Timeline
Thursday9th Jan 2025
News Housemarque's Swanky New Office Is Ready for Business, Complete with Awesome Returnal Spacesuit
Happy 30th anniversary
In case you forgot, Returnal developer Housemarque intended on opening "the Nordics' Most Advanced Gaming Headquarters" with its new premises, and now, it's finally ready to roll. The Finnish studio has opened its brand new offices, still in Helsinki, and from this brief snippet of footage, it looks super fancy: It's just...
News Gardening Puzzler Botany Manor Out for PS5, PS4 This Month
Likely priced at £22.49 / $24.99
Having initially been dated for late December, it's been confirmed today Botany Manor will receive its PS5, PS4 ports in a few weeks time on 28th January 2025. You can check out a new trailer above. In the game, you'll explore an English stately home in the 19th century, looking to solve puzzles in order to grow...
News Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Won't Lock New Game+ Behind Paid DLC
Unlike Infinite Wealth
Some welcome news has arrived from the latest Like a Dragon Direct broadcast: upcoming action adventure Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii won't be placing its New Game+ mode behind a paywall. If you're not sure why that's a big deal, it's because Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which launched last year, sold New Game+ as...
News PSVR2 Rhythm Title Synth Riders Drops 80s Mixtape Side B, Adds 7 New Songs
Turn the tape over
Though it’s barely been a month since the return of The Experience thanks to a Barbie-themed track, Kluge Interactive has announced yet more music for its exquisite rhythm title, Synth Riders. Last year, Kluge released 80s Mixtape Side A, which had an absolutely kil
News Assassin's Creed Shadows Delayed Again, Now Out 20th March
To ensure a better day one experience
Ubisoft has today revealed it has delayed Assassin's Creed Shadows a second time for all platforms, with a launch date now set for 20th March 2025. In a social media statement, it's said the reason for the delay is that "a few additional weeks" of development will ensure an "even more ambitious and engaging...
News PS5 Pro Bettered as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Reveals PC Specs, Features
120FPS on offer, double that of PS5 Pro
Anyone who thought they were playing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth at its absolute technical peak on PS5 Pro might want to look away now, as Square Enix has dropped a new PC-specific trailer that details how the RPG has the capabilities to go above and beyond what's offered on Sony's upgraded console. That...
Random Sony's Electric Car Encourages You to Flaunt Your Astro Bot Fandom
Oh, AFEELA good
Sony and Honda’s forthcoming electric vehicle AFEELA comes with all kinds of innovative features, but the one that’s caught our attention is how it allows you to flaunt your Astro Bot fandom. As part of a “themes” system – something the PS5 doesn’t even have – you can select from some of your favourite games, like the...
News DOOM: The Dark Ages, Expedition 33 News in Next Xbox Developer Direct
Tune in on 23rd January for fresh updates
Microsoft has revealed its next Developer_Direct livestream will take place on 23rd January 2025, and there'll be reason for PS5 owners to watch as DOOM: The Dark Ages and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are confirmed to be part of the new digital showcase. Both titles were announced for PS5 upon their original...
News Ubisoft 'Deeply Disturbed' by Abuse Allegations at Assassin's Creed Shadows Support Studio
"We strongly condemn all forms of abuse"
Ubisoft has responded to a video report from YouTube channel People Make Games that claims mental and physical abuse has taken place at an Assassin's Creed Shadows support studio in Indonesia, named Brandoville. In the video, it's reported Brandoville commissioner Kwan Cherry Lai abused employee Christa...
News Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip Looks Like a Great Open World Appetiser Before GTA 6
Comes to PS5 in February
Fans of open world games will be spoiled for choice this year on PS5 (assuming nothing is delayed), and another promising example has just joined the pack. Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip is making the move from PC to consoles on 13th February, including PS5. This wacky-looking sandbox adventure is obviously smaller in scale than...
News PS5 Tipped to Top Switch 2 Sales in the US This Year
Here comes a new challenger
PS5 is expected to outsell the Switch 2 in the United States this year, despite enthusiasm for Nintendo’s new machine reaching fever pitch. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella says he anticipates the unannounced appliance to sell 4.3 million units in USA this year, assuming it’s released in the first half of 2025...
News A Decade Later, Director Says Shadow of the Colossus Film Still Happening
Running up that hill
The first whispers of a film adaptation of the already cinematic Shadow of the Colossus began in 2010. After several creative reshuffles, The Flash director Andrés Muschietti was hired in 2014. Over a decade later, Muschietti claims it's still happening. Speaking on Radio TU's program
News Final Fantasy 7, Advent Children Producer Would Love to See More Adaptations
Yoshinori Kitase says it's time
Yoshinori Kitase, the legendary veteran director of Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, and current producer of the Remake trilogy (fresh off Rebirth), thinks it is time for another adaptation of the iconic universe. As the producer of 2005's excellent CGI action film Advent Children, Kitase would know, and we'
News Industry Journalist Says Xbox Game Pass Does Increase Premium Sales, But Mainly on PS5
High tide lifts multi-platform ships
Former GamesIndustry.biz journalist Christopher Dring (now contributing to VGC again, you love to see it) says that one of the unexpected upsides to Xbox's Game Pass subscription service, at least for Sony, is that certain additions to the service can have a "strong impact" on PlayStation sales. In an industry...
News Ken Levine Spills the Beans on Irrational Games' Closure Post BioShock Infinite
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
One of the best-written games ever made, BioShock Infinite was infamously a nightmare to work on. It required a herculean effort to complete "Project Icarus" from everyone at Irrational Games, including creative director and lead writer Ken Levine. A critical and commercial success by every metric, within a year of...
News Monster Hunter Wilds Sings in Twin 9-Minute Gameplay Trailers
Rompopolo, we're ready to go
The Monster Hunter Wilds hype machine is beginning to spin up ahead of the game's full release at the end of February (Capcom is holding two open "beta" sessions in the coming weeks, as well). While we patiently wait, courtesy of IGN's First initiative, we've got not one but two nine-minu
Wednesday8th Jan 2025
Let's Stars again
First announced back in September 2022, PS Stars is essentially Sony's PlayStation rewards scheme, with a few extra bells and whistles attached. At the time of writing, the service is still missing from the PS5 itself — despite the platform holder saying that there were plans to integrate it on console. Indeed, Stars has been...
News Transformers: Reactivate Cancelled Two Years After Reveal, as Dev 'Scales Down'
Deactivate
If you can recall the announcement of Transformers: Reactivate at The Game Awards 2022, then you've got a better memory than us. It was revealed via a vague but expensive-looking CG trailer during Geoff's show, and promised a console release in 2023. That obviously never happened, and now, the project's been officially cancelled. The...
Proceed directly to jail
Freedom Wars Remastered is the triumphant return of the fan-favourite, fascistic Monster Hunter-style action game, originally published by Sony for the PS Vita in 2014. As the PS Vita (sadly) never achieved the breakout success it deserved, we always felt this forward-thinking title didn't get a fair shake. With "volunteers"...
Demonstration at CES 2025
At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Sony has been demonstrating a new Future Immersive Entertainment Concept that aims to give participants a new interactive experience. Though only at a conceptual level at this stage, a live demo allowed attendees to step into the world of The Last of Us and see it from a different...
News The State of the UK's Physical Games Market Might Explain PS5 Pro's Lack of Disc Drive
Digital world
The UK has seen dwindling physical game sales for several years now, but 2024 may have seen the most dramatic shift yet. Year-on-year, the country's video game revenue for 2024 was down 4.4 per cent overall, but physical sales specifically were down by nearly 35 per cent. Digital sales by comparison were overall down by one per cent...
News Ex-Annapurna Staff Reportedly Snap Up Private Division's Portfolio
After Take-Two sold label to investment firm
Following its exodus last year, the former staff of Annapurna Interactive have reportedly reassembled as a new company and taken control of indie label Private Division’s entire portfolio. The latter was itself sold by Take-Two last year. If true, the complicated corporate story would effectively see...
News Two Weekends of Monster Hunter Wilds Open Beta Action Set for February
Open beta 2 on 6th-9th Feb and 13th-16th Feb
Capcom has revealed a second Monster Hunter Wilds open beta will take place on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC across two weekends in February, just prior to the game's full release. You shall be able to play from 6th February 2025 through to the 9th, and then again on 13th February until the 16th. Crossplay...
Review Wuthering Waves (PS5) - Anime-Inspired Open World Has Timed Its PS5 Release Perfectly
A whole Carlotta love
Genshin Impact has changed the console gaming landscape. Once solely the fancy of smartphone gamers, free-to-play gachas have become big business on PS5 and PS4, with many of the format’s most played titles subscribing to the business model. Wuthering Waves is the latest contender to launch on Sony’s system, an...
Random The Elder Scrolls 6 Announcement Is Now as Old as Skyrim Was Back Then
2,403 days and counting
Someone needs to physically prevent Bethesda Softworks from announcing video games in the future, as the long, long-awaited Elder Scrolls VI was apparently little more than an idea when it was formally revealed back in 2018. The 7th anniversary of that short clip with undeniably stirring music is fast approaching, making it...
News Horizon Hatred Simmers Once More As Sony Announces Movie Adaptation
Here we go again
Another Horizon adjacent announcement, another intense round of scrutiny as rowdy social media users accuse Sony of attempting to “force” the Guerrilla franchise on fans. During its CES 2025 press conference this week, PS Productions bigwig Asad Qizilbash confirmed his department is working with Columbia Pictures to bring Aloy...
News Suicide Squad Dev Rocksteady Suffers More Layoffs as PS5 Game Hits PS Plus
Anything but steady
It's been revealed that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League developer Rocksteady — previously of Batman: Arkham fame — was hit with another round of layoffs just before the end of 2024. The news comes via Eurogamer, who spoke to "half a dozen" anonymous staff affected by these most recent redundancies. As was the case...
News Square Enix Wonders Why Life is Strange: Double Exposure Didn't Work Out
Max Caulfield's return should have been a sure-fire bet
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure just came and went last October, with seemingly dismal sales leading to developer Deck Nine Studios conducting a second round of layoffs in 2024. Publisher Square Enix appears to think it should have made more of a splash, or at least been better, and we're...
News DualSense Edge Discounted in Europe, with a £10, €20 Price Cut
Still quite expensive, though
PlayStation's premium DualSense Edge controller has received a small price cut in European markets, down £10 / €20 from the recommended retail price of £209.99 / €239.99. US pricing, for the present, remains unchanged. Spotted by VGC, if that's enough to make you sit up and take notice, you can now get the PS5's...
News Looks Like DOOM 64 Is Getting a Native PS5 Port
Notch up another release for the series
Released in 1997, DOOM 64 was developed and published by Midway Games and was considered the pinnacle of the series at the time, despite being a spin-off. Decades later, it was ported to PS4 in 2020 by Nightdive Studios and included as a pre-order bonus for DOOM Eternal. According to an updated ESRB listing,...
News Pre-Orders for Metaphor: ReFantazio's Hefty Hardcover Strategy Guide Now Open
Future Press tome releasing on 28th February
We awarded the excellent Metaphor: ReFantazio an enviable #2 ranking in Push Square's official Game of the Year top 10, and it really is very good. Fittingly, an accompanying Future Press hardback strategy guide has been in the works and is now available for pre-order. It's expected to sh
Tuesday7th Jan 2025
News The Until Dawn Movie Isn't a Direct Adaptation, Will Feature New Story, Characters
They wendigo in a different direction
PlayStation Productions is clearly incredibly busy right now, especially after the company made several new announcements for game adaptations during CES 2025. One we already knew about was an Until Dawn movie, but new details reveal that it won't be a direct retelling of the game itself. The only link between...
News UK Sales Charts: Hogwarts Legacy Leads 2025's First Top 10 Filled with Old Favourites
Back to school
The UK's first physical games chart of 2025 is in, and there aren't many 2024 games in the top 10. Hogwarts Legacy, which has now charted 100 times since its release, is number one. It's followed by EA Sports FC 25 in second, but leapfrogging into third is 2022's Elden Ring. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is bumped down to fourth, which...
News The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion PS5 Remake Gets a Little More Potential Evidence
Keep scrolling
Just before the holiday season, rumours began swirling about a possible remake of classic RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Now, there's a bit of extra evidence that might back up this claim. Over on LinkedIn, a member of the Shanghai team at development company Virtuos has listed an "unannounced [Unreal Engine 5] PS5/XSX/PC...
News Gaming Colossus Tencent Added to US Blacklist, Accused of Ties to Chinese Military
Tencent says it's a "misunderstanding"
Tencent, the juggernaut Chinese tech and gaming conglomerate, has been placed on a blacklist by the US Department of Defense. Being on said blacklist doesn't impose sanctions or stop companies trading in the US, but it's designed to deter other companies from doing business with the blacklisted entities. The...
News Mister Fantastic's First Marvel Rivals PS5 Gameplay Looks, Well, Fantastic
Strategist Susan Storm also showcased
Here’s our first look at Reed Richards, better known as Mister Fantastic, in Marvel Rivals. The Duellist character will debut as part of Season 1, which is scheduled to launch later this week, on 10th January. We now know that Mister Fantastic will be joined by The Invisible Woman initially. The pair will be...
News Housemarque Recruits PlatinumGames Dev of 11 Years as Lead Designer on Next PS5 Game
Time for action
Housemarque, the PS Studios team behind the excellent Returnal and many other arcade action games, has hired an ex-PlatinumGames developer as lead designer. Abebe Tinari has clocked just over 11 years at the Japanese studio, which is known for Bayonetta, Vanquish, and many more high-octane action titles. On his LinkedIn profile,...
News Freedom Wars Remastered's PS5, PS4 Trophies Are Almost Identical to PS Vita
But a couple of tiny tweaks
If you’ve already got the Platinum Trophy in Freedom Wars on PS Vita, congratulations – would you like to do it all over again? The Trophy list for Freedom Wars Remastered on PS5 and PS4 has hit Sony’s servers ahead of its launch later this week, and it’s almost identical to the original game. The only thing...
News Like a Dragon Direct Announced, with Way More Info on PS5, PS4's Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Set sail
SEGA and RGG Studio have announced that they'll be hosting a new Like a Dragon Direct this week, on the 9th January, at 5pm GMT / 6pm CET / 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern. The broadcast will provide more information on Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which is still set to launch on the 21st February. Forgive us for pointing this out...
News Sony Is Betting Big on the Global Growth of Anime
Giant wants to dominate rapidly expanding industry
Following its substantial investment into Kadokawa late last year, it’s no real surprise to see Sony doubling down on the global growth of anime content. During its CES 2025 press conference, however, it put that ambition on stage. A long presentation saw Aniplex president Atsuhiro Iwakami and...
News PS5 Accessories to Get New Midnight Black Colourway, Pre-Order from 16th January
PS Portal, PS5 DualSense Edge pad, earbuds, and Pulse Elite headset
Sony has announced some of its current PS5 accessories will receive a facelift in the form of a new colourway, painting the likes of the PS Portal, DualSense Edge controller, Pulse Elite headset, and Pulse Explore earbuds in Midnight Black. Pre-orders for the new variations go live...
News WWE 2K25 Teased in Debut Netflix Live Show
More details on 27th January
WWE is now streaming its weekly RAW and Smackdown shows on Netflix, and as part of last night's big kick-off show, a few teasers for this year's WWE 2K25 were first revealed. During the show itself, Roman Reigns and his manager Paul Heyman are recorded in a scene discussing a platform "where the whole can acknowledge"...
News Sony Subsidiary Crunchyroll to Release Manga App This Year
A premium add-on is incoming
Sony subsidiary Crunchyroll will expand upon its anime streaming with a manga app, scheduled to release later this year. Announced at CES 2025, the service is described as a “premium add-on” to its existing offering, but there’s been no word on which titles will be included in its catalogue. Obviously, content is...
News This Is Why Call of Duty Is Not Gonna Stop Launching on PS5
Black Ops Cold War cost $700 million to make
Sony has a contract to keep Call of Duty on PS5 (and, presumably, PS6) for the next ten years, following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. But aside from the fact Xbox is gradually transitioning into a third-party publisher, there’s another big reason why the first-person shooter...
News PS Plus Essential's January 2025 PS5, PS4 Games Available to Download
First of 12 lineups rolls out
The first PS Plus Essential lineup of 2025 is now available, making three PS5, PS4 titles available to active members to download. The following three games will be available to claim until 4th February 2025: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (PS5) | Review
News Do You Put Your PS5 in Rest Mode or Shut It Down?
To rest or not to rest, that is the question
In a welcome reminder that we aren't alone in the world, it appears the PlayStation faithful are evenly divided on the subject of Rest Mode. About 50% opt to power down partially after each gaming session, with the rest choosing to cut the connection completely. Getting lost in the weeds during a recent...
News Your First Look at Virtua Fighter PS5 Will Drop Jaws
Smooth as butter
SEGA and graphics card manufacturer Nvidia’s storied relationship is well documented, so it’s no surprise CEO Jensen Huang debuted a few seconds of footage from the new Virtua Fighter game during its CES 2025 presentation. The clip was described as in-engine, and is presumably still very early in-development. However, the...
News Freedom Wars Remastered System Trailer Preps Sinners for Punishment
For the Greater Good
Freedom Wars Remastered is almost upon us, with ludicrously long prison sentences being handed down from 10th January on PS5 and PS4. Propaganda icon Percy Propa has an informative new systems trailer for you, allowing your necessary re-education to begin. The cult-classic Vita game was originally released in 2014, and we'll be...
News GameStop Shutters Large Number of US Stores with Usual Tact
Roaring Kitty waiting in the wings
Doomed to repeat the same cycle, many GameStop stores have been shuttered across the U.S., and the crypto vultures are already circling. Over the past few days, a steady stream of reports of unofficial layoffs have been shared in the GameStop subreddit, with more every hour. The company has yet to make an official...
News WWE 2K23's PS5, PS4 Platinum Trophy Is No Longer Obtainable
Gone the way of the dodo
Sorry, wrestling fans. If you haven't moved on to WWE 2K24 already, your opportunity to earn WWE 2K23's Platinum Trophy is now gone. Multiplayer servers have been shuttered, adding the game's shiny gong to the growing list of permanently unobtainable Trophies. Spied by PSLS, the topic of these lost Trophies has risen again,...