One of my favourite video games of all time is Worms on a Tightrope. It's an all-action shooter where worms crawl along a tightrope while you try to blast them off. Doesn't ring any bells? That's because Worms on a Tightrope was the first video game I ever wrote myself, punching at the rubber keys of my ZX Spectrum.
Today's games cost millions and take teams of programmers years to develop. Companies avoid gambling on innovation because, like Hollywood blockbusters, video games are no place to take a risk. But now the glory days of the single man programmer look set to return, thanks to a piece of downloadable software called XNA Game Studio created by Microsoft. You'll need a pretty good knowledge of computers but the basic version is free, and you can use it to build 3D objects and invent your very own games.
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