February2024
News Sony Lays Off 900 PlayStation Employees, Closes London Studio & Cancels Projects
Life is Strange dev 'Deck Nine' also axes 20% of staff
The video game industry layoffs continue with Sony's gaming division PlayStation this week announcing it would be axing "about 8% or about 900 people" across its workforce as part of an organisational restructure. This impacts employees "across all SIE regions" and several PlayStation studios...
December2023
Soapbox Switch Is Only A Classic Or Two From Being The Perfect PlayStation History Lesson
No Vita necessary
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Ethan ruminates on how, over time, Switch has become an excellent teaching tool for Sony neophytes... Here’s a truth diehard proponents of the console wars won’t readily...
November2023
News Sony Is Co-Financing Nintendo's Live-Action Zelda Movie
It's also handling the worldwide theatrical distribution
Nintendo and Sony may not have the best history, but it seems they'll be teaming up for a live-action Legend of Zelda movie. Yes, in case you somehow missed it, Miyamoto recently took control of Nintendo's social channels and announced a Zelda movie project had been in the works for "many...
May2023
Random Sony's Upcoming 'Project Q' Is A Little More Wii U Than Switch
Lots of Qs, no As
Logging onto Twitter this morning after last night's PlayStation Showcase, you might expect to see trending topics from the likes of Sony, Spider-Man and Alan Wake. But what did we notice before any of these? 'Splatoon' and 'Wii U'. The former is in reference to
Random Nintendo's Brand Momentum Has Been Flat Since 2018, Says Sony
We're not sure we believe that...
When it comes to investor relations, big brands like to big themselves up. It's only natural, of course; for companies to attract more interest and therefore more money, it makes perfect sense for them to paint themselves in the best light possible. However, during Sony's most recent Business Segment Meeting, its...
April2022
Feature Nintendo Reigns Supreme At The Science Museum's 'Power UP' Exhibition
Play some of gaming's most iconic consoles and games
Walking into the Basement Gallery of the London Science Museum, you're greeted by an uncomfortable warmth that often comes with gaming events, but this is soon forgotten when you cast your eyes over the sea of consoles lying in wait. We're all so used to seeing old gaming systems locked away...
February2022
Soapbox Don't Cheer For Corporate Takeovers - It's Not A Game
Monopoly isn't just for fun when it's real money
Back in September 2020 when Microsoft announced its acquisition of Bethesda for around $7.5 billion, it was a big move — one that some fans would have been excited by, and others less so. It was a huge deal at the time, with that purchase giving Microsoft Gaming / Xbox a number of new studios and...
August2020
Talking Point So, Where Does Switch Fit Into Sony And Microsoft's Next Gen Landscape?
The generation game
Following some lower key jargon-heavy info dumps earlier in the year, both of 2020's next-gen consoles and several of their key titles have been unveiled now, and we've got a much clearer picture of what the gaming landscape will look like at the end of the year, at least in hardware terms. Despite worries that Switch would look...
July2020
Talking Point Have You Missed E3 This Year?
How have you enjoyed the online alternatives?
2020 has been an unusual year, that's for sure. If we think back to our expectations at the end of 2019, there was plenty to look forward to for gamers across the spectrum. Both Microsoft and Sony had new hardware coming, and despite Nintendo's slate looking relatively blank (aside from Animal...
March2020
Rumour Sony Could Be Raiding Konami For Castlevania, Metal Gear And Silent Hill IP
Smash and grab
Konami and Nintendo go back a long way. It's highly debatable whether the former would have enjoyed the success it has had over the years without the NES, as titles such as Castlevania, Gradius and Contra all found a receptive audience on the system. Likewise, you could argue that the NES (not to mention the SNES and Game Boy)...
June2019
News Nintendo, Sony And Microsoft Band Together To Fight Tariffs On Video Game Consoles
United as one
If you keep up with global politics or happen to live in North America, you might have heard about recently proposed tariffs on Chinese goods by the Trump administration. In a rare display – Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have joined forces (in a seven-page letter) to warn the American government about the impacts this could...
April2019
Talking Point Do We Still Want Achievements On Switch?
Ask ‘cheevs
It’s been many years now since Xbox 360 introduced its achievement system and added an extra layer of gamification to your games. Microsoft’s system-level Gamerscore was introduced way back in 2005 (that's right, fourteen long years ago). That little dopamine hit on hearing the ‘Achievement Unlocked’ sound struck a chord with a...
Random PlayStation User Recreates Super Mario Maker In LittleBigPlanet 3
Absolute madness
Before Super Mario Maker was even a thing, Sony had already released a handful of LittleBigPlanet games across multiple PlayStation systems. If you're not familiar with this established series, it lives by its "play, create, share" motto, encouraging user-generated content to fuel gameplay experiences. With this in mind, one...
March2019
Talking Point Should Nintendo Be Concerned About Google's Play For Gamers?
Keep your friends close
‘Gather Around’ everyone, Google commands. Unless you’ve been actively avoiding it, you’ve probably heard about the company’s plans to reveal long-rumoured hardware at this year’s Game Developers Conference taking place in San Francisco next week. The latest teaser for the keynote – the company’s first at GDC...
March2018
News Yu Suzuki Says There Are No Plans For Shenmue III On Switch, Unsurprisingly
It's Bayonetta, in reverse!
Shenmue III may be getting some stick of late for its rather unusual character models, but as fans of the first two games on the Sega Dreamcast, we can't wait to play this third outing. It would seem that a great many people feel the same way, and as a result we're getting into "wishful thinking" territory when it comes...
September2014
Feature The Nintendo 64 Controller and the Rise of 3D Gaming
The three-handled situation
The Nintendo 64 controller is one that has fallen out of favour with some gamers – its outdated control stick and limited number of buttons leaves it and its parent system in a state of being old but without necessarily being seen by the general public as 'retro'. You could easily say the same for Sony's original...
November2012
News Jack Tretton Wishes Nintendo Every Success With Wii U
"Nintendo has a great heritage in the business"
President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America Jack Tretton has wished Nintendo every success with Wii U, ahead of the official launch in just a few short hours. Speaking about his own company’s heritage on the latest Official Playstation Blogcast, Tretton took the time to talk about Wii...
June2011
News Sony President Thinks 3DS is Just an Updated DS
Aside from the 3D, same old same old, apparently
It seems Sony executives still don't appear too wowed by Nintendo's 3DS, despite both sides acknowledging that different demographics are being targeted by each company's handheld system. Is this a lack of sportsmanship, or a genuine lack of excitement? Sony Computer Entertainment president Shuhei...
April2011
News Sony CEO Refers to Nintendo Handhelds as "Babysitting Tools"
Don't get him started on the issue of self-respect
Some Sony executives have positive things to say about the company's rivals, and some don't. Sony president and CEO Jack Tretton is without doubt a person that falls into the latter category. Speaking to Fortune, Tretton refers to Nintendo's handheld offerings as the "Game Boy experience",...
January2011
News Iwata: 3DS and NGP will Appeal to Different Target Audiences
"The customers will decide which is correct"
Nintendo isn't the only company with new portable hardware coming out soon as Sony has recently announced details of its follow-up to the PSP range of models in the form of the Next Generation Portable (NGP). Speaking to Bloomberg, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata spoke about the upcoming Sony handheld device...
News Nintendo Praises Sony and Microsoft's Contributions to Gaming Industry
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer
Gone are the days when you could call Nintendo a big fish in a small pond. Modern gaming has undoubtedly expanded the size of the waters, and there are once again, several big fish that inhabit said pond. Speaking at the Learning Without Frontiers conference yesterday in London, General Manager of...
June2010
News Sony President Not Impressed With 3D Handhelds Sans Glasses
Cover the 3DS's ears
Nintendo and Sony are two companies at the forefront of 3D gaming, with the former tackling the handheld market, and the latter focusing on the home console demographic. With 3D televisions already under Sony's belt, it's understandable that it wants to focus on hardware that will compliment its new sets. Kaz Hirai, President at...
News Sony Senior Director Gives 3DS the Thumbs Up
Mick Hocking sees Nintendo's foray into 3D gaming as mutually beneficial
It seems to to be pretty difficult to have a bad word to say about the recently unveiled 3DS, even if you are the competition. Following from the recent praise that a Microsoft general manager gave to Nintendo's "experimentation" with 3D gaming, a Sony senior director...
May2010
News Sony Doesn't Want Failed Wii Games on Move, Thank You Very Much
VP of publisher relations puts foot down
Reaction to Sony's PlayStation Move controller has been a little mixed among Nintendo fans, not to mention the response to its initial launch line-up which looks to repeat some of the Wii's success in bringing motion control to the masses. Sony aren't interested in making another Wii though, going out of its...
February2010
News Sony Patents Universal Game Controller
Would work with all three current home consoles - including Wii
Owners of multiple consoles can attest to the clutter and occasionally annoying battery maintenance that comes with having several different controllers kicking around the house. Televisions, stereos and DVD players can all be programmed to use one remote control, but gamers are stuck...