My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin

My guest today is an Irish writer, poet, critic, and podcaster. Born and raised in Dublin, she began writing seriously as a teenager, studied English, Media and Cultural Studies at IADT, and later completed a Master’s in Creative Writing at NUI Galway. Her early work included the poetry collection Follies and Not Lost, a book of essays about emigration written after she moved to San Francisco in 2012.

Since returning to Ireland, she has published a series of acclaimed novels, including Spare and Found Parts and Other Words for Smoke, which won Teen and Young Adult Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Her 2025 horror novel Eat the Ones You Love was followed by a shortlist for Author of the Year, and she is now the 2026 Arts Council Writer Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. Alongside her fiction, she writes about games for The Guardian. Her new horror novel, Strange Is the Light, is out now, and she is currently working on another book, about video games, titled Everything Not Saved.

LINKS

Sarah Maria Griffin – books & socials

Sarah Maria Griffin – official website
Sarah Maria Griffin – Instagram (@sarahgriffski)
Sarah Maria Griffin – Substack
Sarah Maria Griffin – writing about games for The Guardian

Strange as the Light (out 8 September 2026)
Strange as the Light – Waterstones
Strange as the Light – Titan Books
Strange as the Light – Bookshop.org UK

Earlier novels
Eat the Ones You Love – Waterstones
Other Words for Smoke – Waterstones

Sarah's Perfect Console
EarthBound (SNES, 1994) – Wikipedia
EarthBound – Nintendo Switch Online
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask – Wikipedia
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Nintendo
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – Wikipedia
Night in the Woods – official site
Night in the Woods – Steam
Wandersong – official site
Wandersong – Steam

Other references mentioned
Disco Elysium – Steam
Chicory: A Colorful Tale – official site (Greg Lobanov, also made Wandersong)
826 Valencia – literacy non-profit, San Francisco
Dublin Youth Theatre
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin – Waterstones
Rock, Paper, Shotgun – games journalism
Glenn Moore – Button Boys podcast

Next week's guest
Chris Cantrill – Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Show winner 2026 (Rewilding)
Chris Cantrill – Chortle profile
Saturday Night Live UK – ITV

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike Diver is a British journalist, editor, and author whose career has moved fluidly between music criticism and video games writing, always with an eye for subculture, history, and stories beyond the mainstream. He began at the music website Drowned in Sound, where he rose to become content editor, before going on to work with Clash and contribute to publications including Kerrang! and Rock Sound.

Later, he turned increasingly to video games, writing for outlets including Edge and Kotaku - as well as heading up teams at VICE Gaming (later Waypoint) and GAMINGbible - and bringing the same curiosity and critical energy to games culture, retro hardware, and the history of the medium. Alongside his journalism, he has written six books on video games and edited several more, covering subjects from indie games and esports to Sonic the Hedgehog and Final Fantasy. His latest book, Aliens: The Video Games, continues that fascination with the way great pop-cultural worlds mutate and endure through interactive form.

LINKS

Mike Diver – website & book
Mike Diver – Aliens: The Video Games: An Unofficial Guide (Waterstones, out 30 August 2026)
Aliens: The Video Games – publisher White Owl / Pen and Sword

Alien games discussed
Alien: Isolation – Steam
Aliens: Dark Descent – Steam
Aliens: Colonial Marines – Wikipedia
Aliens: Infestation (Nintendo DS) – Wikipedia
Aliens vs. Predator (Capcom, 1994 arcade) – Wikipedia
Alien: Rogue Incursion – Steam
Alien: Isolation 2 – official announcement trailer

Mike's Perfect Console
Sensible Soccer (1992) – Wikipedia
Sensible World of Soccer – Wikipedia
Streets of Rage 2 – Wikipedia
Streets of Rage 4 – official site
Snatcher – Wikipedia
1944: The Loop Master – Wikipedia
Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium (includes 1944) – Steam
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – official site
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Steam

Other games and references mentioned
Drowned in Sound – Wikipedia (music website where Mike began his career)
Vice Gaming / Waypoint – Wikipedia
Aftermath – independent games journalism site
Respec – independent games journalism site
Mina the Hollower – Yacht Club Games
Yuzo Koshiro – composer of Streets of Rage 2 soundtrack, Wikipedia
Hideo Kojima – Wikipedia
Evercade – retro gaming handheld

Next week's guest
Sarah Maria Griffin – official website
Eat the Ones You Love – Sarah Maria Griffin's latest novel (Waterstones)
Sarah Maria Griffin – writing about video games for The Guardian

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Soren Johnson is an American programmer and game designer whose work has helped shape the modern strategy genre. After earning a master’s degree in Computer Science from Stanford University, he joined Firaxis Games, where he worked as both a programmer and designer on Civilization III before going on to lead the design of Civilization IV, one of the most celebrated strategy games yet made.

Over the years he has contributed to a wide range of projects, including Spore, Dragon Age Legends, and Offworld Trading Company, bringing a distinctive blend of historical insight, systemic thinking, and player-driven design. Today he is the founder and design director of Mohawk Games, where he recently led the development of the acclaimed historical strategy game Old World. Alongside his development work, he continues to explore the craft of game design through his long-running blog and podcast, both of which are titled “Designer Notes”.

Soren Johnson – website & podcast
Soren Johnson – Designer Notes blog
Designer Notes podcast – episode archive
Designer Notes – Apple Podcasts
Designer Notes – Spotify

Mohawk Games & Old World
Mohawk Games – official site
Old World – official page
Old World – Steam
Old World – GOG
Old World – Epic Games Store
Old World: Empires of the Indus DLC – Mohawk Games

Soren's Perfect Console
Pinball Construction Set (1983) – Wikipedia
M.U.L.E. (1983) – Wikipedia
Seven Cities of Gold (1984) – Wikipedia
Legacy of the Ancients (1987) – Wikipedia
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (1999) – Wikipedia

Other games and references mentioned
Civilization IV – Wikipedia
Civilization III – Wikipedia
Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004 remake) – Wikipedia
Civilization Revolution – Wikipedia
Offworld Trading Company – Steam
Spore (2008) – Wikipedia
Balatro – Steam
Vampire Survivors – Steam
Schedule I – Steam
Lethal Company – Steam
Bennett Foddy – personal site
Danielle Bunten Berry – Wikipedia (designer of M.U.L.E.)
Trip Hawkins – Wikipedia (founder of Electronic Arts)
Jake Solomon – Wikipedia
Game Developers Conference (GDC) – official site

Simon's book
Trial of the Space Invaders – pre-order (Bookshop.org UK)
Trial of the Space Invaders – pre-order (Amazon UK)

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest today is a Jamaican game developer and studio founder. Based in Kingston, he is the founder of Spritewrench Studios, a narrative-focused micro studio he built after realising, in his final year at university, that he did not need to leave Jamaica or join a hundred-person team to make games of his own.

Inspired by that possibility, he began creating small projects, taking part in game jams, and steadily turning Spritewrench from a name into a company. His work is shaped by a commitment to cultural representation that reaches beyond cliché, and by a wider effort to grow the local scene through the Jamaica Game Developer Society, where he has worked to connect creators and open up pathways into the industry. Now, with Duppy Detective Tashia, a point-and-click mystery rooted in Caribbean folklore, he is bringing that vision to a wider audience.

Glen Henry & Spritewrench Studios
Spritewrench Studios – official website
Spritewrench – itch.io (all games)
Glen Henry – Instagram (@spritewrench)

Duppy Detective Tashia
Duppy Detective Tashia – Steam
Duppy Detective Tashia – itch.io

Jamaica Game Developer Society
Jamaica Game Developer Society – official site
JGDS – YouTube channel (Crash Course series)

Glen's Perfect Console
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – Wikipedia
Viewtiful Joe (GameCube, 2003) – Wikipedia
Spelunky Classic – free download (Derek Yu's site)
Spelunky Classic – Wikipedia
Hades – official site
Hades – Steam
Hollow Knight: Silksong – official site

Also mentioned
Bastion – Supergiant Games
Transistor – Supergiant Games
Indie Game: The Movie – official site
Black Voices in Gaming – community Discord
Rami Ismail – game developer and advocate
Chase Bethea – composer (Duppy Detective Tashia)
Bubblexity – BChaotic (Jamaican student dev team, Steam)
TIGSource – indie game development forums
Global Game Jam

Next week's guest
Soren Johnson – designer of Civilization IV
Old World – Mohawk Games (Steam)

Simon's book
Trial of the Space Invaders – pre-order (Bookshop.org UK)
Trial of the Space Invaders – pre-order (Amazon UK)

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amelia Tait is a British journalist and author whose work has made her one of the sharpest observers of modern life online and off. As a freelance writer, she has built a reputation for following the strange, revealing currents of contemporary culture — writing about the internet, and remarkable people for publications including The New Yorker, The Guardian, Wired, and the New York Times.

Her reporting is often drawn to the places where technology and absurdity collide, finding the human story inside subjects other people might dismiss as niche or ephemeral. Now she has turned that same wit and curiosity to fiction with her debut children’s book, Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveller, a funny, fast-moving adventure about a girl bouncing through history while trying to survive friendship drama and the general embarrassment of being thirteen.

LINKS

Amelia Tait – website & writing
Amelia Tait – official website
The Waiting Room – Amelia's Substack newsletter

Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveller
Lily Tripp – Waterstones (Waterstones Children's Book of the Month, June 2026)
Lily Tripp – Amazon UK

Amelia's Perfect Console
Theme Hospital (1997) – Wikipedia
The Simpsons: Road Rage (2001) – Wikipedia
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker – Wikipedia
The Sims Bustin' Out (Game Boy Advance, 2003) – Wikipedia
Stardew Valley – official site
Stardew Valley – Steam

Other games mentioned
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo
The Simpsons: Hit & Run – Wikipedia

Amelia's journalism – selected pieces
Are Disney Adults the Happiest Debtors on Earth? – The New Yorker
Amelia Tait – articles on The Guardian

Next week's guest
Duppy Detective Tashia – Glen Henry / Spritewrench Studios – Steam
Spritewrench Studios – itch.io

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole

Take the Acast listener survey to help shape the show: My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin Survey 2025
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.