Hello, my name is Mike Gowen.

Hot Sidebar Action: October 28th

• The Princess Rescuing Application: Slides
  Slides from a recent presentation by Dan from Lost Garden on applying game design principles to application design.
• Top 10 Best Looking Facebook Games
  Inside Social Games ranks the best looking Facebook games.
• An In-depth Look: Mob Wars
  KISSmetrics takes a look at what has made Mob Wars so successful.
• The Art of Using Notifications within Facebook Applications
  KISSmetrics takes a look at the different notification methods used by publishers on Facebook.
• 50 Beautiful Blog Designs
  The title sums it up. Some great stuff here.
• The Art of Using Challenges within Facebook Applications
  KISSmetrics takes a look at how challenges are used within Playfish’s games.
• The Art of Gifting within Facebook Applications
  KISSmetrics runs through the gifting flow for a handful of popular Facebook apps.
• SocialDeck Releases First iPhone Game with Facebook Integration
  I’ve been waiting to see who would be the first to do it. Simple game, but its a first step.
• How is the Facebook Redesign Affecting Social Games?
  Inside Facebook takes a look at how the redesign is affecting (or not affecting) the gaming app charts.
• Why LittleBigPlanet Is Web 2.0 For Games
  Gamasutra compares LBP to common aspects of the Web 2.0 space.
• GDC 2008 - Part Two - Game Design Workshop
  Old post from Click Nothing about the Game Design Workshop at GDC2008. Forgive me I just discovered Click Nothing.
• You’re Infected! And dispeling.
  Sounds like there is more to the zombie event than meets the eye.
• Braiiins for breakfast?
  WoW has an event going right now where people are turning into zombies. Sweet!