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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 the new year wanders along its merry path, it's time to go through 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.

Some of the notable pieces include our mammoth reader Top Games Of The Decade, with both honorable mentions and a Top 12, plus a postmortem of neat WiiWare title Swords & Soldiers, a really smart interview with game magazine pioneer Arnie Katz, and rather more besides.

Ha ha ha:

Postmortem: Ronimo Games' Swords & Soldiers
"In this in-depth postmortem, the Dutch independent developer Ronimo Games discusses what went right -- and wrong -- in creating critically acclaimed WiiWare side-scrolling console RTS Swords & Soldiers."

Gamasutra's Top 12 Games of the Decade
"After yesterday's honorable mentions for Gamasutra's 'Game Of The Decade', as voted and commented on by hundreds of our readers, we're counting down your Top 12 games of the last ten years, from Wii Sports through The Sims all the way to the top-voted title."

Sponsored Feature: Restless Entities Never Sleep -- The Back End of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
"In this Intel-sponsored feature, part of the Visual Computing section, the technical experts behind Mythic and EA's Warhammer Online discuss the mechanics of keeping the MMO running across multiple servers and data centers."

Gamasutra's Games of the Decade: Honorable Mentions
"Ahead of tomorrow's list of Gamasutra's 'Game Of The Decade', as voted and commented on by hundreds of our readers, we're publishing some of the most-voted on titles that didn't quite make the Top 12 list, from Katamari Damacy to Vagrant Story and beyond."

Electronic Games: The Arnie Katz Interview
"In this in-depth interview, Gamasutra sits down with Arnie Katz, the co-creator in 1981 of Electronic Games magazine, the first ever magazine dedicated entirely to video games, to discuss his history in the biz and the state of game journalism today."

GCG: Crossing Ships
"In this feature, developer Alan Abram recalls the difficulties he faced in crossing over from university life to a full-time work placement year in the games industry."

GCG: Game Design Foundations: Game Concepts and Ideas
"Here, GameCareerGuide presents an extract from Game Design Foundations by Roger Pedersen, entitled Game Concepts and Ideas, which is designed to help you with kickstarting your own project."

As the final pre-Xmas week ends, it's time to go through 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.

Lots of neat things in here, including the latest NPD analysis, a retrospective of the Warcraft franchise from the Blizzard folks, a postmortem of Top Gun for the iPhone, a neat MMO design piece, some new GCG articles of note, and rather more things besides.

Go go go:

Fifteen Years of Warcraft: The Interview
"Blizzard's Samwise Didier and J. Allen Brack chart the history of the Warcraft RTS and now MMO franchise from humble beginnings, while discussing the present and future of the series, the company's evolution, and the mainstreaming of geek culture."

Rethinking the Trinity of MMO Design by Brian Green
"Experienced MMO designer Brian "Psychochild" Green pulls at the MMO trinity -- Tank/Healer/DPS -- to examine whether or not this pillar of combat design can be pulled apart, modified, or even changed fundamentally."

A Brave New Medium: Facebook versus World of Warcraft
"We speak with key figures at Facebook, ngmoco, EA, and others about interaction, interfaces, and accessibility in a digital world comprised of everything from Facebook to Modern Warfare."

Sponsored Feature: Former Game Creator Taps Unreal Engine 3 For World of Chadam
"In this sponsored feature, part of Intel's Visual Computing site, former Monolith head Jace Hall discusses Chadam, a new Unreal Engine-powered animated series using the engine for surreal, intriguing -- and initially non-interactive -- means."

Postmortem: Freeverse's Top Gun For iPhone
"Freeverse designer and programmer Justin Ficarrotta recounts what went right and what went wrong with the development of the iPhone game Top Gun, and how fans should always be in mind when working on a licensed game."

NPD: Behind the Numbers, November 2009
"Gamasutra's in-depth analysis of November's NPD U.S. game retail sales numbers looks at year-to-date highs and lows, the Xbox 360's surprising sales reversal against the PS3, Wii's 2009 individual Top 10 domination, and much more."

GCG: Game Narrative Review: Persona 3 FES
"In our latest Game Narrative Review, we take a look at the surprise RPG hit that changed the way players think about Japanese-developed role playing games with its rich and textured, and highly personal, story."

GCG: Excerpt - Foundation Game Design With Flash
"Want a leg up on working with Flash? We offer an excerpt from a book aimed at Flash novices with plenty of helpful tips on working with Adobe's popular program."

So yep, it's the finish ofanother week, so it's time to go through 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.

Some really topnotch stuff here, including some excellent Uncharted 2 and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom interviews, a postmortem of Wadjet Eye's Blackwell Convergence (pictured), and the pluses of being a remote game developer on a big team, plus the latest GCG Design Challenge results, and a new challenge for y'all.

Here are the highlights for the last seven days:

Reflecting On Uncharted 2: How They Did It
"As Uncharted 2 tops U.S. console retail charts, Gamasutra sits down with Naughty Dog's lead designer on the project, Neil Druckmann, looking back over the sequel's creation, polishing,character honing, plotting, and more."

Sponsored Feature: Rasterization on Larrabee -- Adaptive Rasterization Helps Boost Efficiency
"In a detailed Intel-sponsored technical article, part of its Visual Computing section on Gamasutra, veteran game programmer and architect Mike Abrash (Quake) goes in-depth on how Intel's upcoming Larrabee architecture pipeline deals intelligently with rasterization."

Postmortem: Wadjet Eye's The Blackwell Convergence
"In this honest indie postmortem, Wadjet Eye Games' Gilbert discusses the creation of adventure game sequel The Blackwell Convergence, looking at everything from promotion through art direction and engine to analyze what went right -- and wrong -- in the game's creation."

The Tiger And The Spider: From AAA To App Store
"Tiger Style co-founders Randy Smith and David Kalina talk to Gamasutra on their successful iPhone title Spider, the state of the fast-moving App Store, what it means to be be transitioning from a big studio developer into a world of high-pressure, low-overhead game development."

A Case For Virtual Game Development - Need For Speed: Shift
"In this in-depth article, Slightly Mad Studios contractor Tomlinson explains how the firm completed highly-rated EA-published console racing game Need For Speed Shift with a largely virtual team structure, with a personal perspective on how remote working can work even for larger game teams."

Gamasutra Versus Capcom: The Tatsunoko Interview
"Capcom has chosen to revitalize its Versus fighting game series in the form of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and Gamasutra sits down with the game's producer Ryota Niitsuma to discuss its Wii-exclusive genesis, how the project got started, and more."

GCG: Results from Game Design Challenge: Photographic Interpretation
"In our latest challenge, we presented a photo from Flickr for entrants to use as inspiration for an original game -- and we present the heavily edited results within."

Game Narrative Review: Half-Life
"Valve's 1998 first person shooter classic's story investigated and delineated for your reading and analysis pleasure."

Game Design Challenge: Sidekick
"The latest challenge -- invent a sidekick and reawaken the potential of your favorite series! But be careful, because this approach has been known to backfire..."

The end of another seven days, so it's time to go through the top full-length features of the past week on big sister site Gamasutra, plus some GameCareerGuide features du jour.

These would include some genuinely interesting interviews with Randy Pitchford (about Gearbox and Borderlands) and Rex Ishibashi (about his work heading up EA Japan), as well as pieces on Osiris and game design, the necessity to iterate in game creation, making games for Android, and several other neat GCG pieces.

Here we go:

EA Takes Japan: An Interview With Rex Ishibashi
"Publishing giant Electronic Arts is getting more aggressive in Japan once more, thanks to Eastern-targeted games such as Tsumuji, and Gamasutra speaks in-depth to EA Japan veteran and head Rex Ishibashi on the market and the company's plans there."

Making Better Games Through Iteration
"Though it may seem self-evident, rapid iteration is a great tool for creation small games, and Mobile Pie's Will Luton discusses how his team made iPhone title B-Boy Brawl iteratively, after initial failure through too much rigidity."

Sponsored Feature: Fluid Simulation for Video Games (Part 1)
"This sponsored feature, part of Intel's Visual Computing site and written by Dr. Michael J. Gourlay of the University of Central Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, begins a multi-part series that explains fluid dynamics and its simulation techniques."

The Birth of Collecting: The Osiris Archetype In Games
"Jason Johnson looks to the mythological Egyptian god Osiris to draw an inconspicuous parallel between the story of the supernatural being and the practice of collecting objects in video games."

Developing Games for Android
"Amid the iPhone game development gold rush, developer Derek James checks out the hooky, Java-based Android OS from Google, discussing advantages and disadvantages."

The Illusions We Make: Gearbox's Randy Pitchford
"Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford knows what he likes and what he does not. Here, the outspoken designer describes the studio's latest game, Borderlands, as the game he's 'been wanting to make for 10 years.'"

GCG: Educational Fantasy
"Lindsay Grace discusses the challenges facing educational game design, and how the practical matters of education intersect the enveloping fantasy we expect from games."

GCG: Postmortem - Lies and Seductions
"In this postmortem, Petri Lankoski discusses the making of Lies and Seductions, an adventure game inspired by the novel Dangerous Liaisons."

Back again, it's time to go through the top full-length features of the past week on big sister site Gamasutra, in both feature and news form, plus some GameCareerGuide features du jour.

Even outside our GDC Austin write-ups (not included here), lots of neat pieces debuted on Gama and GCG last week, including some behind the scenes discussions on getting ahead in the game biz, interviews and articles about Dungeons & Dragons and Diablo III, and more besides.

Here's the highlights for the week:

The Road to Diablo III
"Developer Blizzard Entertainment is known for its relentlessly iterative process, which is what leads to the infamous "when it's done" release mentality, and Diablo III is no exception. Gamasutra talks to Blizzard's Julian Love and Kevin Martens about progress and design specifics on the much-awaited game."

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Switching Gears by Allen Rausch
"Changing biz models on a live game is like switching a moving car from gas to electric -- Turbine shares what it learned from taking Dungeons & Dragons Online free."

Gaming the System: How to Really Get Ahead in the Game Industry
"In this article, originally published in Game Developer magazine, pseudonymous developers of all levels share their honest, sometimes cutting thoughts on what it takes to truly succeed in each game industry discipline."

Sponsored Feature: Scaling Ambient Animations for Improved Game Experience
"In this Intel-sponsored feature, part of the Visual Computing microsite, an Intel duo introduce Horsepower, a demonstration of enhanced, multi-CPU specific ambient animation -- with full, redistributible source code included."

Gamescape: A Look at Development in North America's Cities
"Games have undergone a Cambrian explosion of growth and diversification, and Gamasutra takes a look at the various talent pools that have collected across North America -- including Boston, Seattle, Toronto, the Bay Area, Raleigh, and Vancouver -- and discover the exotic life forms that have taken root."

NPD: Behind the Numbers, August 2009
"Gamasutra's latest analysis of NPD's U.S. console retail figures examines hardware prices and key software prospects -- and explains how the industry will likely miss $20 billion in revenue for the year."

In-Depth: The Most Popular Gamer On Facebook
"The draw of socially-networked games is playing with folks you know -- but meet gamer A-ya Chiu, who's had up to 4,500 Facebook friends just to maximize her Pet Society stats, for a look at how it can take over."

Interview: Paradox CEO Wester On Victoria 2's Head-Shaving Profitability Bet
"Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester doesn't think his studio's next game, Victoria 2, will be profitable -- and he's pledged to shave his head if it is. Gamasutra talks to Wester about the bet, the game, and his strategy."

Winning: A Guide to Finding Game Competitions for Independent Developers and Students
"Educator Lindsay Grace takes a look at the competitions students can enter with their games, offering advice on which are good choices and how you can ensure that it's worth your time to make the entry."

Game Narrative Review: Fable II
"We present a comprehensive look at the story of Lionhead's popular and compelling choice-based RPG, taking in characters, situations, and the structure of the narrative itself."

Wandering around a whole load of neat writing, it's time to recap the top full-length features and news of the past week on big sister site Gamasutra, plus extra features and Game Design Challenge goodness from fellow edu site GameCareerGuide.

Some of the notables - a chat with Overlord and Mirror's Edge writer Rhianna Pratchett, as well as a postmortem of iPhone title Word Fu, a history piece on Robotron 2084, a super-neat Vanillaware interview, plus some GameCareerGuide pieces on design concepts and rapid prototyping.

So much discipline:

Vital Game Narrative: A Conversation With Rhianna Pratchett
"Gamasutra talks in-depth to Pratchett, the writer and narrative designer on projects including Mirror's Edge, Heavenly Sword and the Overlord franchise, discussing the state of game stories and how they might be improved."

A New Attitude To Game Engineering: Embrace Change, Re-Use, Fun
"Massive Entertainment (Ground Control series) veterans Norneby and Olsson use this in-depth technical article to discuss how to radically improve your experience planning video games through applying software engineering processes to game development."

Postmortem: ngmoco/Demiurge Studios' WordFu
"In this in-depth Gamasutra postmortem, the team at console and PC developer Demiurge Studios (Mass Effect for PC) explain what went right and wrong in creating popular iPhone word game WordFu, from swift iteration to localization complexity and beyond."

The Boneyard: The Most Important Part of Your Character is Invisible
"In a visual arts-specific article for Intel's Visual Computing microsite and originally published in Game Developer magazine, Bungie's Steve Theodore discusses skeletal construction and animation for game characters, looking at 'strategies for taming the skeletal hordes without ending up in the graveyard.'"

The History of Robotron: 2084 - Running Away While Defending Humanoids
"In the latest in a series of Gamasutra-exclusive bonus material originally to be included in Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton's new book Vintage Games, we examine classic twin-stick arcade shooter Robotron: 2084 and the sub-genre of frantic games it birthed."

King of 2D: Vanillaware's George Kamitani
"Japanese independent developer Vanillaware has created modern 2D game classics such as Odin Sphere and the upcoming Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and founder George Kamitami sits down with Gamasutra to discuss his company's roots, passions, and plans."

The South African Game Development Scene: Past, Present, and Future
"The South African game development scene has had a turbulent history but is striving for a meaningful future; here, local Oliver Snyders examines the evolution of the industry over the past decade, by speaking to the principles and finding out the whole story."

GCG: Minimal Risk Designs: How to Design a Game When You Don't Have the Time
"Ambition got the better of you? Funcom designer Brent Ellison takes a look at some surefire, low-risk design concepts that will allow allow you to get rolling fast and complete your project."

GCG: The Indie Process
"IGF competitor and USC student Michael Silverman examines several different ways that different academic programs approach the process of prototyping games."