The Sunday Papers

As I return from Jim's 30th, just in time to actually get my bags together to go to San Diego Comic Con next week - and if you're there, do pop to say hello at the Image booth where I'll be most of the time - and... well, do the Sunday Papers, of course. What's the Sunday Papers? Well, it's our regular list of reading for a Sunday Afternoon, where I compile smart pieces of commentary which caught my eye this week while trying to avoid linking to two obliquely videogame-related songs.

• I don't follow the Gold Farmer market, but this report interested me. In obvious relations to the law of supply and demand, the recent mass-banning by Blizzard has caused the market Gold Price to rocket. Lots of analysis here.
• A little more technical than most of the stuff I link to here, but I enjoyed this Gamasutra piece which analyses the various way games have approached the problem of simulating simple human interactions - from dialogue trees to key words to... well, lots others. I'd suggest a thought experiment of how you'd deal with conversations in a game given freedom to try whatever you like.
• You know, developers do actually watch what you guys say. Satine of Codemasters writes a little about female in fashion in games, prompted by the 250+ post thread about Damnation's somewhat silly approach to ladies' fashions. Oh - and while we're talking about that, Leigh Alexander takes on the issue with her examination of why Ivy's Boobs are such a big, big deal. It's because they're enormous tits, Leigh.
• I finally find something about Metal Gear Solid I like. Bristol's Joker takes his dubstep science to the MGS Snake Eater theme. Also, George Pringle ennui-heavy girl-sighing-spoken-word - start with Carte Postale, specifically the bit about Street Fighter 2 about a minute and a half in. It is sad that Blanka is always gonna be stronger than Chun Li.

Failed.