UPDATED 4/1/2009: The crew has returned from GDC and a whole slew of links from around the web followed them home. Many of the linked stories focus on Curt's retirement from baseball and how he'll be spending more time here at the office. Frankly, we didn't know that was possible for the guy! Click away below for complete coverage. Be sure to catch the videos of Curt's interview with G4TV's Adam Sessler, as well as the pair of GamesBeat panels that Curt and Brett participated in (we know Curt's panel is a second interview with Adam, it still counts!). Welcome back everybody!

Adam Sessler’s Exclusive Interview with Curt Schilling (G4TV)
Curt Schilling - Why Gaming? (GamesBeat Videos)
See You at GenCon, Curt (The Hardball Times)
Schilling retires from baseball to focus on games (GamesIndustry.biz)
Curt Schilling Retiring from Baseball, Focusing on Game Development (Kotaku)
Red Sox Rightie Curt Schilling Retires (The Escapist)
Curt Schilling Done with Baseball, Focued on MMO (1UP)
Thanks for coming to GamesBeat (VentureBeat.com)

---

President and CEO Brett Close and Founder Curt Schilling take time out of their GDC schedules to be among the top speakers addressing the business of gaming at VentureBeat's inaugural conference for the gaming industry's top players, held on March 24th, 2009, at the Mission Bay Conference Center on UCSF's campus in San Francisco, California. "All the world's a game" is the motto of the prestigious event.

Close will speak first at 11 am on a panel entitled, "Game Entrepreneurs Discussion: How will startups and the industry giants wrestle over the future of games?" Moderated by: N'Gai Croal, formerly of Newsweek, other participants include Lars Buttler (Trion World Network), John Rizzo (Zeebo), Bernie Stolar (game entrepreneur).

The panel asks the question: Are the barriers to entry just too big with giants like Activision Blizzard using World of Warcraft as a continuous revenue stream to reinvest? These key startups are asked how they expect to get in the game, and in the end, who will be holding all the cards? Is there enough of a market to share?

In the afternoon, Schilling joins moderator Adam Sessler of G4 at 1:45 pm for a half-hour fireside chat. "X-Play" TV host Adam Sessler will get to the heart of the 38 Studios founder and chairman's passion for gaming and business as he talks to Curt about his goals and ambitions for starting his own game company. Sessler's G4 series, "X-Play," explores some of the hottest games on the market and previews games in development.

For more information about these engagements or VentureBeat in general, visit http://venturebeat.com/gamesbeat-2009/.