NicheCast

The current state of Sony and PlayStation, has the company fallen from grace, and abandoned their roots and what made the company great? Are their recent moves and acquisitions bad compared to Microsoft and Nintendo? We take a deep dive into Sony’s past and discuss where they did things right and possibly where things have gone wrong. Can the once-edgy and bold company return to what made them definitely win two console generations?

Microsoft finalizes their acquisition of Bethesda, and Zenimax Media. What does this mean for the future of their franchises? They’ve already said “some” of their future games will become exclusive to PC and Xbox. Where do they cut the line? Does it make sense to have their core franchises locked to PC and Xbox, while more general franchises like DOOM can remain multi-platform? We talk up this huge shift in the industry.

The new rumored Nintendo console --- how can Nintendo improve on their successful hybrid console? The new model is rumored to have a 7 inch OLED display, and a 4K capable dock. What else do they need? Will Nintendo continue to dominate in Japan, and worldwide? Also how can scalpers be stopped? Will scalpers lead to a potential collapse of the industry, where new consoles and new game aren't being bought as much due to pricing? We talk over all of these big questions.

Is Blizzard Entertainment too forgone to be saved? A lot of PR blunders have come out of the once-beloved developer, now a subsidiary of Activision. Can they win back enough goodwill to get their old fans back? Is it even possible to please old fans and new fans that only care about Overwatch or the newest World of Warcraft expansions? Is Diablo IV and the Diablo II remaster enough to win people over?

We discussed our upcoming Media Partners program, President Trump’s executive order that almost banned Tencent in the US, and the hackers behind the Twitter celebrity Bitcoin scam being arrested- including the 17 year old “mastermind.”

We then moved onto virtual YouTubers suffering DMCA claims and community subtitles being retired, the return of G4, the Intellivision Amico Special Event, and how companies react to perceptions and outrage.

We discussed the slew of announcements, releases, and drama over the month of June! This included Total War: Troy being free for 24-hours on launch via the Epic Games Store; all while Tim Sweeny says he attributes the Epic Games Store giveaways to increased sales… On other platforms.

We discussed Serious Sam 4, its Stadia exclusivity on consoles, and its possible censorship. This lead to discussion of the assumption of guilt, and the fear of creation.

We also discussed Tencent, and their recent buying and expanding spree [1, 2, 3], as well as what the Chinese tech giant could mean for western gaming.

We talked about Denuvo Anti-Cheat being removed from Doom Eternal, and the risks of kernel-based software.

We talked about the recent Ghost of Tsushima gameplay, and Unreal Engine 5 being reveled on PlayStation 5; along with Tim Sweeney’s comments on the upcoming console’s storage architecture being ahead of of anything on PC.

After dabbling in what the future of controllers and gameplay could be, we discuss the announcement of Paper Mario: The Origami King, and Denuvo Anti-Cheat being added to Doom Eternal.

We also cover the Chinese PlayStation Store being taken down to “improve security” right after Chinese gamers accessed foreign games, Evo Online, and the disastrous business model for The Culling: Origins.

We talk about the leaks of The Last of Us Part II (but not the content of the leaks themselves), the negative effect of hype, Animal Crossing: New Horizons strong sales, War of Ashird‘s Kickstarter campaign, and more!

After the cancellation of E3 2020, we discuss whether we dodged a bullet, thanks to what the show could have been. We also discuss the sheer audacity of GameStop’s actions during this difficult time.

We discuss remakes such as Final Fantasy VII Remake, Resident Evil 3, and the nature of remakes in general. We also delve into the rumors surrounding new Silent Hill games, and Sony’s alleged attempts to buy several prominent IPs from Konami.