PlayStation Gear Comms: Beginnings, Board Games, and Birthdays

Gear.PlayStation.com: A New Beginning

Hi, PlayStation Gear fans. If you’ve followed Gear Comms since its inception this past July, then you’ve probably picked up on the persistent, underlying theme that guides our vision of how we develop merchandise: “PlayStation merchandise is our way of celebrating the rich universe of PlayStation in our everyday lives.” We have an affinity for PlayStation, just like so many of you. But we realize that PlayStation Gear as a lifestyle extension inextricably calls for a specialized store in which to shop for that gear; a store that further delivers on our commitment to encapsulate merchandise as a lifestyle complement.

That’s why earlier this year we made the difficult decision to temporarily close the doors on the gear.playstation.com e-tail site. So many of you have commented that you want the store back. We’re anxious too. It’s coming, but in a more defined way. We don’t want to spoil any of the surprises we have in store, but you can expect new features, new product categories, and new ways to celebrate the rich universe of PlayStation! If you’re hankering for the store’s debut as much as we are, then you’ll want to subscribe at the PlayStation Gear website for an exclusive invite to the store’s opening.

Subscribe now at gear.playstation.com to secure your invite.

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game

It’s board game night. Let’s check off the prep list… Snacks? Check. Drinks? Plenty. Friends? Inbound, but we’re excluding Bob this time. He was a sore loser last game night. Okay, everything is set, except… What are we going to play? No, not that same old game where you repeatedly circle the board buying up all the real estate properties you can in an effort to render your party guests broke and humiliated. My friends are modern. Sophisticated. They want something cooperative and fraught with peril.

Enter Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game. Created by the ever-capable folks at Steamforged Games Ltd. (and pictured at the top of this post), this new board game promises all those things and much more. 1-4 players assume the roles of a Banuk Survivor, Carja Warrior, Nora Outcast or Oseram Forgesmith hunters as they embark on a treacherous journey, earning Sun tokens signifying the glory one only achieves in the thrill of the hunt! Think you will be the one to earn all of the glory? Play to find out!

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game is currently only available on Kickstarter as a crowdfunded project, but fear not HZD fans. Pledges for the board game have already far surpassed the funding goal and are busy earning bonus content, so it’s coming to a table near you – if you pledge before time runs out that is!

September 9, 1995: The Birth of a PlayStation Nation

The year was 1995. It was the year that the Internet was completely privatized, the year where companies like AOL gave us a browser so we could begin to “surf” the web, and the year where we would embrace a PlayStation controller for the very first time. For many, yeah the Internet is cool and arguably the greatest advancement in human collective knowledge, but that console though!

In celebration of our 23rd year of entertaining North America, we honor one of our favorite products born out of one of our favorite games to ever grace the tray of that still-stylish Original PlayStation form factor: Twisted Metal’s Sweet Tooth Exclusive Edition statue by Gaming Heads. Is it just me or is he devilishly winking at us?

Pre-order from Gaming Heads

Inside PlayStation: Meet Gary Barth, Collectibles Creative

If you’ve visited the PlayStation Gear event stores in recent time, there’s a good chance you’ve glimpsed or even longingly gazed at a cool collectibles that were produced by Creative Director, Gary Barth. Gary has worked with our game teams to create countless collectibles, promotional items and displays for 8 of his nearly 24 years at PlayStation. He handles all the fabrication projects in Worldwide Studios Creative Group. From the Uncharted dagger to The Last of Us Clicker bust, to just about anything imaginable in the PlayStation Universe, Gary has been hard at work for you, the PlayStation fan. You may have even stood next to one of his more elaborate projects without even realizing it, such as the incredibly lifelike scale Sam Porter Bridges from the upcoming Kojima Productions game, Death Stranding, which was displayed at this year’s E3 and Tokyo Game Show.

We asked Gary about his time at PlayStation and what he enjoys most. Here’s what he had to say:

“In my time here at PlayStation, I’ve held a few different jobs and I’ve enjoyed them all. I love learning new things and every day I’m doing something different at this company. Sometimes it’s helping design a merchandise line, or building a realistic display for an event, or a costume for a live action commercial… and sometimes it’s something as small as making the holiday ornaments that we gave out last year. I really enjoy working with the game teams and the talented artists on all these projects, and when someone compliments the projects I work on, I really want them to know it was a group effort.”

Gary’s latest project is co-producing an exceptionally intricate statue from the upcoming PlayStation exclusive game, Days Gone, with Bend Studios. The prototype for this incredible piece debuted at this year’s PAX West.