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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 246 | Ranking PlayStation's First Party Studios (2022 Edition, Part I) (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 246 | Ranking PlayStation's First Party Studios (2022 Edition, Part I)

Who doesn't love ranking things? Your favorite and least favorite, the best and worst, the top and bottom. On this two-part episode of Sacred Symbols+ (which we only realized was a two-parter about halfway through, around the same time we realized we didn't need to do this every few months), we try to order PlayStation's 18 fully-owned teams in some sort of quantitative fashion. That's virtually impossible, of course, as we're talking about art created by artists, but nonetheless --...

The Last of Them - Lockmort's Edits

I will break you.

Defining Duke, Episode 100: The Thread

Hey All! 

It's time to submit your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas for Episode 100 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, 11/30 at 3P...

KnockBack, Episode 251 | The Future (Video)

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KnockBack, Episode 251 | The Future

Wait, what?! KnockBack is about the past! Well, that's typically true, but today we wanted to do something a little bit different. Why? Because beginning in 2023, KnockBack is going to change. And it begins with a month hiatus, while we retool. We wanted to explain where our heads are at with KnockBack, what the coming years hold, and deploy a new schedule that'll move the show to every-other-week beginning in January. Don't worry, though. Something new is spawning in those missing episo...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 245 | PlayStation 5's and Xbox Series' First Two Years (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 245 | PlayStation 5's and Xbox Series' First Two Years

It's time once again for Sacred Symbols x Defining Duke! This time, a trio of us -- yours truly (Colin), Cog, and Dustin -- take some time to go through our ecosystems' two dueling consoles, the PS5 and XSX. With two years on the market and lots of user engagement and promising numbers for both machines, we thought we'd reflect on how they've done over the last 24 months: The highs, the lows, the games we loved and those we thought missed, and more. We also delve deeper into games we've been ...

Friendly Reminder: Last Stand's Black Friday Sale Is On!

Hey All,

I don't like cluttering the newsfeed with randomness, but I felt like this was somewhat important for our most hardcore fanbase (our Patrons) to learn, in case you didn't already know.

In short, we're having a Black Friday sale on our online store. You can find the storefront here, or by using this URL: https://laststandm...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 230 | Confidential: Contains Business Secrets! (Video)

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Timestamps to skip ads:

0:01:04

0:35:58

1:01:38

Sacred Symbols, Episode 230 | Confidential: Contains Business Secrets!

The British government has released a mildly-redacted -- but largely intact -- 20-something page writeup from a law firm representing PlayStation. Dated late October of this year (but new to all of us), Sony attempts to retort, basically line-by-line, Microsoft's various contentions about the pending Activision-Blizzard-King deal that has fascinated the industry for the better part of 12 months. Though we all share a relative malaise about this subject, there's huge news within this document,...

Defining Duke, Episode 99 | Is the Xbox-Activision Deal in Trouble? (Video)

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Timestamps to skip ads:
0:00:42

0:28:04

Defining Duke, Episode 99 | Is the Xbox-Activision Deal in Trouble?

Bethesda seemed to be an answer to a prayer when it came to Xbox fans in 2022. With Starfield and Redfall, they were set to deliver new AAA exclusives that the platform is hungry for. While that obviously got pushed back, Bethesda may have a surprise reveal up their sleeve. Zenimax Online Studios, keepers of the Elder Scrolls Online, have amassed a 200 person team to work on a new Xbox IP. It is one such project that creative director Ben Jones states has been in development for four and a ha...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 244 | The Sacred Sales Saga (November 2022) (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 244 | The Sacred Sales Saga (November 2022)

It's time once again for our data-driven miniseries, the Sales Saga! Predicated on Sony's monthly official download lists, the game is simple in premise, but complex to near-absurdity in reality: Guess the 20 most-downloaded PS5 games for, in this case, November. Think it's easy? It truly isn't. The proof? We score October's guesses in this very episode, too! But what we're most excited to reveal is that we've figured out an easy way for you to play along with us and compete both with us and ...

Defining Duke, Episode 99: The Thread

Hey All! 

Note: We're recording on Tuesday instead of Wednesday to make sure we have properly adjust for the holidays. You will have a little less time than usual to submit inquiries. My apologies for not getting the post up sooner! - Matty

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. &n...

KnockBack, Episode 250 | Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Red Hot Chili Peppers album) (Video)

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Topic starts around 0:24:45

KnockBack, Episode 250 | Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Red Hot Chili Peppers album)

Red Hot Chili Peppers were cruising along for nearly a decade by the time their most famous record, 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik, came to store shelves, the radio waves, and MTV. But it was a particular fusion of time, place, talent, and execution that propelled it to the stratosphere. Here in the US, it's a seven-times Platinum album teeming with earworm singles that explore the whole gamut of genres, from rap to funk to rock, all tied together by a renowned producer who happens to know quit...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 243 | The Sacred League: November 2022 (Video)

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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 243 | The Sacred League: November 2022

Welcome back to The Sacred League! As you may recall, we launched this Sacred+ subseries just last month because, well, we like playing games. And we're back with an all-new episode, going over the previous month's answers and rendering verdicts on 10 all-new inquiries, five objective and five subjective. We answer questions like: Which PlayStation studios are we most grateful for? What fall release is most overrated? Will The Callisto Protocol score above or below 84.5 on Metacritic? Could M...

Sacred Symbols, Episode 229 | Shimmy Simulator (Video)

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Timestamp to skip the ads:
0:32:33

Sacred Symbols, Episode 229 | Shimmy Simulator

God of War: Ragnarok has finally arrived, and with it comes opinions. A whole slate of them. The three of us have sat with the newest PlayStation 5 smash-hit for varying amounts of time, and we come away with equally-varying opinions that we're eager to share, expand upon, and challenge. Needless to say, we spend a whole lot of time talking about the game this week, so buckle-in. We also delve into the last seven days' news, touching on Witcher III's much-delayed PS5 release, the official ann...

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 95 | Josh Sawyer On Obsidian, Game Pass, & Pentiment (Video)

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Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 95 | Josh Sawyer On Obsidian, Game Pass, & Pentiment

Today, the Dukes are honored to welcome the legendary Josh Sawyer to our show. Following the release of Pentiment, we speak with Josh on a number of topics as we catch Obsidian both their best and most diverse. From subjects like the pitch process of Pentiment all the way to what's next for Josh and his 13 man team, we learn quite a lot from one of the greatest minds in gaming.

Note: Enjoy the early release! This episode was recorded for next week's DDU, but we wanted ...

Defining Duke, Episode 98 | Are The Game Awards Worth the Scrutiny? (Video)

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Timestamps to skip ads:
0:00:40

0:31:39

Defining Duke, Episode 98 | Are The Game Awards Worth the Scrutiny?

The Game Awards, or as some may call them, The Lame Awards, are the subject of ire year in and year out. 2022 has proven to be much of the same as the Game Of The Year list is out with contentious picks aplenty. While it may be the home of things like nepotism and recency bias, many folks such as Cog have accepted it as the way things shall be. From snubs to perplexing categorization such as Elden Ring in the Best Narrative category, we (along with the audience) have many questions to ask. Pe...

Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 94 | Obsidian's Fork In The Road (Video)

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Defining Duke Ultimate, Episode 94 | Obsidian's Fork In The Road

The Dukes are officially united in good health to talk about another thing in good health: Obsidian Entertainment. While their last two releases haven't been the hardcore RPGs we've grown accustomed to them producing, it hasn't stopped Obsidian from dropping two of the highest rated games of the year. With Grounded 1.0 and Pentiment out, Obsidian has found themselves with a fun yet difficult decision to make. As production of Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 continue to ramp up, will they contin...

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 242 | It Only Did Everything (Video)

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Link to Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/52911390/it-only-did-everything-the-ps3s-unofficial-history 

Sacred Symbols+, Episode 242 | It Only Did Everything

Please welcome writer and entrepreneur Sandeep Rai back to +. As you may recall, Sandeep first came to our show nearly a year ago to talk about his awesome book Vita Means Life, which he successfully Kickstarted and launched without a hitch (and to great fanfare). Those of us who've read that book know it's the most thorough and thoughtful work yet compiled for PlayStation's second handheld, and now Sandeep is back with a treatment for our beloved PlayStation 3 (a book which yo...