My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Ad-Free

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 Portal, then led development of Left 4 Dead and its sequel.
In 2017 he left Valve, eventually founding his own studio Stray Bombay. The company's first game, The Anacrusis, is a brightly coloured and joke-filled cooperative first-person shooter set aboard a stranded spaceship.
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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 House.
Listen to Glenn and Simon discuss their experiences playing the game –– with bonus thoughts on Inscryption, Killer Frequency, the New York Times' game offerings, and much more!
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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 Northeastern 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 books followed including, in 2020, her first adult novel, Chosen Ones.
Now, in her forthcoming book, When Among Crows, my guest returns to Chicago, in a story that combines Slavic folklore and the city’s underworld.
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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...
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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. Three years later they became the creative director of Square Enix Montreal. When that project was cancelled, my guest returned to the world of independent development, working as creative director of We Are OFK, an episodic game about a fictional band that was recently nominated for a Peabody Award.
My guest is also the co-founder of Glitch City, a Los Angeles-based collective of game-makers and independent artists.
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My guest today is the English author and journalist, Keith Stuart. He grew up in a town near Stockport in Greater Manchester, then studied English and Drama at Warwick University. After graduating he joined Big Red Software, testing Game Genie codes for the Game Boy, and coming up with names for the vehicles and tracks in Big Red Racing.
In 1995 he joined the team of the recently launched Edge magazine, before becoming editor of the unofficial Dreamcast magazine, DC-UK. In 2005 he assumed the pioneering role of games editor for The Guardian, a position he held for more than a decade, as one of the first long-term beat reporters on games for a broadsheet newspaper.
In 2016 he published his first novel, A Boy Made of Blocks, based on his experience bonding with his autistic son in Minecraft. After the book became a Richard & Judy bestseller more followed, and he is now publishing his fourth novel, Love is a Curse, a story about generational love and trauma. 
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