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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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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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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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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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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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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Get full episode notes, links, and related materials for free at www.post.games

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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Get full episode notes at www.post.games and subscribe on Patreon at patreon.com/postgames.

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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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?

• Patreon bonus prologue: A history of Atari and its lost decades
• Act 1: Why Atari can’t die, an extended conversation with Atari CEO Wade Rosen
• Act 2: What is a “modern” Atari game
• 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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Get the full episode notes with links at www.post.games

Subscribe to the Patreon for early access, bonus segments, and a monthly video series at patreon.com/postgames

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 the full episode notes at www.post.games

Subscribe to the Patreon for bonus content and early releases at www.patreon.com/postgames

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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Two options for full show notes, including links to stories, games, and related topics!

• Subscribe to the Patreon at www.patreon.com/postgames
• Subscribe to the free newsletter at www.post.games

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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Get full episode notes for free at www.post.games

Get bonus content, early episodes, and extended episode notes for $5 a month at www.patreon.com/postgames

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.

•  Act 1: A Q&A about the future of video games
• Bonus for Patreon: The nitty-gritty bits of gaming’s future, from AI to
• Act 2: How to launch a new video games media brand w/ Brendon Bigley
• Bonus for Patreon: The trick to creating a successful podcast
• Act 3: The news of the week

You can now watch Post Games shorts on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Like the show? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

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 at www.post.games

Subscribe for bonus segments and episodes, plus everything is ad-free! www.patreon.com/postgames

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.

• Act 1: A gamer in the Broadway pit
• Act 2: Fine-tuning a musical murder mystery game
• Patreon-bonus: Three original songs based on retro gaming classics, created by Mike Pettry and his longtime collaborator Eli Bolin
• The two previously wrote and orchestrated songs for John Mulaney’s Sack Lunch Bunch and Documentary Now!
• Act 3: The news of the week

Like the show? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

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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Subscribe for $5 to get bonus segments and episodes at Patreon.com/postgames

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This September, following a successful run on the experimental gaming handheld Playdate, Blippo+ will release on Nintendo Switch and Steam. The game, created in collaboration with an iconic indie band, attempts to reproduce the feeling of channel surfing in the early days of cable television.

Its graphics aren’t graphics at all, but full-motion video. Actors bounced around shows that resemble episodes of Pee-wee Herman, the concerts of Klaus Nomi, and the “I can’t believe they made this for kids” programming of early Nickelodeon and MTV.

As I played Blippo+, flipping through the channels, I felt a deep nostalgia for something I'd nearly forgotten. And then I wondered: what inspires artists to try to recreate not just a show or a TV channel’s slate, but the entire TV experience. To find out, I spoke with rockstar, journalist, and Blippo+ writer Claire Evans!

• Act 1: From Rockstar to Game Maker
• Act 2: The Birth of Blippo
• Patreon Bonus: A Guide to Metal Gear Solid: Delta
• 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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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.

• Act 1: The Doomed Decades
• Act 2: The Hollywood Hits
• A Patreon bonus: The Future of Video Game Movies. Patrick sticks around to speculate on the future of video game adaptations – including no fewer than 46 movies in active development
• Act 3: The News of the Week

You can now watch Post Games shorts on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Like the show? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

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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Listen to the full audiobook at patreon.com/postgames.

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 bonus content in every episode at patreon.com/postgames

Get full show notes in the free newsletter at www.post.games

What's it like to pursue a degree in video games? And what's life like as a video game professor?

This week, my guest is Aaron Trammell, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who teaches undergraduate and graduate students about games, ranging from video games to tabletop games, the craft of design to the critique of play.

• Act 1: Life as a video game student
• Act 2: Life as a video game professor
• Patreon bonus: 5 new video game books to read this fall
• Act 3: The news of the week

(Audio note: There's a little bit of audio level imbalance with my guest's recording in this episode. I was able to fix most of the issues, but it sounds just a little strange, that's why. This should be a one-off issue. Thanks for your patience!)

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 at post.games

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This week on Post Games:

• Act 1: The story of a video game studio in 2025
• Act 2: Behind-the-scenes of A Life Well Wasted
• Patreon Bonus: Games and perverts
• 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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