In a special epilogue episode the tables are turned as I sit down with Violet Berlin and she interviews me about the games that shaped my own life.We talk about blind runs of Alex Kidd, Tony Hawks Pro Skater as teenage therapy, why death wouldn

Episode 128 - Robert Ashley

Feb 15th, 2021 1h 24m

Consoles don’t really brag about bit ratings anymore. Growing up with games, the leaps between generations felt profound From 8 Bit to 16 Bit, to 32, to Nintendo 64! It was exciting. The last consoles to even mention it in their marketing were

Episode 127 - Julian 'Jaz' Rignall

Feb 8th, 2021 1h 37m

My guest today Julian 'Jaz' Rignall. A formative character in my life in games during his role as the editor for magazines like Mean Machines and CVG, Julian is the first guest I've spoken to on checkpoints that I did drawings of as a child. As

Episode 126 - Chris Bell

Feb 1st, 2021 1h 40m

My guest today is Chris Bell, a game designer with a remarkable CV that includes thatgamecompany's Journey and the upcoming Sky, What Remains of Edith Finch, Way and 12 Minutes.As well as being an incredible designer Chris is also filled with s

Episode 124 - Johnnemann Nordhagen

Jan 25th, 2021 1h 13m

Today I'm joined by Gabby DaRienzo and we have an incredibly lively and upbeat chat about death and video games. Gabby is the co-founder of Laundry Bear games. creator of the wonderful Mortician's Tale, and also the host of the Play Dead podcas

Episode 124 - Johnnemann Nordhagen

Jan 18th, 2021 1h 20m

My guest today is Johnnemann Nordhagen - the creator of the incredible Where the Water Tastes Like Wine - and he has some wonderful stories to share.We talk spelling games in Colarado on an Apple IIe, learning to program in DOS, losing years in

Episode 123 - Ian Bogost

Jan 11th, 2021 1h 7m

My guest today is Ian Bogost, an award winning game designer and author of several books including Persuasive Games and Play Anything. He's also a contributing editor to the Atlantic magazine, the professor of Interactive Computing at Georgia T

Episode 122 - Ben Myres & Cukia 'Sugar' Kimani

Dec 28th, 2020 1h 16m

My guests today are Ben Myres and Cukia ‘Sugar' Kimani, co-founders of South African based game studio Nyamakop, creators of the inventive 'Clay Doh' platformer Semblance. They are also excellent, inspiring company with an infectious passion fo

rebroadcast - Episode 121 - Dane Hearthstone

Dec 21st, 2020 1h 16m

My guest today is one of my favourite streamers of one of my favourite games, Dane McCappin AKA Dane Hearthstone. I first noticed Dane when his incredibly inventive and creative Hearthstone decks became a regular on highlight reels like Trolden

Episode 121 - Dane Hearthstone

Dec 21st, 2020 1h 16m

Episode 120 - Mahdi Bahrami (Copy)

Dec 14th, 2020 1h 9m

My guest today is Iranian video game developer Mahdi Bahrami. Annoyingly young, Mahdi already has an incredible game under his belt with the release of Engare in 2017. A unique puzzle game inspired by Islamic art which also comes with a creatio

Episode 120 - Mahdi Bahrami

Dec 14th, 2020 1h 9m

Episode 119 - Dr. Mark R. johnson

Dec 7th, 2020 1h 2m

My guest today is Dr Mark Johnson. Mark is a man of many talents, he's currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta where he mainly focuses on the intersection of money and games, particula

Episode 118 - Richard Garriott

Nov 30th, 2020 1h 2m

I'm very excited to welcome Richard Garriott to the show. Sometimes known as Lord British, Richard is a video game trailblazer. As the creator of Ultima he helped forge a new genre in games, and with Ultima Online invented a whole new one. His

Rebroadcast - Episode 118 - Richard Garriott

Nov 30th, 2020 1h 2m

Rebroadcast - Episode 117 - Paul Kilduff-Taylor

Nov 23rd, 2020 1h 33m

Last month I recorded a special episode of Checkpoints live from the All Your Base festival in Nottingham. One of my guests was Paul Kilduff-Taylor who I ended up hanging about with a bunch over the weekend and we had a lovely time so I asked h

Episode 116 - Andrej Bjelaković

Nov 17th, 2020 2h 7m

One of my favourite parts of doing this show is discovering the ways people played games in countries all around the world, In this special episode of the show I speak with a listener and linguistics lecturer Andrej Bjelaković about growing up

Rebroadcast - Episode 115 - Zach Barth

Oct 26th, 2020 1h 9m

My guest today is Zach Barth, founder of Zachtronics and creator of some of the best video games ever made, including Spacechem, Infinifactory and their latest, Opus Magnum.We talk about the surprising amount of instinct and chance that goes in

Episode 115 - Zach Barth

Oct 26th, 2020 1h 9m

Rebroadcast - Episode 114 - James Ryan

Oct 19th, 2020 1h 35m

My guest today is James Ryan who - as part of his PhD at US Santa Cruz - has been working on some of the coolest and most exciting projects I’ve seen in years, and this chat made me incredibly excited about the future of games and could potenti

Episode 114 - James Ryan

Oct 19th, 2020 1h 35m

Episode 113 - Sarah Elmahleh

Oct 12th, 2020 1h 16m

My guest today is Sarah Elmahleh. Sarah is an actor and voice over artist and has worked on a whole bunch of videogames including Gone Home, For Honor, Call of Duty, Pyre, Galak-Z and Final Fantasy 15. She was also the lead in the recent - and

Rebroadcast - Episode 112 - Devine Lu Linvega

Oct 5th, 2020 1h 26m

My guest on today's episode is Devine Lu Linvega. How to begin describing Devine. In videogame terms he has created some wonderful games like Hivesaires, Donsol or the Proteus remix Purgateus. He currently lives with his girlfriend on a sail bo

Episode 111 - Jim Rossignol

Oct 1st, 2020 1h 6m

My guest on today's episode is Jim Rossignol. Jim spent many years working at PC Gamer, founded Rock, Paper, Shotgun and has since set up his own video game studio, Big Robot, and made the games Sir, You Are Being Hunted and The Signal from Töl