The Game Professors
Join Plague and Heru in the Game Professors Podcast, where the students take over to profess our love (and hate) for all things video games! Dive into classroom-style segments: Lowdown Lecture on announcements and rumors, Independent Study on what we're playing, Lab Work critiquing recent releases, Business & Econ with industry discourse , a look a gaming hardware in Shop Class, Gaming History retrospectives, Gym Class, and Free Period for fun miscellaneous topics. Bangers, bombs, and bold takes. If you're vibing with our syllabus, grab a seat and join in on our discussion!
Episodes
Join the Professors for the FINAL course of the year! We start by honoring the legacy of industry titan Vince Zampella and addressing the reality behind those Asus DRAM rumors. In Shop Class, security is nonexistent as we analyze the $339T Rainbow Six Siege hack, PSN social engineering vulnerabilities, and the Escape From Tarkov account wipes.
Next, Civics covers the collapse of FaZe Clan as the talent walks out over equity disputes...
Join the Professors as we dive deep into the wild world of PC hardware economics, from Nvidia GPU production cuts to the bizarre reality of older Ryzen CPU’s chips selling for more than their newer 9800X3D successors, all against sliding console and hardware sales across the industry. From there, we break down Steam’s looming end of 32-bit Windows support, plus Nintendo’s Switch 2 getting hammered by RAM shortages and soaring memor...
Join the Professors as Heru and Plague dive deep into Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's incredible Game of the Year victory—uncovering how a $10 million French indie studio with small team of developers beat the AAA titans, the inspiring story of self-taught composer Lorien Testard's soundtrack, and the free "Thank You Update" that drove sales to 6+ million copies. We break down The Game Awards 2025's shocking mom...
Join the Professors as we look at the The Game Awards 2025 nominees, with the event happening tomorrow! Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 sets the bar with 13 nominations! We break down the major contenders, standout performances, and who’s the most nominated publisher.
Next, we continue to explore the hardware crisis hitting gaming PCs hard—AI demand is hoarding memory chips, causing DDR5 and PC prices to spike. We discuss how this may f...
Join the Professors as Heru and Plague dive into whether Astro Bot truly deserves the crown for 2024's Game of the Year! Discover why Micron's exit from consumer memory continues to threaten affordable PC components, how Sony's Steam strategy generated over $1.5 billion in gross revenue, and the confirmation of Valve's mysterious "Lepton" Android compatibility layer for the upcoming Steam Frame VR headset. Plus, the Professors brea...
Join the Professors as we dive deep into the memory crisis that's making 64GB of RAM cost more than a PS5 (no one is selling but in case you're wondering spleens go for around $500)! We break down the catastrophic DDR5/Memory price surges—with some kits skyrocketing nearly 200% since September—and explore why AI datacenters are hoarding semiconductor production and leaving PC builders devastated. We also cover Nvidia and In...
Join the Professors as Heru and Plague dive deep into the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, breaking down the campaign's disappointing shift to fantasy, multiplayer improvements, and the controversial AI art scandal that has the community up in arms. Then, we analyze the gaming industry's rapid AI adoption, exploring Krafton's massive restructuring toward agentic AI, widespread developer skepticism despite industry i...
Join the Professors as we dive into the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, dissecting its extraction-inspired Endgame mode, and how it stacks up against Arc Raiders in today’s fiercely competitive shooter market. Next, find out Halo Infinite’s support is ending and what it means for the future of Master Chief, before shifting gears to break down Rockstar’s latest GTA 6 delay and the swirl of union controversies behind the headli...
Join the Professors as we dive deep into PlayStation's controversial dynamic pricing strategy and potentially sprinkle it with a spicy take or two. We’ll break down why Arc Raiders is absolutely crushing it as the extraction shooter everyone's talking about. Travel topside with us as we unpack our thoughts about this critically acclaimed extraction shooter and briefly discuss its optimization. We transition to a discussion ...
Join the Professors as we dive deep into gaming's business shakeups and market madness! Heru and Plague dissect Microsoft's aggressive 30% profit margin mandate for Xbox—exploring studio closures, massive layoffs, and the shift to multi-platform releases including Halo: Campaign Evolved coming to PlayStation. We unpack Amazon's devastating 14,000-person layoff with New World entering maintenance mode and the uncertain f...
Join the Professors as they dissect the TwitchCon 2025 disaster that has the twitch community in uproar. Heru and Plague break down the shocking assault on streamer Emiru, the mishandling of VTuber fan gifts, and the questionable behavior of Twitch's CEO during the crisis—all exposing serious security failures at what should have been a celebration of streaming culture. They also dive into hardware leaks revealing PlayStation &...
Join the Professors as Heru and Plague dive deep into Battlefield 6's massive launch success with 747K peak Steam players, TPM 2.0 security requirements changing the PC gaming anti-cheat landscape, and Ubisoft's cancelled Assassin's Creed project. We also explore Xbox's scrapped handheld plans, Unity's major security vulnerability affecting millions, and gaming handheld sales. Heru and Plague would love your feedback! Let us know w...
Join the Professors for Course #2: GamePass, Play, or Pay?
Join the Professors as Plague and Heru dive deep into Microsoft’s big Game Pass shake-up, unpacking Essential, Premium, and Ultimate tiers, day-one exclusives, price spikes, and subscriber backlash. Next, we switch gears to the wider gaming economy, from digital-first strategies and Costco’s console pullback to FTC commentary on consolidation, Xbox partnerships, and potentia...
Join the Professors in our very first episode as we dive into major gaming news, including Escape from Tarkov's Steam launch, World of Warcraft's upcoming player housing and updates, and the highly anticipated release of Ghost of Yōtei. We also discuss Kojima Productions' new projects, recent game sales successes, and industry happenings like Electronic Arts' massive buyout. Plus, we take a deep dive into game perfo...
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