In reply to Keith Stuart's blog over at The Guardian about the critical reception to Mirror's Edge, Joe puzzles over the role of the reviewer and whether comparisons between games and film journalism can ever be fairly raised.

Indie developer Cliff Harris is on the verge of releasing a brand new game and is feeling a little bit nervous. With life simulator Kudos 2 set to hit shelves on Wednesday, Cliff weighs up the pros and cons of being indie and tries not to stress himself to death.

Continuing after his recent piracy survey, Cliff Harris wants to ask you a question about how happy games make you and whether choice is always a good thing. Cliff outlines a new pricing model for games based on how happy they make players.

Are all games that phone-home to a publishers server inherently bad? Isn't it possible that in some case copy-protection can be a good thing that can help game design? Cliff Harris ponders how the software that traps us could also be used to free us.

Why do games always cater for the lowest common denominator, wonders Cliff Harris. Why are there no games for educated professionals and why do we have to rely on hacking mini-games in BioShock to explain elements clearly within reach?

Cliff Harris sees a bleak future for the games community. An insular group that purges n00bs, defends violent media and pirates games regularly - the end could be at hand! Thankfully, Cliff has a whole list full of ways to make gaming good again...

Simon Hill, developer for Outerlight software has just finished reading The Byron Report. As someone clearly affected by any changes that may be made because of the report, Simon has a few things to say, first of which is; Who is to blame?

Cliff Harris, ex-Lionhead AI coder turned indie developer, talks us through why he thinks sequels are actually a good thing. Is it possible that EA's endless sequels are a good thing? Cliff thinks so, pointing to his experience at Lionhead as an example...

Simon Hill of Outerlight Studios tackles the concept of advertising in games and the despicable, dirty nature of designing advergaming. Is there a way out for developers who don't want to place advertising in their games? This column is sponsored by bit-tech.net.

James Silva talks about how repetition in game design is actually a very good thing and, looking closely at games like Halo 3, Marathon, BioShock and Ninja Gaiden, asks whether repetitive gameplay is responsible for ruining otherwise excellent titles?