"Institutions are platforms / Sketching in things". Chris' introduction from the #mbsp SXSW panel; really good stuff, and that was only the introduction! Would have loved to have seen the whole thing.

Italians getting into rental, rather than ownership. Products become services.

"If the promise of previous generations was “games that just work”, and the current that “games work with each other”, then the promise of the NEXT generation will be this: That true next-gen game platforms will comprise services that *just work* with one another." Yes. Interoperability can take many forms, and it's easier to make work at a service than a platform level.

"The reason for [Singstar's relatively "low" Metacritic scores] is also the reason that this is an article about SingStar, and not a review of SingStar Queen and the new wireless microphones: SingStar is now basically unreviewable. Unlike Guitar Hero: Metallica, or AC/DC Live: Rock Band, SingStar has morphed from a game into a service, and defies traditional critical judgement."

Wonderful interview with Marty Stratton and John Carmack on Quake Live; there's some really smart insight on development and business in here, and also some tidbits of Carmack talking code. Definitely one to mull over.

Tweaking a game five months after launch to make it both more playable, and also more realistic; understanding that realism is key to NHL09 fans, and delivering on that as an ongoing promise.

"...if the future of games is to become entertainment services, then are subscriptions going to fall away in favour of upfront payments and free updates?" Some good thinking from Duncan.

"Take the hassle out of organising football". It's been done before, but perhaps the brand, mobile experience, and quality of product will win out for Nike's team-management app. They showed us the MMO with Nike+; now they're doing guild management for the masses.

Thayer uploaded her creature directly to Youtube from Spore Creature Creator. *That*'s the kind of integration I'm talking about. How hard can it be?

"The book addresses our philosophy in creating products and services, the importance of the right kinds of research, of making design an organizational competency, [and] of thinking of your offerings as part of a larger system..." Looks good!

"...this is tool thinking. It’s deferential, subservient and polite; normal web services are arrogant."

Amy Jo Kim's awesome talk from Etech. It's not just about applying game design to mobile services - it's about applying game design to everything you build for the web. It raised a lot of good points, and crystallised a lot of others. Worth a look.

Very good, alltold: Tim O'Reilly on what "Web 2.0" is - and is not.