LastStandMedia

Sacred Symbols, Episode 238 | Ad Astra (Video)

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Sacred Symbols, Episode 238 | Ad Astra

Long-percolating rumors have been confirmed: Housemarque's wonderful third-person PS5 shooter Returnal is headed to PC, and you're going to need a beefy rig to enjoy all it has to offer. But not all is well in the stars. Krafton's The Callisto Protocol, released in December to middling reviews, was also met with soft sales. Somehow, the publisher spent something like $160 million over three years making the game, and the project is very much in the red. How could things have gone so poorly fo...

Defining Duke, Episode 107 | Joe Staten Has Left 343 - A Major Shakeup Hits Halo

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Defining Duke, Episode 107 | Joe Staten Has Left 343 - A Major Shakeup Hits Halo

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced this week that Microsoft would see 10,000 layoffs by the end of March 2023. Among those affected are those working within Xbox and Bethesda. According to various reports, the teams impacted within the gaming division are both 343 Industries and Bethesda Game Studios. However, one person has chosen to leave and was Halo Infinite's last standing beacon of hope: Joseph Staten. Joe is the one responsible for getting the team in order at 343 to help "land the ...

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 102 | The Downfall Of Ubisoft (Video)

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Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 102 | The Downfall Of Ubisoft

As the years blow by, one of gaming's very best from the early 2000s has become a shell of themselves. Ubisoft brought us the likes of Batman Vengeance, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Beyond Good & Evil, along with plenty of other inventive IP. Throughout the 2010s, they seemingly lost their creative drive and exchanged it for an open world template that they would fit any and all of their games into. With 2023 in full swing, we now are aware of Ubisoft canning a staggering seven projects in ...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 260 | The Last of Us (HBO) Review Discussion and Spoilercast (Season 1, Episode 1) (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 260 | The Last of Us (HBO) Review Discussion and Spoilercast (Season 1, Episode 1)

Welcome to the first of what will likely be many episodes of Sacred Symbols+ dedicated to HBO's brand-new, PlayStation-inspired series The Last of Us. Starring Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, the cable series based on Naughty Dog's classic kicks off with a bang, running for nearly an hour and a half and covering the first couple of hours of the 2013 PS3 game. The pilot straddles an interesting line: It's true to the original story, yet its own, completely unique ...

Constellation, Episode 2 | Modern TV, Home Cooking, Social Media, Billionaires

It's time once more for Constellation, Last Stand Media's conversational podcast. For this episode, the Brothers Moriarty are joined by the co-hosts of Defining Duke: An Xbox Podcast. Cog wants to chat about contemporary television, our respective migrations to digital subscriptions, and how our viewing behaviors have changed over time. Matty is curious about the ways we interact with social media, and how we deal with the overwhelming negativity it can introduce. Dagan brings cooking to...

Constellation, Episode 2 | Modern TV, Home Cooking, Social Media, Billionaires (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 259 | The Sacred Symbols 2023 Fantasy Draft (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 259 | The Sacred Symbols 2023 Fantasy Draft

The Sacred Symbols Fantasy Draft is back for 2023! On this episode of +, the three core Sacred hosts select 12 games, coming to PlayStation platforms (or perceived to be!), launching in 2023 (or so you may think!), that will score highest on Metacritic. Why 12? So we can shake our lists down to 10... and hope for the best!

Sacred Symbols, Episode 237 | Fading Ubiquity (Video)

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Sacred Symbols, Episode 237 | Fading Ubiquity

Not too long ago, Ubisoft was one of the most powerful publishing entities in all of video games. Today, it's a beleaguered entity haunted by an absurdly high headcount and a development pipeline ill-suited for modern trends. The result has been an in-progress collapse notable enough to warrant an extensive update from the company itself, alongside a flurry of cancelled projects and ominous adjusted financial expectations in a worsening economy. The long and the short is: Ubisoft has big chan...

Defining Duke, Episode 106 | Xbox’s New January Showcase Is a Game Changer (Video)

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Note from Matty on the repost: So, we have a great scoop in today’s episode and me, being a professional moron, misspoke not once but TWICE on it. In the day and age of clips, I didn’t feel like a pinned comment would alleviate this issue, so we’re adjusting properly with a quick pick-up/editing adjustment. You’ll know the area when you hear it.

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Defining Duke, Episode 106 | Xbox’s New January Showcase Is a Game Changer

Fans of the platform have long been accustomed to Xbox's lack of communication. To many, it seemed like the first half of the year flat out didn't exist for the company when it came to major showings or releases of games. With the announcement of Developer_Direct, it is the start of a new chapter as Xbox has two planned out. The first will feature heavy hitters such as Redfall, Minecraft Legends, Forza Motorsport, and Elder Scrolls Online. The second Developer_Direct will be a standalone show...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 237: The Thread

Hi!

Submit your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas for this week's episode of Sacred Symbols in this thread.

As always, please keep your inquiries well-written and pithy. Novels, poorly-written posts, etc. are politely ignored.

You have until Thursday, January 12th at noon ET to submit.

Talk to you soon!

An Upcoming Schedule Change (Constellation + Defining Duke Ultimate-related)

Hello, and Happy New Year. (I promise, that will be the last time I say it until 2024.)

I wanted to quickly write to everyone so that they knew about an upcoming programming change. And, in the spirit of transparency that we’ve always embraced as a company, I’ll let you know exactly why this is happening.

Here’s what you need to know first: Defining Duke Ultimate will be moving to a biweekly schedule. (That is to say, every-other-week.) Here’s what else yo...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 258 | The Callisto Protocol Review Discussion and Spoilercast (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 258 | The Callisto Protocol Review Discussion and Spoilercast

Last month, a long-awaited survival horror game launched on PS5 (and elsewhere) in the form of The Callisto Protocol. Led by Dead Space and Call of Duty veteran Glen Schofield's new studio Striking Distance, Callisto was at first envisioned as a project set in the PUBG universe. It ultimately found its way towards being something of its own, though, and the result has been undoubtedly divisive. Yet, we here at Last Stand Media kinda-sorta like this game, at least more than the general consens...

KnockBack, Episode 252 | The Fashion of Our Youth (Video)

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KnockBack, Episode 252 | The Fashion of Our Youth

For a good duration of the average childhood, you're dressed by your parents. You have very little choice or input, and certainly no financial means to make different decisions. But then, you start to care and exercise some agency: First a little bit, then a lot more. Before you know it, the way you present yourself to the world becomes a key component of your persona, something within your control. Today's episode of KnockBack is dedicated to both eras of childhood, the helplessness of schoo...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 257 | Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion Review Discussion and Spoilercast (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 257 | Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion Review Discussion and Spoilercast

One of PlayStation Portable's very best games came in the form of a 2008 Final Fantasy VII spin-off called Crisis Core. While it wasn't the first new product spawned from FFVII, it was certainly the strongest, telling the story of Zack Fair, a character we don't know a whole lot about in the main game, but someone who's intimately involved in the early portions of VII' lore. Thankfully, the once-stranded title has migrated to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 -- basically remade from ...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 236 | Science Is The Captain (Video)

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Sacred Symbols, Episode 236 | Science Is The Captain

It's easy enough to forget (especially these days) that Sony is, first and foremost, an electronics company. So perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that the company showed up to CES not only to show off its upcoming PlayStation VR2, but also something brand new: A fresh controller codenamed Project Leonardo, one designed with maximum accessibility in mind. By leveraging the power of tech, video games can reach even more people if they simply cater to them, and when it comes to the disabled, Mic...

Defining Duke, Episode 105 | The Rumors Are Swirling - Will Xbox Finally Deliver in 2023? (Video)

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Defining Duke, Episode 105 | The Rumors Are Swirling - Will Xbox Finally Deliver in 2023?

It has been said by many far and wide that 2023 is the year Xbox must deliver. With the rumor mill churning out some interesting nuggets in the form of an early 2023 Xbox showcase, release date candidates for Starfield and Redfall, and even hints of what's to come later in the year; there is much to be excited about. Both official outlets and reports are suggesting that a Starfield-Redfall duo for May/June can soon be upon us. With that in mind, Xbox fans must adjust to a new reality. A reali...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 236: The Thread

Hi!

Submit your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas for this week's episode of Sacred Symbols in this thread.

As always, please keep your inquiries well-written and pithy. Novels, poorly-written posts, etc. are politely ignored.

You have until Thursday, January 5th at noon ET to submit.

Talk to you soon!

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 101 | Our Top 5 Most Anticipated Games Of 2023 (Video)

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