[GameSetLinks is GameSetWatch's daily link round-up post, culling from hundreds of weblogs and outlets to compile the most interesting longform writing, links, and criticism on the art and culture of video games.]

As the week wends on, time to hit up some more GameSetLinks, started out by the interesting spectacle of 2D Boy's Ron Carmel discussing EA's new mini-iPhone studio and how it might fit into the corporate culture of, uhh, one of the biggest game creators in the world. An interesting paradox, indeed.

Also in here - RPS' completely awesome 'Gaming Made Me' series (is that a Black Box Recorder reference, whoever decided on the series name?), more on Twixt's sociopathic MMO rampage experiment fascination, level design from our Auntie Pixelante, and lots more besides.

Jean-Michel Jarre is a fraud:

2D Boy: I love you, 2D Boy! » Blog Archive » The 8lb Gorilla Paradox
'I imagine that EA’s dream is that the studio produces regular runaway hits. This would actually be the worst case scenario for EA.'

Rock, Paper, Shotgun: photoshopped his head onto a dustbin » gaming made me
A great series about personal histories told through games.

Terra Nova: Twixt
Some _really_ interesting comments here from Richard Bartle and other notables.

xkcd - A Webcomic - Cutting Edge
Yep, I have 'late to the party' issues too.

auntie pixelante › level design lesson: to the right, hold on tight
'what if the first level of the game were laid out in such a way that the player could learn the rules simply by playing through it, without needing to be told them outright?'

Interesting shmup location testing in Japan – Exception « Arcade Heroes
A PC dojin title that's going into arcades in Japan, and it's very much more deliciously abstract than most similar titles - check out the video.