Is Crash Bandicoot, Spyro Studio Toys for Bob Teasing a New Game? | Push Square

The logo blast at the start of every game's boot phase has become so homogenous that you're generally better off just scrolling through Twitter for a few seconds before reaching the main menu. Sony tried to inject some personality into each of its first-party titles by personalising the PS Studios logo drop with the characters from the game you're about to play, and it feels like the newly-announced Astro Bot for PS5 is the first time that slice of individuality will actually get a proper smile out of you.

Ubisoft has confirmed it will be introducing a new paid subscription service for its popular tactical shooter Rainbow Six: Siege. Very similar to the Fortnite Crew membership offered by Epic Games, signing up grants you access to exclusive bonus items on a monthly basis as well as the seasonal Battle Passes and some premium currency.

As part of this year's Days of Play promotion, Sony has revealed the lineup of PS Plus Essential games for June 2024 a day early. Available to download from Tuesday, 4th June 2024, the PS5, PS4 titles are as follows:

Metal Gear Solid fans may be made to wait a little longer for the remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, as PS Plus insider turned general leaker Billbil-Kun has shared word of a new 2025 release window for the game. In a new article on Dealabs, they claim the date comes from a «global distribution giant». Unannounced release timings from retailers can always be quite flaky, but on Billbil-Kun's end, they say more official information is coming shortly.

The official Alan Wake 2 soundtrack, composed by Petri Alanko, will be made available across a variety of platforms for streaming and purchase from tomorrow. 35 music tracks designed to capture «the emotion, tension, and mystery of the game’s story» will be streamable on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and more while it can be purchased on iTunes and Amazon.

GreedFall II: The Dying World is the first sequel Spiders Studio has ever made, but based on a new IGN preview, the RPG still appears to be very much its own thing. Not only is it actually a prequel to the first game, but the combat system has been completely changed. Taking inspiration from BioWare RPG Dragon Age: Origins, you'll slow down time and queue up actions for your party to utilise rather than engage in real-time hack-and-slash fights.

Take-Two, the publisher behind Grand Theft Auto and owner of other labels such as Private Division, has denied reports it recently shut down Rollerdrome, OlliOlli developer Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 team Intercept Games. Having been questioned by IGN during a financial call today, CEO Strauss Zelnick responded: «We didn't shutter those studios.»

NieR director Yoko Taro, NieR series producer Yosuke Saito, and NieR composer Keiichi Okabe are all working on a new game together, it's been confirmed, but nobody's willing to say whether the project is actually a NieR title yet. Speaking to Famitsu, Saito teased: «I'll have something a bit more put-together to say in the not-too-distant future, so please stay tuned. It might be NieR, it might not be NieR. (Laughs.)»

Square Enix has confirmed in a new medium-term business plan that it intends to «aggressively» pursue a multiplatform strategy across PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC platforms. Instead of allowing select AAA games from its biggest series to be locked onto one system, the company will look to «build an environment where more customers can enjoy our titles».

Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks has confirmed the upcoming physical version for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S will still be released via Limited Run Games despite Microsoft's plans to close the studio. In addition, one last update for the game will be available later today «to address some minor issues».

The Assassin's Creed series is essentially a single player live-service offering at this point, and with the introduction of a franchise hub in Assassin's Creed Infinity, those efforts at Ubisoft are only being furthered. You can still keep your DLC consumption to a traditional standard in the newly unveiled Assassin's Creed Shadows, though, as its PS Store listings reveal a season pass promising two expansions post-launch.

Former developers of XCOM, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and The Sims have come together to form a new studio called Midsummer Games, all in the name of rivalling The Sims in the «life simulation» genre. Jake Solomon and Will Miller, best known for their work on Firaxis titles like Marvel's Midnight Suns and XCOM, founded the company after raising $6 million in investment. Now, the team will set out to build a next-gen life sim game.