Rounding up the last seven days a tad later than normal, it's time to recap the top full-length features and news of the past week on big sister site Gamasutra, plus extra features and Game Design Challenge goodness from fellow edu site GameCareerGuide.

There's actually a boatload of interesting stuff this time out, including our in-depth NPD report, a v.neat chat with the Little King's Story creator, an overview of game PR, a round-up of the Casual Connect coverage we did in association with Gamezebo, plus the latest GameCareerGuide Design Challenge results and new Challenge, wow.

Lost in time:

Yoshiro Kimura's Strange Journeys
"Gamasutra sits down with Little King's Story and Chulip creator Yoshiro Kumira, a game designer with a different way of looking at the world, to discuss his titles and look at pages from his game sketchbook."

A New Life for Arcades?
"In an overview of the current arcade game business, industry consultant Kevin Williams examines the state of the market, probing why, although the Western arcade biz is much changed from its '80s heyday, there's still room for new products."

Sponsored Feature: The All-Important Import Pipeline
"In this feature, part of Intel's Visual Computing section, Rod Green discusses the creation of art pipelines for the firm's Project Offset engine/game, explaining why studios "should be aiming to sever the umbilical cord" and implement a 'common format' approach to art pipelines."

A Circular Wall? Reformulating the Fourth Wall for Video Games
"In this in-depth article, Conway uses games such as Max Payne, Metal Gear Solid and even Sonic The Hedgehog to discuss how video games can break boundaries to refer to the world outside the game -- and how well it works."

Game PR and You: A Comprehensive Overview
"The relationship between a game creator/publisher and the public is absolutely key - so what is the current landscape like, and what are the cardinal rules you should follow to raise and enhance your game's profile? Gala Networks Europe' Wera has a few suggestions."

NPD: Behind the Numbers, June 2009
"Gamasutra's latest analysis of NPD's U.S. console retail figures examines June's 31% sales slump in the context of the recent past, including exclusive data on the top-selling games of the year so far, music game trend analysis, and a look forward to the rest of the year."

Round-Up: 2009 Casual Connect Conference
"All this week, Gamasutra and casual site Gamezebo have brought you keynote and panel coverage from Seattle's Casual Connect event -- here's the highlights, from Nintendo to PopCap and beyond."

Results from Game Design Challenge: DS Platforming Innovation
"Since innovation has slowed down on the Nintendo DS compared to its original promise, we asked our readers to devise unique stylus-only gameplay that reawakens the system's potential -- here are the results!"

Book Extract: Game QA & Testing - Ready, Set, Go!
"In this book extract from Game QA & Testing, industry authors Levy and Novak gather advice from around the industry on how to get the job you're looking for to get a leg up!"

Game Design Challenge: Rebooting The Series
"Ready to reboot an ailing franchise? Our latest challenge puts you in charge of reimagining whatever game series you like -- and hopefully getting to the core of what makes it appealing."