Sacred Symbols, Episode 197: Remedying the Payne (Patreon)

The studio behind Alan Wake, Remedy, has certainly come into its own in recent years, particularly on the back of its surprise-hit third-person shooter Control. Now, they've decided to go back to the near-beginning, remaking both the original Max Payne and its sequel on behalf of publisher Rockstar. Thing is, this spreads the team to at least five projects helmed by four publishers, so a big question needs to be asked: Is Remedy overextending itself, particularly on the back of its ill-received supplement to Crossfire X? We discuss. Then: A new Tomb Raider is PS5-bound, and is being built on Unreal Engine 5, Capcom raises salaries across the company by an average of 30%, SNK is officially owned by a murderer, and more. Plus: Listener inquiries galore. How are we going to take advantage of the upcoming slow release schedule? Is IGN's poor freelance pay indicative of a wider industry trend? Are fighting games perfect for the free-to-play model? Will Chris and Colin ever settle their bad blood over the quality (or lack thereof) of Home Improvement?

Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:05:46 - Sacred Symbols 200 LIVE (http://www.tinyurl.com/sacred200)

0:09:24 - Behavior is not defunct.

0:11:23 - Does Colin fear for his life?

0:12:09 - The Gamer Battalion almost wrecked a car.

0:15:08 - Super Perils of Baking!

0:24:56 - Don’t lift weights around Kyle Rittenhouse.

0:25:54 - Tim Allen… FIGHT!

0:32:58 - About the Hasan interview…

0:46:45 - MLB: The Show 22 is out.

0:46:58 - A new patch for Gran Turismo 7 is out.

0:48:11 - PS3 emulation is being worked on, but still far out.

0:57:22 - More PlayStation acquisitions are on the way.

1:04:14 - The MGS 35th anniversary website is fake.

1:04:31 - THQ Nordic is having an event.

1:05:29 - Chrono Cross on PS4 is not good.

1:09:17 - A lost Gex demo has been found.

1:10:56 - What is Shueisha Games?

1:17:06 - Trek to Yomi has a release date.

1:19:51 - Why are mermaids sexy?

1:23:24 - What have we been playing?

1:58:07 - A new Tomb Raider game has been confirmed.

2:09:10 - Remedy is remaking Max Payne and Max Payne 2.

2:20:33 - Capcom is handing out raises.

2:29:55 - SNK is 96% owned by the MISK Foundation.

2:35:46 - Layoffs have hit the PlayStation team.

2:37:09 - Hyper Scape will be wiped out and Pathfinder may take its place.

2:46:47 - eFootball is getting a huge update.

2:51:33 - Breakpoint will no longer be updated but a new Ghost Recon game is in the works.

2:53:07 - Nobody Saves the World is coming to PlayStation.

2:55:50 - PlayStation Now’s April titles have been revealed.

2:59:30 - News Wrap-Up

3:01:20 - Where are the releases for the rest of the year?

3:08:19 - Are freelance journalists getting underpaid?

3:15:45 - Would we recommend any politically focused games?

3:20:34 - Are video games the best form of escapism?

3:25:08 - Should fighting games be free to play?

3:30:00 -   What games did you originally not want to play but ended up loving?