Best Of Member Blogs: From Adaptive Audio To Boss Battles

In our weekly Best of Member Blogs column, we showcase notable pieces of writing from members of the game community who maintain Member Blogs on Gamasutra. Member Blogs can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while invitation-only Expert Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- are written by selected development professionals. Our favorite blog post of the week will earn its author a lifetime subscription to Gamasutra's sister publication, Game Developer magazine. (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. In this week's highlights, our weblog writers argue over adaptive audio, boost boss battles, examine the third-party Wii game market, and talk time. This Week's Standout Member Blogs - Adaptive Audio: A Tough Sell (Austin Rotondo) Marketing student Austin Rotondo addresses the value of adaptive music in games, concluding its marketing difficulties may outweigh its gameplay advantages. What makes the post particularly interesting, however, is that experienced game audio professionals including Michael Kamper, Dave Steinwedel, and Darren Mitchell stop by in the comments section to challenge Rotondo's assessment, prompting further response from both Rotondo and the various sound men and creating an illuminating discussion with contributions from those with perspectives from the field. For his effort, Austin will receive a lifetime subscription to Gamasutra sister publication Game Developer magazine. - A Matter of Time (Adam Bishop) Games have an unusual relationship with time compared to other video-based media, as frequently time can essentially stop while waiting for player input. Here, frequent Gamasutra blogger Adam Bishop considers the role of time in games and looks at games that have used it well and poorly. - The Importance of Established IP for a New Audience (Ishaan Sahdev) SiliconEra writer Ishaan Sahdev takes a look at the third-party Wii game environment, collating several interview statements and sales data points to argue for the importance of brand. - Some Thoughts About Indie Games (Raymond Ortgiesen) Here, student Raymond Ortgiesen challenges the notion that mainstream, high-budget games are more creatively stagnant than their indie cousins -- both arenas are full of innovation and variety, he argues. - The Top 10 Boss Fights! (Presented By An Aspiring Game Developer) (Maxwell Jensen) The boss battle might be falling slightly out of design favor these days, but the convention is a massive part of traditional console gaming, and here Maxwell Jensen rounds up ten of the most memorable.