Best Of Member Blogs: From DLC To MW2

Showcasing highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our weblog writers take a look at what DLC means to how we look at games, and take Infinity Ward to task for its PC approach. 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. Here are the top member blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Member Blogs - DLC Changes How We Define Games (Luke Bergeron) Aside from its developing financial impact on the industry, downloadable content may be driving a wedge between perception of gameplay and perception of content. Luke Bergeron considers that phenomenon, for good or ill. For his effort, Luke will receive a lifetime subscription to Gamasutra sister publication Game Developer magazine. - Critial Essay Series: No More Heroes (Sumantra Lahiri) Some have argued that due to the demands of interactivity and gameplay, the "B-game" -- akin to the B-movie -- might be impossible. But Sumantra Lahiri says Grasshopper made one in No More Heroes. - Infinity Ward - You're Doing It Wrong (Justin Kranzl) Justin Kranzl weighs in on one of this week's hot-button issues, the lack of dedicated server support in Modern Warfare 2 -- but he also reaches back to evaluate what he sees as a longer-running series of missteps by Infinity Ward with respect to the PC market. - Learning the Language of Gameplay (Enrique Dryere) Game designers need not rely on the written word to communicate information and explanation to their player, says Enrique Dryere, who lays out some dos and don'ts of the unwritten language of gameplay. - Software Engineering Is Boring (Emanuel Montero) Software engineering may be boring, but game development is exciting, Emanuel Montero points out. How to reconcile that gap? How about a domain-specific language for game design? Montero considers some of the issues that would have to be addressed with such an endeavor.