My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin

Corrine and John are the director and creative director of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Corinne Busche majored in digital animation at the University of Utah. In 2006 she joined the studio now known as EA Saltlake, working through the ranks to become a Design Director for The Sims series.John Epler studied English language and literature at the University of Alberta. After graduating, he was selling televisions when he applied to be a tester at Bioware. At the studio he began working as a writer and director of cinematics.Now, the pair have come together to lead development on the latest entry to the beloved Dragon Age RPG series, which launched at the end of October. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American voice-actor and activist Sarah Elmaleh. As a student at Wesleyan University she performed in a variety of theatrical productions and radio plays, spending a portion of her studies at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford. After graduating she moved to Brooklyn, New York, and was working as a stage actor when she fell in with the city's game development scene, and decided to commit her life to the art form. She moved to Los Angeles and began voicing characters in blockbuster games such as Fortnite, Halo Infinite, Gears of War 5, as well as critically acclaimed indie titles such as Afterparty, Pyre, and Gone Home. During this time, she began working as a liaison between game developers and the actor’s union, SAG-AFTRA. Today, she sits as chair of the union’s Interactive Media unit, working to secure workplace measures that are common elsewhere in Hollywood. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the founder and director of ZeniMax Online Studio, Matt Firor. After studying history at George Washington University, he co-founded the developer Interesting Systems Inc., where he created a MUD-style text adventure titled Darkness Falls. In 1995 he co-founded Mythic Entertainment, where he produced pioneering online games such as Godzilla Online, Aliens Online, Starship Troopers: Battlespace, and, in 2001, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Dark Age of Camelot and its first two expansions. This experience then led my guest to found ZeniMax Online Studio in 2007 and start building the MMO, The Elder Scrolls Online. It launched in 2014, and, ten years later, my guest continues to lead development. According to the company’s latest figures, since its launch The Elder Scrolls Online has generated more than $2 billion in revenue. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a French film director and pioneer in the world of digital imaging. Born in Paris, he studied architecture and medicine at university before joining the film industry. He co-founded Duran Duboi, a postproduction house that created visual effects for music videos by artists including Prince, Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, and Boy George.As a VFX pioneer, he formed a close collaboration with the director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, with whom he worked on the feature films “Delicatessen”, “City of Lost Children”, and “Alien: Resurrection”. In 2001 my guest made his directorial debut with “Vidocq”, which holds the Guinness World Record as the world’s first all-HD movie, released ahead of 'Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones’.Two years later, he directed “Catwoman” starring Halle Berry in the lead role. Since then, my guest has produced more than a dozen films and, in 2019, co-founded the VR company 6th Sense VR, which specialises in culture and well-being.  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Hannah Nicklin, a British writer and narrative designer for video games. After studying Drama at Loughborough University, and Playwriting at the University of Birmingham, she returned to Loughborough for a doctorate in interactive design as anti-capitalist practice.After several years working as a poet, theatre-maker, and academic, in 2019 she moved into games full time: writing, narrative designing and co-producing Mutazione, the most nominated game in the 2020 IGF awards. That same year she became studio lead of Die Gute Fabrik, an independent game studio based in Copenhagen, Denmark.There she led and creative directed Saltsea Chronicles, one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2023. After the studio was forced to close down, my guest joined the team at the Netflix-owned studio Night School, where she currently works as a narrative designer and writer on a yet-to-be-announced title. LINKSCasual Games for ProtestersHannah on Bluesky Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the award-winning humourist, writer, and presenter Danny Wallace. Born in Dundee, Scotland, he published his first professional video game review at the age of thirteen while conducting work experience for Sega Power, a magazine that subsequently offered him a job. At 22, after graduating from The University of Westminster, he became a BBC comedy producer at, working on hit series such as Dead Ringers and The Mighty Boosh. In 2003 he published Join Me, a book about how he accidentally started a cult. His next book, Yes Man charted a six-month-long experiment in which he said “yes” to everything. It later became a blockbuster film starring Jim Carrey in the lead role. A regular guest on radio and television panel shows, he has remained deeply involved in video games too, providing the narration for the hit indie game Thomas Was Alone, and writing and starring in several Assassin’s Creed game, work for which received an outstanding achievement award from the Writer’s Guild of America. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Nainita Desai, the British composer for film, television and video games. Born and raised in London by her Indian parents, she earned a degree in mathematics, then studied sound design at the National Film and Television School. She started her career as a sound designer on the films Little Buddha, Lessons of Darkness and Death Machine, before branching into composition for television, including, among hundreds of others, the Oscar-nominated For Sama, the hit Netflix series American Murder and the BBC drama series Unprecedented. In 2022 she won the Emmy for ‘Outstanding Music Composition’ for her work on The Reason I Jump, a film that explores the experiences of non-speaking autistic people around the world. More recently she has entered the world of video games, composing the scores for Telling Lies, Immortality, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and, most recently, Tales of Kenzera: Zau for which she has been nominated for a World Soundtrack Award.  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American video game designer and programmer Eugene Jarvis. Born in California, he studied computer science at Berkeley, where, in the basement of the physics laboratory, he played the early video game Spacewar. After graduating he worked for Hewlitt Packard, but quit after three days to join Atari, where he began programming for some of the first computerised pinball machines. In the late seventies he joined Williams where he and a colleague came up with the idea for a side-scrolling arcade game set on an alien planet. Defender became a hit in the arcades; the game has grossed more than $1.5 billion since 1981. More hitsfollowed: Robotron 2084 –– the first twin-stick shooter -- Smash TV and Cruis’n USA. In 2008, my guest was named DePaul University's first Game Designer in Residence. He remains the only game-maker to have one of his creations featured on a U.S. postage stamp.  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the German filmmaker Uwe Boll. Born in Wermelskirchen he decided he wanted to direct films at the age of ten, after seeing Marlon Brando star in Mutiny on the Bounty. It wasn’t until he was in his mid-thirties, however, that he directed his first major motion picture, Blackwoods, a psychological thriller that a critic for the New York Times described as ‘smart and diabolical’.It was, however, his adaptations of video games for which he made his name. House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, Far Cry and Postal were just some of the games he adapted to film. Not all of them lost money, but most were derided by reviewers.My guest did not shy away from engaging his harshest critics, however. In 2006 he challenged five of them to a boxing match. Ten years later he announced his retirement from filmmaking. Nevertheless, since then he has announced several new projects, including First Shift, a police drama set in the New York, that released in the summer.Links:Boll Films Official WebsiteGame Over, Uwe Boll -- Vanity Fair. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American video game artist and designer, Derek Yu. Born in Pasadena, California in the early eighties, he started mapping out games on graph paper when he was still a child. After graduating college with a degree in computer science, he moved to San Francisco to work as a freelance illustrator. In 2007 he developed a satirical run-and-gun freeware game titled “I’m O.K – A Murder Simulator”, a response to a challenge set down by the notorious critic of video games, (and previous guest of the show) Jack Thompson. He then formed a studio with one of his ‘I'm OK’ collaborators and together they released Aquaria, a critically lauded side-scroller. That game’s success enabled my guest to make Spelunky, one of the most popular and influential roguelike platformers yet made. Spelunky sold more than a million copies, won numerous awards, and begat an equally well-regarded sequel. Now, four years on, my guest is about to release UFO 50, a collection of games that combine an 8-bit aesthetic with pioneering design.  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special correspondence edition, host Simon Parkin reads out listeners' correspondence and answers your questions.Hear Simon discuss the recent, headline-making episode with former PlayStation President Chris Deering, listener responses to the controversy, as well as discussion of what term we should use to describe the genre formerly known as 'Metroidvania', Maddy Thorson's grey label platforms, and much, much more.  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an American businessman and the former and first president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Chris Deering. Raised in Boston, Massachusetts to immigrant parents, my guest had a strict upbringing. Despite the disadvantages he faced, he graduated with distinction with a degree in computer science at Boston College, then studied marketing at Harvard Business School. He first worked for the razor-manufacturer Gillette, rising to the rank of head of worldwide shaving, then joined Atari, then Columbia Pictures. In 1995 he became president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, responsible for launching the company’s first console, the PlayStation, remaining at the company until 2005. “They were,” he once told me, “the best ten years of my life.”  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Eliot Higgins, a British citizen journalist and founder of Bellingcat, a website that specialises in open-source intelligence. In 2012, while unemployed, he became involved in online discussions about the conflict in Syria, where few journalists were able to operate. Despite having little prior interest in the region, he began to study videos of the conflict, and started a blog on which he analysed geodata and weaponry. This work exposed atrocities and helped establish an evidence base for crimes allegedly committed by the Syrian government. In 2013 Stuart Hughes, a BBC News producer told the New Yorker: “he’s probably broken more stories than most journalists do in a career.” In the decade since, however, Bellingcat has broken dozens more, investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014, and exposing the true identities of the Russian spies who the British government claims poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in 2018. Throughout all of this, my guest has remained a keen player of video games –– despite quitting World of Warcraft for fear his marriage might not survive his addiction. And he says that being part of these online communities has been instrumental in honing his talents.  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode, Simon is joined by comedian Glenn Moore to discuss the subject of July's My Perfect Console 'Game Club', The Messenger.Throughout July 2024, Glenn and Simon, along with many of you, the listeners, played through the 2018 platformer The Messenger, a game chosen by Abu Salim during his episode of My Perfect Console.Glenn and Simon discuss their experiences with the game, with input from you the listeners. They also talk about how Glenn managed to break his Nintendo Switch, the popular game series that neither of us have clicked with, and which video game-themed subject Glenn should pick for his forthcoming appearance on Celebrity Mastermind...If you would like to listen to the full back catalogue of Game Club episodes head to www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole and become a supporter. Your monthly subscription –– about the cost of a magazine –– helps to fund the podcast, and comes with a range of supporter-only benefits. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Maddy Thorson, a Canadian writer and designer for video games. At the age of 14, she obtained a copy of GameMaker, software on which she learned to make simple games. After studying computer science at Grande Prairie Regional College in Alberta, she moved to Vancouver and there rented a house in which she and her friends began working on a multiplayer combat game featuring four archers. TowerFall Ascension, became a huge hit.The following year, my guest took part in a game jam and co-created a game based on her experiences bouldering. That experiment grew into Celeste, which cast players as Madeline, a young woman suffering from anxiety and depression who aims to climb a mountain. En route, she meets manifestations of her self-doubt, which try to halt her progress.A commercial version of Celeste launched in 2018 and became a smash hit. It won Best Independent Game at the Game Awards and in 2022 was ranked fourteenth in a USA Today list of the best games ever made. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Holly Gramazio, a writer, curator, and game designer. Born in Australia, she earned her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide, then moved to London where she founded the Somerset House-based games festival Now Play This, an annual celebration of experimental games. In 2019 she wrote the script for Dicey Dungeons, a game that subsequently sold 850,000 copies and won the Indiecade Grand Jury Prize. In April this year, Vintage Books published her debut novel “The Husbands”,  in which a young single woman discovers a limitless supply of husbands in her attic. The Times has described the book as “a brilliant satire on the Tinder generation’s commitment issues.” LINKSHolly's websiteThe Husbands generatorNow Play This festivalSimon's write up of this year's NPT(Photo by Diana Patient.) Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode, five My Perfect Console supporters share the games they would like to put on their ideal, fictional games machine, and the reasons behind their choices. If you would like to share your console with the My Perfect Console audience, head to www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole where you can become a supporter and receive a raft of these and other benefits. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Luke Muscat, the Australian video game designer behind some of the best-known smart phone games yet made. After graduating from Queensland University of Technology with a degree in IT and Games, he joined Halfbrick Studio, a game developer in Brisbane that specialised in games licensed from film and TV.There he designed a simple yet compelling iPhone game in which players must slice fruit thrown into the air by swiping the device's touch screen with their finger. Fruit Ninja released in 2010. Within a year it had sold more than 20 million copies. In 2011 my guest developed another once-in-a-lifetime hit with Jetpack Joyride, a game that won a slew of design awards and that continues to be a bestseller today. After a stint working as head of design for the company that makes Snapchat, in 2022 my guest went independent, and is now preparing to release his first indie title, Feed The Deep, a lovecraftian deep sea roguelike. LINKSFeed the Deep Steam PageLuke's Game Dev YouTube ChannelQuake 'Annihilation' video.Simon's 2013 New Yorker piece on 'endless runners'Daryl Baxter's 50 Years of Boss Fights. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special episode to celebrate the life and work of Brett Jones, an artist and animator for video games, film and television who passed away in July. Jones worked on the seminal N64 movie tie-in game, Goldeneye 007, which successfully brought the first person shooter genre to consoles. He made instrumental contributions to its sequel, Perfect Dark, then left the games industry to create VFX for film and television, contributing work to The Last Jedi, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Dr Who. This is a previously unreleased interview with Jones, conducted in 2022 as research for a Guardian article commemorating the 25th anniversary of Goldeneye 007.LINKSThe game’s Bond: the making of Nintendo classic GoldenEye 007 – The Guardian.Fundraiser for art exhibition of Brett's work, scheduled for November 2024.Brett's website. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American video game developer Steve Meretzky. Born and raised in Yonkers, New York, he attended MIT, where he earned a degree in construction management. In 1981, after two years spent working in the construction industry, a friend asked him if he would like to become a tester for Infocom, a publisher that specialised in interactive fiction. He agreed and was soon invited to write a game of his own, the science fiction game Planetfall.After he included a reference to Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in the game, my guest was invited to collaborate with Adams in adapting the novel into a best-selling game. In 1988 he wrote A Mind Forever Voyaging, an ambitious and politically charged work that stretched the boundaries of what a video game could do ––and saw him become one of the first interactive fiction writers admitted to the Science Fiction Writers of America.After stints working for Blue Fang Games, Playdom and King, he is currently VP of design at the mobile games company PeopleFun.LINKSBBC Documentary from 1985 takes us inside Infocom.Play 30th Anniversary Edition of Hitchhiker's Guide in your browser.Google's AI experiment with Zork...Hire Ed Hawkins to voice your game. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an English writer for video games, TV, film, comics, and books. Born into a literary household – her father was the celebrated fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett –– she studied journalism at the University of Arts in London. After graduating she joined the staff of PC Zone, where she worked her way up from editorial assistant to the role of section editor. In 2002 she left journalism to write video games, soon earning a BAFTA nomination for her work on Heavenly Sword.In 2013 she wrote the award-winning reboot of Tomb Raider, then its sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, for which she won the Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing award from the Writers Guild of America. My guest has also written comics for DC, Dark Horse, and Marvel, and her film and TV projects include collaborations with Film 4, and the Henson Company. As well as being the first woman to write a Fighting Fantasy novel, she has co-authored Campaigns & Companions: The Complete Roleplaying Guide for Pets. Last year she hosted the BBC Radio 4 series Mythical Creatures, a compendium of Britain’s mythic beasts, and what they tell us about our history.LINKS:Rhianna's website.https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2018/mar/12/terry-pratchett-moomins-rhianna-pratchett Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the British scriptwriter and librettist for opera, Richard Sparks. In 1978 he wrote a sketch for Rowan Aktinson, the actor who later played Mr Bean, which Atkinson performed in the Secret Policeman’s Ball, a series of benefit shows organised by John Cleese to raise funds for Amnesty International. The success of the sketch led my guest to become a writer for BBC2’s ‘Not the Nine O’Clock News’ comedy show, and a slew of other TV writing gigs followed.In 1992 he moved to Los Angeles where he began to write libretti for the L.A. Opera. In 2016 he directed Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which starred Jack Black in the leading role. Now he has returned to his comedy roots, with the publication of “New Rock New Role”, a fantasy comic novel about a retired teacher who discovers video games while in his sixties. Website: https://richardsparks.com/The School Master Sketch Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American game writer and narrative designer Kelsey Beachum. After graduating from Michigan State University, she worked in publishing, first as editor of the Cryogenic Society of America, then in editorial operations for the satirical current affairs publication, The Onion.In 2012 stared work on a space-mystery game titled Outer Wilds. Published in 2019 by Annapurna Interactive, Outer Wilds released to widespread acclaim. My guest was named a Nebula Award finalist for her writing on the game, which also won the 2020 BAFTA for Best Video Game. On this very podcast Ronan Farrow described the storytelling in Outer Wilds as “incredible.” Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Mike Drucker, an American comedy writer and producer. After graduating with a master’s degree in literature from New York University, he worked as a localisation editor for Nintendo, writing English language jokes for games such as Kid Icarus: Uprising. After a year working as Head Video Writer for the website IGN, he joined Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, then, in 2014, went with Jimmy to the Tonight Show. After a stint as head writer for Bill Nye Saves the World, my guest became co-head writer and executive producer for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, a show for which he was nominated for five Emmys and won two Writers Guild Awards. More recently he returned to the Tonight Show writing sketches for the likes of Jon Hamm and Ryan Reynolds. He’s also currently working on a book titled, Good Game; No Rematch a heartfelt memoir about the classic video games that entertain and inspire us, and even hold the power to transform our lives.  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Michael Sherman, director of esports for Riot Games. While attending the University of Texas at Dallas for Computer Science, he worked as an Automotive Safety Software Engineer for Texas Instruments, inventing a wireless car-seat that would sound an alarm if a child was left in the car. In 2013 he moved into the emerging world of competitive video game playing, developing broadcast tools for live esports competitions. The following year he dropped out of college to help oversee the growth of college-level League of Legends in North America at Riot Games. In 2022 he joined the team behind Teamfight Tactics, a chess-like spinoff of League of Legends, working to establish the game as a competitive eSport. Today, he is helping to build Riot’s forthcoming fighting game, 2XKO. NOTESTwitter: @RiotShermanA Falconer Enters the World of Video Games Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special correspondence edition, host Simon Parkin reads out listeners' correspondence, answers questions, and offers at least one clue about a forthcoming special guest.Hear Simon discuss which was the best year for video games, which video game characters would make the best stand-up comics, and what Hollywood will do for #content when the only video game left to adapt is Fortnite... Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American game designer and musician Eric Barone. Born in Los Angeles, he spent his childhood in the suburbs of Seattle. In 2011 he graduated from the University of Washington Tacoma with a degree in computer science, but was unable to find employment. He started developing a video game to hone his programming skills. Supported by his girlfriend, and an evening job he took as an usher at the Paramount Theatre, for four years my guest worked on his game, a farming simulator. In 2016 he released Stardew Valley, which became an overnight success. To date, it has sold well over thirty million copies, while continuing to evolve via regular updates. In 2021 my guest announced a follow-up, Haunted Chocolatier, which casts players as the owner of a chocolate shop. He once described video games as “a powerful form of art, a peaceful escape from the chaos of modern life, and a way to have experiences that are impossible otherwise... Through these means, games have a powerful and growing influence on culture.” Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nina Freeman is an American independent video game writer and designer. While a student at Pace University in New York, she was drawn to the work of Frank O’Hara and other poets of the New York School, who documented their lives through witty, confessional verse. She began to explore ways in which she could employ a similar tone, not in poetry, but in video games.Her 2014 game “how do you Do It?,” puts the player in the role of an awkward tween who is desperately trying to figure out how sex works while playing with dolls. The game established a tone and themes that my guest explored in her subsequent work, most famously Cibele, an adventure video game about a romance developed through an online multiplayer game.Her memoir-like approach has proven influential. The video game designer Francesca Carletto-Leon recently told the New York Times: “Her work has been hugely inspirational to me and important to the larger industry.”USEFUL LINKSNina's Instagram: @PersocomninaNina's Itch.io page: Size ZeroIncrepare's Slave of GodDiego Garcia's website Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the British actor Abubakar Salim. Born in Hertfordshire to a family of first-generation Kenyan immigrants, he joined the National Youth Theatre at the age of sixteen, then won a scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.He made his professional stage debut in 2010 playing Osric in Prince of Denmark at the National Theatre. After securing minor roles in shows such as 24 and Black Mirror, he played major characters in Sky One’s series Jamestown, HBO’s Raised by Wolves, and in Ridley Scott’s 2023 motion picture film Napoleon.My guest has also starred in several video games, including Assassin's Creed Origins, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Games Award. A keen player of video games, in 2020 he founded Surgent Studios, which recently released its debut title, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, a game which explores grief through the lens of Bantu mythology.Twitter: @AbzybabzyPhoto: Michael Schwartz for Tatler. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American writer and game designer Chet Faliszek. In the nineties he and his friend Erik Wolpaw founded the website Old Man Murray. The satirical online publication poked fun at video gaming’s sacred cows and established a tone that is still prevalent across the internet today. After catching the attention of Half-Life creator Gabe Newell, the pair joined the video game developer Valve. There my guest contributed to the writing on Half Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2, co-wrote Portal, then led development of Left 4 Dead and its sequel. In 2017 he left Valve, eventually founding his own studio Stray Bombay. The company's first game, The Anacrusis, is a brightly coloured and joke-filled cooperative first-person shooter set aboard a stranded spaceship. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Friend of the podcast Glenn Moore joins Simon for a special bonus episode to discuss April's book-club-game, Stephen's Sausage Roll edition.This previously supporter-only episode gives a taste of the bonus monthly episode My Perfect Console supporters receive through Patreon.Throughout April 2024, Glenn and Simon, together with many of the My Perfect Console listeners, played through the strategy game Stephen's Sausage Roll, a game chosen by the neuroscientist and writer Patrick House.Listen to Glenn and Simon discuss their experiences playing the game –– with bonus thoughts on Inscryption, Killer Frequency, the New York Times' game offerings, and much more! Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American novelist and short story writer, Veronica Roth. Born in New York and raised in Illinois, she studied creative writing at Northwestern University. While a student, she wrote Divergent, a dystopian science fiction novel set in a post-apocalyptic version of Chicago.The book sold to a publisher even before she graduated, and the film rights a few months later. Two sequels followed, creating a trilogy that has now sold more than 35 million copies worldwide. More books followed including, in 2020, her first adult novel, Chosen Ones.Now, in her forthcoming book, When Among Crows, my guest returns to Chicago, in a story that combines Slavic folklore and the city’s underworld. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special correspondence edition, host Simon Parkin reads out listeners' correspondence, answers questions, and offers at least one clue about a forthcoming special guest. Hear about the genius game that Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi never made, the latest on film director Steven Spielberg's adaptation of 'A Game of Birds and Wolves', and whether or not video game journalists face discrimination from the wider journalism industry... Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American videogame designer and writer, Teddy Dief. Born in Illinois, they graduated from Columbia University with a degree in music, computer science, and Japanese. Then while studying for an MFA in filmmaking and game design at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, they worked on Pirates of the Caribbean Online, and as a designer for the Kinect at Xbox. In 2013, my guest joined the founding team of indie studio Heart Machine as a designer for Hyper Light Drifter. Three years later they became the creative director of Square Enix Montreal. When that project was cancelled, my guest returned to the world of independent development, working as creative director of We Are OFK, an episodic game about a fictional band that was recently nominated for a Peabody Award. My guest is also the co-founder of Glitch City, a Los Angeles-based collective of game-makers and independent artists. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the English author and journalist, Keith Stuart. He grew up in a town near Stockport in Greater Manchester, then studied English and Drama at Warwick University. After graduating he joined Big Red Software, testing Game Genie codes for the Game Boy, and coming up with names for the vehicles and tracks in Big Red Racing. In 1995 he joined the team of the recently launched Edge magazine, before becoming editor of the unofficial Dreamcast magazine, DC-UK. In 2005 he assumed the pioneering role of games editor for The Guardian, a position he held for more than a decade, as one of the first long-term beat reporters on games for a broadsheet newspaper. In 2016 he published his first novel, A Boy Made of Blocks, based on his experience bonding with his autistic son in Minecraft. After the book became a Richard & Judy bestseller more followed, and he is now publishing his fourth novel, Love is a Curse, a story about generational love and trauma.  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Masaya Matsuura, a Japanese musician and game designer widely considered to be the inventor of rhythm action video games. Born in Osaka City, music ran in the family; his father often performed with his guitar in clubs around Shinagawa Station in Tokyo. My guest was an unruly student until he discovered a love of keyboards and synthesisers, and found his people. in 1983 he formed Psy*s (pronounced ‘Saiz’), a progressive pop band fronted by the signer Mami Yasunori, which soon signed to Sony Music.Ten studio albums followed, and in 1994 my guest secured a budget to create a Simon Says-style rhythm game featuring an anthropomorphic, rapping dog. PaRappa the Rapper become an international smash his and led to a series of follow-ups: the guitar-based UmJammaLammy, the experimental wireframe project Vib-Ribbon, and Mojibribbon, a music game that played with calligraphic art.In recent years my guest has retreated from the video game business, focusing again on his music, and live events where he plays rare vinyl records, including tracks from the video games he has made, to an audience.Links:Cobalt Green, 1984, Masaya Matsuura E.P. -- Listen on Soundcloud.Pingu Rap/ ピングー ラップ vinyl re-release by Tower Records. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the English stand-up comedian Sarah Keyworth. Born in Nottingham in 1993 they studied drama at De Montfort University, where they became an active member of the university's comedy club. After graduating, my guest then worked for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, while performing on the circuit. Their first show, Dark Horse, was nominated for best newcomer at the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Awards, and included on the second season of Soho Theatre Live on Amazon Prime. They soon became a fixture on television and radio, appearing on Mock the Week, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Richard Osman's House of Games and, in 2021, Live at the Apollo. Now, my guest is returning to the stage with a new tour titled, My Eyes Are Up Here, described by the Guardian as “engaging and touching”. https://www.sarahkeyworth.co.uk/ Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is John Johanas, creative director at the Tokyo-based studio Tango Gameworks. Born on Long Island, New York, he played in a Radiohead covers band while in High School. After graduating with a degree in East Asia studies from Brandeis University, he moved to Japan to work as an English teacher.He started translating Japanese books into English in his spare time. A keen player of video games, in 2010 my guest applied to work at Tango Gameworks, the studio founded by the legendary horror director Shinji Mikami. He joined, and there worked first as a translator, then as a designer on The Evil Within, before assuming the role of director on the game’s two DLC episodes and full sequel.In 2023 he directed the studio’s innovative music-combat game Hi-Fi Rush, which has just launched for PlayStation 5. [Photograph Game Informer/ Alex Van Aken]. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Siobhan Reddy, a video game executive and the co-deputy chair of BAFTA. Born in South African to Irish and Australian parents, at the age of four she moved to Campbelltown, New South Wales in Australia. There as a student she became interested in filmmaking and technology. At eighteen she moved to the UK and began working for Perfect Entertainment, the independent game studio behind Terry Pratchett’s DiscWorld series of game adaptations.In 1999 she joined Criterion Games and there worked on a string of racing games, including Burnout 3 and 4, then left in 2006 to help set up production within the newly formed Media Molecule. In 2009 she was named studio director, helping to oversee the production of the LittleBigPlanet series, Tearaway, and, most recently, Dreams.In 2013 was named one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK by BBC's Woman's Hour and, in 2021, was given the BAFTA Fellowship award for her pioneering work in the games industry. She now serves as BAFTA’s deputy chair, helping to oversee the delivery of the academy’s mission to empower and spotlight the screen industries and the talented people within them.[Photograph: Sam Hendel/Media Molecule] Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special correspondence edition, host Simon Parkin explores feedback from the recent episode with Jack Thompson, reads out listeners' correspondence, answers questions, and offers at least one reveal about a forthcoming special guest... Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Wes Fenlon, a San Francisco-based writer and senior editor at the video game publication PC Gamer. Having graduated from The University of Georgia with a degree in journalism and magazines, my guest freelanced for The Wirecutter –– the product review website now owned by the New York Times –– and Tested.com where he reviewed and recommended PC hardware.In January 2014 he joined PC Gamer Magazine as features and hardware editor. There he has written dozens of investigative pieces, highlighting specific video game communities, publishing stories of how video games affect our lives and culture, and revealing how games and the hardware they run on are made. He is also the author of Read Only Memo, a newsletter all about video game emulation.Twitter: https://twitter.com/wesleyfenlonRead Only Memo newsletter: https://www.readonlymemo.com/ Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is former lawyer who gained recognition in the late nineties and early 2000s as an "anti-video game activist", criticizing the content of violent video games and their alleged effects on children. Via a series of high-profile lawsuits, including several against Rockstar, the creator of the Grand Theft Auto series, he claimed that Mature-rated games are marketed and sold to children, and that their content has played a contributing role in deadly school shootings and other tragic events in the U.S. In a 2015 a BBC dramatization of the conflict between my guest and Rockstar, he was played by Bill Paxton. By then, however, he was no longer a practicing attorney. In 2008 the Supreme Court of Florida permanently disbarred him from practicing law. Now seventy-two years old and keen golfer, my guest retains the beliefs that animated his zealous pursuit of video game companies. Last year he told me, via email: “I was right and I would do it all over again.” Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a game developer and founder of Visai Games. At the age of twelve he moved to Canada from Southern India, then, hoping to enter the games industry, studied Computer Science at the University of Toronto. After graduating, my guest took a programming job at the mobile games studio, Uken Games. In his spare time he and an artist friend started working on a project of their own, a narrative cooking game about an Indian mother who comes to Canada with her family in the 1980s. In the game, players cook various dishes and restore lost recipes, exploring the role that food can play in enabling immigrant families connect to their heritage. Venba launched in 2023 to widespread acclaim. The L.A. Times described it as “alternately heart-breaking and heart-warming.”  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a Scottish crime writer. Born into a working-class family in Fife, she studied English at St Hilda’s College Oxford, where she was the first student to be admitted from a Scottish state school. She first worked as a journalist, then a dramatist and, in 1987, published her first novel, Report for Murder. Since then, my guest has released dozens of books, many of which have been adapted for television. She has sold more than 19 million books, and won numerous awards too, including the L.A. Times Book of the Year, and the Diamond Dagger, awarded by the Crime Writers' Association for her lifetime contribution to crime writing in the English language. She has also performed at Glastonbury, in a band composed of authors called ‘The Fun Lovin' Crime Writers’. Welcome Val McDermid. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an American neuroscientist and writer. Born in New York, he earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Stanford University in 2014, researching Toxoplasma gondii, the single-celled feline parasite that infects mouse brains and may––or may not––mess with their fear of cats. As well as studying ancient genetics – specifically conducting tests on Egyptian cat mummies –– my guest is an accomplished science writer. He regularly contributes to the New Yorker, Slate, and Nautil.us. His recent book “Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness” explores a single moment in neuroscience translated through nineteen different modern theories of consciousness. A reviewer for the Wall Street Journal described it as “Stylish, witty, and insightful.” He is also a keen follower of video games. In a recent piece for the L.A. Review of Books he wrote: ‘I am convinced that, were Isaac Newton alive today, he would be a video game speedrunner.’  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a Japanese video-game director, producer, and executive officer of Square-Enix. Born in 1966 in Fussa City in the suburbs of Tokyo, he studied filmmaking at Nihon University. After graduating, he was working at an animation studio when he first played Final Fantasy on the Famicom, and immediately saw the dramatic potential of the video game medium. Despite having no technical skills, he joined Square in 1990, to work as an “event planner”, involved in level design for Seiken Densetsu (Final Fantasy Adventure) for the Game Boy. Four years later he directed Final Fantasy VI, a game widely considered a classic. A protégée of the company’s founder, Hironobu Sakaguchi, my guest subsequently worked on many of the company’s best-loved titles, and now serves as Brand Manager for the Final Fantasy series. “My father would complain that he had no idea what was going on when I played RPGs at home after school,” he once told me. “This made me want to make games that those watching the screen beside the player might also find interesting.”  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Senior Vice-President of Blizzard Entertainment and General Manager of the Diablo video game series. After attending the University of Ottawa for Computer Science, my guest joined Microsoft as a Microsoft Consultant, before he moved to the company’s games division to work titles including Microsoft Train Simulator, then the Xbox version of Counter-Strike.In 2005 he joined Epic Games where, as a producer, he helped steer the delayed Gears of War back on track. After working on the second and third games in that series, Bulletstorm and Infinity Blade, he soon gained a reputation as a “closer”, someone able to get a blockbuster out of the door.My guest then moved to Irrational Games to help finish the troubled BioShock Infinite. In 2020, he joined Blizzard to oversee development of the Diablo series, the fourth entry to which launched to widespread acclaim in 2023. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guests today are co-authors of the techno-thriller novel Prophet. Helen Macdonald is an English writer, naturalist, and an affiliated research scholar at the University of Cambridge. Their 2014 book “H is for Hawk” tells the true story of a year spent training a northern goshawk while grieving. The book won, among many other things, the Samuel Johnson Prize for literature. Sin Blaché is an American Irish musician and writer. The pair became friends on social media where they bonded over nerdish things. Then they arranged to meet in a remote Airbnb in rural Ireland, and began work on a collaborative novel. The result, Prophet, was released in late 2023 to widespread acclaim. A reviewer for The Guardian described it as “a work of exceptional storytelling skill and stylistic panache,” suggesting an alternative title might be ‘H Is for High-Octane Adventure.”  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an English broadcaster, writer, television presenter and stand-up comedian. Born in Slough, he began working as a comic in the early nineties, soon landing a gig as co-host of Channel 4’s The 11 O’clock Show, the satirical comedy programme that launched the careers of Sacha Baron Cohen and Ricky Gervais. A slew of high-profile TV and radio presenting gigs followed, including for Channel 4’s video game-related show Thumb Bandits. During that time my guest often used drugs to cope with the stress of his burgeoning career, before becoming sober in 2005. Since then he has openly talked about his ongoing struggles with substance abuse and mental health, including on the seventeenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, in which he came third. As well as writing a regular column for Retro Gamer magazine, and hosting the Random Access Memories podcast, all about 8-bit computers, my guest recently became a trained counsellor, drawing upon his first-hand experiences to help others. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a British author and screenwriter for film and video games. Born in London, he began his career as a writer for the games magazine Commodore User, then joined the team that founded PC Gamer, of which he later became editor-in-chief. In 2010, my guest found success in Hollywood as the writer of The Book of Eli, a post-apocalyptic neo-Western film starring Denzel Washington. In 2013 he co-wrote After Earth with the director M. Night Shyamalan, then co-wrote the story for Star Wars: Rogue One. He has also contributed writing to blockbuster video games, including Duke Nukem: Forever, Prey, Gears of War and The Walking Dead, for which he won a BAFTA. Since becoming a US citizen, he now resides in California with his family. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another selection of some of our favourite clips from My Perfect Console's amazing line-up of guests from 2023.Cast in Order of AppearanceHenk RogersDylan CuthbertCharles CecilJörg TittelEllie GibsonDanny PudiJoseph MackertichJosh WardleDan VecchittoTarn AdamsKelsey LewinStella WisdomTetsuya MizuguchiNolan BushnellThanks for listening. Back soon with Year Two. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a thrilling first year for My Perfect Console. Here are some of our favourite clips from 2023.Cast in Order of AppearanceDara Ó BriainHeather Ann CampbellPierre NovelliAshly BurchJennifer HaleDominic ArmatoPhil WangJason SchreierLucas PopeMeghan JayanthPeter MolyneuxRonan FarrowNaomi AldermanMike RoseSusan CalmanJosh ScherrMarie Le ConteTom Bissell Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special episode announcing the winner of the My Perfect Console of the Year (2023) Tournament.It's time. Fifty-two consoles have now been whittled down to two final machines. It's an all-North American final, as the U.S.A.'s Heather Anne-Campbell takes on Canada's Phil Fish. Both machines are spectacular, potential best-sellers:Heather Anne-Campbell's "The Only Play". Tetris. Street Fighter III. The Last of Us. Fortnite. Disco Elysium.Phil Fish's "Fez II". Ridge Racer Type IV. Rez. Dishonored. Hitman: World of Assassination. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.Listen to the result of the final face-off, as voted by you the listeners. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an American scientist, entrepreneur, and a founding father of the video game industry. Born in 1943, he grew up in Utah, in a Mormon family, before leaving to study engineering and business at Utah State University. While a student he played Spacewar!, one of the earliest digital games designed for the PDP-1 computer. After graduation he joined an electronics company, and there met Ted Dabney, with whom he founded a start-up company with the aim of creating a commercial version of Spacewar! for the arcades. In 1972 the pair changed the company name to Atari, a term taken from my guest’s favourite board game, Go. Together with another engineer, Al Alcorn, the trio produced Pong and, in 1976, the Atari 2600 console – which together birthed the modern games industry. Throughout the seventies my guest hired dozens of young engineers, including Steve Jobs who later co-founded Apple. Since then, he has founded more than twenty companies, received the BAFTA fellowship, and has been named one of Newsweek's “50 Men Who Changed America".Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole  Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an American writer and narrative designer for video games. After graduating from the USC School of Cinematic Arts with an MFA in Animation, he worked as an animator in Hollywood, contributing to an early version of Shrek at DreamWorks, Dinosaur at Disney, and to the music video Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2001 my guest joined the video game studio Naughty Dog and worked as the cinematics animation lead on seven titles including Jak and Daxter and the first three Uncharted games, a series for which he also helped to develop the storylines. He then became a staff writer and narrative designer on Uncharted IV: A Thief’s End, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and the recent blockbuster The Last of Us: Part II. In 2020 he left Naughty Dog after more than two decades and joined Crop Circle Games as narrative director on the studio’s first, as yet unannounced title. Play the console:A Mind Forever Voyaging.Rez.Ico.Bloodborne.Outer Wilds.Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a Scottish comedian, writer, television presenter, narrator, and Twitch streamer. It was during his final year studying law at the University of Edinburgh, the city in which he grew up, that my guest first tried stand-up comedy.At the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that year he reached the final of the Chortle Student Comedian of the Year, taking second place to Joe Lycett. After being spotted at a gig, my guest then became one of the main presenters for CBBC, working alongside various puppet sidekicks – an experience that later formed the basis for his sitcom, Buffering.After writing and presenting shows for the channel, in 2014 he was nominated as Best Children's Presenter by BAFTA. The following year, my guest’s voice became familiar to millions, when he became the narrator of ITV2’s reality show Love Island. As well as appearing as a contestant on the eighth series of Taskmater, my guest also hosts a popular Twitch channel, on which he plays video games. Play the console:Last of Us Remastered FIFA 17 A Way Out The White Door Hogwarts Legacy Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is founder and director of the independent game publisher No More Robots. After graduating from the University of Manchester with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics, he became editor-in-chief of IndieGames.com. From there he worked as UK editor of the North American video game industry website Gamasutra ––today known as Gamedeveloper.com.After a brief stint working in PR, in 2017 my guest founded No More Robots. Since then, the Manchester-based company has published titles that have sold millions of copies, including 2018’s downhill mountain bike-racer Descenders, 2020’s royal-themed strategy game, Yes, Your Grace, and the adventure RPG Soccer Story.A frequent speaker at video game events, he has gained a reputation as an outspoken champion of indie studios, and a willing sharer of insider knowledge. Play the console:The Gene MachineCounterstrike: SourceWorld of GooPlants vs ZombiesTheme Park Tycoon 2Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a New York Times-bestselling author and journalist. After graduating from NYU with a degree in writing, he worked as a freelance journalist covering video games for Wired magazine, Joystiq, Edge, Paste, and others.In 2012 he joined the staff of Kotaku, the video game website run, at that time, by Gawker. There he made a name for himself as a tenacious reporter, particularly with his empathetic coverage of crunch culture –– the term given to the egregious overtime working practises that remain prevalent across the games industry. This work led to my guest’s 2017 bestseller, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, and in 2021 the follow-up, Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry.For the past three years my guest has continued to cover video games and the people who make them for Bloomberg. “I've always been in favor of drastic transparency,” he once said, “radical transparency.” Play the console:Final Fantasy VIBaldur's Gate IIStarcraft IIReturn Of The Obra DinnThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a Canadian cartoonist and creator of one of the best-loved graphic novels of the 2000s. Born in London, Canada, he joined the Film Studies programme at the University of Western Ontario, but dropped out and moved to Toronto, where he became involved in the city’s comics scene. His first graphic novel, Lost at Sea, was published in 2003.The following year, he published Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life, a graphic novel featuring a distinctly Canadian superhero, who must battle his new girlfriend’s seven supervillain exes. A melting pot of video game references and manga storytelling techniques, the story featured a cast of smart and witty twenty-something dropouts.My guest expected Scott Pilgrim to sell a thousand copies. In fact, the six-volume series sold more than a million copies, and in 2010 was adapted into a film directed by Edgar Wright in which Michael Cera played the lead role. An eight-part animated series, titled Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, is due to launch on Netflix later this week, for which the entire main cast from the film have reprised their roles. Play the console:River City RansomThe Secret of Monkey Island 2Final Fantasy VIDark SoulsHadesThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an award-winning novelist, journalist, writer of games, and presenter of radio programmes. She grew up in London, studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, then received an MA in creative writing at the UEA. Her first novel, Disobedience, was released in 2006 and later adapted into a feature film starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams. In 2012 she co-created the story-based fitness game Zombies, Run! – which has been downloaded several million times and continues to be a market leader.In April 2013 she was named one of Granta’s Best British Novelists in their famous once-a-decade list. Her 2016 novel The Power, was featured in former US President Barack Obama’s best books of the year list, and won the 2017 Baileys’ Women‘s Prize for Fiction. The book was also adapted for television, debuting on Amazon earlier this year. If that weren’t enough, she is a regular presenter of science programmes on BBC Radio 4, Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.Play the console:The Secret of Monkey Island 2MystDiablo IIJourneyCitizen SleeperThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an award-winning writer and narrative designer for video games.As a child she split her time between Bangalore, London, and Saudi Arabia before settling in the UK to study English Literature at University. After a stint commissioning games for the BBC, she wrote the script for 2014’s BAFTA-nominated narrative adventure game, 80 Days, then contributed to the hit indie titles Sunless Seas and Boyfriend Dungeon, as well as the Sony blockbuster Horizon: Zero Dawn.My guest has won two Writers' Guild Awards for Best Writing in a Video Game, hosted the Independent Games Festival, and become a sought-after speaker, known for her sharp critiques of game mechanics that, as she describes it, promote colonialist values.Her latest project, Thirsty Suitors, a stylish, story-driven adventure that unfolds through turn-based battles, skateboarding, and cooking, is set for release later this week. Welcome Meghna Jayanth.Theme ParkPrincess Maker 3PernMUSHSavoir-FairePersona 4 GoldenThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole(Photo by Darren Salanson for EGM) Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American designer of two of the most highly regarded experimental games yet made. He grew up in Virginia, where his interest in hobbyist robotics led him to study mechanical engineering at Virginia State University. At that time he started designing mods for Quake, which eventually led to a job at Naughty Dog where he worked on the first two games in the Uncharted series.In 2009 he left the studio and moved with his wife to Japan. It was while travelling abroad that my guest had the idea for a game involving a passport inspector. The result, Papers, Please, sold millions of copies and won several awards, including the grand prize at the Independent Game Festival. His next game, 2018’s The Return of the Obra Dinn, cast players as an insurance adjustor for the East India Company trying to piece together the events that led to the destruction of one of its merchant ships and the crew’s deaths. In a poll of industry experts for GQ magazine the game was named one of the greatest yet made.Play the consoleWizards & WarriorsDark CastleOut Of This WorldThief: The Dark ProjectDigital: A Love StoryThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the former Director of Communications for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. After graduating from the University of Exeter, he joined Dennis Publishing where he worked as deputy editor of Your Sinclair, before becoming the games correspondent for News International’s Today newspaper.In 1992 he left journalism for the world of PR, assuming the role of Head of European PR for Electronic Arts, where he promoted the launches of the earliest FIFA and Madden titles. Then, in April 2000 my guest joined Sony for the launch of the PlayStation 2.He remained at PlayStation for nineteen years, witnessing the launch of four major consoles, dealing with tabloid crises, before, in 2019, leaving to join NetEase Games where, among others, he looks after the legendary creators Suda51 and Toshihiro Nagoshi.Play the console:Advanced Lawnmower SimulatorThe MuncherSuper Mario KartGran Turismo 4BloodborneThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a stand-up comedian, writer, radio host and podcaster. Born in South Africa, his family then moved to the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. He studied Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic languages at Cambridge University, where he became vice-president of the Footlights comedy society.In 2014 The Guardian newspaper described his debut show at the Edinburgh Festival as marking the “dawn of a major talent”. Since then, my guest has delighted audiences with his wry and quick-witted observational comedy, both on stage, on the radio as co-host of The Frank Skinner Show, and on television with appearances on The Mash Report and World’s Most Dangerous Roads.He also co-hosts the smash hit podcast BudPod with his long-time friend, collaborator, and friend of the show, Phil Wang.Play the console: Golden AxeAge of Empires 2 Medal of Honour: Allied AssaultReturn Of The Obra DinnHell Let Loose Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a is a Canadian American actor for video games, television and film. Born in Labrador in Canada, she soon moved to Alabama in the United States, where, as a teenager, she began working as a commercial voice over artist for radio.After graduating from Alabama School of Fine Arts, she took on voice roles to fund her dream of becoming a musician. Soon, however, the acting took over. After securing some roles in regional TV series, she moved to Los Angeles. There, a part in the cartoon ‘Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?’ brought her into the world of video games, where she quickly became one of the world’s most sought-after performers. In 2011 the New Yorker described her as “a kind of Meryl Streep of the form.”Her roles, which number more than a hundred, include that of Samus Aran in the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Naomi Hunter in Metal Gear Solid, Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect games, and the character Ashe in Overwatch.Play the console:Metal Gear SolidStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Mass EffectThe Long DarkRatchet and Clank: Rift ApartThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an award-winning creator and writer of comic books. Born into a Staffordshire working-class family, he was a student of Applied Biology at Bath University when he started contributing to the prominent computer games magazine Amiga Power. Upon graduation, my guest joined the staff of PC Gamer, then left the magazine to go freelance in 2003.The following year he published a highly influential manifesto calling for a new mode of first-person, subjective writing about video games that he dubbed New Games Journalism. Two years later, he published his first comic book, Phonogram, which described music as a kind of transformational magic. After founding the PC gaming website Rock, Paper, Shotgun in 2007, my guest left journalism for good to work on comic books, including X-Men, Iron Man, and Star Wars, a series for which he also created the character, Doctor Aphra.He has continued to work on his own projects, including Wicked + the Divine, Once & Future and DIE, a horror series about tabletop role-playing games for which he received four of his six Hugo Award nominations.Play the console:Dark SceptreX-COM: UFO DefenseOutcastThief: Deadly ShadowsBoiling PointThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a British-Ghanaian writer and advocate for inclusion and diversity in the video game industry. Having graduated from the University of Westminster with a degree in creative writing with English literature, she founded Melanin Gamers, a support community for people of colour who play video games, or who want to join the game industry but feel unsure that there is a place for them within it.The initiative, which has more than four thousand members worldwide, has hosted tournaments, worked alongside Microsoft and The Prince’s Trust, and in 2020 won Barnet's Big Idea Entrepreneurial Prize. That same year my guest’s novel, ‘A Thousand Natural Shocks’ was long listed for the Lucy Cavendish Prize, Cambridge University’s literary award for unpublished women authors. She currently represents the Ghanaian Esports Federation in International Relations.Play the console:Grand Theft Auto: San AndreasAssassin’s Creed The Ezio CollectionThe Last of UsThe Sims 4Apex LegendsPlease consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a Canadian video game designer and director. After graduating from the University of British Columbia with an MFA in creative writing, he joined Ubisoft Montreal where he co-wrote the script for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. In 2005 he directed a sequel to that game, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, and three years later released the oppressive and acclaimed sandbox shooter, Far Cry 2.In 2010 he left Ubisoft and joined LucasArts, then Valve, then Amazon Game Studios, before finally returning to Canada to work as creative director on the Ubisoft game Watch Dogs: Legion. A keen thinker on video games, my guest coined the term ‘ludonarrative dissonance’ to describe when a game’s story and mechanics sit at odds with one another.Today, he serves as creative lead at Ubisoft Montreal, the studio he first joined as a graduate, where is he working on Assassin’s Creed Infinity. Play the console:Lode RunnerUnreal TournamentSystem Shock 2The Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindMinecraftThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an English video game designer and programmer. In 1984 he designed The Entrepreneur, a simulation game about running a start-up company. When it sold just two copies, however, my guest left the world of video games and began exporting cans of baked beans to the Middle East.When the computer manufacturer Commodore mistook this venture for a software company with a similar name, my guest signed a deal to design a database system for the Amiga. This benign deception eventually led to the founding of Bullfrog Productions, where my guest designed Populous, the first so-called god game, which went on to sell more than four million copies. Many more successes followed: 1994’s Theme Park, 1997’s Dungeon Keeper then, after he founded Lionhead Studios, the multi-million selling Fable series.My guest is no stranger to controversy either; his more recent, experimental work at 22Cans, the company he founded in 2012, has sometimes been accused of overpromising and underdelivering. He remains, nonetheless, a legendary – if elusive – figure in the UK games industry. Play the console:WizardryIcoHalf-Life 2MinecraftThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a game designer and Founding Chair of New York University’s Game Center. An influential writer, speaker, and thinker on video games he has taught generations of emerging young designers. The New York Times once described him as the “reigning genius of the mysteries of games.”My guest’s experience is not merely academic, however: in 2005 he co-founded area/code, the studio which subsequently released one of the best regarded puzzle games yet made: Drop7. Most recently, he joined forces with his son, who is also a game designer, and together released Babble Royale, a free-to-play battle royale influenced by the boardgame Scrabble.“Making games combines everything that’s hard about building a bridge with everything that’s hard about composing an opera,” he once said. “Games are operas made out of bridges.” Welcome, Frank Lantz.Play the console:WipeoutRhythm TengokuGalconCinco PausEverythingThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Digital Curator for Contemporary Collections at The British Library. After graduating from Aberystwyth University with a degree in Library Studies and Art History, my guest was awarded an MA in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester.Then, having worked as curator of maps at the National Library of Scotland, my guest joined the British library, and began to devise creative reuses of digital collections, including via video games. This work has led to collaborations with The National Videogame Museum, AdventureX, International Games Month in Libraries and on research projects with UCL’s Institute of Education, and Lancaster University’s Litcraft initiative, which builds literary worlds in Minecraft.Play the console:80 Daysc ya laterrrrAstrologasterWolves in the WallsThe British Library SimulatorThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a game director who has pioneered new forms of nonlinear storytelling that blend film and games. After twelve-year stint at the British development studio Climax, where he directed Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, he began work on an independent project, Her Story.In the game, partly inspired by Sharon Stone’s audition tapes for the film Basic Instinct, you sift through a trove of police interview footage to uncover a mystery. Her Story’s style of disconnected, live action sleuthing has become characteristic of his work, which includes the games Telling Lies and, most recently, the Netflix-published Immortality, described by Prospect Magazine as a“culture-spanning, psycho-visual experiment.”“All my games have been about identity,” he says. “It’s scary that the people we’ve known for decades are unknowable to us.” Welcome, Sam Barlow.All voiceover performances courtesy of Ed Hawkins: http://edwardhawkinsbass.comPlay the console:A Mind Forever VoyagingPortal (1986)Amnesia (1986)MindwheelAisleThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is editor-in-chief of Time Out London. After graduating from SOAS University with a degree in religion and the history of art, he moved to China for a few years, then struck out as a freelance writer contributing to, among other publications, The Times, the Observer, Heat magazine and the New Statesman.In 2012 he assumed the role of features editor at the men’s magazine FHM, of which he later became deputy editor. From there, he edited the pioneering newsletter Mr Hyde, and then became editor of the gravely missed ShortList magazine. In 2019, he took the top job at Time Out. Throughout his career, my guest has often run video game-themed special editions, building on his personal passion for the medium.Play the console:Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesMortal Kombat IIShenmueMario Kart 8 DeluxeDark Souls: RemasteredThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is multi-award-winning stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Born in Edgware London, to a Punjabi Sikh family, he was in his mid-twenties when he first tried stand-up. Five years later he became the first British act to perform at the Caribbean Comedy Festival in Trinidad.Since then he has been a guest panellist on 8 out of 10 Cats, performed twice at Live at the Apollo, and is one of the most memorable contestants on the hit show Taskmaster, having appeared in season 3. In 2017 he became the first British Asian stand-up comic to sell out Wembley Arena and two years later this record-breaking show was made into an Amazon Prime special, and released worldwide.Since 2021, he has been the host of the hit podcast Paul Chowdhry's PudCast, in which he interviews comedians, and my guest is about to start a month-long run at the Edinburgh festival. Play the console:Duck HuntMike Tyson's Punch-Out!!Street Fighter IIDouble DragonGrand Theft Auto IIIThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an American food critic and voice actor. Born in Chicago in the late seventies, he began performing in public as a young child after he joined the chorus for a production of the opera Carmen, appearing alongside the tenor Plácido Domingo.He began voicing commercials at the age of seven, before moving to California hoping to take on character roles. There he joked with a friend that his ideal role would be to voice the pirate Guybrush Threepwood in the Monkey Island series of video games.Two months later he was cast as the character in The Curse of Monkey Island. He has since reprised the role for each of the Monkey Island sequels, as well as providing cameos in Rare’s beloved pirate game, Sea of Thieves, six Star Wars games and two Metal Gear Solids. Alongside this work, my guest has worked as the restaurant critic for the Arizona Republic.Play the console:The Secret of Monkey IslandThief II: The Metal AgeGuitar Hero (2005)FirewatchHalf-Life: AlyxThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a writer and narrative designer for independent and blockbuster video games. Born in London she studied English Literature at Kingston University, then completed her postgrad in journalism. She worked as a freelance writer, contributing to the Guardian and the BBC, often covering in games and the lack of representation of people of colour within the industry.In 2014 she took a course titled ‘Writing For Games’, which resulted in ‘Before I Forget’, an affecting indie game in which you play as a dementia sufferer. In 2020 she joined Massive Entertainment, the Swedish developer of The Division series, to work as a senior narrative designer on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, an open world action-adventure game based on the James Cameron-directed Avatar films.She is also writing Windrush Tales, a narrative video game about the triumphs and tribulations of two Caribbean immigrants to post-war Britain, in the world’s first Windrush-themed video game. Play the console:Beneath a Steel SkyTony Hawk's Pro Skateboarding City of HeroesVirginiaWhat Remains of Edith Finch Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an English programmer, game-maker and President of the Kyoto-based video game studio Q-Games. Born in London, he dropped out of school at the age of 17 to join Argonaut Games where, among other titles, he worked on the Game Boy space combat title, X.The project so impressed Nintendo, that the company invited my guest to Japan, where he contributed to StarFox, a now legendary Super Nintendo dogfighting game featuring an anthropomorphic fox. After a stint working for Sony in America, my guest returned to Japan to join the development team behind the PlayStation 2 console, creating the famous ‘ducks in a bath’ tech demo.In 2001 he left Sony to found his own company, creating the brilliant PixelJunk series of games, most recently the dystopian world building game The Tomorrow Children. Welcome, Dylan Cuthbert.  Play the console:Carrier CommandSuper Mario Bros. 3Ridge RacerSmuggler's RunDark SoulsThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an English comedian, actor and one of the most prolific joke writers in the UK. He first made a room laugh as a young child at his aunt’s wedding, when, during the ceremonial speeches, the other guests overheard him speaking to his mother.While a student at the University of Sheffield he again became an accidental stand-up when, at the last minute, he filled in for the compere at a comedy event. Since then he has delighted audiences with his rapid fire joke-telling, both at the Edinburgh Festival, where he has been nominated for the 'Best Show' Comedy Award, and on television as a regular panellist on BBC's Mock The Week, ITV's The Stand Up Sketch Show, and most recently, the new US series The Great American Joke-Off.My guest is also a presenter on BBC's videogames TV show and podcast ‘Press X To Continue’ – for which he has completed more than a hundred games every year since 2020.Play the console:Dark Souls IIThe Witcher 3: Wild HuntDarkwoodDisco ElysiumThe Last Of Us Part IIThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a French Moroccan political journalist and author based in London. She grew up in Nantes on the west coast of France, then moved to the UK in 2009 to study journalism at the University of Westminster.After graduating, she freelanced for several broadsheets, then joined the Evening Standard as a political diarist. In 2016 she became the media and politics correspondent for BuzzFeed News where she broke stories including the UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s meeting with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.Since leaving BuzzFeed she has become a prolific freelancer, and the author of three books, 2019’s ‘Haven’t You Heard? A Guide To Westminster Gossip And Why Mischief Gets Things Done’, 2021’s ‘ Honourable Misfits: A Brief History of Britain’s Weirdest, Unluckiest, and most Dangerous MPs’ and, most recently, ‘Escape: How a Generation Shaped, Destroyed and Survived the Internet.’She is also an eager player of video games – and has completed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild without dying once. Welcome, Marie le Conte.Play the console:Soulcalibur IIRayman LegendsThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildHadesSlay the SpireThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a writer, producer and director of plays, films and videogames. In 1997 he left Belgium to study theatre at NYU in New York. While a student my guest began freelancing as a video game journalist contributing to Next Gen, Official Dreamcast Magazine and Famitsu in Japan.He then joined Treyarch to work on the video game adaptation of Steven Spielberg's MINORITY REPORT, a project that set him on the path of cross-media storytelling. His 2014 graphic novel RICKY ROUSE HAS A GUN was named one of The Boston Globe’s books of the year. Then two years later his debut feature film, THE WHITE KING, adapted from a Hungarian novel, debuted at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.Most recently, my guest directed C-Smash VRS, a virtual reality-based follow-up to the cult classic Arcade and Dreamcast game, Cosmic Smash.Play the console:OutRunHeart of DarknessRidge Racer Type 4Portal 2C-Smash VRSThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is creative director and writer of some of the most memorable and influential independent games of recent years, including Bastion, Pyre, Transistor and, most recently, the smash hit Hades, which topped many of 2021’s best games of the year lists.In the nineties he co-founded Arcadia, a website dedicated to films and video games, which led to an internship at Gamespot, one of the largest websites specialising in video game coverage in the world, of which he eventually became editor-in-chief.After leaving journalism for the world of game development, he worked on the Command and Conquer series, then, in 2010, joined Supergiant Games as creative director.He once said: “Our goal is for each game we make...to be good enough and idiosyncratic enough so that it hits someone at the right place at the right time and becomes their favourite.”Play the console:Final Fantasy TacticsThe Legend of Zelda: Wind WakerPanzer Dragoon OrtaMetal Gear Solid 3: SubsistenceBloodborneThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an award-winning author, journalist and writer for film, television, and video games. After graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in English literature, he travelled to Uzbekistan as a volunteer for the Peace Corps. He then returned to New York where he worked as author and editor, reporting on the Iraq war for Harper's Magazine and contributing literary criticism to The New York Times Book Review.A keen thinker on video games, in 2010 he published Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, a book that included a dissection of his experiences playing Grand Theft Auto IV while abusing cocaine. His 2013 book, The Disaster Artist, was turned into an Oscar-nominated feature film directed by James Franco, and his short story Aral inspired Werner Herzog's 2016 film Salt and Fire.My guest has also written for video games such as The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Uncharted 4, and Gears of War 5, and in 2021 he co-developed the Apple TV series The Mosquito Coast, based on the Paul Theroux novel of the same title. Recently he wrote three episodes for the second season of Star Wars: Andor, due to air in 2024.Play the console:MetroidResident EvilFar Cry 2Demon's SoulsSea of ThievesThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Sooz Kempner, an English actress, pianist, singer and award-winning stand-up comedian. Born into a showbiz dynasty – the family dog appeared in an advertisment for Nissan, and their cat, Boris, played Jonesy in Aliens – she moved to Ayia Napa to work as a Christina Aguilera tribute act.After she returned to England she began a post-graduate course at Royal College of Music, performing stand-up in her spare time. In 2010 she graduated from the RCM and promptly won Best Newcomer at the Musical Comedy Awards.Since then, she has toured extensively, performed eight solo shows at the Edinburgh Fringe and launched two hit podcasts, Mystery on the Rocks, a true crime and cocktails comedy show and the UK's official podcast for the rock group Queen. A born performer and talented mimic, her impressions of Liza Minnelli, Nadine Dorries and Liz Truss routinely go viral online. She is currently touring the UK with her latest show, titled PlayStation – a nostalgic look back at growing up through the nineties.Play the console:Sonic the Hedgehog 2Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean MachineTekken 3Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara CroftOddworld: Abe's OddyseeThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Kelsey Lewin, co-director of the Video Game History Foundation, the non-profit dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and teaching the history of video games.In 2017, after graduating college, my guest helped curate an Atari-themed pop-up exhibition at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. Two years later Game Informer enlisted her as a volunteer to digitize the magazine’s entire archive at its Minnesota headquarters. After five weeks of intense work, she became the Video Game History Foundation’s co-director.Described by the New Yorker as “compact and laser focussed”, since then she has sifted through thousands of old documents, discs, magazines, and prototypes in an effort to rescue the video game medium’s history from oblivion.“Once institutions can see that putting effort and funding behind video game preservation in a useful, sustainable way is possible — I think they’ll do it,” she recently wrote.  “We’re working on it, but the work is just beginning.”Play the console:Pokémon CrystalAnimal CrossingDance Dance Revolution SuperNovaXenoblade ChroniclesMonster Hunter 4 UltimateThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Danny Pudi, an American comedian and actor, who played the role of Abed Nadir in the long-running American sitcom Community. Born in Chicago, Illinois to a Polish mother and an Indian father, he studied communication and theatre at Marquette University in Milwaukee having won the inaugural Chris Farley Scholarship – an award that led him to perform improv comedy alongside Dave Chappelle.In 2005 he moved to Los Angeles, and starred in several sitcom pilots before joining the cast of Community, in which he starred for six seasons. In 2017 my guest voiced Huey in the reboot of DuckTales. He has also provided cameo appearances in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Star Trek Beyond, as well as appearing in TV advertisements for the Far Cry series.He currently plays Brad Bakshi, the head of the monetization department at a video game studio in the TV series Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet.Play the console:GauntletNHLPA Hockey '93Mortal Kombat IIProfessor Layton and the Curious VillageThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Tetsuya Mizucguchi, the Japanese designer of some of the most transcendent music-themed video games yet made.He graduated with a degree in media aesthetics from Nihon University, then, inspired by a photograph of a virtual reality headset made by NASA, joined Sega hoping to work on a similar project. A keen sports car enthusiast, he developed the arcade racing game Sega Rally Championship then, during a research trip in Switzerland, attended a dance music concert and found himself in a crowd of tens of thousands. Seeing how the music, lights and bodies moved together, set him on a new path toward making full-sensory digital experiences.In 2001 he released Rez, a trance-themed game in which players shoot down computer viruses in time to the beat; it is today widely regarded as one of the high points of digital expression. “I still feel like I am in the middle of my career,” he once told me. “I’ve only achieved half of what I want to. And I have not lost my excitement about games.”Play the console:PongXenon 2: MegablastG-LOC: Air BattleRezLuminesThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Iain Cook, a Scottish musician, producer, and pop star. In 2003, while studying at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, he met Martin Doherty, who asked my guest to produce a record for his band. The two remained friends, and later played together in the post rock group Aereogramme.In 2007, after Aereogramme disbanded, my guest bought himself an analogue synthaser. Four years later he and Doherty joined up with the music journalist and singer Lauren Mayberry to form the synth pop group Chvrches.After gaining word of mouth attention online, Chvrches released their debut single, The Mother We Share, which broke into the UK singles chart. Since then, the band have toured the world, played to millions, released four studio albums and, in 2019, provided a song to Death Stranding, Hideo Kojima’s game about a post-apocalyptic delivery man.Play the console:DoDonPachi DaiOuJouStreet Fighter IVFinal Fantasy XIVMario Kart 8 DeluxeTetris EffectThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Ellie Gibson, an award--winning journalist, presenter, and one half of the comedy double act Scummy Mummies. Born in South London, my guest joined Sony in 2001 and there wrote the manuals for first-party PlayStation games.She moved into journalism, covering games for a variety of publications, including Eurogamer, The Guardian, Metro, and Vice. In 2013 she met aspiring comic Helen Thorn and together the pair decided to form a double-act to celebrate the scummier side of parenting.Since then, they have toured the UK to packed-out venues and launched of the world’s most popular parenting podcasts examining everything from mental health, to politics, wine to sex. My guest has continued to play games, however, appeared as a co-presenter on Dara O’ Briain’s Go 8-bit TV series and via streaming marathons on Twitch.Play the console:The NewZealand StoryTomb Raider (1996)Jak and Daxter: The Precursor LegacyAssassin's Creed ValhallaPowerWash SimulatorThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist Ronan Farrow. Born in New York City he earned his degree in philosophy at just fifteen. While a teenager he served as a UNICEF Spokesperson for Youth, advocating for children and women caught up in the Darfur crisis in Sudan. In 2009, at 22 years old, he became a special advisor to the Obama administration, then a Rhodes Scholar, earning his PhD in political science at Magdalen College, Oxford.It was his work detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, published in the New Yorker, that situated my guest in the centre of the global spotlight, however. His reporting has had profound effects, both within the film industry, and further afield.Through all of this, video games have been a constant. “I love video games,” he told the New York Times in 2021. “Big nerd here."Play the console:RivenDeus ExBloodborneOuter WildsDisco ElysiumThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Dan Vecchitto, the American creator of one of 2022’s funniest games. In Trombone Champ, you play as a trombonist and must blast your way through a setlist of classical pieces, national anthems, and traditional songs in a brilliant and riotously silly reinterpretation of Guitar Hero.After a journalist for PC Gamer posted a video of himself ruining Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in the game last year, Trombone Champ became a viral sensation, propelling my guest and his wife collaborator into the spotlight. Colleen Wheeler of the International Trombone Association told the Guardian: “It is abundantly clear that this is the finest video game ever created.”Riding high on that success, my guest and his wife recently made a webgame to promote Gabrielle Zevin's smash hit novel ‘Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow’. “I don’t know why there’s not more comedy in games,” he once said. “Because games can be so funny.”Play the console:DoomKlik 'n' PlayReturn to ZorkWarcraft Worms 2Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the legendary British video game designer, Charles Cecil. While a student at Manchester University, a friend invited him to write a text adventure which led him to work for the video game publishers US Gold and, later, Activision. In 1990 he co-founded Revolution Software in the North of England.After releasing Lure of the Temptress and Beneath a Steel Sky, he began work on Broken Sword, a world-spanning adventure game starring the American patent lawyer, George Stobbart and his French girlfriend, Nicole Collard, a freelance journalist. The game had a witty script, was beautifully illustrated, and featured a soundtrack by Barrington Pheloung, the composer of the Inspector Morse TV series, who my guest first met over a game of cricket.After Sony reluctantly brought the game to PlayStation, it became a smash hit, leading to a string of successful sequels. But the course has not always been easy. “The audience for adventure games is limited,” he once told me. “But that audience is incredibly loyal.”Play the console:GalaxianDay of the TentacleSuper Mario 64Grand Theft Auto IIIInsideThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Grace Curtis, a video game critic and one of the most exciting new voices in science fiction writing. Born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, she graduated from the UEA with a degree in English Literature with Creative Writing in 2019. Since then, she has worked as a freelance critic, contributing to Edge magazine and Eurogamer, and with the game publisher Future Friends, part of the team that helped bring you indie hits such as Vampire Survivors, Cloud Gardens and Heaven’s Vault.In 2023 she published her debut novel Frontier, a sci fi western set in the distant future when climate change has returned the Earth to a desert wasteland ruled over by gunslingers and horse thieves. Frontier is a tale of love, loss and laser guns. She is currently working on a second book for Hodder & Stoughton, Floating Hotel, described as ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel in Space’.Play the console:The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit TracksPortalUndertaleHyper Light DrifterDisco ElysiumThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is Erik Wolpaw, the American writer for some of the funniest video games yet made. In the nineties he and a friend founded the website Old Man Murray, a satirical online publication that poked fun at video gaming’s sacred cows, and established a tone still prevalent across the internet today. The site was read by Gabe Newell, creator of Half-Life, who later hired both writers.At Valve my guest collaborated on a new game in which a vindictive artificial intelligence chastises players as they solve a series of puzzle rooms using a gun that fires warp points. Portal became a smash hit; Stephen Merchant, co-creator of The Office, voiced a character in the sequel. Today my guest continues to work as a semi-retired contractor for Valve. “In defense of games, I want to point out that the writing in plays, including everything by August Strindberg and The Lion King, is 100% pure crap,” he once joked. “So, we’re doing better than they are, even though they have the benefit of mostly not being about space marines.”Play the console:Earthworm JimEverQuestGrand Theft Auto IIIDemon's SoulsSlay the SpireThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the English fantasy author and champion of the video game industry, Sir Ian Livingstone. In 1975, while in his mid-twenties, he founded a boardgame company, Games Workshop, which soon caught the attention of the American creators of a new tabletop game, Dungeons and Dragons.My guest brokered a deal to sell D&D in the UK as a mail order company, and in 1977 opened the company’s first retail shop in South London. In 1982 he published the first of the Fighting Fantasy books, which have now sold more than 20 million copies.He joined the video game industry and, at the publisher Eidos, helped bring the Tomb Raider and Hitman series to the world. In 2022 he was honoured with a knighthood for services to the games industry. “Play has always been seen as trivial,” he once said. “Yet when we arrive in this world, we all learn through play.”Play the console:Baseball (1980)Championship ManagerTomb Raider (1996)Virtua TennisGolf ClashThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the Scottish comedian, television presenter and writer, Susan Calman. While studying law at the University of Glasgow, she spent three months in North Carolina working with criminals on death row. After she graduated, she became a corporate lawyer, and soon started performing as a stand-up in the evenings. After seven years, she left the legal profession behind to become a full time comic, winning the Best New Scottish Comedian at the Real Radio Variety Awards in 2009.Since then she has become a fixture on British television and radio, a regular guest on Radio 4 panel shows The News Quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. In 2018 she was honoured by the University of Glasgow for her work in broadcasting as well as her campaigning on issues related to LGBT rights and mental health.“A lot of comics of my generation play games,” she once said. “To me it’s a bigger issue than gaming: it’s the art direction, it’s the music, it’s the expression. It’s more than just some guys in their pants shooting things.”Play the console:GoldenEye 007Tomb Raider IISilent Hill 2Ratchet & ClankBatman: Arkham CityThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the Dutch video game designer and entrepreneur, Henk Rogers. While a student at the University of Hawaii, he’d while away the hours playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends. After he moved to Japan, he bought a computer and used it to develop a role-playing game of his own, called Black Onyx, tailored to the Japanese market. When the game’s backer pulled out of the deal, he decided to self-publish the game, and borrowed $50,000 from a friend to set up Bullet-Proof Software.Black Onyx sold 150,000 copies and influenced the creation of the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series. But it was a Russian game that made my guest truly famous when he helped broker the deal between the Soviet Union and Nintendo that brought Tetris to the world. That story has now been made into a film, set to debut on Apple TV this month.Play the console:Space InvadersM.U.L.E.MIDI MazeSpaceward Ho!Cinco PausThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American designer of some of the finest strategy video games yet made. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Computer Science in 2000, he accepted a job to become a business consultant. Before he arrived for work, however, he saw an advertisement for position at Fireaxis, the development studio founded by the legendary designer, Sid Meier, which he successfully applied to.Having worked as a programmer on Civilization III and IV, in 2012 he relaunched the cult classic strategy series X-COM, a chess-like game in which players direct a squad of troops in skirmishes against alien invaders. More recently he steered the creation of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, one of the best games of 2022, that carried the lessons learned in X-Com into Marvel universe.Earlier in 2023 he announced his departure from Fireaxis, the company where he worked for more than 20 years. “My brain is on fire with a new dream,” he said. “Time to go chase it.”Play the console:Ultima V: Warriors of DestinyUFO: Enemy Unknown a.k.a XCOM: UFO DefenceCastlevania: Symphony of the NightRock BandMinecraftThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the British-Malaysian stand-up comedian and comedy writer Phil Wang. Born in the UK, when he was one week old his parents moved to Malaysia, where he attended school until the age of sixteen. The family then returned to England, moving to Bath in Somerset, which my guest once described as “a spa town for people who find Cheltenham too ethnic'.While studying Engineering at King’s College Cambridge, he joined the Footlights drama club, of which he later became president. Since graduating, Wang has performed with the sketch comedy group Daphne, and become a fixture on British televisions, appearing on Have I Got News for You, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, and as a contestant on the seventh season of Taskmaster.He also co-hosts the podcast Budpod with his friend and fellow comedian, Pierre Novelli, where, among many other things, the pair often discuss video games.Play the console:SkiFreeRome: Total WarShadow of the ColossusPapers, PleaseGod of War (2018)Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shahid Ahmad was a schoolboy living on a London council estate when he sold his prized BMX bike to raise money for programming books and taught himself to write computer games. After several knock-backs, in 1983, at the age of seventeen, he sold a game for £300 to a commercial publisher. He soon made a name for himself in the emerging Britsoft scene, programming the Commodore 64 version of Jet Set Willy, which sold more than a million copies. Having worked on dozens of his own games, included Chimera and Pandora, in 2005 he joined Sony PlayStation where he commissioned more than a hundred titles including the hits No Man’s Sky and Hellblade. Today he mentors industry newcomers, produces games designed to promote mental health, and sits on the board of the British Games Institute, the video game equivalent of the BFI.Play the console:Star RaidersKnight LoreGauntletSpeedball 2: Brutal DeluxeUltima Underworld: The Stygian AbyssThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the reclusive designer of one of the greatest video games yet made. He studied game design in Montreal and, after a brief stint working at Ubisoft, left to begin work on a game of his own, a platformer that combined the art style of the Super Nintendo classics of his youth, with perspective-shifting innovations of his own.Six years in the making, Fez launched in 2012 to near universal acclaim, part of the first wave of so-called indie games. After featuring heavily in the  film documentary Indie Game: the Movie, my guest, who is passionately outspoken, became the subject of co-ordinated online attacks, which culminated in his retreat from public platforms, nearly a decade ago. Play the console:Ridge Racer Type 4RezDishonoredHitman: World of AssassinationThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is an Emmy-nominated writer, sketch comedian, voice actor and performer. As a teenager she studied improv comedy at the famous ImprovOlympic studio in her home city of Chicago, training that prepared her for when she later starred on Whose Line Is It Anyway and the sketch comedy show Key and Peele.She has worked on the writing staff of Saturday Night Live, The Twilight Zone and, most recently, the sixth season of Rick & Morty. Throughout her career she has also written and talked about video games, not least in her current role as one of the hosts of the popular games-related podcast, Get Played.“Comedy and video-games are the same thing: fantasies within set rules,” she once said. “I love both of them, equally. When I can marry the two in some future project, I'll be complete.”Play the console:TetrisStreet Fighter IIIThe Last of UsFortniteDisco ElysiumThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is the American co-creator of one of the longest-running and most popular independent games yet made. In high school he and his older brother Zach designed adventure games based on fantasy and science fiction stories they invented together. He taught himself computer programming and received fifteen offers to enrol in PhD math programs.At Stanford University, he and his brother continued work on a procedural adventure game called Dwarf Fortress, in which players guide successive generations of dwarves to build and maintain a settlement.He quit university to work on the game full-time; in 2011 the New York Times described an early version as “perhaps the most complex video game ever made”. Dwarf Fortress became his life’s work, with a vast and committed cult following, but it remained a work in progress until December 2022, when a commercial version finally released, and promptly sold half a million copies.Play the console:Cosmic ArkBeastRagnarokTransport TycoonCaves of QudThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a stand-up comedian, television presenter and Irish national treasure. He studied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at University College, Dublin, where during a debate, he cracked a joke, made the audience laugh, and forever doomed himself to chasing that high.Since then, he has toured the world as a comic, as well as becoming a prolific television host: he has chaired Mock the Week, Have I Got New For You, Blockbusters, Robot Wars, Stargazing Live, and the video game-themed quiz show, Go 8Bit. A lifelong video game player, he regularly hosts the game BAFTAs, and performs games-related routines in his stand-up. Play the console:Pac-LandImpossible MissionInternational Superstar Soccer ProBatman: Arkham AsylumGorogoaThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of addiction to prescription pain medication and fatal overdose.]My guest today is an American writer and performer who stars in Apple TV’s Mythic Quest series, and who has, in recent years, voiced some of video gaming’s best-loved characters. She grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and rose to prominence via the web series Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’, in which she starred alongside her brother, Anthony. Since then she has become a prolific voice actor for cartoons and video games; her roles include Mel from The Last of Us series, Aloy from the Horizon games, and Chloe Price from Life Is Strange.Play the console:Metal Gear SolidHarvest Moon 64Final Fantasy IXSpelunkyMass Effect 2Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a software engineer who, in 2021, released a word game that soon became a global obsession. He grew up in a Welsh farming village, attended the Royal Holloway University, then moved to North America to study for a Masters. In 2011, after graduating, he joined the staff of the website Reddit, where he began to design experimental games such as The Button, Place and, in his spare time, a game called Wordle.Several years later he returned to the Wordle prototype, which he finished and uploaded to his personal website in October 2021. Within a month the game had 90 players. Within two, it had 300,000. A week after that, it was being played by two million people, and had caught the attention of the New York Times, which in January 2022, acquired the game for a seven-figure sum.Play the console:Super Mario WorldQuake IIThe WitnessPUBG: BattlegroundsNew York Times crosswordThank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to My Perfect Console with author, New Yorker journalist and The Observer's video game critic, Simon Parkin.Each week a guest picks the five video games they would like to immortalise on their very own fictional games console.Trailer episode featuring clips from forthcoming episodes with Josh Wardle, the creator of Wordle, and Charles Cecil MBE, co-founder of Revolution Software, creator of the Broken Sword video game series. Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.