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Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast is the internet's premiere weekly PlayStation show dedicated to coverage of PS5, PS4, PSVR2, and Sony's deep gaming legacy stretching back to the mid-'90s. Join 20+ year gaming industry veteran and PlayStation brand expert Colin Moriarty -- along with his co-hosts comedian Chris Ray Gun and producer Dustin Furman -- as they go through the news of the week, highlight the best recent games, and interact with their incredibly loyal audience, all without tak ...
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Dinner 4 Geeks is just that. A celebration of all things geek shared by four friends over a weekly dinner. No area of geekology is off-limits. This show is very entertaining, but beware! It does suffer from a bad case of ADD!
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#320 | Closing Walls and Ticking Clocks
4:04:09
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We're getting into the late summer now, and it's no surprise that the news is beginning to pick up, starting with word of more Xbox games migrating to PlayStation. By our next episode, we should have at least one more Microsoft-centric title lined-up for PlayStation 5, a sign of the times as -- ultimately -- much of that catalog finds itself elsewh…
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#319 | Just A Taste of All That Might Come to Be
4:10:48
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We're pleased to present to you a decidedly old-school-coded episode of Sacred Symbols, recorded in the traditional 1v1 fashion. And we've plenty to keep us busy, starting with Sony's quarterly financials showing a thriving games division hampered by slowing console sales. But with PS5 Pro around the corner (and the inevitable first true price cut …
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#318 | Hey Man, Wake Up and Smell the Concrete
3:58:39
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While Sony may have purchased Bungie with specific end-goals in mind, it's clear -- some two years later -- that the deal hasn't improved PlayStation whatsoever. In fact, it's becoming increasingly nebulous why the acquisition was made at all, with Bungie hemorrhaging money, laying off hundreds, shedding high-end talent, and churning through funds …
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Anything can happen, but it seems likely that Firewalk's upcoming hero shooter Concord is essentially dead-on-arrival upon launch in late August. But with less than a month to go until release, what more can really be done? Making it free-to-play in the pre-release environment is an admittance of defeat and a sacrifice of what paying customers you …
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#316 | Days Pass, and This Emptiness Fills My Heart
3:55:34
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We're truly in the doldrums of summer when it comes to console gaming, at least when considering news, releases, and other notable happenings. But we have a show to do nonetheless, and there are still a series of interesting tidbits worth discussing. Nexon's Bungie-inspired shooter The First Descendant has found itself in some controversy around in…
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The next PlayStation Studios game in the pipeline is Concord, and we're all interested to see how it pans out. But by opening up its imminent beta weekend to all PS+ subscribers instead of those who pre-ordered the game, it's obvious that the pre-release energy for this title simply isn't there. Will a mass of people going hands-on change its traje…
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Days Gone came to PlayStation 4 more than five years ago, and though it sold very well, a sequel hasn't been greenlit, and will almost certainly never be. So why are we still talking about it? Because the civil war that fractured Bend Studio after Days Gone's release has left a sour taste in some folks' mouths. Fair enough. But ultimately, we've al…
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#313 | I Ain't No Mathematician, But I Can Count
4:39:17
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Good news emanates from South Korea, where developer Shift Up announced that PS5-exclusive release Stellar Blade has surpassed a million copies sold. To the rational thinking person, this is obviously a great accomplishment for a niche and provocative release on a single platform, and yet there are know-nothings debating its success. Thus, we corre…
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Nintendo and Microsoft both had rock-solid presentations during this faux-E3 time of year, and it has some PlayStation fans on their back foot. Why does it seem like Sony is dragging its feet when its competitors are going full steam ahead? Isn't there anything to say? And while many (including some of us on this show) make the argument that its la…
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#311 | You Can't Stop Entropy, So Why Even Try?
5:32:03
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t's getting crazy out there. Fresh off of E3 Lite comes a slew of new game announcements, more than we could possibly cover, nonetheless play. And this brings up a good point, one we burrow down on: Who's gonna be able to buy and play all of this stuff in an ecosystem dominated by vacuum-like powerhouses that leave little room for competition? Are …
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#310 | The Waves Keep on Crashing on Me For Some Reason
3:48:14
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fter a flurry of activity, we find ourselves in a bit of a lull. And frankly, that's good. We could all use a little bit of a rest. Doing so allows us to catch up, refresh, and anticipate what lies behind the next undoubtedly-busy corner. With E3's multi-pronged replacement readying a barrage of announcements and other newsworthy bits, let's clear …
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During Sony's fiscal recent reporting, the company promised that it would further outline its respective situations and plans with each of its internal silos. When it comes to PlayStation, the result was an informative, information-rich PDF and an earnings call-like presentation that gives us a lot of extra insight into the brand. Here's what's cle…
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We talk about 'first parties' and 'third parties' all the time, and we all fundamentally understand the terms. But what about the mysterious 'second party' game? Where do those fit in? Well, PS5 has recently been the recipient of two key second party exclusives -- Arrowhead's Helldivers 2 and Shift Up's Stellar Blade -- and both have been wildly su…
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Jim Ryan's tenure leading PlayStation is officially over (as is Hiroki Totoki's stewardship), and he'll be replaced by a co-CEO format moving forward. Sony veterans Hermen Hulst and Hideaki Nashino hope to divide and conquer, turning an ever-growing brand -- and Sony's flagship -- into an efficient gaming powerhouse. But can they deliver? Good ques…
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What a week! It seemed like we were just done recording last week when Helldivers 2-related drama broke out, and yet by the time we were ready to record this time around, the situation had mostly settled. How serendipitous for us and our analysis. Now, we're left to reflect and ask some questions, starting with why Sony had to push the first domino…
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Times, they are a-changin'. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is rightfully pleased with Xbox's performance on the PlayStation Store, bragging about being the biggest publisher on PSN while presenting Microsoft's recent financial report. His company has seven games in the top 25, more than even Sony itself. So, uh, batten down the hatches, because you're…
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Embracer Group's downfall will be long-studied as an example of capitalistic hubris you rarely see, even in our ruthlessly capitalist society. Following mass layoffs, spin-offs, and studio closures, Embracer will ultimately split into three smaller, more manageable entities, instead of acting as a lone unit with more employees than the entire PlayS…
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For better or for worse, modern console manufacturers like Sony and Microsoft -- and even Nintendo -- are slowly learning that sustained success in the mid-to-long-term will require a wider view. Whether via mobile, or PC, or even your competitors' own machines, a certain message is getting through to the powers-that-be, and when it comes to Sony, …
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We've long-wondered what Sony's plans were with its dormant SOCOM franchise (or if it even had plans at all). After all, we can't just ignore the success the likes of Ubisoft have found with titles like Rainbow Six: Siege, and even in a post-Zipper Interactive world, it always felt like PlayStation's tactical shooter never really got a fair shake a…
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#301 | It's Never Too Late to Reinvent the Bicycle
4:48:17
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It was just a couple of weeks ago that we were discussing the newest PlayStation 5 Pro rumors, and now we have fresh scuttlebutt to parse through, particularly concerning our precious framerates and the potential of the still-unannounced console. But we can't help but also wonder what PS5's market potential will be. Will it spread the field or, as …
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#300 | We're Nothing If Not Consistent
3:34:37
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Somehow, some way, we've made it to our 300th episode, and we did so without missing a single, solitary week between the first show in 2018 and today. We celebrated our milestone this past weekend with 500 listeners at a sold-out live show in New York City, and we're eager to reflect on what the experience meant to us. But the news marches on, too,…
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#299 | None of These Things Happen For Free
4:21:31
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Various leaks (and our own sources) have long-indicated the arrival of a so-called PlayStation 5 Pro console this calendar year, and now new reports have given us a great idea of what this yet-unannounced machine can do. Similar to 2016's PlayStation 4 Pro, PS5's Pro model largely keeps its CPU functionality in place, instead focusing on GPU-centri…
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#298 | I Know the Pieces Fit, 'Cause I Watched Them Fall Away
3:51:36
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From this show's perspective, there simply aren't that many rational targets of acquisition in PlayStation's sphere, especially with a tightening economy all around us. But there are two teams in particular -- Helldivers' Arrowhead and Stellar Blade's Shift Up -- that seemed like obvious potential marks based on Sony's historical activity. But with…
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#297 | There's No Magic When the Tricks Get Old
3:31:32
3:31:32
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The last week in gaming has been a bit of a downer, no doubt. But we don't dodge the news; we lean into it. And frankly, it's not all bad. Quite the contrary: Ghost of Tsushima is coming to PC, Spider-Man 2 has finally received a major update, and the STALKER Trilogy is migrating to console for the first time ever. But then there's drama surroundin…
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#296 | A Smooth Operator, Operating Correctly
4:23:31
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There's no doubt that the console games space at large is predicated on some shaky economics, and recent layoffs are just the beginning of what will likely be a substantial purging of talent from the ranks of teams around the world. Late last year, we caught wind (via the Insomniac leaks) that Sony was planning layoffs, and would close one of its t…
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