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Games journalist » Editor » Writer » Retro gamer
Welcome to my personal archive
Three decades of writing about video games.
From glossy magazine pages to websites, podcasts, shows, and everything in between.
This is a collection of my work, history,
thoughts and the odd rant.
Connect status
Online
- User:
- Paul_McNally
- Location:
- Manchester, UK
- Service:
- Personal Archive
- Updated:
- 10.09.2026
Features
[12 FILES]
FEATUREThe world's crying out for a game that's actually fun to play – SSX was the PS2 launch game that made snowboarding feel like the future that never arrived
The original SSX turned a PlayStation 2 launch game into an arcade snowboarding landmark and gave EA Sports BIG its identity.
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FEATUREMy MiSTer FPGA is better than your MiSTer FPGA – here’s how to build the ultimate, ultimate retro gaming rig
A custom DEC-inspired case, NFC game cards, original controls and some avoidable soldering turned one MiSTer FPGA into the ultimate retro gaming rig.
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FEATUREIn 1985, one video game made you telephone for permission to nuke Europe
Theatre Europe turned the family telephone into part of its nuclear command system, forcing players to call Coventry for an authorisation code before ending Europe.
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FEATUREThe companies that made gaming what it is today: Ére Informatique and it’s ‘French Touch’
The first in a multi-part series tracing the history of the early pioneering video game companies that brought us to where we are today.
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FEATUREA forgotten copy of Amberstar resurfaced after 34 years, complete with my handwritten notes
A long-lost Amiga review copy crossed countries and decades before finding its way back to the journalist whose handwritten notes were still inside.
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FEATUREWhy old computers and consoles go yellow, and why science tells us it’s not quite as simple as “the bromine did it”
Yellowed retro hardware is not simply dirty: UV, oxygen, heat, ABS chemistry and flame retardants all shape how old plastic ages, and why Retrobright is only a cosmetic answer.
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FEATUREThe lost online world that came before the Internet and the World Wide Web
There was a time when going online meant wrestling the family telephone into a pair of rubber cups and hoping nobody breathed too loudly near the modem.
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FEATUREThe weird and wonderful world of Japanese game titles and the brilliant games behind them
From Infinite Undiscovery to Super Long Nose Goblin, some game names make little sense in English—and that is part of their charm.
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FEATUREHow to get started collecting retro games in 2025 – Can you do it, or is it just too expensive now?
Retro game collecting has become expensive, but a personal niche, patience and realistic targets can still make the hobby rewarding.
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FEATUREUFO sightings over Washington – is our smart tech tricking us more than ever or are “they” really here?
Strange lights over Washington prompt a look at smartphone camera artefacts, drones and smart telescopes, and how everyday technology can complicate what we think we see in the night sky.
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FEATUREJobs vs Gates - friends, enemies or just fierce rivals?
From Windows 95 and the Macintosh to marketing warfare and mutual respect, the rivalry that shaped modern personal computing.
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FEATUREA life in games journalism – Maximum Power Up Episode 103
A two-hour conversation tracing Paul McNally's career from ST Action and Mega Action through PlayStation Pro, GamePro UK and the stories behind the magazines.
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[10 FILES]
INTERVIEWSocial media star Sterre Meijer on getting her own skateboarding game, online hate, and, weirdly, being mistaken for AI
Sterre Meijer and her brother Tijmen discuss becoming the faces behind Skatesterre, bringing a distinctly feminine style to skateboarding games, and handling the stranger side of internet fame.
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INTERVIEWExclusive interview: More than meets the eye: How Stern built its new Transformers pinball machine
Stern’s Elliot Eismin and Elizabeth Gieske explain how mechanical engineering, software, story, lighting and online systems combine inside its new Transformers pinball machine.
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INTERVIEWExclusive interview: Inside the drone sim on Steam helping train Ukraine’s wartime FPV operators in their fight against Putin
UFDS is a Steam drone simulator built with Ukrainian FPV operators and used for training, raising difficult questions about games, war, and realism.
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INTERVIEWExclusive interview: How Sam Dyer built Bitmap Books into a shrine for your gaming memories
Bitmap Books founder Sam Dyer explains how nostalgia, graphic design and obsessive care turned a Commodore 64 side project into premium gaming-history publishing.
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INTERVIEWExclusive: Slipknot’s Clown is building a Minecraft Realm called Vernearth, powered by grief, glitches, and a refusal to play safe
Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan talks games, grief and Vernearth — the Minecraft realm he is building as a living art project where glitches, community and creation come first.
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INTERVIEWExclusive: Say hello to Mr Boomshakalaka: Tim Kitzrow on NBA Jam, MFL, and building an Adult-Swim-style sports universe
Tim Kitzrow didn’t set out to become the sound of arcade sports. In his telling, the road to NBA Jam ran through weekend drum gigs, a chance pinball session as Thurston Howell III, and countless hours of improv muscle honed at Second City with the likes of Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell. But three decades on, his voice remains welded to gaming’s collective memory – equal parts carnival barker, sports lifer, and comedian who never met a punchline he couldn’t drop with one shot.
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INTERVIEWExclusive: Legendary game creator Michael Mendheim on why bringing his mutants to sports games is all about the fun
Michael Mendheim discusses building Mutant Football League 2 with a seven-person team, developing through the war in Ukraine, listening to fans, and keeping arcade sports focused on fun.
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INTERVIEWEVE Online – Making the game that wants to live forever – Hilmar Veigar Pétursson bares his soul
CCP Games CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson reflects on 25 years of EVE Online, the community that outran its creators, and building a world intended to last forever.
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INTERVIEWThe Amiga A500 Mini – Retro creators talk games, hardware & future projects
WePC sat down with the team from Retro Games Limited to discuss reviving the Amiga A500, licensing classic games, recreating its hardware and what might come next.
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INTERVIEWExclusive: Why Atari let Intellivision stay Intellivision – The Escapist speaks to the guys behind the Sprint
Atari’s Matthew Burnett and David Lowey explain why Intellivision Sprint preserves the original console’s strange controller, metal finish, overlays and living homebrew ecosystem.
> Open archive fileSTORY SO FAR
- Articles Published
- 12,000+
- Years Writing
- 30+
- Magazines Worked On
- 20+
- Countries Visited
- 15+
- Websites Worked On
- 12