Welcome to another episode of Throwdown. On this podcast/vidcast we discuss the latest video game, pop culture, and tech news in an honest and uncompromising fashion.
Nintendo hasn’t had it good for the last few years. With the Wii U underperforming for most of its life, Amiibos being scalped for exorbitant prices, a dubious mobile games plan, and the company’s overall inability to get with the times, things have not been great at the house that Mario built.
Amid all of this however, it turns out that Nintendo has managed to turn a profit for the first time in years. What was the cause of this and can the famous Japanese games company continue this momentum? This story and the questions surrounding it form the basis of our featured topic this week.
There hasn’t been much on the gaming front thanks to the looming E3, but we managed to find some interesting tidbits to talk about.
First up is the news that Sony will not be holding a major press conference at this year’s Gamescom event. This is surprising given how Sony always has a presser for this event. Even more interesting is that Microsoft, a company who usually doesn’t hold a press event at Gamescom, will be this year. What does this all mean?
Speaking about absences, we also talk about how Sega will not have a booth on the E3 2015 show floor and will instead showcase its games with partners. Is this yet another sign of Sega’s downfall? Lastly, we talk about how the Oculus Rift will be released in the first quarter of 2016. Will its launch usher in a new age of virtual reality or will it all prove to be a fad?
Quite a lot of interesting and exciting news happened in Pop Culture this week.
The biggest thing to happen is Joss Whedon‘s departure from Twitter. Despite his movie Avengers: Age of Ultron being massively successful over the weekend, the director was assaulted by a wave of angry feminists and white knights who claimed that he and his movie were misogynist. Even though Whedon is himself a staunch Social Justice Warrior, his allies turned on him in the blink of an eye.
Other superhero news includes: Hugh Jackman leaving Wolverine behind after Wolverine 3, the Suicide Squad cast reveal, and how Captain America: Civil War has officially gone into production.
Thanks to CJ Betancourt who is our fan guest of the month!
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Thanks as always to Shawn Daley for our awesome intro and outro music.
