Next month, the long-in-development Avengers game comes to PlayStation 4 (it'll come to PS5 when the console launches, too), and there's a special sort of catch for Sony gamers: When Spider-Man arrives in Crystal Dynamics' long-awaited multiplayer adventure in 2021, he'll only be available within the ecosystem. That is to say, Xbox and PC players won't have access to arguably the biggest character in the entire experience. Is such a move a vestige of generations past? Or are the Big Three abo...
2020-08-07 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Complacency?
2020-08-05 18:25:21 +0000 UTC
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Meet Richard (or Rick!) Hoeg. Mr. Hoeg is a Michigan-based lawyer who has made quite the name for himself in recent years in some hardcore portions of the gaming industry. Why? Because he gives rock-solid legal analysis pertinent to our beloved medium, talking about everything from developer acquisitions and IP ownership to the ramifications of lootboxes and issues of free speech. His YouTube show Virtual Legality goes over all of this stuff in great detail, but for this week's episode of +, ...
2020-08-04 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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We may not have any idea when PlayStation 5 is coming out, what it'll cost, or even if many of us will be able to get our hands on one at launch. But what we do know -- thanks to a recent consumer survey conducted in the UK -- is that Sony's upcoming console is far, far more eagerly-anticipated than Microsoft's Xbox Series X. Does this spell good (or even great) news for PS5, or are any celebrations out of Tokyo premature? Let's sift through the details and figure it out. Then: Ghost of Tsush...
2020-07-31 16:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Whether in television, movies, books, or games, it's always hard to follow-up a smash-hit with a worthy sequel. But publisher 2K endeavored to do just that when it launched BioShock 2 in 2010, doing so -- mind you -- without the series' creative visionary Ken Levine, whose team was off working on what would become 2013's BioShock Infinite. The result was divisive at the time, though most people liked returning to Rapture and getting more of that wonderfully-realized world. But over time, it a...
2020-07-31 15:59:14 +0000 UTC
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Getting ducks in a row.
2020-07-29 16:38:04 +0000 UTC
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Last week, Microsoft unleashed an hour-long showcase revealing (or otherwise elaborating on) a bunch of its upcoming games: First, second, and third party alike. Some of these games are coming to PlayStation, yes, but most of these titles will be temporarily or permanently tethered to Xbox One and Xbox Series X. So, as we like to do on + every now and again, we thought we'd check in on the competition, see what they're doing right and wrong, and gauge our excitement (or lack thereof) for what...
2020-07-28 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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We already know PlayStation 5 was primed to provide a technological quantum leap to AAA projects, but what it'll be capable of in its first round of games is fairly surprising. Sony-owned Insomniac has revealed that its launch game -- the kinetic Spider-Man: Miles Morales -- can run at 60 frames-per-second in 4K resolution, which is virtually unheard of on current-gen consoles. But nothing is free, so at what technical cost are such results achieved? Let's chat about it. Plus: Ubisoft escalat...
2020-07-24 16:00:19 +0000 UTC
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For nearly five decades, Rodney Dangerfield was an American comedy legend. But it was in the 1980s that he rose to mainstream prominence not through his stand-up act as popularized on late-night TV in the '60s and '70s, but because of films like Caddyshack and Easy Money. Come 1986, however, Dangerfield would star in perhaps his strangest movie yet, a zany romp all about a wealthy businessman heading to college just so he can hang out with his son: Back to School. Like many '80s comedies, Bac...
2020-07-23 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Matty goes to 13th century Japan. That can change a man.
2020-07-22 16:25:27 +0000 UTC
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When did side quests become such an integral part of game design? Back in the day, side quests were truly that -- often scarce, usually unnecessary, and mostly additive -- but today, they are often central to an experience. Just what's the definition of "side quest" anyway?! On today's mailbag-centric episode of +, we discuss the philosophies behind side-questing, and whether we've become to focus too much on the optional. Plus: What are your gaming traditions? Do you adjust your living room'...
2020-07-21 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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It was a really big week for Ubisoft. They revealed (the admittedly leaked) Far Cry 6, stamped a couple of release dates on Watch Dogs: Legion and Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and gave us some more details on the upcoming battle royale Hyper Scape, too. But the company has also been persistently dogged by accusations of sexual impropriety and other illicit activities at its highest levels of management, and the purge of its ranks continues unabated. With the ignominious fall of both its Chief C...
2020-07-17 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Robert Eggers' 2015 debut film The Witch isn't exactly old, but its subject matter certainly is. Taking place in the early 1630s in New England -- a full 60 years before the Salem Witch Trials -- The Witch tells the story of a banished family of devout Puritans who go into the Massachusetts woods to live alone. And... well... you may be able to guess what happens next. Written entirely in period English and lit only by natural light and candles, The Witch may be one of the most thoroughly col...
2020-07-16 16:40:19 +0000 UTC
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An orderly exit.
2020-07-15 19:42:40 +0000 UTC
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As you know, we didn't feel like our two hour-long spoilercast and review discussion for The Last of Us: Part II from a couple of weeks ago gave us enough time to explore the game to our satisfaction. So we sat down to record another nearly two hours of content all about it, driven -- as always -- by your inquiries. On this episode, we delve into the character of Abby, how we feel about her, and if we should feel sympathy for her. We also discuss the iconic museum scene, the strange inclusion...
2020-07-14 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Until Fortnite, the primary fuel that made Epic Games run was Unreal Engine, its ubiquitous and flexible framework on which hundreds of notable, successful, and popular titles have run for more than two decades. But these days, Epic's many initiatives have the North Carolina-based company accelerating at light speed, and now, Sony owns a sliver of 'em. We discuss what this modest acquisition means, and why owning just a little bit of Epic can go a very long way. Then: A tension is growing in ...
2020-07-10 16:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Ignorance is bliss, or so the saying goes. But when we're kids, ignorance is also a way of life. In our tiny worlds, everything was magnified or understated: The glorious ups, our mundane everyday lives, and especially the seemingly-tragic downs. Little did we know then what we would learn later: That a lot of what we cared so deeply about didn't matter very much, that the stuff we should have paid more attention to we barely worried about, and that many of the people we looked to for guidanc...
2020-07-09 16:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Final Fantasy Tactics fans have been more than patient. It's been a staggering 22 years since FFT launched in the west, and in the time since, it's been pretty quiet. Yes, we got a couple of handheld iterations -- and they were fun -- but they weren't Final Fantasy Tactics per se. So what's stopping Square Enix from revisiting what is unarguably its greatest untapped resource? Let's try and make sense of it all in this Colin-solo, mailbag-centric episode of +. Of course, there are other topic...
2020-07-07 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Now that we've gotten a limited look at next-gen, a few major unknowns remain. Perhaps the biggest mystery -- apart from the cost of PlayStation 5 itself -- is how expensive AAA software running on the new hardware will be. Thanks to 2K, we may have an answer, marking the first price hike in well over a decade. Such a move may cause sticker shock at first, but rest assured: Gaming is still cheaper than ever. We explain. Plus: TLoU2 sells big, Sony is on the hunt for its next studio acquisitio...
2020-07-03 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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We recently lost American filmmaker Joel Schumacher to cancer at the age of 80. With a diverse filmography dating back to the '70s and running through to just a few years ago, it's hard to put Schumacher in a box, but it seems a lot of people wanted to memorialize him by focusing on his two maligned Batman movies instead of the great work he did. To pay him tribute, we decided to go back to his 1985 Brat Pack film St. Elmo's Fire, which he wrote and directed, and which still holds a place wit...
2020-07-02 17:54:40 +0000 UTC
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The Last of Us: Part II isn't only one of the PlayStation 4's swan songs; it's also likely going to go down as its best-selling exclusive, when all is said and done. And there's good reason for that. Naughty Dog's 25-30 hour epic is a master class in production, animation, design, and gameplay, and -- though its story is the epitome of divisive -- it's a game that absolutely demands our attention. In fact, it's grabbed so much of our attention that we've decided to do a two-part spoilercast a...
2020-07-01 03:14:19 +0000 UTC
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Hey All,
I hope you're all doing well, that you're enjoying your summer (if you're in the northern hemisphere!), that you and your families and friends are staying safe, and you're having a good time here on Colin's Last Stand's Patreon.
There are some things (four, in particular) I wanted to run by you guys and gals, just so you knew what was going on in a few notable CLS-related arenas. I figured a post that covers everything would be best, so I don't flood your feeds and anno...
2020-06-29 17:41:31 +0000 UTC
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As you probably know, Chris has a very specific arcane power: He can seemingly wish games of his choosing into existence. So when Crash Bandicoot 4 was revealed, it appeared that the planets aligned for Ray Gun (it's one of his favorite series, after all), and so we have much to talk about with that topic alone. But there are other important pieces of news to get to, too, including a deep dive into the recent allegations of sexual impropriety that have engulfed the industry as of late. Plus: ...
2020-06-26 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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When Mass Effect launched on Xbox 360 in 2007, it promised to be not only one of the most ambitious RPGs of all time, but the entry point to one of the most ambitious gaming trilogies ever. Designed as three games from the get-go, the original Mass Effect propelled Commander Shepard and his team into the galactic intrigue that would engulf the games-long story, but it also ended up doing something even crazier: Allowing subsequent iterations to read your previous games' saves, essentially cra...
2020-06-25 17:16:51 +0000 UTC
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Anticipation.
2020-06-24 18:58:58 +0000 UTC
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A not insignificant portion of hardcore PlayStation fans long for the return of the Jak and Daxter series. Yet, the franchise has remained dormant for more than a decade, and Naughty Dog itself hasn't released a Jak game in 15 years. It's ancient history... but should it be? In this week's mailbag-centric episode of +, we consider Jak and Daxter's return, and whether there's a viable path back to relevance for the IP. We also delve into the importance of game engine selection, explain why Tak...
2020-06-23 16:01:05 +0000 UTC
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Publisher Electronic Arts gets a lot of grief -- much of it earned -- but it also announces something truly exciting and different on occasion. Star Wars Squadrons is one such game, a dogfighter in the same spiritual vein as beloved Star Wars-related franchises of the past like Rogue Squadron and X-Wing (vs. TIE Fighter). It sounds pretty awesome, and we go deep into why we think so. Plus: We talk about all of the rest of the news EA announced (including the unexpected reveal of Skate 4), we ...
2020-06-19 16:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Writer and director Quentin Tarantino has long been a divisive and controversial filmmaker, primarily because of his seeming, unapologetic glorification of gore. But something deeper typically rests beneath his portrayal of human brutality. This is perhaps most true in his 2012 picture Django Unchained, a movie that takes place in the Southern United States on the brink of the Civil War. And while it's not a piece of history per se, it dedicates a lot of time delving into much of what made th...
2020-06-18 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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In America as of late, racial tensions have been running high, and while there's plenty of room for the political and social discourse surrounding recent events, it makes a lot of sense to explore the question of race from other perspectives, too. So, since this is a video game podcast, why not discuss these issues in relation to our fandom? To do so, I (Colin) invited YouTuber Mama Micah onto the show. Micah is a black woman in her mid-20s, and she actually reached out to me to chat about so...
2020-06-16 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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It's hard to believe, but the time has finally come, for Sony hasn't only shown PlayStation 5 games galore, but PlayStation 5 itself. That's right: The box. Now that we know what the console actually looks like, it's time to discuss its aesthetic. But more importantly, it's time to discuss the titles that will run on the machine. From first party to second party to third party, Sony brought out some of big guns, and there's much to chat about. A new Horizon? A new Gran Turismo? A new Ratchet ...
2020-06-12 05:52:17 +0000 UTC
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