Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Taxes To Grass

In our weekly Best of Expert Blogs column, we showcase notable pieces of writing from members of the game development community who maintain Expert Blogs on Gamasutra. Member Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while the invitation-only Expert Blogs are written by development professionals with a wealth of experience to share. We hope that both sections can provide useful and interesting viewpoints on our industry. For more information about the blogs, check out the official posting guidelines. In this latest round-up, industry notables write about taxes, grass, Scrum, education, and prices. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs - The Grass Is Always Awesomer On The Other Side (Chris Stewart) If you're reading this website, you love games, and that means you probably can't wait to sign up to compete on Sony's new reality show The Tester, where you can win "a gamer's ultimate dream job": that's right, a game playtester! But wait! Before you get too excited, Chris Stewart would like to point out some hard realities. - Putting Your 'Call Of Duty' On Hold (Alan Youngblood) Have indies and major publishers gotten their roles all confused? Is each side operating with methods better suited to the other? It's a mixed-up crazy old world we're living in, and Alan Youngblood wants to remind you to remember your place. - The Coming Facebook Games Price War (Tadhg Kelly) How can a free game get more free than free?! With Facebook's new changes to application notifications, we're about to find out, courtesy of Mr. Tadgh Kelly! - The UK Games Perspective: Tax Breaks, Digital Distribution, Education (Jas Purewal) A UK game developers walks into a bar. The bartender asks, "What'll it be, fella?" The UK game developer replied, "Video game development tax breaks." That's not a joke or anything. It's just what I imagine must happen on a regular basis, judging by how many official statements UK trade groups release demanding tax breaks. Probably though, in reality, the guy would just order a beer. And he'd call the bar a pub. And maybe he'd play darts or something. - Survey: The State of Agile Scrum (Clinton Keith) Step right up! Fill out the Scrum survey, win a million dollars! Big money! Big prizes! I love it! Just kidding, you won't win anything. But please fill out the survey anyway - it's for an upcoming Gamasutra article.