Maximum Power Up

Chris Smith is joined by regular host Paul Monaghan and special guest Rob Leane, gaming editor for the Radio Times. We discuss Rob's career so far, the beloved status of Radio Times and how it came to have a gaming editor, as well as an extended discussion about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and its implications for modern games jouralism.  It's worth a listen to enjoy Paul forgetting that he i...

Chris and Paul once again realise almost another year has gone by since they last recorded. Join us as we catch up on the year just gone, and manage to almost entirely avoid talking about Christmas. 

You wait weeks for a podcast, then two hours come along at once. Chris is joined by returning host Paul to look at their highlights from the games that have been announced for the year ahead. With a brief diversion to discuss the Amiga Mini, because there was no chance of them staying on topic.

Chris Smith the Newer is joined by returning hosts Jake and Tommy to discuss the last 12 months, and what they've been up to in life and videogames since Maximum Power Up last released an episode.

Chris Smith mk 2 is joined by returning host Tom Charnock to share fond memories of Atari's much maligned console. They cover their own introductions to the console, and discuss their favourite games on the platform.  As always, if you enjoy this episode, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever else you choose to listen to your podcasts. If you want to continue the convers...

This episode features two interviews discussing two new print productions.   First up is Daryl Baxter who has written the Making Of Tomb Raider book. This book covers the stories behind the making of the first two games by Core Design. The book features over 20 interviews with people who worked on the game and Daryl also shares other things we can expect from this labour of love.   Secondly is an...

Our latest guest is Ashley Day, currently employed by Team17. Over this three hour chat we discuss all aspects of his career. Starting out writing for GamesTM, Ashley discusses his love of games mags and the challenges faced in his time on the magazine including getting interviews. In 2012 he moved to Nintendo working in Digital Marketing which involved coming up with some fantastic ideas to help...

This episode we are joined by two guests, both writers and they also produce their own podcast. Samuel Roberts and Matthew Castle join Paul to discuss their career working on games magazines. Both starting in the mid '00's we cover more recent gaming discussing the PS3, PS4, Wii, DS, X360 etc. Working on Official Nintendo Magazine, NGamer, X360 Magazine, PC Gamer and more game us lots of memories...

Our 42nd magazine related guest is Tim Ponting. Paul spoke to Tim about his career in games magazines and PR. Starting out on drumming magazine Rhythm, he soon joined Dennis Publishing on the much loved magazine Zero. He shares some memories of being editor and the challenges he faced against other magazines, coverdisks and more. From there we go onto his time on PC Zone and how the industry chang...

Paul is joined by best selling author and journalist, Keith Stuart. Keith started his career in the 90's at Big Red Software helping write game manuals. However in 1995 previous MPU guest Jason Brookes gave him his first games magazine role on Edge. We discussed his memories of working on Edge at such an important time in the games industry. As well as this we discuss his work on DC-UK and how the...

The same motley crew as the last bonus episode return for another pandemic related show, as Chris, Chris, Jake and Arron do their best to appear like they still have it together as we approach the anniversary of the pandemic.  As ever, this show is as much about life as anything else, but if you just want the games chatter, I'd skip the first 20 minutes. . As ever, if you like the episode or have...

There is plenty for Commodore Amiga fans in this episode. Paul sits down to speak to Marcus Dyson who spent 4 years on Amiga Format, as well as some time at Team 17. Starting in 1990 at Future Publishing Marcus started off as an artist for the magazine before moving to editor. He shares some of his memories as well as challenges faced on the magazine at that time. We discuss reviews, cover disks,...

Our latest interview is with VP of IGN, John Davison. John started his career in the games industry over 30 years ago with his first fulltime role on Games-X magazine. John shares the challenges he faced on a weekly games magazine before moving onto Megadrive Advanced Gaming, PC Zone and more. We discuss how PC Zone became one of the leading PC magazines and some of the standout features in the ma...

This episode we are joined by a huge guest! Gary Whitta joins Paul to discuss his career in games journalism, writing Hollywood screenplays, Animal Crossing talkshows and more! Covering a 30 year plus career, Gary started off on Commodore User being an owner of the Amiga which helped get his big break on magazines. He shares several stories about his time on Games-X, The One, ACE, CVG and more. Ho...

In this third pandemic related bonus episode, the two Chris Smiths are joined by Jake and Arron for as they check in on each other, and talk life, games and a bit about the new systems. Oh and some of the hottest takes on the PS3 since 2006... As ever, if you like the episode or have any feedback, we'd love it if you'd hit us up on the socials and leave reviews. However, self-care is more importan...

Tim Weaver has been writing for decades. Currently he has 10 David Raker novels under his belt, a very popular crime/ thriller series. He started his career at Future Publishing back in 1996 on Nintnedo magazine Total! Tim shares the early days on the mag as well as other Snes magazine Super Play before he went on to work on the magazine that gave him his happiest years - N64 Magazine. N64 mag sti...

In this episode Paul sits down to discuss CVG magazine and more with Paul Glancey and also another Paul, this time Davies! Yes three people on one call all called Paul (that's a mouthful). Paul Glancey makes his MPU debut to take us through some key moments of his career. Starting on Zzap64, working with Jaz Rignall he soon got into the swing of things and followed Jaz to EMAP and CVG magazine. He...

Chris Scullion joins us this episode to discuss his career as a games writer. Starting on Official Nintendo Magazine in 2006, he has also written for the online versions of N Gamer and CVG as well as being a regular contributor to Nintendo Life. When he joined ONM the Gamecube was on the way out but the Wii would go on to become one of Nintendo's most popular consoles. We discuss some key moments...

In this episode Paul interviews Paul McNally about his career in videogames journalism and much more. Paul started his career on ST Action under the guidance of previous guest Nick Clarkson. Working up-to editor he stayed there until the magazine began to wind down in a challenging market for the ST. Staying at Europress publishing he also worked on Mega Action, Bad Influence (both the mag and sho...

In this latest interview, we speak to original Retro Gamer magazine editor Martyn Carroll. We cover several magazines for the first time on the podcast as Martyn shares his early experiences of the magazine industry.   It wasn't a games magazine he started on however. As a rabid horror fan his first published work was in long running horror magazine, Darkside. From here we discuss trying to get wo...

This episode we revisit the "listener choice" format, previously used on our Dreamcast, Game Boy and Commodore 64 shows. Back before the world went mad, we asked our listeners to share their five favourite SEGA Mega Drive games with us, which we then got Paul to count up and combine to create a Top 10 of the most popular ones. Join Chris Smith v2 and Tom Charnock as they tackle the listeners top 1...

In this episode we celebrate 100 episodes of Maximum Power Up. Since the show started in 2015 we have covered a mixture of modern and retrogaming. Most of the team share their experiences of making the podcast, fave episodes, games played etc. Even though it does take a lot of work we are very happy to have great listeners that have helped the show grow. It has been brilliant to have had the chanc...

In this bonus episode we have two guests, Frank Gasking and Sam Dyer. Frank runs the excellent and informative website Games That Weren't for the last 20 years. Sam is known for his excellent work over at Bitmap Books. Games That Weren't features many games that were due to be released but for various reasons didn't happen. Frank has spent years speaking to the people that worked on these games an...

In this episode we are very happy to have Dominik Diamond on the show. For many gamers in the 90's he was the face of gaming on television as the host of GamesMaster. The show covered so many amazing challenges, features and more. We discuss some of Dominik's favourite memories of the show, guests that were on, commentators and more. We also talk about his other games television show from the mid...

The Maximum Power up team for another special bonus episode as Lockdown 2020 continues. In this new Pandemic Pod, the team discuss the two "big hitters" Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Streets of Rage 4, and also share what else they've been up to. As ever, if you like the episode or have any feedback, we'd love it if you'd hit us up on the socials and leave reviews. However, self-care is more i...