My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin

Alix Wilton Regan is a British actress whose career has moved between film, television, theatre, and some of the biggest worlds in video games. She trained at Drama Studio London before building a screen career that has included playing Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce’s daughter in the Oscar-nominated The Wife, Mary Shelley in A Nightmare Wakes, and more recently roles in Patience and Bergerac.

In games, she has become an especially familiar voice, playing Samantha Traynor in Mass Effect 3, the female Inquisitor in Dragon Age: Inquisition, Aya in Assassin’s Creed Origins, and Alt Cunningham in Cyberpunk 2077. In 2026, she was nominated for a BAFTA Games Award for her performance in Lies of P: Overture. And now, in Tomb Raider’s 30th anniversary year, she has taken on one of gaming’s most famous roles, providing the voice and full performance capture for Lara Croft in the forthcoming Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst.

NOTES

Alix Wilton Regan – website & socials
Alix Wilton Regan – official website
Alix Wilton Regan – Instagram (@alixwiltonregan)
Alix Wilton Regan – Wikipedia
Lara Croft’s new voice actor discusses the reimagined Tomb Raider – Deadline interview

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis & Catalyst
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis – Steam (out 12 February 2027)
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis – Wikipedia
Tomb Raider: Catalyst – Wikipedia
Crystal Dynamics – developer
Flying Wild Hog – developer of Legacy of Atlantis
TR30 Tomb Raider Day – Derby Quad

Alix’s Perfect Console: “The Alex Pro Max” (and the Mini Alex Pro Max)
Super Mario Land (Game Boy, 1989) – Wikipedia
Tomb Raider (1996) – Wikipedia
Tomb Raider I–III Remastered – Wikipedia
Dragon Age: Origins (2009) – Wikipedia
Mass Effect 3 (2012) – Wikipedia
Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) – Wikipedia

Games and roles mentioned
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) – the Angelina Jolie film, Wikipedia
Tomb Raider (2013) – start of the “Survivor trilogy”, Wikipedia
Camilla Luddington – Lara Croft in the Survivor trilogy, Wikipedia
Cyberpunk 2077 – Wikipedia (Alix voices Alt Cunningham)
Assassin’s Creed Origins – Wikipedia (Alix voices Aya)
Lies of P – Wikipedia (includes the Overture DLC)
Baldur’s Gate 3 – official site
Jennifer Hale – Commander Shepard (FemShep) in Mass Effect, Wikipedia
Mark Meer – Commander Shepard (MaleShep) in Mass Effect 3, Wikipedia
Ben Starr – voice actor, Wikipedia
British Academy Games Awards – Wikipedia

Film, TV and theatre mentioned
The Wife (2017) – Wikipedia
A Nightmare Wakes – Wikipedia
Hannah Waddingham – Wikipedia (the “Ted Lasso woman”)
Emilia Clarke – Wikipedia (Daenerys, which Alix auditioned for)
Carey Mulligan – Wikipedia (Pride & Prejudice)

Schools and training
Drama Studio London – Wikipedia
Latymer Upper School – Wikipedia
Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle – Wikipedia
Sylvia Young Theatre School – Wikipedia

Simon’s GTA VI cover story
Edge issue 430: GTA VI cover story – GamesRadar
Edge issue 430: GTA VI Special Gatefold Edition – buy or subscribe

Support the show
My Perfect Console on Patreon – early access, video episodes, monthly bonus episode and the Console Knockout vote
Loom – this month’s bonus episode game (Wikipedia)
My Perfect Console – episode archive and data
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Becky Chambers is an American science-fiction writer whose work combines imaginative worlds with an unusual warmth and generosity toward the people who inhabit them. Raised in California in a family heavily involved in space science, she initially trained in the performing arts before turning to writing, and eventually self-published her debut novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, following a successful crowdfunding campaign. It became the first book in her Wayfarers series and established her as one of contemporary science fiction’s most distinctive voices.

Her fiction has won Hugo and Locus awards, and been nominated for the Women’s Prize, the Nebula Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award.It is often described as “cosy sci-fi” or “hopepunk”, although she has characterised it more evocatively as holding up “both a mirror and a blanket to the world”. Her new novel, As You Wake, Break the Shell, which arrived this October, begins a new duology set on a hostile alien world but centred on a love story between a pilot and a reclusive botanist, and on questions of community and dependence.
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matthew Seiji Burns is an American writer, director, composer, and game designer whose career has moved between some of the biggest studios in the industry and much smaller, more personal experiments in interactive storytelling. He worked as a producer at Treyarch, Bungie, and 343 Industries on franchises including Call of Duty and Halo, before spending time at the University of Washington’s Center for Game Science, exploring how games might be used for research and scientific discovery.

He later joined Zachtronics, contributing writing and music to games including Opus Magnum and EXAPUNKS, while also creating his own interactive fiction. In 2019, he created Eliza, a visual novel about an AI-assisted counselling service that explored automation and the boundaries between human empathy and technology years before those questions became unavoidable. His latest work has takenthose concerns into a different medium: Process, his debut novel, is a darkly comic and psychologically intense story set inside Seattle’s startup culture.

LINKS

Matthew Seiji Burns – website & socials
Matthew Seiji Burns – official website
Matthew Seiji Burns – Bluesky (@matthewseiji.com)
Matthew Seiji Burns – itch.io (game experiments and back catalogue)

Process – the novel
Process – hardcover edition (Tune & Fairweather)
Process – softcover edition (Tune & Fairweather)
Process – audiobook (read by the author, Audible)
Process – free digital sampler (Tune & Fairweather)

Eliza – the visual novel (2019)
Eliza – Steam
Eliza – itch.io
Joseph Weizenbaum – creator of the original ELIZA chatbot, Wikipedia
ELIZA (chatbot, 1966) – Wikipedia

The Writer Will Do Something (2015)
The Writer Will Do Something – co-written with Tom Bissell, itch.io
Tom Bissell – author of Extra Lives, previous My Perfect Console guest

Matthew’s Perfect Console
Of Monks and Max (HyperCard stack, 1988) – by Brian Thomas
HyperCard – Wikipedia
Loom – LucasArts (1990), Wikipedia
ICO (PS2, 2001) – Fumito Ueda / Team Ico, Wikipedia
Rez (Dreamcast, 2001) – Tetsuya Mizuguchi / United Game Artists, Wikipedia
Rez Infinite – Steam (modern version)
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon – Steam
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon – Wikipedia

Other games and references mentioned
Opus Magnum – Zachtronics (Steam)
Exapunks – Zachtronics (Steam)
Dark Castle – remaster (Steam)
Cosmic Osmo – Cyan (HyperCard, 1989), Wikipedia
Myst – Cyan (1993), Wikipedia
Call of Duty: United Offensive (expansion, 2004) – Wikipedia
Call of Duty 3 – Wikipedia
Halo 3 – Wikipedia
Halo 3: ODST – Wikipedia
Halo: Reach – Wikipedia
Star Trek: Armada II – Wikipedia
Medieval: Total War – Wikipedia
University of Washington Center for Game Science
Mark Wynne – graphic designer of Process (Edge magazine)
Tune & Fairweather – publisher
Jason Killingsworth – founder of Tune & Fairweather

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive and data
My Perfect Console on Patreon – early access, video episodes and monthly bonus episodes
Email the show: myperfectconsole@gmail.com
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yesterday came the news that EA plans to close BioWare, the Edmonton studio behind Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I thought it was a good moment to revisit my conversation with Dr Greg Zeschuk, one of BioWare’s co-founders. We talk about the games that shaped him, and the long, remarkable journey of a studio that defined computer and console role-playing games for millions of people. Here’s my conversation with Greg Zeschuk.

[Original description] Greg Zeschuk is the co-founder of Bioware. While a medical student at the University of Alberta he told his future wife that, if he could, he’d make video games for a living. After he graduated, the dream came true when, in 1995, he and two friends y founded Bioware in his basement. The following year the trio released Shattered Steel and, two years after that, Baldur’s Gate, which revolutionised the world of computer role-playing games.

In the years that followed Bioware released a string of blockbuster hits, including Mass Effect, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. In 2007, just 12 years after its founding, the companywas sold to Electronic Arts as part of a deal worth $860 million. In recent years, my guest started a brewing company, Blind Enthusiasm, and today runs two microbreweries and a restaurant in Edmunton, where he has spent most of his life.

NOTES

Greg Zeschuk – BioWare & brewery
Greg Zeschuk – Wikipedia
Blind Enthusiasm Brewing Company – official site
Blind Enthusiasm – The Monolith taproom, Edmonton
Greg Zeschuk on BioWare’s closure – Wired

BioWare
BioWare – Wikipedia
Ray Muzyka – BioWare co-founder, Wikipedia
Augustine Yip – BioWare co-founder, Wikipedia

Greg’s Perfect Console
Adventure (Atari 2600, 1980) – Wikipedia
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (Apple II, 1981) – Wikipedia
Dungeon Master (Atari ST, 1987) – Wikipedia
Diablo (1996) – Wikipedia
Elden Ring (2022) – official site
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC – Wikipedia

BioWare games discussed
Baldur’s Gate (1998) – Wikipedia
Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000) – Wikipedia
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003) – Wikipedia
Star Wars: The Old Republic (MMO) – official site
Jade Empire (2005) – Wikipedia
Mass Effect trilogy – Wikipedia
Dragon Age: Origins – Wikipedia
Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Wikipedia
MDK2 (2000) – Wikipedia
Shattered Steel (1996) – Wikipedia
Anthem (2019) – Wikipedia

Other games mentioned
Baldur’s Gate 3 – Larian Studios
Elden Ring – Wikipedia
Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo
Pool of Radiance (1988) – Wikipedia
Lords of the Fallen (2023) – Steam

Context and references mentioned
EA Spouse – the 2004 open letter that sparked the games industry crunch debate
Elevation Partners – Wikipedia (private equity firm that invested in BioWare)
Interplay Entertainment – Wikipedia (early publisher partner)
Blizzard North – Wikipedia (developers of Diablo)
Order of Canada – Wikipedia (Greg was appointed in 2018)
TSR, Inc. – Wikipedia (original owners of Dungeons & Dragons)
Ian M. Banks – Culture series author, Wikipedia
Alastair Reynolds – science fiction author, Wikipedia

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daryl Baxter is a British writer and podcaster from Lincoln whose work has ranged across games, technology, and the history of the medium. He has written for outlets including WIRED, TechRadar, Den of Geek, and the Radio Times, and now publishes Springboard, a free newsletter about gaming, technology, and mental health that deliberately avoids chasing SEO or relying on AI. Growing up with series including Sonic, Metal Gear and, especially, Tomb Raider, he eventually turned that fascination into his first book, The Making of Tomb Raider, published in 2021 and based on extensive interviews with the original Core Design team.

His new book, The Making of Tomb Raider: 1997–2000, picks up the story as a new team took control of the series, tracing the creation of Tomb Raider III, The Last Revelation, Chronicles and the expansions, while exploring the punishing annual release cycle and the pressure of sustaining one of gaming’s biggest phenomena.

LINKS

Daryl Baxter – website & newsletter
Daryl Baxter – official website
Springboard – Daryl’s newsletter on games, tech and mental health (free to subscribe)

The Making of Tomb Raider: 1997–2000 (out 30 October 2026)
The Making of Tomb Raider: 1997–2000 – Waterstones
The Making of Tomb Raider: 1997–2000 – Pen & Sword Books
The Making of Tomb Raider: 1997–2000 – Amazon UK

Daryl’s earlier books
The Making of Tomb Raider (2021) – Pen & Sword Books
50 Years of Boss Fights – Pen & Sword Books

Daryl’s Perfect Console
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Mega Drive, 1994) – Wikipedia
Sonic 3 & Knuckles – Wikipedia
PlayStation Demo One disc (1995) – Wikipedia
Tomb Raider II (1997) – Wikipedia
Metal Gear Solid (1998) – Wikipedia
Metal Gear Solid – Steam
Half-Life 2 (2004) – Wikipedia
Half-Life 2 – Steam

Also mentioned
TR30 Tomb Raider Day – Derby Quad, 24 October 2026
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis – Crystal Dynamics & Flying Wild Hog (out 12 February 2027)
Tomb Raider: Catalyst – Wikipedia
Alix Wilton Regan – the new voice of Lara Croft (Wikipedia)
Peter Connelly – Tomb Raider 4 & 5 composer (Wikipedia)
Judith Gibbons – Lara Croft’s voice in Tomb Raider II, Wikipedia
Shelley Blond – Lara Croft’s voice in Tomb Raider I
Keeley Hawes – Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Underworld
Half-Life 2 source code leak – Wikipedia
Games Master magazine – Wikipedia
GamesRadar – Rosalie Newcombe
Death by Video Game – Simon Parkin (buy via Bookshop.org UK)

Support the show
My Perfect Console – episode archive and data
Support My Perfect Console on Patreon
Become a My Perfect Console supporter and receive a range of benefits at www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.