I write about video games

I specialise in writing feature articles on video games, and I’m particularly interested in weird and surprising stories from the history of gaming.

My work has been featured in magazines and websites such as Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Kotaku UK, The Guardian, PC Gamer, EDGE, PCGamesN, Retro Gamer and Rock Paper Shotgun, 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’ve highlighted some of my favourite articles here, and below that is a complete list of my work.

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)

The Story of Yugoslavia’s DIY Computer Revolution (Eurogamer)

In Yugoslavia in the 1980s, computers were a rare luxury. A ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64 could easily cost a month’s salary, and that’s if you could even get through the tough importation laws. Then in 1983, while on holiday in Risan, Voja Antonić dreamt up plans for a new computer, a people’s machine that could be built at home for a fraction of the cost of foreign imports. The Galaksija was born, and with it a computer revolution… (read more)

The Secret Douglas Adams RPG That People Have Been Playing for 15 Years (Kotaku)

…perhaps the Starship Titanic’s most enduring legacy is neither the book, which is now out of print, nor the game, which has been rendered practically unplayable on modern machines thanks to the relentless onward march of PC operating systems. Instead, somewhere out there in a cosy nook of the World Wide Web huddles a tiny community of like-minded individuals who took the idea of Starship Titanic and ran with it as far as their digital legs could carry them. They don’t just play Starship Titanic, they create it... (read more)

L’Atelier

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

EDGE

  • Smokestack lightning (issue 334)

Eurogamer

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.

GamesRadar+

The Guardian

The Indie Game Website

Kotaku UK

LADbible

Nintendo Life

PC Gamer

PCGamesN

Retro Gamer

  • 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

Terminal Gamer

Wireframe