Sacred Symbols, Episode 110: Gatekeeping (Patreon)

Next month, the long-in-development Avengers game comes to PlayStation 4 (it'll come to PS5 when the console launches, too), and there's a special sort of catch for Sony gamers: When Spider-Man arrives in Crystal Dynamics' long-awaited multiplayer adventure in 2021, he'll only be available within the ecosystem. That is to say, Xbox and PC players won't have access to arguably the biggest character in the entire experience. Is such a move a vestige of generations past? Or are the Big Three about to compete for every exclusive scrap like never before? We delve in. Then, in other news: PS4 continues to climb the historical sales charts, Street Fighter V is about to welcome four new challengers, 2020's Call of Duty is on the verge of being revealed, Ubisoft sheds more dead weight, and more. And in listener questions, we explore if visual novels are really video games per se, whether Wild is officially vaporware, if the so-called "Console War" between fans of the different consoles is getting better or worse, and if it's possible that Chris doesn't understand food. All of that -- and much more! -- on the other side of the play button.

Timestamps:

0:00:17 - Intro.
0:09:12 - What do we do when we're not gaming, working, or sleeping?
0:14:22 - Colin talks about Mega Man.
0:15:19 - Chris doesn't understand food.
0:19:43 - Colin loves flamingos.
0:22:35 - A Bush's Baked Beans museum exists.
0:23:17 - Colin admits inverted controls are impossible to explain.
0:24:50 - Is Pragmata gonna be the next BioShock?
0:26:56 - Oxford Comma drama.
0:28:46 - Do we enjoy baths?
0:31:41 - The conflict of interest in becoming a Sony stockholder.
0:33:02 - What have we been playing?
0:38:22 - Everything from Sony's newest State of Play.
0:43:51 - PlayStation performs historically well in recent Sony financials.
0:55:58 - The Avengers on PS4 and PS5 get Spider-Man exclusively.
1:10:05 - Here's how PS4 peripherals will (or won't) work with PlayStation 5.
1:16:44 - Street Fighter V is getting four new characters.
1:19:02 - Activision is almost ready to talk about 2020's Call of Duty.
1:26:12 - More publishers talk financials, sales data.
1:27:39 - Sony has revealed PlayStation Store's most-downloaded games for July.
1:33:19 - Ubisoft exec Tommy Francois has been fired.
1:34:08 - Beyond Good & Evil is being made into a TV show.
1:37:27 - SEGA President Kenji Matsubara has resigned.
1:38:39 - PlayStation Now is getting a few key games in August.
1:39:36 - Minor game announcements and release date information.
1:41:16 - This week's new releases for PS4, PS Vita, and PSVR.
1:56:03 - Are visual novels actually video games?
2:01:07 - Do we miss E3 yet?
2:07:19 - Could it ever make financial sense for Sony to fold PS+?
2:13:36 - So... Wild is vaporware, right?
2:16:54 - Is the so-called "Console War" between fanbases ratcheting up?
2:21:08 - Is Take Two backpedaling on its next-gen game price hikes?