Topic: Can we have a frank discussion about this site lately?

@trev666 Does Xbox not own Bethesda or did I imagine that? I included that in the 12 articles of the 288 published in March 2026 which mention Xbox in the headline. Again, 4%.

@get2sammyb no Microsoft owns Bethesda

Both the “why y’all keep purging my comments” and “why y’all mentioning Xbox” seems like a tad bit of an overreaction. The silly green brand can’t hurt you, it’s more likely to hurt itself if nothing else.

Appreciate the response. I understand the underlying passion in wanting to differentiate yourself from just AI generated summaries. The thing is, in trying so hard to avoid giving that impression, you may lose what made you guys great in the first place. Instead of focusing on what AI won't say, focus on what you are doing great.

Like by calling Crimson Desert a "major disappointment" with an average critics score of high 70s and low 80s, though it's not a conclusion that AI will make, but it also genuinely confuses real players. I don't even want to play the game in the first place yet I still think this take is absurd.

@get2sammyb I can't speak for others, but I'm not begrudging you reporting on the things that you did. Like you said, it is interesting to get people's takes on such things.

In my opinion - and the opinions of many others if the comments and the likes such comments were getting is anything to go by - the hypocrisy came from the tone of each article. One had you outright mocking "port beggars", calling them unbearable for voicing their desire to see a game come to their platform of choice; while the others came across as whiny and - in your own words - "port begging". Had they both been written in a more neutral or consistent tone, I doubt anyone would have batted an eye.

In a parrelel to what you said to @Locopath, consider that the issue wasn't what you reported on, but the way you reported on it.

@Yousef- Push Square is an Xbox.

@JohnnyShoulder aight, pack it up boys, it can’t get any better than this.

@JohnnyShoulder Well something good's potentially come out of this. Did you used to hang out in the 360 Magazine forums?

@Markatron84 I did indeed!
I've still kept the same tag after all these years!

Can quite place you though, but that is probably more down to my rusty memory though!

@JohnnyShoulder do the letters VA ring a bell? 😉

@Markatron84 Damn! Feels like I've have some form of PTSD!

@JohnnyShoulder that's not surprising. If I were playing Battlefield multiplayer and someone called Venomous Albino panicked and drove our jeep and entire squad into a river, I'd have PTSD too 👀

@Markatron84 Genuine apologies for the tone of my original comment. Id be lying if I said I hadn’t had one too many beers to be scouring the internet but the points I made are valid if not put across in a dumb way. If you’re not paying for Push Square then someone is…the advertisers and the advertisers need clicks. Why is it so difficult to just not click on the articles you don’t want to read? You blame Sammy and the team for the way the site is going but that is backwards..it’s users like you who feel the need to argue on every article that are the problem. The more you click and comment the more they see engagement go up and put out similar articles.

Also not trying to be a d*ck but why do you actually come here…you have said you don’t have a PS5 and no intention of getting one. If the site is so crap and you have no interest in PS why put yourself through it? Plenty of PC centric sites out there with more funding and therefore less sensationalist articles.

@GeeEssEff Apology accepted.

I come here for two reasons. Firstly, because I like games; PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox. So I frequent all the Hookshot sites. True, I don't have a PS5, but I did have a PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP and Vita, so I've played a lot of PlayStation games and continued to play them when they started to come to PC.

Secondly, I come here for the same high engagement you mentioned. I come here because I like discussing games with like-minded people; especially like-minded people such as yourself who - should a disagreement or misunderstanding occur - are big enough to admit wrongdoing and get back to discussing what we're all clearly passionate about. It might also come as a surprise to learn that I don't have any friends (shocker, I know) I can play or talk about games with, so here is the next best thing. I'm also autistic, and video games as a whole is one of what we call my "special interests" - basically my life - so even if I don't own the platform I'm always reading up on it and staying up to date. I even tried pursuing games journalism as a career, but it didn't work out.

But you're right. The next time Push Square - or Pure Xbox or Nintendo Life, but let's face it, probably Push Square - puts out an article that is clearly going to be the sort of thing I've been complaining about here, I won't engage. The complete lack of awareness they seem to have about what people's problems are concerning the headlines and/or content of those articles is proof that that's not going to change. So I'll stop engaging with those.

We have yet to discuss anyone named Frank. How can this be a frank discussion otherwise.

@Yousef- Here you go

@Markatron84 thank you, kind person. 🙏

@Markatron84 Yeh I feel you. I have a few gamer friends but none quite as hardcore (massively nerdy) as I am. I mainly come here to keep up with the news rather than discussion but I do sometimes get drawn into the debates. I actually initially came on the forums last night to see if I could find some people to play Marathon with, saw this and against my better judgement got into it. Again I'm sorry for how I engaged, that's not me usually.

With regards to the articles I think it is the complete opposite of lack of awareness. If they put out an article with a polarising subject line it is going to get 100+ comments. A while ago when PX were questioned why every tagline mentions gamepass they said its because they noticed more engagement with articles that have it included and its no different here. Don't take it to heart because at the end of the day they are just trying to run a business and this is the way to do it. We see these sites as a news outlet and a community but it still needs to make money and engagement is the way to do that. Its not only anti Xbox stuff...one of the most commented articles recently is the Marathon non-review which tells you people here are equally happy to sh*t on Sony games just as much as anything else.

Have a good rest of your Saturday and if you do happen to have Marathon hit me up because I still don't have anyone to play with