Sacred Symbols+, Episode XVI: Wasting Time
Added 2019-11-22 17:00:04 +0000 UTCAre video games a waste of time? It's a valid question, even if it hurts our precious, video-gamin' feelings, and it's worth having a conversation about. So today, we do just that in another mailbag episode of Plus. What do we get out of our hobby? Is it a valid use of our precious hours on Earth? Then, let's delve deeper into our digital sack of letters. Is Amazon primed to have an even greater stranglehold over retail games sales? How do we feel about MIDI soundtracks? Is Supermassive Games a one-hit wonder? Are Trophies more stressful than fun? Will Media Molecule survive 2020? Did Facebook bail on PlayStation over PSVR? What's Sony's mobile strategy? Let's get through all of that, and more, shall we?!
Comments
I'm sorry to hear that. Feel better! <3
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-30 17:40:07 +0000 UTCI broke my leg Friday between this, Normal SS, and KnockBack, the pods really helped me take my mind off the surgery. Thanks Colin and crew for keeping my anxiety at bay. First Surgery ever was scary.
BostonBeerDude
2019-11-27 14:25:30 +0000 UTCThe game runs at 540p when undocked, so...
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-26 19:35:28 +0000 UTCFeel better. <3
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-26 19:34:47 +0000 UTCOh Dustin, he's such a card.
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-26 19:34:14 +0000 UTCIt may have been, but I honestly don't recall. I usually don't edit-down messages so they don't make sense.
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-26 19:34:08 +0000 UTC=D
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-26 19:33:43 +0000 UTCGame criticism can be as deep as the games themselves, I agree!
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-26 19:33:39 +0000 UTCThe Witcher 3 on the switch isn’t a disaster and I’m a bit dismayed at Chris saying that without actually playing the game -_-
Craig Carter
2019-11-26 16:09:14 +0000 UTCWhen GCU was around, all physical games were 20% off. Nowadays, all major releases are $10 off at Walmart compared to everyone else, even on the release day. I'd never switch to digital because I save so much money buying physical.
Cash
2019-11-26 10:52:46 +0000 UTCJust what I needed today, I've got a sickness bug and found it difficult to listen to anything...for some reason Sacred Symbols has hit the spot 👌 thanks to you and Chris for always putting out high quality content.
Michael Robinson
2019-11-25 18:54:54 +0000 UTCI think you guys are out of the loop on pricing because you buy games digitally. Most games even launch day would be on sale already for like $48. If you follow Wario64 or other game sales people, you’ll see it all the time. I mostly check eBay cause the retailers will sell on there with the matching prices as well. Don’t ever pay full price unless you’re buying it digital.
NeO JD
2019-11-25 14:38:05 +0000 UTCGreat episode!! I hope everyone listened to the very end. lol
Jeff Pollard
2019-11-23 09:40:50 +0000 UTCHey Colin, Thanks for reading my question about games being discounted after release! I think my original question may have been edited for brevity. But I think I asked it at the time as Id noticed that control was discounted by $10 a week after its released. I follow the twitter page "CheapAssGamer" which has a great lineup of all the deals. Another couple of games I've noticed that discounted after 1-2 weeks was Rage 2, shadow of the tomb Raider, GR Breakpoint, and Mortal Kombat 11. Hope that counts for some examples 😁
Jeremy Miller
2019-11-23 01:59:54 +0000 UTC“I love cracked black pepper. I think it’s fuckin’ dominant.” Lol.
Will Hahn
2019-11-22 21:36:36 +0000 UTCThis is it. I fixed it. =) <3
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-22 21:10:35 +0000 UTCIt's such a generic name for an IP that I bet you it would be very easy (with lawyers and some cash) to overcome a legal obstacle to just make your own.
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-22 20:21:05 +0000 UTC<3 <3 <3
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-22 20:20:41 +0000 UTCLikewise, likewise.
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-22 20:20:33 +0000 UTCI actually think you get quite a bit out of them mentally. I wonder what dementia/Alzheimers/etc. will look like in Gen X and Millennials, since we grew up gaming. Keeps your mind in-tuned and occupied, has you reading, has you moving your hands and staying in motion. Who knows.
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-22 20:20:28 +0000 UTCIt's funny how samey a lot of current-gen Sony games are. Like I said: Not only post-apoc., but IN THE US. Other parts of the world exist, as much as I'd like to deny otherwise.
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-22 20:19:33 +0000 UTCYou're welcome. =D
Colin Moriarty
2019-11-22 20:18:59 +0000 UTCTo anyone who worries that games don't or can't have the literary value of other mediums, I invite you to check out both Noah Caldwell-Gervais's channel and HBomberguy's recent Pathologic video on YouTube. Games with meaningful, enriching, and overarching exploration and subversion that (crucially) take advantage of the medium's strengths that would be impossible in books or film are out there, and it's been really rewarding to expose myself to deeper medium analysis than more surface-level criticism about pure mechanical fun or immediate emotional reaction (which is also important!).
Travis Johnson
2019-11-22 19:29:47 +0000 UTCWhere is ep XVI?
Marco Maluf
2019-11-22 18:59:39 +0000 UTCToo bad the Area 51 series sunk midway along with their other ip that werent MK.
There’s No I in LLC
2019-11-22 18:29:26 +0000 UTCI haven’t had a chance to listen to this yet, but after reading the description I am excited to do so! Thanks C&C for the awesome content!
Tyler Brown
2019-11-22 18:25:42 +0000 UTCHappy Thanksgiving!
Joey Finelli
2019-11-22 18:17:55 +0000 UTCHaven't listened yet but video games is one of the only hobbies that you don't gain anything from. Anything you do gain is in a fake virtual world. You could paint and come out with a painting. You could build something and come out with more knowledge and something you crafted, but video games give you nothing. But I love them. Haha Kind of interesting.
Tyler Cumerford
2019-11-22 18:09:03 +0000 UTCHey man, not relevant to you but there’s a Hi fi chain of stores here in Australia that sells the new games at $69 for the first few days upon release and then they put it up to $79 for the base game. EB Games (which I think is our version of GameStop???) continues to have their games at $100-$120. They do price match though, but like... why start so high?
Adam Barnes
2019-11-22 17:59:21 +0000 UTCI’m really digging the conversation from Christopher’s question regarding the formulaic Sony lineup of this gen. Everything has been post-apocalyptic, but I feel like RPGs and FPS genre are neglected by them. With the variety in these early games for Microsoft Game Studios (and I think most of these were in production before their acquisitions), do you think Microsoft can even the playing field? I also feel like Microsoft’s push to PC is much bigger than people realize.
Nathanael Haller
2019-11-22 17:48:54 +0000 UTCThank you guys for amazing show :)
Saulius Vekteris
2019-11-22 17:29:14 +0000 UTCI haven't listened to the podcast yet, but the question of Amazon and retail reminded me of something I wanted to ask the greater community. At all of the Walmarts in my area (2 in my town, 1 in each of 2 neighboring towns) all of the Switch games are $10 cheaper than MSRP. If the game is 59.99 on the eshop, its 49.95 at Walmart. If it's a 49.99 game, its 39.95 at Walmart. Are any of you seeing the same thing at the stores in your area or is it just a fluke of North Georgia? I'm mostly a digital guy, but I have been buying a few physical games lately because 10 bucks is 10 bucks.
Jason Stafford
2019-11-22 17:13:43 +0000 UTC
