Or, motion sickness becomes darwinianly (it's a word. Now. Shut up.) more prevalent as those who can't plug into the Rift and have sex with Virtual Jennifer Lawrence are the only ones left breeding...

The new version does allow the keys to be edited. I just went in and checked for you.

The vast majority of UK teachers "delivering ICT curriculum" are late-middle aged business studies teachers only capable of showing kids where the bold button is and this is the fundamental problem.

Even that phrase should terrify you - they deliver the curriculum (i.e. hand out workbooks) and then patrol the shop floor for slackers and the curriculum is "ICT". Something so divorced from real computing its got its own TLA that only really exists in education.

There are exceptions of course, real geeks with a passion for the subject trying to push the boundaries, but the fact that the ones driving this forward seem to be totally unaware of them just makes the whole thing look even worse:

"we could have 11-year-olds able to write simple 2D computer animations"
We already do - and more, Kodu , Alice, Muvizu and thats just the free ones I can think of off the top of my head.

I've been to conferences filled with these people bemoaning the death of computing and asking "what's gone wrong". They've usually even got one of the innovators doing a "look what I'm doing with the kids!" presentation that's lapped up by the audience. Not one of them takes it any further.

Really? Unqualified?

"It can still be hard to find a game and the game browser is missing a dozen basic components, but the potential for the perfect game we saw at preview is re-emerging."

"It's long, it's tough, it's huge fun, and it's cheap. But it will never be perfect."

Some of us do read the articles you link...

It never ceases to amaze how these clueless idiots get so high up. On two separate occasions I have sat (with my cap in hand trying to scrounge contracts) and smiled agreeably while they say things like "People don't want games that take more than an hour in a play-session" (Empire Interactive Exec) and "People don't want games where you fight with swords." (Ian sodding Livingstone no less) - its clear that Frank is cut from the same empty-suit cloth. He will do well in the games industry and, I predict, will very soon start his own consultancy firm providing market insight to outsiders with more money than sense. You watch and see...

Sorry to put a dampener on your scepticism but here in Scotland, with the help of some fairly vocal and very talented teachers, we're getting some genuine momentum going. Official support from Nintendo is great news. Find out more here if you're actually interested: http://www.handheldlearning.co.uk/content/view/46/60

But, for a lot of the younger generation a platformer means Super Mario Bros just as a hoover means a vacuum cleaner. While not anywhere near the legal definition of a generic trademark, there really are no other 2d platformers that they will have been exposed to.

Jesus, the De-Rez guys are so eye-piercingly bad at comic timing. First two minutes are watching someone watching Yahtzee's videos and then putting a hat on. There. 2 minutes of your life saved.

In fact, the rest is a sequence of mistimed and lukewarm overreaction gags. Now go watch something good instead. Enrich your life. You're free!