Episode 94

Game of the Year 2025: Week Three

Published on: 21st January, 2026

It’s the final week of The Stage Select’s 2025 game of the year deliberations, and we continue by pairing a returning champion with a first-timer! Westen from Big Nerd Gaming is back to even the score now that he understands the game, and star of stage and screen John Gholson joins us for his first deliberations. This week there’s only one objective: create an ordered list of ten games and crown the 2025 game of the year for The Stage Select. Things get passionate! It’s a doozy! See you later in 2026 for season three!

00:00 Introduction

03:55 Nominations and first cuts

42:46 Cutting continues!

02:01:12 Final elimination to get ten games

02:20:27 Ranking our top ten list and crowning The Stage Select’s 2025 game of the year!

Be sure to check out Big Nerd Gaming for more of Westen! https://bignerdgaming.com/

Watch Man Finds Tape, starring John Gholson, available now! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VexyLStKQAQ

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

Logo and artwork by John Gholson

Announcer: John Gholson

Join our Discord, learn about how you can support the show, and more: https://linktr.ee/TheStageSelect

Email: thestageselectpod@gmail.com

Copyright 2024 Space Monkey Mafia Productions

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About the Podcast

The Stage Select
Video Game Variety Show
Welcome to The Stage Select: a video game variety show hosted by Julian Titus and Justin Hamm! We guarantee that we'll talk about video games. Beyond that, you never know what (or who!) to expect each week.
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About your hosts

Julian Titus

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Since first seeing a Galaga cabinet in the arcade at the age of 5, Julian has always been fascinated by video games, leading to a lifelong obsession. He dabbles in game collecting, history, and industry analysis, but most of all, he loves talking about video games! Inspired by podcasts such as 1up Yours, The Giant Bombcast, and Rebel FM, Julian has been podcasting since 2011, and has no plans on stopping anytime soon!

Justin Hamm

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Julian told me I had to make a bio on here. I don't know how to write them. Here's some things about me. I eat chips sometimes. I enjoy lying about boat ownership. I have another podcast called This Is Video Games where I'm Justin Hamm and I talk about video games with weird adult themes... Like being naked and stuff. Those games. I should make more of it. I don't know what else to add. Hopefully this fulfills my mandated biography writing. Thank you for your time to the 6 people who will read this. Oh! Im also on The Stage Select Podcast... Or I will be. I will have to update this when it starts officially.