I didn’t really start playing videogames until I was 18 years old. I have mixed feelings about that – on one hand, I deeply regret letting them influence my childhood. Reading stories from people who cried at “Final Fantasy” and felt inspired to be braver by “The Legend of Zelda” is always a treat, and I really do feel disdain for the fact that I don’t have any such stories related to games. But on the other hand, at least I was never given the obligatory “games make you dumb” speech that has been a staple of parents everywhere for over 30 years now. We all know how it goes, even those of us who have never personally heard it – “Why are you wasting your time with those stupid games, they’ll never teach you anything, it’s just nonsense, go read a book or something!” Of course, most of us rightfully dismissed these notions as being ridiculous… But was there more to them than we thought? Maybe. Or maybe not. It’s complicated.

Recently, the National Children’s Bureau of Northern Ireland released a report asking the question of “How does the use of laptops, tablets and games consoles affect a child’s education?” And the answer is – a lot, it seems, and not in a good way. Basically, children who spend more than three hours a day playing games perform worse in school, with only 40% of the study subjects who use a handheld games player more than once a day achieving 5A*-C. Ouch! That sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it? The study, which is about a hundred pages long, goes into quite a lot of detail about the various ways in which games ruin children’s lives not only in terms of grades, but in terms of social interaction as well. Well, it’s settled – take those games away from little Emily, they’re going to destroy her as a person! Except they probably won’t.

Popular gaming site Kotaku took a look at the report and found quite a lot of flaws in it. For instance – the report doesn’t really specify what is considered a “handheld games player”. A PlayStation Vita or a Nintendo DS would certainly qualify, but so would a phone or a tablet. So were the children evaluated in the study only those who own a gaming console, or were those with a mobile device considered too? Additionally, the focus groups of the study had all kinds of faults – for example, a giant chunk of the test subjects were boys, who statistically have lower grades than girls regardless of how many games they play. The notion that only boys play games is outdated and kind of sexist, so why an important gender demographic was omitted is beyond me. Additionally, a focus group of children who don’t play games was not examined at all, so there’s no way to tell if the study’s results even mean anything.

I highly recommend reading the entirety of Kotaku’s article, as it’s a really fascinating read. While the author does agree that the study’s overall points may be legitimate, the study as it is is too flawed to be taken seriously. So until it can be peer-reviewed and authenticated with additional studies that verify the results, I’d advise all parents to calm down and let their children play, because there’s plenty of studies out there proving that games have more benefits than downsides. Game on!

This was a triumph. I’m making a note here – huge success!

If you’re anything like me, then you just couldn’t read the two sentences above without singing them, at least in your mind. 2007’s “Portal” was, and still is, one of the greatest games ever made. It had a fun little story spearheaded by what would become one of the most iconic, well-written characters in gaming history, a core mechanic that is a bit hard to explain, but is immediately comprehensible when seen in action, and some of the most well-crafted and intelligent puzzles in any game that always manage to tickle the player’s brain in just the right way without ever getting so difficult that they’re frustrating. And who can forget the wonderful Jonathan Coulton song that ended it all? A truly brilliant experience on practically every single level! So when I made the decision to start my own/online magazine about gaming, to me, there was no better name than “Portal”. Say hello to Portal Games Magazine!

By this point, you might be asking “Who the hell are you?!?” Well, my name is Elliot Dawson, born and raised in a tiny Yorkshire village named Yapham, located about 20 km away from York. Ever played “Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture”, a recent PS4 game by TheChineseRoom? If you have, then you’ve already visited Yapham – I swear, that game managed to nail the “small English town” vibe so perfectly! But anyway, the thing is, there’s not a whole lot to do in Yapham – there never really was, so growing up I had to find other interests, which mostly consisted of reading and old sci-fi and/or horror movies (so I was a nerd, sue me). I was also a big fan of card games, mostly poker, which I often played with my friends. In 2007, two very important things happened in my life – I turned 18, which meant that I could FINALLY start visiting the casinos in York and use my card-counting skills (which may or may not be imaginary), and I also played the aforementioned “Portal”, which changed my life and forever hooked me on videogames!

But yes, to keep a long story short, over the next few years I increased my knowledge about videogames and especially about casino gaming, having signed up to several online casinos in order to play there when I didn’t feel like travelling to York (seriously, those online casinos are a life saver for people like me). I’ve always liked talking about these subjects, but sadly, not a lot of people in my surrounding area ever wished to listen. As such, I decided to make this blog and update it whenever I had something to say! You know, to get it out of my chest and move on! I’m not sure how many of you will actually stumble upon it, but if you’re reading, thank you very much, and keep a look out for cool things to come! Updates may not be frequent, but I assure you that the blog is Still Alive and I don’t Want You Gone (I’m sorry, I had to).