Tuesday afternoon four well-known games industry writers and designers got together to discuss the best storytelling gaming has to offer in a panel entitled "Stories Best Played: Deconstructing the Best Interactive Storytelling." Each of the authors brought a pair of games that they viewed as some of the narratively strongest yet made. Prior to the panel all four men played the ten titles, and came prepared to talk about the strengths and merits of each. Panelists Richard Rouse (Paranoid Productions), Steve Meretzky (Blue Fang), Marc Laidlaw (Valve Software), and Ken Rolston (Big Huge Games) offered up, in essence, a 'top eight' list for gamers looking to get more from exposition than explosions.

Read on for views from a panel of expert opinions on the likes of Loom, BioShock, Phoenix Wright and the legendary Planescape: Torment.

LucasArts, longtime custodians of secrets pertaining to primate islands, have announced their intention to work with the timesplitting folks at Free Radical on a brand new game. Slated for next-generation consoles, the as yet undisclosed title will benefit from the combined efforts of two experienced studios. Peter Hirschmann of LucasArts labels the agreement as a good idea, since Free Radical "has always been about titles with great gameplay and innovative design." [Opposites attract quip here.]

With Raven Software spending most of their time reading comic books these days, it might not seem outlandish to suggest that the mystery game here could be a new entry in the Jedi Knight franchise -- to be more precise, Dark Forces 5: Jedi Knight 4: Jedi Outcast 3: Jedi Academy 2: Jedi Colon. Then again, it could be an entirely new IP. Just as well, since the only other idea we can muster is a first-person shooter starring a despondent Bobbin "Are you my mother?" Threadbare.