10. Ian Bogost
Very rarely are game experts well written. Ian Bogost is. He is also incredibly insightful and on the cutting-edge of the industry with his analysis. His reading of the industry is quite different from many other authors and sites on this list, and no wonder, he's got a Ph.D in Comparative Literature, and yet he's a professor and Director of the Graduate Program of Digital Media and Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is also a Founding Partner at Persuasive Games and author of Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism, Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames, Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System, Newsgames: Journalism at Play, How To Do Things with Video Games and Alien Phenomenology.
Even ignoring his rich pedigree he is also considered by the industry as an influential thinker thanks to his academic and industry-speaking engagements. The game-related writing on his blog is high-brow to say the least and will provide you with an eye-opening glimpse into the industry.
9. Hideoblog
If you don't know who Hideo Kojima is then you haven't been doing your gaming homework because you've likely already played at least a few of his games. Japanese-born (surprise huh?) Hideo is one of the godfathers of the gaming industry, was VP of Konami and is the current owner/director for Kojima Productions. He created the Metal Gear series and won lifetime achievement awards from MTV and the Game Developers Conference. As a game-dev god he is worth following, and worth following since his insights are what gave him deity-like status. His blog, Hideoblog, has videos, game discussion, news, events and industry highlights.
8. GameIndustryGrunts.com
The extremely aptly-named GameIndustryGrunts website gets aspiring game designers 'grunt'-level jobs in the industry. If you're wondering what a 'grunt' is, well, according to GIG, “Grunt definition: Base unit in many video games that may eventually level-up”. Jobs on GIG require 2 years or less of experience.
So, after all your unsuccessful hunting for a higher-level job, you will likely end up back at GIG, groveling for some help. Check back with the site every couple days because they add new job(s) every other day or every few days (if this quantity seems small, take a look at how many legitimate jobs the industry creates annually). The service is free so keep at it.
7. MakeItBigInGames.com
Who better to get entrepreneurial gaming advice from than someone who's been through the good, the bad and the ugly. MakeItBigInGames.com creator, Jeff Tunnel, has “started companies, raised money, sold companies, ran studios, hired many people, and maybe sold a little of my soul.” His site is now “a place for me to help people that want to get into the game business learn how to do so, perhaps with less pain than was inflicted on me.” If you are still questioning his credentials, know that he co-founded Dynamix (a development studio for Sierra/Vivendi/Universal), where he designed/produced and/or executive produced 70+ games. Also, he's been working in gaming since before most of today's gamers were born.
Now he is the creative force behind MakeItBigInGames, and writes articles that any aspiring game designer/marketer should pay close attention to, including Risk Assesment: Don’t Put All Your Games In One Market, Hey Whiners, the iPhone Market Owes You Nothing, Putting Your Game On OS-X and Linux is Not Enough, Game Pricing, Look Out Below, and How Much Work Does It Take To Become A Great Game Developer?.
6. GameRankings.com
Any aspiring pro game developer with an affinity for numbers, stats or simply wants a firm grasp on the business side of the industry should pay close attention to GameRankings.com. This game review and statistics site will tell you exactly, based on facts, which games are hot and which ones are not. This site is a solid research tool for any game entrepreneur, or unemployed game designer looking to find which studios are currently most successful. The site also has decent links to news, PC games, Xbox 360 games, Wii games, PlayStation 2 game, Nintendo DS game, cheat codes, forums, free games and the like.
5. GamePolitics
GamePolitics.com is a slight deviation from the overall theme of this list—but--any game developer worth their salt should understand the current political climate of gaming. This goes double for entrepreneurs, owners and investors (of time or money). GamePolitics is a site started by journalist Dennis McCauley that delves into the deeper overarching issues of video gaming, with a focus on industry controversies—especially high-profile critics, activism, game-related legislation and violence in gaming. The site also paints an accurate picture of the political history of the medium, the effects of media coverage on gamer culture, and more.
Important figures in the industry have been featured on and/or contributed to the site, including IEMA founder Hal Halpin, gaming defense attorney Tom Buscaglia, and gaming activist Jack Thompson. Throngs of well-written, intelligent articles are posted daily, explaining why many readers RSS Feed the site or follow their social pages. GamePolitics leverages its affiliation with the ECA for their community and forums—which is good since both are somewhat lacking on the site compared to the other top sites on this list.
4. Sirlin.net
Sirlin.net creator, Sirlin (clever huh?), is gamer, game designer, tournie competitor, gaming author and MIT graduate. Impressive resume aside, this guy knows his gaming. After his successful Playing to Win article series was released over 10 years ago Sirlin became an instant hit within gaming circles, which led to the Playing to Win book release. Since then Sirlin.net's reputation has skyrocketed as Playing to Win readers found incredibly well-crafted industry insights, with articles like Design Dilemmas, The Camera Is The Enemy, Visual Display of Radiation Information and The Wii U. Much of his industry commentary relates to the marketing of competitive games, so game-dev entrepreneurs pay attention.
3. GameSpot
GameSpot may have self-entitled themselves “The Go-To Source for All Things Video Games”, but as it turns out, they were right. The site gets millions of visits monthly from gamers and developers who use GameSpot as their “go-to” source for Game FAQs, Game Rankings, GameSpot Trax, Metacritic (all part of CBS Interactive and the GameSpot offering), GameSpot Sports, GameSpot News, and Launch Centers. The site continually wins awards for its work, including a “Best Gaming Website” from Spike and numerous Webby Awards.
GameSpot hosts game previews, game reviews, download, news, live-event coverage, videos, exclusive interviews, strategy guides and original shows. The site is handily divided into separate channels dedicated to different gaming systems, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, etc, that allow users to cater the information they see to the gaming system of their choice. Their user forums are quite lively, and users are encouraged to post game reviews and gaming-related blogs. If you're not a big reader, you can sign up for their many podcasts (On the Spot, Start/Select, Crosshairs, The Hotspot and The OzSpot), and listen to their content while you're gaming. If listening is even too much effort then sign up for their Facebook feed, an uber-successful social profile that offers top-notch news and content as well as site teasers.
Overall, the site is a fantastic resource for anyone who has a hand in video game marketing (or needs to understand the process for design purposes) as it hosts GameSpot Trax, a market-intelligence tool offering insights and analysis into games and the industry, and GamersInstinct a gamers panel available for gaming-related market research.
2. Gamasutra
Gamasutra uses the clever slogan "The Art & Science of Making Games", and their cleverness doesn't end there. This online sister publication to Game Developer magazine has done such a good job of being clever they even won a Webby award for it.
The site breaks down into five primary sections: News, Features, Blogs, Jobs/Resume and Contractors. Their News section contains quick news snippets related to the industry, the Features section features in-depth critiques and postmortems, their Blogs section allows for user interaction and commentary (which is surprisingly astout), their Jobs/Resume section lists open positions at development studios across the country and their Contractors section list an ample supply of available game-dev contract gigs.
1. GameDev.net
Well, 850,000 developers can't be wrong. GameDev.net has steadily become THE leading web resource and online community for game developers, which is no surprise given that it has resources for everyone from n00bs to seasoned industry vets—and plenty of connections in between the two. Over the last decade GameDev users have come to expect regularly updated developer news and thousands of industry-relevant articles.
The real crown jewel of the GameDev empire though is the incredibly active community of users, many of whom are working game developers with real-world experience—who provide real networking opportunities. GameDev's forums are chocked full of advice on beginner, advanced and high-level topics, including artificial intelligence and DirectX programming. Their advice, content and critiques are so good they have even made them into books—that's right, more than one!
GameDev.net goes well beyond a simple web portal, they also do things like host sponsored game-dev contests, like their annual 4 Elements contest. They also offer premium services via GDNet+ (developer journals, web hosting and their GDNet showcase service where they host member's game creations or download). They've also got some great off-shoot sites like NeHe, Game Development Wiki and more.