Checkpoints

A few days before his 40th birthday I sat down for a meander through videogame past with Kieron Gillen. After a long and storied career in videogame journalism - starting at Amiga Power to becoming one of the founders of Rock, Paper, Shotgun via New Games Journalism - Kieron has moved on to a successful career as a comic book writer. With a hugely successful run of books from Thor to Darth Vader, as well as his two creator owned books with Jamie McKelvie, Phonogram and the Wicked and the Divine, which has recently been optioned for a TV series. We discuss a lot of videogames, Early disappointment with Tthe Hobbit, the importance of Gauntlet, the quality of writing in Speedball 2, creating poets in Princess Maker, the communal joy of Chaos, an alternate God Hand future, how Let's Plays are the final form of New Games Journalism and you don't want to know what he thinks about Zelda. Also a story of a testicle based injury caused by City of Heroes. You're welcome.

Today's guest is Jason Rohrer. Jason worked on a new currency, Jason took on his local government alone and won, Jason is a father, a writer, a programmer, a magician, a musician. Jason also makes videogames. From Passage to Sleep is Death to Cordial Minuet to his latest as yet untitled game which he talks about on the show, Jason is always searching for new ideas and new ways of playing. This passion for exploration and discovery is what makes his games so exciting, and why he's marked himself out as a unique voice in the videogame world. Some of his gaming checkpoints include Rust, the Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. Wolfenstein and Aliens vs. Predator. 18 episodes in and we finally have a Jaguar game.

Today's guest is the Scottish novelist Christopher Brookmyre. Chris's love of videogames is peppered through many of his books, but most distinctly in his recent novel Bedlam which has subsequently become it's own videogame. We talk Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy, videogames as fuel for imagination, trolling Dreamcast players, and the parallels between the Quake scene of the 90s and the Punk scene of the 70s. All fun and games until someone loses an eye.

Today's guest is Kirsty Rigden of futurlab, makers of Velocity and Velocity 2x. We chat Pikmin, Atic Atac, Wolfenstein, why we shouldn't fear AI, building a career in games, why the WiiU is the best console ever and, after a misunderstanding of a name, inadvertently come up with one of the greatest ideas for a licensed videogame ever. Oh boy.

Today's guest is John Ribbins, creative director at Roll 7 who are responsible for the BAFTA winning Olli Olli games. We talk through his development as a game designer and the surprising history of Roll 7, including games you play with your brain waves. We hit Urban Chaos, Rocket League, Doom, Death Tank, Bullet Storm, California Games, and the creation and development of Olli Olli. Believe me, he knows that it's hard.

Today's guest is Cara Ellison, best known for her videogame journalism, in particular her soon to be immortalised as a book "Embed with" columns, which saw her travel the world meeting developers and checking out the local videogame scenes. She's now moved into development and is currently working on the narrative team for Dishonoured 2 and a bunch of other secret things.  She's also really into Drake. Like, really. We talk DOTA, Goldeneye, Her Story and why her heart will always be with PC Zone.

Today's guest is Geoff Glendenning, a marketing guy whose work on the UK launch of the original Playstation shifted the popular perception of gaming.

Today's guest is videogame writer and creator Meg Jayanth. We have a lengthy chat about her work as the lead writer on Time Magazine's game of 2014, 80 Days before delving into all kinds of other narrative based games. We talk IFs, MUDs, MUSHs and Fanfic. We also hit on our differing approaches to play, how she can't bear to say goodbye to Commander Shepherd, making GTA your own, the peculiar ending to Sim Tower and my poor romantic performance in 80 days. Oh Passepartout....

Today's guest is Sean Vanaman. award winning game designer, one of the founders of Campo Santo and a host of Idle Thumbs. He also wishes he was a little bit taller. He wishes he was a baller. We talk about Campo Santo's upcoming Firewatch of course, and about the development of the Walking Dead series for Telltale Games. Along the way we discuss trust, lore vs. history, Half Life, Full Throttle, Portal, Bioshock and Safari Hunt. Videogames.

Episode 10 - Our guest on today's show is the editor of Eurogamer, Oli Welsh. We talk about the Spectrum of course. We compare film criticism to game criticism and discuss his journey to Eurogamer via Draenor. Along the way we hit Wipeout, Mario Kart, Test Drive Unlimited and a beautiful piece of brotherly love. Essential.