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....
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 94
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 a...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 93
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 serie...
Oct 08, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 92
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 ...
Oct 01, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 91
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 , Alon...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 90
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 pr...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 89
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. Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of bene...
Sep 13, 2024•35 min
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 ...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 88
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 evid...
Sep 03, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 87
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 N...
Aug 29, 2024•35 min
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 j...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 86
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 “...
Aug 20, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 85
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. Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole Be attitude for ...
Aug 15, 2024•22 min
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 ...
Aug 13, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 84
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 . Thi...
Aug 06, 2024•34 min•Ep. 83
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 Do...
Jul 30, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 82
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 s...
Jul 23, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 81
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 Lo...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 80
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 A nnapurna Interactive , Outer Wilds released to widespread acclaim. My guest was named a Nebula Award finali...
Jul 09, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 79
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...
Jul 01, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 78
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 overs...
Jun 25, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 77
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... Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconso...
Jun 20, 2024•35 min
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....
Jun 17, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 76
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 ...
Jun 10, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 75
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 , HB...
Jun 04, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 74
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 Po...
May 28, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 73
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 Hou...
May 23, 2024•37 min
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 book...
May 20, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 72
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... Become a My Perfect Console supporter and recei...
May 16, 2024•33 min
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 ...
May 14, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 71
