5 h. ago ‘If we build it, they will come’: Skövde, the tiny town powering up Sweden’s video game boom

It started with a goat. Now – via a degree for developers and an incubator for startups – the tiny city is churning out world-famous video game hits. What is the secret of its success?On 26 March 2014, a trailer for a video game appeared on YouTube. The first thing the viewer sees is a closeup of a goat lying on the ground, its tongue out, its eyes open. Behind it is a man on fire, running backwards in slow motion towards a house. Interspersed with these images is footage of the goat being repeatedly run over by a car. In the main shot, the goat, now appearing backwards as well, flies up into the first-floor window of a house, repairing the glass it smashed on its way down. It hurtles through another window and back to an exploding petrol station, where we assume its journey must have started.This wordless, strangely moving video – a knowing parody of the trailer for a zombie survival game called Dead Island – was for a curious game called Goat Simulator. The game was, unsurprisingl...

Sport

7 h. ago Iconic rock star lands new role as 'magnetic' James Bond villain

007: First Light is a blockbuster new video game on the Xbox and PS5 and it's all-star cast just landed an iconic new pirate king villain in music hitmaker Lenny Kravitz

Politics

8 h. ago Lara Croft is back as 90s gaming icon stars in two new PS5 blockbuster hits

Crystal Dynamics has teamed up with Amazon Games Studios to bring two new Lara Croft adventures to video game consoles in 2026 and 2027

Events

9 h. ago Star Wars, Tomb Raider and a big night for Expedition 33 – what you need to know from The Game Awards

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won nine awards, including game of the year, while newly announced games at the show include the next project from Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian StudiosAt the Los Angeles’ Peacock theater last night, The Game Awards broadcast its annual mix of prize presentations and expensive video game advertisements. New titles were announced, celebrities appeared, and at one point, screaming people were suspended from the ceiling in an extravagant promotion for a new role-playing game.Acclaimed French adventure Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 began the night with 12 nominations – the most in the event’s history – and ended it with nine awards. The Gallic favourite took game of the year, as well as awards for best game direction, best art direction, best narrative and best performance (for actor Jennifer English). Continue reading...

Events

19 h. ago Sigourney Weaver teases upcoming role in beloved video game adaptation

Sigourney Weaver has teased an upcoming appearance in a beloved video game adaptation.

Politics

26 h. ago Jim Ward dead at 66: Beloved voice actor for Nickelodeon's The Fairly OddParents and iconic video games passes away

The beloved actor was the voice behind several iconic cartoon and video game characters through his storied career.

Events

27 h. ago Kim Kardashian to appear as character on hit video game Fortnite

Reality star makes first collaboration with the video game as she follows in the footsteps of other stars like Sabrina Carpenter

Events

29 h. ago NBA 2K26 for PS5 plummets from £60 to under £44 in Christmas deal stack

We've found a way to get more than 25% off the latest NBA video game at Argos

Economics

32 h. ago Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – how a tiny studio developed the Belle Époque

What started as Guillaume Broche’s personal project has been nominated for 12 Game awards, sold more than 2m copies and been praised by Emmanuel Macron as a ‘shining example of French audacity’The record-breaking 12 nominations at the Game awards this year was beyond the wildest dreams of Guillaume Broche when he first began inking out Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as a personal project while working at Ubisoft.Before selling more than 2m copies, the narrative-driven roleplaying game with “a unique world, challenging combat and great writing” was a technical demo called We Lost. It was Broche’s appetite for risk and a few hopeful Reddit posts that would create the game’s world of Lumiere and its struggle against the Paintress. Continue reading...

Politics

51 h. ago As AI floods our culture, here’s why we must protect human storytelling in games

Buying the Zombies, Run! studio wasn’t part of my plan, but a post-apocalypse game with stories that make people feel seen pulled me in• Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereA few days ago, I clicked a button on my phone to send funds to a company in Singapore and so took ownership of the video game I co-created and am lead writer for: Zombies, Run! I am a novelist, I wrote the bestselling, award-winning The Power, which was turned into an Amazon Prime TV series starring Toni Collette. What on earth am I doing buying a games company?Well. First of all. Zombies, Run! is special. It’s special to me – the game started as a Kickstarter and the community that grew up around it has always been incredibly supportive of what we’re doing. And it’s special in what it does. It’s a game to exercise with. You play it on your smartphone – iPhone or Android – and we tell stories from the zombie apocalypse in your headphones to encourage you to go further, faster, or just ...

Events

3 d. ago Russian kids at war with Putin over Roblox ban as 63,000 letters demand U

Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently at war with the country's youth after the Kremlin decided to ban popular video game Roblox with some children even threatening to leave

Politics

4 d. ago Tiny Welsh market town with one of UK's best high streets has no empty shops

The charming market town has won awards for its thriving independent shops and has no empty premises on the high street

Economics

4 d. ago Tiny market town packed with independent shops has one of the UK's best high streets

Crickhowell in Powys, Wales, has been named as the UK's Best High Street, and is a place where small businesses thrive and locals are fiercely proud of their town centre

Economics

8 d. ago Naked statue of Roman warrior with tiny winkle returns to town after 3

The 30ft (9m) figure of an ancient warrior sparked controversy and led to a council band, but its owner decided to bring it back, saying locals need some "Christmas cheer"

Events

9 d. ago Dan Houser on Victorian novels, Red Dead Redemption and redefining open

As the Grand Theft Auto co-writer launches a new project, he reflects on his hugely successful open-world adventures and where game design might go next• Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereIt is hard to think of a more modern entertainment format than the open-world video game. These sprawling technological endeavours, which mix narrative, social connectivity and the complete freedom to explore, are uniquely immersive and potentially endless. But do they represent a whole new idea of storytelling?This week I met Dan Houser, the co-founder of Rockstar and lead writer on Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, who has been in London to talk about his new company, Absurd Ventures. He’s working on a range of intriguing projects, including the novel and podcast series A Better Paradise (about a vast online game that goes tragically wrong), and a comedy-adventure set in an online world named Absurdaverse. He told me that, 15 years ago, he was doing press inte...

Events

1 week ago Invicibles whose stadium boasts nursery and handball court dreaming of Champions League despite town population of 5,000

KI KLAKSVIK are a team like no other in Europe. They are based in a tiny town in the remote Faroe Islands, and this year became domestic league and cup champions. They went unbeaten throughout both campaigns, winning 23 of their 27 Faroe Islands Premier League matches. It was their 21st league title, and a...

Sport

1 week ago ‘We wanted to break down barriers’: women’s teams finally join Football Manager

Sports Interactive has included the women’s game after its tireless effort of collating a comprehensive databaseWithin minutes I am in the deep end as the Arsenal manager before the start of the 2025-26 season, sizing up a transfer budget that does not match my ambitions for the club. I am immediately at odds with the board when I launch a rogue bid to sign Aitana Bonmatí, which is immediately rejected.I manage to recruit Alex Greenwood to shore things up in the wake of Leah Williamson’s injury and my late bid for Patri Guijarro, who wants to be part of my project, falls through at the last minute with the budget once again the problem. I demand answers from the board as to why they will not release more funds when the player-in-question wants to join, pointing out that our scouting report says she’s a necessary replacement for Lia Wälti. Continue reading...

Sport

1 week ago Town battles to save tiny museum and former ale house linked to Robert Burns

The unique building has stood for more than 360 years but soon it could be locked up for the very last time

Events

2 w. ago Film star Benedict Cumberbatch becomes a tank commander in hit video game role

The superstar British actor, who plays Dr Strange in the Marvel movies, has joined gamers' favourite World of Tanks

Events

2 w. ago Scientists are baffled as a mysterious halo of red light appears over a small Italian town for the second time in 3 years

An incredible image captures a bizarre UFO-like ring of red light floating above Possagno, a tiny town in the foothills of the Italian Alps.

Politics