Gamasutra expert blogs: From clones to non-violent immersive sims

In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including how copyright law should apply to game design, "immersive sims," and more. 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 latest official posting guidelines. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs Gone Home: A non-violent immersive sim? (Steve Gaynor) Gone Home simulates exploring an abandoned house to discover the story of the people who lived there. But what does "simulation" mean in this context? And how does Gone Home fit into, and expand, the tradition of the "Immersive Sim?" White House Games and Neuroscience Workshop (Noah Falstein) Noah Falstein provides an overview of a workshop on well-being, attention, and video games held at the White House in August. Many neuroscientists, game developers, and government agency representatives attended. Spry Fox attacks the clones (Greg Lastowka) Examining the ongoing lawsuit between Spry Fox and 6waves, Rutgers law professor Greg Lastowka looks at how copyright law should apply to game design. A new future for video game consoles? (Michael Samyn) Tale of Tales' Michael Samyn believes game consoles are dying because they failed to make a real medium out of video games. Can they be saved? Yes! How? By creating a new form of entertainment for the living room that is not games! The storm’s coming: The next stage of "crowdsourcing" for mobile gaming (Arie Abecassis) Arie Abecassis examines what's next in mobile crowdfunding.