Tag: Culture - Page 8
Feature What Did We Learn from Hideo Kojima's Sony Tech Tour?
Ac!d trip
For the past week and a bit, Metal Gear maker Hideo Kojima has been touring the world with PlayStation 4 system architect Mark Cerny. The uber-intelligent twosome – who must surely have a combined IQ nearing the 300s – have been hitting the headquarters of practically all PlayStation studios,
News Let's Remember the Iconic PSone Start Screen Together
Sony Computer Entertainment presents
Much like Polygon Man at an E3 event eons ago, Sony Computer Entertainment is being taken out into the parking lot and shot. The Japanese giant announced today that it will be merging the iconic organisation with Sony Network Entertainment to create a new company called Sony Interactive Entertainment. It'
Reaction What Does the Death of Sony Computer Entertainment Mean?
Going through changes
Sony Computer Entertainment, the iconic company that gave birth to the billion dollar PlayStation brand, is dead – or, at least, it will be when the new financial year begins on 1st April. The Japanese giant has announced its intention today to merge the PlayStation maker with Sony Network Entertainment, a companion...
News Say Goodbye to Sony Computer Entertainment
PlayStation now operates under Sony Interactive Entertainment
This is not the news that we expected to wake up to on a chilly Tuesday morning: Sony Computer Entertainment is no more. Don't panic, PlayStation is very much alive – but the iconic organisation housing the billion dollar brand has been renamed Sony Interactive Entertainment. It's very...
Feature This Man's PS4 Collection Is Bigger Than Yours
Size matters
Hidden inside Valtteri Hyttinen's unassuming Finnish home lives a treasure: a PlayStation 4 collection so large that it spans an entire wall, and is growing by the day. The digital specialist lives and breathes Sony's new-gen box, spending his day building the PlayStation brand's social media presence, while his evenings are dedicated...
News Hideo Kojima's PlayStation World Tour Arrives in London
Rule, Britannia
Hideo Kojima's very public technology tour has touched down in London, where he'll presumably spend the start of next week checking out the latest titles from London Studio and Media Molecule. For those that haven't been keeping up, the Metal Gear maker has spent a chunk of
News Hideo Kojima's Having an Existential Crisis Over His Facial Hair
Should it stay or Hideo?
Now that Hideo Kojima's escaped from the clutches of Konami, the Metal Gear maker is allowed to worry about the little things again. And one question that's causing the auteur real anxiety at the moment is whether he should keep his facial hair. "Should I shave?" he asked on Twitter yesterday, adding a poll so that his 1.42...
News Konami's Going to Love This Metal Gear Solid Fan Remake
Snake! Snake! Snaaake!
Konami loves nothing more than a consultation with its legal team, and we suspect that the nefarious publisher will be huddled around a boardroom table right now pondering how it can shut down Shadow Moses, a fan remake of the original Metal Gear Solid game. The hobbyist upgrade's being helmed by Airam Hernandez in Unreal...
News These LEGO PlayStation Icons Are Too Darn Cool
Kratos! Lara Croft! PaRappa the Rapper!
We can probably all agree that LEGO's cooler than Shuhei Yoshida in an ice bath, but what if the blocky world were to merge with the PlayStation Nation? For its latest issue, Official PlayStation Magazine has commissioned a bunch of Sony-themed LEGO characters, which can be purchased from Minifigs.me. They're...
News Sony Attempts and Fails to Trademark Let's Play
What's up, it's your boy...
YouTubers need no longer fidget frantically, as Sony's request to trademark the term 'Let's Play' has been denied by the United States Patent and Trademark Office – but not because it's a popular phrase among gamers. Instead, it was denied use because of a similar trademark held since 2013 by Let'z Play of America, a...
Feature Sony Marks PlayStation Plus' Five Year Anniversary with Stats Plaques for Lifers
Life sentence
If you think that PlayStation Plus is bad now, this author can remember when the monthly update included a retro Mega Drive title, a PlayStation Mini, and a handful of PlayStation 3 themes. The service has changed exponentially since then, and as a reward for lifetime members sticking with the subscription model for all five years of...
Weirdness Police Arrest Man Who Urinated on Video Games
In a wee bit of trouble
If you've got to go, for God's sake don't relieve your bladder all over a bunch of video games. That's what one Target shopper did, as he was caught on CCTV urinating over a shelf of software and accessories. The incident took place on 5th January in Pennsylvania, and police have since brought the chap in for questioning...
News Final Fantasy XIII's Lightning Is a Louis Vuitton Fashion Model Now
Fabula, darling
That noise that you can hear is the sound of a thousand Push Square readers collectively grinding their teeth. Lightning, the protagonist of Square Enix's divisive Final Fantasy XIII story arc, has "agreed" – that's what the press release says – to become the face of the latest Louis Vuitton fashion line. Better than being a...
News Kaz Hirai Embraces Memes and GIFs During CES 2016 Presser
Yes we Kaz
The highlight of Sony's CES 2016 presser yesterday was Kaz Hirai presenting a slew of handpicked memes all based upon himself. The executive has admitted that the Japanese giant is willing to embrace its mistakes in the past, and he illustrated that again overnight, using some of parody account @KazHiraiCEO's tweets to show that the...
News Remember to Give Media Molecule Ten Birthday Bashings
British dev turns ten-years-old
Sony's experimental outfit Media Molecule is celebrating its tenth anniversary today – which must be a significant landmark when your cut your teeth on out-there titles like Dreams. The studio's first slam dunk was LittleBigPlanet, of course, which won a slew of awards following its release in 2008 – and spawned...
Soapbox Why I Love Strategy Guides
A game's best friend
Republished on Tuesday, 29th December 2015: We're bringing this article back from the archives as we look back at some of Push Square's features from 2015. The original text follows. Originally published on Monday, 3rd August 2015: Sometimes I think that strategy guides are a little bit misunderstood. I understand that spoilers...
Feature Meet the Man with 40,000 PlayStation Trophies
Platinum unlocked
Republished on Monday, 28th December 2015: We're bringing this article back from the archives as we look back at some of Push Square's features from 2015. The original text follows. Originally published on Monday, 24th August 2015: It's a warm yet rainy evening in New Hampshire, but Michael 'Roughdawg4' Sinclaire is uninterested...
Talking Point Did You Get Any PlayStation Gifts This Christmas?
Share 'em with us
It's Christmas Eve – actually, it's just gone midnight – and we don't have long to write this article, so you'll forgive us for excreting it out at the very last minute. But, we've written all of our Game of the Year stuff – keep reading the site over the coming week – and it's taken a lot of time. So, sorry this final...
News Fanart for Kojima Productions' Logo Has Already Started
No, really
Gamers around the globe are ditching their Quiet drawings in order to pen a new character: Kojima Productions' logo. We've only seen the medieval skull's head thus far, but studio founder Hideo Kojima did note in a tweet that the company has imagined the character's body as well. Rather than reveal it, however, he said that he'd prefer...
News How Would You Like to Win the Wonderful PS4 Life?
Have a go
You've seen the commercial, so you know that the life of a PlayStation 4 player is all about The Chemical Brothers and daring dance moves. Sony may not be able to guarantee you a guest role in the next Street Dance movie, but it is giving away a ton of goodies as part of its latest campaign. Prizes include a 1TB Star Wars Battlefront PS4,...
News What if Crash Bandicoot Got a Gritty PS4 Reboot?
It'd look a lot like this
It's nice to see the Rockstar editor being put to good use. Over on YouTube, user Pinkman has created a gritty Crash Bandicoot reboot using Grand Theft Auto V. In the clip, we see the 'coot smashing some human crates in order to grab some Wumpa Fruit, before indulging in some Crash Team Racing-esque high speed pursuits. Thi
News A Huge Happy Birthday to the PS4 on Its Second Birthday
Party like it's 2013
Much like a nipper, the PlayStation 4 has been walking the walk for a while, but on its second birthday, it's starting to talk the talk, too. For those of you that don't remember, on this day two years ago, Sony's new-gen system launched in North America. The rest of the world was made to wait a couple of weeks as the Japanese...
Weirdness Adult Site Sees Drop in Traffic on Fallout 4 Launch Day
High vaultage
Vault dwellers found a different kind of joystick to play with on Fallout 4's launch day, as adult site Pornhub – not linked for obvious reasons – reported a 10 per cent decline in traffic on the day of the role-playing game's release. Apparently page views dipped at 05:00AM on 10th November, around the time most people would have...
News Bloodborne, The Witcher 3, and Fallout 4 All Nominated for Game Awards 2015 Game of the Year
That's a tough one
Yep, Geoff Keighley is back in early December with the Game Awards 2015, and today, the event has gone ahead and announced which games will be competing for the grand prize: Game of the Year. The five nominees include PlayStation 4 exclusive Bloodborne, critically lauded The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, franchise finale Metal Gear Solid...
News Friends Pull Together to Buy Burgled Buddy a PS4
Heart warming
Being burgled is never a good thing, but it's even worse on the eve of Fallout 4. Sadly, that's exactly what happened to the New Zealander in the video embedded below – but fortunately he's got good friends. After being tricked by his mates into taking a trip to a local electronics store, the barefooted bros announce that they've all...
Weirdness After 40 Years, Sony's Finally Killing Off Betamax
Cassette decked
Here's one for our younger readers: before Netflix there were DVDs, and before DVDs there were VHS tapes. But before all of that, in 1975, there were Betamax cassettes. Sony created these as a means to record and playback video, but while the format was considered superior in some regards, it lost a very fierce war against JVC's VHS...
News Want to Play Fallout 4 All Day Tuesday? Pete Hines Has Your Back
Butcher Pete
For those few that are unaware, the hotly anticipated Fallout 4 releases tomorrow. Unfortunately, many of you may have other obligations like work or school to take care of before diving into the wastes. Have no fear, Pete Hines, vice president of PR and marketing for Bethesda, has taken the liberty of writing you a doctor's note:...
Weirdness PS4 Perv Slaps the Salami Over System in Store
#4TheFappers
We all like to twiddle our joysticks for entertainment – but when it comes to the PlayStation 4, the majority of us have our hands firmly on the DualShock 4. One saucy shopper had a very different piece of equipment between his fingers, though – as he was caught choking the chicken in front of the console in an electronics store. A...
Soapbox Why the Industry Is Getting Greedy (And How to Stop It)
Sam Brooke hashes out his views on gaming greed
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Rainbow Six: Siege. Street Fighter V. Payday 2. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Destiny. Rise of the Tomb Raider. Assassin's Creed Syndicate. All of these games are full-pric
Here we go again
Bloody Hell, is it that time again? Recently, UK internet provider TalkTalk had its website taken down and its stored customer information accessed by supposed hackers. Panic ensued as the media got its grubby hands of the news, and then the whole thing turned out to not be quite as bad as anticipated. Of course, you can't have a...
Opinion We're So Sick of Saving the Bloody World
Holding out for a hero
Hands up if you've got a headache from saving the world yet again? Yeah, us too. One pet peeve that's had Push Square Towers irritatedly animated over the past few weeks is the fact that every single video game in existence seems to feel the need to go big. Well, we're tired of preventing the apocalypse, and we'd like to see...
News If Carlsberg Made Fallout Beer, It Would Be Available from Amazon Now
And it is
While this author would probably prefer an ice cold Nuka Cola, Carlsberg appears to have put a jagged lid on the Fallout 4 hype by announcing that a range of branded beers are available from Amazon.co.uk now. The lagers – inspired by Bethesda's upcoming role-playing game – come in packs of 12, and promise a "refreshing zesty hoppy...
News PlayStation Wishes the NES a Happy 30th Anniversary
Now you're playing with power
It's the tenth anniversary of PlayStation 2 classic Shadow of the Colossus' launch today – but it's the Nintendo Entertainment System's big 30th birthday as well. Acknowledging the event, Sony posted a brief message on Twitter to celebrate the North American release of the House of Mario's iconic grey slab. "Dear...
News PlayStation's Just Renamed a Theatre in Times Square
New York, New York
Could this generation be any more different to the last one? There were times during the PlayStation 3 era where Sony's flagship gaming brand felt like it'd been pushed into the background, but you can't avoid it these days. Case in point: the platform holder's just renamed Times Square's gigantic 2,150-capicity concert venue to...
News BioWare Shares More Mass Effect News That You Probably Don't Care About
Give us games or give us death
At this point, we're just desperate for something - anything - on Mass Effect: Andromeda, the next instalment in BioWare's sci-fi series. Heck, we'd go barmy over the announcement of a remastered PlayStation 4 trilogy, but for some reason, EA mustn't like the idea of relatively easy money. In any case, the point is...
Feature A Very Happy 20th Birthday to PlayStation
Birthday bashings
Pull out your party poppers, put on a paper hat, and pick out your best retro game tee – the PSone turns 20 today. Yes, we know that your attention just turned to a certain The Smiths song, but we're confident that this neverending anniversary is finally coming to a close. All the way back on 29th September, 1995, the original...
Weirdness Man Blames PlayStation for His Bad Driving
Jailed motorist didn't have a license
A 24-year-old man who took police on a 100mph pursuit through Lincolnshire has admitted that he learned to drive on a PlayStation. Adam Jones crashed his way through Grantham like he was playing Burnout Paradise, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage along the way. It was subsequently revealed that he was...
News Kinda Funny Games Returns to the PlayStation Podcasting Scene
Beyond the grave
Naturally we think that Push Square is the best PlayStation website on the net, but we're not oblivious to the great content available elsewhere. One of this author's favourites was always Podcast Beyond, the flagship IGN podcast featuring Greg Miller and Colin Moriarty. There's good news, then, for fans of the old show – as it's...
Talking Point What Is a Video Game?
The million dollar question
Video game. Noun. A game played by electronically manipulating images produced by a computer program on a monitor or other display. Video games are more diverse than they've ever been. As the market matures, we're starting to see new ideas introduced that challenge the very rules upon which the industry has been built...
News Want a Metal Gear Solid Story Refresher? This Site's Got Your Back
LaLiLuLeLo lifesaver
There's not a single person here at Push Square Towers that doesn't at least appreciate the Metal Gear Solid series, which is a testament to the property's quality seeing as we rarely ever agree. As good as the franchise is, though, we don't think that it could ever be described as fictionally consistent – so it's fortunate...
News Shenmue III Causes Spike in Dreamcast Sales
Yu did it
Let's not beat around the bush: Sony kind of killed the Dreamcast. Sure, years of atrocious decisions ultimately saw SEGA pull out of the hardware race, but few could deny that the looming juggernaut otherwise known as the PlayStation 2 put the final nail in the underappreciated console's coffin. But with the announcement of Shenmue III at...
News The First Fansite for PS4 Exclusive Dreams Is Live
Day dreamer
Media Molecule's always had a vibrant community surrounding its games, and it looks like that's set to continue with Dreams, the mysterious PlayStation 4 exclusive that was announced at E3 2015 earlier in the year. We don't even know what the title is yet, but that's not stopped dreambubble.me from arriving on the scene. Unsurprisingly,...
News Aussie Store Wants You to Know That Metal Gear Solid 5 Is a Hideo Kojima Game
Fight for your rights
Call it self-indulgent if you want to, but we've gotten used to Hideo Kojima's name being on the box of Metal Gear Solid games. The fact that Konami has opted to remove it from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – amid nasty rumours regarding the aute
News Is That a PS4 in Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Pleased to See Us?
Robber tries to run away with system down his trousers
West Palm Beach resident Christopher Caldwell tried to smuggle a PlayStation 4 console out of a Wal-Mart store in his pants – but was caught by police with his trousers down. The 36-year-old squeezed the six pound system next to his crown jewels, and then subsequently tried to pile a couple of...
Weirdness The Ouye Is the Ultimate PS4 Rip Off
Shameless
Introducing the Ouye, a Chinese console packed with so much plagiarism that it's bordering on parody. The device – which is currently up for crowd funding – boasts the chassis of the PlayStation 4, but the controller of the Xbox One. We're sure that we've heard the name somewhere else before, too, but we're drawing blanks. This...
Weirdness What if Final Fantasy VII Was a Beat-'em-Up?
Take this, Buster
Every game would be better if it was Streets of Rage – and that includes Push Square's greatest of all time, Final Fantasy VII. Fortunately, Singapore-based studio PD Design has cottoned on to this, repurposing Square Enix's classic PSone role-playing release as a beat-'em-up. In the video below, you'll see the spiky haired Cloud...
News PlayStation's Sending Out Super Cute Birthday Gifts
Many happy returns
The secret to corporate success was simple all along: you just have to pretend to be your consumer's friend. Sony cottoned onto this at the start of the generation, making silly videos about used games and reminding us that it cares. And now Microsoft has stumbled upon the strategy, with gaffer Phil Spencer whispering sweet...
News BioWare Community Bands Together to Bring Friends to Next-Gen Dragon Age
The Inquisition is for all
The BioWare community has always been pretty tight-knit, as evidenced by countless successful community-driven events over the years, both within the developer's creations and at social occasions like conventions or expos. This latest effort from fans is particularly heart warming, though, as a group of Dragon Age:...
News 345,000 People Made It to Gamescom 2015
Annual show's popularity increases
It was a successful Gamescom this year if these newly released figures are anything to go by. According to official numbers, 345,000 people attended to German event, which is 10,000 more than 2014's total. Apparently, attendees came from 96 different countries - which is a particularly impressive statistic. We...
News This Bloodborne Statue Is Devilishly Detailed
Bloody expensive, though
As the old saying goes, the devil is in the detail, and this is certainly true of Bloodborne's latest piece of merchandise. Two slightly different 32cm statues are available to pre-order in Japan from Gecco, but they each cost a whopping $300 or so. One model is tinted with a splash of blood, while the other appears to be a...
