Game Loop

Jane McGonigal: The game that can give you 10 extra years of life | Video on TED.com

CLOP

CLOP

QWOP mated with Robot Unicorn Attack

Pacman, with Portals

Just what is says, as if the ghosts didn't have a hard enough time.

Infinite Mario - This is not a flash game, and it won't work in older browsers. More games are going to be written in HTML5 as browsers become faster and more capable.
Move: Left/Right -- Jump/Enter Level: S -- Fireball/Run: A

Gamification for improving the world

How important is your game?

Super Mario Flash

Super Mario Flash - Some aspects are strange, up to jump means no climbing, space to shoot fireballs. I don't think you can grab the shells.

Still very playable but challenging.

Psychology and Metaphor

"I've talked to psychologists that were obviously really into sociology and as much as I like hearing about how percentages of the population are affected by things I prefer having my problem neatly explained as a Star Wars metaphor." - Link

Leaky World: a playable theory - Molleindustria

Leaky World: a playable theory - "Controls: Arrow keys to move. Space to cut the connections." It's a little weird, but simple once you get used to it. Though I'm also not sure if I won or lost.

This is the first Wikileaks based game I've seen.

Super Mario Bros 3 Level Design Lessons

Super Mario Bros 3 Level Design Lessons @ Significant Bits

"Super Mario Bros. 3 contains many obvious design lessons that are also present in other games, e.g., the gradual layering of complexity that allows players to master a specific mechanic. What surprised me during my playthrough, though, was how some of these lessons were completely optional.

For example, it’s possible to send a turtle shell skittering in the opposite direction of destructible bricks, or to take the cloud-route and skip certain powerups and interactive objects. Of course these same lessons are repeated multiple times, but they’re not always as heavily hinted.

Personally, this hits a sweet spot for me. The game doesn’t have any forced hand-holding, and it isn’t afraid of the player simply exploring it at his own pace (even if it means circumventing chunks of the experience). This approach also serves to encourage multiple replays, and — back during SMB 3′s initial release — it probably sparked many playground discussions."