Checkpoints
166 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 21 ratingsThis is a show about videogames, The people who play them and the people who make them. Each week, a guest on the show talks about the games that have shaped their life in one way or another. Games that have inspired them, games that forged connections with others and games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints!
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Episodes
Episode 109 - Erica 'aurahack' Lahaie
December 11, 2017 01:00My guest today is Erica Lahaie, a designer, illustrator and concept artist based out of Montreal. I'm a particular fan of the incredible work on Shrouded Isle but all of her art is amazing. Also she has the best URLs. We go deep on our mutual love of the Tony Hawks Pro Skater series, talk about the mythical PS2 modem and her SOCOM 2 adventures, how she got her first break posting in the Giant Bomb forums and why we both think that rhythm action is probably the best video game genre. "Gleam ...
Episode 108 - Clint 'halfcoordinated' Lexa
December 04, 2017 01:03My guest today is Clint 'halfcoordinated' Lexa. Clint is a beloved and incredible speed runner and a common highlight of GamesDoneQuick. Despite being born with a condition known as hemiparesis which limits the use of one side of his body, Clint has become a beloved and incredible speedrunner, with his one handed runs of intense action games like Vanquish and Nier being among the highlights of GamesDoneQuick these past few years. His experience in overcoming accessibility issues has also led ...
Episode 107 - Jennifer Scheurle
November 27, 2017 01:00My guest today is Jennifer Scheurle, the game design lead at Opaque Space currently working in collaboration with NASA on the VR game Earthlight. The team recently won studio of the year and game of the year at the Austrailian Game Developer Awards. We talk about how cool it is to work with NASA, her childhood playing games in Germany and why PCs rule, how a particularly harrowing experience with a bear in the original Tomb Raider turned her off games for years, how she might need an interve...
Episode 106 - Richard Franke AKA Miss Kitty Powers
November 20, 2017 01:00My guest today is that rarest of unicorns, a video game designer who moonlights as a drag queen. Richard Franke first got into games through his comic book art, and after spending many years working on a variety of titles - most notably the Burnout series - he left to found Magic Notion and create Kitty Powers Matchmaker, whose titular character is based on Richard's own drag queen persona. We talk about his older brother passing on video game wisdom, his fear of 3D Monster Maze, recreating ...
Episode 105 - Will Porter
November 13, 2017 03:00My guest today is the velvet owl Will Porter - Former PC Zone editor, freelancer, and the writer of Project Zomboid, Alien Isolation and No Man's Sky. We talk about how the PC Zone vs. PC Gamer rivalry is no joke, whether growing up on a farm puts you off farming sims for life, how it felt to be a Betamax kid in a VHS world, and how working in the bowels of Canary Wharf made him feel like he was living in Half Life. We also hit on Drop 7 addiction, the challenges of working on a game like ...
Episode 104 - Mike Cook
November 06, 2017 03:00Hello! So good to be back. My guest on today's episode is the amazing Mike Cook Mike is an AI researcher, the founder of #procjam (this year's even has just started so you should check it out.) and the creator of ANGELINA an AI system that makes video games. As you can imagine, this is a mind blowing and fascinating talk. It honestly completely reshaped the way I think about and understand AI. There's also a ton of great video game stories like the surprise LAN party he had for his 10th bir...
Rebroadcast: Episode 17 - Christopher Brookmyre
October 30, 2017 06:00Today's guest is the Scottish novelist Christopher Brookmyre. Chris's love of videogames is peppered through many of his books, but most distinctly in his recent novel Bedlam which has subsequently become it's own videogame. We talk Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy, videogames as fuel for imagination, trolling Dreamcast players, and the parallels between the Quake scene of the 90s and the Punk scene of the 70s. All fun and games until someone loses an eye.
Rebroadcast: Episode 12 - Meg Jayanth
October 30, 2017 06:00Today's guest is videogame writer and creator Meg Jayanth. We have a lengthy chat about her work as the lead writer on Time Magazine's game of 2014, 80 Days before delving into all kinds of other narrative based games. We talk IFs, MUDs, MUSHs and Fanfic. We also hit on our differing approaches to play, how she can't bear to say goodbye to Commander Shepherd, making GTA your own, the peculiar ending to Sim Tower and my poor romantic performance in 80 days. Oh Passepartout....
Rebroadcast: Episode 32 - Mel Croucher
October 23, 2017 05:00Mel Croucher is a living legend. You may not have heard of him and might be thinking, 'Declan, that's a bit strong.' and I'd say, 'Listen to the episode first.'
Rebroadcast: Episode 6 - Iain Cook - CHVRCHES
October 16, 2017 05:00Today's guest is Iain Cook of the popular music combo CHVRCHES. We discuss Galaga, Destiny, gaming on tour, Street Fighter 4 grudge matches and the inexplicable gaming creation known as Pi Man.
Rebroadcast: Episode 28 - Steven Bailey
October 09, 2017 05:00Steven Bailey is stupid clever. He has a PHD in mathematics, he's likely written some of the best videogame writing you've ever read, and now as a videogame analyst he's charting the future of the industry.
Episode 103 - Jolie Menzel
October 02, 2017 05:00This is a show about videogames, the people who play them and the people who make them. Each episode, a guest talks about the games that have shaped their life in one way or another. Games that have inspired them, games that have forged connections & games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints! My guest on today's episode is the Jolie Menzel. Jolie is a game designer and developer who started her career at Telltale games and currently works at Ubisoft as the Narrative Desiger for the upcom...
Episode 102 - Christian Donlan
September 25, 2017 05:00This is a show about videogames, the people who play them and the people who make them. Each episode, a guest talks about the games that have shaped their life in one way or another. Games that have inspired them, games that have forged connections & games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints! My guest on today's episode is the features editor of Eurogamer, co-host of the Eurogamer podcast and one of my favourite writers, Christian Donlan. As anyone familiar with Christian or the Eurogam...
Episode 101 - Arthur Gies
September 18, 2017 05:00This is a show about videogames, the people who play them and the people who make them. Each episode, a guest talks about the games that have shaped their life in one way or another. Games that have inspired them, games that have forged connections & games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints! My guest on today's episode is Arthur Gies. Arthur is a veteran video game journalist, former reviews editor for Polygon and long time host of Rebel FM. We talk about his recent decision to leave P...
Episode 100 - Tim Schafer
September 11, 2017 05:00This is a show about videogames, the people who play them and the people who make them. Each episode, a guest talks about the games that have shaped their life in one way or another. Games that have inspired them, games that have forged connections & games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints! Checkpoints 100! Massive thanks to everyone that listens to and subscribes to the show, and of course to all of my previous guests, without whom the show literally wouldn't exist. A milestone show...
Episode 99 - Teddy Dief
September 04, 2017 00:00My guest on today's show is Teddy Dief. As well as having an incredibly enjoyable name to say out loud, Teddy is also a writer, game designer, Squarebowl founder and the creative director of Square Enix Montreal.