The Stage Select

It’s one of those weird weeks where we didn’t really do much, and yet we filled three hours of a podcast. I don’t know how that happens, but there ya go. 00:00 Justin had a weird dream, apologies for last week 14:08 Julian has A Plan 33:32 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 01:05:14 Targeting adult content on Steam could have far-reaching ramifications for gaming 01:18:14 Celebrity Hunter, a brief bit of...

Look, I’m gonna level with you, this episode is almost 4 hours long and I’ve been in a bad headspace, so I didn’t actually edit it beyond putting the music bits where they needed to go. So I don’t remember everything we talked about, and don’t have timestamps for you. Fortunately, we have Friend of the Show John Gholson to talk about life on the red carpet, tons of video games, some movies, and mo...

It’s a different format show this week, as we weren’t “live” in the studio. Fear not though, as we’ve got some musings on story pacing, revisiting the 1984 Transformers comic book, deciding on the Garth Brooks of video games, and more! Theme song and interstitial music by Megan McDuffee: https://meganmcduffee.com Logo and artwork by John Gholson Announcer: John Gholson Join our Discord, learn abou...

Buckle up, y’all, because this is probably the longest it takes us to get from the introduction to talking about video games, and that includes our previous podcast that ran for 11 years. If you guessed the reason for that is Mike Fallek, congratulations, you know the show too well and should go touch grass. Enjoy! 00:00 Introduction, Boston coffee 21:50 Mike’s heading to Scotland! 41:04 Julian ha...

Hey folks! Unfortunately, we don't have a new episode for you this week. But we hopefully have something just as good (if you aren't already a patron): the first episode of Cinemorons! This is the new Patreon show we record for Executive Producer tier patrons each month, and it's becoming one of the best things we do. In this first episode we talk about UHF, the 1989 comedy starring "Weird" Al Yan...

After the chaos of last week’s show, Julian and Justin get together to talk about a ton of Steam Next Fest demos, recap the Xbox Showcase, and reveal our favorite games of Not E3. Yeah! 00:00 Introduction, (not) sponsored by Chef Man 23:47 Julian’s Next Fest demo round up (Dispatch, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Kingdom Cum: Deep Entrance, Superhero Simulator, Dead as Disco, Empire of Lust, Eriksholm:...

Hello again! Keigh Geoffley here, host of the E Summer Games Awards Fest, back with another amazing showcase of games! I almost didn’t get The Stage Select auditorium this year, because things snuck up on Julian and it took him a long time to return my calls. But don’t worry: ESGAF3 2025 is here, and it’s our biggest show to date! Ahem. It’s Julian. Yeah, we’re doing this bit again for Not E3 seas...

It’s a shorter, sleepier show this week, because we recorded a 2 hour Patreon episode before this…AND IT SHOWS. We…may need to record those on different nights. We’ll see. Anyway, Julian finished some games, Justin gets out of his comfort zone, and strange things are afoot at The Stage Select studio. So, the usual. 00:00 Introduction, hear Justin out 15:11 When Justin Hamm and Mike Fallek collide...

It’s a big week for The Stage Select, because we booked our biggest guest to date! Come in and meet Stephanie Michelle. She’s a cosplayer, internet personality, YouTuber, adult content creator, and most of all, EXTREMELY geeky! We have a great getting to know you section with Stephanie and then get into processing grief with video games, the absurdity of the 90s TV show Night Man, and much more! 0...

This week’s episode of The Stage Select was so out of pocket that I was surprised when I was editing it, and I was there when we recorded! Enjoy some new game talk, some fun discussions, and a strangely long talk about the WWE Forceable Entry album, for some reason. 00:00 Giant Bomb made us liars 19:08 Julian has another plan 23:04 Justin is mad at WWE 2K25, Wanderstop, Wreckfest 2 43:59 The Preci...

We were light on games this week, mainly because Justin’s been busy and Julian hasn’t been able to put Expedition 33 down. BUT THAT’S OKAY. We had the new GTA VI trailer, the seemingly end of Polygon and Giant Bomb, and a lot of listener questions to help us along! 00:00 Introduction, people who text a lot 11:58 Julian has a plan 17:23 More Expedition 33, even though Julian has more problems with...

After a month packed with incredible guests it’s time for Julian and Justin to take a breather and have a normal episode. Well, whatever “normal” equates to around The Stage Select studio, anyway. 00:00 Introduction 09:40 We have deeper thoughts on Expedition 33 54:34 The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, Persona 4 Golden 01:05:29 Tennis Angels EX 01:12:57 Thunderbolts 01:26:57 What the Xbox pri...

We conclude this month-long block of guests for The Stage Select with Westen from Big Nerd Gaming! The last time we spoke with him was during the final week of Game of the Year deliberations, and we wanted to make sure there wasn’t any leftover beef from that contentious list. Plenty of games in this week’s episode, so let’s jump right in! 00:00 Introduction, muzak 06:23 Making sure Westen is okay...

We’re happy to finally have Eric Peacock from The Soundtracker podcast joining us! We last talked to him years ago when we were still doing Nerds Without Pants, so it was great to catch up with him after all this time. We hope you enjoy, and please check out Soundtracker! 00:00 Introduction, George Thoroughgood 13:18 Introducing Eric Peacock and Soundtracker for new listeners 29:32 5 Questions wit...

Unhinged. That’s probably a good way to describe this episode. Such will happen when James and JJ from RetroFits guest on the show. But things get even sillier when they get introduced to some of the more colorful members of The Stage Select staff. Enjoy! 00:00 Introduction, Nelly Furtado 13:00 RetroFits is back on the air! 22:03 Going deep on Suikoden HD Remaster 01:16:25 Space 01:44:33 South of...

Wow, it’s hard to believe that this is already the 50th episode of The Stage Select! It snuck up on us a bit, but we still went the extra mile for this milestone, including bringing fan favorite guest Mike Fallek back. We also had a ton to say about the Switch 2 presentation, and this episode has some surprises for you, as well! Next stop: episode 100! 00:00 Introduction, Ohio pizza 10:56 Random c...

Welcome back! We’ve got some hot new games this week, such as Inzoi and Mullett Madjack, plus Justin overshares for once! We also have some of your questions, and more, so GET INTO IT. Or don’t. That was a bit aggressive, sorry. 00:00 Introduction, trash food 11:13 A talk where we have about sports 17:38 Julian’s emulation journey 26:35 Myriad Death 32:45 Justin had a weird week 50:48 Inzoi 01:22:...

Welcome back! After a couple low energy shows, this edition of The Stage Select feels normal. And by “normal” I mean “the kind of chaos you’ve come to expect”. We’ve got new games, updates on old games, movies, and more! 00:00 Introduction, celebrating a year of The Stage Select 11:33 Wanderstop 34:36 Closing thoughts on Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Tape 1) 48:00 Assassin’s Creed Shadows 01:18:...

Hello. It’s a pretty short (for us) show this week. Even shorter if you’re tired of hearing Julian talk about Persona 3. But it’s an episode. You can listen to it with your ears. 00:00 Introduction, WWE music, announcement 11:40 Julian beat Balatro, and you all suck at video games, Suikoden HD Remaster 30:42 Julian’s week (feel free to skip to the next bit) 52:55 Justin has turned the corner on WW...

Hello again. This week we only have a few games to talk about, but we had a lot to say about them. 00:00 Introduction, remembering Michelle Trachtenberg, big announcements 29:36 Lost Records: Bloom and Rage (Tape 1) 01:12:12 WWE 2K25 02:05:07 Balatro 02:20:01 CQC (Comments, Questions, Concerns) Theme song and interstitial music by Megan McDuffee: https://meganmcduffee.com Logo and artwork by John...

At last! You hear him announce our hosts each and every week, but finally, friend of the show John Gholson sits down to talk to us about…all sorts of things! You never know what you’re going to expect with The Stage Select, and this episode has everything from the woes of becoming a full-time actor, cold poutine, and Justin’s incredible restraint when it comes to the Shasta McNasty button! 00:00 I...

It’s a shorter show again this week, as life really got in the way for one of our hosts, and SOMEone can’t stop modding Skyrim! The show’s gonna be a little weird(er) for a few weeks, so please bear with us! 00:00 Introduction, announcements, big life change for Julian 21:55 EVEN MORE (but not that much) Skyrim modding, Avowed 57:38 Evaluating the Final Fantasy Magic: The Gathering set 01:13:02 Tr...

I’m not gonna lie…this episode was almost a little over an hour. Thankfully, Sony had a State of Play this week, so we had plenty to talk about with that! Man, I can’t wait for some big games to drop… 00:00 When the internet goes out, obscure anime, shelving Banishers, Persona 3 Reload, Dragon Quest III HD 30:09 Justin’s Skyrim modding addiction persists 01:05:45 At least we have the Sony State of...

Well, we like to say that you never know what to expect each week on The Stage Select, because sometimes not even we know what to expect! This week, we mostly catch up on the games we played during the season break, and wrap up by answering some of your questions that built up while we were gone. Enjoy this very loose show! 00:00 Introduction 17:16 What Justin got up to over the break: Cyberpunk 2...

SEASON PREMIERE! It’s been six weeks since Julian and Justin got together to record The Stage Select, and we thought there was no better way to kick things off than to talk about our personal top ten lists from 2024. Sure, our game of the year deliberations had us put together a communal list, but our individual ones look quite different. It’s also time to check in on the staff at The Stage Select...