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Sacred Symbols, Episode 233 | Force Feed

Word of a third core The Last of Us game emanates from a reliable film industry-based source. If true, The Last of Us: Part III is one of at least two games in-development at Naughty Dog, news that is being met with equal parts excitement and disappointment. With other happenings pointing towards a God of War TV show at Amazon, and with so much of Sony's strategy seemingly relying on PlayStation's existing IP, it makes sense to wonder something very simple: Where are the new could-be franchis...

Defining Duke, Episode 102 | Is Xbox Planning a Surprise 2023 Showcase? (Video)

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Defining Duke, Episode 102 | Is Xbox Planning a Surprise 2023 Showcase?

Capping off Xbox's tragic 2022 and our final episode ahead of the holiday break is a glimmer of hope for us to at least conclude that year on a somewhat positive note. Many fans are now left searching for answers following the absence of Xbox at The Game Awards despite apparently having three first party, AAA games arriving in the next six months. Following a tweet from Aaron Greenberg saying that we won't have to wait long to hear more, we can't help but wonder what this may mean. Follow up ...

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 98 | Does The FTC Have A Case Against Xbox? (ft. Hoeg Law)

The hottest talking point for many during a tough week for Xbox was easily the FTC suing to block the Activision deal. As tradition dictates, we have brought in our good friend Hoeg Law to get the full explanation on this. How long can this go on for? Will Microsoft back off from the deal? How does this alter future acquisitions? Is the FTC making an example of Xbox or do they really have a case? There are so many burning questions and Hoeg is the man with the answers!

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 98 | Does The FTC Have A Case Against Xbox? (ft. Hoeg Law) (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 250 | God of War: Ragnarok Review Discussion and Spoilercast (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 250 | God of War: Ragnarok Review Discussion and Spoilercast

The biggest PlayStation exclusive of 2022 is undoubtedly God of War: Ragnarok. Whether measured by critical or commercial success, Ragnarok has already blown away an audience of millions with its amazing gameplay, beautiful aesthetic, compelling performances, and surprisingly deep story. To discuss the many intricacies of Santa Monica Studio's seventh completed project, the Sacred trio gathered with regular contributor Rick Hoeg for a lengthy chat that -- as you may have guessed -- spoil...

Defining Duke, Episode 102: The Thread

Hey All!  

It's time to submit your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas for Episode 102 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, December 12th at 3PM ET to make your submission.<...

Defining Duke, Episode 101 | Xbox's WORST Week? - Game Awards No Show, $70 Games, & FTC Sues... (Video)

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Defining Duke, Episode 101 | Xbox's WORST Week? - Game Awards No Show, $70 Games, & FTC Sues...

Xbox's conclusion to 2022 is rather thematic as it matches the vibe of the overall year: Disappointing. While we began on the high of the Activision Blizzard deal, swift delays of Starfield and Redfall as well as a vacant first half of the year painted an all too familiar picture. With the windows closing for Starfield, Redfall, and Forza Motorsport respectively to be dated for the first half of 2023, it was stunning to see Xbox not only skip out on showing anything from those games, but not ...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 232 | Should We Have Connected? (Video)

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Timestamps to skip ads:

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0:57:25

Sacred Symbols, Episode 232 | Should We Have Connected?

There's little doubt that this year's Video Game Awards was the strongest industry showcase in a long time, potentially in several years. Geoff Keighley did a great job, and he deserves credit as a great ambassador for our medium. But even more important than the VGAs, the winners, and the pomp and circumstance were the game reveals. PlayStation players are going to be eating very, very well in the years to come, particularly when you consider how full the schedule is without much of an inkli...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 249 | When Communism Meets Capitalism (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 249 | When Communism Meets Capitalism

Note:In order to include news from The Game Awards, Defining Duke will post on Saturday. Enjoy Sacred Symbols+ in its place.

An interesting industry story has been quietly percolating for months, but it's not been widely discussed, particularly anywhere close to the mainstream: ZA/UM -- the studio behind 2019's smash-hit Disco Elysium (which came to PS4 and PS5 in 2021) -- is seemingly melting-down. And, at first blush, it's a complicated tale. In fact, it's ...

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 100 Special Q&A

Hey, everyone!

While LSM as a whole is on holiday break, we will be reaching our episode 100 milestone for Defining Duke Ultimate. Since we didn’t celebrate our main show’s milestone much, we wanted to do something a little more celebratory in the form of a Q&A.

Do you have any burning questions for Matty or Cog? Fire away and get to know us a little bit more!

Thanks for listening and we’re looking forward to celebrating with you.

...

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 97 | Xbox Game Prices Go Up - Are You Down? (Video)

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Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 97 | Xbox Game Prices Go Up - Are You Down?

Xbox has officially joined the ranks of 2K, Sony, and Ubisoft where they have announced they will be releasing their first party studio titles at $69.99. Many have awaited the moment Xbox dropped their "nice guy act," but is this truly it with Game Pass and console prices remaining firm? While Matty and Cog get into the nitty-gritty on $70 games, Xbox has much to consider with their pricing scheme moving forward. For example, their plethora of live service games and how they do (or don't) pri...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 248 | How 'Social Terrorists' Came For John Gibson (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 248 | How 'Social Terrorists' Came For John Gibson

Please welcome John Gibson to the show. Nearly 20 years ago, Gibson co-founded Georgia-based studio Tripwire Interactive, the makers of popular shooter series Killing Floor and -- more recently -- the surprisingly awesome Maneater. But John is no longer with his team. Why? Because, more than a year ago, he Tweeted out that he was pro-life. That was literally it. And the rest, as they say, is history. I (Colin) have wanted to get John on the podcast since everything went down with him, because...

Defining Duke, Episode 101: The Thread

Hey All!

Note: We will be recording a pick-up following The Game Awards to include our reactions to all that's revealed there. Keep that in mind when inquiring :) 

It's time to submit your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas for Episode 101 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) igno...

Something New Is Coming January 2nd 2023

Greetings and salutations!

While I have a holiday letter coming (as tradition dictates), we have something else to discuss in the days leading up to Christmas, and it’s this: On January 2nd, 2023, Last Stand Media is launching a new show. Its logo, as you may have surmised, is attached for your perusal.

As discussed during Episode 251 of KnockBack, we wanna shake things up a little bit. ...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 247 | Dustin Mailbag (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 247 | Dustin Mailbag

While Sacred Symbols+ has been going strong with Sacred Sales Saga and Sacred League, we haven't forgotten about doing the occasional mailbag. This time you're stuck with me (Dustin)! I asked for your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts and ideas, and you delivered! Have I corrupted the audience with the Chris Chan documentary? What are some SNES hidden gems? What is still missing from next-gen games? How did Sony do overall in 2022? Are "canon endings" okay in choice-based games? This wa...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 231 | The Hunt (Video)

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Timestamps to skip ads:
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Sacred Symbols, Episode 231 | The Hunt

Capcom's Monster Hunter is a years-long smash hit, but it really hit its stride on PS4 with Monster Hunter World, Capcom's best-selling game ever. So it was mysterious when Monster Hunter Rise was launched on Switch (and later PC), but never on PlayStation. Rumor has it that's all about to change. Rise is apparently due for PS4 and PS5 very soon -- in perhaps a month and a half -- and with it comes the promise of high-quality hunting not yet seen on PS5, a genre gap Capcom rival Electronic Ar...

Defining Duke, Episode 100 | Todd Howard Finally Opens Up On Starfield & Elder Scrolls 6 (Video)

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Defining Duke, Episode 100 | Todd Howard Finally Opens Up On Starfield & Elder Scrolls 6

What better way to celebrate 100 episodes than to hear from Godd Howard himself? Many fans are clamoring for new Starfield information, but what we didn't expect was Todd Howard to appear on a podcast for three hours and talk about things beyond Starfield. Those topics range from Elder Scrolls 6, to Amazon's Fallout TV show, and even MachineGames' Indiana Jones! Todd even dives deep into his relationship with Xbox with how things have changed for the better and, in some ways, not at all. Outs...

Pentiment Review Discussion & Spoilercast Thread

Hey, all!

It's time to submit questions for our review discussion/spoilercast of Obsidian's latest release: Pentiment!

As always, we will have a spoiler-free section in the front of our episode before getting into the nitty-gritty of the game in the backend.

What did we think of Andreas Maler? What background did we pick? How did we feel about the divisive Act 3? The truth behind the game's mystery? There is much to discuss and we're excited...

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 96 | The Truth Behind Xbox & PlayStation's Agendas ft. Hoeg Law (Video)

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Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 96 | The Truth Behind Xbox & PlayStation's Agendas ft. Hoeg Law

Here's a topic we haven't gone into at all: Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. While the topic may be suffering from a degree of fatigue, there is undoubtedly a lot of tea being spilled throughout the holidays. Xbox's 10 Year Call Of Duty offer to PlayStation, the FTC possibly blocking the deal, PlayStation going scorched Earth saying Xbox wants them being more like Nintendo, and so much more. Joining us to get into the nitty gritty is none other than our good friend Hoeg La...