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Maximum Power Up

A video gaming podcast that covers both retro gaming as well as modern systems. The show features discussion on various topics, reviews and more.
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Maximum Power Up
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Now displaying: Category: video games
May 12, 2020

Following on from episode 94 we continue our walk down memory lane looking at July to December 1998.

Many gamers see 1998 as one of the greatest years in gaming. All the main machines had several must own titles that were released. We share our experiences and memories playing Banjo Kazooie, Half-Life, Tekken 3 and many more.

We also discuss some of the major gaming news stories from each month and Chris shares his experiences of importing a Sega Dreamcast to end the year.

We hope you enjoy the show and where possible please leave an iTunes review.

 

Apr 16, 2020

In this episode we speak to Glen O'Connell about his career in the games industry as well as sports PR.

Starting out at Psygnosis  he shares some great experiences of visiting games magazines helping promote new titles and his early thoughts working in the industry. However when Sony were ready to launch the PlayStation things soon changed. Titles such as Wipeout had everyone wanting a piece of the Playstation. Glen discusses taking along import consoles to HMV etc to help create buzz.
 
As well as this we discuss his time in PR roles for EA and Rage Software where he met David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Mr.T and many more well known sports stars.
 
Staying in PR with other companies he shares so many stories and some of the key moments in his career so far. 
 
We hope you enjoy the show and if possible leave us an iTunes review.
Apr 3, 2020

For this special bonus episode of the Maximum Power Up podcast, we have an almost full house* as the team gather to keep each other sane during Lockdown 2020.

What games do the team reach for in times of trouble? What games will they play over the coming weeks as they're "staying home" like responsible adults? What tips do they have for you, the listener, to help you get through this time? Does Paul even like videogames? Find out the answers to all this and more, in the Pandemic Pod.

As ever, if you like the episode or have any feedback, we'd love it if you'd hit us up on the socials and leave reviews. However, self-care is more important. Look after yourselves and each other first. We'll be okay.

*Jake and Tommy would have made it if kayjoon had his act together and invited them in time. Although editing six people was hard enough.

Mar 26, 2020
We are very happy to welcome David Wilson on the show for this new episode. David recently left Sony after almost 20 years as Head of UK PR and Director of Communications.
 
Starting in the games industry on classic gaming mags Your Sinclair and Zero, he shares some of his early memories playing and reviewing key games and the challenges faced working on games mags at that time. 
 
Moving on from magazines we cover his time at EA as Head of European PR for almost a decade including how he met Buzz Aldrin. Obviously discussing the Sony PlayStation brand gave us lots to discuss including the PS2, Vita, PSP and more.
 
We hope you enjoy the show and if possible please leave us an iTunes review as every one helps.
Feb 15, 2020
Is this one of the greatest years for games releases? Paul, Chris, Arron and Chris sit down to discuss if it truly is. The major players in the industry were still battling it out to be number one with each of the major consoles hitting their stride. The Nintendo 64 had 1080 Snowboarding and Banjo Kazooie. The Sega Saturn had Panzer Dragoon Saga and Burning Rangers, and finally the Sony PlayStation had Resident Evil 2 and Alundra.
 
So over 20 years ago what were we playing and buying? We look back on the news and reviews of the first half of 1998 and share our memories. 
 
Remember to look out for 1998 part 2 as we had to split up such a momentous year. Finally if you can spare a moment please leave us an iTunes review as everyone helps. Enjoy the show.
Jan 16, 2020

Once again Chris Smith mark 2 is joined by Paul & the other Chris Smith, with Arron coming along for the ride too. After the fairly well received Christmas episode, the boys are back with their highlights from 2019, and the old and new games they’re planning to play during 2020. They even manage to commit themselves to a few gaming resolutions that’ll probably be forgotten come February.

Please take the time to leave us a review on your podcast service of choice, and drop us any feedback via the usual socials.

Dec 22, 2019

Chris Smith mark 2 is joined by Paul & the other Chris Smith for a bit of Christmas chatter. Somehow Maximum Power Up hasn’t done this before. Tune in as your hosts compare Christmas memories. Some of them are bleaker than others. 

As per Paul’s Christmas wish, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and hit us up on the socials below.

Dec 5, 2019

This is a special one off episode celebrating the games writing of Jason Brookes who sadly passed away recently. In 2016 and 2019 Paul had the pleasure of interviewing Jason to discuss his time on Super Play and Edge. These interviews have been taken from episodes 33 and 86 so we understand some listeners will have already heard them but we felt they make a great tribute to Jason's work.

We hope you enjoy the interviews and from everyone at Maximum Power Up we send our love to Jason's family and friends.

Nov 18, 2019

In this episode we take a look at one of the most loved 16bit game tie ins. Released in 1993 for the Sega Megadrive and Super Nintendo, gamers were treated to two very nice looking but very different games based on the hit Disney movie.

Chris, Paul and Arron sit down to discuss the two versions and their experiences playing them. The pros and cons are covered of each but which game is the king, Capcom's or Virgin's? We also discuss the amazing Disney film as well as what three wishes would eack of us make if we had a magic lamp?

 

We hope you enjoy the show.

Aug 15, 2019

Paul sits down with Cam Winstanley to discuss one of the most popular Amiga magazines, Amiga Power. 

Lasting over 5 years Amiga Power built up a passionate readership that Cam was there to witness for several years starting as a writer and later becoming editor. We discuss some of his favourite memories and games from his time on the magazine. As well as this he tells us why he feels Amiga Power is still fondly remembered even now. 

We hope you enjoy the interview and please leave an iTunes review if possible.

Jun 10, 2019

In November 2001 Microsoft released their first console into a market that was changing. Sega's Dreamcast had failed so they left the market. However Microsoft knew how to make an entrance! From the off they set out to do things differently. With a several must own exclusive games, a built in hard drive, some amazing arcade style games from Sega of all people and more, gamers had to take notice.

In this episode Paul, Tom and Chris Smith Mk2 discuss their early memories of the machine, what led to them buying the console, which games they feel should be played and more.

Going up against the Nintendo Gamecube and Sony Playstation 2 was a bold move for the Xbox but with games such as Halo, Fable, House Of The Dead 3, Project Gotham Racing etc  there was plenty for all gamers to get excited about. We hope by the end of this episode you agree.

May 7, 2019

Join Chris, Phil and Aaron as they take a trip to the movies.

In what’s hopefully a first of many movies based on games episodes the crew take a look at 1993’s Super Mario Bros The Movie. We take you through the movie, offer our thoughts and what we want from a future Mario Movie. 

Apr 9, 2019

Welcome to part 2 of the Top 10 Games Mags. These are the final 5 magazines that have been voted by our listeners on Twitter, Facebook and more.

Paul sits down with a guest from each magazine again to discuss their memories and thoughts of each magazine in the list. With over 100 magazines voted for a lot didn't make the final 10 and we give a quick shout out to some of these right at the end of the show.

So if you are a fan of Sega, Nintendo, PlayStation and more we hope you enjoy the episode.

Please check out our past episodes for much more magazine related chat and many other topics.

Mar 24, 2019

Games magazines have always been a popular part of gaming. Although there aren't too many around these days, in the 80's & 90's there were loads to choose from.

In January we asked our listener's to tell us their 5 fave games mags. Obviously there were many suggested but over the next 2 episodes we cover the top 10 that made the list. In this part we discuss places 10-6 alongside a guest from each magazine featured. They share some of their experiences from the magazine and what made it so special.

We hope you enjoy the show and thanks to our guests and everyone that voted.

Feb 7, 2019

Chris Smith Mk. 2 takes the reins for this episode looking at some highlights from the history of bringing pinball to the world of video games.

Chris is joined by Phil, and our hosts discuss their favourite pinball games and some notable not-so-favourites.

Links from the show:

Demon’s Tilt Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/422510/DEMONS_TILT/

Soundcloud link for Demon’s Tilt OST: https://soundcloud.com/ec2151/sets/demons-tilt-sample-fm

As always, please take the time to leave us a review on iTunes, or your podcast supplier of choice. They all help us reach new people.

Jan 21, 2019

In this episode Paul interviews Dave Upchurch. Starting his career at EMAP on popular 90's magazine ACE he soon was moved to The One Amiga where he became the magazines editor. At the time the Amiga was going from strength to strength with games such as The Secret Of Monkey Island 2, Chaos Engine.

In 1996 following his success at The One Amiga he went on to work on Nintendo Magazine System up until the official UK launch of the Nintendo 64 in 1997.

Dave tells us a few tales of his good and bad experiences in games journalism before we move discuss his career away from the magazines. We look at his time working for LEGO who wanted to break into the video games market, his time making educational software for Mangahigh which received a lot of accolades and much more.

Dave currently works for Curve Digital that have released games for the PC, PS4, Switch such as Human Fall Flat, Smoke and Velocity 2X.

With almost 30 years in the games industry now there was plenty to discuss in this 3 hour interview.

Dec 23, 2018

Witness Phil using powers that rival those of the World’s Greatest Detective, as he supervises the first joint appearance of Chris Smith original and Chris Smith redux on a journey through the highs and lows of the caped-crusader’s video game career.

Which Chris Smith has the controversial favourite Batman? (Don’t worry, no one picked Clooney), and who had made it until now, oblivious of the delights of Batman Forever Arcade Game? Find out all this and more, as we ask “Dark Knight, or Dark Shite?”

If you enjoy our show, please do throw us an iTunes review as they always help.

Dec 4, 2018

In October this year it was announced that after almost 26 years GamesMaster magazine would be ending. A mainstay on magazine racks for so long the mag had many great writers over the years. From the SNES, Mega Drive and Amiga in the early days, it covered all the major consoles up until present day with the PlayStation 4, X Box One, Nintendo Switch, PC.

In this episode Paul speaks to final editor Robin Valentine as well as another previous editor Matt Gilman. They discuss some of their favourite moments of working on the magazine, why they think it lasted so long and more.

If you enjoy this episode check out episode 40 which covered issue 1 interviewing several staff that helped make the 1st issue of GamesMaster way back in 1992.

Nov 13, 2018

In this episode Paul sits down with Geoff Glendenning to discuss his career in games marketing. Spending over a decade working in advertising and then onto marketing for companies such as Commodore, Acclaim but most importantly Sony gave us a lot to discuss.

As Head Of Marketing for the Sony PlayStation, Geoff had a lot of great ideas to help build the PlayStation brand. He shares some great stories from his time at Sony but also the days working on adverts for Commodore Amiga 600 and CD32 beforehand. Even after leaving Sony he has some fantastic experiences to share for Tony Hawk, Apocalypse and more.

We hope you enjoy the show and please leave us an iTunes review if you can. 

Oct 30, 2018

Join our intrepid three as we go runnin’ and gunnin’, and diving into the shoot’em up sub genre of run’n’gun games. Messers Phil, Jake and Chris Smith MkII pick up some heavy weaponry, don their bandanas and camo kecks, and jump in the chopper… or do they?

As they discuss the well known favourites like Contra and Metal Slug, and the blockbuster movie influence on the games of the time, we ask is the genre all 90s explosions and testosterone? Your hosts pick out their own three favourites – and there’s a few pleasant surprises in there – which our listeners may or may not agree with!

Oct 12, 2018

Paul sits down to chat to ex games journalist Neil West in this episode to discuss his career.

Neil started his career on Sega Power alongside Andy Smith (another previous guest). Learning the ropes working on tips, reviews etc Neil soon got his first editor role on MEGA where he was given his own chance to plan his own vision for a Sega Megadrive magazine. 

We also discuss his time doing freelance work for GamesMaster, Total and other magazines before leaving to work in America and launching Next Generation magazine which was the sister magazine to Edge.

Returning to the UK a couple of years later we discuss Arcade a short lived but much loved multiformat magazine from Future.

 

We hope you enjoy the show and the stories Neil shares. Please check out all our past shows/

Sep 19, 2018

In this episode Paul chats with Gary Penn about his career in the games industry that spans over 30 years. They discuss his work on well known games magazines Zzap 64, The One, Amiga Power and more.

As well as this they talk about his experiences and memories working at DMA design and the rise of Rockstar including a little known game called Grand Theft Auto. 

Gary has spent almost 20 years now over at Denki up in Dundee where his latest work is on the upcoming Autonauts. Find all the info about his latest work at www.denki.co.uk 

We hope you enjoy the show and if possible an iTunes review or feedback is also grateful.

Sep 9, 2018

“That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.”

Hot on the heels(ish) of the Dreamcast Listener’s Choice episode, Phil, Tom & Chris reunite to tackle nameless horrors and eldritch terrors as they explore video games influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

 

Aug 25, 2018

In this spoilerific episode Julian Hill and guest Richard Otlet discuss some of the most thought provoking and engaging stories in video games, proving that the most powerful tales told in games can be as memorable as any novel or movie and that just because a game is geared towards a mature audience that doesn’t mean that it’s all about sex, drugs and ultra violence.

Aug 12, 2018

In this episode Phil, Jake and special guest Matt ‘Gameboyle’ 10 Game Boy titles chosen by our listeners to see how they’ve fared growing old.

We take a trip down a rose tinted, nay, drenched, memory lane and revisit what our listeners decided we the shining examples of  Nintendo’s legendary handhelds library. Some have fared better than others! See if your faves still cut the mustard, and perhaps give some of our alternatives a play too.

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