August is shaping up to be a busy month for the video game industry with a number of titles like Darksiders II, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Guild Wars 2 pending release and a pair of industry events on the schedule (Quakecon and GDC Europe 2012). In the meantime, how about enjoying one of these blogs?

Blog Herding Stats:

Period Reviewed: July 23 – July 29, 2012
Number of User Blogs: 123
Number of User Bloggers: 74
Number of User Blogs Herded: 11

Community Events:

Team GIO Digital Raffle Announcement
Team GIO continues to draw in support while offering a number of incentives for those who contribute. This latest post by Noobtubin8er explains the process for distributing the prizes.

Community Blogs:

Building A Better Conversation
Over the years the video game industry has witnessed vast improvements in nearly every facet of game construction. AshaMan3000 discusses the evolution and future of non-player character dialogue.

Judge A Game By Its Memes?
An interesting theory courtesy of Cru Hunter that questions whether the number of memes associated with a particular title is indicative of the game's popularity.

Be Careful What You Wish For
Chris Mrkvicka discusses the adverse effects likely to occur if the disgruntled gamers who wished for the downfall of the video game industry actually had their wish come true.

GameFly: A Lot Of Baloney
One of the week's more active blogs, Jonathan Harrison responds with his examination of the misleading GameFly commercial that pokes fun at GameStop's trade in policy.

Companies I Would Love To Work For
Mike shares his list of video game developers he would like to work for, but there are probably a number of us who wouldn't mind working for these same companies too.

Quitting Time
A short blog by dadarkheart drawing assorted reactions from the community as they respond to the question, "When is it acceptable for a gamer to turn in the controller and walk away?"

Crafting The Perfect Role-Playing Game (RPG)
It's been said this is the year of the RPG and the bloggers have certainly explored the topic with tenacity, like this post from J Warrior detailing his thoughts on what elements the ideal RPG should contain.

Press Start To Play?
Craigaleg takes a clever tone with this blog discussing the current trend you have very likely experienced: having to wait for your newly released game to update before you can play it.

The Legal Question Of State Video Game Regulation
A comprehensive post demonstrating the utmost level of professionalism, FinalFantasy1026 shares his Senior Honors Thesis proposal concerning the legal question of state video game regulation.

The Start Of Something Big
While the Mass Effect 3 riots have mostly dispersed, Kyle Wadsworth finishes off the game leading up to those events as he completes Mass Effect 2 and summarizes the experience in great detail.

Beating Your Demons
Proving his blogging talents extend past top ten lists, thegodofwine7 battles his demons in the form of unfinished games from his past. Be sure to check out some of his other great blogs posted this week.

Community Reviews:

Resident Evil Revelations
The Monster Hunter details his experience playing the fairly recent release of the latest episode in the Resident Evil series with this review of Resident Evil: Revelations.

The Amazing Spider-Man (3DS) Review
A frequent writer of exceptional user reviews, Apricot provides the community a thorough look at The Amazing Spider for the Nintendo 3DS, a game released in conjunction with the movie of the same name.

A Solid Zombie Killing Experience
Some fans thought Resident Evil 5 strayed too far from the mechanics that made the others so popular, but DrJoeystein believes there are still plenty of reasons to like this installment in the series.

Community Podcasts:

The JACKED UP Indie & Mojo Show Episode 41
This week the hosts welcome fellow community member and podcaster TOGNick to the show as the group discuss The Amazing Spiderman, the potential of the Ouya, and status of Team GIO.

Robot In The Corner Podcast: Episode 2-33
The RITC crew has a spoiler-free discussion on The Dark Knight Rises before responding to the Deadpool game announcement and asking, "Which comic movie/game would you like to see next?"

Don't forget to send your feedback, recommendations, and community events in to my personal Game Informer account located here to ensure this feature continues to provide the content you're eager to read.

Happy Blogging!

Your friendly neighborhood blogging community (07/23/12 – 07/29/12):
alex720; AshaMan3000 (4); avLambo21; benderstrike64 (7); BlackHeartedWolf; blaze6106 (3); born4this; BRAV0 F1VE; Cameron Koch; Caudex (3); cerpintaxman; Chris Mrkvicka (7); Cody Bauman; Craigaleg; Cru Hunter; dadarkheart; Daniel Jones; Dawson Wyckoff; deckard; Derreck; DJH (3); dp163435; DrJoeystein; drsoko (2); ElGato; Enigma; FinalFantasy1026; Frosty; Ghost; Glasses (3); Hut; J Warrior; Jack Gardner; JakandRatchet79; Jefferson Fernando; John Wrek; Jolt the Cynic; Jonathan Harrison; jordanthegamer (3); Joyful Penguin (2); Kid Ica; Kinsey (2); Kyle Wadsworth; Le Hannibal (7); LetMeGetToACheckpoint; Marco Polo (3); microphonist; Mike (3); Noobtubin8er; OneArmedWonder ; opposedcrow88; Orochi Assassin LEVON; Phlakes; Proprietary-Windmill; Rabid Chipmunk; RadiantChaos; Reptar7 (2); Rihz; Sora3Ben; sowravdatta; Storm One; Stranger (2); Supersnake; The Great Cubone; The Midnight Mayor; TheBen; thegodofwine7 (3); Undertaker Adrian (2); Vanlinkenstein; wayoverdue (2); xCHAOSx; xking595x (2); x-XMantisX-x; and of course yours truly...Saint.

Video Game Quote of the Week:
"Congratulations. You came in second." – Mr. Kelly, Red Dead Revolver