Sacred Symbols+, Episode LII: Et Tu, Brute?
Added 2020-07-28 16:00:05 +0000 UTCLast week, Microsoft unleashed an hour-long showcase revealing (or otherwise elaborating on) a bunch of its upcoming games: First, second, and third party alike. Some of these games are coming to PlayStation, yes, but most of these titles will be temporarily or permanently tethered to Xbox One and Xbox Series X. So, as we like to do on + every now and again, we thought we'd check in on the competition, see what they're doing right and wrong, and gauge our excitement (or lack thereof) for what they'll have to offer over the coming couple of years. From Halo Infinite to Playground Games' Fable, we cover everything shown in great detail, and we hope you enjoy our look at the other side.
Comments
Oh, I'm talking in regards to one of the writers. Not Chris or yourself.
Angel Delagracia
2020-08-15 03:58:23 +0000 UTCWell, we could only talk about what we knew at the time.
Colin Moriarty
2020-08-15 02:11:22 +0000 UTCIt is funny to see the Halo supportive talk everywhere, only for 343 to delay the game. So much for defending I guess.
Angel Delagracia
2020-08-13 15:54:20 +0000 UTCPhil Spencer didn't say that, it was Khareem Choudhry who said it as a joke in reference to the Xbox X reveal when he described it as "it's a monster".
TundraBoyMuc
2020-08-10 18:13:07 +0000 UTCGlad you're enjoying it. =)
Colin Moriarty
2020-08-05 18:42:11 +0000 UTCI'm not sure I totally disagree.
Colin Moriarty
2020-08-05 18:42:04 +0000 UTCThanks for listening!
Colin Moriarty
2020-08-05 18:41:54 +0000 UTCAgreed! It's a bit... buggy. But it's still fun with friends.
Conrad
2020-08-04 18:00:28 +0000 UTCgrounded is super fun with friends
John Ruiz
2020-08-04 17:30:09 +0000 UTCThere's no good reason to buy either new console right now to be honest. I feel like both companies have failed to show a "killer app" to launch with their new consoles. I'm also not certain this is a bad thing. With supplies constrained, the new consoles are likely going to sell out regardless. Why bother pushing your exclusive (and expensive to make) system seller titles into that environment? It may actually make more sense to release those later in 2021 when supplies are back up and people can actually buy a console to play that hot new game on.
Phades
2020-08-03 21:23:03 +0000 UTCGreat ep. Based on this showcase, I just don’t see why you would want to buy an Series X this holiday if you already have an xbox one.
Pete
2020-08-02 17:46:15 +0000 UTCTotally agree with that.
King0fChickens
2020-08-01 14:42:34 +0000 UTCThey've got the services down... they just need the games. They really do.
Colin Moriarty
2020-08-01 14:28:35 +0000 UTCThis is why the question needs to continue to be asked: Is Xbox as a brand becoming a publisher of games, first and foremost.
Colin Moriarty
2020-08-01 14:28:01 +0000 UTCMe too, that's why he's on the show.
Colin Moriarty
2020-08-01 14:27:23 +0000 UTCI agree. It looks... not good.
Colin Moriarty
2020-08-01 14:27:14 +0000 UTCI came up with it, but I could imagine others would stumble across the same idea. =)
Colin Moriarty
2020-08-01 14:27:01 +0000 UTCNot trying to defend the show or whatever, I just feel bad for Xbox man. I guess you could call me an Xbox guy, that is where I play mostly, but I have played games everywhere from a young age. But they have done such a good job righting the wrongs of the Xbox One and building a truly remarkable ecosystem with stuff like backwards compatibility, Game Pass and soon xCloud. But people get these incredibly high expectations for their events and I feel like no matter what they show they can never meet that bar. They also have a MAJOR leaking issue that kills so many of their interesting announcements. And for the record, I thought the show was good. It wasn't perfect, and I get the complaints, but the fact that everything they showed is day and date with Game Pass is mindblowing. They are just so consumer-friendly, but people view this stuff like cross-gen titles and PC releases as negatives. It is so strange. I think people just want them to be a carbon copy of Sony, but that is just not who they are. And I don't think that is who they should strive to be because the second you are just copying someone you aren't doing anything interesting. They take so many risks, have innovated so much in the console space, but usually end up low on the totem pole as the same narratives get repeated about them ad nauseam. I just don't know what I would do if I was in their position.
Sean McCole
2020-08-01 13:25:14 +0000 UTCHello fine Sir's I've been longing for this episode to drop on the "cheap seats" tier, I have been very eager, as an Xbox & Switch only user, to hear your takes of the event. I think this was a fantastic rundown of the showcase, both Colin and Chris making excellent points. Coming from a primarily PlayStation background, Colin you do a better job of giving fair judgement, on the Xbox event, than other people in games media have. Small side note, Sea of Thieves was the top most bought game on steam for a long time. Also another note is Microsoft now has 4 games in the top 8 spots on Steams most popular. To further this insanely good showing on Steam, Sea of Thieves (at full price) was still number 1 during Steams summer sale which always has dirt cheap games. Sea of Thieves not only selling very well but people are playing it for a long time and streaming it. It's crazy to see for such a lukewarm reception at launch. *Grounded has 1 million players in 48 hours and is at or close to the top of the Steam popular game page, and I've played many hours and can confirm it's an absolute laugh!, Really enjoying my time with it.*
King0fChickens
2020-08-01 03:34:40 +0000 UTCGrounded is Already A Big Success After only one day of release, Grounded soars to the top of Steam's bestsellers during yesterday's launch with positive reviews from players.
BlindRiot
2020-07-31 23:42:04 +0000 UTCI can’t wait to play the pretty exclusive games on PS5...at the same time I’ll be enjoying Game Pass, and even prettier games on my Series X. Sony is like Nintendo, they just keep making the same game over, and over, and over again but those games are just adjacent to fun.
BlindRiot
2020-07-31 23:01:40 +0000 UTCI love, love, love, that Chris knows what he’s talking about.
BlindRiot
2020-07-31 22:53:41 +0000 UTCWhen the Series X was unveiled at the Game Awards, Phil Spencer said it "eat's monsters for breakfast." Frankly there's zero excuse for Halo Infinite to look the way it did. 343i said the build was a couple weeks old, not 6 months old like some ardent defenders were purporting. A couple of weeks ago Phil Spencer said, "held back is a meme that gets created by people who are too caught up in device competition.” Suffice to say that Halo Infinite, is in fact, being held back.
KB
2020-07-31 18:09:03 +0000 UTCThis is actually the name of a Halo 3 ViDoc from back in the day. Is it a reference or did Colin and someone at Bungie 14 years ago come up with the same pun? Pretty neat lol
Dan T
2020-07-31 17:14:40 +0000 UTCSo it seems!
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-31 16:49:37 +0000 UTCDefinitely.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-31 16:49:26 +0000 UTCInteresting point. I really miss b grade low budget films like the ones in the 80s.
Reuben Barrett
2020-07-31 12:03:05 +0000 UTCThe cars in Fable are going to look phenomenal
Tyler Cumerford
2020-07-30 11:28:06 +0000 UTCGunk looks like Grounded... kinda uninspired. Interestingly Grounded is doing really well on steam apparently.
Calcifer
2020-07-30 08:01:39 +0000 UTCI’ve been writing in about this a few times but I want to say, I work in the film industry and streaming services have severely damaged the entire industry. It’s become so difficult to get any films made that are over $5 million unless they are a franchise. What we had there was the equivalent in the AAA space bottom out which is what I fear will happen to the games industry. It’s the cheap stuff that ends up sticking around.
Oliver Johnson
2020-07-29 20:22:49 +0000 UTCThey said there won't be anymore Halos? I didn't see that.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 20:04:49 +0000 UTCChris has trashed the industry for "too many open world games" he's also said "there is too many games as a service" Halo to me screams to me that's it's going to be a games as a service game. They literally said "there will be no more sequels, this is it going forward" but he defended this saying it's more classic Halo... Can't help but feel we're getting a little fanboy-ism out of him over this.
Jason Price
2020-07-29 19:48:53 +0000 UTCI'm glad. =)
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 16:57:59 +0000 UTCYeah, it didn't look good. No doubt.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 16:57:53 +0000 UTC=D
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 16:57:43 +0000 UTCI generally agree with this sentiment: 343 needed to do better, and I'm not sure they're up to the task.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 16:57:37 +0000 UTCThank you! Someone else made this correction earlier; you should submit it in the weekly thread so we can discuss on the show. =)
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 16:57:17 +0000 UTCThere's pretty much no need to. It's fascinating.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 16:57:00 +0000 UTCWho knows? Sony doesn't have big holiday titles most of the time, and they might be in the same boat.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 16:56:50 +0000 UTCThis title genuinely made me chuckle!
Elliott Morgan
2020-07-29 16:13:41 +0000 UTCGreat episode. In regards to open world being an excuse to look bad in 2020 I just don’t buy that argument anymore. Open world or not I definitely think those graphics were unacceptable by today’s standards. Look at Ghost of Tsushima’s open world, look at Red Dead Redemption 2’s open world, even Older titles like Rise of the Tomb Raider’s semi open world. For a game with a budget as big as 343 had it is mind boggling that they lead the show with that.
Joe West
2020-07-29 12:30:41 +0000 UTCThat thumbnail is fucking hilarious! 😂
Miles Williams
2020-07-29 10:26:06 +0000 UTCChris' excuses about fps and physics etc 🤦🏻♂️ they'd be easier to swallow IF it was similar hardware to a PS4 but he's making excuses for a console that's magnitudes more powerful in every quantifiable measurable way. 343 messed up, plain and simple. A studio with that budget and number of staff has no excuse not to deliver a genuine show stopper.
Lee Bull
2020-07-29 10:11:52 +0000 UTCI always enjoy your outsider’s perspective when it comes to Xbox, Colin! Even in the Kinda Funny days I’ve always thought you were pretty fair when talking about Team Green lol. Just wanted to correct you on Moon Studios though. Microsoft never acquired them, they’re still independent. And as far as a Rent-A-Center type thing for Xbox Series X, Phil Spencer said that Xbox All Access is a very important part of their launch this fall. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a monthly payment option they introduced last year. I think we can expect a big push for that in August when they talk price, pre-orders, and Lockhart.
jonbx32
2020-07-29 07:22:25 +0000 UTCWhen I purchase an Xbox series X I will not be purchasing any games... game pass is literally a god tier service
Andrew
2020-07-29 04:46:45 +0000 UTCI’m curious what their big holiday 2021 title will be. I thought maybe Hellblade 2, but they didn’t shown any gameplay, and it definitely won’t be fable or Avowed.
JP Morris
2020-07-29 00:52:29 +0000 UTCThere's so much value with Gamepass, it's crazy.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:03:26 +0000 UTCThis I agree with.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:02:47 +0000 UTCI'm certainly interested to see what Avowed is all about.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:02:37 +0000 UTCWell I think Sony clearly has the games.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:02:22 +0000 UTCSeemed a bit more kinetic, but I'm no Halo expert.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:02:05 +0000 UTCThank you kindly. <3
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:01:52 +0000 UTCThank you! We're glad you enjoyed the episode.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:01:43 +0000 UTCSounds kinda like what happened to Mass Effect.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:01:34 +0000 UTCWrite in with a correction!
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:01:16 +0000 UTCThis has been a years-long joke.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:00:57 +0000 UTCThank you. =)
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:00:49 +0000 UTCI'm anxious to see the final product. That's about it. Who will be right?!
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-29 00:00:41 +0000 UTCIf only they could see you now.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:59:29 +0000 UTCI think they failed to adequately show off the console.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:59:21 +0000 UTCInteresting. I can't say I know anything about that at all.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:58:55 +0000 UTCYeah, I think Chris goes into that.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:58:41 +0000 UTCSHUT UP CRAIG!
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:58:26 +0000 UTCWell, we hope you enjoyed the episode.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:58:18 +0000 UTCThat's certainly above my paygrade. =D
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:58:09 +0000 UTCYou said it.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:57:54 +0000 UTCI'm still uncertain which is the better tact to take.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:57:48 +0000 UTCKinda went off the rails a little bit there at the end, Michael! But I agree with your first thesis: You can make a game feel good to play and still have a solid aesthetic.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:57:32 +0000 UTCNever say never.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:56:07 +0000 UTCI know. It's... surprising!
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:56:00 +0000 UTCLOL.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:55:53 +0000 UTCWell, it's your last point that sticks out to me, too. Don't you wanna show your games on the hardware?
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:55:46 +0000 UTCThank you. <3
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:55:23 +0000 UTCThere was no other choice.
Colin Moriarty
2020-07-28 23:55:17 +0000 UTCI feel like the conference spoke to me as someone who owns a PC and PS4. Halo looks like my favorite halo again. Fable is coming back and I love Pillars of Eternity so a new RPG in that universe is crazy. They can never compete with Sony.. but they can make people wat to play their games and at least buy gamepass to do so.
Cole Barker
2020-07-28 22:47:14 +0000 UTCIt's all about expectation. Not just here, but in life. People have low expectations.
Ahmed Mohamed
2020-07-28 22:40:01 +0000 UTCPlayStation needs some actual competition this is a joke. The problem is the Xbox fanboys not demanding better and damage controlling everything. I thought this thing was going to eat monsters for breakfast or whatever. Cuphead is on PlayStation today, so the writing is on the wall for Xbox and it’s not good
Dom posa
2020-07-28 21:25:50 +0000 UTCThe problem with halo infinite’s graphics is that Microsoft has spent damn near a year telling us that the series x is a god killing behemoth. And what was shown was absolutely not in keeping with their messaging.
sam croese
2020-07-28 21:04:47 +0000 UTCGreat episode! I’m a big Halo guy and I was really happy with what I saw with Infinite. Gameplay looks great and I’m not really worried about the graphics. As long as the story is good and the multiplayer is good I’m happy. Fable and Avowed look years away but I’ll definitely play them when they come out. Everwild surprised me with how interesting it looked but we still don’t really know what it is. I was happy with the conference and I don’t really get the hate it got online.
Antonio Pereira
2020-07-28 20:53:50 +0000 UTCGreat episode! I was mainly an Xbox gamer during the 360 generation (even though I owned them all). I became a PS4 only gamer because of the games. At the end of the day that is what it comes down to. I have a soft spot for Halo but in my mind that is not enough.
Daniel Boyer
2020-07-28 20:25:46 +0000 UTCDid anyone else get a ‘Doom’ feel during the Halo: Infinite firefights? The grappling hook addition linked me to thinking about Eternal.
Joey Rawlings
2020-07-28 20:07:35 +0000 UTCEpisode titles and thumbnails are always great, but you've really outdone yourself with this one, Colin!
Nils S.
2020-07-28 19:33:57 +0000 UTCGreat episode guys. Nice to hear your nuanced thoughts on the divergent nature of the Xbox brand this year. Xbox becoming the streaming console sounds good to me
JusticeSoulTuna
2020-07-28 19:21:16 +0000 UTCFable is a good IP because it was an RPG with heavy life sim aspects. It was one of the first games to really let you marry someone of the same sex. You could go and adventure, and come back to a “home life” you could own a business etc. Fable 2 really watered down the RPG elements which is why people didn’t like it as much, but it built out the life sim aspects so much that people were okay with it.
Kenneth Oms
2020-07-28 19:10:42 +0000 UTCChris, there is a Blinx the timesweeper 2 ;)
Tomas Pacheco
2020-07-28 18:27:06 +0000 UTCWouldn't surprise me if they are getting more hands on now since the game has been stealth delayed
Craig Mcguire
2020-07-28 18:22:53 +0000 UTCLove that Colin says PSO2 is too weeby for him and Chris, then immediately says he wishes there were another single-player Phantasy Star game haha. Colin, when are you going to admit you're a weeb?
Jake Z
2020-07-28 18:08:16 +0000 UTCPerfect thumbnail
lazer_josh
2020-07-28 18:06:16 +0000 UTCNot being a Sony fanboy, but the fallout from Halo's visuals and its "same ol' Halo" gameplay was hilarious in the days after. I found it funny that every single channel on youtube was either on damage control for xbox/343 or calling out 343 on the poor engine they chose for their flagship title, all weekend long after the show.
David Alberts
2020-07-28 18:01:44 +0000 UTCRare isn't making battle toads, moon studios aren't owned by Microsoft either. Also, colin wanted to address your 18-month support. That only applies to first-party games and not a third party. It also means most likely these games arent anywhere near that time frame. State of decay 3 might be 3 years off. Fable and avowed might also be far off. I don't think it was mixed messaging but I feel like it's been very straight forward.
Adamthm
2020-07-28 17:53:11 +0000 UTCI'm still bitter from the years of abuse I received in high school for being the only weirdo with a PS3 instead of a 360.
David Graham
2020-07-28 17:45:30 +0000 UTCThe trailer for Halo reignited my love for the series and has had me replaying the old games which I think is a huge success but I don’t think they really deserve any excuses. Series X is “the most powerful console” but all their games look like shit visually. Contrary to what Chris said, E3-esque presentations are usually over polished. The real game usually doesn’t look as good or that section is noticeably the best part of the final game. I think that was a great question in the beginning. Why doesn’t anything look impressive? This is a presentation. All we can do is look at the games and they don’t look good. I just don’t understand what the Series X is supposed to be.
Oliver Johnson
2020-07-28 17:22:59 +0000 UTCUndead Labs is weird. They hired a very popular horror/zombie writer, who is ex military and brings a lot of realism to his books, to write the story for State of Decay 2. Then they ghost fired him and we never saw the story, or heard what happened at all. People disliked the second one for having no story.
Kenneth Oms
2020-07-28 17:18:45 +0000 UTCSplitscreen has to play a major part, no? The hardware has to be able to render it twice.
Tyler Johnson
2020-07-28 17:02:43 +0000 UTCColin you keep saying you want games to respect your time then for the love of god play Life is Strange and Hellblade, you could probably play both in a weekend and get two easy Platinums and not only that, they are both really really good
Craig Mcguire
2020-07-28 17:01:58 +0000 UTCI love Xbox! I'm excited to hear a Sony player's point of view.
Anthony J Sanchez
2020-07-28 16:57:33 +0000 UTCI didn’t put my question in on time. But when Colin’s asking about “why can’t it look better?” for Xbox’s graphics I really think it has to do with Microsoft’s insistence at rendering at native 4k. DLSS and upscaling can get almost the same effect for a fraction of the computational power. Instead Xbox is wasting their power advantage by outputting at native 4k.
DeucesBruh
2020-07-28 16:55:54 +0000 UTCMy god, the thumbnail for this episode. If 2020 had a face, lol.
Billy Wright
2020-07-28 16:52:21 +0000 UTCThe problem with no next gen exclusives at launch is that while you can optimize performance and graphics as much as you want for series x, you can't push new gameplay features that show off what the new console is capable of that weren't possible before. For example in the new Ratchet and Clank, the instant teleporting between planets is only possible with the PS5 SSD.
Sumojoe118
2020-07-28 16:41:24 +0000 UTCIt is a real screenshot but you have to play the video in 0.25 speed to see it so its not the most representative image of the game.
DoubleDave
2020-07-28 16:40:03 +0000 UTCChris made a comment about being ok with the halo graphics because it’s open world. Bungee makes Destiny look amazing and feels great as well. These are new systems and it should have all the bells and whistles. I really think that Microsoft is a mediocre video game company. Who has a fan base that gives them a pass, because they are “good guys”. I remember a Xbox company that was cutting edge and worried about getting the masses. Now they cater to the individual, much like many of the American companies have done. We’d be better off if we stopped listening to the overly vocal minority and started striving for greatness by hiring those people with passion and drive, instead we hire based on gender and race and get a worse product for it.
Michael Thew
2020-07-28 16:32:20 +0000 UTCWait is that thumbnail an actual screenshot from Halo Infinite? Because that looks like a bloody 360 game... 🤨
Captain Canada
2020-07-28 16:19:14 +0000 UTCCraig the Brute would be an amazing Smash bros fighter.
Real Radec
2020-07-28 16:15:35 +0000 UTCBruh... Halo out here gettin' SLAUGHTERED! xD
Ahmed Mohamed
2020-07-28 16:09:44 +0000 UTCMicrosoft should have showed footage of a tumbleweed blowing through an old west town in between Halo and Fable.
Piston Pants
2020-07-28 16:06:31 +0000 UTCHalo looks fun but obviously made for this current generation. People don't know the difference between graphics and resolution and assume they are the same. Halo infinite might be in 4k but the graphics are not next gen Outside of that it was a ton of cgi trailers with no real game play. Also none of it was ran on the series x which to me is insane.
Wayde
2020-07-28 16:06:21 +0000 UTCI always find the episode titles to both sacred symbols and sacred symbols plus very creative and clever on a weekly basis. Great job to whoever comes up with these.
James Costello
2020-07-28 16:05:30 +0000 UTCIt had to be that thumbnail haha
Troy Leonard
2020-07-28 16:04:08 +0000 UTC
