The New Yorker has a great story about Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s man behind Mario. Written by Nick Paumgarten the story is titled “Master of Play; The many worlds of a video-game artist.” (December 20, 2010.) The story nicely weaves an interview with Miyamoto into an introduction to game design.
Fishermen have a saying, in reference to the addictive sensation of a fish hitting your line: “The tug is the drug.” Gamers, as video-game players are known, thrill to “the pull,” that mysterious ability that good games have of making you want to play them, and keep playing them.
On a related note, Susan pointed me to a satirical about how Waiting for Godot for Wii breaks first week sales records.