My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin

In this special correspondence edition, Simon reads out your letters and answers your questions. Why are guests so often caught out when asked to name their console? What is the best moment in a video game? What might a My Perfect Console game jam look like? And can Simon settle a dispute between a father and his kids in the car? All this and much more. And congratulations to letter-writer Spencer...

My guest today is a British game designer whose ingenuity and persistence turned a bedroom project into one of the most iconic multiplayer series in video games. In 1991, he took the characters from the popular  Amiga  game  Lemmings  and placed them in a game of his own, a simulation of artillery fire.  At school, the game proved popular among his friends, so he worked on...

Shuhei Yoshida is former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios , and one of the most beloved figures in the video games industry. After graduating from Kyoto University with a degree in economics, he joined Sony in 1986 to coordinate the company’s PC business. Then, as one of the early members of the PlayStation project, he helped oversee the development of landmark titles...

Danny Abbasi is a musician best known as the drummer for  Miniseries , the genre-blurring band whose dreamy, cinematic soundscapes have been turning heads in the indie music scene. After graduating from the  University of Glasgow  with a degree in English Literature, he moved to China where he worked as a professional musician.  In 2023, having returned to the UK, he joined Min...

Rami is a developer, speaker, and global ambassador for indie games. As the co-founder of  Vlambeer,  he helped create a string of critically acclaimed titles—including  Super Crate Box ,  Ridiculous Fishing ,  Luftrausers , and  Nuclear Throne —that helped define a new era of independent game development.  Beyond his work on games, he’s become one of the most vi...

Lorien Testard is a French musician and composer. He started his career as a guitar teacher, composing instrumental tracks for imaginary video games in his spare time. He began to upload them to his Soundcloud, and soon had a collection of more than fifty pieces online. His life changed when he shared one of the tracks in an indie game forum. A video game director saw the post and invited my guest...

Chris Plante is a journalist, editor, and one of the sharpest voices working in video game media. After studying at  New York University , he worked as freelance writer for outlets including  The Guardian ,  Vulture , and  Edge  before, in 2012, co-founding  Polygon , a website blending coverage of pop culture, longform storytelling, and thoughtful games criticism.&nb...

Claire L. Evans. is an American musician, writer, and artist whose career has spanned music, technology, and cultural criticism. Best known as the co-founder and lead singer of the indie pop group  YACHT,  she has helped steer the group into bold experiments at the intersection of sound, performance, and digital art.  She’s also the author of  Broad Band: The Untold Story of th...

Alexander O. Smith is a translator, writer, and creative producer whose work has brought some of Japan’s most acclaimed stories to audiences around the world. After graduating from Harvard University with a degree in classical Japanese Literature, he went on to become one of the most respected voices in literary and video game translation.  He is best known for his celebrated work on  Fi...

Charlie Rosen is a Grammy award-winning musician, composer, and arranger whose work sits at the intersection of jazz, pop, and video game nostalgia. As the founder and leader of  The 8-bit Big Band , a 35-piece jazz-pops orchestra, he had transformed classic video game soundtracks into virtuosic symphonic showstoppers.  Under his direction, the ensemble has reimagined themes from  S...

Andy Robertson is a veteran journalist, editor, and entrepreneur who has spent his career exploring how video games can bring people together. After graduating from  Brunel University  with a degree in Computer Science, he worked as a freelance games critic for the  BBC  before launching Family Gamer TV , a YouTube channel designed to help parents and caregivers confidentl...

Lizzie Killian is the lead vocalist and guitarist of  Teens in Trouble , an indie rock band known for its anthemic melodies, sharp lyrics, and emotionally charged hooks. Before taking to the stage, she started her career as a writer covering games, then moved into communications, collaborating with titans of the industry such  Capcom ,  EA , and  Riot . In 2022 she released her...

Jonathan Jacques-Belletête is a French-Canadian creative director and artist whose work has helped shape some of the most stylish and thought-provoking contemporary video games. After graduating from Dawson College in Montreal, he worked as a commercial illustrator before joining Ubisoft as an artist on the Far Cry , Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed series. In 2007 he joined Eidos Montreal, w...

My guest today is an American visual artist whose work is redefining how we think about mystery, architecture, and imagination in interactive storytelling. In 2013 he founded Dogubomb , a Los Angeles-based independent Film and Game Studio making music videos, films, and commercials for clients such as Magic the Gathering and Netflix . In 2016 my guest started work on a video game of his own. Havin...

Brian Gibson is a musician, artist, and game designer best known for blurring the lines between sound, movement, and chaos. As the bassist for the legendary noise-rock duo Lightning Bolt , he’s released seven studio albums and played countless ferocious, high-velocity live shows. But he’s also spent much of his life working on video games, first as an artist for the music-game developer Harmonix ,...

In this special correspondence edition, Simon reads out your letters and answers your questions.  Why has  The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time  never made it onto a Perfect Console? Where have in-person gaming communities gone, and can they be revived? What happened to educational games after the days of  Oregon Trail  and  Carmen Sandiego ?  Which made-up game...

Ralph Panebianco is an Australian video game reviewer and YouTube creator known for his sharp insights, no-nonsense delivery, and deep love of the medium. His reviews have been watched more than three hundred million times, and since 2015 his channel, Skill-Up , has become one of the most popular destinations for game criticism, both in Australia and around the world. He has built a loyal followin...

Greg Jenner is a historian, author, and broadcaster who has made the past delightfully accessible to millions. Born in Kent, he studied Archaeology & History at the University of York , then mediaeval studies, before serving as historical advisor to the BBC ’s hit children’s series Horrible Histories . He has since authored several acclaimed books that combine rigorous research with witty stor...

Nathan Brown is a writer, editor, and consultant with a deep well of experience in the video game industry. After starting his career in finance he switched to become a journalist, he spent more than a decade at the British publication  Edge  magazine, where he eventually rose to the role of editor.  Since leaving traditional games media, he has carved out a unique space with ...

Kat Abu is a journalist, influencer, and digital powerhouse who’s taken her sharp wit and political insight from the internet to the campaign trail. Best known for her viral videos dissecting right-wing media as a senior video producer at Media Matters for America , she built a vast following online by blending incisive commentary with biting humour. Now, she’s making a leap into politics as a can...

Jimi Famurewa is a British-Nigerian author, broadcaster and food critic whose writing blends cultural insight, wit, and deep empathy. As the former restaurant critic for the  Evening Standard , he’s become one of the most recognisable voices in British food writing, known for capturing not just what’s on the plate, but also the people, stories, and histories behind it.   A regular guest...

Ed Night is one of the sharpest and most original voices in British stand-up. He began performing comedy as a teenager and, in 2017 his debut hour at the Edinburgh Fring e , Anthem For Doomed Youth , saw him become one of the youngest ever nominees for the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer . Since then, he’s established a reputation for his darkly funny, politically charged material. His wr...

Cabel Sasser is a designer, developer, and co-founder of one of the most beloved indie software companies in tech. In 1999, he co-founded Panic , the Portland-based studio known for its beautifully crafted Mac software and, later, its publishing work on standout indie games like Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game . Most recently, he helped lead the creation of Playdate —a quirky handheld console th...

Peter Whalen is a game designer and creative lead known for his work at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, and competitive play. After graduating from  Princeton  with a degree in Mathematics, he earned his doctorate in algorithms at  Georgia Tech .  He then began his career in video games, first at  Blizzard , where he was a senior designer on  Hearthstone ....

Ray Chase is an American voice actor whose range and versatility have made him one of the most recognisable voices across anime, video games, and audiobooks. Known for bringing to life characters such as Noctis in Final Fantasy XV , Bruno Bucciarati in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure , Cyclops in Xmen ’97 , and Zukuna in Jujutsu Kaisen , he has also voiced major titles like Genshin Impact , Persona 5 , a...