Purely Academic #35 - The Video Game Apocalypse: Sony Abandons Discs, Xbox Lays Off Everyone, and more

It’s been perhaps the darkest few weeks for video games in either of our lifetimes, so we’re back to discuss the ongoing Video Game Apocalypse, from Xbox executing thousands of layoffs and divesting themselves of a half-dozen studios, to PlayStation ending physical media on their consoles even as they close the digital storefront on legacy systems, to ongoing price hikes making the entire hobby unaffordable for everyone. It’s really never been this bad, but at least we can commiserate about it together! And after that, this episode has plenty of fun, too, as Sean talks about the latest Ultraman shows he’s seen and ongoing adventures in Super Robot Wars Y, while Jonathan shares his experiences falling down the Street Fighter 6 rabbit hole and watching all the James Bond movies after playing 007: First Light. And we’ve got a great Odyssey-inspired Monthly Ten for you about unlikely adaptation ideas for pre-modern literature.   Enjoy! TIME CHART: Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:48 Video Game News: 0:04:48 0:23:44 PlayStation News: 0:23:44 0:54:14 Xbox Layoffs: 0:54:14 1:22:28  Doctor Who News: 1:22:28 1:31:54 Ultraman Max & Mebius: 1:31:54 1:44:42 007: 1:44:42 2:01:08 Super Robot Wars Y: 2:01:08 2:34:21 Street Fighter: 2:34:21 2:56:09 Monthly Ten: 2:56:09 3:26:19 Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://www.japanimation-station.com Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vKSubscribe to our YouTube channels! Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation  Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastSupport the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuffOriginal Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman