Over 80 years since its conclusion, the Second World War still plays a pivotal role in defining national identity, as a significant moment that shaped nations across the world. Keith Lowe’s book The F...

It is a fact universally acknowledged that play is a great route to successful learning. Two influential textbooks by Alex Moseley and Nicola Whitton make the case persuasively. New Traditional Games ...

A free interactive discussion panel to explore and imagine historical video games

On 11th Septmber 2026, our Nations panel discussion event was hosted at the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Curious Festival, and streamed online via YouTube. It featured insights and perspectives from M...

Historical board games are often associated with the long-standing ‘hex and counters’ tradition based on maps, counters, charts, dice tables and dense scenario rules. These games remain an important p...

Is individual memory a reliable thing? What about collective memory? A nation’s history connects its people to their past, providing them with a sense of who they “ought to be” as citizens. But what h...

It is a simple enough question, and one I have been asked thousands of times. Growing up in Liverpool, my parents ran a corner shop. We were there everyday, serving the same neighbourhood, getting to ...

How is national identity encoded into video games played all around the world?

Videogame genres have long served as the kindling on which game studies discourse fires rage. As long as there have been discussions around the categorisation of videogames, the specificities that cha...

If you take a look at famous combat-flying action game franchise Ace Combat (Namco, 1995-), at first glance it would seem an innocuous pastime. You pilot jets shooting at others, focused in its tightl...

Wedge Antilles – hero, warrior, star pilot. The only rebel to face two Death Stars and live to tell the tale. Wedge confronted death countless times, in battles large and small, where split-second...

YouTube video by People Make Games

Games are a significant medium through which ideas of nationhood, identity, history, and cultural belonging are produced, circulated, and contested. Whether through historically themed simulations, mi...

On the 19th May 2026, we hosted our 14th HGN discussion panel for our Analogue theme, with guest speakers Izzy Bartley, Liz Davidson, and Andrew McKelvey (chaired by Nick Webber). You can now find a r...