The Stage Select

Welcome back to The Stage Select! This week, we have a new

guest: Westen from Big Nerd Gaming. He’s proof positive that there are great

people that you can meet and interact with on Twitter still, and he brings a

pleasant and balanced view of video games to the discussion. We also have a

fun/stupid announcement in this episode that will hopefully become a popular

recurring bit this year!

00:00 Introduction, Getting to know Westen

24:23 Rise of the Ronin, open world game design

56:42 2024 Video Game Presidential election: Primary

nominations

01:05:24 Ultros, A little more Unicorn Overlord (wait,

come back!)

01:17:03 Justin may be done with Dragon’s Dogma 2

01:30:01 Julian, a grown-ass man, cannot navigate downtown

Austin

01:49:14 Persona 3 Reload

02:23:53 “60% of time spent in video games in 2023

was spent on games at least 6 years old”

02:42:45 Stellar Blade

Be sure to submit your video game presidential nominees to

us, however you would like to submit those to us!

Check out Westen’s blog, Big Nerd Gaming: https://bignerdgaming.com/

Theme song and interstitial music by Megan McDuffee: https://meganmcduffee.com

Logo and artwork by John Gholson

Announcer: John Gholson

Consider supporting The Stage Select by sharing the show or

donating: https://linktr.ee/TheStageSelect

Email: [email protected]

Theme song lyrics:

What could this possibly be?

Seems a lot like a podcast…

Wonder what specifically?

Talkin’ bout video games,

With your hosts, you’re in good hands.

Not more of the same!

Now we’ll jump right in,

So expect the unexpected and more.  

Now we’ll get groovin,’

Never know who’s gonna walk through the door!

There just might be some treasure in this chest,

Having fun with our special guests,

Time for Stage Select!

Copyright 2024 Space Monkey Mafia Productions

It’s a trim episode of The Stage Select this week, as we

only have a handful of games to talk about. That doesn’t mean it isn’t chock

full of stupidity, though. That’s kind of our whole thing!

00:00 Introduction, Julian and Justin meet James and

JJ

04:54 Unicorn Overlord

01:02:01 Invoking dark forces with WWE 2K24’s create

a wrestler mode, shenanigans

01:11:05 Dragon’s Dogma 2: the create mode, the game,

and the Discourse™

01:34:56 Knowledge, or Know Lady

01:52:27 Looking at the next few months of game

releases

Check out Julian and Justin on Retrofits:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz7yejPTOoc

Theme song and interstitial music by Megan McDuffee: https://meganmcduffee.com

Logo and artwork by John Gholson

Announcer: John Gholson

Consider supporting The Stage Select by sharing the show or

donating: https://linktr.ee/TheStageSelect

Email: [email protected]

Theme song lyrics:

What could this possibly be?

Seems a lot like a podcast…

Wonder what specifically?

Talkin’ bout video games,

With your hosts, you’re in good hands.

Not more of the same!

Now we’ll jump right in,

So expect the unexpected and more.  

Now we’ll get groovin,’

Never know who’s gonna walk through the door!

There just might be some treasure in this chest,

Having fun with our special guests,

Time for Stage Select!

Copyright 2024 Space Monkey Mafia Productions

It’s another episode of The Stage Select, and this time we’re

joined by our good friend Mike Fallek, fresh off his work developing the game

Troma Presents Poultrygeist. If you’ve listened to our previous podcast you

know what you’re in for. If this is your first time hearing Mike, buckle up!

00:00 Introductions

07:30 Mike talks about developing Troma Presents

Poultrygeist (and laws around lawncare?)

23:49 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and

Tears of the Kingdom, and why Julian and Justin are WRONG

01:00:28 Unicorn Overlord, Billy Joel

01:27:30 Justin’s game’s pitches

01:58:37 Sports games, an unreasonable amount of information

about Ohio

02:21:52 A small update on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

02:41:02 Videoverse

03:05:13 Questions, Comments, Concerns

Check out the Perfect Storm Gaming stream that Julian was

on:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrdVUkD6LEE

Check out the episode of Ballin’ Out SUPER that Mike was on:

https://soundcloud.com/ballin-out-super/akira-toriyama-tribute-episode-w-katie-rose-leon-alex-ptak-and-more?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Theme song and interstitial music by Megan McDuffee: https://meganmcduffee.com

Logo and artwork by John Gholson

Announcer: John Gholson

Consider supporting The Stage Select by sharing the show or

donating: https://linktr.ee/TheStageSelect

Email: [email protected]

Theme song lyrics:

What could this possibly be?

Seems a lot like a podcast…

Wonder what specifically?

Talkin’ bout video games,

With your hosts, you’re in good hands.

Not more of the same!

Now we’ll jump right in,

So expect the unexpected and more.  

Now we’ll get groovin,’

Never know who’s gonna walk through the door!

There just might be some treasure in this chest,

Having fun with our special guests,

Time for Stage Select!

Copyright 2024 Space Monkey Mafia Productions

It’s a jam-packed edition of The Stage Select this week, what with big games like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and WWE 2K24 to talk about. We also try some things. We’ll…let you decide how those things went.

00:00 Introductions and thank you to our friends and listeners

12:18 Julian and Justin’s personal 2023 Top Ten list

28:00 Julian’s second 11th birthday

34:12 Minami Lane, Contra: Operation Galuga

42:54 WWE 2K24

01:12:39 Musical Guest: Megan McDuffee

01:20:02 A Tribute to Akira Toriyama

01:34:05 Breaking News

01:44:35 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Please check out some of our friends that spread the word of our debut:

A Gamer Looks at 40: https://agamerlooksat40.com/

Perfect Storm Gaming: https://linktr.ee/perfectstormgaming

Gamelogica: https://www.youtube.com/@GamelogicaYT

Games My Mom Found: https://gamesmymomfoundpodcast.podbean.com/

Soundtracker: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/966wb-20e0bc/Soundtracker-Podcast

Theme song and interstitial music by Megan McDuffee: https://meganmcduffee.com

Logo and artwork by John Gholson

Announcer: John Gholson

Consider supporting The Stage Select by sharing the show or donating: https://linktr.ee/TheStageSelect

Email: [email protected]

Theme song lyrics:

What could this possibly be?

Seems a lot like a podcast…

Wonder what specifically?

Talkin’ bout video games,

With your hosts, you’re in good hands.

Not more of the same!

Now we’ll jump right in,

So expect the unexpected and more.

Now we’ll get groovin,’

Never know who’s gonna walk through the door!

There just might be some treasure in this chest,

Having fun with our special guests,

Time for Stage Select!

Copyright 2024 Space Monkey Mafia Productions

Hello there! Our second episode is very different from our

first episode, but that’s kinda the things about The Stage Select: you never

know what you’re gonna get each week! This is our 2023 Game of the Year

deliberations, and they are a prototype for what we have planned for the 2024 GotY

podcast(s). We’re joined by Xavier Krieger, and this is an excellent episode to

get a great grasp on the gaming tastes of your hosts. We’re whittling our list

down to ten, and then putting those ten games in order. Do things get spicy?

Maybe! Listen and find out! Also, this was recorded before our first episode,

so keep that in mind. Enjoy!

00:00 Introductions, the nominees, and the first cuts

34:55 Down to the top 20

1:03:49 Intermission, 3 games left to cut

1:53:45 Ordering the top 10

Theme song and interstitial music by Megan McDuffee: https://meganmcduffee.com

Logo and artwork by John Gholson

Announcer: John Gholson

Consider supporting The Stage Select by sharing the show or

donating: https://linktr.ee/TheStageSelect

Email: [email protected]

Theme song lyrics:

What could this possibly be?

Seems a lot like a podcast…

Wonder what specifically?

Talkin’ bout video games,

With your hosts, you’re in good hands.

Not more of the same!

Now we’ll jump right in,

So expect the unexpected and more.  

Now we’ll get groovin,’

Never know who’s gonna walk through the door!

There just might be some treasure in this chest,

Having fun with our special guests,

Time for Stage Select!

Copyright 2024 Space Monkey Mafia Productions

At last, it’s time for the first episode of The Stage

Select! Strap in for the beginning of a truly unique video game podcast journey.

We hope you enjoy what we’re putting down here, and there’s much more to come,

so please share and tell your friends if you like this kind of independent

podcasting!

00:00 Introductions: getting to know us!

17:34 Tekken 8

44:41 Balatro

1:04:04 We have concerns about Silent Hill

1:19:11 Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

1:55:41 Julian went to AEW, and has some complicated

feelings about wrestling now

Theme song and interstitial music by Megan McDuffee: https://meganmcduffee.com

Logo and artwork by John Gholson

Announcer: John Gholson

Consider supporting The Stage Select by sharing the show or

donating: https://linktr.ee/TheStageSelect

Email: [email protected]

Theme song lyrics:

What could this possibly be?

Seems a lot like a podcast…

Wonder what specifically?

Talkin’ bout video games,

With your hosts, you’re in good hands.

Not more of the same!

Now we’ll jump right in,

So expect the unexpected and more.  

Now we’ll get groovin,’

Never know who’s gonna walk through the door!

There just might be some treasure in this chest,

Having fun with our special guests,

Time for Stage Select!

Copyright 2024 Space Monkey Mafia Productions

Every show has to start somewhere, right? Well, this is where we start. Before we start. A pilot, if you will. Will we get picked up by the network for the season? Listen and find out! (Spoiler alert: the answer is "yes")

We hope to be back by March 2024 with the whole shebang, but in the meantime please subscribe and find us on that one place @StageSelectPod. See you then!

Introducing The Stage Select: a video game variety show! This is just a taste of things to come. Watch this space in 2024!