We had already finished this recording when surprising news broke in the world of PlayStation: Sony has cancelled two of its upcoming, unannounced games. And -- would you believe it? -- they were both live service titles, including a God of War spin-off. The really unfortunate news, however, is who was making these titles: Bend and Bluepoint, two smaller AAA teams that typically work on a single project at a time, thus wasting years of development, as well as time and resources that can never be recovered. What in the world is going on with PlayStation Studios, and how did the person who helmed the first party family during such a tumultuous period of greenlights and plug-pulling ascend to the top of PlayStation itself? It's time to start asking some really hard questions. Other news this week includes substantial rumors of more Xbox content en route to PlayStation which, if true, will make Microsoft the single most-prolific producer of content for a platform that was once its arch-rival, but no longer. Also: Reactions to the first Until Dawn film trailer, a surprising end to Rocksteady's Suicide Squad game, accolades for an exceptional-looking upcoming vampire RPG called The Blood of Dawnwalker, tantalizing news about Bungie's in-development Smash Bros.-inspired MOBA, and more. We wrap up our episode (as we always do) with listener inquiries. Now that Nintendo's Switch 2 has been revealed, what are our preliminary thoughts? Is 2025 the year we finally give PSVR2 the respect it deserves? Why is it so hard to make swimming control well? Is it just a weird coincidence that SEGA renewed its Ecco the Dolphin trademark on September 11, 2001, or is there something deeper at play?

• This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/SYMBOLS and get on your way to being your best self.

Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement.

Timestamps:

0:00:00 - Intro

0:21:27 - Sacred car collision

0:25:01 - Ranking LSM autism

0:28:06 - Do Colin and Chris drink coffee?

0:47:45 - Phil Summers Mega Man book

0:49:52 - Sony and SoCal studios are donating to the wildfire recovery

0:51:47 - Until Dawn movie

1:00:11 - Rocksteady ends Suicide Squad

1:05:09 - The Blood of Dawnwalker

1:11:35 - Ubisoft + Tencent?

1:18:59 - Square Enix releases a Group Customer Harassment policy

1:23:27 - Ecco the Dolphin trademark

1:29:02 - Elden Ring Nightreign network test registration is up

1:30:28 - Lunar Remastered has a date

1:33:14 - What are we playing?

1:54:54 - Sony has shut down two live service projects

2:19:14 - More Xbox games on PlayStation

2:43:49 - Bungie's Gummy Bears

2:57:35 - New PS Plus Extra and Premium games

3:05:41 - Top downloads on PSN for December

3:09:52 - Our thoughts on Switch 2

3:30:35 - PSVR2 recommendations

3:36:29 - Gamifying our life

3:45:11 - Swimming in games

3:50:41 - PS4 living on

3:53:33 - Prestige system for platinums

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