I can't believe it.

Max has asked me to move in with him.

I mean, you practically live with each other already, but that's great.

Did you hear that, Joe?

Yes, thanks for letting us know.

I see you've updated your universal credit claim.

Now you're going to be living together.

If you're telling other people about a change in your circumstances, tell us too to avoid a penalty. Search tell DWP. Hello and welcome to the

Retro Hour podcast episode number one six six. Your weekly dose of retro gaming and technology

news with me Dan Wood and me Ravi Abbott. And welcome to this week's show. Now, this week is actually a pretty big week for us because, here in the UK, at least, this weekend, clocks go forward. And that means summertime is here. Now, summer's all, it's a lovely time of year, but a very busy one for us normally. Yeah, and you kind of don't notice it nowadays because all your chop plocks automatically changed don't they when you had to wind them before yeah one of my car in the oven i think they're the only two in their house but summer's really crazy for us because we're doing all the gaming events so this is going to be a fantastic one and the first one's going to be play expo in manchester yeah this is going to be a massive one as well I mean, think about it be Play Expo in Manchester. Yeah, this is going to be a massive one as well.

I mean, think about it is, I mean, there's lots of gaming shows in the UK, but this one is so focused on retro. And we go to them all, and we do our own stage at Play Expo. So essentially, if you love this podcast, and you want to see us do it live, and we're joined by Legends on stage. And we have a lot of other people helping us out.

Paul Drew from Retro Gamer magazine is going to be there.

And he's going to be doing the talk with Matthew Smith. Oh, yeah. So when I was a kid, we actually did an event called Screenplay in Nightingham. And that was one of the first time Matthew Smith kind of came out of obscurity because he'd gone missing for a while. There was even a website. Where is Matthew Smith? And now he's basically coming back and he's going to do a wonderful talk with Paul on the stage and we're going to try and get that on the show as well. Yeah, absolutely. So if you want to come along, we're going to be there. I mean, since you walk into play expo, it is all your childhood dreams in one place. The guys who made your favourite games, trading areas you can play on so if you want to get tickets for it it's going to be happening in Manchester right in the heart of Manchester a great new exhibition place that we've got and you book tickets for our website at the retro hour dot com happening on the weekend of the fourth and fifth of May it's got also manic leading up to it as well. At the end of the weekend,

we just collapsed, don't we? Yeah. But it's so much fun. Now, before we get into this week's show, we've got some really good stuff that we're going to talk about. I love this prototype ZX Spectrum. Oh gosh. Yeah, yeah. There's some really exciting news this week. And they've finally done it they've finally made a mega drive that's decent

fine a long last how long have we been crying out for one of those? So if you want to find out all of this week's new stories, of course, we'll talk about them in just a minute and we link them up on our website at the retro hour.com. Now, the reason that we can come in and keep you up to speed on what's happening in the world of retro every week and bring you amazing guests. We need to talk about this week's guests in just a minute. But it's thanks to you. Now, this show, okay, we do have sponsors on the show quite regularly, but really the main way that we are supported is thanks to listener donations. That is one thing that keeps us, you know, regularly funded. We can afford to come and do this podcast, all our hosting services. Everything's paid for. That means Ravi and I don't have to pay for it all out of their own pockets. So honestly, it makes such a difference. And for making a donation of any amount, it all goes back into the pot and keeps this podcast going. You will find your place in the very prestigious Retro Hour Hall of Fame. and you'll get a mention on a future episode, just like this week, John Matanara, Stuart Brand, Matt Hill, and John Piper, who all find their place in the Retro Hour Hall of Fame, and you can do the same by heading on to our website at the Retro Hour.com. Now, what a guess we've got this week. Yeah, we've got a fantastic guess this week. And we kind of had John Robertson on last week who was in Video Game Nation, where we've got one of his colleagues, and that's Steve McNeil. Now, Steve McNeil went on after Video Game Nation to Edinburgh Festival, where he got a lot of comedians drunk on stage, and they all played video games. The best way to play games. Yeah, and then that somehow ended up on television and became Go 8Bit. So we're going to talk all about that. Steve's got a podcast as well. He's got a book coming out, loads of interesting stuff in this. He even did lectures for the Royal Institute, Christmas Lectures. Yeah, which is crazy, isn't it?

I mean, Go 8 Bit was a show.

It ran for three series here in the UK. On Dave. Yeah, on Dave it was, yeah. And it was, I mean, it was a show that kind of, it wasn't just 8-bit games. I mean, there's a bit of a pun in the name. But there was a lot of retro gaming in there as well. And it was really... It was a panel show, wasn't it?

Yeah.

But it was a panel show with video games featured in it.

And the thing about it is, I mean, you don't really get... Especially retro games very much on mainstream TV anymore. No, totally. And it's kind of like they're celebrities that mention them. Yeah. So, as Steve says, you know, Jonathan Ross is a big fan. Dara O'Brien. Ian Lee is, isn't he?

Ian Lee, Charlie Brooker? Yeah, they're all out there, but he just managed to get them together. All these closet geeks got them all together on stage. So I know a lot of our audience will have loved go a bit and, you know, it's good to get the inside story. Steve McNeil is going to be our special guest on the Retro Outer podcast in around 15 minutes from now.

Now, let's take a moment to give a big up to a really good supporter of the Retro Hour podcast. You know, we're big fans of The Economist anyway. It's always such a good read as well. And they've really supported this show for a couple of months now as well. You know, we really appreciate the Economist's support. and, we've got a little offer for you as well because if you'd like to get a free print copy of The Economist, we'd love you to take up this offer. Now, the thing about The Economist is, I mean, from the title, it's been going a hell of a long time, over 170 years, so very well established. And these days, I mean, you know, like anything, it kind of changes with time.

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