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There's a load of talk about money, numbers, jobs, stuff that means business – stuff that you probably don't care all that much about. He concludes with a clear mission statement: "We must now take London's gaming industry to the next level." And I'm right there with the man. Yes, we must. Britain is home to many amazing studios, like Rare and State of Play, Frontier and The Chinese Room, Hello Games and Media Molecule, Creative Assembly and Roll7 and I really could go on but the point is that we'd all like more of this sort of thing, please.Thing is, Boris really didn't want more of this sort of thing a decade ago. Which is okay, it's alright, you should be cool with him hating on video games for The Telegraph back in 2006, and now fronting a fresh charge in the good fight for having gaming recognised not only as a vital force in the British economy but also a form of expression every bit as valuable to modern society as film, fashion, theatre and music. Because it's normal for us to reverse opinions, to contradict views we may have previously expressed because we now know them to be poppycock.
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The crux of his article, of his wonderfully naïve argument against video games, is that the playing of them directly relates to falling literacy standards at the time. Which is why we get this barbed paragraph towards the piece's end, aimed right at the then Labour government:"Gordon Brown proposed in his Pre-Budget Report to spend £2,000 per head on improving the reading of six-year-old boys. That is all well and good, especially when you consider that the cost of remedial English in secondary school soars to £50,000 per head. But it would be cheaper and possibly more effective if we all – politicians, parents, whoever – had the nerve to crack down on this electronic opiate."Mmm, electronic opiate, so moreish. And then, the climax we'd all been waiting for:"Get up off the sofa… and go to where your children are sitting in auto-lobotomy in front of the console. Summon up all your strength, all your courage. Steel yourself for the screams and yank out that plug."This is funny. You're supposed to laugh. At least, you are now. The passing of time heals (almost) all, and I don't think anyone involved in the games industry today is going to hold this ridiculous missive of misinformed ire against Boris, someone who chooses to have hair that looks as if it was doodled by an eight year old messing about with Deluxe Paint II. We can put it behind us – I mean, it's been nearly ten years – and look ahead to the London Games Festival knowing that the bloke who's in charge of the nation's most famous city absolutely, totally, 100 percent supports British gaming. Yep. Honest. Cubed hand on blocky heart.Related, on Noisey: Why Are So Many of Britain's Buskers Being Arrested?
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