Keith Stuart

Barnsley rebranded UK’s first ‘tech town’ as US giants join AI push Minister announces Microsoft, Cisco and Adobe to help apply AI to local schools, hospitals, GPs and businesses

The justification for these AI experiments is always “this stuff is not going away”. Well no because the tech giants lobbying for it have billions invested in the technology and they’ll do anything to make it mandatory www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Why the politics of media leaks, briefings and "sources" is only spreading dread and fear The painfully long story of the government's SEND reforms has pushed exactly those buttons, among people already used to a level of anxiety that may soon get even worse

Latest from me, and one of the most important pieces on Special Needs I've written so far: "In fifteen years of political journalism, I don’t think I have seen anything quite like this: a mad game of briefing, counter-briefing and official stonewalling."
maybeimamazed.substack.com/p/why-the-po...

A third Oliver brother

I am writing this week’s Pushing Buttons newsletter for the Guardian - do you have a question about video games? Anything you’re dying to know about games, the industry, etc, please reply. I have two hours to write this sucker!

‘I didn’t have anything to prove’: what Traitors finalist Jade Scott learned about survival from video games Accused, isolated and constantly under scrutiny, The Traitors contestant drew on years of social deduction gaming to stay calm under pressure

Hi I spoke to Jade from Traitors about how playing video games prepared her for life in the castle…

www.theguardian.com/games/2026/j...

1: Love is a Curse by @keefstuart.bsky.social: A smartly told story following a woman navigating grief whilst investigating a generational curse. Took a little longer to get its hooks in than his previous books, but it still had me completely invested by the end

Hope you’re still enjoying it!

Ahh yes, that’s one! There are others 😉

Hi I wrote about SpellTower by @stfj.net - one of my favourite ever mobile games!

Make time to see the cathedral - it is incredible! Not very helpful, but true

Super Nintendo: Keza MacDonald and Keith Stuart The Guardian's game writers in discussion on the cultural phenomenon that created Mario, Zelda and Pokémon

LONDON! Come see me on 16 Feb at Loading Bar in Stoke Newington, I'll be talking about my book Super Nintendo with my longtime friend and colleague @keefstuart.bsky.social ✌️

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/super-nint...

Bathysphere is a newsletter I set up with wonderful gaming pals Christian Donlan and @florencesn.bsky.social last year. It’s about video games, culture, art, archeology and many other things - no gaming news, no hot takes. Now 100% free. Please join us!

I've been subscribed to Bathysphere since the start, and it's been full of really amazing little essays and lots of fascinating links about games, play and surrounding cultures. And now it's completely free! Highly recommend subscribing if you're not already.

Yes indeed! Filling the entire screen was cooler 😎

Commodore 64 Ultimate review – it’s like 1982 all over again! Showing the value of great design over visual impact, this faithfully resurrected home computer seamlessly integrates modern tech with some wonderful additional touches

Hi, I reviewed the Commodore 64 Ultimate. It was … emotional

www.theguardian.com/games/2026/j...

I've been commissioned to write a piece about games based on real places that changed peoples' perception of that place or had some kind of local impact - are you a dev who made a game like this? Or are you a player who has a story about a game that inspired you to visit somewhere? Let me know!

Four months and 40 hours later: my epic battle with 2025’s most difficult video game When Hollow Knight: Silksong came out last summer I was in so much pain that I didn’t know if I’d be able to play it. Could a video game teach me anything new about suffering?

I was having an extremely bad time last year. I started experiencing excruciating pain in my right arm, pain that lasted for months (it's ongoing now). When Hollow Knight Silksong came out, I didn't know if I'd even be able to play it. On Silksong and suffering: www.theguardian.com/games/2026/j...

A disliked government will try to redirect anger at the most vulnerable people in society

Oh my god, I clearly returned to work a week too early

Ahh yeah I had a brain malfunction 😂 It’s sorted now, thanks

I'm going on a BOOK TOUR next month with Super Nintendo! I'm launching it in Glasgow on Feb 12, then London, Brighton Edinburgh, St Andrews and Manchester. Tickets for everywhere are through this link: linktr.ee/super_nintendo

Oh my god I read that too!!

It was not, in fact, a new peak in horror

You can get me on my Guardian email - Keith dot Stuart at the guardian dot com!

Sega co-founder David Rosen dies aged 95 Rosen, who led Sega from the 1960s into the 90s and who died on Christmas Day, was a hugely important figure in the history of arcade and home gaming

Goodbye David Rosen. I interviewed him ten years ago for my book on the Mega Drive and he was lovely. His influence on the arcade business is incalculable.

www.theguardian.com/games/2026/j...

A detail from the medieval fresco titled Courtiers Intent on a Snowball Fight, Month of January, part of the "Cycle of the Months" by the Bohemian painter Maestro Venceslao. The artwork depicts several figures, identified as nobles or courtiers, engaged in a playful snowball fight amidst a winter landscape. A woman on the left, wearing a green gown, is gathering snow in her skirt, using it like an arsenal for ammunition. A man in the center and another figure partially visible on the right are actively throwing snowballs.

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

And the headlights switched on!

‘I plugged in Zelda and everything changed’: developers share their fondest Christmas gaming memories From a family showdown on Guitar Hero III to the winter levels in Diddy Kong Racing, the designers of some of today’s top titles recall the gifts and moments that lit up their childhoods

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...

Call of Duty’s Vince Zampella was a video games visionary Zampella created the template for multiplayer shooters that is still used today, and his cinematic and epic military, sci-fi and Star Wars games thrilled and moved millions

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/...