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Postmortem: Crystal Dynamics'
Tomb Raider: Underworld

Tomb Raider: Underworld was originally planned as an "easy" sequel to the previous game in the series, using the same toolchain-but it never quite works out that way. Eric Lindstrom describes the process, highlighting instances in which the team wasn't able to avoid known problems.

Top 50 Developers

Our second annual Top 50 Developers report uses metrics such as review scores, revenues, and reputation surveys to determine the best and brightest developers that released games in the past year.

Infinite Space

Most MMOs use multiple shards to break up their game universes. EVE Online, by contrast, uses a single shard. Here, various members of the team, from programmers to designers, share why they feel one shard is the way to go.

Staying Power

Microsoft researcher Bruce Phillips finds that players often quit single-player campaigns before they're complete. Citing psychology and exclusive statistics, Phillips proposes that "learning goals" can help keep players from getting discouraged.

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