This is a show about video games, the people who play them and the people who make them. Each episode, 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 & games that have soothed wounds. Checkpoints!

My guest today is Simon Byron, formerly a videogame journalist and PR person, now a co-host of videogame radio show One Life Left, Publishing Director at Curve Digital and creator of hit mobile games Bang Man and Up Down Left Right. He is also the reigning Sensible Soccer World Champion.

We talk about growing up around arcades in Bournemouth, how anarchic early video game journalism was, the highs and lows of video game PR - from playing in front of thousands at the Isle of Wight festival to sending bags of offal in the post.

We also chat about his shift into publishing and some of the difficulties of the modern video game market (spoilers: there's too much and it's all great), his brief stint as a commentator on GamesMaster and that time he tried to desecrate the grave of Jimi Hendrix.

'Why you gotta play that song so loud?
(Because we want to, because we want to)'

PATREON! - patreon.com/checkpoints

iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW

Games discussed: Ikari Warriors, Guitar Hero, 10 Second Ninja, Human Fall Flat, Defender, Dragon's Lair, Sensible Soccer, Doom 2, Aladdin, Star Wars Battlefront, GTA, JFK: Reloaded, Skyrim

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Twitter - twitter.com/CheckpointsShow

Cover design: Craig Stevenson - http://onedinosaurandhisballoon.blogspot.co.uk

Music: Samuel Baker - http://soundcloud.com/furoshiki