A newly published book, described as a 400-page celebration of PlayStation's history, has been released covering Sony's console line from its origins to the present. The piece accompanying its coverage notes that it arrives amid growing debate over physical media, digital ownership and the direction of the PlayStation brand going forward. The book joins other recent retrospectives marking three decades of the platform. via console-classics.com
Developer Laluigi has released Stack a Tower PSX, a homebrew arcade game for the original PlayStation. The goal is to build the tallest tower possible by pressing a button at the right moment to drop each piece onto the stack below. Any overhanging portion of a misaligned piece falls away, making precise timing essential to keep the tower growing. The game is inspired by the mobile title Stack Tower and includes online leaderboards, with the current build listed as version 1.1. via psxhomebrewgames.com
RetroRGB posted a livestream demonstrating how to install the ArcStation, an optical drive emulator. The hardware installation itself reportedly took under ten minutes, with the remainder of the stream devoted to SD card setup along with configuring cheats and cover art. Optical drive emulators let owners of original consoles load games from SD cards or USB storage instead of discs, avoiding wear on ageing disc drives. via retrorgb.com
A browser-based version of Need for Speed: Underground 2 has surfaced, allowing players to race each other online without original hardware or an emulator. According to the report, thousands of players have been taking part simultaneously. Need for Speed: Underground 2 originally released in 2004 for PC, PS2, Xbox and GameCube, and remains popular among fans of early 2000s street racing games. via retrododo.com
Hamster Corporation has confirmed that Taito's 1987 arcade shooter Exzisus will join its Arcade Archives series on November 5, releasing on PlayStation, Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch platforms. The horizontally scrolling shmup lets players pilot a transforming mech that switches between a human form and a ship configuration while battling an invading army. The news was first reported by Japanese outlet Famitsu as part of Hamster's November Arcade Archives lineup. via timeextension.com
A new retrospective book titled PlayStation: The First 30 Years has been announced, covering the console's history since Sony entered the market. It is being released as a physical book and is described as a lush visual history of the brand. The release marks three decades since Sony's original PlayStation launched and went on to become a dominant force in the games industry, competing against established manufacturers at the time. via timeextension.com
A fan translation for Like a Dragon: Kenzan!, the 2008 PS3 exclusive spin-off of the Yakuza series, has been completed without the use of AI tools. The patch comes from the same team that produced last year's translation of the related title Ishin!, and lets English speakers experience the jidaigeki-themed game for the first time, 18 years after its Japan-only release. Yakuza producers Masayoshi Yokoyama and Hiroyuki Sakamoto have reportedly indicated there are no plans to remake Kenzan! for modern platforms, unlike Ishin!. via timeextension.com
A fan translation has finally brought Like a Dragon: Kenzan! into English, 18 years after its original 2008 PS3 release. The jidaigeki-themed Yakuza spin-off, known in Japan as Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan!, never received an official localisation and, unlike its sister title Ishin!, has not been remade for modern platforms. The patch comes from the same team responsible for last year's Ishin! fan translation. Series producers Masayoshi Yokoyama and Hiroyuki Sakamoto have previously discussed why the game has not been revisited, according to the outlet. via timeextension.com
Ken Kutaragi, widely credited as the father of the PlayStation, has pushed back on the popular story that Sony built the console purely to get revenge on Nintendo. He explains that the project instead grew out of the collapse of Sony and Nintendo's planned SNES CD partnership, combined with Sony's resulting push toward independence in the console market. The account reframes PlayStation's creation as a response to circumstance rather than a grudge. PlayStation went on to launch in 1994 and became one of the best-selling console families in gaming history. via console-classics.com
The recompilation project for the original PlayStation game MediEvil has officially reached version 1.0, following last month's beta release. The update includes improved stability, fixes for analogue stick handling, audio playback and FMV sequences. It also adds support for slang and libretro shader presets through a tool called ShaderMod, along with a new Mod Hub for browsing and installing mods, asset packs and shaders, plus an in-game Asset Pack Editor for creating and editing packs. MediEvil originally launched on the PlayStation in 1998 as an action-adventure game from Sony's Cambridge Studio. via timeextension.com
Footage purporting to show an unannounced remake of Atlus' Revelations: Persona has surfaced online this weekend. The two-minute clip shows reimagined cutscenes, world exploration and battle scenes drawn from the original 1996 PlayStation RPG, the first entry in what became the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series. Despite a polished presentation convincing enough to initially pass as legitimate, the video reportedly contains several shortcuts and inconsistencies suggesting it may not be genuine. No remake of the game has been officially announced by Atlus. via timeextension.com
Time Extension has published an interview with the fan translator known as Chapu Translations, discussing his work bringing obscure PlayStation 1 games to English-speaking audiences. The interview covers his 2024 release of a fan translation for Gust Co., Ltd.'s PS1 slapstick adventure Welcome House 2, a project he describes as fulfilling a decade-long dream after earlier failed attempts in 2014 forced him to pause. He also talks about gaming in Argentina and his interest in resurfacing lesser-known PS1 titles, arguing that even games that are not considered great still deserve a chance to reach wider audiences. via timeextension.com
