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Sacred Symbols, Episode 238 | Ad Astra (Patreon)

Published:
2023-01-20 17:00:07
Imported:
2023-02

Downloads

Content

Long-percolating rumors have been confirmed: Housemarque's wonderful third-person PS5 shooter Returnal is headed to PC, and you're going to need a beefy rig to enjoy all it has to offer. But not all is well in the stars. Krafton's The Callisto Protocol, released in December to middling reviews, was also met with soft sales. Somehow, the publisher spent something like $160 million over three years making the game, and the project is very much in the red. How could things have gone so poorly for such a promising title? And how is it possible that something like Callisto cost literally 10 times what it took for Remedy to make Control, and five times what they're spending on its sequel? Tons of sales data, discussions about Atomic Heart and Hogwarts Legacy, and more round out this week's news offerings, as we then delve into listener inquiries from Patreon. Should we expect Sony to make more acquisitions this year? Are recent layoffs at Microsoft at all emblematic of issues with the Xbox brand? Is the end nigh for GameSpot and Giant Bomb? Will one listener ever find out who the mystery person in the bathroom was? You know, the one listening to Sacred Symbols while doing his business?


Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:06:53 - HOEG!

0:07:41 - Sacred Symbols will help you regrow your hair

0:13:30 - Did you really watch Star Trek?

0:21:33 - Chris is in the bathroom stall at Disney

0:23:41 - A follow-up on last week’s LRG conversation

0:28:14 - TLoU on HBO

0:35:51 - Colin goes to get something

0:39:27 - The infamous Suicide Squad image

0:48:31 - Skull & Bones gets a new gameplay drop

0:51:32 - What is Sailing Era?

0:54:01 - Mundfish talks about Atomic Heart’s technical fidelity

0:57:20 - Is playing Atomic Heart pro-Russia?

1:14:59 - A leaked Hogwart’s Legacy artbook spills some details

1:28:53 - Can we trust Hogwart’s Legacy reviews? 

1:38:11 - What have we been playing?

1:51:23 - Returnal is officially coming to PC

2:02:24 - The Callisto Protocol has missed its sales targets

2:14:15 - Ultimate Sackboy is coming to phones

2:22:40 - NPD Group has released numbers for December and 2022

2:28:46 - The PlayStation blog has released data for 2022

2:30:52 - Will Sony make any more acquisitions this year?

2:41:40 - What do we make of the industry layoffs?

3:07:28 - Why do most games have RPG elements now?

3:16:09 - Layoffs have hit Giant Bomb and Gamespot


Files

Comments

Jackie Rheu

Im so excited we are finally talking about Halo like this. 343 has been breaking my heart for a decade. Love yall

Glendelman

(Patreon refreshed my exit survey before I could submit so I'm submitting here) I cannot, in good faith, support LSM media anymore. I listen to Sacred Symbols, Defining Duke, and was looking forward to listening to more episodes of Constellation. I really like Chris, Dustin, Matty, Cog, and Dagan, but I can no longer stand Colin. Sacred Symbols is my favorite podcast - period. But lately, and especially this episode, his political rants have become indistinguishable from those of far-right Twitter pundits. To do any modicum of research on JK Rowling's transphobic views and declare that, not only do they not exist, but have never existed, is to cover your eyes, plug your ears, and scream. To dismiss the similarities between this podcast's (rightful) stance against the encroaching influence of the CCP and Saudi Monarchy on the western game's industry and the Atomic Heart situation... To not see the point in the US helping prevent genocide and Russian expansion. To present what's happening in Flint and Jackson to US Ukrainian aid as mutually exclusive... I don't hear any nuanced discussion of these issues on here anymore. All I hear is Collin deciding he's right - he's won. With a verbal iron curtain. Unflinching support for games that haven't even come out yet just to own the libs. What happened to the actual skepticism? It's no wonder he can't find anyone to come onto the show to debate him, he's not even meeting them at the starting line. To debate him would just award what he's saying a false credibility. It reminds me when an IGN employee friend of his was on the podcast. Colin asked him why IGN doesn't hire employees with conservative values. He said something along the lines of, "we're just so tired." I'm just so tired. But hey, I'm just some schmuck who only contributed to the $5 tier. I implore you, Collin, if you're reading, to look at what comments get the most engagement in this thread. See that they're essentially much nicer versions of my comment. And consider popping the right-wing bubble you've seemingly put yourself in.

Mark Whittington

Is it just me or are Colin's John Lennon-esque "give peace a chance" take on the Ukrainian invasion getting almost dangerously naive? Maybe it's being on the other side of the world and shielded from the wars knock on effects like refugees, energy shortages, inflation, etc but this whole anti-war stance the American right has taken all of a sudden is bizarre and seems to have been adopted just to be contrary to the fact that the Democrats are supporting. Remember what happened last time you ignored a dictator rolling across Europe and didn't want to get involved.

Anonymous

The meltdowns happening in this thread are wildly amusing. Crazy how people just don't actually know anything at all about Colin.

Anonymous
>>100207859

The only historical analysis you people are capable of engaging in is tired world war 2 comparisons. Same identical talking points every time. Most neolib and neocon types like yourself seem to have a shallow knowledge of history that doesn't go earlier than the 1930s. Even if you go back 20 years further, World War 1 taught the opposite lessons.

Romeo

Listening to Dustin talk One Piece makes me happy.

TexasTaterSalad
>>100212456

I’m so happy to see some One Piece representation on the podcast, especially after Chris’s repeated slander on Snark Tank haha

Stefan Catinella

Been super busy lately taking care of my 6 month old. Thanks for all the great content I get listen to every day. Btw I’m team long episodes, don’t ever change.

Maul from Kayfabe Media on YouTube

What was the name of the guy.always shit talking Colin on twitter, I couldn't find it. I thought Colin said Ryan Esby but that didn't seem to be it

Matt Wiles

Do Sony listen to you, Colin? Because in the U.K., on ep.2 of The Last of Us, the opening credits said ‘based on the Playstation video game….’ Have they literally changed it for ep.2?! I didn’t hear anyone else say what you were saying….

Peter Pham

In the words of Colin M. "Do whatever you want to do." You want to give evil west a recommendation, do it!! I personally loved it!

Gabriel Baker

I know this isn’t how games (or any medium really) work, but that reported Calisto Protocol budget comes out to $20,000,000 for every hour of content in the game. Truly mind blowing. Even when you factor in the podcast they had leading up to the game’s release, it couldn’t have cost more than 2-3 million dollars.

Kyle Fox

To this day, JK Rowling has a public statement on transgenderism that people take umbrage with. You can disagree with her or not, but to say there is zero source of outrage is something else... Phew...

Timothy Martin
>>100286637

I think he means that the statement itself is not “umbrage worthy”. Just because people are outraged doesn’t mean that the root cause of their feelings is worthy of outrage.

Kyle Fox
>>100286637

I hear that. I just question the messaging of the discussion in the show. The game looks awesome.

Timothy Martin
>>100286637

I think the whole conversation is frankly tiring, mostly because one side routinely shifts the goalposts surrounding the discussion and then gaslights you into believing it’s always been that way. Case in point, I recently saw a discussion (over trans women in sports) in which a person was called transphobic because they said that trans women were not functionally indistinguishable from biological women. A position that (up to 6 months ago) we all understood to be undeniably true. It’s all become silly and ridiculous. I believe it’s more about lording a perception of moral authority over another person than it is about human rights

Michael Thew
>>100286637

More and more people are pushing back and your tried and true method of taken everything from dissenters to your disgusting views isn’t working anymore. All they have is impossible pussy that bleeds beet juice. You people preach about live and let live, until someone speaks out for real women. You and your whole movement is fucking gross and dangerous and I hope more and more people quit being afraid and use their voice to stop the tragedies of the poor mentally unwell people mutilating themself because you feel better about yourself when they kill themselves at a 40% clip. Fucking gross and you should be ashamed of yourself

Timothy Martin
>>100286637

Michael, not sure about the context of this comment or if it was addressed to me in particular.

Kyle Fox
>>100286637

Yeah, I am also unsure. Almost seems like a reply to the wrong comment.

Romeo

Man, Sea of Thieves is so overrated imo. No progression systems, and boring combat. And lets not forget Psychonauts 2 was crowdfunded, but they cancelled the PS5 version when Double Fine was bought. They even put HDR as an exclusive feature on Series X. Not even PC has it.

Timothy Martin
>>100286637

Hard to tell, patreon message threads suck. I want to be clear, I personally believe that all trans people have the same inherent spark of humanity as everyone else and deserve life, liberty and the opportunity to pursue happiness unburdened by undue physical harm and fear. I also personally believe that extending this to an unrealistic degree (like the example I provided above, or accusing people of being transphobic for not wanting to have a sexual relationship with a trans person, as another example) actually harms the core goal of basic human rights as it breeds resentment and hatred.

Timothy Martin
>>100359633

If I could like this comment more than once I would. I agree 100 percent. Boring, crappy progression and lame combat. Yes it’s “fun with friends” but what game isn’t?

Kyle Fox
>>100286637

Promoting freedom of expression/choice so long as no harm is done is the outcome I always lean back to. Transgenderism has been documented for 100s of years; no reason attempting to will it out of existence. Be kind to your fellow humans and where you can, help them do the best they can.

Timothy Martin
>>100286637

Yes, and to me the adult human has the authority to do what it will, my issue is that support for basic human rights granted to all has now morphed into coercion into a belief that extends beyond the reality of the world. I believe as stated above that all humans should be treated with dignity and respect, but to say there is no distinguishing between a biological woman and a trans woman? Please.

Kyle Fox
>>100286637

Agreed. Tough battles, but evidenced by how far we've come as a society!

Timothy Martin
>>100286637

Progress is only a positive when you are sure you are headed in the right direction. In many of these cases, I’m not so sure.

Michael Thew
>>100286637

Nah I’m talking to the thread creator. I think cutting off one’s junk is crazy and those that do it are crazy. They need professional psychiatric help, not irreversible surgery

Kyle Fox
>>100286637

Extreme solutions derive extreme beliefs. How does their life affect yours?

Anonymous
>>100286637

Just like people being attracted to the same gender need psychiatric help, am I right?

Kyle Fox
>>100286637

Careful, Thian, sarcasm will not be enforced in this thread LOL

Timothy Martin
>>100286637

Kyle, I don’t think either Michael or Thian are presenting well thought out discussion points. Both seem really reductive or obviously presenting strawman. You do you, Kyle but I’d ignore them both. Thanks for having a good, civil conversation earlier.

Michael Thew
>>100286637

No just like people that are bulimic and anorexic that need psychiatric help boss. But I suppose that you lump people together though and can’t or won’t recognize any difference in them. Let me ask you this, would you think it is ok to tell someone who is anorexic that they look fine or even fat and think that is alright because that’s just how they are? Because that is what your doing to those that have gender dysphoria, your fucking killing them. Don’t give me that shit that because people don’t accept them is why they commit suicide almost more often than not, mutilation to their body or not. Jews, blacks, Muslims have all suffered this and much worse than them and I don’t see them offing themselves at a 40% rate. Why is that? Because they are mentally Ill and don’t have the ability to figure out what they are feeling. So fuck you, every single trans that blows their brains out, jumps off the top of buildings, hang themselves. Their blood is on your hands, you killed them because you are weak and selfish and you take the easy way out by saying self mutilation is the answer, not that there is something wrong and they need psychiatric help. You can’t have it both ways.

Romeo
>>100359633

The concept is amazing and it looks beautiful, but as it stands its just a griefer’s paradise. I love pirates. I love reading pirate books. I love One Piece. Im still waiting for that quintessential action rpg/mmo pirate game. Black Flag left me wanting more.

LastStandMedia
>>100286637

It should be insanely easy to say, "look at this crazy JK Rowling quote" and then post it, but everytime people attack her, it's literally a screed. It's insane.

Kyle Fox
>>100286637

While Colin's comment reminds me it would be valuable to link: https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/

Greg Hommel

How are the armor and weapon stats in Destiny ok but God Of War is pointless? How are RPG elements in third person, over the shoulder action games annoying but they are fine in every other non-RPG game? By the same token, how are Sony’s third person action games getting old but other third person action games are not? First person games aren’t getting old. Sandbox games aren’t getting old. Online competitive shooters, sports games and indies aren’t either. This seems to be a phenomenon that specifically affects Sony’s flagship properties, as if quality itself were the aspect that has jaded someone.

Maul from Kayfabe Media on YouTube

Quick correction or I guess clarification. Octopath Traveler 1 was published by Nintendo, that is the reason it hasn't come to other consoles. Just mentioning because you guys have said you thought it was weird a couple times but I haven't heard you guys mention this.

Greg Hommel
>>100406321

Yea, sometimes I think I’m going to make this momentous point and I just end up whining worse than the person that got me going. Outstanding conversations though. I’m engaged to say the least.

Anonymous
>>100286637

Crazy how you bring up the 40% percent statistics when the reason for that is because of how society and family treats them. You would rather ignore statistics that show actually proof of how transitioning improves trans peoples life’s. You can pull up that 40% statistic all you want but please I want you to actually look into why instead of using it as a gotcha.

NeO JD

“I hope you guys can poop together next time.” What even is this show? lol