Gamasutra's Holiday Week: What You Missed

In the week between Christmas and New Year, Gamasutra continued to update our website, keeping up with the news while debuting a number of original interviews, analyses, and postmortems to the site. As such, we're compiling them for those developers who were out of the office last week, with highlights including our 'Games Of The Decade' countdown, an Arnie Katz interview, Edmund McMillen's indie game manifesto, and more. Here are the notable Gamasutra features and interviews from last week that you might have missed: Gamasutra Features Postmortem: Ronimo Games' Swords & Soldiers "In this in-depth postmortem, the Dutch independent developer Ronimo Games discusses what went right -- and wrong -- in creating critically acclaimed WiiWare side-scrolling console RTS Swords & Soldiers." Gamasutra's Top 12 Games of the Decade "After yesterday's honorable mentions for Gamasutra's 'Game Of The Decade', as voted and commented on by hundreds of our readers, we're counting down your Top 12 games of the last ten years, from Wii Sports through The Sims all the way to the top-voted title." Gamasutra's Games of the Decade: Honorable Mentions "Ahead of tomorrow's list of Gamasutra's 'Game Of The Decade', as voted and commented on by hundreds of our readers, we're publishing some of the most-voted on titles that didn't quite make the Top 12 list, from Katamari Damacy to Vagrant Story and beyond." Electronic Games: The Arnie Katz Interview "In this in-depth interview, Gamasutra sits down with Arnie Katz, the co-creator in 1981 of Electronic Games magazine, the first ever magazine dedicated entirely to video games, to discuss his history in the biz and the state of game journalism today." Gamasutra News Opinion: The 99 Best Free Games Of 2009 "Gamasutra is teaming up with game criticism weblog Critical Distance to present Christopher Hyde's round-up of the wealth of excellent games being produced outside the realm of 'AAA' titles in 2009." Interview: What's In A Box? Game Packaging Unpacked "As game packaging becomes more elaborate, and the audience more diverse, its design becomes more difficult -- Gamasutra talks to Justin Carroll, who worked on Modern Warfare 2's box, to find out about the art of game boxes." Opinion: Indie Game Design Do-s and Don't-s: A Manifesto "Veteran indie game creator Edmund McMillen (Gish, Time Fcuk, Super Meat Boy) shares his opinions and manifesto on making indie video games, with 24 clear do-s and don't-s to make your art thrive." In-Depth: 2010's Big Five Game Biz Events "As Gamasutra finishes its set of 2009 roundups, we take a look ahead at the 2010 game industry events we can't wait to see -- from delayed titles through motion control and beyond." Analysis: Storytelling In Emily's Holiday Season "In a holiday-themed column, Emily Short looks at the narrative in Christmas-themed time management game Delicious: Emily's Holiday Season, a casual title replete with 'an unusual amount of story content.'" Opinion: 2009 - The Last Days of the Japanese RPG? "Where have the vital Japanese role-playing games gone? Game Developer magazine's Jeff Fleming looks back at the past year of Japanese RPG releases in North America, and believes he sees troubling signs of a genre in decline."