“As gaming becomes a more inclusive and popular pastime, it’s important to remember that while many of us have grown up with videogames our whole lives, some players are just getting started.”

Featuring Denis Farr exploring gender in XCOM: Enemy Unknown and The Sims , Rick Lane on the birth of videogame tragedy in Halo Reach and The Walking Dead, Marc Price on the instinct that drives us to play, Katie Williams on Sleep is Death, a game where the player makes the rules, and Alan Williamson’s travels to an abandoned virtual town.

Plus five article on current issues in videogame culture: violence, misogyny and sexism, online multiplayer games, the rise of downloadable titles, and how games are already enriching the world around us.