Sacred Symbols, Episode 160: Red Storm Rising

Rush was barking? Couldn’t tell.

Sineo

Games with Gold is actually better than PS Plus for August 2021. Granted, this is the first time in a very long time.

Anthony J Sanchez

I have to assume that the reason most mainstream outlets are not talking about China is because Tencent has already started to own them in some way. This is really scary.

Guybrush Threepwood

Yeah, I think we said that on a previous episode.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for listening and keeping an open mind. =)

Colin Moriarty

Thanks for continuously bringing awareness to how dangerous China is as they continue to seep into the American culture. I'm sure you're aware of this but the main reason why Huawei is banned here is because the US government is afraid that their networks can be used as a backdoor to hack into secured networks in both private and public entities. Most of the countries already sold their souls to allow Huawei to be available only because of their low rates that is subsidized by the Chinese government.

Brian Lau

Thank you guys for having this conversation it’s important to hold space because politics is invading the “sacred” space of video games and we can’t turn a blind eye in ignorance to what is happening, it’s not a feeling, or preference, or a side. We are living in a time where our freedoms especially in open speech is under threat.

Sineo

I can only speculate, but I’m sure we both know what their ambitions are in this industry, and it’s more than just money. The side I want to explore is the potential for these investments to backfire, with the companies they go after stagnating, and the money they paid out being used for fresh, new startups. Time will tell, but I do agree, none of this is looking positive at the moment.

Kyle

I still need to get into Exodus.

Colin Moriarty

They sold the company for nearly 50% over its market value. The money is red. =)

Colin Moriarty

That's great to hear! Thank you.

Colin Moriarty

It's a type of water.

Colin Moriarty

When a company is bought-out, its talent is usually bought-out and paid over time, as well (unless they're explicitly buying an organization, IP, licenses, etc., in which case they may be let go). It seems like Tencent is simply involving itself with companies that are already successful, and seeding future projects while staying back. The question really is: Why? Tencent employs more than 10,000 people. Why would it want, say, Crytek?!

Colin Moriarty

That's fine, as long as they care.

Colin Moriarty

I hope this isn’t taken the wrong way, and if it comes off too ignorant then please don’t hesitate to delete. Given the cultural divide between China and the west, im genuinely curious how successful all these ventures into video games and entertainment will be. You talk about sumo digitals higher ups becoming millionaires overnight, but what happens if/when they take their fortunes and move on? I’ve seen first hand how hard Chinese companies struggle in the energy industry here in northern Alberta after a company like nexen was bought out. I just wonder if similar fates await entertainment companies as well

Kyle

Here in Canada, the Liberal government started to keep an eye on foreign video games companies buying out Canadian ones. https://financialpost.com/news/economy/video-game-china-liberals-trudeau-canadian-heritage They're care about the economical repercussions rather than the political one it seems

What is a 'smart' water?

Ladder Ape

Chris has been on a tear the past few weeks. He is becoming one of my favorite personalities in media

Clint

Great episode guys. Colin you could not be more right about China. Sumo sold out for big money. I think it is getting to the point of how can people be giving Activision Blizzard a hard time for their errors which are wrong but on the other hand they are ignoring Tencent and communist China taking over company after company. While China supports genocide. I know it is hard but I am actually starting to try and not support things that are made in China and or supported by China. It is also an environmental issue when China is over 27% of world pollution with us in second at 11%. China needs to become the focus of our attention. We need to become the UNITED States again or China will be more of a monster than any country in the world can handle. Long rant but thanks for the great episode guys!

Eric S

Personally I feel like the resistive triggers are Dualsense's best new feature - I never liked the pressure gun (Tikah?) In previous Metro games, but now that I have to pump it using actual force, it just became my favorite weapon in Exodus. It's so immersive and cool.

MISZCZOGRZMOT

Like I've said, none of us can avoid China. It is what it is. But we should expect the people at the top to start thinking about the people at the bottom, and bring us some options.

Colin Moriarty

I hope your situation(s) get sorted out.

Colin Moriarty

Weird, no?

Colin Moriarty

I have! Bought it last year, but never played it.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah man, China and the USA are totally equivalent. You're right.

Colin Moriarty

@notaxation @LastStandMedia @SumoDigitalLtd Their history is rich, their people are lovely, and their Government is a Global Blight. Thank you Colin for keeping the heat on this subject. To the extent that I’m able I do not support companies that support the CCP.

BlindRiot

There is something wrong with the PS5, for sure. All my previous Sony consoles (PSP, PS Vita, PS3, PS4) work fine to this day without any issues, meanwhile my PS5 already had to be replaced by Sony, cause it stopped turning on. When the new unit came back, something must've gone wrong with the firmware update, cause 5 of my games, that were downloading in the background at that time, all crash with a CE-108255-1 error immediately. It's a mix of PS4 and PS5 titles, and other games that I tried work just fine. The power wasn't turned off during the software update, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, and the usual 'system software was successfully updated' message popped up, so it all seemed fine at first. USB software updates, redownloading games, resetting the console, and rebuilding the database didn't help, so it went back to Sony, and my base PS4 is back from its retirement again.

MISZCZOGRZMOT

It’s amazing (not really I guess) how the same media class who wants a statement from every corporation possible on American social issues (BLM splash screens in Call of Duty, Madden etc). Is suddenly mum when it comes to genocidal dictatorships taking over swaths of the industry.

DeucesBruh

Colin, have you seen the game "Super Blood Hockey"? It reminds me of Ice Hockey for NES.

Derek Alcott

Commenting on Sumo Digital: Under international law, USA illegally bombs other countries, most recently Somalia, and in most cases results in the killing of innocents all in the name of "freedom." I would say both China and the USA have a fascinating set of good morals.

Joshua m. anderson

Yeah. Insomniac was a steal.

Colin Moriarty

It would be really unfortunate, but we are established here. I doubt that will happen. Patreon has raised a lot of money; I would assume they would go public first.

Colin Moriarty

There are enough starry-eyed leftists around that we're going to have issues like these mushrooming up, from time to time. I'd characterize Chris that way. I always thought he was a funny guy, but never thought his anti-SJW stuff implied he knows much about politics. With that said, he's one of the starry eyed people. He effectively said: "There's no moral issue here. That's capitalism. 💫healthcare💫 ." That was...almost too on script. At any rate, I'm curious if there will be noticable changes within the work of the companies bought out by Tencent that will be noticable over time. We'll see.

Max Stahl

If Patreon sold to Tencent, how would LSM react?

Dave Ramos

I live in Oklahoma, I've been trying to inform people on china. It seems like nobody cares. They are buying up so much land around the area I live in. Being a predominantly red state it boggles my mind that it's being allowed. Everybody's more worried about red and blue politics that we're allowing our country to be whored out to who ever has the money.

Luis Figueroa

I bet insomniac regrets selling early and Sony is glad they bought at the right time. insomniac could been bought doe at least 1 Billion they are 100x better than sumo

Hose A Contra Razz

I think you should expect updates to games to be free. We are a two person studio and just released a large, free update for a game that sold like 10,000 copies. Corporations don't need defense.

Colin Moriarty

If people agree with you, then they'll happily charge!

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, I think that's a fun idea too. =)

Colin Moriarty

I wish. They just don't sell well enough for more than a small team to work on.

Colin Moriarty

It is definitely over. I hope the world enjoys what's next, because ironically, the US is still the most removed from their influence.

Colin Moriarty

How does the Palestinian-Israeli conflict pertain to the gaming industry, the manufacture or creation of video games, or the economics of video games? Sorry, but this is a dumb comment. <3

Colin Moriarty

Thanks. =) Maybe we will!

Colin Moriarty

Nah. I want to continue to make sure it pertains only to our content or subject matter. I'm happy doing it this way.

Colin Moriarty

I kinda wanna play it. =\

Colin Moriarty

Chris if it's not worth 10 bucks then dont pay for it. lol the level of crying from people about the 10 $ is hilarious and confusing. I personally think the dualsense haptics adds a different level of immersion to the game and greatly enhances the experience. But at the end of the day you have the OPTION to play the dlc with upgraded ps4 specs. No one forcing you to pay for anything. You dont think it's worth it and that's fine but it's very worth it to many of us.

Big titty drinker

Great show but I have to say that I totally disagree with you on the Ghost of Tsushima $10 upgrade. I’ll happily pay $10 for new Dualsense features as I’m confident it will be fantastic. At the end of the day it’s an option, if you don’t care about the feature, don’t buy it.

Shaun Wilkinson

I love the idea of having sacred symbols plus episodes dedicated to the last of us show. I’m excited❗️

Josh Lucas

BIG DICK ENERGY

Platinum Adventures

I look forward to future meet ups. 2d pixel art games are so fun and would love to see more 1st party games done in this style.

Derek Alcott

I will add, it’s pretty scary entering the “Chinese century”. The USAs golden age may be well over 😬

Robert Graham

The take on China still falls pretty flat after the myopic American view of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict (very different from most people’s view in Europe). I agree China is a highly immoral authoritarian government we shouldn’t support. But why not Israel as well? Seems like cherry picking. But alas. Appreciate the conversation

Robert Graham

I personally can't wait to watch the live show! Maybe one day you guys will do a live show down here in Florida! You could name it, CLS Live and on Vacation! Until then, keep up the amazing work.

Anthony J Sanchez

Love the passion, Colin. I know you said you were done with politics & the old YouTube channel, but you should definitely consider bringing it back for topics like these. A lot of good videos on there still.

Brandon Soto

In regards to the final fantasy XIV boom, World of Warcraft is in a truly disastrous state currently and many players a fed up and looking for a new game. Now major WoW content creators are trying new games. Most notably Asmongold, one of the biggest streamers on twitch, switched and has since had multiple millions of people tune in to his streams alone.

Drew Sleezer

Hey all! Wanted to comment on the Final Fantasy XIV bit. It’s actually funny that Dustin brought up World of Warcraft, because the influx of players to FFXIV is actually a direct result of a WoW exodus. I’ve been playing FFXIV since last August and have put in 800-900 hours since then, but have never played WoW, so this is definitely a Final Fantasy perspective. From what I gather WoW’s most recent expansion left players extremely burned, causing a lot of WoW streamers who initially scorned FFXIV to actually pick it up. The bulk of the craziness started when Asmongold, one of the biggest streamers on Twitch and the biggest WoW streamer, started playing about a week or two ago and completely filled up a server. Since then it’s gotten to the point we’re seeing now. To another one of Dustin’s point, the opening of the game (A Realm Reborn) is a complete slog, and while the story isn’t bad, it’s age definitely shows. However, you can indeed play for free all the way through the 2nd expansion (Heavensward) which has a phenomenal story and corrects a lot of the problems with ARR. The game only gets better from there and as a whole, I think FFXIV holds up as one of the best stories in the franchise. The games director Yoshi-P is also extremely communicative with the player base, another issue WoW players have with Blizzard. If the Activision story is any indication, and with Endwalker on the horizon, the influx of new players won’t be ending anytime soon.

Del Tor’ah

Undead Nightmare got a 10 at IGN.

Colin Moriarty

I'm not sure I know enough to be an ambassador of the message, but I'm happy to try.

Colin Moriarty

Maybe one day soon.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks for your support! Glad to be there.

Colin Moriarty

It's very good. =)

Colin Moriarty

This is some novel.

Colin Moriarty

Indeed.

Colin Moriarty

=)

Colin Moriarty

That Tom Clancy joke was pure gold😂

Jonathan Gonzalez

I feel like The Division is the last true feeling Tom Clancy project lol

Kenneth Oms

I have a few bullet-points. 1. Gen. 1 Digimon got banned from my elementary school, so we just started battling in the bathroom. 2. The PS Classic is amazing after you hack it, which takes 5 minutes. 3. Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare may be better than the base game.

Jeremy Seal

This literally posts right after China Uncensored's post on my Patreon feed🤣 Seriously, Colin you should try and appear on their podcast China Unscripted, and highlight the growing threat of CCP blood money in the gaming industry, and its corrupting effects. From Blitzchung to Sumo.

NinjaDC

Time to go on Rogan or Rubin Report!

Alejandrito Sierra

I seriously look forward to the show on Fridays! I love them when they’re long like this as well cuz it makes half of my work shift fly by! Thanks.

Matthew Weinhagen

I just got to the Trigger Witch part and I have it on my list of games to buy. There is a physical version that I'm interested in.

Derek Alcott

Hey fellas, I was just listening to your conversation regarding favourite drinks when gaming. When the talk turned briefly to alcoholic beverages, I was reminded of a short period of my life where I almost became an alcoholic due to the introduction of alcohol into my nighttime gaming routine and I thought maybe I’d share this cautionary tale. It was the beginning of 2013. My girlfriend and I had just had our first child the year before, and as exhausted first-time parents, we’d often need to relax at the end of the day with our respective coping mechanisms; My girlfriend would pour a glass of wine and wearily make her way to bed to watch TV shows and fall asleep, while I would pour myself a mason-jar sized mixture of spiced rum & Diet Coke or Gin & Fresca (an underrated summer drink) to nurse all night, and set up on the sofa to fire up my PS3 and play games. The big game at the time was Call of Duty Black Ops II and I was decent at the game. Now, while having a night-cap is normal and fine, my problem began when I realized that getting a fat alcohol buzz was actually making me better at the game. And not just a little bit. The effects of the alcohol took the edge off of the intense multiplayer competition enough that I could really get into a flow-state of headshots and killstreaks. It was akin to Popeye downing a can of spinach and pulverizing Bluto to save Olive Oyl. Gone was the second-guessing of my skills. Gone were moments of hesitation that got me killed, replaced by fearlessness and bold manoeuvres that my opponents didn’t see coming. My confidence spilled over into post-game lobbies, which, in those days, were a bastion of shit-talk from low-lifes, ragers, squeakers, racists and motherfuckers. I deftly and eloquently disarmed verbal assailants pre and post game and pummeled them in-game. It was intoxicating. Literally and metaphorically. I was elite. I was a king. I was winning. Eventually though, the alcohol would either wear off, dropping me into a sleepwalkers state of exhaustion, or it would consume me until I became too drunk and my skills would wane, my reaction time slowed, and my words slurred, dulling my sharp tongue between rounds. The next morning I would wake up feeling like a bag of smashed assholes; the memories of the previous nights shenanigans and victories barely accessible. Trying to assist in parenting was even more difficult than normal and I regretted my choice to drink the forbidden nectar the night before. Still, I would all too frequently fall back into the trap; a few hours of godlike ability would lead to a day of struggle, pain, poor-parenting and ineffectiveness as a partner. One day I had the realization that I had to change. That day was November 5, 2013, when Call of Duty: Ghosts was released and I hated it. No amount of drinking made that game fun for me, so I walked away. Last year I really got into Modern Warfare and Warzone, but I found alcohol less effective as a performance enhancer in that game, luckily for me. I haven’t played many FPS games recently and haven’t touched alcohol in over a year. In that time I’ve gone back to sober gaming and most recently had a great time platinum-ing Habroxia 2 and Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart. Sometimes I get the urge to mix up a big glass of rum and Coke, but I remember the time when I nearly slid down the slippery slope of requiring alcohol just to have a good time and I settle for a Monster Energy Ultra (Purple or white flavour) or a crisp A&W root beer. Sorry for the long story and please forgive any spelling, punctuation or grammatical errors as I wrote this on my tiny phone. Love the entirety of the Last Stand Media body of work. Stay gold, Ponyboys. Stay gold.

Madshibs

I think it's the right move for the brand, and for Konami.

Colin Moriarty

Nothing like a lil Red Scare. =)

Colin Moriarty

I wanted to see what Dustin would do!

Colin Moriarty

Definitely a complex issue. Impossibly so!

Colin Moriarty

Free PES is so fantastic. It’s miles better in the gameplay department.

A Hind D

Always brightening my Fridays !!

Stephen Forgione

That thumbnail is horrifying and I love it. I don’t like China’s growing threat, but man does that thumbnail capture it!

GameSimp

Interesting discussion on fiduciary duty and moral obligation, gents. Not easy things to talk about for many, but an absolutely necessary conversation that should be had more often in the proper contexts. I appreciate LSM's willingness to engage in topics like this.

Mr. MacDeadly

I'd like to have him on SS+ in the coming week or two to discuss this.

Colin Moriarty

They have to compete!

Colin Moriarty

Yes.

Colin Moriarty

Who knows.

Colin Moriarty

In the time you took to write this, you could have just read the timestamps.

Colin Moriarty

If anyone is interested, I would recommend watching Richard Hoeg's video on the Activision Blizzard lawsuit. He goes in depth on each issue presented on the lawsuit and how each side could come at these issues if it went to court.

Hmm. I dunno if I agree with the PES discussion. You guys are seeing this as a sign Konami are back but I'd argue the opposite. They've taken their only active high budget / console franchise and turned it into an upscaled mobile game. Not sure what its budget was but PES always looked gorgeous and actually had better player faces than FIFA. Can't say the same for the awful looking trailer they put out. There was also a beta a few weeks back and it felt significantly downgraded from PES 2021. I mean, if PS4 is gonna hold God of War 2 back than imagine the impact of cross-play with mobile. I do agree it makes business sense but it's a huge loss for those of us who want a premium experience. Thanks for reading my write-in anyway Colin. Time to listen to the rest of the show!

Your Boi Nicky V

Is there talk of the Activision Blizzard news that broke? Or will that be next week?

Keith Cook

Today we are talking about CHINA

Rob Aitken

will steam deck or a version of it be VR compatible? could have big implications for the future of VR

Kameron Dunlap