My latest published writings

Is Apple about to become the dominant mobile games publisher?

Pocketgamer.biz, March 3, 2009
As the App Store struggles under the weight of new games published every day, is the gloss coming off the iPhone?

And if so, will Apple respond by becoming the gatekeeper of AppStore - in effect, the most powerful publisher in mobile gaming?

Of course I don't believe that the iPhone is over (see my posts about how threatening the iPhone is to the PSP), but Apple is about to have to take some substantial steps to deal with the rapid success of the AppStore.
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Why the iPhone is changing the games market

Casualgaming.biz, February 25, 2009
The iPhone is changing the games market. But which one? To some it is the saviour of the mobile gaming business, which is struggled for years against consumer apathy, operators who don't understand (or like) content and a fragmented device landscape which led to developers having to create hundreds, sometimes even thousands of SKUs
To others, it is a handheld gaming platform that competes squarely with the DS and the PSP, despite having no buttons and less processing power.
So which is it?
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Name That Apocalypse

Pyramid, January, 2009

Enrique swore.
The desert wind gathered great swirls of brick-red dust and hurled it at the grimy walls of the compound. He squinted through the sandstorm, looking for the darker clouds that marked a returning squad of foragers.
"There!" He leaned over the parapet and shouted down into the square. "Commander, I see 'em. On the Interstate. And it looks like they've got a hundred Azraelish hard on their heels."
Klaxons blared, and the last few citizens of Baton Rouge hurried to the turrets.

Post-apocalyptic worlds are popular in fiction, movies, computer games, and RPGs. They allow the creators to imagine and describe an alternative world that is firmly rooted in today's reality, such as the plague-ridden England of 28 Days Later or a post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C., in Bethesda's Fallout 3. Moreover, because the world is so familiar to the audience, it is the differences that stand out: the zombies, the global warming, the biker gangs. For RPGs, the GM can weave a more interesting narrative than in many other sci-fi genres where so much effort is focused on creating an entirely new world.
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Violating the Pirate Code

5minutemystery.com, November 26, 2008
"Quartermaster!"
Captain Robert's bellow was usually loud enough to be heard in the maintop, even in a three-reef gale. Today, with the Jackdaw becalmed and wallowing in the Atlantic swell, the noise was deafening.
Elijah Fairfax hastened up the companionway to the quarterdeck. "Captain?"
"Someone has broken the Code," Roberts pointed into the cabin of the recently-captured Jackdaw. "One of those scurvy dogs stole for themselves. Ye know the rules. You steal from one, you steal from all. Root out this vile dog. Root him out, and I'll make him pay."
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Aground on a lee shore

Practical Boat Owner No. 501, September, 2008
The sailing was blissful. We were reaching along the north-east coast of Mallorca with a southerly wind which had been blowing a steady Force 4 since we left Cala Ratjada that morning. Tripitaka, my Dufour 36, was short-handed. My wife Catherine had not been able to join us due to an illness in the family, so it was just me and Sally, a colleague of Catherine's, whos sailing experience was limited to one week on Tripitaka the previous year. But I wasn't worried. My wife and I had sailed Tripitaka as liveaboards for an entire season when we first bought her in 2001. I was much less experienced back then and we survived, so I was confident that Sally and I would be fine.
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The Hidden Opportunities of the Sewers

Pyramid, June 27, 2008
The sewers that lie beneath a big city are a sprawling, interconnected, secret and intriguing place. They offer a parallel route through the city streets, a refuge for the oppressed or criminal and a wealth of opportunities for a GM to spring surprises, encounters and storylines on the players.
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How Much Sea Can I See Before I'm Sick?

Omniscient Eye column, Pyramid, May 16, 2008
The question of how to keep people alive for long journeys over challenging terrain has vexed mankind for millennia. Oceans are hostile environments where a great deal of ingenuity is required, particularly in the preparation for the journey. Many of the issues are similar for space travel, or even crossing a desert, although the sea has its own peculiarities.
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