1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die
I’m not sure if anyone would argue that video game journalism is a rewarding profession. In fact, arguing that it’s a profession at all is stretching it in most people’s opinion. So to see my work included in a book that is emblazoned “Selected and Written by Leading International Critics” is something of a benchmark in my career.
Available now in the US, Canada, the UK and probably other countries whose version of Amazon I can’t be bothered to search (sorry) 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die is a genuinely beautiful book, and something that strikes me is not simply that I’m (implicitly) included as a “leading international critic” but the company I keep as such, with the book featuring writing from Brandon Boyer, Kieron Gillen, Simon Parkin and many other of my most admired contemporaries. Pouring over it, in fact, I’d go as far as to argue that it’s not so much the games that are essential as the writing about them; this book is a wonderful reference piece if you want to get an honest opinion and historical context for pretty much any worthwhile game in the last 40 years written by someone whose opinion counts. I expect I’ll be referring to this rather than the traditional (and lazy) Google/Wikipedia/Mobygames trifecta when requiring a little background on a certain game that’s slipped my memory.
I was–unfortunately–only able to contribute a small number of the entries in this tome and with no author index (an oversight, I think) there’s no quick way to find my articles in particular. So in the interest of self-interest, here’s the list. All my entries are marked MKu in the book:
