http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Sat, 18 May 2013 09:28:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/24/always-online-consoles-may-damage-the-games-market/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/24/always-online-consoles-may-damage-the-games-market/#comments Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:30:36 +0000 Oliver Cragg http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34420 The last two months have seen an alarming quantity of resignations within the videogame industry whether voluntary or ‘voluntary’. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/24/always-online-consoles-may-damage-the-games-market/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/09/27/changing-the-reputation-of-video-gaming-starts-with-better-pr/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/09/27/changing-the-reputation-of-video-gaming-starts-with-better-pr/#comments Thu, 27 Sep 2012 05:00:49 +0000 Mark Grainger http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=28700 Video games are striving to reach both the same artistic and commercial value of other mediums such as film, television and literature. They are getting closer to achieving this with every passing year, especially in the commercial and consumer sales aspects. Despite all this, video games remain languishing in the curious position of having millions upon millions of loyal consumers whilst also having an extremely negative, broader reputation that it just can't seem to shake off.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/09/27/changing-the-reputation-of-video-gaming-starts-with-better-pr/feed/ 11 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/30/grayling-promises-school-leavers-three-months-of-unpaid-work-in-exchange-for-benefits-i-for-one-would-rather-play-computer-games/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/30/grayling-promises-school-leavers-three-months-of-unpaid-work-in-exchange-for-benefits-i-for-one-would-rather-play-computer-games/#comments Thu, 30 Aug 2012 09:00:38 +0000 Adam Bouyamourn http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=27925 A spectre is haunting Britain. The spectre of computer games. “We don’t want [Neets] waking up at lunchtime and playing computer games all day,” said a Department of Work and Pensions source.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/30/grayling-promises-school-leavers-three-months-of-unpaid-work-in-exchange-for-benefits-i-for-one-would-rather-play-computer-games/feed/ 81 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/22/explicit-content-in-videogames-why-pegi-age-ratings-are-a-bad-move/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/22/explicit-content-in-videogames-why-pegi-age-ratings-are-a-bad-move/#comments Wed, 22 Aug 2012 03:00:42 +0000 Oliver Cragg http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=27649 I’ve argued for and against violence and other explicit content in videogames before and have often expressed disappointment at uncontextualised ‘adult’ content, but there is a point where the expression and consumption of mature themes and imagery enters into the realms of personal responsibility. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/08/22/explicit-content-in-videogames-why-pegi-age-ratings-are-a-bad-move/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/26/the-allure-of-videogame-add-ons/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/26/the-allure-of-videogame-add-ons/#comments Wed, 25 Jul 2012 23:00:35 +0000 Oliver Cragg http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26786 God bless Peter Molyneux and his irrepressible idealism. When he finally decides to hang up his keyboard, the videogaming world will be a much duller place.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/26/the-allure-of-videogame-add-ons/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/10/women-in-science-learning-to-walk/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/10/women-in-science-learning-to-walk/#comments Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:43:06 +0000 Helen Dawes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=26170 Learning a new movement is something we are able to achieve quickly and most of us take for granted. As children we are constantly learning new motor skills such as: writing (on walls!), dressing, catching or riding a bike. Even as adults we retain the ability to learn novel tasks. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/10/women-in-science-learning-to-walk/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/03/all%e2%80%99s-well-that-ends-well-mass-effect-3-and-narrative-closure/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/03/all%e2%80%99s-well-that-ends-well-mass-effect-3-and-narrative-closure/#comments Tue, 03 Jul 2012 01:00:41 +0000 Oliver Cragg http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25854 Last week saw the complimentary release of Mass Effect 3: The Extended Cut, a batch of downloadable content that was designed to assuage growing discord among a vocal majority of the series’ fans, but was always predestined to be a superfluous disappointment. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/07/03/all%e2%80%99s-well-that-ends-well-mass-effect-3-and-narrative-closure/feed/ 12 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/22/ultraviolence-in-videogames-a-defence/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/22/ultraviolence-in-videogames-a-defence/#comments Fri, 22 Jun 2012 02:00:21 +0000 Oliver Cragg http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25534 Within the videogame industry there are a select few influential figures whose opinions and occasional remonstrations about the direction of the medium carry a certain weight and gravitas. Warren Spector resides at the head table of this unspoken hierarchy, and as such, his recent condemnation of the ceaseless ubiquity of fetishised ultraviolence inspired much beard-stroking and contemplative musing among the gaming media, almost as if something gospel and unprecedented had been uttered.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/22/ultraviolence-in-videogames-a-defence/feed/ 6 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/13/tomb-raider-why-play-up-to-the-madonnawhore-dichotomy/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/13/tomb-raider-why-play-up-to-the-madonnawhore-dichotomy/#comments Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:38:48 +0000 Tom Mendelsohn http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=25247 The gaming industry’s legendarily deft touch has hit the news again this afternoon, with the news that Lara Croft is to gain a bit more of a personality in her upcoming game.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/13/tomb-raider-why-play-up-to-the-madonnawhore-dichotomy/feed/ 101 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/24/whats-happened-to-british-gaming/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/24/whats-happened-to-british-gaming/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:49:40 +0000 David Crookes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=17858 The videogame industry in the UK is rather like Manchester City. Not the City of today. No, that's where it would like to be. We're talking the City of yesterday when it was slipping down the league because no-one was offering assistance.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/24/whats-happened-to-british-gaming/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/10/the-cardboard-dream-machine/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/10/the-cardboard-dream-machine/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:46:42 +0000 Jake Hanrahan http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=17279 In these times of high polygon hypnotics and lucid dreamlike sprite animations, it's refreshing when a game like The Dream Machine is winning awards with the most primitive of graphic environments. The Dream Machine is a new point-and-click adventure game made almost entirely out of clay and cardboard. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/10/the-cardboard-dream-machine/feed/ 5 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/02/18/best-of-british-gaming-peter-molyneux/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/02/18/best-of-british-gaming-peter-molyneux/#comments Fri, 18 Feb 2011 06:00:13 +0000 David Crookes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=8964 He's the man behind the Fable series but Peter Molyneux's success is no tall tale. In the final part of our look at British gaming greats, he talks to David Crookes about his regrets and hopes.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/02/18/best-of-british-gaming-peter-molyneux/feed/ 0