Kiwi game developers are looking to beat the final boss.

The video game industry's just returned a 100-million dollar annual revenue and now they're shooting for a billion dollars in the next decade.

Game Developers Association board member Stephen Knightly told Mike Hosking it's a realistic goal at their current rate of growth.

"That would put us in with the likes of those other great New Zealand export sectors, like our billion dollar plus wine industry or our multi-billion dollar film industry"

LISTEN ABOVE AS STEPHEN KNIGHTLY TALKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

Sales of bomb shelters in the US are going through the roof, amid the tension with North Korea.

South Korea believes Pyongyang is moving an intercontinental ballistic missile towards the coast, in preparation for another launch.

Atlas Survival Shelters owner Ron Hubbard told Mike Hosking today's the best day the company's had in its history.

"In the past they typically have been calling with interest : What do they cost? How long do they take? They're more inquisitive. Today they are all calling and are all placing orders".

Hubbard said a shelter could cost an average of 75-thousand US dollars.

He said people as far as Australia have placed orders.

LISTEN ABOVE AS RON HUBBARD TALKS TO MIKE HOSKING

More funding is needed to halt the slide of New Zealand's universities down the world rankings.

The call comes as Auckland University plunges to its lowest ever position on the Times Higher Education rankings, slipping 27 places to number 192.

Vice-Chancellor Stuart McCutcheon said it's a trend that's affected all our universities.

"Unless New Zealand is prepared to invest more strongly in its universities, this is a trend we will see continue".

He said it's becoming increasingly difficult to attract international students, who are heading to better-funded universities overseas.

McCutcheon said it all comes down to a lack of funding.

"We operate with the lowest levels of income per student in the developed world and as in everything in life, if you want quality you have to be prepared to pay for it"

LISTEN ABOVE AS STUART MCCUTCHEON TALKS TO MIKE HOSKING

A change of tune from Steven Joyce.

National's finance spokesperson is refusing to apologise after accusing Labour of having a massive hole in its fiscal plan, a hole no one else can see. Instead, he's trying another line of attack.

Steven Joyce told Mike Hosking the party should be upfront about whether its Budget is going to increase debt.

"Well actually what I am saying is that they mucked up their allowances. That was my statement, they are saying no they haven't."

"I said well if that's the case you've spent everything, it's not credible because actually there is a whole bunch of things that you need to spend money on in normal government, which you left nothing aside for."

He said they should be more upfront about how they will achieve their plan.

"They can make the numbers add and the economists are saying they can make the numbers add. What I am saying is actually when you add the numbers, when you add them properly, you draw away the curtains, it involves a lot more debt or more taxes."

LISTEN ABOVE AS STEVEN JOYCE SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

After recording over 21 studio albums and being inducted into the Aria Hall Of Fame, Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly now has his first number 1 album.

Paul chats with Mike Hosking about his recent success.

The French President is displaying some Trump-like behaviour.

Public support for Emmanuel Macron continues to drop with the leader's popularity falling to 30%.

Europe correspondent Catherine Field said it comes after he walked back on tax cuts and failed to get the economy moving.

She told Mike Hosking Mr Macron took it out on journalist while visiting a school.

"He said to them I'm not interested in journalists I'm interested in the french people that's what you need to understand."

LISTEN ABOVE AS CATHERINE FIELD SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOKING

Property professionals feel left in the dark by National's urban planning policy.

National plans to introduce separate urban planning laws to encourage growth in cities where they believe the Resource Management Act has restrained development.

Property Institute CEO Ashley Church told Mike Hosking it seems fine in theory, but he wants to see more detail about how it interacts with the RMA.

"That's one of the big questions over them, that's why detail is really important and prior to an election when you looking at big tranche of legislation like this that sort of detail should be in place."

LISTEN ABOVE AS ASHLEY CHURCH SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

Labour's numbers expert is defending the party's fiscal plan and says it all comes down to policy.

National claims Labour's alternative budget has an 11.7 billion dollar gap.

But Chief economist at BERL, Ganesh Nana, says they tested the plan and found it all adds up.

He told Mike Hosking Labour's spending is higher because of what the party's promising to deliver around education and health.

"The right and wrong is whether you believe the policies that Labour are going to put in place are going to lead to better outcomes than the policies that national are going to put in place."

LISTEN ABOVE AS GANESH NANA SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

North Korea's main goal is said to be dominance over the whole peninsula.

The rogue state's tested a hydrogen bomb, which rocked the country with a 5.2 magnitude shake.

Korea expert at Tufts University in the US, Sung-Yoon Lee, told Mike Hosking it's part of a bigger plan for the country.

"North Korea needs to be a menace, needs to be a credible threat to the United States in order to get the US to perhaps one day abandon South Korea."

He said dominance over the south is a non-negotiable goal for North Korea.

LISTEN ABOVE AS SUNG-YOON LEE SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

A crackdown on gangs is coming if National wins the election.

National will spend $82 millions tackling gangs and the meth scourge, half if that will go to meth rehabilitation.

Police would also be given to the power to search the houses and cars of gang members with serious convictions, without a warrant.

Gang Researcher and Sociologist Jarrod Gilbert told Mike Hosking this policy has crossed the line and is a step too far.

LISTEN ABOVE AS JARROD GILBERT SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING