I'm trying not to feel faint, but Matt Sakey has posted another IGDA 'Culture Clash' column that I pretty much agree with - named 'The Next Level', and discussing 'the evolution of story'.

Sakey notes, fairly sagely: "No one would disagree that for every mature, involved Sacrifice there are at least a dozen trite Sin Episodes [pictured!]. We're still a long way from reaching the ideal deep-to-shallow equilibrium. But it's an organic process. And remember that not everything needs to be deep. Sometimes you want a puddle."

He concludes, drawing parallels to other media sometimes unfairly bashed: "I discounted anime because I found it hard to believe that I'd be able or willing to look past the stuff that irritated me, but Elfen Lied had lots of that and I did see past it. It's similarly easy to discount the potential narrative power of gaming, because we're still so close to the simplistic roots from which every narrative medium springs."

(But of course, the real answer to improving video games is to listen to your publisher - ta Jurie!)