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Sacred Symbols, Episode 131: Our Most Anticipated Games of 2021

Thank the maker: 2020 is behind us! Now, 2021 sprawls before us with 12 promising months of gaming goodness on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR, and even Vita! (Okay, probably not the Vita.) To celebrate the exciting and unknown, we thought we'd do a special show dedicated entirely to the 2021 catalog of games coming to PlayStation that we simply can't wait to get our hands on. We present to you 13 of our own selections, and you -- our beautiful audience -- gave us plenty of your ...

KnockBack, Episode 151: Clerks

Every one of us have had a "we're not even supposed to be here today" moment, whether at work, school, or just about anywhere else. For Dante Hicks, though -- a young, 20-something worker at a local convenience store -- being where he wasn't supposed to be ends up netting him one of the most memorable (and also unfortunate) days he could possibly remember. Clerks is Kevin Smith's very first film, and it's an absolute doozy, showing us Jay and Silent Bob for the first time, giving us a glimpse...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode LXXIV: Final Fantasy VII Remake Spoilercast and Review Discussion

You've been so patient! But now it's time. As you may recall, Final Fantasy VII Remake came to PlayStation 4 this past April, and we never got around to doing what is no doubt an essential spoilercast and review discussion, since life intervenes, as it sometimes does. Yet, we promised we'd get you one before 2020 turned into 2021, and, well... here we are! Square Enix's reimagined journey of Cloud, Tifa, Barret, and company, is nothing short of astounding. Any doubters were wrong: This game i...

KnockBack Topic General Election: December, 2020

Hey All!

It's that time once again. Between now and December 31st at 11:59p ET, you'll be able to vote on a topic Dagan and I will add to the list while we recording a future wave of KnockBack.

The five choices below are the five highest-voted suggestions from the Topic Primary Election earlier this month. The names in parenthesis are the five Patrons who came up with the topics.

You can only vote for one topic, so choose carefully!

Enjoy! -Colin

Sacred Symbols, Episode 130: Our Favorite PlayStation Moments of 2020

For every last one of us, 2020 was an absolutely insane year. And, yes: We're all very, very worn down by it all and happy to wave it goodbye. But this unusual 365 day period also gave us a lot to be pleased with, particularly when it comes to the PlayStation brand we all know and love, a brand that we may owe an extra tip-of-the-cap to in an era dominated by a need for distraction. PS5 was properly revealed and released this year, and lots of awesome games, too, including PlayStation 4's won...

KnockBack, Episode 150: A Milestone Celebration

Our retro and nostalgia podcast KnockBack is a bit of an enigma. On one hand, it's a relatively straight-forward, passion-driven project -- heavily directed by our wonderful audience -- but there's a catch: The nature of our show means it's hard to go back and talk about already-trodden topics again. Since we've reached this 150 episode milestone, however, we figured we'd try to change that, if not just for a brief flicker of time. That's because this episode gives you -- that aforementioned ...

Happy Holidays! + The Future is Bright!

Hey.

I wanted to take a moment to drop a quick line, not only to wish you and yours a solid holiday season, but to thank you for making 2020 Colin’s Last Stand’s most successful year, by a mile. It’s truly humbling to have so much support from so many different types of people from all corners of the world, and we couldn’t do any of this without you. I know I say that a lot, but it bears constant repeating: We really did build this together, this amazing and unusual community, ...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode LXXIII: A Conversation With Colin

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Sacred Symbols+ is how we get to experiment with some different permutations when it comes to host combinations. Usually it's Colin and Chris. Sometimes it's Dustin and Colin or Colin, Chris, and Dustin. Hell, it's even Matty and Dustin! But this week, we (well, I, Colin) thought we'd (I'd) bring it back down to basics, sit in front of the mic on my own, and talk to y'all a little bit. I field your inquiries on all sorts of topics: Cyberpunk 2077, PlayStat...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 129: Cardinal Misdirection

Cyberpunk 2077 isn't what it was promised to be. At least, that's the experience of countless gamers the world-over, as they grasp with playing CD Projekt's long-awaited RPG on, say, a PlayStation 4. The resulting fallout has engulfed our industry, and rightfully so, because what happened here was bound to occur eventually. In a fandom dominated by loud, boisterous voices excited for every last product and willing to devour anything the powers-that-be give them, we do here on this show what w...

KnockBack, Episode 149: The Nightmare Before Christmas

When you really sit and think about it, it's kind of interesting that a ghoulish holiday like Halloween and a celebratory and feel-good holiday like Christmas kinda butt-up against each other, with nary a couple of months separating them. It's here that Tim Burton's and Disney's 1993 stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas begins, introducing us to Jack Skellington and his crew of mischievous misfits that help Halloween's horror operate effectively. But what happens when their leader ...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode LXXII: Awarding Greatness

Due to its inherent interactivity, gaming has a leg-up on virtually any other form of entertainment. So why is our industry so obsessed with replicating other mediums when it comes to something like award shows? Geoff Keighley does an admirable job with The Game Awards each year -- not to mention the hard work contributing to annual galas like The DICE Awards -- but are we too obsessed with proving ourselves to the wider world, and not focused enough on celebrating our favorite hobby in uniqu...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 128: An Old Friend

Geoff Keighley's Game Awards went off without a hitch, and -- as usual -- the show came along with a boatload of announcements, release date reveals, and other such newsworthy items. But buried within the event is an interesting truth: Sony only showed up with one game, from the second party, which we already knew about. In doing so, it lined-up PlayStation 5's next exclusive of consequence, giving it a date. Housemarque's Returnal will be expected to carry the load until the likes of Ratchet...

KnockBack, Episode 148: Home Alone

It's easy to make fun of child actors and children's performances in film and TV -- we do it all the time on this show -- but what makes 1990's classic film Home Alone so interesting is that its lead is a compelling kid protagonist. We all know who Macaulay Culkin is because of this movie, and rightfully so: He does a great job as Kevin McAllister, the mischievous child who's... well... left home alone when his family goes on a strangely-opulent European Christmas vacation. What results is on...

Side Quest, Episode 93: PlayStation 5's Incredible 2021

Side Quest, Episode 92: Is Sony Making A Game Pass Clone?

Side Quest, Episode 91: PS5 Could Be Sold Out For A While

Sacred Symbols+, Episode LXXI: Demon's Souls Remake Spoilercast and Review Discussion

When Demon's Souls silently snuck onto PlayStation 3 in 2009, it garnered critical acclaim both within and outside of Japan, but when it comes to the wider gaming consciousness, it was a slow burn. In fact, Sony thought so relatively little of Demon's Souls that it opted to pass on publishing it in the west at all, a task that was left to Atlus and Bandai Namco in other parts of the world. This has since been widely seen as an infamous business decision that likely cost the PlayStation brand ...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 127: Bye-oWare

We were about to wrap-up recording this week's show when some unexpected news broke: Long-time BioWare creative leads Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah have both left the EA-owned dev, and one can't help but wonder if they were pushed out the door. After all, modern BioWare is a far cry from the glory days of yore. We make sure to discuss these notable exits, though they come as a sort of ironic twist, since we had already planned to talk about some high-profile departures from Bend Studio and Jap...

KnockBack, Episode 147: Shadow of the Colossus

There are really only a small handful of titles that are regularly bandied about as potential Best Game of All-Time, and 2005's Shadow of the Colossus is one of them. Created by Team ICO -- an internal group working out of Sony-owned Japan Studio -- Shadow of the Colossus is a truly breathtaking, gorgeous, clever, and admittedly contentious offering, one that has since migrated to PlayStation 3 (in 2011) and in completely remade form on PlayStation 4 (in 2018). Wander's mysterious, sullen, an...

Habroxia 2 PS4/Vita Physical Pre-Order Begins NOW!

Hey!

I hope you're all well.

Just a quick note, in case you missed the announcement of my/our new game Habroxia 2 the other day. Like with Twin Breaker, we're doing a physical release on PS4 and Vita, and you can pre-order your copy right now.

Simply click here.

Unlike the Twin Breaker...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode LXX: Miles Morales Spoilercast and Review Discussion

With the PlayStation 5 launch game Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sony and Insomniac have stumbled upon a good sort of problem. That is to say, they now have two protagonists -- a pair of Spider-Men, if you will -- that fans love. You've got Peter Parker from 2018's smash-hit PS4 Spider-Man (the console's best-selling exclusive), and now, you've got Miles Morales, who many argue (perhaps even on this very podcast) is the superior savior of New York City. One way or another, though, PS5's (and, ye...

Introducing Habroxia 2, A Non-Linear Twin-Stick Shooter

Sabrina is a talented starpilot trained by her system-famous dad. But when her father is sent out on an important expedition and doesn't return home, Sabrina scurries to her ship and endeavors to look for him herself.

Habroxia 2 is a twin-stick arcade shooter with non-linear stages and progression, tons of bosses, secrets, collectibles, upgrades and leveling, New Game+, and much more. It launches on February 3rd, 2021 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and P...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 126: Arbitrage

There are a lot of understandably frustrated PlayStation fans out there right now. After all, PS5s are truly and persistently hard to come by, a situation unassisted by COVID, component shortages, a wobbly economy, and other macroeconomic factors. But -- much like the market for virtually any desirable object -- a vacuum has been created, facilitated by bot-assisted scalpers serving monied and desperate clienteles alike. Let's chat about this unfortunate situation with an open mind, and consi...

KnockBack, Episode 146: 100 Items of 'Grateful' Nostalgia

Did you know KnockBack is a podcast about all things retro and nostalgia? It's true! Nearly 150 weeks into the project, we assume that's fairly well-established. But since this particular episode goes live on American Thanksgiving (for our Patrons, that is), we figured we'd do something just a little bit different. See, there are these things from our past that helped to establish who we are today: Sunday dinners. A specific artist's work. The perfect video game. Taken all together as a singl...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode LXIX: PlayStation 5 vs. Xbox Series X

Sacred Symbols is a PlayStation podcast, so naturally we focus first and foremost on that brand and that ecosystem. But many of you out there know that we like to use + to sometimes explore what else is going on out there in the gaming world, particularly when it's germane to we Sony fans. And... well... Xbox Series X (and S!) are very much relevant to PlayStation. Today's episode is co-hosted by two people you know well, two folks who have both consoles and can talk about them both with cand...

Side Quest, Episode 90: Has PS5 Lived Up to the Hype?

You tell us.

Sacred Symbols, Episode 125: Oh, Crap(com)

Capcom has been the victim of a massive external hack, and the group responsible is apparently holding the company for digital ransom. Yet, the beloved Japanese publisher and developer has reportedly refused to yield, and as such, a treasure trove of ill-begotten information has been dumped on the 'net, most of it irrelevant to our show. But amongst the details are a few trinkets we simply cannot ignore, including what appears to be the business' entire AAA release schedule through 2024. Let'...

KnockBack, Episode 145: Princess Mononoke

We happen to love Studio Ghibli here on KnockBack, and we know that many of you do, too. However, Hayao Miyazaki's 1997 animated picture Princess Mononoke may be the most beloved movie in his team's extensive, decades-long filmography. The setup is simple: Ancient and solidified nature is in existential crisis thanks to humanity's industrial progress, and with both 'sides' dug in, it looks like only one can emerge. Or is there another way? Let's follow the journey of the cursed Prince Ashitak...

Side Quest, Episode 89: Preparing For PS5

Hey! This went up last week, but I forgot to share it here. =\

Sacred Symbols+, Episode LXVIII: Shiny New Toy

It goes without saying that PS5 is all the rage right now in the PlayStation ecosystem, and with good reason: Its physical aesthetic is controversial, but its powerful capabilities and opening salvo of games certainly isn't. Now that more and more of you -- our lovely audience -- have access to the console, we thought it would be fun to field your thoughts about the machine. From the DualSense controller to the lightning-fast SSD to the launch library and beyond, let's chat about our opening ...