#7 - Lies of P | Push Square

In unsurprising news, publisher Square Enix has announced a bold new vision for the company in 2024, again promising to chase whatever the hottest speculative technology on the market happens to be. President Takashi Kiryu rang in the new year with a bold directive, confirming the firm will be «aggressive in applying AI and other cutting-edge technologies to both our content development and our publishing functions».

Fans of Guerilla's ever-growing Horizon franchise might be pleased to learn that that long-rumoured MMORPG spinoff, «Project Skyline», seems to still be in active development. They might be less thrilled to discover there's nothing to suggest it's coming to PS5 outside of being a Horizon game, expected to launch on PC and mobile in 2025 at the earliest.

The decisions made by outgoing Activision CEO Bobby Kotick actively made Call of Duty games worse. That's according to Christina Pollock a programmer who previously worked on the series. Pollock, along with many other former colleagues, made their feelings regarding the controversial exec known on social media once it was confirmed he had definitely left the building.

In an age of successful movies based on video game characters like Mario, Sonic, and Nathan Drake, it was perhaps inevitable that we would get a Minecraft movie starring Jack Black as unassuming player-insert Steve. The actor confirmed the casting on Instagram in a suitably silly style; the film is targeting a 2025 release.

Our individual Game of the Year articles allow our lovely team of writers to share their own personal PS5 and PS4 picks for 2023. Today, it's the turn of news reporter and reviewer Khayl Adam.

If you were anticipating an action-packed weekend of Stellar Blade action, then you probably should have known better to be honest. Despite being scheduled to release in 2023, it was pretty clear earlier this year that Korean developer Shift Up’s console debut would take a little longer to launch on PS5. It’s now been included in a list of PS Blog highlights, with a 2024 release window attached.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is one of the biggest games of the year, and we were big fans, even if it didn't stray enough from the established Insomniac formula for our taste. Still, it seems we weren't the only ones surprised to find that, despite being nominated in seven separate categories, Sony's latest PlayStation exclusive didn't bag a single statue at The Game Awards.

Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake 2 received widespread acclaim from fans and critics when it launched on 27th October, continuing the tale of the tortured, titular writer. The sequel to the cult-classic Alan Wake, buoyed by more than a decade of hype and developed by a Remedy with the momentum of a well-received Control behind it, you'd expect the game to sell like gangbusters, wouldn't you?

Update — Publisher Mytona has posted an update on The Day Before situation, pledging to work with Steam to open up refunds to any players who choose to do so.

Lawrence Sullivan, better known as «Florida Joker» for his extensive set of facial tattoos, has doubled down, posting a second video that asserts Rockstar owes him financial restitution for allegedly using his likeness in GTA 6.

Fortnite's Festival is already set to corner the rhythm market by install base alone, introducing a Rock Band-like experience into Epic's ongoing everything game. In addition to LEGO Fortnite and Rocket Racing, it's clear that Epic's plans for total digital domination are close to coming to fruition.

Amazingly, Atomic Heart was released in February of this year, heralding the onslaught of games that was to come. If you've been itching for a reason to return to developer Mundfish's bizarre world, you might want to look at this trailer for Trapped in Limbo, DLC, due out 6th February on PS5 and PS4.