The Tech Report - Where have all the sims gone?
"Maybe simulators are just canaries in a coalmine, a genre representative of a much larger trend in video games: the move toward simplicity. Even before the days of Nintendo's Wii console, video games were becoming easier and more accessible, all for the sake of becoming more mainstream. There's no doubt it worked. Video games now generate $9.5 billion in revenue annually, but at the expense of the more niche genres. Sim fans like myself are a dying breed, it seems. All I have left to do is yearn for the glory days and start working on my 'back in my day' stories for all of you young whippersnappers."

The Bottom Feeder- Indie Games Should Cost More, Pt. 1. Thanks Slashdot.
"XBox Live gave the trend a big push by charging $5 or $10 for most titles. That was still enough to get rich on when the gold rush was going. It isn't going anymore. I was genuinely surprised when people seriously complained that Braid, one of the coolest, most innovative titles out last year, was an entirely reasonable fifteen bucks."

GameBizBlog - Why Edge-Online's Whole Team Quit.
"Edge-Online's new bosses claim they want to "integrate" the online and print facets of the magazine. I believe this to be an error. Although the Edge voice ought to be maintained throughout all its activities, any attempt to reshape a dynamic daily website in the image of a monthly print magazine is conceptually and practically highly problematic. The story of the game industry is now being told via lightning fast websites and blogs of phenomenal competence and editorial quality. The days when giant print brands dominated the mediascape are over."