Tag: Twiggy
Feature Gamers Are Far Too Influenced By Sales Figures -- 'Twiggy' The Push Square Opinionator
A game is only as good as its sales figures
At least, that appears to be the mentality of some forum posters, unevenly illustrating their opinion in forums across the Internet. The NPD group released sales figures for the North American market this week, ranking Resistance 3 in seventh position for the month of September. "Reasonable," I...
Feature Variety Is The Spice Of Life -- 'Twiggy' The Push Square Opinionator
Earlier in the week Deep Silver announced a PlayStation Move enabled sports mini-game compilation called Winter Stars
The news was met with little fanfare, but I couldn't help but feel a flutter of anticipation. Thing is, I adore games packed with variety. I love the idea of being able to play around with different mechanics, jumping from one...
Feature Sony Bullish After Another Promising GamesCom -- 'Twiggy' The Push Square Opinionator
Each year, the hardcore video game community ignites with debates over which platform holder 'won' E3
It's a topic that's been adopted by industry analysts and high-profile journalists, with fictional grades awarded to the manufacturers with the most surprises and best content. But GamesCom — now the world's largest video game event — has a very...
Feature What Is Sony Going To Announce At GamesCom 2011? -- 'Twiggy' The Push Square Opinionator
Sony always has a big presence at GamesCom in Cologne
In 2009 it used the European show to reveal the PlayStation 3 Slim. And last year it made some huge software announcements: Virtua Tennis 4, Resistance 3 and Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One all got their debuts at the German event. But what can we expect from this year's show? Plenty of...
We always knew it was a likely scenario, but we chose to believe otherwise
Sony never officially said the PlayStation Vita would get a worldwide launch this year, only ever really committing to a Japanese launch. "Phased global rollout" was the textbook buzzword Sony used. But we believed because it made sense. How could Sony not put the...
Ever since news broke of Nintendo's colossal price-cut to its 3DS system, I've been keeping my ear very close to the ground
I wanted to gauge the implications of the price-cut on PlayStation Vita, particularly from the people that matter: the fans and potential consumers. The news won't have filtered through to the mainstream audience just yet, but...
On paper it sounds like a dream scenario: a future where Sony and Microsoft work together to build the ultimate system
Sony's knowledge of hardware architecture coupled with Microsoft's dominance in the software sector. Sony's outstanding first-party output supported by Microsoft's (supposedly) superior networking talents. Combining both Sony and...
Feature Why PlayStation Vita Changed Perceptions At E3 2011 -- 'Twiggy' The Push Square Opinionator
Nintendo might have announced a new platform at E3, but if you listen to the buzz bubbling beneath the Wii U, you'll notice the perception of Sony's PlayStation Vita has changed dramatically
The spiritual successor to the PlayStation Portable already convinced some when it was announced earlier in the year. With dual analogue sticks, a gorgeous...
E3's crept up on me
I've known it's been coming for some time, but am only just starting to get that pang of excitement for the event and all its impending announcements. A lot of gamers describe E3 as their equivalent of Christmas, and it really does feel that way. But I also sense the tide has been changing for some years. While the spectacle of...
Have you heard, the PlayStation brand is in decline
That's according to an opinion piece crafted by Gamasutra's Colin Campbell. Does it sound familiar? It sure as hell does to me. In fact listening to podcasts and reading editorials this week has made me question whether I took a ride in a tripped out DeLorean against my will: it's 2007 all over...
Feature Don't Kill The 'Mid-Tier' Game -- 'Twiggy' The Push Square Opinionator Returns
Jeff Cannata coined a phrase on the Weekend Confirmed podcast that will probably stick with me for as long as I write about entertainment products
Desperately struggling to balance his positive opinion of Square Enix's Nier against the game's catalogue of flaws, Cannata concluded that the title is "more fun than it is good". It's a...
This week the PSP reclaimed its crown at the top of the domestic hardware sales charts in Japan, despite Nintendo's 3DS releasing just a month ago
Numbers for Nintendo's systm were also disappointing across Europe, with exact figures in North America seemingly hush-hush. It's worth stressing that the 3DS represents Nintendo's best ever launch, but...
Feature Why System Exclusives Need To Stay -- 'Twiggy' The Push Square Opinionator Returns
It's been a while, friends
There's been a lot of great games, some huge announcements (good grief, the NGP!) and a lot of familiar sentiments around the online gaming community since I left you. One thing that's really been yanking on my metaphorical chain is the idea that all game franchises should be multiplatform. For me system exclusives are...
Feature Overlooking The Depth In Sports Champions -- "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
I've spent a good chunk of my week playing table-tennis
Don't be silly, I've not risked my life sharing the Youth Club's beaten down excuse for a table-tennis table with a group of hoods — I've been playing the sport in my living room via PlayStation Move. I've always been a fan of motion controls and, in particular, motion controlled sports...
The PlayStation Move launch went better than I imagined
Word of mouth is extremely positive within the hardcore circles. Conceptually the device bares resemblance to the Wii; but there's a sense that this is what many of us were originally expecting from Nintendo's foray into motion controls. It's the hardcore gamers that Sony have been targeting...
Feature Is There Still A Place For Duke Nukem? -- "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
The re-announcement of Duke Nukem Forever this week has put my thoughts to the test
I was semi pleased when the game was cancelled. Obviously, my thoughts went out to all those who had worked hard and were losing employment — but at the same time, I feel like we've moved on from the Duke Nukem character. Does he even matter anymore? I vaguely...
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories proved to me that survival horror benefits from motion control better than most other genres
The game placed you in a particularly threat-free world; opting instead to create tension through interaction and atmosphere. Simply moving your flashlight across the game's eerily dark setting was enough to place you in the...
Feature What A Great Week For PlayStation -- "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
I've got absolutely nothing to moan about
This has been an excellent week for the PlayStation brand; so good, in fact, that even reports of a jailbreak weren't able to subdue the mood. I predicted before GamesCom that it would be a low-key show - but Sony's found their stomping ground. Last year Sony dominated the European event with the headline...
This time last year we were about to experience one of the most pivotal moments in the PlayStation 3's history; the announcement of the PlayStation 3 Slim and the entire platform's re-branding completely rejuvenated Sony's platform and put it back into serious contention with the XBOX 360
The announcement came at GamesCom, a German-based video games...
You know what's more predictable than the day turning to night -- LittleBigPlanet 2's reviews
Don't get me wrong, I expect the new game to be received just as well as the first game (if not better). But there's going to be that one paragraph in every review that states — "You know, the Create mode's really good, but it's kind of...
Sony's line-up has been exceedingly strong this year
In fact, it's probably the strongest the PlayStation 3 has ever had. It's been a banner year for the system, with games such as Heavy Rain and God Of War III all being massive success stories for the brand. It's telling of the industry's state that people should choose to criticise the line-up —...
Feature Multiplayer Shooters Stress Me The Heck Out -- "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
I just don't get it
As a reviewer, I can see the positives and negatives in every game I play. But on a personal level, I just don't get multiplayer shooters. I'm talking about the games that have Team Deathmatch as the default game-mode — your Modern Warfare 2s, Medal Of Honors and even Uncharted 2s. I've always questioned whether I truly have...
Feature Sometimes, I Don't Want Big Blockbusters -- "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
I'm playing two games at the moment that very few people care about
They're not the type of games that are gracing magazine covers and website home-pages. They probably have mild targets and low budgets. They're hardly blockbusters. But they've got me completely excited. It's made me realise that, sometimes, you don't always need a blockbuster...
I was right
I went on a record a couple of times before E3, stating vigorously that it would be unlikely we'd see a new PSP. We didn't. Probably a good thing - with all the hype surrounding Nintendo's 3DS, it would have taken something special to top that. But it raises a question of its own. I had speculated that Sony might dramatically drop the...
News The PlayStation Move Can Succeed -- "Twiggy" The PushSquare Opinionator
I'm looking at my games library
Now I'm comparing it to the launch line-up of PlayStation Move titles. That's an impressive list by the way — 31 games in the first year? There's actual variety to the list too; casual games, shooters, sports games, party games, strategy games. If Move is as easy to implement as Sony are touting, I wouldn't be...
Last year I had an email
Someone asked me, "if you had a job at SCEA, and you were in the planning room for Sony's E3 2010 press conference, how would you glue the event together?" In response, I wrote a pretty detailed opinionator breaking down the way in which I'd construct Sony's press conference, based on predictions already made. This...
1998 was a sensational year for the video games
If I name-drop just a few of the releases from that year it's pretty easy to note why. Metal Gear Solid. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. Half-Life. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. Heck, even Fallout 2. They all released in 1998, a year which, in hind-sight, has long been considered the most important...
Feature The Obligatory Pre-E3 Playstation Predictions Post - "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
E3 is coming and everyone's got their own opinions on what they think's going to be shown
It's the hottest topic of debate in the video games industry right now. Just what are Sony going to show for their range of Playstation platforms? I've dissected the most reasonable estimates I can muster and compiled them into this week's Opinionator post...
Feature Racing Games... Too Many Racing Games - "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
Burnout Paradise predates this website
It was released in January 2008, at a time when I didn't have to play every game that released. I picked it up sometime in September. Being a fan of arcade racers, it still bemuses me that I didn't buy it earlier, and I honestly can't for the life of me recall why. But I didn't - I picked it up late. At the...
E3 is weeks away
Literally just weeks. If you'd have asked me a couple of months ago what I believed would be the biggest Playstation 3 titles to debut at the event I'd have said Killzone 3. I'd have said LittleBigPlanet 2. But both of those games have been announced - one officially, one unofficially. Killzone 3 leaked last night out of an issue
Feature When Did We Start Judging Value At Face Surface? - "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
3D Dot Game Heroes and Modnation Racers: two Playstation 3 exclusives
The Playstation Store: a revolutionary online service dedicated to delivering sub-$15 experiences direct to our hard-drive. The knot in the middle: "These games look like they should be PSN downloads," forum posts complain, "$60 retail release. Not worth it. I'm not...
LittleBigPlanet 2's a video game
Media Molecule has insisted on telling us that much. Everything else we know by now, we probably shouldn't. The embargo lifts tomorrow. Already people are forming opinions about the game though: generally I'm gauging a sense of unprecedented excitement, optimism at the potential fixes for common problems, and...
Feature What's Next For Play Create Share? - "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
Everytime I jump back into LittleBigPlanet I have a mild brain explosion
Having worked tirelessly for several days to create my own LBP representation of Alice In Wonderland back in '08, I know the amount of work that needs to be instilled into these projects in order to create a masterpiece. But everytime I go back to LBP, there's something that...
Some interesting comments came out of Castlevania producer David Cox's pie-hole this week
The dev spoke candidly to PSM3 magazine about Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2 and its baring on the industry. In that interview Cox dropped a bomb of a quote, declaring that Uncharted 2 couldn't set a genre benchmark because it was a single-platform release. It left...
High Velocity Bowling has been on my Playstation 3's hard-drive for a long time
I think I bought it while it was in one of SCEE's ludicrously cheap sales. I played it for maybe five-minutes after purchase and then never touched it again. But yesterday was a Bank Holiday here in the UK - a.k.a. "Sit On Your Ass And Do Nothing For 12 Hours"...
God Of War III is being criticised for being too familiar to its predecessors, but it's a line of critique I feel intrigued to counter
Playing God Of War III, I couldn't help but notice the ways in which Sony Santa Monica took something familiar and made it better. On a surface-level, the tweaks aren't particularly apparent, but there are so many...
I've been searching the archives: Bioshock? No way
Goldeneye? The bungie jump was cool. Shenmue? "Fuku-san!". No matter how deep I dive, I can't find an opening as strong as God Of War III's. A sixty-minute period in which everything that makes the God Of War franchise a success is crammed, turned on its head, and amplified to 11. As of...
Over the past months I've had the privilege of playing two extremely unique games
Heavy Rain and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories are both arguably flawed titles if you pick them apart. But let them stand on their own merits and they're inspiring. I don't want to do other games a disservice in my appraisal, I have plenty of love for more formal...
Feature Multiplayer Cross-Over Is A Bit Of A Nightmare - "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
It seems to me that every video game has multiplayer these days
More or less. And even when it's debateable whether a game should have multiplayer (Bioshock 2 springs to mind), the resulting component tends to be rather impressive. But that causes its own sub-set of problems, particularly for someone like myself who has to play through multiple...
Feature I Love Games Set In The Wild-West - "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
Growing up, I've never had any interest in movies set in the wild-west
Sure, I can remember cold winter afternoons, sitting next to the fire with my Grandmother, watching some tired old tosh set about Pawnee Bill; but I've never once considered the genre a favourite. Which is strange, because anytime I think of wild-west games, I think of them with...
I know Sony won't pay for exclusives and I think that's admirable
After all, would I prefer Grand Theft Auto IV DLC exclusivity for 12 months, or a whole new Wipeout game? The $50million Microsoft paid for that GTA DLC is probably in a similar ball-park to what would be spent on a mid-large PSN release (perhaps less) and thus, absolutely I'd take...
Feature First-Time Fantasy: "Twiggy" Plays Final Fantasy VII For The First-Time - 5
Twiggys playing through Final Fantasy VII for the first-time ever
Join him as he catalogues his progress but beware, if youre still planning on playing through Final Fantasy VII for yourself, there are spoilers ahead.</em> If I didn't know any better at this stage, I'd say Sephiroth likes reading books. He's in the basement of the...
This week news broke that there is redundant PS3 code in the PC version of Mass Effect 2
Naturally this brought up a whole host of rumours that Bioware had a PS3 version of the game running somewhere, and it was only a matter of time before one of the year's highest rated games hit Sony's machine. Bioware were quick to dispell the myths, reiterating...
In 2004 I fell in love
My XBOX Live subscription had been running for about 6 months and I'd had many enjoyable sessions on Project Gotham Racing 2. But Live never truly demonstrated its potential until later that year. Halo 2 released. Prior to Halo 2, my only real exposure to online shooters on a console had come via Quake III Arena on the...
Inevitably the Playstation Motion Controller was delayed until Fall this week
No surprises there, we're still reporting on rumoured names here in the PushSquare office, and aside from that very impressive E3 tech-demo, we have nothing at all to go on. But what effect will that delay have on Sony's new hardware? More time will ensure better prepared...
The big news coming out of CES this year was without a doubt 3D technology in the home
Now, I'm not a tech guy, so I don't really want to get bogged down with semantics and core-duo processing, but what I'd like to talk about in today's opinionator is the effect 3D may have on the Playstation 3s hardware. As PushSquare readers will know, Sony have...
Feature Co-Op Is Definitely The Future Of Online Multiplayer - "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
Co-op is the future of online multiplayer
Never in all my years of opinionating have I been more sure of one thing: co-op is the future of online multiplayer. There'll always be a place in video games for the wrought solo escapades of a tight single-player experience, as will there always be the space for competitive multiplayer — but co-op is...
News What's The Obsession With Cross-Platform Comparison? - "Twiggy" The PushSquare Opinionator
I play games
I kinda have to, right? When the folks from PushSquare approached me and said, "Yo Twigg-oh, want to write some Playstation 3 columns," I made it my business to play everything available on the system. It didn't change my lifestyle too much though, seeing as I did that in the first place. Hence why PushSquare asked me to write...
As exciting as the Final Fantasy XIII release date announcement was yesterday, it really only served as a wake-up call for me
The first quarter of next year is absolutely chock-a-block. If I just construct a list of games coming early next year that automatically spring to mind, we're looking at: MAG, Bayonetta, Heavy Rain, Dante's Inferno, Dark...
I'm confident saying Siren: Blood Curse is one of the scariest games I've played
Fear, like humour, is something video games have difficulty trying to portray. But Siren did it, making you feel vulnerable at every stage of the game. What Siren: Blood Curse does so well is make you feel involved. You're often powerless in the game, which changes the...
