-Didn't have time to do this midweek, so here's a full week of just the top features and news on big sister site Gamasutra and elsewhere on our Think Services sites/blogs - and there's some pretty neat stuff in here.

Recommended, at least as far as I'm concerned, is our extended interview with Braid's Jon Blow, plus Noah Falstein's article on designers' early inspirations. I also really appreciated Ian Bogost's column on the rise of personal gaming - here's the full rundown:

Jonathan Blow: The Path to Braid
"With art game Braid now a significant hit on Xbox Live Arcade, Gamasutra talks to creator Jonathan Blow on its long path to completion, challenging conventional pacing, and hopes for XBLA's future."

Persuasive Games: Video Game Snapshots
"The invention of Kodak's Brownie made photography accessible to everyone, and Ian Bogost asks whether the era of user-generated content opens doors for games as 'snapshots.'"

Design Language: Designer Derivations
"In this fascinating feature, Falstein talks to many developers about their childhood beginnings in design and play to discover commonalities in their career development."

GCG Interview: Tara Teich, LucasArts Programmer
"Tara Teich, a lead AI and gameplay engineer at LucasArts, shares her experience of what it’s like to work as a programmer in the game industry in a new interview on GameCareerGuide.com. She discusses how she got her first job in the industry and where she thinks game programmers today should be focusing their efforts."

Sponsored Feature: Multi-Threading Goo!: A Programmer’s Diary by Tommy Refenes
"In this Intel-sponsored feature, part of the Gamasutra Visual Computing microsite, Goo! developer Tommy Refenes of PillowFort matches wits with multi-threading in four gripping acts -- and emerges victorious."

Valve's Faliszek: Not All Game Stories Need 'Evil Masterminds'
"Left 4 Dead writer Chet Faliszek of Valve has been talking to Gamasutra on why video game stories don't need "evil masterminds," a principle he has kept in mind when writing in-game dialogue hinging around characters experiencing a "zombie apocalypse.""

An Examination of Outsourcing Part 2: The Contractor Angle
"Recently, Gamasutra spoke with developers and publishers to find out the requirements and advantages for outsourcing -- but this time we take another look at the story, from the perspectives of the outsourcing companies themselves."

GCG Posts Game Marketing Challenge, Results of ‘Olympic’ Challenge
"GameCareerGuide.com, which runs a weekly game design challenge for students and newcomers to the game industry, has this week posted a game marketing challenge. The site also has named two winners in a previous design challenge on the theme of the Olympic Games."

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