Tag: Columns - Page 2
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...
Feature Late To The Party #2: Ridge Racer Type 4 on PSone
It's hard to go back to racing games
It's a genre that's constantly evolving. While two-dimensional platformers and puzzle games remain fairly time-less — racing games evolve. It's funny, in fact, that I should return to the original PlayStation's Ridge Racer Type 4 just days after getting a hands-on with Sony's upcoming Gran Turismo 5. Despite...
Feature There's No Place Like Home: Stomping Scorpions In Sodium One
The moment I realised the true potential of PlayStation Home was when I visited the Sodium One game space
I urge anyone who's still got negative impressions of Sony's virtual world to visit Lockwood's meta-game space and pick-up the gear you need to access the full game. Sodium One is a complete experience tied into the PlayStation Home engine —...
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 Late To The Party #1: The Getaway on PlayStation 2
I want to play The Getaway
The initial set-up is fantastic; placing you in a red Rover 75 with a motley-crue of cockney shade-masters. "Who's the bird?" exclaims the appropriately named "Eyebrows", in his thick LDN tones. Across the road, a lady in a tight leather jacket sprints towards the passenger seat of the car. She flicks...
Feature There's No Place Like Home: Photobombed In The Minis Space
This week wasn't supposed to be like this
I had a whole other series prepared for this week's There's No Place Like Home. I was going to do my best Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and make-over my Personal Space. But in my quest for fancy neon lamps, this happened [see photographic evidence above]. As I clicked the shutter of my PlayStation Home camera, I...
There's acres of difference between the PlayStation Move and Kinect platforms
Some bloggers might wish you to believe otherwise, as they compare every intricate difference between the platforms. But if E3 taught us one thing, it's that the platforms are distinctly unique. I see Kinect as a device to entice people into the XBOX platform. I don't see...
Feature Push Square's Most Anticipated PlayStation Games Of Holiday 2010
If, like us, you were away on LocoRoco Island last week, you may have missed our specially compiled countdown of the office's most anticipated PlayStation games of this Holiday season
These are the games you're going to want to sell your kidney to buy. The games that we think should be on your pre-order list. Let's recap: Time Crisis: Razing Storm
Feature Push Square's Most Anticipated PlayStation Games Of Holiday 2010: LittleBigPlanet 2
How could we possibly have an anticipated list without mentioning Sackboy? LittleBigPlanet 2 is indeed our most anticipated game of Holiday 2010
While we're looking forward to all the games on this list, LittleBigPlanet 2 appears to be a step beyond everything else on offer. Despite being two years since the original LittleBigPlanet, the concept is...
Feature Push Square's Most Anticipated PlayStation Games Of Holiday 2010: Gran Turismo 5
What could we possibly have left to say about Gran Turismo 5? The franchise is an institution among car lovers, and the wait has been long, hard and tiring
But the definitive racing simulator is finally upon us, packing a feature-set that's out of this world. Perhaps the most impressive feature is the game's ridiculously beefed-up roster. When it...
Feature Push Square's Most Anticipated PlayStation Games Of Holiday 2010: Need For Speed Hot Pursuit
When you tell us that Criterion are making an arcade racing game, you don't really need to give us any more information
We're sold at that point. Hey, guess what? Criterion are making an arcade racing game. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit takes the franchise all the way back to its roots. Do you remember the original game on the 3DO? ("Wanna go...
Feature Push Square's Most Anticipated PlayStation Games Of Holiday 2010: God Of War Ghost Of Sparta
Ask anyone to list their favourite PlayStation Portable games of all time and chances are God Of War: Chains Of Olympus will be up there
The Ready At Dawn developed PSP hack-and-slash title was a technical masterpiece. Taking the formula from the home console versions of God Of War, Chains Of Olympus down-sized the action without losing anything in...
Feature Push Square's Most Anticipated PlayStation Games Of Holiday 2010: Call Of Duty Black Ops
How predictable
Another Call Of Duty game. Fantastic, right? Well, yes, apparently. We didn't think Call Of Duty Black Ops would ever make this list either, but everything we've seen of the game over the past 12-months has truly stunned us. For a while now we've been discussing how the fallout from Infinity Ward might affect the team from Treyarch...
Feature Push Square's Most Anticipated PlayStation Games Of Holiday 2010: Sports Champions
Table tennis
That's all we want. That's all we've ever wanted. Well to be honest, that's not strictly true. A good motion controlled tennis game is truly what we've always wanted. But for now, table tennis will do. Yes, we know you can play it on the Wii, but Sports Champions looks to take those Wii Sports Resort concepts an elevate them to an even...
Feature Push Square's Most Anticipated PlayStation Games Of Holiday 2010: Enslaved
We're confident that Enslaved is destined to be one of this years great unsung heroes
Who knows, there's time for the game to get its plaudits yet — but based on pre-release anticipation, we're not convinced. Namco-Bandai want the game to be their equivalent of Uncharted 2, loft anticipations for a new IP indeed. But with Ninja Theory at the...
When we first heard the news about Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood we were a little confused
"Another Assassin's Creed game?" we exclaimed. "Already?" Our fears were elevated when we found out that the game was to have a multiplayer focus. "MULTIPLAYER!?! In Assassin's Creed? Now you're joking, right?" Turns out our fears...
One of two PlayStation Portable games on this list, Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep is a prequel to the PlayStation 2 game, taking place some ten years prior to the events of the original
Again its set to be a loving marriage between Disney and Square Enix in an action RPG guise. What stands out about Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep is not so much the...
Feature Push Square's Most Anticipated PlayStation Games Of Holiday 2010: Time Crisis: Razing Storm
It's a rails-shooter on a motion control platform - how utterly predictable
But, there was a time when most people would go out of their way to get to an arcade with the latest Time Crisis game, and the franchise still holds a warm place in our hearts. So when you tell us you're bringing Time Crisis: Razing Storm, aswell as Time Crisis 4 and...
Feature There's No Place Like Home: A Carnival Without Coconuts?
We've never been to a carnival
Not a real carnival like you see in the movies anyway. We've been to fairs, fetes and gatherings. But never a carnival. PlayStation Home's new Midway Carnival space is the kind you never see in real-life — its set at night time in a vast opening. There's a gothic feel to the place, it's almost like stepping into the...
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...
Feature Why Trophies Outdo Their Counterparts -- "Twiggy" The Push Square Opinionator
I hate it when people say "me too" in a derogatory fashion
That mentality doesn't make sense to me. The foundations of progress are built upon improvement - taking an idea and making it better. The best most recent example is PlayStation Move. The Wii has proved itself a solid but under-utilised control mechanism, so it pains me to see an improved...
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...
The term "moneyhat" has long been used in conjunction with Microsoft, and indeed, businesses in general
But I believe, tonight, we saw the true meaning of the term. With a two-hour showing barely raising a muted clap at Microsoft's press conference tonight, we were treated to a range of mediocre to decent to downright poor presentations for the...
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...
Feature E3 2010: The Five Most Frequently Rumoured E3 Announcements That Probably Won't Happen
Megaton incoming
With E3 speculation reaching an all-time high (we're finding it hard to keep our excitement for both E3 and the World Cup in check), the blogosphere's literally bulging with rumours of megaton-esque announcements from every corner of the industry. We've put together a list of some of the most frequent rumours, and why they're...
Feature E3 2010: Push Square's Five Most Anticipated PlayStation Games Of E3 2010
With E3 mere days away now, the industry's anticipation is nearing fever-pitch
With pretty high stakes all around for the platform holders, it can be easy to over-look the actual core of the event in anticipation of megaton announcements and new hardware — that's the games. As we continue our E3 build-up, we list our five most anticipated...
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...
News Isn't It Time We Stopped Being Jaded About 3D Technology?
Honestly, we feel like we're the only publication on the Internet in support of the 3D movement
Every other publication out there seems to be grappling with the "why" and "how" rather than the base-line concept. Look, we understand as well as everyone else that 3D is going to be expensive, and many (us included) will not be...
Feature Playstation Face-Off: Blur vs. Split/Second
Last month saw the release of two hotly anticipated arcade racers
Sadly, too much of a good thing can lead to a difficult choice, but worry not, we're here to help. Marking the first of our Playstation face-offs, we take a look at the pros and cons of Bizarre Creations' Blur and Disney Interactive's Split/Second. Blur on Playstation 3 Review -...
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"...
Feature The Greatest Of Injustices: Sony's Playstation Portable
Listen up
If you were to listen to (and believe) much of the Western video games media, you'd probably be fooled into thinking Sony's Playstation Portable has been an abysmal failure. Released in 2005, the PSP has mustered sales of over 60million units worldwide in those five years since launch - figures not particularly shy of Nintendo's Game Boy...
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...
News Advertorial: Here's Who We Think's Going To Win The Video Game BAFTAs
Guess what? It's the BAFTAs tomorrow night
And that means all the glamorous folks involved in putting together the games you loved last year will be heading to the red-carpet to (hopefully) collect a copious number of gongs. We've teamed up with VoucherCodes.co.uk to bring you our definitive list of predictions ahead of tomorrow's big event...
Feature God Of War III's Length Should Be The Last Point Of Discussion
How short is too short in video games? Well, how short's a piece of string? It's astounding to see the number of people commenting unfavourably on God Of War III's length
"But God Of War III is only eight hours and Final Fantasy XIII is fifty - I'll rent Kratos' epic last hurrah instead." Quality over quantity - how many have heard that...
Feature Justified: Why You Need Yakuza 3 In Your PS3 Collection
We've been playing Yakuza 3 this weekend and have fallen in love
We're in head-over-heels admiration for Sony's risky Japanophile experiment. But why's it so good? Well ahead of our review (check back mid-week for that), we wanted to justify the reasons why you should rush out to your local game store and pick up this under-rated gem right now...
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 Realistically, What Could Be The "Surprise Sony Sequel"?
Geoff Keighley's promo video for this week's GameTrailers TV threw a surprise for most Playstation fans
During a show-reel of Playstation 3 games, Keighley announced that this week's episode of GTTV would see the unveiling of a "surprise Sony sequel". But what could that game be? Obvious choices would boil down to Killzone 3 or Resistance...
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...
News Heavy Rain's Female Cast Are Definitely Not Just "Eye Candy"
NowGamer's Samuel Roberts recently posted a critique on the portrayal of women in Quantic Dream's forward-thinking noire-thriller Heavy Rain
Having played the game to death already for review here in the PushSquare office, we took issue with Samuel's particular point. [Some very mild spoilers through the link] Without wanting to tread too far...
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...
Feature First-Time Fantasy: "Twiggy" Plays Final Fantasy VII For The First-Time - 6
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> "Mouth to mouth!?" I exclaim. "She's just a girl." Ahh, Final Fantasy VII's repressed...
![Congrats Microsoft, You Just Bought The Games Press -- "Twiggy" The PushSquare Opinionator [E3 Special]](https://images.pushsquare.com/6b123a629aed0/250x183.jpg)
