Some further GameSetLink-age for you good readers this week, started out by the info on that Spike TV show about indie game makers, which'll debut this Friday night - interested to see what it looks like, since Geoff Keighley is a pretty well-informed guy.

Other than that, I'm off to Seoul, South Korea this weekend, since I'm a judge for the Global Online Game Awards that they're holding early next week - ping me if you've got recommendations for Seoul-based game stores and neat game culture places to visit?

Lots more links down here, from Huelsbeck through Rare to Valkyria - enjoy:

Mountain Dew and Spike TV's Geoff Keighley Team Up to Recognize 'The Next Great Game Gods' - Yahoo! Finance
Debuting this Friday at 12.30am, and talking to Dylan Cuthbert (PixelJunk), David Hellman (Braid), Dylan Fitterer (Audiosurf), Ron Carmel/Kyle Gabler (World Of Goo) - kinda cool, I think, despite sponsorkwak, and more evidence of the indie takeover.

Original Sound Version » Blog Archive » Symphonic Shades: Robot Conductor Says Transform and Roll Out
Am a massive fan of Chris Huelsbeck's classic Amiga music, so this orchestral CD (pictured) seems rather awesome.

Inside Rare | OXM ONLINE
Gillen's OXM cover-ish story is split over a few too many pages, but has some nice idyllic pics of Twycross, so hey!

Calling All Cars: Trouble at Chuck E. Cheese's, Again - WSJ.com
The Nolan Bushnell-founded game restaurant offspring is having trouble, apparently: 'In Brookfield, Wis., no restaurant has triggered more calls to the police department since last year than Chuck E. Cheese's.'

To All The Scouts I've Loved | The New Gamer
I just couldn't get on with Valkyria Chronicles, but other people definitely do - D. Riley, for example, who particularly singles out a harsh but provoking feature: "What really makes me love it is my attachment to my squad. There’s permanent death, and though it’s significantly less harsh than other Strategy RPGs (Fire Emblem) it still makes you think. "

Develop - Issue 89 - November 2008
The latest digital issue of UK trade mag Develop -- interesting editorial choice of ’10 best Canadian game companies’ vs. their advertisers - where's EA Montreal and Eidos Montreal, A2M, BioWare, Silicon Knights, Radical, etcetera?

Sore Thumbs: 'Life after gaming journalism: The top 6 career paths'
Hey, a Sore Thumbs blog entry I'm not going to complain about! You see, I'm not all curmudgeon.

Hardcasual’s Impomptu Get-togethers « Hardcasual
Wow, Hardcasual.net is back with a vengeance - lots of cheeky posts, I particularly liked the CliffyB NGJ gag one.