- Time for another day's hand-picked GameSetLink-age - this time headed by Mark Cooke discussing the history of the stylization of games - or something slightly more sophisticated that I can't quite describe, heh.

Also in here - the source code to the Atari 800 version of Donkey Kong (pictured) surfaces online, a little appreciation for the previously un-noticed Commando: Steel Disaster, more feedback on Christian video games, new archived videos from online worlds, and much more.

Please read now:

g-mixer . mark cooke . blog: Videogames Aging Gracefully
'Before that graphic plateau is hit if you want your game to be looked back upon fondly for its visual style then a realistic style is not the way to go.'

Braid, Aesthetics, and Ethics « Double Buffered
Annotating the recent 1UP FM podcast with Jon Blow, David Hellman, Rod Humble, et aliis.

DadHacker » Blog Archive » DK source code link
'Curt Vendel (who’s been groveling through a bunch of old Atari backup tapes for a number of years) has found and posted the source code to the Atari 800 version of Donkey Kong.'

ARGNet: Media Factory Produces Branded Alternate Reality Gaming Card Game
Detective Conan license in Japan: 'Cardtantei is a collectible trading card game that functions similar to Mind Candy's Perplex City.' Fascinating puzzle/ARG ramifications.

8Bit Joystick.com: PAX 08 : Flipping Sweet Psycho
Some lovingly crafted Psychonauts cosplay spawn a geek out alert.

Verbal Spew: 'The Blink-and-you'll-miss-it Files #1: Commando - Steel Disaster'
XS-published on DS, an so Metal Sluggy that it hurts, from an obscure Chinese dev team (Manasoft).

Guitar Praise Stirs Up A Conversation (a.k.a.–Can There Be Such a Thing as a Christian Video Game?) « The Weekend Gamer
Someone who works as a 'Pastor of Worship Arts' discusses Simon Parkin's recent GSW/Gama article on Christian games - v.interesting.

Will Wright on Spore: Cute vs. Science - Nerd World - Lev Grossman - TIME
'There was a fairly interesting dynamic between certain members of our team that we ended up calling the ‘cute’ team versus other members that we called the 'science' team.'

Update: the Archiving Virtual Worlds video collection | How They Got Game
'I am pleased to announce that the collection is closing in on 200 videos only a couple of months after its launch, thanks in large part to two important additions of videos.' Great Habitat video, via Bruce Damer.

The Independent Gaming Source: 'Action DooM 2: Urban Brawl'
'Whereas the original AD mixed Contra with Doom, AD2 is obviously inspired by beat ‘em up games like Final Fight.'