• My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin

  • By: Simon Parkin
  • Podcast

My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin

By: Simon Parkin
  • Summary

  • In My Perfect Console, Simon Parkin, award-winning writer for the New Yorker and The Observer newspaper's video game critic invites a well-known guest from the worlds of gaming, film and television, music, comedy and more to pick the five video games they would like to immortalise on their very own fictional games machine. They discuss those five games in chronological order of release, interspersed with biographical chat about the guest’s life and career –– a lens that often leads to new and unexpected insights.


    "Thoroughly modern and ahead of its time...a gift." - NEW YORK'S VULTURE

    "Charming, insightful." -- THE GUARDIAN.

    TIME OUT'S 50 Best Podcasts.


    (Note: Episode descriptions may contain affiliate links).

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    Simon Parkin
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Episodes
  • Saraya Bevis, professional wrestler.
    Apr 1 2025

    Saraya is one of the biggest names in professional wrestling. Born into a successful wrestling family in Norwich, England, she left home at fifteen to forge her own path in the ring. Under the name Paige, she became the youngest WWE Divas Champion in history and was the subject of the hit 2019 film Fighting with My Family, written and directed by Stephen Merchant, in which she was portrayed by Florence Pugh.


    Now competing in All Elite Wrestling as Saraya, she has battled through injuries, personal struggles, and the intense pressures of the industry to become an icon of resilience and reinvention. Outside of wrestling, she is a fierce advocate for domestic abuse survivors and women’s health issues. Now, in a highly anticipated memoir, Hell in Boots, she’s ready to tell her story like never before.


    Links:


    Fighting with My Family (Channel 4 documentary), 2012.

    Fighting with My Family Film Trailer.

    Saraya's Instagram


    Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • Seamus Blackley, originator of the Xbox.
    Mar 25 2025

    Seamus Blackle is a physicist, game designer, and technology visionary best known as the originator of the Xbox. After studying physics at Tufts University, he began his career in high-energy physics before pivoting to the video game industry. He worked on titles including System Shock and Flight Unlimited. In the late nineties, while an employee at Microsoft, he led the development of a bold new console project.


    The Xbox revolutionised the video game landscape, introducing hit series including Halo, Gears of War and Forza. Since he left Microsoft, my guest has worked across entertainment, venture capital, and even experimental archaeology, famously recreating ancient Egyptian bread using 4,500-year-old yeast.

    Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 19 mins
  • Keith Burns, artist.
    Mar 19 2025

    Keith Burns is an award-winning aviation artist and illustrator. As a student he dreamed of becoming a comic book artist but after his teachers at art college discouraged him from the career path, he dropped out and became a bus driver. Ten years later he received an email inviting him to submit a comic strip to a talent finding project. His submission led to a meeting with Dave Gibbons, co-creator of Watchmen. Gibbons encouraged my guest to pursue his gift, which eventually led to a long-standing collaboration with renowned comic book writer Garth Ennis.


    In 2012 he joined the Guild of Aviation Artists, in 2015 won the Messier Dowty award for Best Acrylic Painting, and in 2016, the Aviation Painting of the Year. In 2023 in collaboration with James Holland he published The Second World War: An Illustrated History, for which my guest produced nearly 300 illustrations during the course of five years.

    Be attitude for gains. https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 20 mins

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