Sacred Symbols, Episode 421 | As They Gas, All I See Are Hieroglyphic Patterns (Patreon)

PlayStation's self-inflicted physical games fiasco is nearing a month deep, and it seems fairly obvious at this point that nothing's going to change. The good news is that -- amongst all the chatter, arguing, and prognostication -- comes more info from the American market that indicates that Sony is pissing people off, yes, but also making a seemingly rational commercial decision from their perspective. Thus, we find ourselves in a continued bind: Through all of the screaming and insulting is salient data, should one be willing to look with sober eyes. We discuss. Plus: Marathon loses its game director, Bethesda vows to deliver a lot more Fallout, Rebel Wolves promises Mass Effect-like save migration for its nascent Blood of Dawnwalker series, NBA 2K27 skips PlayStation 4, Kratos gets recast in Amazon's God of War series, and more. We then wrap things up, as we always do, with listener inquiries from our audience. What are our expectations for Until Dawn 2? Did the elimination of crunch culture in some corners of the industry have unexpected downstream effects? Should Grand Theft Auto be held to account for the real-world violence it potentially inspires? Has Colin created a new mosquito bite-obliterating trend?

Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro

17:43 - Del Walker has great insight

21:03 - Marathon's PVE mode

31:45 - Feel better, Brent

32:32 - Moriarty X Jaffe summer camp

44:43 - More sports talk please

48:52 - Dexter can't dance

53:24 - Mosquito's suck

57:22 - Physical game sales on PS5 are struggling + June US sales data

1:59:31 - Marathon's director quits

2:17:10 - Bethesda confirms Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters

2:33:22 - Blood of the Dawnwalker will carry its saves over into future games

2:38:06 - NBA 2K27’s cover athletes revealed, skips PS4

2:42:34 - Jonathan Blow’s new game confirmed for launch on PS5

2:45:37 - God of War’s Amazon show is recasting Kratos after on-set injury

2:49:45 - The first Call of Duty film is less than a year out

2:52:18 - What We're Playing (Onimusha, Onimusha 2, Powerwash Simulator 2 Star Wars DLC, Marathon, Halo Campaign Evolved)

3:08:38 - Can Until Dawn 2 live up to its predecessor?

3:13:29 - Is the elimination of crunch the cause of ballooning budgets?

3:19:34 - The phasing out of trilogies

3:24:42 - Will retro hardware prices skyrocket?

3:30:38 - Does GTA cause violence?

3:40:51 - Should Sony fund smaller single player games?