Gamasutra Expert Blogs: From PR Tips To Questionable Choices

[In highlights from Gamasutra's Expert Blogs, industry notables write about diverse topics, including a look at player choice, comparisons between games and film, and simple PR tips for small teams.] 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 official posting guidelines. Here are the top blogs for the week: This Week's Standout Expert Blogs - Thoughts On Good And Bad Choices (Robert Green) Robert Green takes a look at several different forms of choice in games, examining their effectiveness and wondering whether offering players choice is always a worthwhile endeavor. - Adding Weight To Your Game Design Part 3: Staging (Michael Jungbluth) In the latest of a series of blog entries, Michael Jungbluth outlines the importance of staging in game design, and how it can be used as a tool to direct players' attention to critical visual elements. - The Era Of Everything And Anything (Randy O'Connor) Rando O'Connor draws a direct comparison between games and film in hopes of identifying how much games as a medium have evolved. - Sins of Game Programming #2 – Code Obfuscation (Michael Carr) In a series of posts detailing undesirable programming strategies, Michael Carr explains why programmers should avoid using obfuscated code. - Portfolio (And PR) Advice: The Importance Of YouTube (Megan Fox) Hoping to aid developers looking to boost awareness of their latest project, Megan Fox urges teams not to create elaborate websites or link to suspicious-looking .exe files, but simply to upload a video to YouTube.