Hello, and good day to you! It’s me, Colin.
Today, I’m excited to reveal that Last Stand is undertaking a new initiative. We’re calling it Sacred Streaming, a different way for us to chat, play games, relate, and have fun. Our very first stream is live on YouTube at the time this letter publishes on Patreon, and we hope you’ll come join us.
In Classic Colin fashion, what we’re doing — and why — requires quite a lot of explanation, but to provide you with a TL...
2025-07-14 16:02:10 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-13 16:01:12 +0000 UTC
View Post
It's true: Death Stranding is a nearly six-year-old game, and its PS5 port -- the Director's Cut -- came out back in 2021. So no, this isn't exactly a timely posting. Or is it? After all, Death Stranding 2 launched on PlayStation 5 in recent weeks, and with it, many people are looking backwards towards where it all began, including me (Colin). Indeed, I've spent an ungodly amount of time with it en route to a Platinum Trophy. So I figured, why not get some content out of it? To talk about the...
2025-07-13 16:00:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-12 16:01:11 +0000 UTC
View Post
It turns out the world never stops spinning, even when monumental news -- like Helldivers 2 going to Xbox Series X|S in August -- breaks upon the masses. Sacred Symbols and Sacred Symbols+ have focused a lot on Xbox's volley of PlayStation games, and well, the shoe's now on the other foot. There's no doubt this Helldivers 2 port opens up a litany of possibilities about the interplay between two historic rivals, and to discuss the developing situation, I (Colin) invited the Dukes to Sacred+. S...
2025-07-12 16:00:19 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-11 16:01:22 +0000 UTC
View Post
If you're tired of The Last of Us, well, it's really too bad. That's because Naughty Dog has updated The Last of Us: Part II yet again, this time with a so-called Chronological Mode that orders the game's chapters and subchapters sequentially. It's easy to mock this many updates, of course, but in reality, is Sony going above-and-beyond in keeping some of its older games alive? Shouldn't we applaud the years-long dedication to not only The Last of Us, but to God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, Day...
2025-07-11 16:00:31 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-10 16:01:21 +0000 UTC
View Post
A conversation involving such dramatic shifts in the brand requires as much nuance as we can gather! Summoned to the realm of the Dukes are none other than Last Stand Media's own Gene Park and Rick Hoeg to help us sift through the fallout of last week's Xbox layoffs. Any single one of these stories could be our lead for the week, but let's get it started with Microsoft's $80 billion investment in their AI infrastructure. Sadly, it has been reported that this is the root cause of the layoffs. ...
2025-07-10 16:00:19 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-09 16:01:16 +0000 UTC
View Post
This week the Punching Up crew discuss the Nintendo 64 leaks for Switch Online, Final Fantasy XI Remake rumors, Switch 2 port potential and more!
Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:08:06 - BBQ/Grilling Talk
0:19:58 - Leaked N64 Games for NSO?
0:27:54 - Rumored Final Fantasy IX Remake Might be in Trouble
0:42:32 - Nintendo is considering shorter development periods
0:54:51 - What we’re playing
1:12:30 - Series S games should easily port to Switch 2
...
2025-07-09 16:00:17 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-08 16:01:14 +0000 UTC
View Post
This week Brad is joined by Dustin and special guest Alex (Boomstick Gaming) and discuss Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2, Death Stranding 2, Kingdom Hearts II, and more!
Check out Alex's channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BoomstickGaming
0:00:00 - Intro
0:11:40 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
0:27:17 - Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (mild gameplay spoilers, no story...
2025-07-08 16:00:17 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-07 16:01:38 +0000 UTC
View Post
Behold another episode of Constellation! This week, Colin welcomes Lockmort, Brad, and Hoeg to the show for a rousing conversation about a trio of topics. For instance: What would life have been like if we were born somewhere else? What could have we achieved, or how far could we have fallen? Also: What are some genre 'disconnects' we've experienced? In other words, what kind of media have we consumed about a topic, or set in a time, or about something we'd otherwise have no interest in? In a...
2025-07-07 16:00:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-06 16:01:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
Welcome to an entirely extraneous and far-shorter-than-normal episode of Sacred+. We -- Colin, Chris, and Dustin -- gather today alongside Summon Sign's Brad Ellis to finally score our recent 27-question betting competition focused around Geoff Keighley's Birthday Party, aka SGF. (Indeed, that's episode 460 of Sacred Symbols+, published in late May, and you'll want to listen to that first if you haven't already.) The stakes are incredibly high, for the two losers have to play games they reall...
2025-07-06 16:00:16 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-05 16:01:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
Please welcome Rhys Elliott to Sacred Symbols+. Rhys is Head of Market Analysis at Alinea Analytics, a Norwegian firm that you may have heard of as of late, at least if you're in the industry weeds. That's because Alinea is one of the only reliable sources of otherwise-hidden sales and performance data for all kinds of modern games. So, for instance, when we recently spoke about Xbox performance on PlayStation, that came from Alinea projections spearheaded, in part, by Rhys himself. Thus, I (...
2025-07-05 16:00:14 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-04 16:01:49 +0000 UTC
View Post
For the first time ever, PlayStation is publishing one of its own games on Xbox. The new port comes in the form of 2024's smash-hit multiplayer game Helldivers 2 from second party studio Arrowhead, and though Sony has a long-but-silent history of bringing games to other consoles -- there was a Wipeout game on N64, after all, and the likes of Death Stranding and MLB: The Show have already migrated to Xbox via intermediaries -- never before have they acted as publisher. Is this a one-off, or a ...
2025-07-04 16:00:24 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-03 16:01:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
To be apathetic to something is to experience a lack of feeling or emotion in response to an event. For the Dukes, it's the word of the show. Xbox has been mismanaged for an entire generation and it has come at the cost of losing world class talents alongside studios. It was just in 2024 that we lost Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Roundhouse Studios, and Alpha Dog Games. There was also the formidable Toys For Bob that went independent. That alone was more than enough to last us a generation,...
2025-07-03 16:00:14 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-02 16:01:29 +0000 UTC
View Post
This week the Punching Up crew discuss a price hike for some Nintendo games and services in Canada, Mario Strikers coming to NSO, the team behind Donkey Kong Bananza and more!
Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:16:21 - Super Mario Strikers Coming to NSO
0:19:16 - Price Increase in Canada
0:25:35 - Nintendo and Amazon Update
0:34:11 - Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair X Sonic Collaboration Announced
0:37:38 - What We’re Playing
1:03:34 - Switch 1 Upgra...
2025-07-02 16:00:19 +0000 UTC
View Post
This week Chris and Micah join Brad and discuss variety of topics including RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army , King of Meat, Death Stranding: On the Beach and more
Note: I messed up the scheduling and accidentally published the video early and I can't undo it, so enjoy the mistake!
Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:25:12 - RAIDOU Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army
0:47:34 - King of Meat
0:50:54 - Sort It Out/Keep It Up
2:01:1...
2025-07-01 15:22:20 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-07-01 15:19:47 +0000 UTC
View Post
Hey, all! It's time to submit your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas for Episode 235 of Defining Duke.
Great ways to get your write-up used: Be pithy, be topical, and be insightful. Walls-of-text, posts littered with poor grammar and punctuation, etc., are promptly (though respectfully) ignored.
As this is an Xbox podcast, be sure your submission makes sense within that realm. You have until Wednesday, July 2nd at 3 PM ET to mak...
2025-06-30 18:53:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
For your viewing pleasure.
2025-06-30 16:01:36 +0000 UTC
View Post
Welcome back to Constellation, Last Stand Media's conversational podcast. This week, Colin hosts, and is joined by the Dukes -- Matty and Cog -- as well as Punching Up's Gene Park. Topics include the trials and tribulations of turning 30 years old, dueling documentaries covering 2023's tragic Titan/Titanic situation, and whether it's 'okay' to play games on the easiest difficulty. Enjoy!
Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro
00:08:08 - Turning 30
01:08:35 - Titan Submersible Dra...
2025-06-30 16:00:22 +0000 UTC
View Post
