45 Ways of Looking at the Mario Bros.
The Design Inspiration collects 45 portraits of the Mushroom Kingdom’s favorite heroes, Mario and Luigi.
Tragedy Systems in Grand Theft Auto IV
“Death is permanent and, in all works of fiction, predetermined. Except in video games, where most of the time it is neither.” At Hit Self-Destruct, Duncan writes about agency, time travel and death.
The Union Forever
It’s card-carrying union members vs. scabs in Crane Wars: “You make your towers, as quickly as you can, topping them off with a top part to finish them. Alternatively, lob buildings or trucks at the scabs at work across the street. Or both.”
Play Some Games!
Check out Crayon Physics. Then check out the rest of the games. Jim sez, “a third are pretty good, a third are real good, and a third are frickin brilliant.” (thanks, Jim!)
8 Bit Resignation
Farbs resigns in 8-bit style to pursue developing indie games. Watch it here.
Game Developers Conference: Golden Gate
Former Gutter Overlord and Games Editor, Jim Munroe, has written a really nice little text adventure set at the 2009 Game Developers Conference. Rock Paper Shotgun calls it an “[o]ddly human little thing which captures quite a bit about the human side of development.”
The Cultural Gutter 