>This week the Punching Up crew discusses the Kingdom Hearts blowout at D23, The Simpsons Hit & Run possibly coming back, Pokémon Bank shutting down, and more!
>This week Colin, Micah, and Brad discuss Lord of the Rings: War in the North, Dark Souls Remastered, Beast of Reincarnation and more!
Thread for discussion related to the Sacred Streaming episode on YouTube today.
Dustin and Brad Subject Colin to Extensive Kingdom Hearts IV Coverage
>It's me, Colin. Please welcome Reece "Kiwi Talkz" Reilly to Sacred Symbols+. In recent years, Reece has quietly and steadily nurtured an exceptional catalog of interviews on his YouTube channel, talks he conducts with gaming industry denizens around the world. In a space severely bereft of primary sources, he puts himself out there, does the legwork to reach out to enormous numbers of current and ex-developers, and allows them to tell their stories. Indeed, we've sourced his interviews on Sacred Symbols itself on more than a few occasions. In short: I really wanted to understand more about his process and approach. After all, it's not easy to get inherently guarded people working in an innately secretive space to say interesting things. And yet, Reece does so on a regular basis. Thus, it's time for us to briefly study the work of one man, who in turn allows us to learn about the work of so many others.
>On PlayStation 5 in the near future, you're going to be hacking, slashing, stabbing, and serrating your enemies with reckless abandon. For starters, the dangerously-clawed Wolverine emerges in September, along with a newly-announced special edition PS5 console, a couple of DualSense controllers, and even some plates for your existing hardware. (Plus, the previews are quite positive!) September also provides us with horroresque Halloween: The Game from IllFonic, which interestingly enough won't be released in Australia and New Zealand for the stupidest reason. Come October, hack-and-slash RPG Phantom Blade 0 joins the fray -- a long-in-development Chinese game that's getting its own State of Play imminently -- not to mention Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition, packing new single-player content galore alongside the return of the Katana-wielding Atsu. Other news this week includes a surprise PS3-era Lord of the Rings drop, insane data about Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders, and more. But we end, as we always do, with listener inquiries. Will Sony really eschew any sort of external disc drive for PlayStation 6, if only for backwards compatibility purposes? Why is visiting a new town in an RPG typically such an exciting experience? What would a "Digital Bill of Rights" look like? Is Dustin losing his Japanese language skills through atrophy?
>How hungry are people for Elder Scrolls VI? Apparently, very! All it took was eight asterisks within the game's subtitle to send a flurry of fans into everything from lore wikis to decoding employee identification numbers in Starfield's Developer Direct. With such rampant curiosity, this led the Dukes down the rabbithole. What do these eight characters represent? Indeed, if the theories are true, they tell us more than you'd expect. Beyond that, we settle into a chat about the coming generation of consoles. Will Xbox weaponize Elder Scrolls VI as a lightning rod which can draw people into the ecosystem? Is it worth risking millions upon millions of dollars lost for this? Essentially, is this game going to find itself in a camp with Call Of Duty and Forza or Clockwork and Gears? There are compelling arguments for both sides, so join the very delirious Dukes as they settle into a length conversation about Elder Scrolls!
>This week the Punching Up crew goes over all the recent Zelda movie casting leaks as well as the leaked Zelda themed Switch 2 and Pro Controller, and more!
>This week Gene and special guest Baberuthless join Brad to discuss Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, Big Walk, and more!
Thread for discussion related to the Sacred Streaming episode on YouTube today.
>Please welcome Sacred Symbols co-host Chris Ray Gun and Summon Sign host Brad Ellis back to Sacred+. This time around, I (Colin) invited the boys to the show so that we might share our thoughts about one of the most unexpected PlayStation releases, potentially ever. That's right! After 25 years, Halo has arrived on Sony hardware, a remake of the 2001 Xbox classic FPS Combat Evolved, built from the ground up on Unreal Engine 5, both true to the original game and also packing a slate of fixes, tweaks, updates, and even new missions. How does Bungie's remade and redone classic hold up after all of these years? Naturally, there's only one way to find out.
>After roughly half-a-dozen episodes of unfortunate absence, we're pleased to welcome Dustin back to the fold, and just in the nick of time at that. A trio of interesting stories have bubbled to the surface over the past week worth examining, and they require further inquiry from the whole cast. For starters, Sony's financials show a stagnant (albeit perfectly healthy) PlayStation brand, as PS5 marches ever-slower towards 100 million units sold. And then there's Electronic Arts, the pioneering American publisher that sold-out to a wealthy foreign interest, with untold ramifications on the other side of the biggest-ever leveraged buyout in human history. Finally, we come to Netflix and Rockstar, who have teamed-up for what can only be described as a unique approach towards showcasing Grand Theft Auto VI, one (perhaps not surprisingly) some people aren't thrilled about. Among other news (and other nonsense), we also get into your listener submissions, as we do each week. How will MLB: The Show 27 be affected next year by what appears to be an inevitable work stoppage in professional baseball? Is there any workable idea for a framework surrounding the second-hand buying, selling, and trading of digital games? Could Sony blunt PlayStation 6's inevitably-high cost by taking a page from Xbox's book and offering hardware on long-term payment plans? Has Colin been saying "beaucoup bucks" wrong, or does one listener simply not know his French?
>In a time where game preservation feels it matters the least, here comes some much needed news. Leaked via The Verge, we now know Xbox is accelerating a program dedicated to preserving your games dating back to the original Xbox generation. That much has been known thanks to a program greenlit by Sarah Bond during her time at Xbox. However, the new wrinkle is not only that Xbox 360 games are headed to PC, but also that the backwards compatible library stands a chance to expand beyond what we already know. Now, the catch is that other developers would have to play ball, but more from a greenlight standpoint rather than any additional engineering. The icing on the cake? Xbox is finally bringing its platinum trophy equivalent to the platform. After two generations of waiting, they'll finally be getting with the times and you won't have to wait much longer to hear about it thanks to Asha Sharma. Plus: Xbox's "platform" game focus, more absolutely dismal news for Halo, the unaffordability of console gaming, and so much more!
>This week the Punching Up crew discuss the Fire Emblem: Fortunes Weave Direct, Super Mario Sunshine Coming to NSO, Splatoon Raiders and more!
This week Dustin and Lock join Brad to discuss Beast of Reincarnation, Yakuza Kiwami 1+2, God of War, and more!
Thread for discussion related to the Sacred Streaming episode on YouTube today.
>Please welcome Defining Duke co-host, YouTuber, and LSM stalwart MrMattyPlays back to Sacred+. Today, I (Colin) invited Matty to the show for a one-on-one conversation all about the ceaseless drama of the last month. July was a rough 31 days for physical games enthusiasts, and if Sony's recent financial Q&A is any indication, the Japanese corporation has made its decision and intend on sticking to it. Yet, the audience demanded Matty appear on the show, a much-needed voice from the physical realm that Sacred itself is perhaps missing, especially in light of Dustin's temporary absence. To not make this chat too repetitive, however, I tried to think of things to ask and talk about that are a little bit different. For instance, whose fault is this whole thing? Sony or the third parties? Is Sony taking the heat for a decision the entire AAA industry is thrilled about? Is it up to consumers to worry about the health of the companies they interact with? Will there be a rubber band effect on the loud and boisterous enthusiasts who have completely hijacked the conversation around games? Is there a difference between a customer and a user? How long should the digital ecosystem be expected to subsidize the physical one? Join us on our two hour long journey through an admittedly worn topic, viewed through a few different lenses you may not yet have considered.
>Sure, there's a lot of anger in our ecosystem right now, but what about all that's upcoming, all that could potentially change our moods? For instance, God of War: Laufey has received a February '27 release date, while compelling rumors indicate Naughty Dog's long-awaited Intergalactic may also grace PlayStation 5 in 2027. With Arc System Works promising tons of fixes for Marvel Tokon (especially on PC) in time for its imminent launch, and with Wolverine just around the corner -- not to mention a ton of third-party fare, too -- maybe it's time we lighten up a little bit. Plus: Dragon Age is seemingly dead, Square Enix lives in perpetual fear of the potential scale of a Final Fantasy VI remake, Crazy Taxi: World Tour solicits players for closed tests, and more. Then: Listener inquiries! Why do so many people seem so hostile towards so-called "Gun and Ball" gamers? Is Sony's ever-struggling PlayStation Network ready for the crush it will experience with Grand Theft Auto VI? Does PS5 console exclusive Silent Hill: Townfall's approach to stealth and avoidant gameplay interest us? Will Dustin ever return to the show, or is he too busy going to Ohio to find physical games?
>Ah, like the good ol' days! It's time to talk a lot of Halo and Gears. Interestingly, one franchise has handled the baton pass much better than the other.
>This week the Punching Up crew discusses the new Zelda figures from Hasbro, Facial recognition for Pokémon Cards, Link's actor on Breath of the Wild and more!
>This week Matty and Brad discuss Halo: Campaign Evolved, Splatoon Raiders, Matty's Favorite OG Xbox games and more!