Guest columnist Cliff Harris is upset this week, lamenting the decline of truly free-form, sandbox gaming on the PC. When did real sandbox games like Sim City become unfashionable and get replaced with linear FPS games? Why won't someone give us back our sand?

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, 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...