Middle Aged Gamer Guy, otherwise known as MAGG, is a full-time Twitch streamer! Having owned his own business, with a career working in events and AV, MAGG started streaming during lockdown whilst events had stopped. Having fallen in love with it, and growing a big community, MAGG went all in with a career change. And with a gap in the market for a games event that actually focusses on gaming, MAGG started running gaming conventions, including… TIMELESS GAMING CONVENTION @ARCADE CLUB BURY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpuUgPuKb3g
MAGG is a great showman on stage, as well as having an in-depth knowledge of games (he is the host that knows the most)! As such, he is often involved in hosting and panel discussions. We spoke to him ahead of this year’s big event…
MIDDLE AGED GAMER GUY
THE JOURNALIX: We first met back at OLL ’23! Is there anything you particularly liked about that event that you’ll be bringing to the Timeless Gaming Con?
MIDDLE AGED GAMER GUY: OLL ’23 was an amazing event to kick the year off and I can’t wait to go again next year. Our event is different in terms of focussing on a lot of old and new games, more Panels and Q&A’s, along with competitions and challenges for the audience to get involved in. OLL had lots of amazing people and great interactive things to do from the stage and stalls and that’s the one thing we want to do as well. To make the audience feel that they are not just attending but they are actually a part of the event.
ARCADES
THE J: It will be my first experience of the Bury Arcade Club – the largest in Europe no less!? Which arcade machine will I find you on?
MAGG: So they have just had the brand new Time Crisis 5 machine installed, I have been told – but I always wanted to finish the original Robocop arcade game as it was rock hard to play! I have very fond memories playing that on my Spectrum. But I doubt I’ll have the time to complete it!
I managed to play one game when we ran the event last year, but I hope to do more than that and if I can sneak off for 30 minutes, I will.
THE J: What are your earliest memories from visiting an arcade?
MAGG: Well I originally grew up in Essex so my nearest one was in Southend-On-Sea and can remember playing Superman for like 50p!? It gave me 12 continues and I recall this kid walking by saying “he’s doing really well at this game” – not realising that for such a small price, you almost got enough lives to complete the game…
THE J: Despite the booming home console market, Twitch streams and mobile gaming, arcades just won’t die will they? What do you think has been behind the recent resurgence?
MAGG: For one, I think there is a massive resurgence in retrogaming in general with the magazines, YouTubers and a lot of arcade venues popping up around the UK. I think people should be proud of gaming history and find out where the likes of Minecraft and Fortnite originate from. I can’t see them ever dying to be honest and hope they live on long past my time.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gzRIb7KwWO0
OWNING A TWITCH CHANNEL
THE J: You have your own Twitch channel – the Middle Aged Gamer Guy. I naively thought I could find all my gaming videos on YouTube but tell us what makes Twitch so much fun?
MAGG: With Twitch I get to be more spontaneous and more interactive with my audience. Nothing is pre-recorded and it means we can have genuine scares in horror games or laugh-out-loud moments. We can make the audience feel they are part of a community and come along for a ride, on a gaming journey.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF MAGG
THE J: You have real depth-in-knowledge when it comes to gaming… Do you study the subject or is it just from life as a gamer?
MAGG: It’s mainly just life I started with an Atari 2600 in late 70’s and then on to:
- Spectrum
- NES
- SNES
- PC
- PS2
- Xbox 360
- Xbox One
Then, when I went full time into gaming and hosting my talk show, I wanted to be fair to all platforms so now I have added:
- Xbox Series X
- PS5
- Nintendo Switch
- A gaming PC
But I think all those years of gaming has just stuck in brain, I don’t ever state I’m an expert… But I’ve got enough gaming knowledge to get me by.
SPECIALIST SUBJECT
THE J: What would be your specialist subject in gaming if you were in the chair on Mastermind?
MAGG: I like to think I know a fair bit about Ultimate/Rare as I’ve played a lot of games growing up and now all the way to Sea of Thieves – but erm… I make no promises on getting a decent score!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpc0GBb1V68
PANELS AT TIMELESS GAMING CONVENTION
THE J: There will be panels again at this year’s event, are there any in particular you’re looking forward to?
MAGG: To be honest, Aimee the co-owner of the event and me have put a lot of time and thought into the panels so we are quite excited for all of them! Hearing from journalists discussing the differences of gaming magazines 30 years ago to todays magazines fascinates me. Aimee being a Twitch partner herself is very excited for the Content Creators panel which was her idea. And we have some big names like Chlooeeeeexo, a Twitch and YouTube partner, and DJ Slopes the YouTube gaming historian, with some other medium and small-sized streamers sharing their experiences and sharing tips and tricks with the audience to help them grow.
Then we have some fabulous podcast talks and finish off with our amazing gaming legends panel with people from Rare, Playtonic, EA, Team 17, sharing their experiences of not just making games but doing sound, artwork, coding and everything else that comes with it! We have really pushed the boat out on so both Aimee and me are very, very proud of the lineup this year.
THE J: Are cosplayers encouraged to dress up?
MAGG: Yes, very much so we have the wonderful team from nerdbait who are professional cosplayers who will be there on the day! but at 6pm we will be doing a cosplay showcase where we invite members of the audience to show off their costumes and the team from Nerdbait will be picking a winner who will win a prize on the night – so yes please come in cosplay we insist
THE FUTURE FOR MAGG
THE J: Finally, what is the future for MAGG?
MAGG: Well after my own event I’ll be at WASDxIGN, Format and EGX later this year and I just hope to be at more amazing events like OLL! Where we met and get more time speaking to wonderful likeminded content creators and speaking to the people that appreciate what I do for a living.
I get a real kick out of meeting fans because without them neither MAGG or Timeless would exist.