Last week a delicious Peggle-themed package came in the mail from Popcap, complete with Peggle cards, a Peggle button, and these amazing, flashing Peggle balls–which turn into mini, rubber raves when bounced. Peggle, for those who haven’t yet embarked on the long road to addiction, is a pachinko-based physics game with unicorns and flowers and happiness. Play. The question is, if I didn’t already adore Peggle, and if it hadn’t already been decided I wasn’t reviewing it for The A. V. Club, would this swag sway my rating in Popcap’s favor? Heck no, because I’d be too busy staring at the flashing lights to write the review in the first place.

In non-Peggle related news, my interview with Jane McGonigal from GDC went up today at Gamasutra. Collective intelligence? ARGs in other countries? World without Oil? This and more from “the queen bee of ARGs.”