Maximum Power Up

Games magazines have always been a popular part of gaming. Although there aren't too many around these days, in the 80's & 90's there were loads to choose from.

In January we asked our listener's to tell us their 5 fave games mags. Obviously there were many suggested but over the next 2 episodes we cover the top 10 that made the list. In this part we discuss places 10-6 alongside a guest from each magazine featured. They share some of their experiences from the magazine and what made it so special.

We hope you enjoy the show and thanks to our guests and everyone that voted.

Chris Smith Mk. 2 takes the reins for this episode looking at some highlights from the history of bringing pinball to the world of video games.

Chris is joined by Phil, and our hosts discuss their favourite pinball games and some notable not-so-favourites.

Links from the show: Demon's Tilt Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/422510/DEMONS_TILT/

Soundcloud link for Demon's Tilt OST: https://soundcloud.com/ec2151/sets/demons-tilt-sample-fm

As always, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, or your podcast supplier of choice. They all help us reach new people.

In this episode Paul interviews Dave Upchurch. Starting his career at EMAP on popular 90's magazine ACE he soon was moved to The One Amiga where he became the magazines editor. At the time the Amiga was going from strength to strength with games such as The Secret Of Monkey Island 2, Chaos Engine.

In 1996 following his success at The One Amiga he went on to work on Nintendo Magazine System up until the official UK launch of the Nintendo 64 in 1997.

Dave tells us a few tales of his good and bad experiences in games journalism before we move discuss his career away from the magazines. We look at his time working for LEGO who wanted to break into the video games market, his time making educational software for Mangahigh which received a lot of accolades and much more.

Dave currently works for Curve Digital that have released games for the PC, PS4, Switch such as Human Fall Flat, Smoke and Velocity 2X.

With almost 30 years in the games industry now there was plenty to discuss in this 3 hour interview.

Witness Phil using powers that rival those of the World's Greatest Detective, as he supervises the first joint appearance of Chris Smith original and Chris Smith redux on a journey through the highs and lows of the caped-crusader's video game career.

Which Chris Smith has the controversial favourite Batman? (Don't worry, no one picked Clooney), and who had made it until now, oblivious of the delights of Batman Forever Arcade Game? Find out all this and more, as we ask "Dark Knight, or Dark Shite?"

If you enjoy our show, please do throw us an iTunes review as they always help.

In October this year it was announced that after almost 26 years GamesMaster magazine would be ending. A mainstay on magazine racks for so long the mag had many great writers over the years. From the SNES, Mega Drive and Amiga in the early days, it covered all the major consoles up until present day with the PlayStation 4, X Box One, Nintendo Switch, PC.

In this episode Paul speaks to final editor Robin Valentine as well as another previous editor Matt Gilman. They discuss some of their favourite moments of working on the magazine, why they think it lasted so long and more.

If you enjoy this episode check out episode 40 which covered issue 1 interviewing several staff that helped make the 1st issue of GamesMaster way back in 1992.

In this episode Paul sits down with Geoff Glendenning to discuss his career in games marketing. Spending over a decade working in advertising and then onto marketing for companies such as Commodore, Acclaim but most importantly Sony gave us a lot to discuss.

As Head Of Marketing for the Sony PlayStation, Geoff had a lot of great ideas to help build the PlayStation brand. He shares some great stories from his time at Sony but also the days working on adverts for Commodore Amiga 600 and CD32 beforehand. Even after leaving Sony he has some fantastic experiences to share for Tony Hawk, Apocalypse and more.

We hope you enjoy the show and please leave us an iTunes review if you can.

Join our intrepid three as we go runnin' and gunnin', and diving into the shoot'em up sub genre of run'n'gun games. Messers Phil, Jake and Chris Smith MkII pick up some heavy weaponry, don their bandanas and camo kecks, and jump in the chopper… or do they?

As they discuss the well known favourites like Contra and Metal Slug, and the blockbuster movie influence on the games of the time, we ask is the genre all 90s explosions and testosterone? Your hosts pick out their own three favourites – and there's a few pleasant surprises in there – which our listeners may or may not agree with!

Paul sits down to chat to ex games journalist Neil West in this episode to discuss his career.

Neil started his career on Sega Power alongside Andy Smith (another previous guest). Learning the ropes working on tips, reviews etc Neil soon got his first editor role on MEGA where he was given his own chance to plan his own vision for a Sega Megadrive magazine.

We also discuss his time doing freelance work for GamesMaster, Total and other magazines before leaving to work in America and launching Next Generation magazine which was the sister magazine to Edge.

Returning to the UK a couple of years later we discuss Arcade a short lived but much loved multiformat magazine from Future.

We hope you enjoy the show and the stories Neil shares. Please check out all our past shows/

In this episode Paul chats with Gary Penn about his career in the games industry that spans over 30 years. They discuss his work on well known games magazines Zzap 64, The One, Amiga Power and more.

As well as this they talk about his experiences and memories working at DMA design and the rise of Rockstar including a little known game called Grand Theft Auto.

Gary has spent almost 20 years now over at Denki up in Dundee where his latest work is on the upcoming Autonauts. Find all the info about his latest work at www.denki.co.uk

We hope you enjoy the show and if possible an iTunes review or feedback is also grateful.

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die."

Hot on the heels(ish) of the Dreamcast Listener's Choice episode, Phil, Tom & Chris reunite to tackle nameless horrors and eldritch terrors as they explore video games influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."