Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast

• #346 | Then There Is No Pleasing You

  A recent presentation showcased a diverse array of some 35 games coming to PlayStation 5 over the next couple of years. But -- perhaps unsurprisingly -- that hasn't stopped boo-birds from raining down upon Sony yet again, at least from some particularly loud corners. It seems that some people will literally never be satisfied, no matter what. But for those who are looking forward to new games to play, there was much to be excited about in the form of Lost Soul Aside, Metal Eden, Borderlands 4, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Hell Is Us, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Days Gone Remastered, Tides of Annihilation, and even a brand new Housemarque PS5-exclusive called Saros, amongst much more. This week, we take time to delve into everything discussed during the newest State of Play, and dive into a bunch of other news too. Sony's quarterly financials are out, and PS5 sales are booming, reaching 75 million sold and counting. Meanwhile, Astro Bot is getting even more free DLC, God of War may be reverting to its Greek roots, Resistance and The Order are likely permanently dead, Twisted Metal returns to Peacock this summer, and so on. Then: Listener inquiries! Is Kendrick Lamar a PlayStation nerd? Does HDR even do anything? Why aren't more old folks playing games? Should Colin just retire? This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/SYMBOLS and get on your way to being your best self. Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:18:20 - Super Bowl stories 0:39:47 - Bellota <3 0:47:32 - 2x Speed 0:52:27 - In some sense 0:54:56 - Napoleon's penis 0:59:25 - PSN outage 1:17:20 - PS5 sells over 75 million 1:29:11 - Astro Bot bundle incoming 1:38:02 - Death Stranding 2 stream at SXSW 1:41:27 - Elden Ring: Nightreign release date 1:46:04 - The Order 1886 could have had a sequel 1:50:54 - 100% new information about Resistance 4 2:00:01 - God of War in Greece? 2:07:30 - Twisted Metal Season 2 coming this summer 2:10:35 - Koei Tecmo's CEO steps down 2:13:52 - Layoffs at Crytek 2:17:07 - DQXII is still in development 2:18:53 - PUBG is more lucrative than ever 2:23:36 - What Are We Playing? 2:53:24 - State of Play general thoughts 3:18:42 - Monster Hunter WIlds 3:19:57 - Shinobi 3:23:35 - Sonic Racing Cross Worlds 3:25:15 - Digimon Story Time Stranger 3:29:18 - Lost Soul Aside 3:32:55 - Small updates/games 3:36:47 - Borderlands 4 3:41:39 - Split Fiction 3:43:41 - Directive 8020 3:48:38 - The Midnight Walk 3:50:43 - Darwin's Paradox 3:52:28 - Warriors Abyss 3:53:50 - Onimusha 3:56:42 - Metal Gear Solid Delta 3:57:47 - Hell is Us 4:01:33 - Lies of P Overture 4:03:07 - Dreams of Another 4:08:16 - Days Gone Remastered 4:17:43 - Stellar Blade DLC 4:20:16 - Lost Records 4:21:54 - PS Plus games 4:24:28 - Tides of Annihilation 4:30:00 - Metal Eden 4:33:54 - MindsEye 4:40:11 - Saros 4:45:24 - Sony cleaning out AI games 4:50:34 - HDR woes 4:55:12 - IGN's Twitter antics 4:58:43 - Earthblade cancellation 5:03:34 - Too old for video games? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  5:21:50
• #345 | You Keep It Copacetic

  When truly great games are delivered, players tend to respond. The industry's newest sales success is the long-awaited Kingdom Come: Deliverance sequel, which immediately sold a million copies upon release. But it's hardly alone. And the rest of this long year is already shaping up to be something special, with Metal Gear Solid Delta's release date leaking, Death Stranding 2's newest trailer drawing nearer, and EA's Battlefield finally toying with a real comeback. Other news this week includes the potential of a discless PlayStation 6, the arrival of more Xbox games on PS5 in the form of Age of Empires and Age of Mythology, Capcom's announcement of a port of PS2's Onimusha 2 for PlayStation 4, and more. Let's then round things out with listener inquiries, as is our tradition. What are our thoughts on the return of games media brand Rooster Teeth? Is Sony putting its own games on sale too quickly and too steeply, to its own detriment? Did EA executives really claim Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed because it wasn't live service? Will Colin ever recover from tendinitis, or are his weightlifting days over? Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:23:28 - Side Quest is back! 0:29:11 - Colin's tendinitis 0:32:14 - George's bush 0:48:41 - Career switching advice 0:57:39 - Why is Abby tiny? 1:06:19 - Shawn Layden thinks PlayStation will keep physical for PS6 1:12:25 - Metal Gear Solid Delta release date leaked 1:17:31 - Death Stranding 2 is rated in South Korea 1:21:42 - KCD2 sells one million in one day 1:27:25 - New Battlefield game by early 2026 1:34:43 - MultiVersus is going offline 1:42:13 - Devil May Cry remake coming? 1:49:04 - Prince of Persia The Lost Crown sold 1.3 million copies 1:50:02 - Konami churned $500 million in profit over 9 months 1:51:06 - Sony integrates SN Systems 1:52:11 - What Are We Playing? 2:31:06 - Age of Mythology is coming to PS5 2:38:03 - Onimusha 2 is being remastered 2:46:00 - Rooster Teeth's return 2:57:37 - Should PlayStation stop putting their games on sale? 3:06:17 - Will Sony stop releasing on PC? 3:13:42 - Sony's live service push concerning for the industry? 3:16:28 - Is EA crazy? 3:23:38 - Is new IP overvalued? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  3:48:56
• #344 | Illusion Never Changed Into Something Real

  Just last year, Sony had grand designs of a new PlayStation leadership structure executing on an exciting multi-pronged strategy, but only three fiscal quarters later, the plan has come undone. Hideaki Nishino and Hermen Hulst were bestowed co-CEO roles -- the former looking after hardware and services, the latter after software -- but now, Nishino will hold the CEO role alone, with Hulst demoted and now reporting directly to him. While Sony Corporation itself made some other changes as well, including installing Hiroki Totoki as the larger entity's CEO, changes to PlayStation's executive structure so soon after alterations were first made says something rather clear: Bad choices were made, and rectifying them as quickly as possible is the best idea. We discuss. Other news this week includes Xbox quickly becoming PlayStation's biggest publisher, with yet another Xbox game -- Forza Horizon 5 -- en route to PS5, rumblings of new films for Resident Evil and Beyond: Two Souls, PlayStation 5 continuing to outsell the PS4 in the US when adjusted for time, layoffs at BioWare following Dragon Age's tumultuous end, MLB: The Show 25 skipping PS4 for the first time since the console launched, and more. Listener inquiries wrap things up. Is NCSoft's Horizon MMO cancelled? How does a game's budget actually get determined? Should future Dragon Quest games abandon Akira Toriyama's art style? Will Colin's Herman Miller chair ever arrive? Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:10:14 - Gooneral 0:25:29 - Punching Up rising up 0:27:14 - Herman-Miller woes 0:30:13 - Raymond 0:40:52 - PS5 is outselling PS4, time-adjusted 0:52:26 - PSN logins on PC are now optional for single player games 0:59:23 - 30th Anniversary themes are gone (but coming back) 1:21:16 - MLB The Show 25 coming on Match 18 1:35:38 - Spider-Man 2 is out now on PC 1:43:51 - BioWare downsizes 1:56:44 - Helldivers 2's director is taking a sabbatical 2:04:44 - Silent Hill 2 Remake surpasses two million copies sold 2:05:03 - Sega renews the trademark for Skies of Arcadia 2:09:00 - Berserk Boy 2:11:44 - What Are We Playing? 2:49:50 - Shakeup in Sony's leadership 3:10:58 - Xbox is the biggest publisher on PlayStation 3:33:13 - PlayStation Productions news 3:44:16 - New PS Plus games 3:50:12 - Horizon MMO canceled? 3:53:09 - Difficulty and trophies 3:59:43 - Best tip for aspiring journalists 4:19:05 - Why does game production cost so much? 4:23:22 - Should Dragon Quest's art style change with Toriyama's passing? 4:27:40 - What is the golden age of gaming? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  4:51:25
• #343 | Codename Trinity

  Insomniac Games' co-founder Ted Price is retiring from the company after a storied 30 year career, but it's what he's leaving behind in his stead that's truly curious: A three-person CEO grouping, virtually unheard of in the corporate world, that hopes to leverage the unique skills of each person. When taken into account with PlayStation's new co-CEO structure, it makes us wonder if Sony seeks to spread the field instead of focus decision-making and responsibility on a single person. Is that such a good idea? We discuss. Meanwhile, Xbox had an exceptional press conference, and as Xbox games are now PlayStation games, we have a few titles of import to go over, including the reveal of the Microsoft-published Ninja Gaiden 4 and release dates for both Doom: The Dark Ages and third party RPG Clair Obscur. Other news this week includes chatter of a $100 pricetag for Grand Theft Auto VI, impressive new gameplay footage for Phantom Blade Zero, the commercial bombing of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and more. We then wrap up with six inquiries from the audience, as is our tradition. Could tariffs on Mexico drive physical game prices higher? Are there more game cancellations than ever, or simply more transparency in the process? Did Xbox miss an opportunity to strike at a vulnerable and underperforming PlayStation? Is Colin over-reliant on email, rendering him an exceptionally old man? Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:15:28 - Staying strong during a breakup 0:23:51 - Colin and email 0:42:15 - Winnie the Pooh style forever sleep 0:53:36 - Colin's thesaurus 0:56:32 - Dustin at the symphony 1:00:53 - GTA VI costing $100? 1:24:17 - Phantom Blade Zero gameplay 1:31:00 - New Astro Bot content 1:33:42 - Dragon Age bombed 1:48:46 - Resident Evil 6 rated for Xbox 1:53:44 - Silent Hill F ESRB rating 1:57:35 - Balatro sells over 5 million 2:00:35 - Civ 7 has gone gold 2:02:11 - What Are We Playing? 2:31:48 - Xbox Developer Direct 2:57:35 - Ted Price is retiring 3:20:07 - New sales data 3:24:16 - Tariff check 3:28:35 - Game cancelations 3:34:27 - Do kids care about PlayStation? 3:41:50 - Is Sony relieved at the state of Xbox? 3:46:01 - "DEI-Woke" games selling softer 4:00:33 - Was Jim Ryan horrible for PlayStation? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  4:21:40
• #342 | We've Painted A Picture, Now We're Drowning in Paint

  We had already finished this recording when surprising news broke in the world of PlayStation: Sony has cancelled two of its upcoming, unannounced games. And -- would you believe it? -- they were both live service titles, including a God of War spin-off. The really unfortunate news, however, is who was making these titles: Bend and Bluepoint, two smaller AAA teams that typically work on a single project at a time, thus wasting years of development, as well as time and resources that can never be recovered. What in the world is going on with PlayStation Studios, and how did the person who helmed the first party family during such a tumultuous period of greenlights and plug-pulling ascend to the top of PlayStation itself? It's time to start asking some really hard questions. Other news this week includes substantial rumors of more Xbox content en route to PlayStation which, if true, will make Microsoft the single most-prolific producer of content for a platform that was once its arch-rival, but no longer. Also: Reactions to the first Until Dawn film trailer, a surprising end to Rocksteady's Suicide Squad game, accolades for an exceptional-looking upcoming vampire RPG called The Blood of Dawnwalker, tantalizing news about Bungie's in-development Smash Bros.-inspired MOBA, and more. We wrap up our episode (as we always do) with listener inquiries. Now that Nintendo's Switch 2 has been revealed, what are our preliminary thoughts? Is 2025 the year we finally give PSVR2 the respect it deserves? Why is it so hard to make swimming control well? Is it just a weird coincidence that SEGA renewed its Ecco the Dolphin trademark on September 11, 2001, or is there something deeper at play? This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/SYMBOLS and get on your way to being your best self. Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:21:27 - Sacred car collision 0:25:01 - Ranking LSM autism 0:28:06 - Do Colin and Chris drink coffee? 0:47:45 - Phil Summers Mega Man book 0:49:52 - Sony and SoCal studios are donating to the wildfire recovery 0:51:47 - Until Dawn movie 1:00:11 - Rocksteady ends Suicide Squad 1:05:09 - The Blood of Dawnwalker 1:11:35 - Ubisoft + Tencent? 1:18:59 - Square Enix releases a Group Customer Harassment policy 1:23:27 - Ecco the Dolphin trademark 1:29:02 - Elden Ring Nightreign network test registration is up 1:30:28 - Lunar Remastered has a date 1:33:14 - What are we playing? 1:54:54 - Sony has shut down two live service projects 2:19:14 - More Xbox games on PlayStation 2:43:49 - Bungie's Gummy Bears 2:57:35 - New PS Plus Extra and Premium games 3:05:41 - Top downloads on PSN for December 3:09:52 - Our thoughts on Switch 2 3:30:35 - PSVR2 recommendations 3:36:29 - Gamifying our life 3:45:11 - Swimming in games 3:50:41 - PS4 living on 3:53:33 - Prestige system for platinums Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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  4:18:29

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