Gamasutra Member Blogs: From Edgar Allan Poe To An Anti-Piracy Experiment

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our bloggers write about diverse topics, such as artful storytelling in an old Edgar Allan Poe-inspired game, an anti-piracy experiment, and more.] Member Blogs can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while invitation-only Expert Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- are written by selected development professionals. We hope that our blog sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information, check out the official posting guidelines. This Week's Standout Member Blogs We Don't Need No Stinking Platform (Or Make The Game) (Joey Lapegna) Joey Lapegna argues that instead of concerning ourselves with which platform will be the next leader in order to determine where to put our efforts, we need to remember to focus on creating lasting play experiences first, no matter what technology we use. Interactive Narrative, Edgar Allen Poe And Art (Russell Lees) Designer Russell Lees, who worked on The Dark Eye more than 15 years ago (the horror PC game based on Edgar Allan Poe's stories, not the German RPG), discusses how a game from the '90s did some things right when it came to artful storytelling. Indie Game Contests - To Enter Or Not To Enter (Howard Tsao) Howard Tsao compares the contest submission rules of the Independent Games Festival and Activision's Indie Games Competition, identifying the potential pitfalls, and deciding which best to enter. The Anti-Piracy Experiment (James Grimshaw) Anti-piracy firm Vigilant Defender ran an experiment with the pre-build of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Asking questions on illegal downloading, DRMs, and if illegal downloader's would buy? The company's James Grimshaw says they did! The Evolution Of Controllers (Eric Mickols) In this blog post, Eric Mickols takes a close look at the history of controllers, the very thing we use to play our games. Why did they come about? Where will they go? How will they augment our games?