Sacred Symbols, Episode 211 | It Can't Be For Nothing

The Last of Us: Part I has officially gone gold, interesting news considering it doesn't launch for some seven weeks. Yet, the upcoming PS5 remake's very existence has proven mighty contentious. Some claim it doesn't need to exist at all; many others insist it's a "cash grab" of the highest order. But some folks who worked on the game have come out staunchly in its defense, not only in terms of its sky-high quality, but also in terms of the shockingly-healthy circumstances under which it was made. We try to make sense of the hullabaloo surrounding Naughty Dog's latest before moving onto news surrounding freshly-purchased first party team Haven. A recent extensive interview seems to paint a picture of Haven as both a developer of games and of technologies and workflows, which fits in well with recent acquisitions like Nixxes, Bluepoint, Valkyrie, and even Bungie. After we get through all of that news (and more), we go into listener inquiries, including thoughts on PlayStation Plus' gravitational pull, the current JRPG renaissance we're living through, predictions for first and second party PS5 games in 2023, and one especially strange tale of a man who left a poop stain on a woman's couch.

Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro

0:17:24 - Merch!

0:19:58 - How do questions for the show get picked?

0:24:09 - Welcome to the world, Dante Alucard!

0:26:19 - Our vocabulary is colossal

0:27:31 - Colin won’t clean his office

0:30:20 - PlayStation Now used to allow rentals

0:31:53 - Why don’t collector’s editions come with discs?

0:36:45 - The Tragedy of Delsin Booker the Couch Shitter

0:41:51 - Bandai Namco has been hacked

0:47:43 - PlayStation has announced a new loyalty program

0:58:19 - Metal Gear Solid games are coming back to the PlayStation store

1:07:35 - TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge has exceeded 1 million copies

1:12:02 - Red Dead 2’s PS5 version is dead in the water

1:23:22 - Kojima Productions has threatened a lawsuit

1:26:43 - Skull and Bones comes out November 8th

1:32:00 - New gameplay has surfaced for Exoprimal

1:36:13 - What have we been playing?

1:46:46 - Have we changed our mind about PS+ Premium?

1:54:47 - The Last of Us: Part 1 has gone gold

2:03:54 - A new interview with Haven shines line on the studio

2:13:41 - PlayStation has unveiled new content for PS+ Premium and Extra

2:17:50 - Supermassive has been acquired by Nordisk Film

2:20:44 - Respawn is working on a single player Apex title

2:24:45 - Further information about Sony’s intention with INZONE has been revealed

2:31:32 - What will the 2023 PlayStation lineup look like?

2:38:59 - Have we upgraded our PS5 storage?

2:41:29 - Should you buy games on day one?

2:46:20 - What JRPG series would we revive?

2:52:43 - Why won’t Sucker Punch go back to Sly Cooper?