Over at The Hollywood Reporter, Paul Hyman's latest column discusses the role of writing in video games, and starts with the bold: "When it was announced that the very first Game Writers Conference would take place in Austin last October, it took a lot of people by surprise. You mean video games are actually written?"

Apart from good quotes from Valve's Marc Laidlaw and some nice tips of the hat to the writing in Psychonauts and God Of War, possibly the most newsworthy part of the column is the revelation that unionization may be trying to sneak into games via the writer, as, according to Writers Guild Of America West president Patric Verrone, the WGA "is less than two years away from approaching game publishers to work out overall signatory agreements."

Verrone notes: "I can't say exactly when, because I don't want to give away strategic planning... But I would say that the industry should be on notice that writers want these benefits and this is how they're most likely going to get them. This is absolutely on our radar." Hollywood planning to get a little more union spice into the game gumbo? We'll see how that goes, then.