This Week’s Link Roundup
E3 is next week, finally returning in its old form. The hype, previews, rumors, buzz, and predictions have been building all week. I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes out of it.
It would be interesting to see Apple enter the ring with a game console, as some have predicted. Would they announce it at E3 or at WWDC which is the following week? An Apple console would probably target the same market segment as the Wii, with the same simplicity and user experience that Apple products are known for. All in all? Unlikely.
Speaking of Apple, the iPhone App Store has reached a weird point in it's evolution. Average prices are dropping fast, yet the consumer psychology behind spending 99 cents on an app is a lot different than the psychology behind spending the same amount of money or more on a drink or magazine.
Many developers have also complained that the iPhone App approval process could be better, saying it's slow and rejection feedback is vague. This satire piece tells the story from the Apple side of things.
One final link in the Apple department, Carmack has been working on Doom for iPhone. I wish he'd stop veering off on side projects and give us Rage and id Tech 5 already!
From the engineering department, Intel talks about dealing with Technical Debt. As others have discussed, sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice quality in order to meet short term deadlines. But make sure your hacks don't go unfixed for too long.
Every once in a while, I think it's a good idea to remind yourself of what other developers consider best practices. You might not agree with all of them, but constantly working on methods of self improvement can never hurt.
The World of Goo guys released a game prototyping framework. Apparently it lacks documention, which would probably be very important to the type of people that want to use it. But I guess something is better than nothing. Maybe someone else will document it for them?
More and more small developers are funding development by selling early access to their game. I think this is a great idea since it also provides early feedback from the people who care most about your game. Give your users what they want! (And get free QA at the same time.)
Some more Starcraft 2 details. (drool)
Finally, a somewhat humorous rant on the state of the industry.
