Purely Academic with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman

This week, Sean and Jonathan try to move ahead talking about silly things despite the rapid fall of Western civilization, with updates on Jonathan’s New Game Plus run of Persona 4 Golden, Sean’s thoughts on ‘something’ and Westworld, and their reactions to two weeks worth of film and gaming news, including the death of the great John Hurt and more announcements from Nintendo. And for our main topi...

The biggest story of the week was undoubtedly Nintendo’s full unveiling of their new Nintendo Switch console, which is arriving under two months from now. Sean and Jonathan break down everything from the event, including everything we know about the hardware, all the announced games, the overall presentation, and more, giving our (fairly different) thoughts on how Nintendo’s showing did or did not...

For our first episode of the new year – our sixth year of the podcast – we begin with a grab bag of topics, from Sean’s adventures with Dynasty Warriors 8 and a centuries-old Chinese novel, to Jonathan’s return journey to Inaba replaying Persona 4. We discuss the tragic deaths of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, as well as more frivolous news including new details on Mass Effect Andromeda and Sh...

For our final episode of 2016, we’ve devoted an entire extra-length show to counting down our Top 10 Video Games of 2016. In all the time we’ve been covering gaming, we have never seen a year like this, a year with such depth and such breadth that both Sean and I struggled mightily whittling our respective lists down to just 10 titles – and only had four game total crossing over between our lists....

In our penultimate episode of 2016, Sean and Jonathan talk about several new and recent games in depth, including The Last Guardian, Thumper, and most importantly Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, for which we devote a full spoiler discussion. It makes for a surprisingly nice complement with our main topic this week, which is breaking down Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a movie that does many good an...

This week, we talk about a few random topics – Jonathan complains about the packaging for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and extols the wonders of Terrence Malick’s Voyage of Time – and cover some recent pieces of film and gaming news – including the trailer for Spider-Man Homecoming and recent reports about the Nintendo Switch – before diving into our final, full review and analysis of Final Fant...

On this week’s show, we dive into a slew of trailers and announcements from two major gaming events of the past week – the Game Awards and the PlayStation Experience – breaking down everything from The Last of Us Part II announcement to the joyous insanity of Hideo Kojima’s latest Death Stranding tease. And after the news, we give our spoiler-free first impressions of one of the year’s biggest rel...

We’re back from the Thanksgiving break with an absolutely packed, absurdly long episode in which we review no less than eight – count ‘em, eight – new video games from the past two months. Going back and forth, Sean reviews Call of Duty Infinite Warfare, Dishonored 2, XCOM 2, and Titanfall 2, while Jonathan reviews Pokemon Sun and Moon, Dragon Ball Fusions, and gives more thoughts on Skyrim Specia...

We get back into our regular routine with something of a catch-up episode, as Sean talks about finishing the Japanese release of Persona 5, Jonathan offers his thoughts on the recently released Skyrim Special Edition, and we both work our way through a few interesting news items. We review Marvel’s latest film, Doctor Strange, which is, to put it simply, a hell of a thing, and a lot of fun to talk...

Well, here is an episode we never expected to record. But then again, we never expected our country to elect a racist, misogynist, fascist reality TV star as President. The world has been deeply shaken by what happened this week, and while this is not a political or current events podcast – and will not transform into one – Sean and I felt we could not ignore what just happened on our first episod...

What seemed like it would be a slow week seven days ago turned out to be rather crazy, as Rockstar announced Red Dead Redemption 2, tons of intriguing movie trailers and gaming news dropped, and most importantly, Nintendo suddenly unveiled their long-awaited new console, the Nintendo Switch. We spend a lot of time analyzing all of these developments, especially the Switch, easily one of the most i...

Shin Godzilla is the first Toho-produced Godzilla film in twelve years, and it’s been one of our most anticipated films of 2016. Now it’s finally here, and we have lots of thoughts on what is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and unique films we’ve seen this or any other year. We review the film in full spoiler terms in the back half of the show, and before that, Jonathan talks more about the s...

Before we dive into one of the longest-promised topics in the history of this podcast, we follow up on our cliffhanger from last week, as Sean reveals he’s been playing Persona 5 in Japanese, and shares some (spoiler-free) thoughts on a game we are all very excited for. Meanwhile, Jonathan offers his first impressions of the surprisingly wonderful Paper Mario: Color Splash for the Wii U, and Sean...

This week’s episode begins with a trip to the past, as Jonathan talks about filling some gaps in his Mario knowledge by playing Super Mario Land and Super Mario World. And then, after some brief news items – including reports on Destiny 2, some Nintendo news, and an update on Stardew Valley – Sean and Jonathan dive into a slew of game reviews, from the incredible new racing game Forza Horizon 3, t...

On this week’s show, Jonathan reviews some recent movies in Oliver Stone’s Snowden and Clint Eastwood’s Sully – both excellent, if very different, takes on modern real-world subjects – while Sean dives into gaming’s past to recount his recent experience playing the Dreamcast classic Shenmue in its original Japanese. Jonathan offers his final, complicated thoughts on ReCore for the Xbox One, as wel...

It’s another grab-bag style week as Sean and Jonathan talk about various bits of media – including Kingsglaive, the Final Fantasy XV tie-in movie, and ReCore, the new exclusive for Xbox One – before diving into some news and analyzing Sony’s recent unveiling of the PlayStation 4 Pro. Did their announcement truly clarify the confusion around this mysterious project, and what does this mean for the...

In one of the grab-baggiest grab-bag episodes we ever done, we recount two weeks of news and experience, starting with the death of Gene Wilder, a beloved actor who has certainly done plenty to shape both of our perceptions of cinema. Jonathan and Sean each talk about some video games they’ve been playing – including _Hitman, Stardew Valley, _and _The Banner Saga _– while Jonathan reviews some rec...

If you’ve listened to us for any length of time, you’ll know that our favorite video game here at the _Weekly Stuff _is _Persona 3. _You’ll also know that, as the four-part anime film adaptation has been coming out in Japan over the past three years, we’ve devoted an entire episode to each new installment – and now, with the fourth and final movie in the series, _Winter of Rebirth, _finally availa...

This week starts with Jonathan talking about his unexpected journey with the now 15-year-old _Final Fantasy X, _and Sean continuing his assassination adventures with _Hitman, _before we dive into some recent news, such as the passing of _Star Wars’ _Kenny Baker and the delay (now confirmed) of _Final Fantasy XV. _Then, for our main topics, we review _Suicide Squad _– or, at least, Jonathan despair...

This week is a bit of a grab-bag, as our main topic involves our spoiler-filled review of Jason Bourne – a disappointing and frustrating sequel that is nevertheless interesting to talk about – but we have a solid two hours of other assorted conversations before we reach that point. I talk about a few video games I’ve been playing recently – including I am Setsuna, Stardew Valley, and Abzu – while...

With Jason Bourne, the new entry in the beloved action franchise starring Matt Damon and directed by Paul Greengrass, arriving in theatres this Friday, we thought now the best time to take a look back at the original Jason Bourne trilogy: The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum. These are some of the best, most innovative, and most influential films of the 2000s, an act...

In the first of two podcasts this week, we break down a bunch of news out of Comic-Con – including announcements and trailers from Marvel and DC – and Jonathan offers some thoughts on the new _Ghostbusters _movie (it’s great!) and the new PS4 JRPG, _I am Setsuna _(it’s also great!). Then, for our main topic, we review this weekend’s major new release, _Star Trek Beyond, _a strong return to form af...

We’re back with a jam-packed episode, as Sean and I offer some thoughts on recent games like Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, or games that are just new to us, like Dishonored, while Jonathan recounts his continued adventures re-watching all of Dragon Ball Z. Later, we try to get our heads around the unprecedented phenomenon that is Pokemon Go, and offer a spoiler-filled review and discussion of...

With six months of 2016 now behind us, it’s a good time to take stock of the year so far – and while it’s been a rough year for humanity in general, it’s been a pretty phenomenal year for video games, and in some ways, we’ve barely even gotten started! What have been our favorite games so far this year? Movies? TV shows? We talk about all of it, and look forward to what we’re most excited for in t...

In our 150th episode of the podcast, we take a trip down memory lane to celebrate the 20thanniversary of the Nintendo 64 and the 25th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog. The N64 was a formative console for both of us, containing some of the greatest games ever made – but also arriving with some major flaws that would prove a sea change for Nintendo. Breaking down its history and impact makes for a...