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Sacred Symbols, Episode 160: Red Storm Rising (Video) (Patreon)

Published:
2021-07-23 16:02:00
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

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0:24:48

0:54:57

Files

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Red Storm Rising | Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast Episode 160

It's time for you to wake up. Unsavory, international, and shadowy corporate and political interests are starting to tie themselves more and more to the gaming industry, and it's time for us to talk about how to resist. It's impossible for any of us to live truly ethical, modern economic lives -- only those living truly off-grid are doing so -- but it's incumbent on us to know what's happening, why, and to what extent. Tencent's recent acquisition of Sumo Digital brings the forces of Chinese Communism closer to Sony than ever, and that relationship never, ever comes at a neutral cost. Quite the opposite, for the cost is implied. Plus: Konami is making major moves with PES and some other IP, Netflix and PlayStation may be cozying up to each other, Ubisoft announces the most generic shooter you've ever laid eyes on, Xbox Series X outsells PS5 in America, and much more. Then: What's the best-looking 2D game ever? Should Sony investigate manufacturing its older hardware and games for a niche audience? Is Sony making a massive mistake with its Ghost of Tsushima upcharge? Are we seeing the edge of Chris' power when it comes to a new, still-non-existent Splinter Cell title? Get some Sacred Symbols merch! https://LastStandMedia.shop A new episode of Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast launches each Friday morning. To receive instant, ad-free access, as well as other perks, please support the show on Patreon at http://patreon.com/LastStandMedia You can also subscribe to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and other podcast providers, or use this link: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GKTOA7ZhIfrxIxSR0rg25 Listen to Colin's retro and nostalgia podcast, KnockBack (also available on podcast services): http://bit.ly/KnockBackPod #SumoDigital #LastStandMedia #SacredSymbols 0:00:00 - Intro 0:08:52 - A few smaller news items. 0:13:38 - Activision is being sued by the State of California 0:25:10 - Is the Steam Deck a handheld PS4? 0:32:10 - What are our go-to gaming beverages? 0:36:39 - What have we been playing? 0:54:57 - Tencent is purchasing Sumo Digital (POLITICAL CONVERSATION) 1:20:44 - Will PlayStation collaborate with Netflix? 1:34:57 - Is something fundamentally wrong with the PS5? 1:43:44 - Dead Space is getting the remake treatment. 1:48:04 - Ubisoft has revealed Tom Clancy’s XDefiant. 2:01:26 - Pro Evolution Soccer is now called eFootball and will be free to play. 2:12:40 - The NPD has released numbers for June. 2:21:06 - Square Enix may be bringing Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster to more platforms. 2:26:54 - Final Fantasy XIV servers are in short supply. 2:31:36 - Konami is bringing Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel to PS4 and PS5. 2:36:59 - PUBG is getting an animated series. 2:42:48 - News Wrap-Up 2:44:49 - Why doesn’t Sony release a modern version of the PSTV? 2:52:04 - What games have the best feel? 2:58:37 - Why do we have beef with charging for next gen versions of games? 3:06:32 - Sony called Death Stranding a franchise. Why? 3:09:44 - Have we ever played DLC that was better than the main game? 3:16:07 - What is our favorite game in a 2D pixel art style?

Comments

MJ SKA BOI

The CCP is Communist in name only. They aren't even a democracy. Please don't confuse or let room for confusing their violent authoritarianism and use of concentration camps with something out of the theory of Communism. It's of utmost importance to criticize and stand against violent authoritarianism and torture, but it is also important to, in doing so, avoid sounding the alarm of the new Red Scare. There are both beggars and billionaires in China. The CCP exists antithetical to Communism. It's an important note to make. Edit: I just wanted to come back and say that I am not hating and I don't mean to preach. It's just that you are essentially using the old anti-Communist "domino effect" language to complain about what is actually capitalism in action.

Anonymous

I wish you boys mentioned Red Candle Games. Such an egregious example of China’s overreach.

Brian Salazar

Just to paint the complete picture Dustin, Amazon paid $250 million for the Lord of the rings television rights ALONE. They’ve committed to making 5 seasons worth north of $1 billion. Much like Microsoft and game pass Amazon is just this monolith of a company that they can spend money like this and their competitors simply can’t compete on that level.

Barrel Titor

There is a difference between CCP political influence and outright corruption/bribery. The latter, which China takes a heavy handed criminal punishment approach. Something the US could learn to outlaw lobbyists. Business can make comment, they have zero right to make law. I'll give this a listen later.

Matthew Kohlman

I’m probably going to post a couple of comments about the Tencent thing. Honestly I think it would be a great topic for a call in episode of SS+ So I’ll say this. The isolationist fantasy where we just cut off large sections of the world from western economies does not exist. The way these internment camps get shut down is when the people of China cultural attitudes change on the subject and demand them to be shut down. Which is not realistic under their current dictatorship. No amount of external influence is going to shut those camps down. Punishing the Chinese people by refusing to work with their businesses does not shut those camps down. Refusing to work with Tencent does not hurt the CCP. They have more money than they know what to do with. It does hurt the company that could have benefitted from their investment.

LastStandMedia
>>64337059

Please leave all your comments to this post. We're trying to limit multi-posting. China's internal affairs are ultimately up to them to sort out. It doesn't mean we should help them, and it's certainly not our problem if us not working with them hurts them.

Tristen Wilbers

In regards to China, I know a common argument recently is that American or western companies should buy up companies in order to prevent Tencent and friends buying in. As someone in the film industry, the writing is totally on the walls for what the mass consolidation of an industry WILL do. Disney, an American company (with no actual appreciable Chinese ownership that I know of) buying Fox is probably the biggest shill and censor for the CCP in the industry. They have been for over a decade. With the growing middle class and rise of the Chinese market, I absolutely guarantee you that, not only will CCP hands buy into more gaming companies in America, but the market forces will start to dictate companies like Microsoft and Sony, no matter how impervious we believe them to be. I don't believe that consolidation of the games industry is necessarily good because if Microsoft wants to make money in China, that effects EVERYONE that they own. I know a hefty price tag is appealing, but staying independent is perhaps the best thing for the industry. But I know the financial incentive is impossible to avoid.

MJ SKA BOI

@LSM, please understand that I have not defended the CCP, and I certainly would never do so. You misunderstood me, I think. I merely pointed out that they are in fact CINO. That was not meant to be taken as a defense of the CCP. That was a defense of Communism. And don't worry, I'm not looking for an argument my friend, I just think that Red Scare language is tired, like the 104 years old kind of tired.

Kenneth Oms

On the PS5 hardware comment. I just wonder why it only happens with ps5 games. I’ve had issues with almost every ps5 release but not a single issue with ps4 games

LastStandMedia
>>64338232

I personally don't believe either Sony nor Microsoft to be impervious, as they both manufacture their goods there and have penetrated the market with their machines. It's not good.

LastStandMedia
>>64338763

Totalitarianism has been strongest in the 20th century and beyond when tethered to communism and socialism. I just fundamentally disagree with you. It's like saying Juche isn't communism because they put a paintbrush in their logo. It still is what it is.

Angel DeJesus

On the netflix/sony collaboration, everyone keeps talking about psnow needing a rebranding, what if this is that? They make a deal with netflix, move psnow there bit by bit, and boom, its rebranded?

Brent

I played call of duty Cold War with the PS5 dual sense and I love the haptics. It adds something more visceral to the sense of firing a weapon. Very satisfied with the implementation and missed it sorely when I went back to playing The Division 2 which does not implement haptic triggers sadly. Also , just to mention I’m lmao at Dustin who is apparently appalled at the discovery of “human hair wigs!” from China. Pretty sure human hair wigs have been around for a long time and really aren’t that unusual. But I don’t know what means and methods the Chinese are using to acquire such human hair. Here’s hoping it’s nothing nefarious.

MJ SKA BOI
>>64356687

Human hair wigs are likely not related to the concentration camps, and I only say this because human hair is easy to come by. China doesn't need to murder people to make wigs. However, if my memory is on point, there have been reports or rumors that organ harvesting was happening over there. There is absolutely torture of human beings being committed in these "reeducation facilities." The very concept of these facilities is torture. Their goal IIRC is to convert people from the Muslim faith, which is just awful.

MJ SKA BOI

@Jake Good, enable replies to your comments and we can have a discussion. There is a lot to unpack here. Namely, how the Soviet Union was a Socialist state, rather than a society practicing Communism. Also, if Ping ACTUALLY was committed to Marxism, there would not simultaneously exist billionaires and beggars in China. The mere existence of an economic class hierarchy is a disqualifier for Communism. As far as your comments on Cuba and Venezuela go... Again, let me reply to your comments and we can have a discussion.

hugplx

Pwa - row

Colton McKinney

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is one of my favorite games of the last year or so. It will also be the last game I ever buy made by Sumo Digital.

Zack Fair

Football (soccer) is miles more interesting than your NFL where it takes 4 hours for a game to complete, what a bore and snooze fest

Caleb Greer

The Sam’s Story DLC for Metro Exodus, which you’ve yet to play, Colin, is better than the main game (I have all the achievements). It’s about an American, now a Ranger, trapped in Russia when the nukes went off, so he branches off on his own to try and get back to his father in America.

Nathan Guergis

“Blue Eyes White Supremacist” might be the funniest thing I’ve ever heard Chris say lol.

Julian Zhu

DLC convo was very interesting. For me, I'd say the Leviathan, Citadel and Omega DLCS for Mass Effect 3, Far Harbor for Fallout 4, Ballad of Gay Tony for GTA 4, Episode Arden and Episode Ignis for FF15, and lastly, Shivering Isles for Oblivion come to mind as "better than the main game". Great show as always. As someone who has lived/worked in China and is married to a Chinese national, I appreciate your tone Colin, when you differentiate a critique of communism/the the party/government and the people/culture/history. Much love guys.

Cristian R

Perhaps from a business perspective the $10 upgrade for the PS5 version sets a precedent for all future “Director’s Cut” games regardless of the lift to make the PS5 version. So while Ghosts may have been less work to upgrade, future games may require much more work and only cost $10 to upgrade.

Kramerica86

If a ceo turned down tencent with that level of an investment, could shareholders have them removed? Is this also if a ceo turns it down they are also ending their career?

Joshua m. anderson

Saudi disappeared a journalist... What was our government's response? More money. Colin, it's unfortunate you can't callout the atrocities we support and/or let go unpunished. If you truly believe what you say, you wouldn't buy video games owned by American companies as well.

J Shine

The energy that Colin has for China; I wish he had for racism, diversity in games, and police brutality. I would rather have to hear him yell and curse in the mic about things a lot of us, especially Americans, can actually make meaningful change about.

Kaz Redclaw

While God of War may not be a particularly great game for SteamDeck, I think Horizon would be a pretty good one, along with any other long RPG and adventure games. There's also a ton of games that are cross platform between Switch and Steam that would be great games for Steamdeck. Steam also has a tremendous number of retro styled indie games that will likely be great. Anything that is long, and has some grindy features will likely attract some people to play on a portable. Heck, I've gone out in the back yard while waiting for a lunar eclipse, and taken my Vita, then done remote play to my PS4 to play Final Fantasy 14, and done random grinding and Fate quests on it. I would never do a dungeon that way, but crafting? Level grinding? Perfect for a handheld. I'm probably not buying any Sumo games anymore either. I bought Sackboy's Big Adventure for PS5 recently, but didn't particularly think it was worth what I paid. I suspect the founders are sticking around on contract from the sale, but as soon as that contract expires they'll probably bail, and hopefully make a new company. They're not getting any good IP in the buyout though... Just the contracts and employees. Doesn't seem like a good deal for Tencent honestly. I've already stopped buying things from Actiblizzard due to their nonsense about taiwan and hong kong. For a lot of us, the health care question isn't about money, but rather about avoiding centralizing of the decisions on if people should live or die. In the UK, they've repeatedly had instances where they turned down life-saving treatments for people, then put a travel ban on those people so they can't leave the country to get that treatment elsewhere. They've also had people arguing that some people shouldn't get any health care because of their political views. That kind of thing is dangerous and I don't want it in the US.

Anonymous

@Chris I also experienced dualsense drift, it was pretty bad, so I contacted the customer support on twitter and they told me I had to mail it to the customer service center. I got my dualsense back a week later and Ive never had drifting issues again since

Fred Rumig

I stewed over the China debate all weekend, I see a lot of people on the right and even some lefties question the involvement of china in western/american companies. I want to know where all these questions and concerns were when we had a tough on China president in office. Not going to sit here and defend Trump about anything but I feel like he was one of the few politicians saying anything about China. Trump got mocked in the media for his attempts to block Chinese companies. I know Biden has paid some lip service to the growing fear of Chinese overreach but his actions show he is willing to let the CCP gobble up American corporations. The average American has no clue about how deep this goes, mainstream media doesn't report this stuff. I don't want to turn this into a right vs left argument but the Democrats are cultivating a communist minority in thier voting base and that voting minority is pushing the Democrat party more and more left. You have these people, openly calling themselves communists and rank and file democrats just continue to let them work inside the party. Hell, BLM is a Marxist group and they have the ear of every left leaning politician in this county. What i'm trying to say is, we are well past the point of concern, we are at the point we should be panicking. Geeze, go back to how soft Colin was on Blackrock buying up middle American homes, go look at where Blackrock wants to do business, look at thier social justice statements. Tell me I shouldn't be flipping out about it, I dare you. "you will own nothing and be happy"

Anonymous

Thank you for speaking up about the thread from China. I've been following Collin since the time in Kinda funny. Now I'm certain that I have been supporting the right person.

LastStandMedia
>>64480657

I'm just interested in Sumo from Sony's point of view, because Tencent gave them money to continue their outside relationships. If anything, this may draw them closer.

LastStandMedia
>>64499979

Well, as is clear, people take political points-of-views these days based solely on if it hurts their enemies.

Fred Rumig
>>64499979

Absolutely, the right is just as guilty as the left about that. Hell i'm guilty of it. How mad Trump made my political enemies brought me so much joy. Time for that is over, we need to try and talk sense into these CCP sympathisers, make them see how living under a communist regime is not the paradise it's sold as. Also, sorry for my horrible grammar/english. It's bad even when I try, product of Philadelphia Public School System.

The Eclectic Gamer
>>64478193

You are highlighting things in the abstract, which is meaningless. Who is being racist and what can Colin do about others being racist? Diversity doctrine has the markings of Marxist ideology and police brutality is far too vague. China and the CCP is the number 1 geopolitical threat, which affects all Americans in some way, shape or form.

Iqan Adil

Listening to this show, it reminds me when YuGiOh cards were banned in my school in 2004 in Baghdad. The principal called them Yoga cards 🤣. I live in Baghdad, Iraq. It's funny how the same thing happens in schools all over the world

George Edkins

With the final digital Vita games finally released recently, do you think its finally time for the Viking funeral?

Timothy Martin
>>64478193

China is literally putting people in concentration camps and your response is “why is Colin not talking about things I think he should talk about?” Why doesn’t Colin spend every show bemoaning the quality of life in the US? Probably because he is a grown man and chooses to discuss issues that are important to him. Also, the quality of life in the US isn’t that bad. Yes, we can absolutely work on ourselves but it’s also important to realize we are one of the richest and most free nations in the history of the world. It’s also a really weird flex considering Colin spent significant time last summer discussing racism, police brutality and diversity in gaming.

Timothy Martin
>>64449796

So amongst the normal despotism, repression and mayhem; the Chinese government is forcibly jailing entire populations in concentration camps where they are tortured, raped and forcibly sterilized. This government has de facto control of tencent. And you are comparing this situation to American studios who are not controlled by the US government being somehow supportive or complicit in the Saudi murder of a Saudi National? Big reach, brother.

Niall G

I don’t think PlayStation understands how streaming live content and streaming pre-rendered content works, if they’re partnering with Netflix for they’re streaming software. Sony have started with there own streaming services on Bravia TVs for Sony movies. Unless it’s the opposite and Netflix are working with PlayStation to figure out how to stream games on there service.