Video: Designing the strategic card game Race for the Galaxy In this GDC 2018 talk, game designer Tom Lehmann discusses the design behind his acclaimed card game Race for the Galaxy. 

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  The audio design behind the original Xbox startup sound Sound designer and composer Brian Schmidt discusses the audio design challenges behind the original Xbox startup sound.

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1 Xbox chief Phil Spencer taking on a 'bigger role' in fixing the Microsoft Store Xbox chief Phil Spencer discussed how he would like to fix the Microsoft Store to make game content more discoverable and easy to find.

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  Physical copies of Hollow Knight cancelled Skybound games announced last week that it would no longer be partnering with Team Cherry to bring physical versions of Hollow Knight to retail shelves after the deal reportedly fell through.

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  Get a job: Velan Studios is hiring a Lead Producer The Lead Producer will work closely with the project’s game director, art director, engineering lead and other key project leaders to successfully execute on an original IP.

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10 Don't Miss: How Undertale's soundtrack shapes its narrative "My goal with this article is to show the different ways leitmotifs are used in Undertale, how they affect one's experience with the game, and how a game soundtrack can do much, much more than just provide catchy background music."

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  Obituary: Marvel Comics co-creator Stan Lee passes away at 95 Stan Lee, an influential player in the rise of Marvel Comics and one of the minds behind many iconic superhero series like Spider-Man and the X-Men, has passed away at the age of 95.

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  Mobile publisher Flaregames lays off 45 staff Flaregames has laid off a portion of its staff during a restructure that has also resulted in the departure of its CEO.

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1 Designing CrossCode to stand out in the retro RPG market CrossCode's lead developer and composer talk to us about making and selling a retro-flavored RPG in the crowded markets of 2018.

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1 Blog: Invigorating our local game developer community It can be difficult to invigorate a local community of game developers, but the benefits to a dynamic and tight-knit community are too numerous to pass on.

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  Apply now to be a GDC 2019 Conference Associate! GDC is now accepting applications for the GDC 2019 Conference Associate program from now until December 22nd! Associates receive a pass to the show in exchange for about 25 hours of (paid) work. Apply today!

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1 Blog: Designing a data model In this post I wanted to take a look at the rationale and design goals behind the data model we use at The Machinery.

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  Google Play announces Games for Change design challenge finalists Google Play launched the competition back in March to promote gender diversity by inspiring young women as players and game makers. 

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1 Blog: In-depth game design on Space Frontier 2 In this blog post, indie game developer Olin Olmstead takes a detailed look at the game mechanics underlying Space Frontier 2.

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  Mouse and keyboard support arriving on Xbox One this week Microsoft is bringing mouse and keyboard support to the Xbox One on November 14, after initially announcing the move back in September.

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1 Video Game Deep Cuts: A Quiet Man, With Trivial Credits This week's highlights include a look at the baffling The Quiet Man, a piece on HQ Trivia's struggles to continue its success, and a look at how credits in video games still aren't going quite right.

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4 Obsidian, inXile acquired by Microsoft Studios Microsoft has announced the acquisition of RPG-centric studios Obsidian and inXile Entertainment, as part of a host of announcements at its X08 event in Mexico.

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6 Video: An apology for Roger Ebert Loom creator Brian Moriarty takes the stage at GDC 2011 to deliver a thoughtful defense of critic Roger Ebert's industry-stirring sentiment that 'video games can never be art.'

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  Watch Lucas Pope discuss the making of Return of the Obra Dinn Watch game developer Lucas Pope discuss the making of Return of the Obra Dinn.

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6 Sony’s PlayStation Classic is powered by the open-source emulator PCSX Sony has opted to license a long-running open-source PlayStation emulator, PCSX, to power the games on its upcoming plug-n-play PlayStation Classic system. 

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4 Don't Miss: The untold story of Lumines: Electronic Symphony Producer James Mielke (formerly of developer Q Entertainment) walks through early concepts for the game, outlines production difficulties -- including in-progress screens and video.

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3 Blog: My time at Telltale Games I worked QA at Telltale games during Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones, and Minecraft. I was a regular QA tester, and it was my first job in the industry.

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  Lord of the Rings Online returns to its 2007 roots with official 'Legendary Server' Lord of the Rings Online has opened up a 'Legendary Server' that rolls the modern version of the game back (in some ways) to match the world offered way back in 2007 when the game first launched.

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3 Nintendo is ending video streaming support on the Wii The change sees support for all video streaming applications, including Netflix, cut from Nintendo’s 2006 console. 

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  Strategy guide publisher Prima Games is shutting down The shutdown comes as a result of what parent company DK described as a “significant decline” in its video game business.

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