I write about video games

I have been the features editor for GamesIndustry.biz since June 2025, but for 12 years before that I was a freelancer specialising in in-depth features across the world of gaming.

My work has been featured in publications such as The Guardian, Eurogamer, Retro Gamer, PC Gamer, EDGE, GamesRadar+, PCGamesN, Kotaku UK, Rock Paper Shotgun and WhyNow Gaming. I am also the founder of the gaming websites A Most Agreeable Pastime and 101 Video Games That Made My Life Slightly Better.

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In addition, I am the author of Curious Video Game Machines, a compendium of rare and unusual consoles, computers and coin-ups.

And I mean REALLY rare and unusual.

Stuff like the Interton VC 4000, a 1978 console made by a German hearing-aid company. Or the Daewoo Zemmix V, one of a series of extraordinary-looking consoles that were never released outside Korea. It’s the deepest of deep dives.

You can find out more and order the book here.

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I’ve highlighted some of my favourite video-game articles below, and underneath that you can find a complete(ish) list of my work.

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The quest for Sky Skipper, the rarest Nintendo arcade machine in the world (The Guardian)

Nintendo’s arcade games were hit and miss in the early days, with titles such as Monkey Magic and Space Firebird failing to leave much of a lasting impression. That all changed in the summer of 1981 with the release of the all-conquering Donkey Kong (designed by a young Shigeru Miyamoto), which went on to become one of the bestselling arcade games of all time, as well as marking the debut of Mario.

But that same year, Miyamoto worked with director Genyo Takeda on an arcade game that has since been all but forgotten. Sky Skipper featured giant gorillas, just like Donkey Kong, but here the player was piloting a biplane and collecting anthropomorphic playing cards… (read more)

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The man who built his own WH Smith (WhyNow Gaming)

The approach to The Cave is stunning. After diving off the M5, I wound my way down the country lanes of Gloucestershire in my little car, plunging through sun-dappled holloways, and enjoying beautiful vistas of rolling green hills in places where the trees thinned.

Eventually I reached the tiny village of Chalford down switchback curves, heading past the picturesque church to a grand old stone mill on the banks of the River Frome, the frankly gorgeous home of The Cave. It’s hardly the kind of place you’d normally expect to find a retro gaming museum. But I immediately wished they were all like this… (read more)

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The menagerie of ways AI is transforming video game creation (L’Atelier)

In 2022, social media feeds flooded with astonishing creations from artificial intelligence (AI), chiefly the tools DALL-E 2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion. Users could generate seemingly any imaginable image with incredible fidelity by typing a few simple words. 

Artist Martin Nebelong, who landed a job with Media Molecule for his impressive creations in Dreams, posted a thread of eye-opening images he generated using Midjourney last August. They range from an “elderly Norwegian queen” to “futuristic traditional oriental buildings.” In each, the quality of the AI-created artwork is incredible, practically indistinguishable from something made by a talented human hand.

Seemingly overnight, AI tools went from being a novelty—a way to generate silly Pokémon names or psychedelic Mona Lisas—to a technology that could revolutionise how we work, notably in video games. Indeed, someone has already created a shoot ‘em up made entirely with art generated from Midjourney. (read more)

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Meet the 57-year-old who just released his first video game (Eurogamer)

At the age of 57, Chris Mandra has just released his first video game. This is something I find truly remarkable. For all the modern talk about portfolio careers and the death of a job-for-life, the idea of embarking on a completely new career in your sixth decade on Earth seems astonishing. At the age of 44, I sometimes daydream about starting out again, venturing into the unknown, maybe writing a travel book or doing that master’s degree I never got round to. But it doesn’t happen. There are too many forces holding me back, too much inertia from mortgages and children and the idea of having to learn everything again from scratch. What Mandra has done is nothing short of extraordinary. (read more)

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Back from the dead (PC Gamer)

Genesis LPMud is one of the oldest online multiplayer games in the world: it’s been running continuously for nearly 30 years. But six years ago it almost came to an untimely end. This is the story of how an enthusiastic cadre of fans rallied to save this important piece of gaming history from extinction… (read more)

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Amiga Addict

• The Story of the Guru Meditation Error (issue 19)

L’Atelier

• Eye tracking is changing the way we play video games
• Could mind control be the future of gaming?
• The future of game engines
• The reinvention of the arcade
• The menagerie of ways AI is transforming video game creation
• The ‘Netflix of Games’: Predicting what’s ahead
• Who’ll be the ‘Netflix of Games’? A briefing on this multiplayer arena
• A primer on the metaverse (and whether Fortnite counts)
• Who Owns the Games Industry, and What Lies Ahead?
• The Promise of Media Molecule’s ‘Dreams’, and Bringing Renown to Its Dreamers
• In Socially Distanced Times, Connected Games Emerge as Key Social Spaces
• Star Citizen: A Crowdfunded Universe Fuelled by Promises

Convergence

I contributed several chapters to the book Convergence: How The World Will Be Painted With Data by Charlie Fink.

• AR and Journalism
• AR and AI
• Pokemon Go on and on and on
• Niantic’s Real World Platform
• Rokid company profile

Creative Bloq

• Switch 2’s mouse control is a neat trick, but it’s also a real pain – literally
• It’s remarkable how modern these Switch 2 GameCube titles feel
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 review: a brilliantly weird, utterly unique game
• “It’s staggeringly simple” – this coding tool is ideal for artists looking to break into game development
• How two artists made a game that plays like interactive theatre
• “This is a game you can read, or a book you can play” – solving the visual design of Your House, a detective game crossed with a Daniel Clowes comic
• The best video games for architecture and design fans
• Monster Hunter Wilds review: a new open-world design feels fresh and exciting
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s art director jokes how he wanted to make a ‘realistic version of SpongeBob’
• Using Unreal Engine 5 “can be a trap”, says the dev behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• “It gives you almost everything”: How Unreal Engine 5 empowered the indie team behind WILL: Follow the Light
• Keep Driving review: a stunning pixel art road trip
• The best no code game engines recommended by leading indie devs
• Dreamcore review: when style is the whole game
• Why Citizen Sleeper 2’s no-code creative process is an inspiration
• “Game development is more accessible than ever”: how Citizen Sleeper 2 was created without coding
• The Cabin Factory review: one frightfully good idea, masterfully done
• The 10 gaming trends for 2025 that will transform how we play and create
• Viewfinder’s Sophie Knowles reflects on her BAFTA Breakthrough, joking how it’s “weird” to be associated with Tom Holland and Florence Pugh
• Only video games “force people to live in your drawings for hours at a time”
• VR can affect social change, believes BAFTA Breakthrough filmmaker and artist Poulomi Basu
• A year on, have indie game devs changed their views on AI?
• “We have a lot of stories to tell,” says SPINE director Dmitry Pimenov as he talks about the game is being spun into comics, web series and more
• “Unreal Engine 5 offers unprecedented creative freedom” – the art director behind gun fu game SPINE loves Epic’s tech 
• Nightdive Studios are masters of retro game remakes – this is how it’s done
• Best upcoming game remakes and remasters
• The 12 gaming trends for 2024 that will shake things up
• The best indie games in 2023 (so far)
• Generative AI, should indie game developers use it? We ask them
• What’s the secret to great video game box art?

Debug

• Cocoon review (issue 3)

EDGE

• Studio Profile: Digital Eclipse (issue 413)
• Feature: Creating Havok (issue 412)
• Knowledge: A Comfortable Niche (issue 412)
• Knowledge: Changing Tide (issue 412)
• Knowledge: Escape Artistry (issue 411)
• Play: Commandos: Origins (issue 410)
• Knowledge: Donkey Throng (issue 410)
• Knowledge: Speak Up (issue 409)
• Knowledge: Bard Choices (issue 409)
• Hype: Chip ‘N Clawz Vs The Brainioids (issue 409)
• Knowledge: Fatal Error (additional reporting; issue 406)
• Feature: Out of the Shadows (issue 405)
• Studio Profile: Two Point Studios (issue 402)
• Play: The Crimson Diamond (issue 402)
• Knowledge: Independents’ pay (issue 402)
• Feature: Full Circle (issue 399)
• Feature: Breakout (issue 397)
• Knowledge: Absolute state of the union (issue 397)
• Feature: An Audience With… Paul Gouge (issue 396)
• Knowledge: Artificial interaction (issue 395)
• Knowledge: Power and responsibility (issue 394)
• Hype: Chasing the Unseen (issue 394)
• Feature: Flying Solo (issue 394)
• Play: Go Mecha Ball (issue 394)
• Knowledge: Human Connection (issue 393)
• Time Extend: Alone in the Dark (issue 393)
• Knowledge: Shifting foundations (issue 391)
• Feature: The Shape of Things to Come (issue 390)
• Knowledge: Multiplayer in minutes (issue 389)
• The Making Of… A Space for the Unbound (issue 389)
• Feature: Play the movie (issue 387)
• Studio Profile: Triband Games (issue 387)
• Knowledge: Creative crucible (issue 386)
• Knowledge: Changing the narrative (issue 385)
• Hype: Nighthawks (issue 385)
• Play: Tchia (issue 383)
• Knowledge: Forging Ahead (issue 383)
• Studio Profile: Wadjet Eye (issue 382)
• Hype: SteamWorld Build (issue 382)
• Hype: Arctic Awakening (issue 382)
• The Making Of… Citizen Sleeper (issue 381)
• Feature: Augmented Development (issue 381)
• Knowledge: Ready to Comply (issue 381)
• Knowledge: Sea Change (issue 380)
• Hype: Ninja Or Die (issue 379)
• Knowledge: Do-It-Yourself Dungeons (issue 379)
• Knowledge: The Cloud On The Horizon (issue 379)
• Hype: The Siege and the Sandfox (issue 378)
• Knowledge: New Builds (issue 378)
• Feature: The Preservationists (issue 377)
• Hype: Tactical Breach Wizards (issue 375)
• Hype: Death of the Reprobate (issue 375)
• Hype: Old Skies (issue 373)
• Knowledge: Selfloss (issue 373)
• Hype: How To Say Goodbye (issue 372)
• Play: Not For Broadcast (issue 369)
• Hype: Swordship (issue 368)
• Hype: Inua: A Story in Ice and Time (issue 367)
• Hype: Silt (issue 366)
• Knowledge: Smokestack lightning (issue 334)

Eurogamer

• India’s games industry is waiting for its Black Myth: Wukong moment, its developers tell us how it can happen
• Meet the 57-year-old who just released his first video game
• Meet the man behind the astonishingly successful Arcade Club
• In the Loopy: the story of Casio’s crazy 90s console
• Where do downloadable games go when they die?
• A day in the life of an independent video game store
• Your Amiga games are likely dying
• Video games remade in cardboard
• The Story of Yugoslavia’s DIY Computer Revolution
• Entering The Avatar Machine, VR’s Next Big Step

Game Informer

• The Making of Immortality (issue 355)

GAME Magazine

• Everyone deserves to play [interview with the head of gaming charity SpecialEffect]

GAME MEDIA

For E3 2019, I wrote news articles for UK retailer GAME’s online news portal.

• Characters we’d like to see in Watch Dogs Legion
• Who are the villains in the new Marvel’s Avengers game?
• 5 things we learned about Nintendo at E3 2019
• Luigi’s Mansion 3 introduces Gooigi for online co-op
• 5 times Keanu Reeves has appeared in games
• 5 new tricks to try out in DOOM Eternal
• The Ubisoft dog is utterly adorable
• 5 moments from E3 2019 to make you smile

GamesIndustry.biz

• Develop:Brighton 2025’s sunny exterior hid bleak thoughts | Opinion
• “We have three years to show what we can do.” UKIE’s Nick Poole on the new UK Video Games Council
• Microsoft’s darkest day in gaming since the last one | Opinion
• Riding the wave: how Game Smithing managed to surf on the success of Vampire Survivors
• Metacritic co-founder Marc Doyle lifts the veil on how the site works
• UKIE on what the government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan means for the UK games industry
• “We’ve been through the literal wringer.” The untimely death and traumatic rebirth of Evercore Heroes
• Where are the Switch 2 indie games?
• “It was like a Christmas holiday present.” Digital Eclipse on the deal that got it Mortal Kombat
• The big Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 interview: Sandfall and Kepler on team size, the return of AA games, and what’s next
• “Seeing Nintendo do this is a little disheartening” – Switch 2 and the state of game preservation in 2025

GamesRadar+

• “We would look at all the American RPGs and the JRPGs at the time and just go, ‘Right, if they’re doing it, we’re not”: Peter Molyneux and John McCormack talk the development of Fable 20 years on
• Four solodevs weigh up the risks and rewards of creating games as a team of one
• “Oh my god, what have I got myself into?” The inside story of the golden age of video game magazines
• “The next few years are going to be tricky” – Streaming services like Google Stadia could change the way games are played and made forever
• Is streaming the future of video games? And can it even work?
• Video game addiction is now a disorder. But what does that mean and why does it matter?
• Battletech arcades were decades ahead of their time, holding global 3D matches before we’d even played a SNES – here’s their story
• How long have video game stores actually got left (and can they save themselves)?
• Microtransactions and loot boxes in video games – are they pure greed or a modern necessity?

The Guardian

• ‘Shakespeare would be writing for games today’: Cannes’ first video game Lili is a retelling of Macbeth
• Deliver at All Costs review – madcap driving game goes nowhere fast
• Your House review – scavenger hunt through a delightfully difficult puzzle
• Expelled! review – turning the tables on the private school class hierarchy
• Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector review – we’re putting together a crew
• The video games you may have missed in 2024
• How one engineer beat restrictions on home computers in socialist Yugoslavia
• A very British Fallout: Atomfall conjures up a cosy nuclear catastrophe in the Lake District
• ‘I was a big fan of Braveheart’: the story behind Scotland-set hack and slash game Tears of Metal
• A recipe for magical realism: Gabriel García Márquez and a video game about potatoes
• Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley review – a fleeting tour of Tove Jansson’s beguiling world
• The revenge of the video game manual
• The video games you may have missed in 2023
• SteamWorld Build review – tinker with a tiny township full of robots in hats
• The Isle Tide Hotel: like Wes Anderson directing a playable episode of Doctor Who
• The quest for Sky Skipper, the rarest Nintendo arcade machine in the world
• ‘Chill vibes simulator’ Simpler Times takes you back to your childhood bedroom
• ‘Trapped on an oil rig with an unknowable horror’: Still Wakes the Deep is a dark 70s throwback
• Sword of the Sea channels surfing, spirituality and Shadow of the Colossus
• Hauntii, a game about death, possession and navigating eternity
• Cocoon, a matryoshka doll of worlds nestling puzzle inside puzzle
• Prince of Persia is back in 2D – but this time he needs rescuing
• 40 years of the Nintendo Famicom – the console that changed the games industry
• Viewfinder review – the magic of stepping into a picture
• A robot reporter chasing down stories about alien cats: how Times & Galaxy nails journalism
• Insert coin: the virtual reality arcades regenerating northern high streets
• A Space for the Unbound review – Indonesian school adventure has a fantastical twist
• The games you may have missed in 2022
• Pentiment review – a Renaissance murder mystery with an eye for historical detail
• A Little to the Left review – a supremely rewarding ode to neatness
• Potionomics review – colourful adventures in magical capitalism
• Pentiment, the 16th-century murder mystery that looks like a playable tapestry
• Silt review – a Lynchian underwater nightmare
• Citizen Sleeper review – an evocative cyberpunk survival sim
• ‘I just wanted to play Duck Hunt with my kids’: the man on a mission to bring back the light gun
• ‘Kids raised in the digital era are yearning for this’: the people making new games for old consoles
• Boyfriend Dungeon review – a video game where you can date your weapons
• The video games you may have missed in 2020
• XCOM: Chimera Squad review – human-alien hybrids lay down the law

The Indie Game Website

• Indies At Home: Developers Share Pics Of Lockdown Work Spaces

Knowledge

• Which parts of the videogame industry should be most concerned about US tariffs?

Kotaku UK

• Why Were Old PCs Beige?
• In Memory of Jason Brookes
• The Fall of Rise of the Robots
• 20 Years of Lego Star Wars
• The Light Keeps Us Safe — Not That There’s Much To Be Scared Of
• Minecraft-style MMOG Boundless Bursts Out of Beta
• The British Games Companies Seeking Success in China
• Sable is a Beautiful Tribute to 1980s French Comics, and Much More Besides
• Ninja Theory is a Great Purchase for Microsoft – But is it Good for Ninja Theory?
• The Final Days of Grainger Games — As Told By Those Who Worked There
• Why Does Everyone Hate GAME?
• The Secret Douglas Adams RPG That People Have Been Playing for 15 Years
• How People Used to Download Games From the Radio
• No Man’s Sky Versus the Actual Universe
• Inside Scotland’s Real-Life Fallout Vault
• The Most Helpful Pilots in the Galaxy
• How Do 1993’s Future Predictions Stack Up 25 Years On?
• What’s Going on With GAME’s Reward Card?
• The Man Who is Keeping 1990s Virtual Reality Machines Alive
• How Far Away is the Technology of Ready Player One?
• Why We Feel So Bad About Gaming Backlogs
• The 20-Million-Selling Game Series You’ve Never Heard Of
• The Forward-Thinking Genius of Neuromancer
• The Land Where the Spectrum Lived On
• The Dungeons and Dragons Session That Became a Real-Life Phenomenon
• Which Games are Made in the UK?
• 10 of the Best Original Xbox Games to Play on your Xbox One
• The Best Free Games for your New Console
• Silent Bomber: A Forgotten PlayStation Classic
• Are There Really Too Many Good Video Games To Play?
• How Our Caveman Instincts Explain Why We Play Video Games
• Every Star Wars Game Ever, From Worst to Best
• 5 Games That Definitely Won’t Happen In 2016
• RIP Konami Console Games, 1983-2015
• The Metal Gear Novelisation is Super Weird

LADbible

• ‘WipEout’ Developers Tell Us About The Making Of A PlayStation Classic
• Stupid Video Gaming PR Stunts That We Can Laugh About Now, Probably

Nintendo Life

• Feature: The Famicom Failure That Almost Bankrupted HAL, But Shaped Nintendo’s Future
• Feature: Why Play Final Fantasy VII Remake When You Could Play FFVII ‘Demake’?
• Feature: The Man Making Brand New NES Games in 2021
• Feature: LEGO Designer Reveals Why The Super Mario 64 Set Is A ‘?’ And Not An ‘!’
• Feature: What Is The Zelda ‘Formula’? We Break Down The Secret Recipe
• Exclusive: Lego Super Mario Lead Designer On 3D-Printed Prototypes, Aborted AR And Meeting Koji Kondo
• NES Creator Reveals The “Shocking” Story Behind That Infamous Flap

PC Gamer

• Feature: Back from the Dead (issue 323)
• Preview: Partisans 1941 (issue 332)
• Preview: Night Call (issue 322)

PCGamesN

• How to deal with your gaming backlog
• No Man’s Sky NEXT is confusing, frustrating – and wonderful
• Cyberpunk 2077’s warning for the world is more important than ever
• What Star Citizen can learn from the Second Life players who break into houses and have sex
• World of Warcraft blood plagues and religious fanatics in Civilization 6 – gaming’s funniest bugs
• How Elite Dangerous players saved a player stuck beyond the edge of the galaxy
• Studying the Thargoids: the intrepid players facing Elite Dangerous’s greatest threat
• Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia PC review

Retro Gamer

• In The Chair With Tony Warriner (issue 275)
• The Making of Ape Escape (issue 272)
• The Making of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (issue 267)
• In The Chair With David Wise (issue 264)
• In The Chair With Mark Webley (issue 261)
• The Making of Burnout 3: Takedown (issue 259)
• The Making of Fable (issue 257)
• In The Chair With Richard Browne (issue 256)
• In The Chair With Raph Koster (issue 254)
• Ultimate Guide: Katamari Damacy (issue 252)
• Ultimate Guide: Gran Turismo (issue 250)
• The Weird World of Atari 2600 Accessories (issue 245)
• Ultimate Guide: Cannon Dancer (issue 241)
• The History of Legacy of Kain (issue 240)
• The Making of Demon Attack (issue 237)
• The Story of E3 (issue 234)
• The Making of The Simpsons: Bart Vs The Space Mutants (issue 224)
• In The Chair With Violet Berlin (issue 221)
• The Making of Balance of Power (issue 220)
• Back to the 90s (issue 218 cover feature, sections on 90s magazines and TV)
• The Making of Wizkid (issue 217)
• The Story of Special Reserve (issue 215)
• The History of Turrican (issue 214 cover feature)
• The Making of Lure of the Temptress (issue 211)
• The History of The Settlers (issue 209)
• The History of Destruction Derby (issue 208)
• The Making of Skidmarks and Super Skidmarks (issue 205)
• The History of Commandos (issue 204)
• It’s Good To Talk: Retro Gaming Podcasts Special (issue 203)
• Ultimate Guide: Street Racer (issue 202)
• The Making of BITS (issue 201)
• The History of Videogame Magazines (issue 200)
• Ultimate Guide: Super Star Wars (issue 197)
• The History of X-COM (issue 196)
• The Making of Amiga Power (issue 195)
• The Strange Story of the Casio Loopy (issue 193)
• Minority Report: Amiga CD32 (issue 192)

Rock Paper Shotgun

• Why did Digital Eclipse make Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story? It’s a tale of centipedes, psychedelia, and tea
• Why the mysterious love affair between video games and giant elevators may begin with Akira
• Wot I Think: John Shafer’s At The Gates
• Terraforming Mars but without the fiddly bits

Time Extension

• “Most Of My Engineers Were Stoned” – Nolan Bushnell On The Failure Of Atari Video Music
• The Making Of Virtuality, The 1990s Pioneer That Sold The World On VR
• The Making Of BattleTech, The Groundbreaking ’90s Combo Of Immersive Reality, Online Play And eSports
• The Making Of The Menacer – How Sega Rustled Up A Super Scope Rival In Just Six Months
• The Making of BMX XXX – “We Were Building This Beautiful Skate Park And Ended Up With A Strip Club”
• “If HBO Made Zelda” – The Untold Story Of Legacy Of Kain: Dead Sun
• Sega’s Vomit-Inducing R360 Is An Endangered Species From A Different Age
• The Rise And Fall Of LaserDisc Video Gaming
• 50 Years Of The Magnavox Odyssey, The World’s First Games Console
• What Do You Get If You Cross Contra With Canines? Wild Dogs, That’s What
• How Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher Inspired The Creation Of “Pixel Pulps”

WhyNow

• The Painstaking Beauty Of Stop-Motion Videogames

WhyNow Gaming

I wrote daily gaming-news articles for WhyNow Gaming, which became the new home of Wireframe magazine in early 2023. You can find a full list of my news articles here. I also wrote opinion pieces, previews and reviews, which are listed below.

• Loddlenaut preview: combines the twin joys of tidying up and looking after adorable creatures
• Unity and the enshittification of the games industry
• Unity’s Runtime Fee is John Riccitiello’s Don Mattrick moment
• The Fabulous Fear Machine preview | A wickedly satirical take on the art of fearmongering
• The October game release schedule is shaping up to be a bloodbath
• The man who built his own WH Smith
• Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective review | An overlooked gem triumphantly returns
• Nintendo Direct: Nintendo serves up whatever it can find at the back of the freezer
• Gord hands-on preview: a grimdark slice of unremitting nastiness
• You really, really need to play Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
• Killer Frequency review: Gruesome fun, 80s nostalgia
• Did Phil Spencer hint that cloud gaming is the future of Xbox?
• Blocked: Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal. What happens now?
• TRON: Identity review

Wireframe

• How Hard Can It Be To Bring Your Indie Game To Mobile? (issue 70)
• Review: The Knight Witch (issue 70)
• Review: How To Say Goodbye (issue 69)
• Review: The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow (issue 68)
• Breaking the Fourth Wall for Fun and Profit (issue 66)
• Review: Lost in Play (issue 66)
• Review: Mothmen 1966 (issue 65)
• Review: Sniper Elite 5 (issue 64)
• Review: Dorfromantik (issue 63)
• Review: FAR: Changing Tides (issue 61)
• Review: TOEM (issue 57)
• Review: Death’s Door (issue 55)
• Review: Bartlow’s Dread Machine (issue 45)
• Review: Summer in Mara (issue 43)
• Review: The Procession to Calvary (issue 40)
• The LOAD less travelled (issue 11)