PS4 Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Ubisoft has launched a new update for Assassin’s Creed Mirage, bringing New Game Plus mode to the action adventure game.Update 1.0.6 went live today (December 12) and introduces New Game Plus mode to Assassin’s Creed Mirage. “Upon completing the main story on any difficulty, start a new game while keeping all collected skills and gear/costumes from your first playthrough,” reads the patch notes.Players will also be able to start New Game Plus playthrough via the title screen or pause menu, as well as being able to skip the prologue and start directly in Baghdad.Starting a New Game Plus playthrough will also unlock Bayek’s Medjay outfit from Assassin’s Creed Origins.

Interior Night CEO Caroline Marchal has told NME why narrative drama As Dusk Falls will be a good fit for PlayStation fans when it launches for PS4 and PS5 next year.As announced during The Game Awards on Friday (December 8), As Dusk Falls will launch on March 7, 2024, for both PS4 and PS5. Additionally, the game will be coming to PC storefronts GOG and the Epic Games Store on the same day.The crime drama will also be getting some new features, including support for haptic feedback, touchpad controls, and an audio description accessibility setting that will be available on all platforms.Originally launched for Xbox and PC in 2022, As Dusk Falls is a branching narrative that lets players choose how a motel robbery unfolds for those involved.

God Of War Ragnarok DLC has been unveiled at this year’s The Game Awards – and it’s arriving next week.While at The Game Awards, Sony Santa Monica made the blockbuster announcement, revealing a new trailer for a Kratos-led DLC campaign, titled Valhalla. While little is known of the DLC’s plot, it will seemingly take place after the events of Ragnarok due to Atreus’ absence.Fans won’t need to wait long to jump back into the world of God Of War though, as the DLC goes live on PS5 and PS4 next week, on December 12.

Fortnite has confirmed The Weeknd as the first headlining act for its new Festival game more.According to a press release, Fortnite Festival will be the first entirely music-focused mode to be introduced to the immensely popular battle royale game. While Fortnite itself is developed by Epic Games, the Festival game mode is being developed by Harmonix – the studio behind the Rock Band video game franchise.

PlayStation has confirmed that hundreds of TV shows will be removed from players’ libraries, even if they’ve bought them outright.As reported by Eurogamer, Sony has released a statement confirming that “previously purchased Discovery content” will be removed from their video library.“As of 31 December 2023, due to our content licensing arrangements with content providers, you will no longer be able to watch any of your previously purchased Discovery content and the content will be removed from your video library,” reads the statement. “We sincerely thank you for your continued support.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed the company has “no plans” to bring Game Pass to Nintendo or PlayStation.Game Pass currently allows gamers access to hundreds of PC and Xbox titles on a subscription-basis. In a new interview with Windows Central, Spencer confirmed that the company had spent over a billion dollars in 2023 (£780million) “supporting third-party games”.“What we see in Game Pass is a service that supports all kinds of games, from the biggest games, to the unknown indie games that you didn’t know you would love until you played it,” he continued (via Eurogamer).“Game Pass is an important part of the Xbox console identity.

Fortnite has confirmed a massive collaboration with Lego, with a series of skins and a new survival crafting mode coming to the game.Set to launch December 7, the update will bring a new Lego-themed survival crafting mode⁠ to Fortnite alongside a number of updates skins.The Lego skins will be a free alternative to a number of existing skins, with the mini-fig look available via player’s wardrobes. Several emojis will also have a Lego reworking.According to Epic Games, 1200 Lego skins will be available at launch, with a number of those “highly detailed”. Taking to social media, developers explained: “To get ready for the adventure that is the upcoming Lego Fortnite we wanted as many Lego Styles available ASAP.

The Rolling Stones have confirmed a collaboration with EA Sports FC 24, with the iconic rock & roll band designing an in-game vanity kit.The kit is one of three new artist-designed outfits coming to EA Sports FC 24, with DJ Michaël Brun and afropop star Obongjayar also working on special vanity kits.“I’ve been an EA Sports fan my whole life, so to be able to create my own kit in EA Sports FC 24 is honestly a dream come true,” said Brun in a statement. “Being able to merge my culture, my love of football and fashion in one collaboration is a true honour.

The Walking Dead game allowing players to change the timeline of the hit AMC show has gone viral over the weekend but for all the wrong reasons.Released over the weekend, The Walking Dead: Destinies has been developed by Flux Games and published by GameMill Entertainment. “Change the course of AMC’s The Walking Dead history,” reads the game’s description.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has confirmed details of three new maps as part of the free Season 1 update, due later this year.Modern Warfare 3 was released earlier this month but Activision Blizzard are already planning on expanding the game with a free update. According to a Call Of Duty developers blog, three new 6×6 multiplayer will be added to the title, with both Meat and Greece available as soon as Season 1 launches.Meat is described as a “compact map centred around the East Bay Meats slaughterhouse” while Greece is a “medium-sized Mediterranean-inspired Map based on a coastal town.”A third map, Rio, will allow players to “take in the bright colours, tight quarters, and elegant streets in a fight through an upscale shopping centre,” and will be available at a later date during Season 1.Further details about the 6×6 maps and information about returning 2×2 maps will be shared as part of the official Season 1 blog, but Activision Blizzard have shared information about the all-new Urzikstan map.

Payday 3 is adding two levels from Payday 2 to the game as part of a free update later this month.Developer Starbreeze Entertainment announced the news in a post on its website, which revealed the update will “reimagine” two classic heists: Cook Off, which tasks players with batch-cooking methamphetamine, and stealthy robbery Turbid Station.The developer added that the update, currently scheduled for release in November 2023, is planned to have a “new skill line, brand new first-person interaction animations, Infamy Points to heist payout, two new banging tracks from Gustavo Coutinho and more than 200 additional bug fixes and improvements”.There’s no official word on when to expect this update other than November of this year, but Starbreeze Entertainment has been patching Payday 3 following its launch troubles.Upon release, the game was criticised for bugs, server issues, and slow progression. A major complaint was from PlayStation owners, who reported that they couldn’t access special pre-order bonuses at all.We gave Payday 3 three stars in our review, and criticised its lack of heists and shallow stealth.“Payday 3 is brilliant fun, but it wears thin very fast,” the review reads.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3‘s campaign is reportedly three to four hours long, and the length of that campaign versus previous campaigns is being debated by the fans.Early access for the game’s single-player is active now for those who have pre-ordered Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. As such, spoilers are running rampant on social media, as well as conversation on the campaign’s apparent length.“It took me 4 hours and I was attempting to stealth all the open combat missions and looking for extra equipment,” said one player on Reddit.

Destiny 2 has admitted that it has “lost a lot of [players] trust” after announcements about layoffs and a possible delay to the new expansion.“This has been one of the most difficult weeks in our studio’s history,” said Bungie in a post to its official website.On October 30, CEO Pete Parsons confirmed that there were losses at the developer, however neither the number nor the departments were specified. Independent analysts attributed this to a wider “restructuring” at PlayStation, of which Bungie is a subsidiary.“We’ve spent this week supporting one another, including those who are at the studio, as well as friends and colleagues who no longer are,” continued Bungie.Additionally, Bloomberg published a report this week that alleged the expansion The Final Shape is going to be released in June 2024 rather than February 2024.In this post, Bungie did not acknowledge this assertion, and shared its ambition to “make The Final Shape an unforgettable Destiny experience”.“We want to build something that will be regarded alongside the best games we’ve ever made – a fitting culmination that honors the journey we’ve been on together for the past ten years.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is surpassing 200GB in size, and Activision has explained that this is thanks to the “increased amount of content” available in this entry.To compare, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was 125GB on PC. Other titles don’t even come close to Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Final Fantasy 15 was 148GB, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Red Dead Redemption 2 were 150GB, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was 155GB, all at launch and on PC.However, Activision and Sledgehammer Games stated that they are trying to slim the total install size down through “ongoing optimisation efforts”.#MW3 is almost here.

Apex Legends has announced what is in store for players in its Post Malone-themed event, after a teaser from the rapper and songwriter himself was revealed in October.Post Malone has expressed his enthusiasm for Apex Legends in the past, bestowing it the award of being his favourite battle royale game. The “biggest partnership in Apex Legends history” begins on November 7 and will last for a fortnight.The new game mode has been designed for his “love of The Games”, titled Three Strikes.

NME, Sledgehammer Games‘ creative director Dave Swenson and narrative designer Shelby Carlton have discussed how Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 villain Vladimir Makarov may not be the same iconic character that fans remember from the first Modern Warfare games.Although the Modern Warfare reboot shares a lot in common with the initial trilogy, they tell largely original new stories. This means that although Modern Warfare 3 will see the return of ultranationalist terrorist Vladimir Makarov, he may not be the same exact villain that fans remember.“We’ve reset the story,” Swenson told NME. “All that old canon isn’t applicable to what we’re making.

Neowiz Games and developer Round8 Studio have shown off concepts for upcoming downloadable content for Lies Of P, and it appears to be occurring at sea.Director Jiwon Choi showed in his video letter to fans “never-before-seen sketches that tease a small portion of the content that will be available in the first downloadable content”.The first image shows Pinocchio standing in the middle of a wrecked ship that has washed up on the rocks in the night. There’s one lantern illuminating the scene, however, there is someone swinging down from the crow’s nest out of the protagonist’s sight.The second image is much more industrial with an enormous turbine at the centre.

Sony has responded to potential criticism of the cost of PlayStation Plus, arguing that the price hasn’t moved in “many years”.In an interview with Barron’s, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s marketing, sales, and business operations head Eric Lempel was asked how the company calculated the recent rise in the cost of the subscription service.“We want to make PlayStation Plus great. With our reboot last year and introducing the tier system, a lot of consumers have recognised that there’s a lot of value in PlayStation 5,” replied Lempel.“I’m happy to say, unlike a lot of other subscription services out there, we haven’t touched the PlayStation Plus pricing for 85 per cent of the world in many years.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty and Universal Music announced a secret Chase & Status gig with 25 tickets for fans to win.Hosted in London, and accordingly titled LDN Calling, Chase & Status and DJ Bou have tasked fans with three missions to complete before October 31.Every completed mission increases an entrant’s likelihood of winning a ticket, and they will be able to invite a plus one along with them.All three missions will be released through the mission hub and announced through the band’s and Bou’s social channels.As well as the opportunity to attend an exclusive concert in a secret location somewhere in London, the event will offer fans the ability to play Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 ahead of everyone else.

Xbox Partner Preview presentation, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth showed off a new Animal Crossing-inspired island where the player manages a thriving resort.Accessed by riding a dolphin to its shores, Dondoko Island is a much more slower paced addition to the anticipated action game. Developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio said “sometimes even the yakuza need a breather” in its trailer, revealing a “cosy DIY lifestyle” for hero Ichiban Kasuga.

Final Fantasy 14 adds harder achievements is dependent on the response of one of its most dedicated fans, who has already bagged all 2,700 achievements.Speaking at this year’s Final Fantasy Fan Fest in London, producer and director Naoki Yoshida expressed his admiration and appreciation for the anonymous player.“First and foremost, I want to just say, wow, big congratulations,” he said (thanks to Rock Paper Shotgun). “To see that player just stick with it – just pressing on – as a creator of an MMO [massively multiplayer online game], that’s a really fantastic thing to see.”There are 2,751 achievements in the game, ranging from talking to characters, to diving into dungeons alone, to cyclical side quests, to specific numbers of wins in the player-versus-player modes.However, if that player is looking for further challenges to test their skills in Final Fantasy 14, Yoshida welcomed their input into potential new achievements that could come to the game.“Of course, we will continue to make achievements in the game,” he answered.

Post Malone will be collaborating with Apex Legends for “two weeks of beautiful mayhem” in an upcoming crossover event.In the announcement to X, Post Malone was shown in a video to be prone on the floor and then calling out, “Can someone res me? Yo!” in an echoey room. Check it out below:Get ready for two weeks of beautiful mayhem #ApexLegends pic.twitter.com/q4OEzyvmUQ— Post Malone (@PostMalone) October 16, 2023That was the extent of the information about what this event might be about, though it was confirmed to start on November 7 and assumedly end on November 21.Also, the end of the video showed what seemed to be a new Octane skin, though it’s not known whether or not this will be a free addition or unlocked through challenges in the crossover event.Apex Legends has crossed over with a number of other games, films and TV shows, such as Star Wars, Mass Effect, Power Rangers and more.

Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name will not feature an English dub when it launches on November 9 – this will instead arrive in a post-launch patch.Voice actor Yong Yea, who plays protagonist Kazuma Kiryu in the game, pointed out the fine print on publisher Sega’s official website for Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name in a post to X.Since Like A Dragon: Gaiden is a few weeks away and many may not know about this, thought I should let you know the English dub will not be available on the 11/8 launch date and will release as a post-launch patch (no official date yet).

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 developers from Sledgehammer Games have spoken to NME about the game’s longer time-to-kill mechanics, along with planned changes to visibility and weapon balance.Last week (October 6), the first beta for Modern Warfare 3 kicked off on PlayStation. As fans got their hands on the upcoming shooter, a few of its features stuck out – one of which was the game’s unusually long time-to-kill (TTK), a measurement that determines how long it takes one player to kill another.While this varies between Call Of Duty games, Modern Warfare 3 has one of the series’ longest to date.

Blizzard Entertainment has shared how it will overhaul Diablo 4 through game changes in Season Of Blood to ensure that fan feedback has been heard.While Diablo 4 was off to a strong start in June, patch 1.1.0 led to significant decreases in player damage output and capabilities in what was already a challenging game to play.The responses from fans were so disastrous that Diablo 4 developers held an emergency Campfire Chat – a livestreamed event where the team run through the latest changes to the game – in July in order to apologise.Though the sentiment towards Diablo 4 from its fans has been gradually getting warmer and warmer, Blizzard Entertainment wanted them to know that the feedback has been actually acted upon in the upcoming Season Of Blood. Season Of Blood, which kicks off on October 17, will involve a “five point strategy” that “[focuses] on addressing player feedback and making systemic improvements”, as said in the most recent Campfire Chat.The five points are “update elemental resistances”, “make uniques more exciting and impactful”, “class improvements to address commonly talked about issues”, “update damage buckets” and ensuring that all of these changes feel like bonuses to players.Community lead Adam Fletcher and designers Adam Jackson and Charles Dunn talked through these points, starting with the fact that resistances will now be additive up to a 70 per cent limit in Season Of Blood. Furthermore, uniques have been subject to a “giant pass” that has altered almost every unique in Diablo 4 with new statistics and larger ranges, for example.The full list of changes in patch 1.2.0 are available on Blizzard Entertainment’s website.In other gaming news, Rocket League players were dismayed to discover that

Psyonix has announced player-to-player trading in Rocket League will be removed in December so that it aligns with Epic Games‘ terms for in-game items.“We’re making this change to align with Epic’s overall approach to game cosmetics and item shop policies, where items aren’t tradable, transferrable, or sellable,” explained Psyonix in a post to the game’s official website.It said that the move “opens up future plans” for a selection of Rocket League vehicles to cross over into other offerings from Epic Games, though it was not stated which games these would be.Rocket League and Fortnite crossed over for the first time in 2020 following Psyonix’s buyout by Epic Games in the previous year.This was followed by the High Octane event in 2022, which brought the game’s iconic Octane battlecar to Fortnite and let players pull off stunts to travel across the map and escape from skirmishes.It also allowed Rocket League and Rocket League Sideswipe players to earn the Whiplash car in those games through the completion of High Octane quests on the Rocket League Live Island in Fortnite.Player-to-player trading in the game will end at midnight GMT on December 6.

Daedalic Entertainment‘s apology for the state of The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum on its launch was allegedly the product of an AI prompt.In May, the stealth adventure game launched with an array of technical issues that irritated reviewers and made it a subject of ridicule on social media.As a result, Daedalic Entertainment chose to cancel another Lord of the Rings game that was in development and close the German studio that worked on The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum. A few words from the " The Lord of the Rings: Gollum™ " team pic.twitter.com/adPamy5EjO— The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (@GollumGame) May 26, 2023It also offered an apology for the “underwhelming” quality of the game, adding that The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum “did not meet the expectations we set for ourselves or for our dedicated community”.Yet, in a report from German gaming outlet GameTwo, anonymous ex Daedalic Entertainment staff stated that the apology was apparently AI generated.Specifically, it was claimed that ChatGPT was used by publisher Nacon to produce an apology to give to players.Consequently, Daedalic Entertainment supposedly did not know anything about an apology before it was sent out on social media.While neither Daedalic Entertainment or Nacon have acknowledged what has been said in GameTwo‘s report, fans instantly identified an error in the apology when it was released.In it, the game is referred to “The Lord Of The Ring: Gollum” rather than “The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum“.GameTwo also spoke to technical director and senior developer Paul Schulze who alleged that the game’s budget was too modest at about £13million (€15million).“There were people working on the game that have been developers for 10, 15, 20 years, and they’re good, but they

Hexworks has revealed plans for a digital and physical soundtrack release of its upcoming action game Lords Of The Fallen – check out an exclusive sample below.While Lords Of The Fallen launches this Friday (October 13), fans will be able to listen to its soundtrack slightly early.That’s because Laced Records, part of Keywords Studios, has announced it will launch the soundtrack on music platforms and deluxe vinyl.The score will be released digitally on October 11, and can be pre-saved here. Meanwhile, pre-orders for a three-disc vinyl set are planned to open after Lords Of The Fallen‘s launch.You can check out a sample of the game’s music below.Music for Lords Of The Fallen was created by composers Cris Velasco (God Of War, Bloodborne) and Knut Avenstroup Haugen (Conan Exiles, 2014’s Lords Of The Fallen).“Once I saw the concept art and an early gameplay video, the aesthetics were pretty obvious: this game was going to be scary,” shared Velasco.

The Callisto Protocol and the CEO of Striking Distance Studios, has left the developer to “pursue new opportunities”.Bloomberg reported that chief operating officer Stacey Hirata and chief financial officer Johnny Hsu will also be leaving Striking Distance Studios. A spokesperson for parent company Krafton maintained that these were voluntary decisions from the three individuals.In a statement, Schofield described his departure as “bittersweet” but added that “the studio is in excellent hands” with chief development officer Steve Papoutsis now stepping up to take over his role.Earlier this year, Krafton revealed that The Callisto Protocol had missed out on its expected sales statistics. The publisher forecasted that the game would sell five million copies, yet in January, it was coursing towards a total of two million copies.Then, Striking Distance Studios laid off almost a fifth of its developers in August as a result of “strategic changes that realign the studio’s priorities”.The Callisto Protocol‘s expansion, Final Transmission, arrived in June, but it was not met with particularly positive reviews from players. Final Transmission appeared to exacerbate technical issues with the base game and on the story itself, one said “they are essentially selling the ending cutscene for £12”.Last September, Schofield was placed under pressure for posting a tweet that seemingly glorified crunch culture.“I only talk about the game during an event.

Blizzard Entertainment announced that Diablo 4 will benefit from annual expansions alongside its quarterly seasons to retain player excitement for the game.In an interview with Dexerto, general manager Rod Fergusson replied to the question of how long will the seasonal additions will go on for with: “How long is a piece of string?”“It’s years and years. That’s the thing we’re focused on,” he clarified.