In My Perfect Console, Simon Parkin, contributing writer for the New Yorker and The Observer newspaper's video game critic invites guests 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, and discuss what their choices mean to them. "CHARMING, INSIGHTFUL" -- THE GUARDIAN.TIME OUT 50 BEST PODCASTS OF 2023. 
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Tom Bissell, scriptwriter, Gears of War, Star Wars: Andor.

My guest today is an award-winning author, journalist and writer for film, television, and video games. After graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in English literature, he travelled to Uzbekistan as a volunteer for the Peace Corps. He then returned to New York where he worked as author and editor, reporting on the Iraq war for Harper's Magazine and contributing literary criticism to The New York Times Book Review. A keen thinker on video games, in 2010 he published Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, a book that included a dissection of his experiences playing Grand Theft Auto IV while abusing cocaine. His 2013 book, The Disaster Artist, was turned into an Oscar-nominated feature film directed by James Franco, and his short story Aral inspired Werner Herzog's 2016 film Salt and Fire. My guest has also written for video games such as The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Uncharted 4, and Gears of War 5, and in 2021 he co-developed the Apple TV series The Mosquito Coast, based on the Paul Theroux novel of the same title. Recently he wrote three episodes for the second season of Star Wars: Andor, due to air in 2024. Welcome, Tom Bissell. Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a supporter; your small monthly donation will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, contributing toward the cost of equipment, editing, and hosting episodes. <a target="_blank" rel="payment" href="https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console">https://plus.acast.com/s/my-perfect-console</a>.

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Simon Parkin

A Guest. Five Games. One Perfect Console.

My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin

One Guest. Five Video Games. A Perfect Console.

Each week, author and journalist Simon Parkin invites a guest to pick the five video games they would like to install on their very own, fictional games console. They discuss what each of the games means to them, and share a little of their life and career to date.

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