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E3 is right around the corner, and in this episode we talk leaks, rumor, and speculate what we'll see at E3 2018....
Rumor has it that Jarret isn’t on the show this week. Is it true? Find out as Nick and Christina talk about rumors in the video game industry. But first, Christina has not been playing God of War because Hyrule Warriors came out on the switch. She talks a little about the character of Linkle. She also mentions that she’s been playing the new Final Fantasy XIV expansion Stormblood. Nick asks about a possible math-based boss, but Christina hasn’t done any raiding yet to know. Nick meanwhile has been trying to better track his Hearthstone stats and has found that he is playing less Hearthstone as a result.
Nick tries to define what a rumor is and talks about how it is misinformation spread from questionable sources, like a guy from work or from random forum posts. Rumors can be be detrimental to companies, as they lead to confusion for players. Nick rants about uneducated parents trying to buy stuff for their children. They also complain that people hear information and then don’t do the requisite research to verify it. These rumors can lead to people being mad at the game publisher or developer, as was the case with No Man’s Sky, where rumors (that the developers either contributed to or did not mitigate) led to unrealistic expectations for the game that it could not meet. There are positive results from rumors for game developers as well. They are good at creating and maintaining hype for products before they are released and they can also allow games to have a second life as people play them to find out what is and is not true.
Nick and Christina then go over some rumors from the past, such as getting Mario past the flagpole is Super Mario Bros. There is also the rumor about unlocking Mew under a truck in Pokemon, which explains some recent Pokemon Go memes for Nick. They talk about Aeris being resurrectable in Final Fantasy VII. Christina also mentions the crazy stories surrounding the Polybius arcade games. This leads to a discussion of haunted games such as Majora’s Mask and Slenderman.
Hardware also has its share of rumors, and the duo talks about Jarret’s speculation about upcoming consoles such as the PS5 being modular. Nick mentions that MS and Sony will look for focus more on software since that is more profitable. Christina brings up the Nintendo NX controller rumors which lead to the Switch. Finally, they talk about Half-Life 3 and how any rumors for that need to stop.
Thank you for listening to the Mashcast! Feel free to share any rumors that you remember or want more information on with us on twitter @mtbsite!
Hosts
Nick Zielenkievicz
Host of WoW! Talk! and The Tauren & The Goblin. Sometimes known as the Video Games Public Defender. Wants to play more Destiny and Marvel Heroes but WoW is all-consuming. Decent F2P Hearthstone player. Sad that he lost the Wii that had Wrecking Crew on it. Would be happy if the only game ever made was M.U.L.E. Gragtharr on Skywall-US. Garresque on Ravencrest-US.
Christina Zammarrelli
Gaming has been a core part throughout Poptarts life. Though her specialty is JRPGs, she tries to branch out and try new things. Most of her time gets put into the MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV, but she still finds time to play new games.
