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Get full episode notes at www.patreon.com/postgames and www.post.games
Video game adaptations threaten to replace superhero movies as Hollywood's favorite fad. How did Mario and friends evolve from box office poison into some of the most valuable IPS in movie history? Today on Post Games: an extended interview with filmmaker and video essayist Patrick H. Willems, in which we make sense of 30 years and five distinct eras of video game adaptations.
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Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Heads up! You can now watch Post Games shorts on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
Today's guest is musical composer, orchestrator, lyricist, conductor, and musician Mike Pettry, who climbed the rungs of the theater world and now performs in the orchestras of award-winning Broadway shows. His performances have accompanied artists like Ben Platt and Idina Menzel.
But as his Broadway career blossomed, Pettry began to fantasize about something else entirely: making a musical… video game.
A murder mystery musical video game, to be precise. Murder at the Birch Tree Theater is a deduction game, in the style of Return of the Obra Dinn and The Case of the Golden Idol. Set across many years at a small community theater, it tells a story of intrigue, small-time fame, and, as the title promises, murder.
I talk with Pettry about juggling his two dreams on the world's biggest stage. Or under it. He plays in the orchestra after all.
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Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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This week on Post Games, I'm answering your questions about the future of games. Plus, an extended conversation with video game podcaster, YouTuber, and content creator Brendon Bigley about his long-running series Into the Aether and his new gaming news publication, Wavelengths.
You can now watch Post Games shorts on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
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Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Two options for full show notes, including links to stories, games, and related topics!
Next week: For the mailbag, send voice notes to postgamesmailbag (at) gmail. Please keep them under 90 seconds and include your name and pronouns.
Countless video games depict death, but few ask us to contemplate our mortality. Thank goodness. Mario wouldn’t be nearly as fun if we had to attend every goomba’s funeral.
And yet, as I approach 40 and my death anxieties find new ways to keep me awake, I wonder if video games could be uniquely equipped to help us emotionally grapple with the big question that has no answer: what comes next?
So, I called an expert. Video game writer and narrative director Kaitlin Tremblay has written three games exploring the many sides of death: A Mortician’s Tale, Seasonala Cemetery, and the upcoming Ambrosia Sky.
Don't let the topic fool you. This is an uplifting conversation. And hey, if you're listening to this episode, then I can guarantee one thing: you're alive.
Act 1: A life of making games about death
Act 2: How death in games can help us
Patreon Bonus: Why I keep playing this tiny game about dying
Act 3: News of the Week
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Gaming historian Jeremy Parish joins me for the entire episode to tell the story of gaming’s most famous primate.
Act 1: How Donkey Kong saved Nintendo
Act 2: Donkey Kong’s long journey back to the top
Patreon Bonus: The Top 5 Donkey Kong games – and the #1 strangest
Act 3: The news of the week
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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This week on Post Game: Late-night comedy writer Mike Drucker and Tactical Breach Wizards director Tom Francis explain how they make video games funny and find the humor in loving video games.
Patreon bonus prologue: What it's like to write jokes for Nintendo
Act 1: Adapting a life of video games into a comedic memoir
Act 2: The cheats to make your video game funny
Act 3: The news of the week
Bonus book excerpt: Good Game, No Rematch - "The StarCraft Conspiracy"
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Get full show notes for free at https://postgame.substack.com/
Get bonus segments, early and ad-free episodes, and a monthly video series at https://www.patreon.com/c/PostGames
This week on Post Games, Atari CEO Wade Rosen joins me to discuss gaming’s ship of Theseus. While everyone remembers Atari at its height, most folks ignored the company's struggles following the games industry crash of 1983. Understandably! For forty years, Atari has been a brand in search of a purpose.
Rosen is determined to change that, making Atari relevant for the first time in forty years. And he wants to do so while having a sense of humor and respect for the brand's long, long journey. Who doesn't love a comeback story?
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Get extra-long episodes, bonus content, monthly videos, and more (plus, no ads!) at patreon.com/postgames
Welcome to Post Game’s first annual physical, in which a special guest joins me to assess the health and stability of gaming, from the creators to the players, the industry to the culture. I’ve invited one of the smartest, analytical, and forward-thinking minds in video – writer, developer, publisher, critic, analyst, and occasional voice actor Xalavier Nelson Jr. – to give video games a thorough workup
Bonus Patreon Prologue: The state of games 10, 20, and 30 years ago
Act 1: The best of times - Why 2025 could be the golden age of video games
Act 2: The worst of times - Why video games feel doomed
Bonus Patreon interview segment: Xalavier on gaming’s past, present, and future
Act 3: The news of the week, including the ghoulish mass layoffs at Xbox
Today's episode's act-interstitials feature music from the games of Strange Scaffold!
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Before we get started...
If you have a moment and don't mind, please leave a review of Post Games on Apple Podcasts. I know, it's silly, but it's also a humongous help in these early days.
This week on Post Games
Act 1: Dunkey on his love/hate relationship with Death Stranding, life as YouTube game critic, and the power of changing your mind
A bonus act for Patreon subscribers: Dunkey on video game critics and criticism
Act 2: A "guide" to Death Stranding 2’s big, weird ideas
Act 3: The news of the week
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Editor’s note: This week, I’m making all acts available to all listeners. The Patreon edition of the episode, however, is still early and ad-free. For context: My two guests participated on tight timelines and under special circumstances. And my essay was the conclusion of last week’s episode. As I finished the edit, I felt bad putting any of the acts behind the paywall. This won’t be the norm – frankly, I’ll need more paid subscribers before the end of the year if I want to keep this my full-time focus – but for this week, it felt like the right decision. For those who subscribe on Patreon, thank you so much for your support. I don’t take it for granted. Hope you enjoy this behemoth!
Act 1: The five-year AI timeline that blew up my plans for the future
Act 2: What if AI is dumb, but we’re dumber
Bonus act: The year-long strike to protect video game voice actors from AI
An interview with Sarah Elmaleh, the chair of the SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee
Act 3: The news of the week
And another bonus act: An excerpt from the audiobook of Everything Must Go, Dorian Lynskey's non-fiction history of apocalyptic storytelling. The chapter: apocalyptic AI!
Get full episode notes at www.post.games
Subscribe to Post Games on Patreon. For $5, subscribers get bonus segments in every episode — and none of the ads! They also have access to a monthly video series, receive new episodes days before the ad-supported feed, and ensure the show stays alive! Now available: the first video in the Video Game Journalism 101 series!
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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This week on Post Games, “What we have in common with world-ending AI.”
Act 1: Why every AI superfan and skeptic should play Universal Paperclips. A review conversation with AJ Fillari, co-host of dotzip and producer of Into the Aether
For Patreon subscribers, an intermission: 5 "clicker" games to play after Universal Paperclips
Act 2: An extended interview with Frank Lantz, the creator of Universal Paperclips about designing a game from the AI's POV
Act 3: The news of the week, including cool game art for a good cause
Also for Patreon subscribers: a recording of Frank Lantz’s famous speech about the trouble with modern video games
This episode is part one of a two-part series on what we can learn about AI and ourselves through video games. Next week, we'll continue with "How I AI-proofed my career after imagining the apocalypse."
(Image: Chris Plante via Team Asobi/SIE)
Click this link to try a free month of Post Games on Patreon. Offer expires Tuesday night!
If you enjoy the free month, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or recommending the show to your favorite gaming Discord or other group chats
Or, if you want to support the show A.S.A.P. and keep the Post Games ship afloat….
Subscribe to Post Games on Patreon. Subscribers get bonus segments in every episode — and none of the ads! They also have access to a monthly video series, receive new episodes days before the ad-supported feed, and ensure the show stays alive! Now available: the first video in the Video Game Journalism 101 series!
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Get full episode notes, links, and bonus materials for free at www.Post.Games.
This week on Post Games, “What is a video game console launch in 2025?”
Act 1: What’s it like to run a video game shop when a console launches? An interview with Kelsey Lewin, the co-owner of Pink Gorilla Games
Act 2: Nintendo’s history of console launches. An interview with Chris Kohler, Editorial Director of Digital Eclipse
Act 3: The news of the week, including big announcements leading into Summer Game Fest
And for Patreon subscribers, a bonus act: What it was like to be parents scrambling for new consoles and games in the 1990s. An interview with my parents.
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Find all links and referenced materials at www.post.games
This week on Post Games, “Why you can’t escape porn, sex, and lewd games.”
Act 1: How NSFW games went from the backrooms to the front page
Act 2: An interview with Hot Pink, a successful lewd game developer
Act 3: The news of the week, including the definitive answer to the most important question in America in this troubling moment: Is parrying in games good or bad?
For Patreon subscribers: The long, successful history of sex games in Japan. Want to know how the Western market went from decades of porn game prohibition to the modern lewd game free-for-all? The answer can be found in the decades of Japanese “eroge.” Plus, a reading from The Joy of Cybersex.
Like the show? Consider subscribing to Post Games on Patreon! Subscribers keep the show alive, get tons of cool stuff, and can listen to new episodes early! This Monday, I’m publishing the first video in the Video Game Journalism 101 series! Next Friday: the Switch 2 launch special with Nintendo historians Kelsey Lewin and Chris Kohler!
Logo by James Bareham
Theme by Mark Sparling
Special thanks to guest Hot Pink
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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See the full episode notes and links at www.post.games
This week on Post Games, “You won the biggest award in indie games. Now what?”
Act 1: The history of indie games and its biggest award, The Independent Games Festival’s Seamus McNally Grand Prize
Act 2: An interview with Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson, the latest IGF Grand Prize winners, about how post-award life changes – and stays the same
Act 3: The news of the week, including incredible and rare games you can now play in English
Plus: For Patreon subscribers, a bonus interview: The story of the high school kids who won the first-ever IGF Grand Prize in 1999 for Fire and Darkness. One of the game’s creators actually hopped on a call and shared what became of the team and their lost game
Subscribe to Post Games on Patreon. Keep the show alive, get tons of cool stuff, and listen to new episodes early! Next Friday: why you can't escape porn/sex/lewd games! And on Monday, June 2, the first video in the Video Game Journalism 101 series!
Logo by James Bareham
Theme by Mark Sparling
Special thanks to guests Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, and Mark Feghali
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Want to know more about what’s happening behind the scenes at Post Games? Curious where the show is heading in its first year? Post Games: Episode 0 serves as an audio FAQ. Structured like a traditional episode, this prequel features an interview with Platformer founder and Hard Fork co-host Casey Newton about independent journalism's history, function, and value.
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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Post Games will be available to everyone on May 26. Patreon subscribers will get early access to Episode 1 (and Episode 0) on Friday, May 23. Here’s a link.
Find episode notes and more at www.post.games. Subscribe to the Patreon for early access to episodes, additional segments, and bonus materials at patreon.com/postgames.
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