Gamasutra: The Holiday Updates Compiled

Author: by Staff

Were you happily relaxing over Holiday 2007? Gamasutra editors were too, but they paused briefly during their season revelry to put up some neat original stories for those who were still working over the holiday week. Therefore, here are the major original features/stories Gamasutra posted over the Xmas/New Year period, including interviews with Konami's Akira Yamaoka and Sony Picture's Yair Landau, production and HR features, and the game company Xmas card round-up. [Please note that the Gamasutra industry news page archive has the full list of stories posted in the period, including a number of news stories and columns not listed here.] - Gamasutra's Best Of 2007: Top 5 Most Significant Moments In MMOs "As an addendum to Gamasutra's year-end retrospective, Michael Zenke takes a look back on the biggest moments of the year in massively multiplayer online games, from the surprise successes of small, free-to-play titles like MapleStory and RuneScape to Warcraft's installment into mainstream popular culture." - Heaven's Night: An Interview With Akira Yamaoka "Konami's Akira Yamaoka is renowned for his Silent Hill music and sound design, and in this extended Game Developer magazine interview, he weighs in on the franchise, the Western-developed Silent Hill 5, and why Japanese game development '...is in trouble.'" - Producers Of The Roundtable: Getting Coders and Artists to Communicate "In this new roundtable interview, conducted in association with GameProducer.net, producers from developers including EALA, Bizarre Creations, and Gas Powered Games discuss the best practical ways to get programmers and artists working smoothly together." - Hollywood & Games: Sony Pictures' Landau Talks Convergence "Sony Pictures Digital's Yair Landau oversees both Sony Pictures Animation (Surf's Up) and Sony Online Entertainment (EverQuest), and talks to Gamasutra about how convergence is significantly affecting the bond between Hollywood and the game industry, from 300 to The Agency." - Nailing The Interview / Part 1: Recruiting & Hiring New Employees "In this game industry-specific article, HR veteran Marc Mencher looks at the vital task of hiring good game developers, focusing on evaluating the job, defining the job descriptions, and ways of reaching out to potential recruits." - Q&A: EA's Bernstein On Building SimCity Societies "The latest title in the Sims dynasty, SimCity Societies, recently saw worldwide PC release, and Gamasutra spoke to the game's producer, Electronic Arts' Rachel Bernstein, about the genesis of the Tilted Mill-developed title, the state of the PC market, and leaving real-world brands out of the game." - Special: Q-Games On PS3's 'Gaia' Music Visualizer "One of the more hidden features of the PlayStation 3's 2.10 firmware update is the spectacular Earth-based music visualizer, and its creator Q-Games (PixelJunk Racers) has been talking to Gamasutra about the feature's genesis, its use of NASA data, and possible expansion concepts." - Opinion: Is The Industry Ready For Its 'Game Noir'? "In a hit-driven industry that requires millions of dollars brought to the table just for a title to make the qualifying round, TimeGate Studios designer Steve Gaynor opines that the lessons of film noir will pave the way for games to develop a new and engaging kind of interaction, opening the field beyond just the BioShocks and Halos." - 10 Indie, Student Game Competitions: A Shortlist for Your Submissions "If you’re a budding game developer, these 10 student and independent game competitions should be on your calendar. The rundown (unranked) points to ten events throughout the world in which indie game developers and students can show their works to compete for cash prizes, as well as that first big break in the industry." - Q&A: Namco Bandai Talks Wii Fitness With Athletic World "With the Wii's focus on kinetic energy in games, Namco Bandai have seen fit to re-introduce some of the concepts it pioneered with the original NES and its foot-powered Power Pad with Family Trainer: Athletic World. Gamasutra recently spoke with the game's producers to learn more about the game, and the potential for future mat-based titles." - Special: The Game Industry's Xmas Cards Exposed "Game publishers/developers create some awesome custom Xmas cards, and Gamasutra has teamed with sister weblog GameSetWatch to scan and present some of the best ones for the 2007 holiday season - from BioWare through Double Fine to Naughty Dog and Ninja Theory - images inside."