Sacred Symbols, Episode 28: Game of the Year Awards 2018

Oh believe me brutha. I listen the minute it drops. Good take on the trophy system. I'm big into them like you and I feel Sony has a hidden gem with their trophy system. Could be a great community tool on PS5

Brett Carlson

We actually discuss this on the most recent episode of the show. It's kinda similar (so point well taken), but not exactly what he (or we) were referring to, either.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, that's normal on the free feed now. I have ad reps that drop stuff in for me. If there are any issues with the ads (the content or placement, or whatever else), please do let me know via DM.

Colin Moriarty

That thumbnail is one of my proudest achievements. (And thank you for the props on our awards. I enjoyed it!) I think Chris' insight was obviously more valuable than my own in regard to the Overwatch discussion, and the toxicity (or lack thereof) in online gaming, since it's not something I really ever experienced at length. The point that everyone is a target is salient to me, though I'd reiterate that women absolutely get it worse.

Colin Moriarty

Peep the new episode of the show. =)

Colin Moriarty

No one chooses a console because it has Netlix on it. We have plenty of other devices for that. It's literally not a factor. Marketing and games make a console, and Sont simply didn't have confidence on the Vita to invest in either.

Dan T

Yup. Colin has mentioned it multiple times on the podcast and here.

Dan T

I think that it was more that it didn't have the things that people expected a set top box like that to have... Netflix didn't work on it, Hulu didn't work, etc. Simple touch screen controls could be simulated with the PS4's touchpad (I played FFX this way,) but things like Uncharted that utilized the camera and back touch were no-gos on it. Everyone gripes about the proprietary memory, but it was largely a way to avoid the horrible SD card market and all of the counterfeiting and underspecced cards that exist in it, ( <a href="https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=918" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=918</a> ) and also because Piracy was utterly rampant on the PSP because it had a publicly available memory card spec..

Kaz Redclaw

The marketing of the PS TV was abismal. Also, it was Vita hardware repackaged as a console.. that couldn't play certain Vita games. I almost purchased on specifically to play Uncharted GA, but too much of the control was attached to touch features. Couple that with still having to buy proprietary memory cards and it was dead on arrival.

Patrick A Crone

At 1:06:30 or so, Chris was talking about the classic console being able to go out to the internet from the PSN Store and download PS1 games hosted there... Sony already released a sub $100 console that could do that, and it didn't catch on, and collapsed to prices even lower than the PS Classic. The PSTV. It also had analog sticks. I honestly thought that the PS Classic was just going to be a PSTV with some preloaded games and a memory card built in, but they disappointed me with a generic arm box.

Kaz Redclaw

There’s a lot of comments here so I’m not gonna see if anyone else notices this. But I have the normal iTunes podcast feed for the podcast and there were ads that dropped in like mid sentence I think twice? Is this normal now?

Owen

Great episode guys! Very creative. I loved that you added a different spin on it with the categories. Also, boy howdy that pic of the trophy is somethin else. Regarding the Overwatch controversy, you're right that the media made this worse than it was. But that's how it always goes. And I appreciate that you both had nuanced thoughts about it, particularly regarding how some men have this bitter attitude to women because they were ostracized. But I'd say that everyone gets treated like shit, regardless of gender, and people will use whatever they can to shit on you, be it your gender, your race, your belief system, your politics etc. It's not right, it's that competitive environments and certain online areas fester that shitty behaviour. In more co-operative games, or fandoms that don't involve that, you see less of it. RPGs, puzzle games, platformers seem to have more welcoming fanbases. For example, there's plenty of women that play Destiny and they don't get uniquely or disproportionately mistreated, no one really cares. But consider also that a decent amount of Destiny players are married with children; a lot of players I know, and lots of people in the community. I've met more women playing Destiny than (both online and irl) than most shooters, except maybe Overwatch (ironically). So there's that too. It's a tricky subject for sure, but I really don't like the gaming media using this as a tool to paint gaming as a MASSIVELY sexist hobby that hates women, because that's going to turn them off gaming (which I'm beginning to wonder if that's their goal, so they can keep perpetuating that narrative).

JusticeSoulTuna

That would be a massive investment for a studio that's coming off 2 mediocre games with only 1 established IP in its catalogue. I personally think Bungie goes the CD Project Red route

Craig Mcguire

I see your point but Microsoft is in a much more gamer friendly space then when Bungie left. That's why I threw Sonys hat in the ring because that would be a massive signing for Sony if they could somehow get Bungie as a 1st or 2nd party studio. But I am very optimistic. Its has been reported that when Bungie announced to the staff that they were free from Activison that the office erupted in applause and cheer (dead serious lol). Activision forced Bungie into pigeonholing content deadline restrictions, content updates every 3 months. If you read Kotakus peice coming out on this Bungie has been at odds with Activiison since before Destint 1s launch. Just the fact they have a clean slate is exciting

Brett Carlson

Bungie will need someone, however the people responsible for halo are no longer there also, they have been rumored to be teaming up with tencent(Diablo immortal) and were previously partnered with Microsoft, so I don't see them taking the smart choice. Edit : to clarity, I'm speaking mostly about how poorly Microsoft has bumbled most of their ips before during and after bungie with halo

That black guy

Bungie HAS LEFT ACTIVSION THANK THE GODS. Chances Sony scoops them Colin? That would be a huge pickup for an online game......

Brett Carlson

I did play Iconoclasts. It didn't speak to me, really. Dunno why. I put it down after a couple of days.

Colin Moriarty

Have you played Iconoclasts its another Metroidvania but it is great!!!

There’s No I in LLC

Whatever the reason, I’m glad they’re gonna finish it. If they go even further and get back to their announced games, it’d be great. Telltale was on that “Shut up and just take my money” level for me

NeO JD

It says the industry is extremely healthy right now which is great!

Joe Bellotta

It could be the competitive landscape, full stop. That could definitely be so. I mean, I played hockey most of my life, and the shit people would say to each other (particularly in high school) was heinous. And you hear stories regularly about what's said on the field in an NFL game or on the ice in an NHL game, and we're lucky (?) enough to hear it for ourselves on TV every so often. So it really could just be the nature of the beast.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you so much for joining us, Marc! I'm glad to have you here, and I appreciate your support a great deal.

Colin Moriarty

I dunno. Skybound seemed to be the obvious financial home for a game like that, to me! They certainly didn't do it for altruistic reasons. (Then again, Capcom didn't make MMXLC awesome for altruistic reasons, either, so...)

Colin Moriarty

aye, unfortunately, I have this annoying thing in my brain that bothers me if I don't 100% it, lol. I need to clamp it down hard... would enjoy games a lot more most likely...

hugplx

It's definitely a valid point to say: This shit happens to everyone, regardless of who you are. I believe that's true. The degrees to how and when it happens, of course, is a little different. Either way, it's as I said on the show: This stuff requires deeper thought and study, and honest conversation. Because I think there's something interesting here to get to the bottom of.

Colin Moriarty

I'll allow it.

Colin Moriarty

Per your comment on Spider-Man, there's actually an interesting design perk, though I don't know if it was intended from the beginning, or altered during playtest or whatever. Getting gold medals on the challenges gives you whatever currency, but you don't actually need all of the currency to unlock everything, as far as I could tell. So, you could skate by (so long as you spend your currency correctly) on only getting some of the golds. In other words, to 100% the game (and get the Platinum Trophy), I'm pretty sure I only achieved gold in fewer than half of the challenges. I probably would have lost my mind if I had to do all of them.

Colin Moriarty

Fair enough, though it appears PS4 sold comparably over the holiday season with no big, new releases. So... what does it really say?

Colin Moriarty

I kind of had a question regarding the harrassment of women in games. Colin, you mentioned older gamers who were around when gaming wasn't cool maybe taking their baggage out on women, but at least from my experience, it's never been a factor. I was one of those guys brutally made fun of and I've always been excited about and welcoming to the women I've played with. Maybe I'm just a nicer guy. I do wonder though if it's the competitive landscape that is causing this. I played MMOs exclusively for about eleven years in primarily PvE content and we had tons of female players. None of them were ever mistreated. I think it might be because we were all more cooperatively focused rather than competitively focused. I don't have a competitive bone in my body and after years of bullying I have no taste for any kind of smacktalk or verbal ribbing that regularly occurs in competitive online games. I stay away from them altogether. I just wonder if this is some of what is being experienced by women?

Jason Stafford

Couldn’t wait until Friday for this weeks episode so finally got round to donating to you guys on Patreon. Keep up the fantastic content Colin and Chris (and Dagan) and sorry I didn’t get round to subscribing sooner!

Marc Bridson

Colin, you’ll be able to play Anthem on your own just fine. Maybe they’ll throw in random missions like that 1st mission in Destiny 2 where other online players help you out, but I doubt it. As for how it feels, it reminded me of a faster Lost Planet with Destiny vibes. I enjoyed my time with the build I played for the most part. You actually give a shit award - I’d give it to Skybound for saving The Walking Dead franchise for me I’m a COD fan, especially the Black Ops series, but I’m not fond of Black Ops 4 multiplayer. Colin, you may be in the credits of Guacamelee 2, but Portillo actually got added to the game later on. I know you didn’t see that coming. Chris doesn’t think he’s a nerd? 😄

NeO JD

I want to piggy back on part of what Chris was saying about toxic voice chat in games specially against women. Spending my many many years in voice chats with women (my now ex was a daily cod player) and it should be noted that 100% yes women will be targeted for being women, but I feel it is more then keep women out. I think when people trash talk they go after buttons. So the "go make a sandwhich" and "attention whore" is a button poke. Kinda like my psn is juggalofx so the second my name is read the hate flows just behind. I learned long ago the more you ignore it, or verbally dismiss it it tends to end quickly. As a guy it starts with juggalo jokes, then sexuality jokes, then intelligence jokes, then they give up. I remember when my ex first start playing cod she complained about the voice chat and how awful it was for women, I said yes but it's toxic for all, I let the vc on the TV instead of headset, and her hearing the abuse men sent to men blew her mind. The only real thing she complained and said was the worse is that other women was actually by and far thousands times more toxic to her then the men she ran into. Which imho is a much larger problem. She used to fear everytime she heard another female voice come into the rooms because of her experience of what was about to come flinging her way.

Yuushin

Great episode CC! How about Crazy Chris and Considerate Colin?

Phillip Guglielmo

Hey Col, Similarly with how you're seemingly baffled by how no one has eaten shit over the handling of the Classic, I'm also constantly baffled that Nomura seems to hold such influence over at SE. Still. Maybe it's a Japanese respect culture thing. I dunno. But while you say you wouldn't want people to lose their jobs... I'm not gonna lie, I wouldn't be too disappointed if he never headed up another project for SE again, lol... As for GOTY, Spiderman was incredible, but it was something like 70% bliss, 20% 'ugh' and 10% rage for me. The highs were amazing, but the lows genuinely had me despising the game (getting golds on those chasing the drone missions still gets me mad). I also hate the recent trend of story dlc and trophies being added post launch, it legit bothers me that my 100% isn't really 100% any more when I go look at the trophies. And like you, once I get that plat, I look forward to deleting it off my console. Even with games I love, I despise going back to them when I'm mentally 'done' with them. God of War for me, I even love all the things you say you hated about that game and think are a problem (except for the menus. Odd hang up, it never occurred to me while playing tbh). Monster Hunter too. It was my first one, and while many say it's got a fifty hour tutorial, I felt it introduced the systems to me in a way that I was never overwhelmed. Multiplayer was a hilarious mess that seems to stem from their culminated knowledge of how to do multiplayer on a Nintendo system (lol), but I beat the entire game solo anyway, so meh. Have a great New Year and look forward to more of CLS in 2019!

hugplx

A few months ago on here I said the new Smash would easily sell 15 million units and move Switch units and you thought that wasn't gonna happen. Fast forward to today and Smash is doing both of those. My point is with the Switch you don't know how things will play out. Great episode guys!

Joe Bellotta

We'll see! Battlefront II's sales were the ceiling. And remember: EA and Disney don't consider anything Star Wars-related to be a slam dunk, or they wouldn't have cancelled Hennig's game. I stand by my Cyberpunk prediction!

Colin Moriarty

I know we know nothing about it, but Respawn’s Star Wars game will probably be a huge commercial success, unless it’s a catastrophic bomb. Although I find that hard to imagine considering Respawn, and it’s lineage back to Infinity Ward, has never really delivered a poor product. If Titanfall 2 hadn’t come out in the weird time it did it would have certainly sold better. I wouldn’t so sure Cyberpunk will beat it commercially.

Zack E

You're very welcome. Thank you for submitting your Q, and for your support! (Could just be Chris, yeah. I'm not a Hitman guy; I wouldn't know.)

Colin Moriarty

Thank you so much for reading my submission! Also I'm a die hard Hitman fan like I've reiterated before he's my favorite video game character so with that said I adored Hitman: Absolution and it was critically acclaimed with I believe a 9 on IGN so mabye it's just Chris? Anyways great episode and can't wait for next week.

Marcus Brown

My old hockey coach actually runs a trophy/award/statue manufacturer, and I was gonna see what I could do... LOL.

Colin Moriarty

The best thumbnail yet Also, I wish those Chris award statues could be made and sent to devs

Richard Duflo

It's excellent! One of the year's best.

Colin Moriarty

Like I said: Could have been a 20 hour game instead of 25. Still would have loved it.

Colin Moriarty

=) =) =)

Colin Moriarty

Ohhhh!

Colin Moriarty

THAT'S ENOUGH BRETT.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, it did move up. We discussed that on I believe Episode 25.

Colin Moriarty

Fair enough! Submit this in the upcoming thread for questions, so we can read it on the air.

Colin Moriarty

Hope you enjoy! =)

Colin Moriarty

Your power is unimaginable.

Colin Moriarty

Fair enough.

Colin Moriarty

Tally ho is fine, if it suits you.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! Much obliged. It was a good one.

Colin Moriarty

Hiiiiiii.

Colin Moriarty

Fair enough.

Colin Moriarty

That would be huge. Good call.

Colin Moriarty

It's probably the worst Photoshop I've ever concocted. And that really says something.

Colin Moriarty

Sorry for the delay! It did post at 9a PT as usual, so I dunno why that might have been. =\

Colin Moriarty

=D

Colin Moriarty

I'm curious about that, too. Seems like an obvious thing to do to keep pace in some respect with what's to come. But Nintendo hasn't ever really cared much about that.

Colin Moriarty

You're going to jail.

Colin Moriarty

That's what I'm talking about!

Colin Moriarty

Glad you brought up TimeSpinner. Never heard of it before and it looks awesome!

Tanner Brant

Spider-Man for me as GotY. And agreed Colin, with things that keep it from being perfect/close to perfect such as the button-mashy combos, the repetitive crime missions, and that god-awful puzzle solving.

Brandon Soto

Colin with the U-God/Wu reference! Also, Sacred Symbols should get behind a Wal-Mart console. Imagine the Great Value Station!

Korey Burns

Just signed up as a patron yesterday so today is the first time ive listened. Does the android app always cut out and make you restart, or is it just me?

Jason Price

For anyone who doesn't know... When you've added this months PS+ games to your library, go back into the store and search for amplitude and snag it for PS4 for free 🤗

Tony Colton

While I dont think there are too many negatives to Game of the Year I do think there is a simple solution. The YEAR in question should the 12 month length between The Game Awards. While I know there are 100s of publications that do Game of the Year I think there should be one recognized event for Game of the Year. All other publications can make there own rules on how they judge game of the year, but the big one should be Game Awards and the 12 month period of time between each show should be what games are eligible for consideration in all categories. You could then move the Game Awards to late Janaury just like The Oscar's dont happen until Febuary. Every establishment that gives awards always has an event. Whether it's the Heisman Trophy, ESPY'S, Oscar's etc.

Brett Carlson

Also quick correction for everyone. Metro Exodus moved up a week and is releasing on the 15th of Feb. Pretty sure Anthem is the 22nd if memory serves.

Brett Carlson

What up Colin. In regards to Anthem ide really like to get the word out there that Anthen is NOT DESTINY. Destiny is a game that was tailored for consoles as an MMO-light style game with heavy emphasis on PvP. Anthem has no PvP. The direct comparison is Monster Hunter World. A 4 Player Co-op PvE game. Or something like Ghost Recon Wildlands. Its sucks to me that people are heavily sleeping on this game because of EA and Andromeda. Bioware proper is a storied massive studio with tremendous pedigree. They have way more pushback ability then a studio like DICE. Andromeda was made by the C-team of Bioware, barely even a real studio. Their projects are Mass Effect 3 multiplayer. This game is the natural evolution of Mass Effect just minus the super deep narrative. The RPG mechanics and Customization is astoundingly deep and the gameplay is exactly what Mass Effect 3 was except cranked up to 100. Also if this game was going to be so bad why has Bioware constantly through development had monthly live gameplay videos explaining the game that last over an hour. Studios that are preparing to make predatory shit games dont usually show off there game to the masses in Alpha stages unless they are confident in there project. This is Bioware proper guys and I think they have earned our optimism based on there track record. There last true game was Dragon Age Inquisition and that won Game of the Year (in a light year for games). Sorry for the length and this isnt directed towards you Colin, I just wanted to get the facts out there on what this game is and what it isnt.

Brett Carlson

Been looking forward to this one!

Tanner Brant

Oh no, now other people are calling him silly. I've meddled with forces I could not possibly understand!

David Graham

I had to go back like a million times but I think he says "Hellblade"

Gabriel Garcia

The opposite of "click" is "clunk."

Will Curry

Thanks for the comment shoutout again. I'll figure out something new for tally ho lol. I think I'm more in the minority for maybe those gimme multiplayer games you mentioned like Ascension, Bioshock 2, Dead Space 2, and a few others that fell into that group you mentioned.

MeatSpin11

Great episode. Glad you enjoyed the little VS game I proposed and thank you for the compliment on the name. That's high praise coming from fellas with such distinguished names as yourselves.

Barrett Boswell

Can anyone tell me what game it was that Chris said the name of at 1:07:40?

Myles Rivera

Hiiiii guyyys

Andrew

I’d like to give my “How the Fuck Did This Get Nominated for ‘Game of the Year’ It’s An Embarrassment to All of Gaming” Award to Monster Hunter: World

Caleb Greer

Great show! I have two words for Dreams - PlayStation Plus. I would, at least, download and launch the game.

I wanted to write a very encouraging comment because i love the episode, but the prize goes to the trophy with Chris' face posted on it. I can't stop laughing at it. In terms of the toxicity, i agree with Chris where it should calm down a little, it used to be fun back during the modern warfare 2 days, I think on consoles its calm down a lot as i've played a lot of shooters on consoles where no one talks anymore due to private parties, but on PC games such as League of Legends, overwatch, and even fighting games on consoles like streetfighter people think they're about that thug life and are just assholes for no reason. Especially in these battle royal games. There are so many clips of people losing their cool during a PUBG match and just dropping the N word with the hard R for no reason. I'll never understand why that game was plagued with that problem.

Kenneth Oms

Corey has done a podcast with like every single person haha. literally every gaming personality/podcast i follow

B00ch

It took almost an hour for my podcast app to finally see the episode. I might have to start downloading the audio file from Patreon. I can't wait a whole hour, I just can't! 😁

Steven Stabler

Oh shit as a backer of timespinners, I'm sorry I didn't let you know about it, I thought you'd be on top of it

That black guy

Hi guyyyyyyssssssss!!!

Brandon Soto

I remember you reaching out to Corey Barlog on twitter to do a podcast with you and he said he’d be happy to. I always wondered about that, the answer was obvious to why not, but at least now we have a better idea

Craig Carter

I've been holding off buying a Switch due to the hardware has been very unimpressed of making me willing to spend money on it when I know I'll be disappointed on the hardware suffering from input lag but more so when top-tier Nintendo games actually is suffering from FPS-drops. So I'm holding out to see if Nintendo will make a hardware revision (hopefully with proper d-pad too) this year. For me a great Pokemon-game is system-seller for sure.

Philip Andersen

My baby cousin was just born, he’s ripe for sacrificing, was wondering if I could donate him and how I should deliver him, thanks Edit: that thumbnail is perfect

Tyson Williams

Internet is down at work and I have nothing to do. Perfect time to dig into this!

James Galos