Join the Professors for Course #19 as we navigate a semester of industry-shaking news and devastating studio collapses. We lead with an in-depth Business and Econ session, dissecting the death of 8K TVs as LG and Sony retreat from the resolution arms race. We then dive deep into the technical weeds of Intel’s new "Z-Angle" memory and the rise of China’s CXMT in the RAM market. In Lab Work, we conduct a post-mortem on the Ashes of Creation collapse and Intrepid Studios' insolvency. Next, in Shop Class, we break down AMD’s earnings call leaks regarding the 2027 Xbox, Valve’s new Steam Machine, and Sony’s buttonless controller patent. We move to Free Period for the massive Overwatch "soft reboot" and the arrival of Jetpack Cat, before closing with an Independent Study on the emotionally heavy climbing sim, Cairn.

Heru and Plague would love your feedback! Let us know what we can improve on and other topics you'd like to hear us discuss by reaching out to feedback@thegameprofessors.com . Come in and grab a seat as we profess our love and hate for all things video games!

Join the Professors as we deliver an in-depth analysis of Ken Levine’s upcoming project, Judas, where we break down the unique Narrative system and the five-year R&D journey behind its reactive NPCs. We also circle back to Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella’s warnings about AI losing "social permission" due to its massive environmental footprint. Following its younger brother DDR4 RAM moves into the "unobtanium" status and why the GPU MSRP is officially dead before diving into the federal lawsuit against Hasbro for overprinting Magic cards. We discuss Ubisoft’s "Major Reset" into specialized “Creative Houses” and Game Freak’s mature shift with Beast of Reincarnation. The discussion continues with the £656 million class-action lawsuit against Valve in the UK and concludes with a full post-mortem on the “Highguard” controversial launch week.

Heru and Plague would love your feedback! Let us know what we can improve on and other topics you'd like to hear us discuss by reaching out to feedback@thegameprofessors.com . Come in and grab a seat as we profess our love and hate for all things video games!

00:00 Introduction to Gaming News and Trends

05:14 The Risks of Fan Obsession and Spoilers

31:15 Business and Economics in Gaming: Hasbro's Controversy

41:15 Legal Battles and Shareholder Concerns

42:40 Ubisoft's Stock Plummet and Company Struggles

44:01 The Downfall of Ubisoft's Game Quality

45:32 Ubisoft's Reorganization and Future Plans

49:51 Tencent's Role in the Gaming Industry

51:17 Microtransactions in Single-Player Games

54:45 Creative Houses and Game Development Challenges

01:06:12 Free Period: New Game Announcements and Expectations

01:19:54 Civics and Community Issues

01:20:02 Valve's Class Action Lawsuit

01:29:26 Highguard Conundrum: Launch and Reception

01:50:11 Dr. Disrespect's Controversy and Industry Impact

Join the Professors for Course #17, as Bezos wants our PC’s, and his "Grid Compute" vision to replace your hardware. There was a massive GPU "end-of-life" scare, and a report on multiple instances of new Ryzen chips experiencing some burn out. The free game Blood West sees a Steam spike, and why Cory in the House is the king of Metacritic memes. We also break down the Monster Hunter Wilds pay for frames drama and look back at the legacies of Doug Bowser and one of the fathers of nerd culture David Rosen. Rockstar HQ blows up, and we follow up the Highguard discussion from last week. Heru and Plague would love your feedback! Let us know what we can improve on and other topics you'd like to hear us discuss by reaching out to feedback@thegameprofessors.com . Come in and grab a seat as we profess our love and hate for all things video games!

27:31 Civics and Sociology

The End of Local PC Ownership?

Amazon's "Grid Compute" Vision

GeForce Now 100-Hour Monthly Playtime Limit

Blizzard’s failure to enforce their Addon TOS

1:22:13 Business and Econ

End of Life GPU’s

1:33:39 Shop Class

AMD Cpu’s burning out

1:39:30 Lab Work

Monster Hunter: Wilds Pay to Win panic

1:50:37 Gaming History

Gaming Legend Doug Bowser steps down from Nintendo

RIP David Rosen, Thank you for all you did