Jonah finally finishes the strange puzzle platformer Inside and discusses it with the crew during the post-podcast discussion. Otherwise, there’s news galore, as well as a Gaming Flashback of the notorious flop Sonic the Hedgehog from 2006.
It includes:
Let us know what you think.
The deal has been done, you can now officially call the company Activision Blizzard. Sure, the name is sorta lame but it does cover the bases… they’re Activision and they’re Blizzard; surely neither company wanted to lose their lively hood and branding.
We’re now looking at a company that’s more powerful than Electronic Arts, surely this worries Electronic Arts a bit. However, consumers like ourselves should be cheering for more competition against the big EA, perhaps forcing them to innovate a bit more and keep competitive.
Many gamers and industry participants would love to see independent companies grab a bit of the market share and bring in new startup companies and spin-off studios. However, if there is going to be a merger at the top-tier it might as well be one that puts pressure on Electronic Arts.
“We have created the world leader in online and console games with this transaction, and the combined strengths of the two businesses offer immense growth potential,” gushed Vivendi SA CEO Jean-Bernard Levy. “I am also very confident that, with the new leadership team in place, the new entity is perfectly positioned to take advantage of these rapidly developing markets across the globe.” (gamespot)
Now, we’ll have to wait and see if the upper level management can get along in a fluid manner and keep all their projects on track. With great power comes great responsibility, they’ve got the power… are they going to be responsible with it?
A lot of this episode revolves around the 30th anniversary of the classic fighting game in this week’s Gaming Flashback, Street Fighter II. The episode also looks at a lot of the hot news around the industry.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
The new mic used for the episode has improved the audio by a factor of 1,000. In fact, Episode 625’s audio is so bad, it’ll take a lot of effort to make it even bearable, so it won’t be published for a while.
In the meantime, the new Amazon MMO New World has made a giant splash, but is it worth dipping your toes in, especially since it costs $40 to buy? Meanwhile, the frustrations T.J. has as a PlayStation 5 owner come to the fore.
This week’s news includes:
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