"Adult content" rules commercial games -- but repetitive, blistering violence gets dull. Honeyslug's Ricky Haggett and Funomena's Robin Hunicke look at joy, as an alternative quality of mature games. ...

"There is, in my view, a very valuable aspect to imbalance; furthermore, balance is not as easily quantifiable as you might think -- as there are often multivariate levels that contribute to balance." ...

"A trailer can be your calling card. Putting together a nice-looking trailer can help showing the features of a game, without the need of having the game finished." ...

The maker of the plugin Grids reflects: "We gained a few hundred customers. It's been an exciting year of ups and downs. Here are some of the things that surprised me." ...

"I have a floor to stand on now -- even if that floor is subterranean, it's certainly better than just aimlessly floating through the void waiting for that 'perfect spot' to land on." ...

"We always wanted to make an old-school PC RPG with multiplayer," says Larian founder Swen Vincke. "We never managed to sell it to a publisher in the past; every time we proposed, it was refused." ...

Digital distribution and self publishing enables experienced teams become self-sustaining -- and the Oddworld creator shares his story of finding his way back. ...

In a new blog post on its official site, the engine provider has gone in-depth on how its implementation of PhysX 3.3 will give the next version of its game engine a boost. ...

Leigh Alexander visits The Chinese Room to see Everybody's Gone to the Rapture -- a uniquel melancholy and distinctly English apocalypse, created by a team with a refreshing attitude to sustainability. ...

Sometimes games are the most fun when the game designer doesn't pretend to have all the answers, and instead lets players figure it all out. ...