Ah yes, time to round up some of the best original posts thus far this week on sister sites including Gamasutra, WorldsInMotion and GameCareerGuide - headed by a neat interview with Ron Gilbert on the state of the biz and the inevitable impending episodic fame of, uhh, DeathSpank.

Also in here - a couple of intriguing Blizzard interviews from the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, a good couple of developer articles on in-house training and avoiding confusion with in-game obstacles, plus an online world profile, and the latest Design Challenge at GCG.

Go go gadget thingie:

Spanking Death: Ron Gilbert Goes Episodic... And Loves It
"Ron Gilbert is best known as the co-creator of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion, and he's returning to games with the episodic DeathSpank - and, as Gamasutra finds out, strong opinions on how the game biz needs to evolve."

In-Depth: Sams Talks The State Of Blizzard
"During Blizzard's Paris tournament event, Gamasutra sat down with company COO Paul Sams to talk Diablo III and World Of Warcraft, including Blizzard's attitude towards game revenue models (they're the last thing the company decides), taking on console development (it's not a priority), and developing new IP (it'll probably happen eventually)."

Implementing Training: The Secret Of Winning The Development War
"How can game developers best organize formal ongoing staff training? Blitz Games (Sneak King) art director Nash discusses how the UK developer went about it in this in-depth Gamasutra feature."

In-Depth: Blizzard’s Boyarsky On Diablo III's Multiplayer Storytelling
"After co-creating the iconic Fallout and co-founding Troika Games, Leonard Boyarsky is now at Blizzard and a key force on Diablo III. He sat down with Gamasutra to discuss Blizzard's multiplayer focus, and its goal of recreating the social experience of playing a pen-and-paper RPG with friends."

Defining Boundaries: Creating Credible Obstacles In Games
"'Why can't I jump over that wall?' In this intriguing design article, Sidhe's Griffiths (Gripshift) spans Halo to Half-Life to examine usability-related issues - and solutions - for frustratingly invisible and unbreakable barriers in games."

Worlds In Motion Atlas: Fresbo World
"Here's an overview of Fresbo World, from Fresbo. An online world currently in public beta, Fresbo World is intended to be embedded in social networks (such as Facebook and MySpace) but also intends to offer full MMO functionality within that -- with a customizable avatar, home, and public areas to shop and socialize in real time."

GCG Game Design Challenge: The ESP Game
"In GameCareerGuide.com’s latest Game Design Challenge, special guest Mick West, co-founder of Neversoft Entertainment, submits a new challenge to design a simple game that might make a player believe she or he has psychic powers."