This is a show about videogames, 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 Violet Berlin, a writer, educator, producer and presenter, perhaps best known to listeners as the presenter of the video game TV series Bad Influence.

We talk calculator games, Space Museums, Game & Watch, the hidden adventure within Zelda, a deep love for Castlevania, how Eternal Darkness tricked her a little too hard and bonding with her children through video games.

We also talk about how she never owned a TV until she worked on TV, her unlikely route to becoming a TV presenter, working for the biggest museum project in the world, the thrill of meeting curators, gunge recipes, being passionate about your interests and how she ended up as a playable character in Micro Machines 2.

BONUS GUEST! In a particularly bumper episode I also speak to Dr. Jennifer Hazel about her non profit company Checkpoint (good name!) which acts at the intersection of mental health and video games. We have a fascinating chat about the clinical use of video games in treating mental health issues, and about their Kickstarter campaign to create a web series about these issues. If you're curious and you'd like to support it, there are still a few days left to back it - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/checkpoint/the-checkpoint-series

"Remember to set your video recorders for the datablast!"

PATREON - patreon.com/checkpoints

iTunes HERE - SUBSCRIBE / RATE / REVIEW

Games discussed: The Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda - Breath of the Wild, Eternal Darkness, Papers Please, Castlevania 2, Sam and Max, The Lawnmower Man, Mega Man, Space Invaders, Micro Machines 2, Stories Untold, Amplitude, Space Channel 5