Gamasutra Member Blogs: From Primal Fears To New Console Strategies

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our bloggers write about diverse topics, including a look at how games tease our most primal instincts, and why home consoles might need to reinvent themselves for the next hardware generation.] Member Blogs can be maintained by any registered Gamasutra user, while invitation-only Expert Blogs -- also highlighted weekly -- are written by selected development professionals. 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 - The Fight, Flight Or Button Mash Response: Fear and Arousal In Gaming (Will Ooi) After Just Cause 2 successfully manipulated his fear of heights, Will Ooi considers the emotional and even physiological impact games can have when they tease our most basic, primal instincts. - The RPG Conundrum (Fox English) Fox English takes a look at the history of the role-playing game, outlining the strengths and criticisms of the games on both PC and consoles, to determine why such games have earned such reverence among dedicated players. - Simple-Minded Gamers? (Brandon Karratti) Frustrated by the British Academy of Film and Television Awards' top-voted game of 2010, Brandon Karratti argues that audiences should be more mindful of the games they play and honor, lest the industry become dominated by increasingly homogenized sequels. - Keeping Your Focus (James Youngman) James Youngman touches on the importance of focus testing, and how it changed his perspective on video games as a medium. - The Home Console Business Needs A New Strategy (Kamruz Mos) Kamruz Mos asserts that as the industry transitions into its next hardware generation, developers and publishers will have to find a new means of supporting itself, as the old model will no longer work in today's market.