This week Hoeg and special guests Joe and Alex of Seasoned Gaming join Brad and discuss a variety of games including South of Midnight, InZOI, Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island and more!Patreon VideoPatreon Audio

I get the feeling that Colin thinks I don't work hard enough on these episode descriptions. I mean, I don't, but he isn't supposed to know that. Well, I had an idea: If I pad these paragraphs by just filling this space with a lot of random gibberish, Colin will think I'm really toiling away over here. Everybody wins! So, what do you guys want to talk about? My neighbor's car alarm keeps going off every five minutes, that's super aggravating. How's the weather over by you? I enjoy burritos a lot and I do like guacamole but please never put guac in my burrito, that's gross. When was water skiing invented? I want to surprise my wife by repainting our master bathroom but I know I'll choose the wrong color thereby making her very unhappy, so I better not even try. Most cheeses are good, I can't pick a favorite. I haven't read a book in like, two years. Have you ever wondered why birds and rabbits get along so well? I definitely need a new pillow, mine is so old and lumpy ...... Wait, this is turning out to be a lot harder than just writing an actual episode description. Damn you, Colin! I give up. Jaffe, Micah, Brad and Dagster talk about topics. Foiled again!Patreon VideoPatreon Audio

See you guys tomorrow. I don't know how bad it's gonna get now that Trump has doubled down on not lifting these tariffs, but I know it's gonna affect all of us. Curious to see how the shows decide to discuss this during the week, especially Sacred.

Thanks Colin

It may only be about five years old, but The Last of Us: Part II is quite easily one of the greatest games of all-time. Thus, it not only deserves its own episode of KnockBack, but a seven-ish hour one, the longest show in Last Stand history to date. Divisive even before it came out -- but absolutely dripping with style, message, and storytelling -- TLoU2 is a tale about endless violence and cyclical revenge, the kind that you simply can't back away from. The deeper Ellie and Abby fall into their timeless feud, the less they gain and the more they lose. But they just can't help themselves. They refuse to. It's at the heart of what makes this game so incredibly great, and perhaps what makes it so very controversial, too. There's little else to say, other than that the Brothers Moriarty wanted to give love to one of gaming's most phenomenal adventures. Click play for the result...Patreon VideoPatreon Audio

Colin has always tried to peg himself as a student of history, politics, world affairs and current events. Even throughout the years where I have disagreed with alot of his takes he atleast had some moderate substance, insight and rationality to his viewpoints and postions. His main postion in favor of tarrifs and a trade war is, "it's worth a try" to bring manufacturing back to America, but doesn't dive into any depth how trump is waging the trade war. There isn't a credible economist in the world that believes this will work, especially in the fashion the trump administration is trying to go about it. Colin loves DOGE cause it's "dismantling bureaucracy" but doesn't supply any evidence, logical, reason or rationale to why slashing public health investments, cancer research, social safety nets (food banks, school lunches), weather research, safety, national disaster preparation, etc., etc., etc., (could go on a very long time) is a good thing. Colins take is government is bad, but doesn't give any good reasons why. I personal feel really stupid for believing this guy was actually a smart person for so long. He's a textbook anti intellectual who tries to frame himself as an actual well read person.

The next exclusive from the "Class Of 2018" has arrived! It's South Of Midnight, hailing from Montreal's very own Compulsion Games, and it's another mixed bag. For all the visuals, stop motion, and music do to set the game apart, the Dukes struggled to fall in love with story following its abrupt conclusion. There's a lot to dig about it, but we wonder how the Xbox fandom will react to this after effectively waiting since 2018 for a story that doesn't necessarily wrap it up or make the best use of its gameplay mechanics. Alas, it's another "good, not great" that the Dukes think you should check out at sometime, but can't really justify the 40 bones you'd spend on it outside of Game Pass. In other news, Nintendo has upended the industry with their newly announced game prices which reach as high as $90 on the physical front. How this will have a ripple effect on the industry is easy to guess, but naturally, we dig a little deeper into the conversation than that.Patreon VideoPatreon AudioYouTube

What’s frustrating is that I’ve been a Patron for years and a fairly positive contributor in the official sub even during recent events. That said, I still voiced my thoughts on the recent political climate (tariff situation) openly here on this sub and I guess they’re combing through this sub?

Well there goes another subscriber. Cancelling now, pretty sad state of affairs that that’s what they’ve succumbed to.

I migrated from Easy Allies over to LSM because I wanted a focus on gaming and not gaming discussion being mired in political discourse. The irony.

Any recommendations on podcasts and content creators who are still focusing on actual gaming content that don’t have thin skin and an online gestapo working for them?

Yeah, I wrote a lot. But I think the most egregious thing about this entire fiasco is the people who are still trying to shield Colin (and now the company), from being affiliated with Conservatives. If you have listened to LSM, you know that everything I said was accurate and 100% came from Colins lips that he chose to devolve. Nothing is fabricated. So......what now? We get banned for "being assholes"? I thought Colin did not have a problem with assholes? Like when he defended JK Rowling because she was being an asshole to the Trans Community, and Colin swept it under the rug with, "well she's not lying about Trans women not being real women". There are good shows at LSM and good people, and even Colins PS expertise is always welcome, but yeah. He's getting fried and well deserved. You dont get to open doors and the tell people they cant walk through them, and not expect blowback. He brought up all the topics. Not us. Its like all of his Constellations topics: "WAR" "Ukraine Propaganda". I am now starting to think the KF fallout wasn't some out of left field injustice. Just the straw that broke the camels back.

When you hear the names Colin Moriarty and David Jaffe, the first thing you no doubt think of is Nintendo. That's why we wanted to take a little time today to discuss the reveal of Switch 2, and get into the potential demand for the new machine, the pricing of the hardware and software, and whether Nintendo can pull off its first back-to-back home console sales victory since the NES and SNES. We also get into some other heady topics, too: The unsustainability of PlayStation's high production values (an arms race Sony itself started), whether I (Colin) am crazy about Steam potentially running on Xbox making no sense whatsoever, what the future holds for Ubisoft (it's not looking good for much of the company), and much more. Please enjoy.Patreon VideoPatreon Audio

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What bad timing for Nintendo. Will this push back any hardware release for Sony and Microsoft? New President in office Jan 2029

We don't make the news; we merely report and dissect it. So it's not our fault that this week's episode focuses quite a bit on some older topics come alight, starting with a new Helldivers 2 postmortem. Developer Arrowhead's CEO recently gave an interview, displaying a surprising level of accountability and levelheadedness about the ups and downs of their mega-popular game. Then, we talk a whole lot about Nintendo, because literally half of our listener inquiries this week were on the topic of Switch 2. Switch's successor is a mere months away, and while there's no doubt a lot of excitement, there also seems to exist an unusual amount of skepticism, and even anger and animosity. Will Nintendo be able to capture its first generation-to-generation success story since NES and SNES? Or are we looking at more of the same-old same-old? After, we get into rumors of yet another The Last of Us-related re-release, a mysterious physical edition at a premium price, but with contents unknown. Have we had enough, already? Other news includes data on Xbox's publishing performance on PS5, fresh sales and player numbers for the likes of Death Stranding and Atomfall, and more. Then: Listener inquiries! With the reveal of The Duskbloods on Switch 2 and because there's no Bloodborne news seemingly ever, is it clear that FromSoft has beef with Sony? Should we be worried about the survival of Ubisoft's studio Massive, and thus the future of The Division? Are physical game gimmicks getting awfully close to jumping the shark? How did we accidentally appear in a popular YouTube series about bad drivers?

On this special edition of Punching Up, Gene shares his hands on experience with the Switch 2!Patreon VideoPatreon AudioYouTube

After the Nintendo price announcement for Mario Kart, anyone still believe GTA6 will retail at $70? Nintendo games have barely been sold at $70 and they are upping the next gen titles to $80 and sometimes $90.

Predicting it here, GTA6 launches at a clean $100. Nintendo gets 100% of the money on their own console. Rockstar/Take-Two will get what, 80% of each copy sold. Get that extra 20% by upping the price of games.

I understand Colin's take. Actually Mario Kart will probably bring 100s of hours of fun. GTA6 is in the same boat.. I would buy both at $100. The issue is that no other game is getting my money or my time.

Nintendo has finally fully revealed the Switch 2 along with a slew of new games! Join us to break down all the details of the direct and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L8BissIAnk

Remember when we were mad at Sony for $70 games in 2020?

Nintendo has finally fully revealed the Switch 2 along with a slew of new games! Join us to break down all the details of the direct and more.Patreon VideoPatreon AudioYouTube

I've always stuck by LSM and CM through pretty much everything, and really believe that with pushback and the back and forth he used to engage in he was the best voice in videogames.

But let's look at reality. Colin by his own admission, mostly stays in his own home and moving away from pretty much everyone has isolated himself from any other sort of opinion.

During this same time, again by his own admission, he watched hundreds of hours of Tim Pool and Dave Rubin. He clearly radicalised himself via Russian propaganda and it's such a textbook approach that I'm amazed that he's can't see it.

https://apnews.com/article/russian-interference-presidential-election-influencers-trump-999435273dd39edf7468c6aa34fad5dd

If he's too proud to realise he's fed himself such a large dose of propaganda unwittingly, and that people are pushing back against him because it's so obvious this that is what has happened, well, he's not as smart as I've given him credit for for 15 years.

I typically ignore Reddit drama, but given that Colin keeps banging on about 'the hate' in the shows, I'm another one that has to call it a day.

This episode Chris and Colin join Brad and discuss The First Berserker: Khazan, Atomfall, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and more!Patreon VideoPatreon Audio

Colin talks about the Reddit situation in the new Constellation. At about 2h15

Chris makes some solid one off videos. It feels like when he has time to prepare he can put together a compelling perspective. On the podcast though I think he's awful. He has no interesting takes and repeats himself constantly. Guy thinks art direction is one of the most important aspects to a multi-player game despite all the most successful multi-player games looking mid to poor art direction. He never questions that.

Destin seems like a nice guy (gag) who likes anime. He also seems incapable of making an interesting point.

Colin, for all his faults, does seem to be solid on the podcast. He might have a bunch of moronic takes and be close minded but I'm never shocked when he says something a bit interesting. Destiny and Chris Raygun are the most boring, vanilla cohosts imaginable.

I seem to see a pattern with most podcasts where one person, ALWAYS the type A personality who started the podcast, is decent while his cohosts are only there because they're asked to be there.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Hello and welcome to Constellation! Usually, Dagan is the one who writes these descriptions, but he forgot this week! So, you have me (Dustin), and I'm not even on this episode! He's been getting a bit cheeky with them recently, so it's probably best I'm here to clean things up anyway. For this episode, Matty wants to talk about wrestling, and Dagan asks about plans we've had that have backfired on us. You may be asking, where's the third topic? This episode ended up being quite a doozy just between those two topics, so the last topic needed to be cut due to timing. So, join Dagan, Colin, Matty, and Gene for another episode. And hey, Dagster, don't forget to write the description next week!Patreon VideoPatreon Audio

If this is not allowed, no problem but I’ve been trying to piece it all together and keep getting lost. I think is it is because I only listen every now and then and am not active on the main sub. This one keeps popping up on my feed with all of these banned post. Thanks.

Was it too harsh? I didnt think it was mean given what's going on.