Purely Academic with Jonathan Lack & Sean Chapman

If you’ve listened to The Weekly Stuff for any period of time, you know we – or, at least, Sean – are sort of unhealthily obsessed with E3, and the many strange, overlong, weirdly wonderful press conferences and gaming announcements that come along with it. As we do every single year, we break down all the major conferences in order, from EA to Bethesda to Microsoft to Ubisoft to Sony, and to the...

With E3 and its myriad press conferences right around the corner, we prepare for one of the year’s biggest weeks in game news by recapping what turned out to be a pretty intense week of announcements and leaks in its own right, in which we learned the first details about Watch Dogs 2, were introduced to the next piece of Destiny with the unveiling of Rise of Iron, and most importantly, finally got...

It’s a two-topic episode this week, as after hitting a few quick pieces of news, covering recent shake-ups and kerfuffles related to WB’s troubled DC film slate, and recounting Jonathan’s adventures with a 16-year-old Pokemon game, we offer two in-depth reviews: One for this week’s X-Men Apocalypse – which one of us liked and one of us didn’t – and this month’s new DOOM game, which is an unambiguo...

After taking a week off due to Jonathan being under the weather – and to thus spare our listeners from a podcast filled with wall-to-wall coughing – we are back to discuss a few stray topics, including the Assassin’s Creed movie trailer and Sean’s initial thoughts on the fantastic new Doom game, before jumping into an in-depth review and analysis of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (with lots and lots o...

In what is probably the longest episode we’ve ever recorded, we hit on a host of interesting recent topics – such as the open beta for Overwatch, news of Han Solo’s casting in the upcoming Star Wars spin-off movie, and the newest trailer and Japanese release date for the highly anticipated Persona 5 – before diving into an in-depth review and discussion of Captain America: Civil War. We both agree...

With big media events like Captain America: Civil War and Uncharted 4 on the immediate horizon, this week is the ‘calm before the storm,’ as we tackle a variety of topics – including Sean’s final thoughts on Dark Souls III and Jonathan’s continuing adventures in the world of Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – before diving into a week’s worth of news. A new Call of Duty was announced, we met the new Do...

This week’s episode is something of a grab-bag, as we cover a wide range of topics including Sean’s initial thoughts on Dark Souls 3, Jonathan’s takes on the finales of Better Call Saul and Supergirl, and continuing reports about Sony’s plans for a so-called PlayStation 4.5. Sean shares a ton of stories from his recent trip to New York – including what random people on the street told him about Ba...

With Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End just a few weeks away, and proving to be one of the most anticipated games of 2016, we thought now would be a good time to look back on one of PlayStation’s most iconic series, tracing the arc from the first Uncharted game, Drake’s Fortune, almost 10 years ago to where we are now. Naughty Dog’s Uncharted trilogy was a landmark in more ways than we can count, with ea...

This week is a fun grab-bag of topics, as Jonathan rants about a weekend of relentless technology woes (hint: This was ‘the podcast that almost wasn’t’) and Sean is jumped into Windows 10 like Microsoft is the mafia. We talk a little bit more about Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, which has somehow become a weekly topic here on the show, and we dive deep into the new trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars...

This week on the show, we start with a dive into a large grab bag of topics. Jonathan talks about his experiences playing Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – which Sean has been talking about for weeks (it’s great!) – and offers some thoughts on both Supergirl and Better Call Saul as they near the end of their respective seasons. Sean discusses the recent beta for the upcoming Doom game (it’s fun!), and...

After years of waiting and/or dreading, this weekend, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice finally arrived in theatres…and it is worse than any of us could have possibly imagined. I gave a spoiler-free take on the movie in my written review , but today’s podcast is all about diving into the film in deep, spoiler-y detail, as we pick apart every awful, offensive, boring, baffling, and oftentimes down...

In the second of our two podcasts this week, we prepare for tomorrow’s release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in one of our biggest episodes ever. First and foremost, we reflect on the entire long, storied history of Batman and Superman on film by counting down, from best to worst, every single theatrical film to star one of the two characters – all 17 of them. From low points like Batman &...

This week, we dip into a giant grab bag of news and stories, as Jonathan recounts his adventures catching up on Uncharted 2, his first experiences with Pokken Tournament on the Wii U, his love for the Bravely Second demo on 3DS, and a decade-in-the-making mea culpa for Nintendo after an unfortunate accident with a Wiimote. Sean continues to talk about Digimon Story Cybersleuth, and after discussin...

With last week signaling the 20thanniversary of Pokemon Red & Blue – and the start of one of the world’s most enduring multimedia franchises – we are thrilled this week to offer a big, in-depth retrospective of the Pokemon universe. Sean and I discuss our memories of getting into the series, how the original games helped shape our respective futures, and what Pokemon meant to us as kids – and...

After a week off, we return with a slew of topics, including more news on Star Trek and Batman v. Superman, a final check-in from Sean on The X-Files revival series, and more. We talk a little more about Deadpool, now that Sean has seen it as well. For the main topic, we both share some video game stories, as I go through the saga of setting up a new Wii U and give an in-depth review of one of thi...

This week starts with a barrage of topics, as we talk about the unexpected success of Deadpool, discuss recent games we’ve been playing, check in on the latest Star Trek news and the newest Batman v Superman trailer, and get off on a whole lot of tangents. But the main event this week is our third-annual check-in on the ongoing film adaptation of our all-time favorite video game, Persona 3, as my...

This week is a packed grab-bag style podcast, as we make up for our blizzard-related week off by covering lots of news and goings-on – including the Super Bowl and related movie trailers, Sean’s thoughts on The X-Files revival, and our reactions on the horrifying majesty of Detective Pikachu – before diving into some video game reviews, including Jonathan’s thoughts on the latest and apparently fi...

What could have been a slow week was quickly re-energized with the surprising, game-changing announcement that, come the end of next year’s tenth series, Steven Moffat will be stepping down as showrunner of Doctor Who, to be replaced by Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall in 2018. Given how much we love Doctor Who, and how closely we’ve followed Moffat’s run over the course of this podcast, this an...

This week’s episode starts with some sad reflections, as we look back on the lives and work of the late David Bowie and Alan Rickman, two artists who had incredible influences on our lives. After that, we move on to slightly more frivolous topics, discussing The Revenant, Oscar nominations, and Jonathan’s take on The Witcher III (Sean’s 2015 game-of-the-year, and Jonathan’s new why-didn’t-I-play-t...

It’s time to look back on the year that was 2015, with our annual year-in-review spectacular! It’s top ten lists galore this week, as I count down the Top 10 TV Shows and Top 20 Films of 2015, while Sean counts down the Top 10 Video Games (and I chime in with a less-definitive Top 5), including a lengthily discussion of the landmark masterpiece The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. 2015 was a year that snuck...

After a brief holiday break, we're back to play catch-up and discuss everything we did over the holidays – from playing Final Fantasy XIV online, to catching up on TV Shows like The Flash, to seeing The Hateful Eight 70mm roadshow in theatres. Sean reviews the Sherlock special, “The Abominable Bride,” and to round things off, we provide our customary review and discussion of the Doctor Who Christm...

This week, Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally arrived in theatres, and achieved world domination more or less instantly. We have been covering the movie since its announcement back in 2012, and now that it’s finally here, what did we think? I gave my spoiler-free thoughts in my written review, and suffice it to say, I’m all in. I love it. As for Sean…well, he didn’t like it as much – which certa...

With Star Wars: The Force Awakens completing its long march towards world domination this weekend, we thought now would be as good a time as any to take a walk down memory lane, and try to determine what Star Wars means to us, as a series of remembrances from childhood. We talk about our first experiences with the series, what it was like growing up alongside the Prequels, and the ways Star Wars h...

The Doctor Who Series 9 finale obviously looms large over everything else this week, but we take some time at the top of the show to discuss a few other topics as well, including the hilariously atrocious new Batman v Superman trailer, news and happenings out of the Game Awards and PlayStation Experience, and finally, a full review (with spoilers!) of Netflix and Marvel’s Jessica Jones. But Doctor...

On this week’s very busy episode, we spend the first hour playing catch-up from Thanksgiving break; I review The Good Dinosaur and Creed, Sean talks Netflix and Marvel’s Jessica Jones, we give our thoughts on the new Captain America: Civil War trailer, and I wax poetic about The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which, after many years of trying to play, I finally played and beat on my vacation. B...