What Games Are

My Tax Break Hopes [UK Game Makers]

Improbably, the British government has been persuaded to engage in some forms of tax assistance for games. Quite how it will work is as yet unknown. Who will get the money and what will it cover? What kinds of project will favour the scheme, and to what extent? Will tax assistance involve cultural tests, as film subsidies do? Will it focus on small projects or grand productions? Will it apply to multinationals who set up studios in the UK, or only domestic companies?

Perhaps the biggest question is what the objective of the scheme should be. Should it be used to right a perceived wrong, or is there a chance to use it as a way to build the industry anew?

What Foods Are [New Project]

Today I’m thrilled to announce that I’m setting up a new site in the ‘What X Are’ franchise centred on food. Food is a topic that is close to all of our hearts, but I believe that because chefs borrow language from other industries, we have difficulty in understanding food on its own terms.

Key areas that this new blog will cover include: Foods are not games, nor are they stories. They are neither thaumatic nor dramatic. They are instead omnommatic. Foods may also have the sense of story or play about them of course, which I call saucysense. It’s also important to understand that all foods are made of soups and all foods are made to bin.