FunEffect.com

British Labour politician and Member of Parliament Tom Watson will host a panel next week titled "Taking Video Games Seriously" to examine video games and virtual worlds in modern society, specifically "the lessons we might learn from them, their dangers, and why the public debate needs to move beyond breathless accusations about violent, screen-addicted young people."

The discussion will take place at Westminster Hall's Grand Committee Room from 6:30-8:00PM. Watson will be joined by Blitz Games CEO Philip Oliver (Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol), Prospect magazine senior editor and Fun Inc. author Tom Chatfield, and and cultural critic and columnist (The Guardian, The Evening Standard, and Prospect) Sam Leith.

Those of you hoping to attend the free event should let Watson's office know in advance and can find more information on the politician's blog.

[Via Wonderland]

Cute Knight Kingdom is an elaboration of Hanako's older game, Cute Knight, with more places to go, more quests, and vastly improved graphics. This being an indie game, "vastly improved graphics" does not, in this case, mean high-poly 3D virtual worlds, but actual full-color illustrations and 8-bit sprites, instead of the black-and-white line drawings of the original.

Hanako is an American developer, but this is a dojin-style game, with anime-inspired art, mild interaction, and with story and romance at least as important as actual gameplay. As with the original, you are a girl of 18 who, in three years, must find her destiny and happiness -- but that can mean taking almost any path, from becoming a dressmaker to becoming a warrior. Yes, there's combat, of a sort, but you can avoid it entirely if you wish.

As I said reviewing the original game, "somehow you find yourself drawn into her story--and want to drive it to something like a happy ending. In other words, Cute Knight quickly creates a sense of emotional engagement that's lacking in far more expensively-developed and commercial titles."

And that is certainly true of this game as well.

[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.]

Well, when it says 'daily' above... not so much. With GDC Austin behind me and Tokyo Game Show up next, luckily the most excellent Eric Caoili is providing the bulk of the awesome GameSetWatch content.

But I do have a cache of links from a week or two back to provide - here's the first chunk. Notable pieces include a neat rebuttal of a New York Times article, a games column with lots of Boosh in it (be still, my beating heart!), who gets review copies first, and much more.

Cha cha cha:

The Writers’ Bloc: Narrative in Games | Resolution Magazine
Nice write-up on a UK event with, uh, game writers, woo.

Pass Pass: The Review Copy Revue > Kyle Orland > 9/10/2009 10:15 AM | Crispy Gamer
Another interesting meta piece from Orland.

Psychochild’s Blog » Extreme Makeover: LotRO’s legendary items
A nice game design vignette.

Six To Start: Why Smokescreen is the Best Game Ever*
From the creators of Smokescreen, of course, but you can't deny that Channel 4 is doing _interesting_ things with their education money.

Terra Nova: Great Big Monopoly
'Like Jerry Paffendorf's million-inches-in-Detroit, MCS combines alternate reality, games, virtual worlds, and social networking.'

Ian Bogost - A Gigantic Vermin
'This week, Kate announced a new official scenario for Spore Galactic Adventures, which she created based on Kafka's The Metamorphosis.'

Crispy Gamer | Those Games Mean Nothing to Me
Rebutting the New York Times on meaning in games, with plenty of fire.

The Superjoke | Edge Online
Any column which twins games and The Mighty Boosh is good by me!

In our latest employment-tastic round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Rockstar North, Grasshopper Manufacture and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted this week include:

Rockstar North: Mission Scripter
"ROCKSTAR NORTH, the award winning developer behind Grand Theft Auto, is looking to expand their experienced and talented teams working out of the studio in Edinburgh. We are looking for individuals whose skill set combines technical excellence with a passion for making games. The role involves script based programming and close collaboration with our other disciplines from animation, art and programming"

Blind Wink Games: Senior 3D Artists
"Blind Wink Games is a brand new game development studio formed in partnership with Universal Pictures. Our primary focus is the business of empowering people to fulfill their fantasies and to experience indelible moments in the virtual worlds we create."

Disney Online Studios Canada: Production Project Manager
"Club Penguin is an innovative virtual world website for kids ages 6 - 14 which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in August 2007. We are looking to expand the growing team of skilled, conscientious employees who are needed for a fast growing online game for kids. We are a community oriented company with a fun and dynamic workplace located in Kelowna, BC, Canada."

Grasshopper Manufacture: Level Designer
"Grasshopper Manufacture Inc. is an independent interactive entertainment studio based in Suginami-ku, Tokyo. The studio was founded in 1998 by CEO Goichi Suda, who is known around the world for his distinctive style and innovative work as a game designer and scenario writer. To date, Grasshopper Manufacture has shipped 11 titles, including 2007’s breakout hit, No More Heroes."

Ubisoft San Francisco: Lead Artist
"Ubisoft Entertainment, a global leader in the video games and entertainment software industry, is currently seeking a full-time Lead Artist. We are looking for a talented, motivated and experienced person to create and manage art development on an exciting next-generation cross platform project. Qualified individuals are expected to be organized, with excellent communication skills, and have a proven track record in management and art direction for both internal and external outsourcing studios."

Gearbox Software: Environment Art Lead
"We are looking for an experienced Environment Lead who can create environment assets and lead the environment art internally and externally consistent with the look and feel established by the Art Director. The Environment Lead must have creative, technical and personal skills and be comfortable working closely with the design and programming teams. The Environment Lead should have a passion for creating visually stunning environments that compliment the game, and should be excited by the creative freedom and leadership that the role will have in creating the final aesthetic."

To browse hundreds of similar jobs, and for more information on searching, responding to, or posting game industry-relevant jobs to the top source for jobs in the business, please visit Gamasutra's job board now.

[Think this is the last major keynote announcement from my colleagues at GDC Austin - with a neat mix of keynotes between the core (Blizzard), transitioning (SOE), and casual (Playfish), looking forward to next month's event - look for coverage on GSW.]

2009 GDC Austin organizers have announced its final keynote, with Playfish co-founder Sebastien de Halleux (Pet Society) talking about Facebook and social network gaming at the September 15th-18th conference.

London-headquartered Playfish is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing social games companies, with hit microtransaction-powered titles such as Who Has The Biggest Brain? and Crazy Planets on Facebook and other networks.

By examining the inherent strengths of the community on social networks, de Halleux’s keynote will "provide insight on how these platforms can be used to create engaging games, and why developers should be looking at social networks as a burgeoning area of video game design and business development."

Playfish itself has a verified base of more than 100 million game installations across nine titles, reached only 18 months after the company’s launch in late 2007, and de Halleux was recently interviewed about social gaming trends on Gamasutra.

This keynote joins two others -- by Sony Online Entertainment head John Smedley on the company's move into a wider market, and by a notable Blizzard duo on 'The Universe Of World Of Warcraft', as well as over 90 other lectures at the event, which has three days of main conference content focused on connected games, online games, virtual worlds, and social networking game play.

GDC Austin (part of Think Services, as is this website) also has four two-day summits including the Game Writers, Game Audio, iPhone Games and Independent Games Summits, takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-18, 2009. More information is available on the official event website.

[A notable keynote announcement for our colleagues' GDC Austin event next month that we thought we'd pass along to GSW. Free Realms has been quite successful for SOE, so it'll be interesting to hear Smedley discuss its birth and progress.]

2009 GDC Austin organizers have announced that Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley will keynote next month's event, discussing the success and lessons learned from the firm's recently launched, family-friendly free to play MMO Free Realms.

Smedley, who heads up the long-time online game publisher/developer and creator of EverQuest and EverQuest II, will present a keynote entitled: "From Dragons and Daggers to Kart Racing, Cooking and Concerts ... It's a Whole New MMO World".

He will discuss how the critically-acclaimed freely available tween and teen title Free Realms, originally announced during GDC Austin 2007, has worked to expand the base of players engaging together in online worlds.

The online game, launched in April 2009 and monetizing via item sales and optional membership, saw 1 million registered accounts in the first ten days, and has already seen users reach nearly 5 million, according to a Comic-Con panel.

According to the announcement, Smedley "will inform attendees about the challenges and lessons learned when creating a full-blown MMO for younger audiences", with empirical research and insights.

The keynote will "speak to the challenges and boundless opportunity of connected games, and will also describe how to re-educate development teams to move away from stagnant MMO designs towards mass market success."

The SOE executive's talk joins an already-confirmed Blizzard keynote on 'The Universe Of World Of Warcraft', as well as a number of major online game-centric sessions at the event, which has three days of main conference content focused on connected games, online games, virtual worlds, and social networking game play.

GDC Austin (part of Think Services, as is this website) also has four two-day summits including the Game Writers, Game Audio, iPhone Games and Independent Games Summits, takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-18, 2009. More information is available on the official event website, and early registration discounts will end on August 13.

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The Virtusphere is a 10 foot hollow sphere that serves as a "locomotion simulation" platform. Pair it with a head-mounted display and a 3D environment, and users can walk or even run around freely in different virtual worlds -- a first-person shooter map, architecture/construction sites, famous locations, museums, and more.

VBS.tv (Vice Broadcasting System), which put together the entertaining documentary about Twin Galaxies's Walter Day, published this informative piece interviewing the company behind the Virtusphere and demonstrating its Holodeck-esque experience.

One great thing about the sphere is that when you're tired of its virtual applications, you can push it off its platform, jump in, and pretend you're in that American Gladiators event.