Category: Video Gaming

Tekken 8 launched earlier this year, but it feels like so much has happened in the game between then and now: several major tournament showcases, numerous game updates and adjustments, and two fan-favorite DLC characters. Now, Tekken 8 is preparing for the return of none other than Heihachi Mishima, unkillable like a cockroach and eager to reclaim the title of Mishima clan overlord.

Bandai Namco gave us a sneak peek at the upcoming version 1.08, which launches on October 3 on PS5, that adds Heihachi as a playable character along with a brand-new stage and a new set of story fights and cinematics continuing the Tekken 8 saga. We also chatted with Tekken series Creative Director Katsuhiro Harada and Tekken 8 Director Kohei Ikeda.

Spending quality time with the fighting world’s worst dad

If you’re worried that Heihachi’s near-death experience fundamentally changed his gameplay, fear not. Much of Heihachi’s moveset will be very familiar to Tekken veterans, and the old, beloved staples like the Wind God Fist are still around to make you feel right at home.

That’s not to say that he doesn’t have any new tricks. Two new stances, Thunder God and Wind God, can be entered into at certain points and allow him to use some powerful new moves. And that’s not all: Heihachi can also transform with Warrior Instinct, a powered-up state that requires Heihachi to go into Heat state three times. Warrior Instinct grants various buffs, like more damage to recoverable health, and altered/additional skills. For example, Heihachi’s axe kick, which is already a good pressure tool, gets additional follow-ups when Warrior Instinct is activated. However,  since Heat usage is restricted to once per round you’ll only be able to see Heihachi at his maximum potential when you’re pretty deep into battle.

“When we brought Heihachi back from his ‘death,’ we needed it to feel convincing. He needed to seem powerful if he was able to survive. I wanted a new gameplay mechanic to link into the story. The Tekken Monks, which debut in the new story content, are also linked to Heihachi. We wanted him to feel like he’d learned some of the secret, long-buried techniques of the Mishima Style,” states Tekken 8 Director Kohei Ikeda. 

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Heihachi also comes with a brand-new stage, the Genmaji Temple, a secluded hideaway among a beautiful forest where the Tekken Monks train around the clock. Both daytime and dusk variants of the level are available to fight on.

“We wanted the stage to be a centerpiece for Heihachi’s return,” Ikeda continues. “We wanted the stage to reflect Japanese stylistic tastes, like the falling leaves indicating the shift from autumn to winter. But since it is a training ground, we wanted to hammer home that it’s a place where people have practiced martial arts from long ago — but there’s also a touch of humor when you see the strange moves the Monks are doing.” 

The tale of Fists and Fate continues

I also had the opportunity to run through the new story content being added in the next update. This episode, titled Unforgotten Echoes, focuses on Eddy, Lidia, and Yoshimitsu coming together in the midst of the ongoing conflict. Eddy’s trying to atone for his crimes with the Tekken Force, while Lidia’s received word of a secluded tribe of monks with ancient ties to the Mishima clan. When they travel to the Genmaji Temple, the trio encounter a very unexpected but very familiar face.

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“Heihachi is very important for the ongoing story, but he’s also a character that a lot of players want,” says Katsuhiro Harada who is the Creative Director of the Tekken series. “The same could be said for both Eddy and Lidia. Eddy was necessary for the storyline, and Capoeira is an iconic martial art that a lot of people enjoy, so we wanted to include him. And then Lidia was added at the end of Tekken 7. She uses karate and proved to be extremely popular.  So the factors we consider are: they play important story roles, players wanted them, were used a lot, or had new fighting backdrops. The DLC characters so far have those elements, which is why they were added.”

The Tekken 8 update patch drops on October 3 on PS5. Early access begins September 30 for those who preorder. Even if you’re not planning on purchasing Heihachi, the Unforgotten Echoes story and some other new content, including a customizable home screen, will be available for free to all players.

I’m not someone who’s ever been on board with the “Can You Pet The Dog?” craze that swept and/or still sweeps video games. As a heartless individual, I am more concerned with whatever the dog’s capable of: general savagery, a howl that replenishes my HP bar, letting me climb atop its glorious mane as it strides across the barren wastes. If it’s none of these things, I would much rather have a shiny turret on spindly steel legs skitter besides me.

Nomada Studios have, incredibly, thrust their hands into my chest cavity and given me a blood-pumping mechanism. Having spent some time with upcoming action-platformer Neva (the game) and Neva (the dog from the game), I have to admit: I did enjoy petting Neva (the dog).

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The Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2024 Broadcast returns on Thursday, offering a look at incredible games coming to Xbox consoles and PC from across Asia and beyond. This year’s show will feature looks at titles from Xbox Game Studios, Blizzard Entertainment, and Bethesda, as well as an exciting lineup of games from third-party partners primarily based in Japan and across Asia, including games coming to Xbox Game Pass.

There’s nothing quite like watching one of our shows live – here’s how you can do that.

What time does the Xbox Broadcast at Tokyo Game Show begin?

Thursday, September 26 at 7pm JST / 8pm AEST / 3am Pacific / 6am Eastern / 11am UK

How do I watch? 

The Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2024 Broadcast will be streamed live on official Xbox channels. Here’s where you can watch live in your region:

Asia / Pacific

Japan

Korea

Australia / New Zealand

Southeast Asia (English)

Taiwan

Hong Kong

China

Americas

Global

Europe /  Middle East

UK

France

Germany / Austria / Switzerland

Italy

Spain

Poland

Saudi Arabia / Gulf

Turkey

What languages is the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2024 Broadcast available in?

This year’s broadcast will be available on Tokyo Game Show’s official YouTube channel, as well as live on select Xbox social channels in Japanese, English, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic (MSA), Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Castilian Spanish, Mexican Spanish and Turkish. Following the broadcast, we will add language support for Canadian French, Filipino, Hindi, Indonesian, Malay, Māori, Thai and Vietnamese. Please note that the audio of the show is primarily in Japanese, so you may need to turn on captions to see the translated show.

Is the show going to be Accessible to those with low/no hearing or low/no vision?

The show will also be broadcast with Japanese Sign Language (JSL), Australian Sign Language (AusLan), American Sign Language (ASL), and with audio descriptions in both Japanese and English.

I’m not going to be able to watch, where can I find out what was announced?

As soon as the show is over, the Xbox Wire team will be publishing a full show recap (including localized versions in Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, LATAM Spanish, and Japanese) and standalone articles about select games will go live during the show.

Co-streamer and content creator notes for the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2024 Broadcast

We at Xbox greatly appreciate any co-stream efforts and aim to ensure you have a smooth experience if you choose to do so. However, due to forces beyond our control, we cannot guarantee that glitches or disruptions by bots and other automated software won’t interfere with your co-stream. For those planning to create post-show breakdowns of the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2024 Broadcast in the form of Video on Demand (VOD) coverage, we recommend you do not use any audio containing copyrighted music to avoid any action by automated bots, and to also consult the terms of service for your service provider.

We look forward to welcoming players from Japan, across the Asia region, and the world to celebrate the amazing games that creators are building for Xbox consoles and PC. For more details and a full schedule for Tokyo Game Show 2024, visit the official site from the show’s organizers.

For a limited time, Amazon is offering the 2TB SK Hynix P41 Platinum PCIe 4.0 NVME solid state drive (SSD) for only $135. That’s one of the best prices we’ve seen for a 2TB PS5-compatible SSD from a reputable brand. It also happens to be one of the fastest PCI-E 4.0 SSDs on the market right now. This is an outstanding candidate for your PS5 or gaming PC rig.

SK Hynix P41 Platinum 2TB M.2 SSD for $134.99

SK Hynix might not be a brand that the consumer recognizes as much as Samsung or Western Digital, but make no mistake that they are a major player in the flash memory market. SK Hynix is a South Korean DRAM manufacturer and one of the world’s largest memory chipmakers and semiconductor companies. They supply components for many reputable brands you’ve probably heard of, like Corsair and G.Skill.

The Platinum P41 is SK Hynix’s highest end SSD. It boasts sustained read speeds of 7,000MB/s and sustained write speeds of 6,500MB/s. It also boasts random read speeds of 1.4 million IOPS and random write speeds of 1.3 million IOPS. In terms of reliability and stability, the SSDs have been tested and validated through 1,000 hours of stress testing with MTBF reaching 1.5 million hours or up to 1,200TB written. SK Hynix backs it all up with a 5 year warranty. The P41 Platinum uses an Aries controller with 176-layer TLC NAND flash chips, both of which are manufactured in-house.

Of course, in terms of real world performance, the vast majority of users won’t be able to tell apart the speeds between the highest end PCI-E 4.0 SSDs. Some of these SSDs include the SK Hynix P41 Platinum, the Samsung 990 Pro, and the WD Black SN850X. Therefore, it all comes down to the price. At its current price point, the P41 Platinum isn’t just one of the fastest drives on the market, it’s also cheaper than any competitor that can come close to its performance.

This is a great PS5 SSD, but you’ll want to get a heatsink

The SK Hynix P41 Platinum does not come equipped with a heatsink. That’s because this SSD is catered to PC gamers looking to add storage to their desktop computer. Many motherboards come equipped with built-in SSD coolers and will only accept bare SSDs. It’s generally harder to remove a heatsink than to apply a new one. If you plan to use this for your PS5, rest assured that’ it is 100% compatible (in fact, it’s overkill). Although some people have gotten away with an SSD with no heatsink, we recommend you install one for peace of mind. You can easily get a PS5 heatsink for under $10.

Looking for more options? Check out the best M.2 SSDs of 2024.

The next PlayStation State of Play is upon us. Sony has officially confirmed the date and time of its next showcase. We’ve been expecting the September event for some time now, and you’ll be able to watch it right here.

This is going to be the first State of Play following the recent reveal of the PlayStation 5 Pro, whose $700 price tag, and lack of any major upcoming releases to take advantage of its upgraded hardware, left most of us scratching our heads (though some will get one anyway).

Sony has confirmed in a blog post that this September State of Play will be kicking off on September 24 at 11PM BST, that’s 3PM PT, 6PM ET and 12AM CEST. You’ll be able to watch it on the official PlayStation Twitch, and YouTube channels. We’ll add the link to the livestream right above this text as soon as we spot that it’s live, so all you’ll need to do once it’s there is click play and boom, video games.

Sony says the broadcast will last for over 30 minutes and feature “news and updates on more than 20 upcoming PS5 and PS VR2 games from studios around the world.”

Thanks to recent leaks, we do know a few of the announcements we can expect at this month’s State of Play. For one, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered was recently rated by the ESRB, meaning it’s all but confirmed to be among the show’s reveals. Another remaster of a PS4 game is reportedly also part of the line-up.

According to a few reports (and social media hints), Sony is gearing up to announce a Days Gone remaster, also for PS5. We know nothing about the two of these, beyond their existence, but it’s safe to assume PlayStation’s suite of accessibility options will be present in both games, not to mention a few other graphical and performance enhancements.

Check back later for our coverage of the biggest reveals from this State of Play and let us know what you’re hoping to see from it below!

All the help you need to make sure Monday’s Wordle goes just the way you want it to is right here. We’ve got a brand new clue written just for the September 23 (1192) game if you’d like to get off to a great start (or make sense of those yellow letters you found on your way), and today’s answer is ready to go if you want to make sure your week starts with a win.

When I surveyed all of the green and yellow letters that had appeared on my very first row, I assumed I was in for a quick win in two. No? Fine. A slightly less quick win in three then. No? Again? Really? I may have had no way of knowing that I should have gone for that letter instead of the other one I tried first, but winning in four easy guesses still stung. 

Wordle today: A hint

Wordle today: A hint for Monday, September 23

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week – our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! Once again, the dastardly autumn breezes have blown my schedule all out of whack, so no cool industry person this week. Instead, here is a short excerpt from another weird story I starting writing, also containing poultry for some reason.

Atop the council manse pokes a lone grey-black spire, scorched gruesome and slanted like a broken finger.

Above the hill that holds the manse the sky cracks forever.

Below the hill that lifts the manse the village sits, chirping like electrical wires with the collective crow of the eighty eight ash-grey roosters that mistake the ever-cracking sky for a never ending dawn.

And no-one who lives their wakes, because no-one who lives there sleeps. It’s the roosters, you see. They never stop crowing, so it’s always time to get out of bed.

If you ask the people who live there why they don’t just get rid of the roosters, they’ll say: Well, it’s not their fault. They’re just doing what roosters do. Crowing at cracked sky.

If you ask them why they’ve never tried to find a way to fix the sky, they’ll just say: Well, it was like that when we got here.

If you ask the roosters why the sky is cracked, they tend to just shit themselves, continuing to crow at what they’re quite certain is a never ending dawn.

As always, let me know what you’re reading below, and let us pray for a return to guest-hood next week. That, or I could just get on top of my emails. Book for now!

PlayStation’s classics are finally getting the love they deserve! @pushsquare dives into how PS Plus Premium is reviving forgotten gems just in time for the brand’s 30th anniversary.

“Like, why would anyone play this?” This flippant, out of context quote from former PlayStation bigwig Jim Ryan followed him everywhere. The executive had been speaking at a Gran Turismo event, where the latest in the series at the time, Gran Turismo Sport on the PS4, was being demoed alongside the PlayStation originals. “The PS1 and PS2 games look ancient,” he exclaimed. “Like, why would anyone play this?”

As frustration among PlayStation fans grew, these off-the-cuff remarks from Ryan took on a life of their own: many assumed Sony, under his leadership, hated its legacy. The executive later clarified in an interview with Axios Gaming that he “wasn’t trying to be disrespectful of our heritage”. He explained: “I guess my big learning from all of this is when [Gran Turismo creator] Kazunori Yamauchi unveils his next game side-by-side with its history, I will keep my mouth shut.”

But actions speak louder than words and many fans have been waiting for Sony to actually do something with its back catalogue that proves it cares about the games from its past. I believe, while far from perfect, PS Plus Premium is quietly amassing a catalogue of deep cuts from PlayStation’s history that fans absolutely should be paying attention to. And as nostalgia builds ahead of the brand’s 30th anniversary – with that sumptuous collection of new PS5 hardware available to pre-order soon – it’s something that both long-time fans and newcomers should be paying attention to.

For example, this week saw the release of Mister Mosquito on PS5 and PS4, a largely forgotten 2001 title from Japanese developer Zoom which encapsulates everything great about PlayStation first-party in the PS2 era. As its name implies, this game sees you buzzing around the unsuspecting Yamada family’s home, drawing blood without arousing suspicion in some of the zaniest gameplay you’re likely to find on any format today. The original was brought overseas by Eidos under license from Sony, but is reproduced with Trophies and various quality of life features here.

Many games are also making their European debuts as part of Sony’s hushed retro push. Earlier in the year, Level-5’s legendary PSP tactics game Jeanne d’Arc launched into PS Plus Premium, marking the first time it’s been officially available outside of Japan and North America; Sony famously passed on publishing the game in Europe, despite its story being loosely inspired by Joan of Arc and the Hundred Years’ War in the 15th Century. Similarly, cult PS2 aerial combat game Sky Gunner was ported to the PS5 and PS4 this week, marking another European debut.

While there’s clearly more Sony could be doing here, with its official emulator in particular lacking the upscaling capabilities of third-party rivals, I really appreciate how many games are being given a new lease of life with the inclusion of Trophies. The fan favourite PS2 TimeSplitters trilogy was updated this week to incorporate Platinums, and for many this is all the incentive needed to revisit old favourites. Iconic PS1 games like G-Police, Jumping Flash!, and Intelligent Qube all come with a list of achievements to unlock as well.

Even lesser known instalments from classic PlayStation properties are getting a second shot in the spotlight; I wouldn’t exactly recommend spin-offs like Secret Agent Clank and Jak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier over their mainline counterparts, but I like that they exist in an easily accessible form on modern hardware. The real goal for Sony will be to ensure the original trilogies accompany them; you can play all of the Jak & Daxter games with Trophies on the PS5 and PS4, but we’re still awaiting the original Ratchet & Clank releases.

While I suppose I could criticise Sony for dragging its heels, I’d rather it do that than nothing at all. The catalogue of PlayStation classics on PS Plus Premium is growing, with many available a la carte on the PS Store if you don’t want to pay out for the pricey subscription. The emulation could admittedly be better, and the software could be coming quicker – but quietly the Japanese giant is embracing its heritage and making it available for veterans and newcomers alike.

If you’re thinking, “Like, why would anyone play this?”, it’s because, as we approach PlayStation’s all-important 30th anniversary, there’s a lot of love for its back catalogue. And gradually, month by month, Sony is actually beginning to acknowledge that.

Sammy Barker is the Editor of Push Square. He’s been living and breathing the wonderful world of PlayStation for decades now – and has the tattoos to prove it. You can find him on @_get2sammyb.

Baldur’s Gate 3’s Patch 7 deputized a well-liked side character, the Tiefling bard Alfira, to full companion status. The only problem is that it’s only temporary, and in the most “cursed monkey’s paw” way imaginable. Cenalexis_01 on the Baldur’s Gate 3 subreddit figured out how to make it permanent, though, and the exploit requires the sort of obscene, beautiful abuse of Baldur’s Gate 3’s open-ended systems I’ve come to relish seeing. Spoilers ahead for the Dark Urge origin.

One of the defining scenes of BG3’s Dark Urge (Durge to their friends) origin is their unwilling murder of Alfira. Partway through Act 1, she’ll show up to your camp during a long rest and the Durge will unavoidably kill her⁠—though it is possible, through shenanigans, to make stand-in Quil Grootslang show up and take the fall instead. Patch 7 made it so that Alfira even joins your party and can be leveled up for a brief window, sparking some hope she was a surprise new companion added in the patch, but no dice: It was just meant to twist the knife a bit more.

Picking up an actual pinball machine can cost a fortune, with prices often reaching over $1,000. They also take up a ton of space, making them less than ideal for cozy apartments or small homes. Luckily, these DIY tabletop pinball machines are a fun alternative for those who to to get their free-play pinball fix. Not only do look striking, they also take up minimal space and are budget-friendly. with the most affordable model clocking in at just $27 for a limited time (down from $35).

The Smartivity DIY Pinball Machine recreates a lot of the fun you’ll find with an actual, full-sized pinball machine. After constructing the 375-piece kit, you’ll have a compact pinball machine measuring just 13 inches long. The constructed kit has two working flippers, a ball launch mechanism, and plenty of cool targets to aim for. Smartivity says the said is ideal for kids between 8 and 14–but any pinball fan will probably find something to love about the quirky set. It’s on sale for $27 at Amazon for the next few days, saving you a few dollars compared to it’s usual $25 list price.

If you’re looking for something a bit more elaborate, there’s an unofficial Star Wars Miniature Pinball Machine for $145. This 18-inch kit requires about 12 hours to assemble, making it a better option for teens and young adults. Once complete, you’ll have an interactive machine complete with lighting, sound effects, and plenty of Star War-themed obstacles to maneuver around.

A few other miniature pinball machines are up for grabs, including the ROKR Miniature Pinball Machine for $135 (down from $160) and the Harry Potter Quidditch Pinball Machine for $90 (down from $100). Both of these are complicated builds best suited for young adults, though they all make great additions to a game room when they’re finally completed. You’ll find a short list of all the miniature pinball deals below.

Best DIY Pinball Machine Deals

There’s now a premium, extended version of this podcast that you can get as a VG247 paid subscriber – check out our Support Us page for more info. Doing so helps ensure that we can keep making the show! But don’t worry if that’s not for you, the main show will always be free.

Who won out of Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous, the crowdfunded space sim sensations pitched to us a decade ago by two of the genre’s most celebrated game directors? Star Citizen being a spiritual follow up to Wing Commander and Privateer, and Elite Dangerous being a direct sequel to Elite, Frontier: Elite 2 and Frontier: First Encounters. Well, it depends how you define “win”. Or, indeed, “exists”. This is just one of the Enthusiastic Disagreements we have in this week’s Best Games Ever Podcast, along with GTA vs Saints Row, Call of Duty vs Medal of Honor, and another one that we can’t remember.

Remember Lemmings vs The Humans? Well, Lemmings was this puzzle game where you had to coax large groups of the titular rodents across increasingly fiendish levels, using such units as: builders. Blockers. Diggers. Other ones. I dunno, it was a long time ago and I’m 40 (aka dead). The Humans was more or less a Lemmings ‘clone’, right, and they had a sort of rivalry going on that, in my small child head, was as much a defining battle between 90s pop culture icons as Oasis vs Blur, or Oasis vs Ocean Colour Scene, or Oasis vs Oasis.

Who won that rivalry? Well, these things are subjective. You could define it it terms of sales (hard to verify) or cultural impact (hard to quantify), or you could simply base it on which series survived longest. Which would give The Humans the win here by three years, having released its last entry on Nintendo DS in 2009. Not that anyone noticed. The last Lemmings game flopped out to equally minimal fanfare on PSP and PS2 in 2006, and it wasn’t even a proper sequel so much as an enhanced re-release of the original. It’s notable that both series’ guffed their last guff on 7th gen handhelds, and highly amusing to me that the once beloved Lemmings, of which there is a bronze statue in Dundee, lost this battle to the never beloved The Humans, of which there is no bronze statue. In Dundee or anywhere else.

It’s such a good pick for this week’s episode of The Best Games Ever Podcast that you’ll no doubt be unsurprised to learn that nobody actually did. If you want to find out what esteemed regulars James Billcliffe, Tom Orry, and Sherif Saed did pick, you’ll have to watch or listen to it via the handy methods listed below.

You can watch or listen to it here via the methods handily listed below. No need to thank us.

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