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Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 19: Xbox & Nintendo’s Alluring Partnership

After stuffing multiple Nintendo Switch consoles in the background of Xbox executives, we have a focused discussion on the potential of this partnership. Brett Medlock, EIC of Nintenthusiast hops aboard to wrangle this topic. Is it Game Pass on Switch? An Xbox character in Smash? Master Chief Collection on Switch? However, we also wonder if Xbox could be receivers here and not just Nintendo. What if Nintendo were to let Xbox have something like Astral Chain or Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3? Ther...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 97: E3 2021 Predictions (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 97: E3 2021 Predictions

2021's E3 will be a most mysterious affair. Press conferences, presentations, and more are spread out over 10 days or so, and we'll have much to discuss in the coming days and weeks. But before E3 happens, we thought we'd make some predictions. Instead of spoiling them here, though, why don't you just hit play and listen for yourself? Dustin has his eyes on RPGs, Chris thinks PlayStation will be much louder than people expect, and Colin? Well... you'll see.

Sacred Symbols and Defining Duke: E3 2021 Plans

Hey All! I hope you're well.

I (Colin) wanted to take a brief moment to write to you to let you know what our plans are for the next couple of weeks. As you know, E3 is on the horizon, and it's quite a bit different this year, spreading its press conferences and events over 10 days or so.

To keep our shows as informative, interesting, and dynamic as possible, we've decided to move around our schedules a little bit, simply to accommodate events and conferences. As such, you can e...

KnockBack, Episode 174 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (film)

During episode #167 of KnockBack, we spent nearly three hours gushing about Peter Jackson's 2001 rendition of The Lord of the Rings' first book, Fellowship of the Ring. Naturally, we couldn't merely stop there. The following year -- in 2002 -- the second of three Lord of the Rings movies came out. It's called The Two Towers, and this is the flick and book alike that many people consider the best in Tolkein's Trilogy. But does the film hold up, particularly with a heavy mix of special and prac...

KnockBack, Episode 174| The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (film) (Video)

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Sacred Symbols, Episode 153: Generational Divide (Video)

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0:41:30

Note: The video will be updated Friday with timestamps.

Sacred Symbols, Episode 153: Generational Divide

It appears PlayStation no longer believes in generations, a quick reversal from its insistence only last year that PS4 and PS5 would be separated by games, and what one console can do that the other cannot. Yet, we now know that PS5's three biggest upcoming exclusives (Horizon: Forbidden West, God of War: Ragnarok, and Gran Turismo 7) are all coming to PS4, too. Not one or two of them. All three. In fact, we don't know about a single PlayStation first party PS5 exclusive after Ratchet &a...

Defining Duke, Episode 22: Our Xbox E3 2021 Predictions feat. Lord Cognito

Christmas in June has arrived! With E3 season in full swing, developers are set to make major announcements on all manner of games! With that, we tap the shoulder of Lord Cognito to dissect all 23 first party studios under Xbox and give our ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ to their appearance at the grand show. Who will we see? Time shall tell! In other news, Ubisoft dives into the political nature of their latest game, Far Cry 6. Meanwhile, Dying Light 2 enjoys a re-reveal and Battlefield is setting u...

Defining Duke, Episode 22: Our Xbox E3 2021 Predictions feat. Lord Cognito (Video)

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Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 18: Beware BioWare ft. Exalted March

It's not a secret that Matty is a lifelong fan of BioWare, but Exalted March may just take the crown. Hosting a BioWare podcast and completing both trilogies of Mass Effect and Dragon Age over a dozen times, we tap Exalted on the shoulder to talk about Mass Effect Legendary Edition, the future of BioWare remasters, the potential of remakes, and the strange position Dragon Age 4 finds itself in. BioWare is somewhat on the rebound, but these next couple of years are crucial to them. With that, ...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 96: Call-In With Colin (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 96: Call-In With Colin

We thought we'd try something a little different. In the spirit of decades of sports and political talk radio, we wanted to open our very own Sacred Symbols phone lines (so to speak) to talk directly with the audience. So -- for the first time ever! -- we take calls from listeners wanting to chat about the open world potential of Cloud Chamber's BioShock project, whether Kojima will or won't go with Sony for his next game, Square Enix's bold vow to change the very fundamentals of Dragon ...

KnockBack, Episode 173 | Rewriting Star Wars: Episode IX (Video)

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KnockBack, Episode 173 | Rewriting Star Wars: Episode IX

It's all been leading to this! Our audience on Patreon voted to have us rework the new Star Wars Trilogy (Episodes VII, VIII, and IX), and... well... we got a little carried away and dedicated entire episodes to our visions on a film-by-film basis. Remember! You should listen to KnockBack Episodes #159 and #164 before jumping into this one, if you haven't done so already. You may be lost, otherwise...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 152: A Storm Is Coming (Video)

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Note: This is a repost due to an ongoing Patreon bug where posts sometimes do not appear in users feeds. Hopefully this works!

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0:34:31

1:37:04

Sacred Symbols, Episode 152: A Storm Is Coming

We've known for quite some time now that Horizon: Zero's Dawn's long-awaited sequel was en route. We've even had a title (Forbidden West) and target platforms (PS4 and PS5) since it was first revealed in 2020. But now? Well, now we have 14 minutes of gameplay to talk about, along with a very, very conspicuous absence of a release date, or even year. So, let's jump back into Aloy's futuristic (yet crumbling) world and measure our excitement for and expectations of Guerrilla's new project....

Defining Duke, Episode 21: Valve Is Making The Leap To Consoles

With E3 hyping ramping up, anything is possible! Yes, that even means Valve coming to consoles. Reports are in that the company is working on their own PC handheld akin to the Nintendo Switch. What does this mean for the likes of emulation, game streaming, xCloud, and more? There's plenty to sift through. Speaking of, Karak and Matty obsess to an annoying extent over the asset announcing Xbox's E3 showcase. Backwards compatible additions? Starfield? Halo Infinite beta? So many possibilities! ...

Defining Duke, Episode 21: Valve Is Making The Leap To Consoles (Video)

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0:01:23

0:42:39

1:09:29

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 17: Breaking Down The Game Of YouTube feat. Jimmy Champane (Video)

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Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 17: Breaking Down The Game Of YouTube feat. Jimmy Champane

Jimmy Champane is a producer for Austin Evans, runs his own slasher focused YouTube channel, and is working on a successful PlayStation channel on top of all that. He’s a busy man, but knows his stuff as he has consistently helped the LSM staff with their titles and thumbnails in the past. Today, I pick Jimmy’s brain on the truth behind YouTube’s algorithm, the AI that determines your explosive success for the platform, and how far down the rabbit hole you can go with YouTube content. I...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 95: NieR Replicant Spoilercast and Review Discussion

NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139... is a bit of an odd release- a self-proclaimed "version update" to a 2010 RPG that suffered poor sales and critical reception at the time. While the original became somewhat of a cult classic despite its shortcomings, it wasn't until the highly successful 2017 sequel NieR: Automata that the franchise became a huge hit around the globe. Now with the millions of new fans of the IP, publisher Square Enix and developer Toy Logic have gone back to shine up and ad...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 95: NieR Replicant Spoilercast and Review Discussion (Video)

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If you'd like to hear our overall impression of the game without spoilers, the first 20 minutes or so of the show is spoiler-free with a clear audio warning of when spoilers begin.

KnockBack, Episode 172: Catching Up (Video)

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KnockBack, Episode 172: Catching Up

This week's episode of KnockBack is a little different. Instead of covering a topic or some memories, we thought we'd talk a bit about our little retro and nostalgia podcast itself. How has the show grown and changed? How do we think we're doing? What topics do we think we covered best? Which do we think we could have done better with? What's the future hold? This is an episode for the thousands and thousands of hardcore KnockBack listeners, without which we couldn't do this show.

Sacred Symbols, Episode 151: Agreeing to Disagree

The last week in our beloved gaming industry has been interesting, and of course we're going to delve into all the news that's fit to print (well, say) here on Sacred Symbols. Many, many people wrote in to ask us about IGN, Israel and Palestine, and the general drama surrounding all of that -- and we oblige, complete with timestamps so you can skip the politics at your leisure -- but the core of this week's episode has much more to do with PlayStation itself. Returnal isn't selling well, but ...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 151: Agreeing to Disagree (Video)

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0:35:26

1:14:14

Defining Duke, Episode 20: Let The Era Of Bethesda Exclusives Begin

This week in news that's kind of, sort of not news, we talk a ton of Starfield! Just as Head Of Xbox Phil Spencer had said, it will indeed be an Xbox and PC exclusive. This brings forward two major questions. First, what is occurring in the industry where widely known news is news? Second, what does this mean for IP such as Fallout, Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Dishonored, and more? We re-visit and discuss! Plus, new Day One Game Pass additions in the name of Dungeons & Dragons Dark Alliance, Kno...

Defining Duke, Episode 20: Let The Era Of Bethesda Exclusives Begin (Video)

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0:00:36

0:35:33

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 16: Challenging Matty (Video)

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