Side Quest, Episode 82: Is PS+ Collection Enough To Compete Against Game Pass?
See-saw.
2020-09-24 16:11:12 +0000 UTC View Post
LastStandMedia posts
KnockBack, Episode 137: Our Childhood Inspirations
When you're a child (or even a teenager), your mind is malleable, like a piece of clay. This is where the nature versus nurture argument often comes into play, because it's really those around us, those who help mold and form us, that make us who we are. Once we're jettisoned into the world as an adult, it's those formidable encounters, relationships, and even instances of hero worship that truly stand the test of time. As such, we want to take the time today to talk about the people who insp...
2020-09-24 16:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostPSA: Twin Breaker Is Now Available on Switch, Xbox One, and PC!
Hey!
I hope you're all doing great.
I just wanted to let you know that, as of today, Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure -- the game I wrote, developed by mine and Barry Johnson's studio Lillymo -- is now available outside of the PlayStation ecosystem.
In short: You can purchase the game digitally on Switch, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam, et al). It's been available since March on PS4 and Vita.
We're proud of our little game, and we hope you love it.
Now,...
Sacred Symbols+, Episode LX: Bethesda's Big Bomb
Let's come out swinging: Microsoft's purchase of ZeniMax (and therefore Xbox's acquisition of Bethesda, and all that entails) is the single biggest deal in the history of the video game industry. At a price of $7.5 billion -- $3.5 billion more than Disney paid for Star Wars, and a staggering $7.27 billion more than Sony paid for Insomniac -- it's exceedingly rare to see that kind of money being thrown around. But above and beyond the monetary cost, the addition of eight new teams to Xbox's fi...
2020-09-21 19:51:06 +0000 UTC View PostKnockBack, Episode 136: Into the Spider-Verse
There's something special about Spider-Man. Is it his New York roots? Possibly. His intelligence and diligence? Maybe. His sense of family, community, and justice? Certainly. But in the realm of comics, Spider-Man happens to be different characters at different times, something the Academy Award-winning 2018 animated film Into the Spider-Verse so successfully celebrates. By melding Peter Parker(s), Miles Morales, and even more obscure spin-offs like Spider-Ham, Into the Spider-Verse travels d...
2020-09-19 18:17:47 +0000 UTC View PostSide Quest, Episode 81: PlayStation Killed It At The PS5 Showcase
Answers, long-awaited.
2020-09-19 15:33:27 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols, Episode 116: This Means War
We've waited so long for concrete details concerning PlayStation 5's release date and price that it all feels a bit like a fever dream. But the spell has broken: The results, as Maury would say, are in. PlayStation 5 has a price and a release date; it all fits exactly where it should. But there are some complications, to be sure. For instance, did you know Miles Morales is also a PS4 game? Thanks to an afterthought paragraph in a PlayStation Blog post -- or this podcast! -- now you do! But th...
2020-09-17 05:28:35 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols+, Episode LIX: Challenging Chris
In what has apparently become a great tradition here on +, this week's episode of the show is dedicated to you (the audience) confronting one of us (the cast) on our various opinions, viewpoints, and declarations from two years (and more!) of Sacred Symbols. In February, we did our first round of similar episodes, and just last week we conducted Challenging Colin II. This time around, we thought we'd...
2020-09-15 16:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols, Episode 115: Uprising
For months, we've been noting the shocking level of silence emanating out of both Sony and Microsoft. Eventually, something had to give, and it has: Xbox Series X has a release date, a price, a launch library, and even a cheaper companion, the long-rumored Xbox Series S. These two machines are interesting in that they're truly different from one another. They play the same games, but they don't have nearly the same power, and it's an approach that allows Microsoft to attack Sony from below. S...
2020-09-11 16:01:02 +0000 UTC View PostKnockBack, Episode 135: Red Dawn
By the time the '80s rolled around, the Cold War was just about over. The Soviet Union was slowly-but-surely crumbling, and the threat posed by Mutually Assured Destruction was waning by the year. That's what makes movies like 1984's American action classic Red Dawn so interesting. In its alternate history tale, the USSR expands its sphere of power through Central and South America, while NATO dissolves, the US becomes isolated, and its only allies are a downtrodden England and a nearly-annih...
2020-09-10 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostSide Quest, Episode 80: Microsoft Just Upped the Competition With Xbox Series S
Forced hand.
2020-09-09 19:57:34 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols+, Episode LVIII: Challenging Colin II
Earlier this year, we recorded a pair of unusual episodes of Sacred Symbols+: We're Wrong?! and Challenging Colin. Both episodes were dedicated to identical topics -- telling us how and why you disagree with something we've said on our show -- and they were exceptionally popular with our audience. It's too b...
2020-09-08 16:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols, Episode 114: Don't Go Back
We're something like two months and change removed from PlayStation 5's presumed release window, but if you were expecting Sony itself to say anything about it, keep on hoping and dreaming. One of the upcoming console's deepest mysteries remains just how far in PlayStation history its backwards compatibility will allow us to delve; yet if a seemingly-innocuous FAQ from Ubisoft is any indication, you shouldn't expect to put your PSone, PS2, and PS3 discs into the machine. Does it really matter...
2020-09-04 16:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostKnockBack, Episode 134 | Breaking Bad (Season 5 + El Camino)
It's time to wrap up our three-episode run of Breaking Bad analysis with a deep dive into the beloved series' final season, as well as its surprise epilogue movie that came some six years later. The culmination of Walt's journey dominates Season 5, yet in El Camino, we finally get to see what happened with Jesse, too. There's much to discuss here: Madrigal, Todd, the Aryan Brotherhood, the fate of Hank and Gomez, and much, much more. But at the heart of it all lies Walt and Jesse, on a bullet...
2020-09-03 17:46:34 +0000 UTC View PostSide Quest, Episode 79: PlayStation 2 is a Collector's Paradise
In the words of Optimus Prime, "I got it on eBay."
2020-09-02 18:02:50 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols+, Episode LVII: The World of Balance
In our modern world of re-releases and remasters, it's easy to get carried away. Yet, with the success of the first part of Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII Remake, we're left wondering whether just about any game could be reimagined. Even, say, arguably the most-beloved Final Fantasy of them all: VI. How do publishers and developers strike a balance between the old and the new? And are some games simply too... sacred... to touch? On this week's mailbag-centric episode of +, we consider this q...
2020-09-01 16:01:05 +0000 UTC View PostTwin Breaker: Coming to Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC
Hey All.
I hope you're well!
I'm pleased to inform you that Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure -- the story-driven brick breaker that I wrote and helped produce alongside Barry Johnson and Lillymo Games -- is coming to Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC on Wednesday, September 23rd!
Twin Breaker surpassed 10,000 copies sold on PS4 and Vita because of all of you, and we're so excited to be able to reach a whole new set of audiences with our game. Our friends at eastas...
Sacred Symbols, Episode 113: Sunset Suicide
It was just weeks ago that we were chatting about persistent rumors concerning WB Interactive, and the potential sale of its studios, projects, and licenses to outside interests. But suddenly, we're talking about the publisher in a different light, because not one -- but two! -- of its games have been revealed, in all their DC glory. Suicide Squad looks a bit like Sunset Overdrive, while Gotham Knights reminds us of the Arkham games of yore. With both, there's much to discuss. Plus: Sony has ...
2020-08-28 16:17:53 +0000 UTC View PostKnockBack, Episode 133: Dreams and Nightmares
The ethereal world of dreams has long fascinated humans (and our human-like ancestors) going back many millennia. In fact, when you really think about it, we kinda collectively take dreams for granted, as scholars and academics try to get to the bottom of why we (and seemingly all mammals, at the very least) dream while asleep. This episode of KnockBack isn't about the science, though. Instead, it's about experience. As kids, we all had dreams and nightmares that left indelible prints on us, ...
2020-08-27 18:29:22 +0000 UTC View PostSide Quest, Episode 78: Sony Should Revive These Five Dormant PlayStation Franchises
You know you want to.
2020-08-26 20:10:49 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols+, Episode LVI: Ghost of Tsushima Spoilercast and Review Discussion
We're entering PlayStation 4's twilight, and it's been a pretty amazing run. The console has far surpassed 100 million units sold on the back of an exceptional lineup of exclusives, and the sequence of first party hits has been officially capped off with Sucker Punch's samurai epic Ghost of Tsushima. Unlike its Sly Cooper or Infamous trilogies, the team at SP edged toward the realistic, grounded, and historical with the console's swan song. The result isn't only PS4's final first party game o...
2020-08-26 03:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols, Episode 112: Tantos For Two
You didn't expect it. You may not even want it. But you're going to get it: A free, multiplayer-centric update to Ghost of Tsushima called Legends is coming this fall, an update that allows you to play the game with up to four players, with missions, endless waves of enemies, and even raids. Does such an addition to Sucker Punch's most recent game make any sense? Or should we be skeptical? We discuss. Plus: Call of Duty is Cold War-bound, PS5's Deathloop has been delayed while Demon's Souls R...
2020-08-21 16:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostKnockBack, Episode 132 #133 | Breaking Bad (Seasons 3 + 4)
While Episode 130 of KnockBack was dedicated to the first two seasons of AMC's crime drama Breaking Bad, this episode of our podcast is in ode to the show's third and fourth seasons, when things really start to get hairy. In these seasons, we have The Cousins. A ratcheting up of the danger surrounding working with Gus and the Mexican cartels. The car wash. Tons of contextual flashbacks. A whole lot of Saul Goodman. Ted and the IRS (and his "Act of God"). Jesse's relapse. The return of Badger ...
2020-08-20 16:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostSide Quest, Episode 77: Ghost of Tsushima's Legends Update Is A Pretty Big Deal
Hack-and-slash with friends.
2020-08-19 17:32:02 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols+, Episode LV: Is PlayStation 2 Overrated?
As we delve back into the endless mailbag this week, we're confronted with a question that's bound to roil PlayStation's most hardcore audience: Is PlayStation 2 overrated? Our answers may surprise you! Plus: Just how promising is Twitch's future? Why did EA and BioWare opt to abandon Mass Effect: Andromeda while trying to resuscitate Anthem at the same time? Should a PSVR-interested listener just wait for PSVR2 at this point? Does online gaming bring out the worst in people? Should we rethin...
2020-08-18 16:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols, Episode 111: Corporate Imperialism
You may not have heard of The Embracer Group... but they've heard of you. Okay, maybe it's not that serious, but Embracer -- the holding company that owns THQ Nordic, Deep Silver, Koch Media, and others -- has been steadily acquiring dev talent for years. And now? Well, now they have a first party family of studios bigger than PlayStation's and Xbox's combined. It's not all AAA talent, of course, but such empire-building suggests that the future of publishing is in owning the entities that ma...
2020-08-14 16:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostKnockBack, Episode 131: Inception
When Christopher Nolan's Inception came to theaters a decade ago, it impressed moviegoers with a bizarre sci-fi story that -- in true Nolan fashion -- felt grounded and believable. In fact, it's one of the best-received films of 2010, an Academy Award-winning mind-melter all about entering people's dreams in order to acquire restricted, secretive, and sensitive information. But what if you could plant entire ideas in people's heads, too, setting in motion an unstoppable butterfly effect? As v...
2020-08-13 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostSide Quest, Episode 76: What Games Should Sony Bring to PC Next?
Open the gates.
2020-08-12 18:09:03 +0000 UTC View PostSacred Symbols+, Episode LIV: Half the Battle
In recent months, prolific toy manufacturer Hasbro has been steadily rolling out a reboot to Colin's beloved G.I. Joe line, and along with some new action figures and vehicles comes a new video game, too, one whose existence recently leaked thanks to an online retailer. We don't know much about it yet, but what we do know doesn't instill confidence, especially in the shadow of its recent, largely underwhelming Transformers-related efforts. So during this week's mailbag-centric episode of +, l...
2020-08-11 16:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostKnockBack, Episode 130 | Breaking Bad (Seasons 1 + 2)
Breaking Bad is widely considered one of the greatest television dramas of the 21st century (and possibly ever). Released in the same era as Mad Men and The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad didn't only help put AMC back on the map as a respected TV channel, but gave us insight into an increasingly sinister world with a simple premise: A high school chemistry teacher and his burnout ex-student teaming up to cook meth. The story that unfolds is dramatic, sad, tragic, and ultimately irresistible to wa...
2020-08-08 16:58:04 +0000 UTC View Post