Happy three-day weekend! Or, to those of you who don't live in America, happy Monday!
Given that it's an Official Kotaku Holiday, we thought this might be a good time to revisit some old stories. So we've gone through the archives and dug up some some of our best pieces for your holiday reading pleasure.
Today's theme: the people behind the games we play.
For starters, check out Evan's brief piece about the best thing ex-Epic designer Cliff Bleszinski ever did, and the story of how Total Annihilation creator Chris Taylor helped save Mike's face.
We've also got in-depth looks at some of the people behind companies like the small publisher Xseed, the RPG makers over at Obsidian, and the House of Persona, Atlus USA.
Straight out of Japan, look behind some of the surprising ways 8-4 has altered games while localizing them for U.S. shores. And don't miss the story of designer Dylan Cuthbert and how he trained with Shigeru Miyamoto and other big names at Nintendo.
Here's a fun look at what it's like for a Canadian developer to work with Nintendo on a game like Luigi's Mansion 2. For a broader perspective, check out Kirk's in-depth report from this year's Game Developers' Conference.
And what about the dark side of game development? Reading angry employees bash game companies is always good for some entertainment.
Finally, don't miss Fine Art, our regular look at the stellar work of video game artists across the world.