Tag: playstation
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The PlayStation Classic is a Cynical Cash Grab
Nostalgia permeates culture at the moment. Corporations extracting money from this sensation is as natural as a buzzard picking the last few bits of meat off the sentimental corpse. Games are no exception to this process. If you feel strongly about something, someone will figure out a way to make money off that. The PlayStation Classic makes…
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Why is a Kiss More Terrifying Than a Zombie?
Picture the scene; you’ve just dropped cold hard cash on a new release, something you’ve been wanting to play for a while. The reviews were glowing, every trailer teased more and more information to get you worked up into a frenzy, the main character is a female, but it’s okay because she’s hot and you’re…
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These Horizon Zero Dawn Photographers Find the Soul in the Machines
Despite being released way back in the murky, pre-technology days of slightly over a year ago, Guerrilla‘s open-world masterpiece Horizon Zero Dawn continues to inspire a wealth of a new fan art, cosplay, and incredible photography. To celebrate Aloy’s one year anniversary, New Normative asked some of our favourite capture artists to share stories from their…
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Don’t Trust Square Enix with Final Fantasy VII’s Remake
As I type this now, I’m listening to Valley of the Fallen Star – The Cosmo Canyon theme from Final Fantasy VII. Composer Nobou Uematsa‘s original arrangement is my favourite piece of music from a game I love. One of my favourite tracks from a videogame, in fact. Valley is perfect not only for what it is…
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5 On Fleek Palicoes from Monster Hunter: World
Welp. The Monster Hunter: World beta has been and gone, and now we’re all left waiting patiently until January of next year to slice off the tails of ridiculously big reptiles with ridiculously bigger-er axes. The beta showcased some hallmarks of the series – like lengthy, epic battles and insanely convoluted menu interfaces -but brought…
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Dreams: the Space Between the Notes
Impressionist composer Claude Debussy once famously remarked that “Music is the space between the notes.” The beauty of a song lies not the systems – in what can be defined, cataloged or scored and shared – but in the unique idiosyncrasies that the individual musician provides. It could almost be a mantra for Media Molecule,…
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5 Star Wars Games That Needed More Porgs
With all the recent furor around Star Wars: Battlefront 2, it’s easy to forget how many other Star Wars games we’ve had over the years. Some of them were great. Some were terrible. All of them, without fail, would have benefited immensely from the inclusion of Porgs. All the Porgs. All the time. Porgs. Shadows…
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5 Best Lizards from Shadow of The Colossus
Ok, deep breath. SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS REMAKE. SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS REMAKE. SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS REMAKE. Right, now that that’s over, I’d just like to point out that I am a completely impartial journalist who would in no way willingly contribute to the enthusiast press’s proliferation of hype culture which ultimately harms the…
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5 Feel-Good Games to Help With the Winter Blues
Seasonal Affective Disorder – also known as S.A.D – affects about six percent of the population. As the days get shorter, reduced sunlight can mess with levels of serotonin – the neurotransmitter that the brain uses for mood regulation. This can lead to reduced energy, sleep troubles, feelings of anxiety or hopelessness, and other symptoms…
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Wolfenstein 2: Do Nazi Lives Matter?
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus is not a truly great Wolfenstein game, but it feels like a rung on the ladder to one. It carries the franchise’s history like a millstone carved from a beloved pet rock. Unflinchingly self-conscious; at once brazen and apologetic. The Wolfenstein name is both a slashed Achilles heel, and the…
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Empathy for the Devil: Destiny 2’s Manifest Destiny
Previously we looked at plain toast, microwave burritos, and how Destiny 2‘s Guardians are basically Mussolini with blue mohawks. It was a grand old adventure, aside from all the brain aneurysms. This time, we go into detail about FashQuest‘s unfortunate portrayal of its alien races. If the idea that art created by humans might reasonably serve as…
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The Vivid Escapism of Concrete Genie
The new trailer for The Last of Us part II left me with a lot to think about, but I was absolutely captivated with the announcement for PixelOpus‘s Concrete Genie. If The Last of Us is the sort of game you play for some hard questions about human nature, Concrete Genie looks like the perfect…
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We Need to Talk About That Last of Us Part II Trailer
The new trailer Sony just dropped as part of PGW 2017 for The Last of Us Part II starts out pretty grim. We see a woman, hands bound, being dragged through the mud as rain sluices down through the trees. The black coats of her captors shine by the glow of their torches. Lightning announces itself…
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Gender at E3: Playstation
The Playstation E3 press conference was a whirlwind of trailer after trailer after trailer, leaving no stage time for anyone except Sony President and CEO Shawn Layden. The games themselves, then, were mixed in every respect. Out of the gate they showed Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, featuring Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross, both women of…
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The Importance of Playstation’s Pride in London Sponsorship
Playstation Europe recently announced that it would be sponsoring Pride in London. Now, normally corporate sponsorship of our events wouldn’t ping my radar, but in the games industry, it still feels relevant. The replies to Playstation’s announcement tweet are full of blatant homophobia and endless complaints about the politicisation of gaming. The reddit thread on…
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Sony Must Not Fear the Female Protagonist
Recently, the Playstation exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn became the best selling new IP on the platform, shifting over 2.6 million copies. In fact, it’s the second best selling Sony exclusive of all time, after only Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Yet at first Sony’s head of worldwide studios, Shuhei Yoshida, was worried that having a…