Best Of Member Blogs & Comments: Noobs & Magnetic Butterflies

Alongside the redesign of Gamasutra came the debut of Gamasutra Blogs, a new section of the site that showcases a broader and more unfiltered selection of writing from the development community than we are able to present on the front page. On Friday, we highlighted the invitation-only Expert Blogs, written by development professionals with a wealth of experience to share. Member Blogs can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, and every week we will highlight several noteworthy posts -- with our favorite earning a lifetime subscription to Gamasutra sister publication, Game Developer magazine. Similarly, we will choose one blog comment, responding to either a Member or Expert post, and its writer will also receive a lifetime subscription. (All magazine recipients outside of the United States or Canada will receive lifetime electronic subscriptions.) 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 - Street Fighter IV and the Defenseless Genre (Ron Newcomb) In his blog's inaugural entry, lapsed gamer Ron Newcomb takes a look at the recently-released (and much acclaimed) Street Fighter IV through an unusual lens, framing its design as one that has over the course of a series strayed from the more simulation-esque Street Fighter II. "Street Fighter used to be about martial arts and what would happen if you pitted a capoeira practitioner against a sumo wrestler, in the days before the UFC television show did it for real," Newcome writes. "Now it's just disconnected fantasy." For his effort, Ron will receive a lifetime subscription to Gamasutra sister publication Game Developer magazine. - What Can Be Done About the Used Games Market? (Ephriam Knight) Taking on an issue that is never far from the front pages, particularly with Amazon's new trial program, web developer and Oklahoma City ECA chapter president Ephriam Knight addresses the ever-controversial used game market. - Things That Suck About the Magnetic Butterfly Public Prototype (Trent Polack) Stardock developer Trent Polack has been spending his free time with the increasingly talked-about Unity engine making a physics game called Magnetic Butterfly -- and he shares his thoughts as well as a playable prototype. - The Third Bowl of Porridge (Eric Hardman) In a brief post, entertainment industry veteran Eric Hardman considers the ideal development team size -- not from a business standpoint, as is more frequently discussed, but simply in terms of useful human interaction. - Amazon: Noobs at Gaming (Percival Nghiem) Addressing the recent Amazon used game program announcement more directly, Sony Computer Entertainment employee Percival Nghiem compares and contrasts GameStop's existing game trade-in policies with those promised by the online mega-retailer. This Week's Standout Blog Comment - Jason Bakker on Adam Volk's Revenge of the Writer Monkey Our first highlighted blog comment comes from programmer and designer Jason Bakker, responding to one of our Expert Blogs highlights about the problems (and possible solutions) with writing in games. The first comment in what became one of the week's most-discussed blog posts, Bakker highlights a key issue that has plagued game writing -- the clash between the established notions of scriptwriting and the established notions of game development. For his effort, Jason will receive a lifetime subscription to Game Developer magazine.