Forget the knockers, there are some very real achievements at Silicon Roundabout

* Guest writer Dan Crow is CTO of UK startup Songkick

In Saturday’s Telegraph, blogger Damian Thompson tried to make a case that Silicon Roundabout is home to spoilt luvvies who churn out inconsequential iPhone apps, all the while whining about a lack of government handouts.

Is Thompson right, or is there something more substantial going on in London’s tech scene?

Stripped of the hyperbole, Thompson’s criticisms boil down to: the entrepreneurs of Silicon Roundabout are enthusiastic; they haven’t delivered anything of worth (but other parts of the UK have); UK tech entrepreneurs aren’t as aggressive as their Silicon Valley counterparts and spend all their time asking for government handouts instead of building businesses. Continue reading

London games start-up hits paydirt with Smash Cops iOS racing game

Five ex-PlayStation developers who set up a start-up studio in London’s Shoreditch last year have struck gold with their new iOS racing game Smash Cops.

The game launched in the iTunes App Store a week ago after receiving critical acclaim from influential review sites such as Pocket Gamer and EuroGamer and is now at No 2. in the top iPad game chart for paid apps.

The game retails for $2.99 in the US and ‘uses innovative new push controls to control and steer your car in a way that is natural and fun for gamers’. This may be so, but perhaps the FANTASTIC name of the game is also responsible; Police chase felons and drive them off the road.

The company who developed and published the game, Hutch Games is another one of those nifty little UK companies that live around London’s Old Street. Let’s just hope the owners don’t drive to work too often or Old Street roundabout might be a little dangerous.