The Decimation of Video Games, the Destruction of Hollywood, and the Dawn of Ditto
Purely Academic #29
It’s time for another installment of Purely Academic, a variety podcast hosted by Jonathan Lack and Sean Chapman. You can subscribe for free in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
It’s been a big – and depressing – few weeks of news in the entertainment industry, so we’re back for the March ‘Monthly Stuff’ episode to break it all down. First up we have Sony’s sudden (and infuriating) closure of Bluepoint, the studio behind many top-of-the-line remakes and remasters including 2020’s Demon Souls, which prompts a broader discussion about the issues Sony has had during the PS5 generation. Then we have the news of Phil Spencer’s retirement at Xbox, and the installation of one of Microsoft’s AI executives into the job. And then there’s the matter of Netflix bowing out of their proposed acquisition of Warner Bros., leaving the road open for Paramount (and the Ellison family) to gobble up Hollywood’s oldest, most storied institution. With all that terrible news, we needed a pick-me-up at the end, which comes in the form of a very silly Monthly Ten, in which Sean imagines 10 games that steal the premise of Pokémon Pokopia by putting a Ditto front and center in the middle of the action.
Enjoy!
TIME CHART:
Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:05:22
Bluepoint & PlayStation News: 0:05:22 – 1:01:12
Xbox News: 1:01:12 – 1:33:31
Video Game News: 1:33:31 – 1:57:52
Anime News: 1:57:52 – 2:10:20
Hollywood News: 2:10:20 – 2:28:45
Monthly Ten: 2:28:45 – 2:51:16
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