Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From Unity Benefits To Social Games As Coin-Op Replacements

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including the benefits of Unity for web-based titles, why failure can help development, and how social games have adopted characteristics of traditional coin-op arcades.] 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 recently updated official posting guidelines. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs - Is There A Unity Penetration Issue? (Alistair Doulin) Alistair Doulin discusses Unity's low penetration rate, and argues that more developers should adopt the engine since it offers more flexibility than Flash and makes games easy for users to access, even if they might have to install the player on their browser. - Bugfest: A Postmortem (William Ravaine) After recently launching his independently-developed title in the iTunes App Store, William Ravaine discusses what went right and wrong with this iOS title to provide tips for other developers looking to enter the space. - Valuable Failure (Clinton Keith) When it comes to generating information about what customers want, Clinton Keith argues developers shouldn't shy away from taking risks, because even failure can reveal key information for future projects. - A Visit to Woozworld (Simon Ludgate) Simon Ludgate takes a look at the tween-focused social title Woozworld, outlining how the game generates income when its player base often doesn't have direct access to credit cards and other means of electronic transactions. - Meet Facebook Games' Ancestor: Coin-Op Arcades (Brice Morrison) While Facebook games often face criticism that they focus on generating profit via manipulative means, Brice Morrison points out that these titles have a lot in common with traditional coin-op arcade games.