I specialise in writing feature articles on video gaming. My work has been published on Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Kotaku UK, PC Gamer, PCGamesN, Retro Gamer, Rock Paper Shotgun and Terminal Gamer, and I am also the founder of two popular gaming blogs: A Most Agreeable Pastime and 101 Video Games That Made My Life Slightly Better.
I’m particularly interested in the weird and wonderful stories behind gaming.
Wireframe
I wrote the below feature for the bi-monthly Wireframe games magazine published by Raspberry Pi Press.
In the 1980s, coders came up with ingenious ways to distribute computer programs using radio waves, records, and more (read more)
Eurogamer
Here are a few of the articles I’ve written for the video-game website Eurogamer. All of them were commissioned from my own pitches.
In the Loopy: the story of Casio’s crazy 90s console
As a gaming machine, the Casio Loopy isn’t particularly good. But as a collection of ideas, it’s fascinating, a ragtag novelty that may well have been ahead of its time if it wasn’t so scatty.
Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of the Loopy – it was only ever released in Japan, its life limited to a couple of years before it disappeared into obscurity. The Loopy wasn’t the first home console released by Casio – that would be the ill-fated PV-1000 from 1983 – but it was certainly the last. When I contacted Casio to find out more details about the Loopy, they were surprised that someone so far from Japan would remember their strange console from more than 20 years ago… (read more)
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
GamesRadar+
I have written several extensively researched features for GamesRadar+ on topics like gaming disorder, the future of high street games retail and the maths of microtransactions.
Is streaming the future of video games? And can it even work?
You might have seen the news that Microsoft has unveiled xCloud, a streaming service that will let you play Xbox One games on smartphones, tablets and basically anything that can connect to the internet. This comes after EA announced in June that they would launch a game streaming service as part of their clunkily titled EA Origin Access Premier offering. And Sony already offer a streaming service for PS2, PS3 and a limited number of PS4 games in the form of PlayStation Now. Even Nintendo, dear old online-phobic Nintendo, has a couple of streaming-only games on the Switch courtesy of streaming version of Resident Evil 7 and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – although these are currently only available in Japan. In short, streaming is so hip right now. But is it any good? Will it take off? And what impact will it have on the games industry? (read more)
Video game addiction is now a disorder. But what does that mean and why does it matter?
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?
Kotaku UK
Below are a few of the features I’ve written for Kotaku UK, which is owned by Future Publishing. Almost all of them were commissioned on the basis of my own pitches. The full list of my articles can be found here.
The Light Keeps Us Safe — Not That There’s Much To Be Scared Of
I love the experience of playing a game with absolutely no knowledge of what to expect. It’s harder than ever these days, but despite that I’ve been studiously avoiding reading any articles about Red Dead Redemption 2 — although unfortunately I haven’t been able to avoid the headlines (shrinking horse balls, really?)
So it was a rare treat when the early access release of The Light Keeps Us Safe dropped into my eager hands — here was a game I hadn’t even heard of just moments before. But what I did know is that it’s from Big Robot, the plucky British indie studio behind the ambitious and quirky games Sir, You Are Being Hunted and The Signal From Tolva, which was more than enough to create much excite… (read more)
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
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?
PC Gamer
I’ve written previews and features for the UK edition of PC Gamer, all based on my own pitches. I wrote a six-page feature will on Genesis LPMud, one of the longest running online multiplayer games, in issue 323.
Feature: Back from the dead (issue 323)
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)
Preview: Night Call (issue 322)
Retro Gamer
I wrote a Minority Report article on the Amiga CD32 for Retro Gamer magazine issue 192, and a feature on the Casio Loopy console for issue 193.
The Strange Story of the Casio Loopy (issue 193)
The early 1990s saw a flood of oddball games consoles emerging from Japan, like the Sega Wondermega and Bandai Playdia. But perhaps the strangest was the Casio Loopy, an unlikely cross between a console and a sticker-making machine. It flopped at retail and was never released outside Japan, but in recent years it has been commanding high prices among collectors in the UK and elsewhere, who prize it for its uniqueness.
Minority Report: Amiga CD32 (issue 192)
Convergence
I contributed to the book Convergence: How The World Will Be Painted With Data by Charlie Fink, writing chapters on ‘AR and Journalism’ and ‘AR and AI’, as well as columns on Niantic, Pokemon Go and the AR firm Rokid.
AR and Journalism
In 1896, the Lumière brothers blew people’s minds. Urban legend has it that their screening of the early short film L’arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat (The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station) caused the audience to stampede for the exits, fearful that the moving train would burst through the confines of the screen and smash into them. This story is almost certainly untrue. But what is certain is that the 50-second movie, which was screened along with a handful of other depictions of everyday life, such as workers filing out of a factory, was a massive hit. Journalists at the time lauded this astonishing new technology of moving pictures.
AR and AI
Pokemon Go on and on and on
Niantic’s Real World Platform
Rokid company profile
PCGamesN
PC Games Network commissioned me to write an investigation into the Thargoids of Elite Dangerous after my article on The Fuel Rats for Kotaku UK. I’ve since become a regular features writer for them.
How to deal with your gaming backlog
We’ve all been there: yet another Steam sale has come to an end, and despite your best efforts at restraint, your already sizable backlog of PC games has ballooned even further. How on earth are you going to find the time to play all of these games?
It’s practically the definition of a First World problem, but having too many games and not enough time to play them is a common dilemma these days. Take a look at the dozens of unplayed titles on your hard drive and you’ll feel that nagging guilt as you catch yourself buying even more to add to the pile. The question that arises from this issue is how do you go about reducing that gigantic number of unplayed games? (read more)
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
Rock Paper Shotgun
I’ve recently started contributing to this hugely popular PC gaming site – my first piece was a preview of the video game conversion of board game Terraforming Mars, and I’ve also reviewed At the Gates.
Wot I Think: John Shafer’s At The Gates
“Winter is coming!” yell the tiny minions in At The Gates as they flee, incredibly slowly, back to the safety of their settlement. They don’t actually yell that, but in my head that’s what I imagine they’re shouting as their little health bars tick down underneath the message ‘SUPPLIES EXHAUSTED’. I also imagine them clutching frost-bitten hands to their chests as they trump miserably through the snow, occasionally collapsing from sheer tiredness, the welcome hearth fires of home so close, yet so achingly far.
Sadly, imaginary scenes like this were far more exciting than the actual process of playing the game. But I’m getting ahead of myself… (read more)
Terraforming Mars but without the fiddly bits
GAME Magazine
I interviewed the head of gaming charity SpecialEffect for GAME Magazine, a free publication that’s handed out in GAME stores and given away in national newspapers.
Everyone deserves to play
Gaming is a social activity now, explains Mick Donegan, founder and CEO of gaming charity SpecialEffect. “It’s something that you do with friends or anyone on the planet”…
Terminal Gamer
I was a regular contributor to this gaming site. I mostly wrote news stories, although I did the odd feature here and there – like the one below.
The Top 5 Most Frustrating Gaming Moments Ever
It’s a rite of passage that all gamers will be familiar with: reaching a point in a game that’s so ball-breakingly frustrating that you hurl the controller at the TV, slam your fist down on the console ‘OFF’ switch and storm out of the room, possibly giving the cat a good boot up the behind for good measure. The best games will always see you returning eventually, whispering apologies like a spurned lover… (read more)
