Gamasutra Member Blogs: From Tables To Dragon Age

Author: by Staff

In highlights from Gamasutra's Member Blogs, our weblog writers examine a report from the German software rating board, a periodic table of game elements, and argue why Dragon Age isn't the "spiritual successor" to Baldur's Gate 2. 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 - Thoughts on Baldur's Gate 3 (I WANT 2D BACK!) ( Dolgion Chuluunbaatar) Is BioWare's Dragon Age really the "spiritual successor" to Baldur's Gate 2? Dolgion Chuluunbaatar thinks not, and also proclaims, " F*ck 3D graphics altogether for such sophisticated RPGs. For his effort, he will receive a lifetime subscription to Gamasutra sister publication Game Developer magazine. - Germany's ESRB = USK presented their annual report for 2009 (Alex Covic) Germany's software ratings equivalent to the U.S.'s ESRB, the USK, released an annual report for 2009, revealing a decline in first-person shooters and a shrinking PC game market. - Retro Game of the Day! Spider-Man (Atari 2600) (Ron Alpert) Ron Alpert's latest retro game review covers Parker Brothers' 1982 game Spider-Man for the Atari 2600. What it lacks in looks and gameplay, it partly makes up for in nostalgia. - Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket (Randell Trulson) Randall Trulson offers up a practical tip that can help you avoid software catastrophe: partition your hard drive categorically. - Chart of Game Elements (Mac Senour) Mac Senour takes the concept of the periodic table of elements and applies it to games in order to "spot trends and use the chart to see what areas of game design were being neglected."