Who are you, and what do you do?
I am a presenter for television, radio, podcasts, and live events. I have also been known to write the occasional article, most often for The Guardian, and (so far just the one) book: Ten Things Video Games Can Teach Us, co-written with Dan Griliopoulos. I specialise in video games and other digital culture. I'm the resident video games expert on The Gadget Show, a long-running UK television show that airs on Channel 5. I talk about video games on the BBC and have guest presented Radio 4's Saturday Review. I co-host a podcast called Wild Wild Tech with Joshua Rivera, and I also have my own game-focused podcast called Talking Simulator.
What hardware do you use?
I'm fortunate to sometimes receive hardware from manufacturers for review or to otherwise use for my work. This includes some of the components for my gaming PC, which I built last year (with much help from Rock Paper Shotgun's guide!): an Intel i9-9900KF processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER graphics card, Acer Predator X27 monitor, and some SSD storage. The rest of the parts I bought myself: Z390 AORUS ULTRA motherboard, G.Skill Trident Z 32GB DDR4-3200 memory, Corsair H115i liquid cooler, EVGA SuperNova 750W 80+ Gold power supply, all in an NZXT H500 (white) case. I have a really old hand-me-down Dell as my second monitor, which I'm hoping to upgrade soon! Razer sent me some accessories so I'm using those: Cynosa Chroma keyboard, DeathAdder Essential mouse, Kraken X headset, and Kiyo webcam.
When I'm working on the go, I use my little (discontinued!) 12-inch rose gold MacBook. I paid for that, but Apple has sent me an iPhone 11 Pro and iPad Pro (11-inch) for use in reviewing games.
For podcasting (and radio appearances from home), I have a little makeshift home studio setup full of foam and pop shields. My mic is a Blue Yeti.
Since a lot of my work involves video games, I also have a lot of consoles. I have a PlayStation 4, Xbox One X, and Switch from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo respectively, as well as several older consoles plugged in to my old 40-inch Samsung television: PS3, Xbox 360 (Star Wars edition! It beeps like R2-D2!), Wii U, GameCube, N64, and even a SNES Mini.
To capture game footage, I have two capture cards (sent to me by the manufacturers): an Elgato HD60 S and a Razer Ripsaw HD.
And what software?
I use OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) to record video and live stream. To record and edit audio, I use Adobe Audition. For interviews, meetings, remote recording sessions, and so on I use Google Meet, Skype, Discord, and Zoom. I do all my writing in Google Docs. But the piece of software I probably rely on the most is OmniFocus, a task manager I've been using to run my life for the past decade.
What would be your dream setup?
It's great to work in professional studios with entire teams dedicated to making me look and sound my best, but for continued work from home I would love to upgrade my home studio with proper soundproofing and lights and a nice backdrop for filming and streaming.