For more than 25 years, Sony’s PlayStation has been synonymous with gaming. It’s given players experiences like God of War, The Last of Us, and Final Fantasy VII alongside technological innovations from CD-ROMs all the way up to 4K, VR, and cloud gaming. There have even been attempts at portable gaming with the PSP and Vita. Across multiple generations the company has been a pioneer, starting with the original PlayStation and continuing with the PS5.
It will include a side-scrolling beat ‘em up mode, apparently. It comes out in April 2025.
There will also be a demo available on PlayStation for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, which launches on February 21st.
There’s a new trailer for the looter shooter, but more importantly we finally have a release date: September 23rd.
Another classic action franchise is coming back, this time with Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, from the same developers behind Streets of Rage 4. It launches August 29th.
A new trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds kicked off today’s PlayStation State of Play show, and the game looks great. The trailer says that the game will get a free title updates in the spring and summer that add new content.
One of the more interesting stories to follow during today’s State of Play stream will be whether or not any of Microsoft’s big franchises are present, as the company is pushing forward with its multiplatform plans. In fact, many of its biggest upcoming games are coming to PS5.
Some players are “able to log-in and play again on PlayStation platforms, but not all game services may be back online,” according to the Fortnite Status X account.
Sony still hasn’t offered any meaningful updates about the many-hours-long PSN outage — unless you consider the AskPlayStation account’s recent afternoon reminder about M.2 SSD support helpful.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Konami’s remake of Metal Gear Solid 3, will be released on August 28th, 2025, according to a trailer found on the PlayStation Store. The Ape Escape-themed Snake vs. Monkey mode apparently returns, too.
I’ve emailed Sony and Konami to ask if this is legit. Sure seems like it, though!
Sony sadly wasn’t kidding when it said the original PlayStation, PS2, PS3, and PS4 themes for the PS5 were a limited-time thing. According to the official PlayStation account on X, the themes are being removed tomorrow, January 31st, but will return “in the months ahead.”
Hopefully we’ll get even better themes so I can make my PS5 look and feel just like a PS2 — minus the disc read errors.
Sony has detailed the PC-specific features and recommended specs for the game, including Nvidia DLSS Ray Reconstruction, support for ultrawide aspect ratios up to 32:9, and more. The game also won’t require a PSN account to play.
According to Bloomberg and user reports, T-Mobile’s list of eligible devices for beta testing Starlink direct-to-cell connections now includes iPhones. While only a few Samsung Galaxy devices were supported at first, now iPhone owners with the most recent update can reportedly connect, as well as some people with Android 15 devices.
That gives those owners an alternative to Apple’s Globalstar-connected service while off the grid that works without pointing their phone at the sky first.
As of April 1st, Hideaki Nishino will become the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, the company behind the PlayStation brand. This comes nearly a year after he and Herman Hulst were appointed co-CEOs of the PlayStation business, splitting responsibilities for leading the platform business and games following the retirement of Jim Ryan.
Hulst will continue leading development of PlayStation content for consoles, PC, film, and TV but will now report to Nishino.
Nishino:
We will continue to grow the PlayStation community in new ways, such as IP expansion, while also delivering the best in technology innovation.
Sony shared a video of an “immersive proof-of-concept entertainment experience” for The Last of Us as part of its news at CES. It looks like a fancy theme park-like experience, though it seems too scary for me.
Can Sony make one next for climbing a Horizon Tallneck?
The folks at Digital Foundry have a video and writeup of all the ways the latest Call of Duty takes advantage of the “most powerful PlayStation ever” despite being published by Microsoft-owned Activision.
Some issues with PSSR artifacts need to be straightened out, but the anti-lag VRR feature and enhanced 120Hz mode add something for the Pro’s extra cost.
PlayStation had a rocky 2024 but still put out some great games.
Sony’s handheld seems to have found an audience since launching a year ago, and this info may help explain who that is. With usage that peaks an hour after the PS5, Sony’s exec figures people use their Portal while the family’s big screens are otherwise occupied, something that could be even better now that Sony’s testing cloud streamed PS5 games.
