Sacred Symbols, Episode 264 | Modern Lawfare (Patreon)

It looks like we can finally -- finally! -- stop talking about Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, at least on this podcast. That's because PlayStation settled on what it frankly could have always had, namely a 10 year deal for access to Call of Duty that runs into the mid-2030s, keeping the cash-cow franchise on Sony hardware for a long time to come. Is this an ideal situation for Sony? Certainly not. But that's their problem, not ours, and at least we can flip the page to make way for more interesting topics! Other news this week includes an interesting, years-late update to Dreams that could have at one time saved it from inevitable failure, drama surrounding the PC launch of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, release dates for Firewall Ultra and Goodbye Volcano High, and -- perhaps most importantly -- PlayStation 5's meteoric sales, as it continues to move at an extremely brisk pace around the globe. Listener inquiries wrap the show up, per usual, touching on topics like Baldur's Gate III, the potential return of Einhander, the PlayStation-centric censorship of indie title LISA, and thoughts on whether Colin compliments Dustin enough, which apparently he doesn't.

Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:15:42 - Pull the trigger, Justin

0:18:20 - What’s up with Sacred Sales Saga?

0:26:15 - LSM Missed Connections

0:28:05 - Moist Millium

0:32:03 - What’s our deal with pretzels?

0:41:50 - What have we learned from doing this show?

0:52:14 - PS5 sales are up in Europe and Square Enix is pleased with FF16 sales

1:01:07 - Ratchet & Clank won’t require an SSD on PC

1:11:31 - Goodbye Volcano High has a release date
1:19:08 - Firewall Ultra has a release date

1:33:46 - The GTA6 hacker won’t be going to trial

1:40:37 - What is The Borderlands Compilation?

1:44:36 - Tesco will no longer stock physical games

1:48:48 - EA Sports FC has a release date

1:53:28 - Legend Bowl looks like a new-age Tecmo Bowl

1:54:39 - This Way Madness Lies looks cool

1:57:10 - What have we been playing?

2:21:50 - Sony has signed a ten year deal for Call of Duty

2:41:39 - Media Molecule has released updated terms for Dreams

2:51:11 - Why don’t we want to play CRPGs?


3:02:14 - What did we think about AAA devs speaking out against being compared to BG3?

3:09:41 - Let’s talk about profits versus costs

3:14:19 - Is the LISA censorship a big deal?


3:23:50 - Has Einhander been forgotten?

3:27:48 - Is Bandai Namco a good acquisition target for Sony?