Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a transcript of John Walker’s dinner conversation with EA Sims VP Rod Humble. Like all interesting dining chats, it covers a lot of ground.

And this bit from Rod Humble shows that the Redwood City campus isn’t staffed by corporate robots.

The one game that affected me, and it didn’t stop me playing it but it gave me a whole new respect for the game, was Defending The Reich. It’s a hardcore wargames simulator of the RAF bombing campaign over Germany, and you can play either side. It’s by HPS Simulations, and I posted before that it’s my game of the year. It’s a real bummer that it hasn’t had more press. What’s really admirable about it is it takes an absolutely loaded subject matter: mass bombing of civilians, or defending the Nazi war machine. It’s not like there’s much of a good outcome there. And it handles it in a way that isn’t bombastic, doesn’t give you an out, and is just really well done. So whichever side I play, it’s bad. When I play the RAF, I feel constantly guilty – the result is acres flattened. I think of schools and… wow. The imagery is black and white photographs of bombing raids and bombers. It’s very thought provoking.