Time to rip some GameSetLinks up the wazoo, headed by Jane McGonigal talking about why having fun gaming in real life with real people in London at the Hide and Seek Festival.

Also in this compendium of goodness - Cliff 'Democracy' Harris on why getting player stats is useful, USA Today on the indie game scene, John Carmack on software patent litigation, (the pictured) Civilization Revolution's outlet-specific goodies, and a host of other RSS-scraped goodness.

Yee hah hah:

Avant Game: Hide and Seek 08 Rules Me – and why real-world players are so game
Jane McGonigal on the real life game revolution.

gamedev.sessions.edu » Blog Archive » Art?
A rare game-related essay from Chris Crawford.

bit-tech.net | Game Phone Home!
Cliff Harris: 'We need to learn that sharing usage data is good.'

Civilization Revolution gets even more Wonderful | Fidgit
'People who buy from Best Buy will be more cultured. People who buy from Gamestop will be better at exploring the oceans and outer space.'

1UP: 'Welcome to the World of Videogame Law'
'[John] Carmack saves his most aggressive hatred for patent shops -- companies like Immersion and Intellectual Ventures that are in the business of licensing technology.'

The Escapist : Game Design Sketchbook: Regret
'Regrets often center on mistakes that were unavoidable at the time. Though you can learn from each mistake that you make, it's not clear that regretful thinking is valuable.'

Wadjet Eye Games: 'Wadjet Eye Games announces publishing deal with Lively Ivy Studios'
Some of the best pro/semi-pro Adventure Game Studio creators banding together.

NeoGAF on the Nintendo press conf - animated GIF stylee
Oh dear, core gamers are grumpy, hee.

Small game developers get on fast track - USATODAY.com
Hey, more indie game buzz.

Lookspring » Playing with history
Ms. Robertson on some slightly revisionist history re: Edge and its website.