquist (The Longest Journey) outlays his plan for The Secret World, an MMO that avoids the epic fantasy cliches of the past in favor of psychological horror and contemporary fantasy -- and no player leveling system."

Postmortem: WayForward's A Boy and His Blob
"In this in-depth postmortem, longtime independent developer WayForward (Contra 4) discusses the creation of Wii remake A Boy And His Blob for Majesco, looking at what went right and wrong in updating the classic NES title for today's gamers."

Persuasive Games: Check-Ins Check Out
"What's the point of achievements, and how do they interact with us in the real world? In this in-depth Gamasutra column, game designer and author Ian Bogost contrasts airline mileage programs with Foursquare and Xbox Live Achievements."

Television, Meet Games
"TV channels commissioning games, and developers who work with them -- what is the current state of this relationship, and where might it be headed? Gamasutra talks to Adult Swim, Channel 4, and Area/Code (Parking Wars) to find out."

Two Halves, Together: Patrick Gilmore On Double Helix
"The newly-installed head of Foundation 9's Double Helix studio holds forth on its evolution, the creative direction of current-generation games, and the current state of Los Angeles-area game development."

GCG: David Perry on Game Design: Game Conventions and Clichés
"Clichés abound in game design, and here, in an extract from David Perry on Game Design, is a handy list of concepts which have become part of the wallpaper of game worlds."

GCG: Game Narrative Review: Dead Space
"We take a look at how the psychological horror story of Dead Space functions, in another installment of the student-contributed Game Narrative Review."

As we wander around the notable long-form pieces of writing elsewhere on the network, here's the top full-length features of the past week on big sister 'art and business of gaming' site Gamasutra, plus our GameCareerGuide features for the week.

Headed by an interview with the Dante's Inferno folks at EA, other big features this week include a discussion on 'truth in game design', a postmortem of Vicious Cycle's flippant XBLA title, a couple of fun Game Design Challenge articles - both results and a new challenge - and much more besides.

Find a way:

The Road To Hell: The Creative Direction of Dante's Inferno
"Jonathan Knight, creative director of Dante's Inferno, discusses the thinking behind the path he and his team took in choosing and adapting the classic poem for use in the Visceral Studios action game."

The Sensible Side of Immersion
"Neils Clark examines the intimate bond between psychology and play, and how games might tap into the recesses of the ancient human brain in order to reach new levels of immersion."

Jumpstarting Your Creativity
"Experienced sound designer Brad Meyer (DJ Hero) espouses a creative philosophy of taking a step back and making common sense decisions as the best method for reinvigorating that elusive creative spark once it's fled."

Truth in Game Design
"What does "truth in game design" mean? Microsoft Game Studios producer/designer Scott Brodie explores the nature and implications of how truth can be created and communicated in game design, via several case studies."

Postmortem: Vicious Cycle's Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond
"Eric Peterson, president and CEO of Vicious Cycle, recounts the ups and downs of making the PSN and XBLA parody video game Blood Bath and Beyond, and explains important lessons learned in the development of the studio's first downloadable game."

GCG: Game Design Challenge: A New Vision
"Our latest challenge asks readers to take a game that's ahead of its time and bring it into the present day -- keeping what was good and smoothing out the rough edges."

GCG: Maxims of Game Design
"Game educator Lewis Pulsipher delivers a list of useful maxims for game design -- simple rules to ponder that will help you on the road to creating a game your players will enjoy."

GCG: Results from Game Design Challenge: Free To Play
"Game Career Guide's readers tackled the growing free-to-play market in our latest game design challenge, and found creative solutions to monetize their original concepts."

As we continue to round up some of the notable long-form pieces of writing elsewhere on the network, here's the top full-length features of the past week on big sister 'art and business of gaming' site Gamasutra, plus our GameCareerGuide features for the week.

This time, we start things out with iPhone and indie developers reacting to the iPad (something that took the site down briefly after it got featured on the front page of Google News, ohdear!), and an interview tying in with Mass Effect 2's release, plus a WiiWare postmortem, an in-depth design piece on gameplay and narrative, and a GCG postmortem, among other things.

Go stop go:

Developers React: The iPad's Future
"Developers and technology providers ranging from Tiger Style's Randy Smith to ngmoco's Neil Young and Unreal's Mark Rein weigh in on the prospects and realities of developing games for Apple's newly-announced iPad."

The Next Big Steps In Game Sound Design
"Technical sound designer Damian Kastbauer breaks down the current generation's innovations in sound design from a technical perspective, outlining what current games can do aurally, and speaks to other developers to find out more."

Postmortem: Over the Top Games' NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits
"The tale behind the Spanish-developed, Ancient Greek-themed WiiWare platformer, full of common but important lessons for indie developers taking a chance on something new."

The Uneasy Merging of Narrative and Gameplay
"Developer Ara Shirinian picks apart the gameplay/narrative question by examining how games handle cinematic interactivity, how movies handle fight sequences, and how XEODesign's Nicole Lazzaro's list of gameplay emotions apply to one medium and not the other."

Back In Space: BioWare On Mass Effect 2
"Lead producer Adrien Cho discusses the evolution that the studio, series, and genre is going through in this comprehensive interview about the creative process behind BioWare's anticipated shooter/RPG sequel, Mass Effect 2."

GCG: Moving From ActionScript 2 to ActionScript 3
"Having trouble transitioning to the latest version of ActionScript? Arkadium developer Michael Greenhut walks you through some of the most common problems that arise when making the switch."

GCG: Student Postmortem: Drifters
"What does it take to create a multiplayer online game as a student project? Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy student Steve Durst here recounts the process behind the demon-possessed Drifters."

Continuing our trawl through 2010's video game munificence, let's examine the top full-length features of the past week on big sister 'art and business of gaming' site Gamasutra, plus our GameCareerGuide features for the week.

This time, we've got some rather neat interviews (a fascinating chat with Shanghai-based veteran American McGee, and a rare talk with Nintendo of Korea's preseident), analysis pieces (Matt Matthews looking back on U.S. retail sales for December and all of 2009, with lots of gorgeous graphs), and rather more alluring design, business and programming articles besides.

Here's the top stories of the week:

American In China: McGee On Making It Work In Shanghai
"The ex-id and EA employee speaks out on how developing games in his Shanghai-based studio Spicy Horse has given him a new perspective on development process and teamwork, and whether or not those insights could work in Western studios."

Nintendo: Sticking With Korea - NOK President Mineo Koda Speaks
"Nintendo of Korea was just formed in July 2006, but in a short period of time, it's been able to find success in a market notoriously difficult for non-PC platforms. NOK head Mineo Koda explains how."

Designing Fast Cross-Platform SIMD Vector Libraries
"Performance is key in games -- here, experienced games programmer Gustavo Oliveira delivers a comparison of libraries that should increase your performance and cut down on code bloat, and contrasts different compilers."

Meet Your New Fans: Promoting Your Indie Game At Live Events
"Getting your game in front of fans is both increasingly possible thanks to the events springing up around the globe -- but should even indie developers run real-life promotions? UK indie developer Mode 7 Games details a real-life example."

NPD: Behind the Numbers, December 2009
"Gamasutra's in-depth analysis takes a look at what brought 2009 U.S. video game revenues down from 2008, including contracting Wii revenues, rapidly sinking PlayStation 2, and an Xbox 360 that kept getting cheaper."

GCG: Student Postmortem: Sultans of Scratch
"A full postmortem of the student-created music game, including discussions of working with outside talent and keeping the project running amidst production problems."