NokiMo
LastStandMedia
LastStandMedia

patreon


Sacred Symbols, Episode 336 | A Kind of Cathedral Business

News is admittedly slow as the industry awaits major announcements at the imminent Game Awards. But a specific interview was recently released that still gives us plenty to discuss. The website Eurogamer sat down with ex-PlayStation executive Shawn Layden for a fascinating chat about the present and future of the console space, and he had tons to say. We spend a lot of time dissecting his thoughts on topics ranging from PlayStation 6 and console agnosticism to Sony publishing on Xbox and perhaps the most important issues of all: The cost to develop increasingly long and expensive games that few people even bother to beat. Other news this week includes the shuttering of Ubisoft's beleaguered shooter XDefiant, the announcement of a blatant ripoff of Guerrilla's Horizon series called Light of Motiram, FromSoft's puzzling claim that it's not working on an Elden Ring sequel, and more. Listener inquiries help us round things out, per usual. Is Sony quietly giving PSVR2 a new push? How can Square Enix still be publishing PS1 games? Will Sony's E3 2013 'game sharing video' truly resonate throughout time? When will the audience learn that -- yes, indeed! -- you should definitely listen to our rock-solid relationship advice?

Timestamps:
0:00:00 - Intro

0:15:43 - Spotify Wrapped

0:32:06 - The chips in the microwave was a red flag

0:38:25 - Breakup advice

0:45:05 - Gooner rankings

0:55:07 - Joker 2

1:04:47 - The PlayStation startup returns

1:22:10 - BBC interview with Hulst and Nishino

1:43:59 - Horizon ripoff Light of Moritam

1:52:56 - Fromsoft on Elden Ring 2

2:01:17 - Xdefiant is shutting down

2:15:58 - Foamstars support ending

2:21:10 - What are we playing?

2:39:56 - Shawn Layden interview

3:41:16 - The famous "game sharing" video

3:52:10 - PSVR2's new push

4:03:07 - Picking a game for friends to play

4:11:18 - Square Enix is printing new PS1 games

4:13:12 - "Global Subscription Optimization Manager"

4:18:51 - "Take care guys"

Sacred Symbols, Episode 336 | A Kind of Cathedral Business Sacred Symbols, Episode 336 | A Kind of Cathedral Business Sacred Symbols, Episode 336 | A Kind of Cathedral Business

Comments

Oh lord šŸ¤¦ā€ā™‚ļø just stop. There’s no hate there

JALAD@TENAGRA

I don't think it's a conspiracy theory to say joker 2 was intentionally made to fuck with the people that thought the joker was a messiah. But I don't think it's studio execs or the govt or anything like that, just the creators didn't want anything to do with that and got tired of people missing the point. Joker 2 is a good film, the first one is better but the second one is pretty good as well, it's great to see some experimentation with such a trite genre

Cornelius

Oh and same, the PS3 theme resonated the most with me, but I actually like PS5's default ambience and sound so I went back after about a day

David P

KMFDM has a *ton* of albums and still release one every other year in about 40 years of being active

David P

ā€œMedia literacyā€ is used by Redditors who can’t accept that the Last Jedi sucked and we’re all laughing at you

WashedAF

Agree. Using Remedy as an example, Max Payne allowed you to interact with way more stuff than mind-place simulator 2

WashedAF

Temu Horizon did not even take five minutes it would be to come up with anything original lol

NecrumOddBoy

It's funny that very "media literate" leftists would at every chance point out how fallout is about "late stage capitalism" and how the neatherdal conservatives with 0 media literacy didn't get it, only for the creator to come out and say it was about the human condition, something people that are not leftist have been trying to explain. "Media literacy" is such a stupid term and I hope we will move on from it. There are stupid people on the left, right and center. Being on one side doesn't make you smart.

Fotis Lyto

Are we really bitching about how long games are. ā€œRespect your timeā€ is a dumb statement. Millions of gamers all enjoy different games, lengths, genres. If you know a red dead is to long for you play something else. Plenty of shorter experiences

The Central Long Islander

Stfu

Dan Sing Izzy Rae Lee

"Go work for a Japanese company" - something tells me those companies don't got that *scratch*.

Guybrush Threepwood

The xenophobia is strong with this one… yikes ^ 😳

Halphworm

There a 1.5 billion people in China. Don't any of them have a original idea

Chris Adams

Iron meet? Iron me? Iron meat? Annunciate.

AllTooEasy_

It was cool seeing all the members get to sing lol

Gooch Gobbler

I hear you. That being said Petro & Flight are some of my favorite albums by them, so can’t say I agree! :p

Jacob R.

Just saw them in Asheville but not sure if they are getting better, I think they should slow down a bit. The golden years were 2015-2022. Hell of a run

Gooch Gobbler

All my angels tap in

Gooch Gobbler

Gucci Mane did it first

Gooch Gobbler

I don’t think he will. He doesn’t want to recreate a KF situation

Alec Davis

I'M JIM... THE HAMMER... SHAPIRO... 1-800-546-7777 !! 1-800-546-7777 !! I. SUE. DRUNKS!

Kevin Cooper

I kept the 25th anniversary theme on for my PS4 since the day it dropped

Glen Yelenovic

Ohhh well you're in good company because so is Colin!

Zac

You know, I’m somewhat of a grammar Nazi myself

Alec Davis

Sad to hear this. Does the writing become too ham fisted?

Alec Davis

Usa

Nick

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Nick Lone

I am the change I want to see in my podcast communities.

Saint947

You’re going to drive yourself insane. Just skip using time stamps and save yourself the headache. You won’t find informed, interesting takes on AI here.

Jimmy G

It was Sunday night (so the first one). What’s your discord name? Down to link

Mattveego

Precisely. It truly is ā€œold man yells at skyā€ levels of idiocy. What they hate is the idea that something (or more accurately, someone) could replace them. How about you just keep making a product that is undeniable?

Saint947

Thanks for absolving me of any obligation to respect your opinion.

Saint947

Shut the fuck up. Is not even remotely the same as your example of photography

Pianopower

yeah the point of Colin saying ā€œwe’re going to eventually reach a point where it will be indistinguishableā€ just shows that, and in not a mean way, he has 0 idea of how far this stuff has actually come. People that know how to use AI tools well are already doing that.

Theotokos Respecter

milady

Theotokos Respecter

Will you guys just shut the fuck up about AI already? You all sound like people amidst the advent of photography, lamenting the death of painting, (because why would anybody want a painting when you can just have an actual picture of the item?) It is so fucking exhausting hearing you rail against shit that you do not understand, and further, Colin you have enough knowledge of history that it is frankly shameful for you to react with such vitriol towards a nascent technology. AI isn’t going away. It is going to *modify* how people make art not destroy it (just like photography did.) Stop. Talking. About. Fucking. AI.

Saint947

I enjoyed this episode.

Zack E

It's like with Death Stranding, he views it as a pro life piece. I guess it technically is, but the more important theme is about connections and personal interactions. So to constantly hear him only refer to the game because of it's "pro-life" stance shows me he might be doing the hacky thing. Metaphor is an exploration of civil governance and the concept of utopia being subjective. Diversity and discrimination play a huge role in the game and the hero's party lives by an ideal to provide justice and safety for all classes and races... which I think is decidedly not conservative and decidedly liberal, so I think Colin is twisting something into conservatism that pretty obviously isn't.

Joshua Jones

He might not be doing the thing the Daily Wire does where every piece of art is reinterpreted as conservative. I mean…he might be doing that, but I’ll withhold judgment until that’s clear.

Zachary Beach

Sadly, the writing in Metaphor in the back half / third devolves into complete slop. It absolutely ruined my experience; the stakes evaporated and nothing really mattered anymore. The only other game to do this for me was Tales of Arise. Such a damn shame.

Cameron Sturre

Anderson .Paak? Okay Chris!

Bartevious

being serious about ā€˜media literacy’ is absolute midwit behavior šŸ˜‚

Theotokos Respecter

I gotta push back on Layden saying these days, gamers expect everything to be destructible and to be able to go in every building. Uhhh, what? I feel like environments were much more destructible in the PS2/PS3 era when developers were still experimenting with that stuff. And we still can't go in the vast majority of buildings in open world games. So, not sure what he's talking about there. I do agree with most of his points though. Just those 2 things stuck out to me.

Mike Held

I am sure they will sell a t shirt about it in the future

David Seger

Hey The Bronx is sick. Thanks for the new band!

Tyler Cumerford

Saturate is hands down their best album. I just wish they played more of it live. What's a guy gotta do to hear "water" huh?

Eric the human

Love the two conservatives ranting about media literacy when I've never seen a more media illiterate group than conservatives. Wild stuff here. lol

Eric the human

Reminds me of way back in the day when Glenn Beck was getting the entirely wrong message from Muse.

What does the N in NSYNC stand for

Great points on AI pseudo art in games, Colin. I am open to AI in other parts of my life and I use it for internet search and such, but art is a human endeavor. Or rather, art as a creative flow is divine. An X user once commented the following on AI imagery: ā€AI art is good for humour, in its insane mashups, but overall it feels evil. There is a feeling like sickness or cosmic revulsion from staring too long at its totally inhuman creations.ā€œ This hit the nail on the head for me, during my months of experiementing with various apps. Art, this is not.

TGBahr

Love how Colin looks at every game that clearly has a left wing slant and says ā€œit’s actually not, it’s conservativeā€

Joshua Jones

Womp womp

Daddy T

Yeah endorsing murder isn't new for lefties, even though "the right are the ones who incite violence". Our healthcare system is indeed fucked though, so I understand why people don't feel sympathy. But openly endorsing assassinations is wild and uncalled for

ajwhite

Jaffe picks fights constantly and then losses arguments because his arguments are bad. Has nothing to do with interacting with "bottom feeders."

Cole Kinghorn

Such a great conversation about game length, quality, and completion rates. Was so engaged

Geoff

šŸ‘†

Adam Barnes

The United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, was gunned down in an apparent assassination. In response, Chris posted "I think if you’ve killed thousands you should probably not be allowed to continue doing it." He has endorsed cold-blooded murder.

ByWatterson

What happened? I’m not even fucking with you, I’ve been grinding camos in COD for weeks šŸ˜…

Adam Barnes

God, Layden is really speaking my language.

What does the N in NSYNC stand for

Fuck Jaffe.

Jason

Frank Zappa released 60+ albums before he died. He was a one of kind musician really

Christian Felgentreter

I don’t disagree with Colin when it comes to AI, but I get strong the future is now old man energy. Gotta find ways to embrace the tech properly rather than outright refute it. It’s not going anywhere

Steve

Shout out to The Bronx

Jeece

The ā€œchallenge everythingā€ slander should not go unchecked. As a teen I played a shitload of Battlefield and Medal of Honor and that was the stinger at the start. ICONIC

Nat Patterson

Great episode guys. Don't worry Chris, I don't actually find you threatening!

Ben Fairbanks

Oh no!!!! Anyways

Ryan

Charli XCX forever

crybaby

Dustin casually dropping "didnt micah talk about anal" and colin completely skipping over it hahaha

Keith Mc Carthy

It’s wild that American progressives, who collectively cheer on political violence and assassination attempts, think that going down this road will ultimately get them what they want. In a country where 60 million conservatives are armed to the fucking tits. Normalizing the celebration of this is such a stupid idea, lol. Actually insane.

Jimmy G

Colin had the chance to pull Jaffe aside several months ago when he was acting foolishly on LSM’s time, but he avoided it. Why would he intervene while Jaffe is stepping on rakes in his own universe? Jaffe is such a glutton for being punished by morons. No self respect.

Jimmy G

Thank you. Bottoms up… -Dustin

Dustin Furman

Saw them at red rocks this year and they were incredible. Love me some Gizz!

Eric the human

As a Gizz fan I couldn’t help but get triggered during that bit.

Lemon Pepper

Which Red Rocks was it btw? Been listening to the Bootlegs for that run a bunch recently

Jacob R.

Sweeet! Already copped my 2025 tickets haha. I was looking for fellow fans in the LSM community too! Lmk if u wanna link on Discord :-) 🐊

Jacob R.

So sick. I saw one of their Red Rocks shows and their Austin marathon show!

Mattveego

While I like it I think it has less replay value and their sound isn’t nearly as defined as the others

Conor Wilson

I used to smoke the zaza almost everyday from age 17-22, had to stop because it started giving me a lot of anxiety & depression from even small doses. Not sure if my chemistry with it changed or if it’s way too strong now. Been off it for 4 years and generally feel better. Colin may have a similar issue, not that it would all be from the weed but just an observation

Nghtseye

Hell yeah! Been a fan since 2018; caught them for the 3rd time in Miami this past tour. Did you go to any shows?

Jacob R.

BEST BAND IN THE WORLD Need to know how many Gizzheads we have at LSM

Mattveego

Yeah you’re absolutely right, Colin maybe should talk to him about it in private, I’m still a jaffe fan but it’s clear the election broke him and he is getting more n more unhinged/hard to tolerate because of it

Scott

Is Brad receiving Summon Sign and Punching Up emblems? šŸ‘€

What does the N in NSYNC stand for

I've heard way more people praise Metaphor for being progressive or liberal, including Cog on Duke, than people calling it out for being "woke" like Dustin insinuated.

Joseph Gedgaudas

Re AI talk, Colin, you should look into Nick Land. Might find him interesting. He's an NRX philosopher associated with Yarvin and gets credited for starting the whole accelerationism thing. Many interviews on YouTube and his Dark Enlightenment essay is a fascinating read. P. S. Ayn Rand is knockoff Nietzsche

Jake Z

There’s a Colombian DJ called Filmmaker who has put out 48 albums in 6 years and every one I’ve heard is dope as hell.

What does the N in NSYNC stand for

No surprise. His political outlook of the world is hilariously cartoonish

Dick Stillhard

I almost had a brain aneurysm when Dustin said "we had way, way less options"; credit to Colin for resisting the urge to correct him šŸ˜‚

Zac

That CEO has more blood on his hands than Osama Bin Laden, I’ll piss on the ground so he can stay hydrated in Hell

Brandon Tyler

While I don’t share his opinion he replied to a tweet saying that it is personal. I’d imagine someone he knows was denied care and it could have resulted in a death. Again not condoning what happened or what Chris said but I’m not going to crucify someone for an opinion from emotion.

Joshua

In the words of Billy and Jimmy Lee from Double Dragon Neon ā€œDESACRATIOUS!!!ā€

Casey Anthony’s Hide and Seek Tips

No it’s the best by far entire album is solid. I’m about 7 years younger than Colin so def older than a lot of the community though

Joshua

eww

What does the N in NSYNC stand for

I gotta be honest, I’ve been checking dozens of comment sections in YouTube videos about it, and you are LITERALLY the FIRST person I’ve seen express disgust.

What does the N in NSYNC stand for

Goro Akeechi, I’ll give you a pass this time Colin. But if you say Ghost of Yotai one more time 😔 (just kidding lol)

Cyprus Davis

Not defending what he actually said, but just trying to point out the ramp up in his need to participate in all this crap in the first place. I just don’t think he’s doing himself any favors at the moment

John

The election broke jaffe and he’s clearly acting out, let’s not pretend vara dark is the problem when jaffe clearly said some sexist/misogynistic things to her

Scott

The Andrew Rousso chipotle video is amazing and my wife hates that I found it

Seany Mac

Vile.

ByWatterson

Here’s to the next one!!!

Casey Anthony’s Hide and Seek Tips

Chris on Twitter celebrating the United murder. Stay classy LSM!

ByWatterson

Re: 36 albums… King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is at 26 and they’re getting better all the time

Jacob R.

Dustin's "and the devil laughs" quote is a top tier internet reference pull. I'm bummed neither Chris nor Colin got it. I gotchu, Dust.

Kyle Phegley

Colin, straight edge’s origin is from hardcore/ punk in the 80s. The term ā€œstraight edgeā€ was taken from a Minor Threat song, although the band never intended for their ethical stance/ cultural resistance to become a lifestyle with a catchy name. Also nautical stars have nothing to do with straight edge lol. That’s just a tattoo douche bags with Jeeps and lip rings would get. Last point, not to do the emo copy pasta, but I know when we’re referencing ā€œemoā€ here we probably aren’t talking about the original emo subgenre (that also was an offshoot from hardcore punk in the mid-late 80s), but rather the super commercialized Hot-Topic/ MTV version of the early 00s that big corporate record labels used because it was catchy. Most that of that stuff was more akin to pop-punk than anything else. Pretty antithetical to where straight edge comes from really. Hope this was informative. Haven’t been straight edge in years, but was for probably 15 years when I came up playing in hardcore bands when I was younger. Don’t really regret being straight edge, but also don’t regret NOT being straight edge now. Still like to bump edge music though. Listen to ā€œThis is Not a Trendā€ by the band Trial. šŸ‘

Stray_Bullets

I somehow missed the stand down merch drop.. will there be a restock? I would love one. Also thats hilarious that Colin didn’t have any idea that much of the merch is sold out for the holiday

Tristan Kimball

I’m so mad I went and watched that new Kanye video… Damnit.

king_ryan_james

It could just be a product of me being younger than Colin, but does anybody else find Saturate to be easily the worst Breaking Benjamin album?

Scott LaFontaine

The Fall (top of my Spotify Unwrapped) had 31 studio albums.

Michael Cook

Curtis Yarvin on Sacred Symbols when?

Micah Locke

Dude, Colin, PLEASE have a heart to heart with Jaffe about how he engages with bottom feeders on social media. I think he’s in need of a ā€œpull him asideā€ moment. It’s embarrassing to watch, and I think it’s a really poor reflection of LSM. For the record I love the Jaffe content on LSM, and am really glad he’s part of the regular rotation, but holy shit, it’s hard to watch our boy Jaffe constantly engage in the ā€œculture warā€, it seems like it’s taking a toll on him. Only want the best for Senior Jaffe

John

Last stand media is BRAT

Mattveego

The news about Elden Ring 2 not coming up soon isn't a surprise to anyone who knows Fromsoft. The next time Fromsoft announce a game, and it's marketed as "From the creators of Elden Ring", that's gonna get people's attention. I understand Colin a bit in that sticking a "2" onto the end of Elden Ring is the most surefire way to guarantee success, but I think their next big game is gonna do very well regardless. I love the direction FS take, they do things their own way and typically ike to go in new directions while still retaining the DNA of their past titles. Fromsoft are now a much different studio from they were even around Bloodborne/DS3 days. They've expanded hugely and are a much bigger name in casual gaming circles now. Their next game in this kind of genre (ie not niche like Armored Core - which still did pretty well) is gonna be huge

Deemac

smelly

Elijah VanderSande


Related Creators