Checkpoints

My guest today is Chris Remo. Chris is designer and a composer at the videogame studio Campo Santo and the producer and host of Idle Thumbs. After spending a number of years as a videogame journalist Chris moved into development, working on games like Gone Home, The Cave, Thirty Flights of Loving and most recently, Firewatch. We talk early obsessions with Civilization, first discovering Star Wars via the PC X-Wing games, college dorm Starcraft battles, playing through the videogame canon in a matter of months, and why his love of Lucasarts adventure games have played such a pivotal role in his life. Videogames. iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW RSS HERE Games discussed: Gorilla.bas, Starcraft, Civilsation, X-Wing, Imbroglio, The New York Times Crossword, Halo, Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, The Legend of Zelda, Quake, Spelunky, Super Metroid, Firewatch, Sim City Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki

My guest today is Chris Totten. An author, architect, founder of the Smithsonian Art Museum Indie Arcade and the Game Artist in Residence at American University. Some CV right? We talk about the relationship between architecture and level design, why Super Mario 3 was such a life changing game, the ubiquity of Madden, how single player games can be communal and a unique teaching experience which replicated the mechanics of Pokemon. "Be a Charizard." iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW RSS HERE Games discussed: Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Metroid, Madden, Netrunner, Monkey Island, Pokemon Go, Towerfall, X-Wing, NBA Jam. Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki

My guest today is Chris Totten. An author, architect, founder of the Smithsonian Art Museum Indie Arcade and the Game Artist in Residence at American University. Some CV right? We talk about the relationship between architecture and level design, why Super Mario 3 was such a life changing game, the ubiquity of Madden, how single player games can be communal and a unique teaching experience which replicated the mechanics of Pokemon. "Be a Charizard." iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW RSS HERE Games discussed: Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Metroid, Madden, Netrunner, Monkey Island, Pokemon Go, Towerfall, X-Wing, NBA Jam. Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki

My guest today is Eskil Steenburg. A high school dropout who was hired as a researcher at an academic institute just a few years later. His game, Love, is a bold, imaginative and unlike almost any other game out there. This is a long old episode but Eskil has a lot to talk about including what a game actually is and how he's attempting to re-engineer the internet. It's a big episode. We talk about how Zelda was the first game that truly impacted him. How him and his friends used to sneak into a local state building to play networked Doom. The benefits of Hardcore Casual versus Casual Hardcore, why blue shells are bullshit and how he's fallen in love with Love all over again. "Eravamo in pausa!" Get Love - http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/index.html iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW RSS HERE Games discussed: Doom, Zelda, Quake, Auto Destruct, Wipeout, Virtua Fighter, Love, Left 4 Dead, Star Craft, Gang Beasts, Student Life, Ridge Racer Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki

My guest today is Eskil Steenburg. A high school dropout who was hired as a researcher at an academic institute just a few years later. His game, Love, is a bold, imaginative and unlike almost any other game out there. This is a long old episode but Eskil has a lot to talk about including what a game actually is and how he's attempting to re-engineer the internet. It's a big episode. We talk about how Zelda was the first game that truly impacted him. How him and his friends used to sneak into a local state building to play networked Doom. The benefits of Hardcore Casual versus Casual Hardcore, why blue shells are bullshit and how he's fallen in love with Love all over again. "Eravamo in pausa!" Get Love - http://www.quelsolaar.com/love/index.html iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW RSS HERE Games discussed: Doom, Zelda, Quake, Auto Destruct, Wipeout, Virtua Fighter, Love, Left 4 Dead, Star Craft, Gang Beasts, Student Life, Ridge Racer Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki

My guest today is Dan Croucher, a videogame producer currently working on [redacted]. Dan started in QA many years ago with Babel, and has gone on to produce games for large developers like Relentless as well as in the indie trenches on Scram Kitty for Dakko Dakko. We talk about what a videogame producer actually does, creating videogame fanzines, the psychology of nostalgia, how box art used to be so much better than the game and how a trip around the world made him love videogames more than ever. "I'm cold, and I'm wet, and I'm still hysterical." iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW RSS HERE Games discussed: Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario, Vandal Hearts, Scram Kitty, Buzz, One in a Million, Infiltrator, Gang Beats, Final Fantasy 12 (obv.) Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki

My guest today is Dan Croucher, a videogame producer currently working on [redacted]. Dan started in QA many years ago with Babel, and has gone on to produce games for large developers like Relentless as well as in the indie trenches on Scram Kitty for Dakko Dakko. We talk about what a videogame producer actually does, creating videogame fanzines, the psychology of nostalgia, how box art used to be so much better than the game and how a trip around the world made him love videogames more than ever. "I'm cold, and I'm wet, and I'm still hysterical." iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW RSS HERE Games discussed: Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Super Mario, Vandal Hearts, Scram Kitty, Buzz, One in a Million, Infiltrator, Gang Beats, Final Fantasy 12 (obv.) Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki

My guests today are Andrew Seklir and Tim Kinzy, the directors and producers of the newly released videogame documentary Man vs. Snake. We talk about their videogame history of course, starting with Sears Pong machines and New York Bodegas and up to virtual reality with some side stories into Top Cat style arcade hacking their worst rage quits. We talk a lot about the movie too, from it's inception during a high score battle in the editing suite of Battlerstar Galactica through the recent wave of interest they've spawned in the long forgotten Nibbler. What the fuck is Nibbler? Watch the movie: www.manvssnake.com iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW RSS HERE Games discussed: Nibbler, Donkey Kong, Pong, Moon Patrol, Robotron, Zork, Q*bert and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki

My guests today are Andrew Seklir and Tim Kinzy, the directors and producers of the newly released videogame documentary Man vs. Snake. We talk about their videogame history of course, starting with Sears Pong machines and New York Bodegas and up to virtual reality with some side stories into Top Cat style arcade hacking their worst rage quits. We talk a lot about the movie too, from it's inception during a high score battle in the editing suite of Battlerstar Galactica through the recent wave of interest they've spawned in the long forgotten Nibbler. What the fuck is Nibbler? Watch the movie: www.manvssnake.com iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW RSS HERE Games discussed: Nibbler, Donkey Kong, Pong, Moon Patrol, Robotron, Zork, Q*bert and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki

My guest today is Chris Suellentrop. Chris is writer on national affairs & digital culture and his work has appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Kotaku, Slate and Wired. Chris has been involved in political writing since 2000, but over the past few years he has become more and more focussed on videogames. He also hosts the excellent podcast Shall We Play a Game? which was recently featured on NPR. We talk about how the Atari crash afforded Chris a rich library of games as a kid, if presidential candidates play games, why a university paper on Myst changed how he viewed games forever, and how in college a dormitory wide Madden tournament reignited his love of games and forged some of his fondest videogame memories. Clear eyes, warm hearts, can't lose. iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW RSS HERE Games discussed: Hearthstone, Clash Royale, Madden, Tecmo Bowl, Myst, Uncharted, Zelda, Combat, Meteoroid, Portal, Bioshock and RC Pro Am. Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki