I like you're writing, I hope to read more of it on Next Gen, and maybe other publications too.

Hi Steven,

I guess I'm writing you a fan letter, but you know what? I like your writing and I hope you can feel good about that. Your editorials for Next-Gen are consistently refreshing and insightful. I was so incredibly happy to read your distinction between childish and child-like games. It was a very elegant way to describe a phenomena I've been observing all my life, but couldn't quite put into such concise words.

Before I came across your writing I was filled with despair over the state of games journalism. It seemed to me that too many journalists were assessing the value of games based on their quickly drawn impressions of how a game ought to be vs what a game actually has to offer. You seem to be paying attention to what's really there and then drawing an informed opinion, rather than coming in with a predetermined feeling. Does that make sense? Am I reading too much into it? I just appreciate that your writing seems to leave room for other people's opinions and motivations, rather than trying to establish an impenetrable tower upon which you can look down on all human effort. Your writing may be occasionally jaded or sarcastic, but it's never ever snarky. You don't come off as an ass. Bless you for it.

And one more thing while I'm at it. You seem to have an uncommonly refined sense of aesthetics. I'm glad to see that you're not won over by the homogenized glitz of technologically powerful big budget titles, but rather you appreciate the games that reflect a coherent aesthetic derived from well informed, non arbitrary decision making where an actual personality is present.

Is this letter just a big pat on the back because you seem to like the same stuff I do? I don't know. But even if it is, I'm glad to see a writer that speaks closer to where I'm coming from regarding videogames. Your writing is like an antacid to the heartburn that I feel so strongly for how games currently are.

Thanks for the great articles and take care!

Great to see your name and Edge on the same page again.
Not having to play crap games is one of the perks of being a writer who writes about games rather than a games journalist. Though of course there's no salary to go with it.
I remember my GP telling me years ago that their receptionist's son had written a book on games, and I said "you don't mean Steven Poole, do you?" Trigger Happy was an important book. Any chance you might update it sometime?
All best
Kate