Fresco of January at Castello Buonconsiglio, Trento, Italy, (detail), c. 1405-1410.

Hi, I asked some lovely developers for their favourite Christmas gaming memories. Please have a read and add your own in the comments section. Also, if you celebrate this season or not, all the very best wishes to you from the Guardian games team xx www.theguardian.com/games/2025/d...

Keza and I wrote about Vince Zampella. I suspect I have spent more time in his games than anyone else’s - I’m sure I’m not alone www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

For some reason today, I have remembered the fascinating iPhone game Blackbar, from 2013 about a censorious dystopian regime mrgan.com/blackbar/pre...

The Excavation of Hob's Barrow is a whopping 55% off in the Steam Winter Sale! Inspired by movies such as The Wicker Man & the works of M.R. James, with a little pinch of Twin Peaks and Lovecraft - our folk horror adventure is the perfect play for Christmas! store.steampowered.com/app/1182310/...

Hello, here are the best games of 2025 as chosen by Keza and me! Please enjoy responsibly www.theguardian.com/games/2025/d...

Hiya, I recommended eight local multiplayer games to try with your family and friends this Christmas/winter! www.theguardian.com/games/2025/d...

Hello! I am writing a little thing on Christmas (or wintery festive) gaming memories - e.g. getting particular consoles or games as presents or just memories of playing games. Do you have any that mean something to you? My DMs are open if you want to share?! Xx

Delighted to see this piece up! Massive thank you to all the women who shared their experience with me for this 🖤 www.gamesindustry.biz/a-decade-on-...

There should be a Nobel prize for games preservation

You don't need to write about the vibe-coded game btw.

VIDEOVERSE got 32/40 in Weekly Famitsu and entered the Famitsu Gold Hall of Fame! 🥳🥇 A huge thanks to everyone who helped on the Japanese localisation – This one is for you! 😄

Hi I interviewed Dan Houser in London and we talked about lots of interesting things www.theguardian.com/games/2025/d...

Incredible charity shop DVD haul this morning!

What was your go to Sega magazine back in the day? I spoke to MegaTech editor Paul Glancey about the good old days. 👉 www.forgottenworlds.net/megatech-mag... #Sega #MegaDrive #SonicTheHedeghog #StreetsOfRage #RetroGaming ☀️🌴

I think I am very late to this BUT if you haven’t played Evil Egg yet, play Evil Egg!! It is an incredible twin stick shooter which feels like some lost Commodore 64 masterpiece - you can pay what you like! ivysly.itch.io/evil-egg

I spoke to @fortune.com about my upcoming book Super Nintendo and the secret(s) to Nintendo's enduring success - a large part of which is cultivating and caring for developers instead of hiring and firing everyone in yearly cycles. (Book deets: linktr.ee/super_nintendo) fortune.com/2025/11/28/s...

My book about Nintendo is out soon! Early readers have said incredibly nice things about it! Pre-order here for US/UK: linktr.ee/super_nintendo

So @mikerose.bsky.social & I decided to do a silly podcast comparing notes about indie games & their history & also about suddenly being middle-aged & tired As anyone who knows both of us could have guessed, shenanigans ensued immediately Introducing ⭐ Mike & Rami Are Still Here ⭐ mikeandrami.com

Hi, for this week’s Pushing Buttons newsletter I talked to Dan Houser about the influence of Victorian literature on his games writing - especially Middlemarch on Red Dead Redemption 2 - it was a really interesting chat! www.theguardian.com/games/2025/d...

Hi, Keza and I decided on the 15 most important Xbox 360 games. I’m afraid we will not be taking questions www.theguardian.com/games/2025/d...

New article is live! Why did the UK have so many Sega specific magazines compared to the US? I asked a bunch of magazine editors from the 16bit era. Link below👇 #Sega #MegaDrive #SegaGenesis #SegaPower #MeanMachines #MasterSystem ☀️🌴

TONIGHT! Come play our game about taking billionaires to court for their climate CRIMES ✨

gathered together some of my old games that had fallen off the internet smestorp.itch.io/lots-of-mich...

Last night's interview with Novara on the Rockstar firings is now up as its own standalone video, if you'd like to watch. Delighted to see the story picked up by the wider media in this way, as surreal as it felt to appear on a show I've been watching for years now. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxuP...

Games industry: games are art Also games industry: “This transaction supports our key priorities by strengthening our focus on strategic assets and core IPs”

For most authors (anyone not regularly on the bestseller list) every single sale counts. The booksellers notice and our publishers notice. Please buy books

Hello I have suggested some Xmas gifts for gamers - these are all things that I own, have tested or that I really want for Christmas. That’s not a hint www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...

The Guardian chose my article on the Sega Master System as one of its six great reads of the week! 😊 www.theguardian.com/news/2025/no...

All those people, including current government, who falsely claim migrants are to blame for failings with the NHS, along with infrastructure in general, are in for one hell of a shock with how much worse things will get with Labour's anti-immigration policies. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Fair warning! Xmas be approaching, which means I'll be going into full-on retro gaming Christmas mode on Dec 1 and posting old ads, articles, covers, and sundry gaming festive content throughout the month. So if you hate Xmas, you probably better mute me 'til the New Year! 🎄

I finally submitted the proofs and index today, so my Game Gear book is finally done. It was supposed to be out in fall, but it should arrive in January. That book was a blast to write, and I'm happy to have shown the Game Gear some love. It's quite an underrated little handheld.

God, I am so, so sick of these monsters. I am sick of the people who enable them and give them power

My first console. Sold it all in the 90s. Have steadily reacquired consoles, games and accessories in the last few years. This control stick. Honestly.

Hi I wrote about the Sega Master System and how it’s been criminally overlooked because everyone goes on about the NES like it was the only 8bit console in the world look don’t get me started www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...

Been writing another Sega feature…

I miss those 1990s thrillers with lavish orchestral scores in which highly competent government and FBI agents solve mysteries with the help of huge computers and somebody says “it’s my ass on the line here!”

🤖🌟 Issue 6 of APWOT is live on Kickstarter! 🌟🤖 Featuring a beautiful lenticular cover of Astro Bot marking both our feature interview with the game’s director, Nicolas Doucet, and the 30th anniversary of PlayStation. Get in there! 💫 kck.st/4i1GAHT 💫

Great piece by Alyssa on the poor treatment of talented upcoming developers by the Games Awards

If you were a member of The Game Awards Future Class and can speak to your experience, I want to chat with you for The Guardian! DM me, or email alyssamerc[at]gmail[dot]com. Signal boost please!

This should be reported alongside any coverage of the GTA 6 delay www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...

Got my copy of On Magazine volume 2 and it’s beautiful!! I wrote about 90s horror games and their insidious influence on modern designers

Hello I wrote about the long symbiotic relationship between The Simpsons and video games. “Keep firing; convert the heathens!” www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...

Back in The Guardian. Thanks @keefstuart.bsky.social for the opp and edits, and for destroying any semblance of productivity I have for the rest of the month as I get Tranmere Rovers to the Champions League final www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...

Teen Vogue has been an amazing resource for understanding US politics. We really are in the bad place

Hello, I wrote about Mortal Kombat and moral panic to celebrate the release of the very good Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection! www.theguardian.com/games/2025/n...

Just sharing the most terrifying image in horror game history

I reviewed The Seance of Blake Manor by @spookydoorway.bsky.social and absolutely adored it. Interesting procedural detective work, folk horror, Irish mythology, colonial subtexts and jump scares!! 👻 www.theguardian.com/games/2025/o...

What is the ratio of your book reading between fiction and non-fiction? I am, like, 85% fiction but I own sooooo much fascinating non-fiction which I fear will only ever be guiltily dipped into…

Superb piece by @jamesbloodworth.bsky.social in this month's @bylinetimes.bsky.social mag: "Britain's Media Has Let Nigel Farage Reshape Political Journalism - Why?" This article alone was worth my annual sub to one of the very few news outlets still doing proper journalism