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Purely Academic #21 - Hades II, Ghost of Yōtei, Xbox Pricing Madness, and more!
We’re back for the month of October with an exciting episode covering both the highs and lows of the video game industry in 2025. In terms of ‘low,’ we’ve got more Xbox Pricing Madness, as Microsoft once again hiked prices on Xbox hardware, before unveiling a full 50% raise to the price of Xbox Game Pass, a move that feels like the definitive end of the brand’s subscription model experiment. In terms of ‘highs,’ though, games are still great, and there’s way too many out there for us to play them all! Jonathan gives first impressions of Hades II from Supergiant, while Sean talks Ghost of Yōtei, Sucker Punch’s historical samurai sequel for the PS5. We also talk the latest Genshin Impact update, Super Robot Wars Y, and engage in a very fun, very silly Monthly Ten as we consider the lessons teenagers actually need to be taught before they get out of high school.
Enjoy!
Time Chart
Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:03:18
Xbox Pricing Madness & Other News: 0:03:18 – 1:21:14
Ghost of Yotei: 1:21:14 – 1:37:50
Hades II: 1:37:50 – 1:57:00
Genshin Impact 6.0: 1:57:00 – 2:09:54
Super Robot Wars Y: 2:09:54 – 2:31:59
The Monthly Ten: 2:31:59 – 3:10:00
Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com
Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com
Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK
Subscribe to our YouTube channels!
Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation
Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast
Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff
Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/
Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com
Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com
Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK
Subscribe to our YouTube channels!
Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation
Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast
Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff
Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/
©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman
View all episodes
By Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman
4.5
3333 ratings
We’re back for the month of October with an exciting episode covering both the highs and lows of the video game industry in 2025. In terms of ‘low,’ we’ve got more Xbox Pricing Madness, as Microsoft once again hiked prices on Xbox hardware, before unveiling a full 50% raise to the price of Xbox Game Pass, a move that feels like the definitive end of the brand’s subscription model experiment. In terms of ‘highs,’ though, games are still great, and there’s way too many out there for us to play them all! Jonathan gives first impressions of Hades II from Supergiant, while Sean talks Ghost of Yōtei, Sucker Punch’s historical samurai sequel for the PS5. We also talk the latest Genshin Impact update, Super Robot Wars Y, and engage in a very fun, very silly Monthly Ten as we consider the lessons teenagers actually need to be taught before they get out of high school.
Enjoy!
Time Chart
Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:03:18
Xbox Pricing Madness & Other News: 0:03:18 – 1:21:14
Ghost of Yotei: 1:21:14 – 1:37:50
Hades II: 1:37:50 – 1:57:00
Genshin Impact 6.0: 1:57:00 – 2:09:54
Super Robot Wars Y: 2:09:54 – 2:31:59
The Monthly Ten: 2:31:59 – 3:10:00
Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com
Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com
Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK
Subscribe to our YouTube channels!
Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation
Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast
Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff
Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/
Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com
Subscribe to JAPANIMATION STATION, our podcast about the wide and wonderful world of anime: https://japanimationstation.com
Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK
Subscribe to our YouTube channels!
Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation
Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast
Support the show at Ko-fi ☕️ https://ko-fi.com/weeklystuff
Original Music by Thomas Lack https://www.thomaslack.com/
©2012 - Present Jonathan R. Lack & Sean Chapman
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