PS5 Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Deep Silver has confirmed a new story expansion for Dead Island 2, with SoLA set to overrun the ultimate Californian music festival.The SoLA expansion is the second DLC available for Dead Island 2 and will be available April 17, bringing a new storyline to the action role-playing game.SoLA will take place at a “visceral, gore-drenched music festival in the heart of LA” and see players contend with “the sound of The Beat, which threatens to turn the living into zombies, and has the potential to be heard across the world.”“A deadly virus sweeps through The Valley, turning its inhabitants into ravenous zombies as a chthonic rhythm calls from beyond: the beat of the Autophage. Lured to the festival by an enigmatic warning message, players must explore SoLA’s ruins and put a stop to this otherworldly menace,” reads the description.Are you ready to lose yourself to the beat? SoLA opens on April 17th#DeadIsland #SeeYouInHELLA #SeeYouAtSoLA pic.twitter.com/nlTxBXTzvG— Dead Island (@deadislandgame) March 21, 2024As well as battling undead ravers, the new expansion will bring a number of new enemies including apex variant the Whipper, which has been “driven mad with self-loathing by the Autophage.Their compulsion to self-mutilate has turned them into a horrific nightmare of disembowelled intestines, allowing them to lash out at range,” said Deep Silver.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 received critical acclaim ahead of launch, many buyers on PC are leaving negative reviews due to the game launching with 21 optional microtransactions.Dragon’s Dogma 2 launched today (March 22), and at time of writing, currently holds a ‘Mixed’ user review rating on Steam, with 60 per cent of all player-submitted reviews marked as negative.The criticism is largely driven by the inclusion of microtransactions in the single-player game. Dragon’s Dogma 2 has 21 available microtransactions, including items that revive characters, help to escape from prison, and make fast-travelling easier.While these purchases range from £0.89 to £4.45 in price, it’s worth noting that all but two of them (the Explorer’s Camping Kit and Heartfelt Pendant) can be found in-game anyway, making the microtransactions completely optional.However, that hasn’t stopped buyers from criticising the DLC.

Larian Studios, the developer behind Baldur’s Gate 3, has confirmed that it will not be making a highly requested expansion or Baldur’s Gate 4.Speaking at this month’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, Larian Studios founder and CEO Swen Vincke shared that the studio will not be following up the massive success of Baldur’s Gate 3 with another game in the Dungeons & Dragons series it’s set in.“Baldur’s Gate will always have a warm spot in our heart,” shared Vincke. “We’ll forever be proud of it but we’re not going to continue in it. We’re not going to make new expansions which everybody is expecting.

Dragon’s Dogma 2, but framerate issues are hampering the experience for some.A Capcom representative told IGN, “a large amount of CPU usage is allocated to each character and dynamically calculates the impact of their physical presence in various environments.” They added that this could be the cause for the framerate issues when “numerous characters appear simultaneously”.Dragon’s Dogma 2 on consoles doesn’t have the option to switch between a performance and quality mode, so players are largely having to make do with what’s currently on offer. Fortunately for PC players, the representative told IGN, “we are looking into ways to improve performance in the future.” So, a patch could already be in the works and delivered soon, but it’s unclear what the solution will be for console players.The director of the original Dragon’s Dogma, Hideaki Itsuno, felt “let down” by PS3 hardware, and it seems the PS5 is also struggling to keep up.

Frontier Developments has released a behind-the-scenes look at what animal expert Steve Backshall brought to the creation of Planet Zoo: Console Edition. Check the video out below, exclusively on NME.Introducing the mockumentary, Frontier asked: “Ever wondered about the hard work that goes into bringing a game with as much depth and authenticity as Planet Zoo to consoles?”“With over 70 amazing animals, four engaging game modes, and limitless creativity, there’s plenty for the Frontier Developments team to get stuck in with.

Gotham Knights developer WB Games Montréal‘s website, the studio is assisting with Monolith Productions‘ upcoming Wonder Woman game.As spotted by Tech4gamers, WB Games Montréal is looking for an external development artist who will “support the Monolith Productions team on their announced Wonder Woman game!”The upcoming Wonder Woman game was announced back in December 2021 at The Game Awards. It is being developed by Middle-Earth: Shadow of War developer Monolith, and is not going to be a live-service game like the recent Suicide Squad, according to a statement from Warner Bros..

Sony is reportedly pausing production of its PSVR2 headsets, an accessory for the PS5, due to a backlog of unsold units.As reported by Bloomberg, people familiar with Sony’s plans have claimed that the company has paused production of the PSVR2 until it manages to sell the backlog that has accrued. Sony has apparently produced “well over 2 million units” of the PSVR2, but has sold just 1.3 million since launch.According to Macquarie analyst Yijia Zhai, interviewed by Bloomberg, “The high price of VR hardware acts as the main hurdle for its expansion.” This is compounded by the relatively small amount of VR titles available for players, which is in turn caused by “the development cost for VR games [being] substantially higher than normal titles.”The PSVR2 accessory retails at £529.99, while a new PS5 slim costs £409.99, more than £100 cheaper than the headset.

Capcom has shared an introductory video of Dragon’s Dogma 2, narrated by legendary actor Ian MacShane.Dragon’s Dogma 2 was first announced in June 2022, a decade after the original game was released, and is set to launch next week (March 22) for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC via Steam.Players have already been getting to grips with the free Character Creator tool that’s currently available to download, and now Capcom has shared a more substantial introduction to the action role-playing game via a seven-minute video that has been designed to “review everything you need to know before you start your adventure”.“Lend me a moment and I’ll tell you a story of a fantastical realm,” starts McShane, welcoming viewers to a world “touched by magick” and an “everlasting saga of hearts set ablaze.”From there, the actor talks potential players about the Arisen, a hero set out to vanquish the dragon, “a dreadful creature of chaos and awe”, that’s plagued the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 for “untold aeons”.Arisen also have the power to summon mystical beings from parallel worlds via a rift, with these pawns able to use a range of attacks to help players in their quest across two very different nations.

Aspyr has admitted a series of “critical errors” impacted the launch of the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection.Originally announced last month, the Classic Collection brought together the first two Star Wars Battlefront games for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series.Alongside the base games, the package included a number of bonus levels and characters as well as an online multiplayer mode that was advertised as allowing up to 64 players to take part in challenges like conquest, capture the flag, hunt, hero assault, and space assault.However, when Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection launched yesterday (March 14), players found themselves facing a number of bugs and glitches, alongside a seemingly tiny number of servers available for multiplayer. Currently the game has an “overwhelmingly negative” rating on Steam, with just 19 per cent of players leaving a positive review due to the issues.In a statement, Aspyr wrote: “We’d like to thank the Battlefront community for their overwhelming support and feedback for the Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection release.

Ubisoft Montpellier has confirmed a post-release roadmap for Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown featuring new bosses, stories and game modes.The Lost Crown, the first new Prince Of Persia game for 14 years, was released earlier this year and now Ubisoft has confirmed a series of updates set to come to the title over the next few months.Warrior’s Path, the first of three free updates, is set to launch later this month, bringing a new speedrun mode and a permadeath mode to the game alongside new Sargon outfits.The second, Boss Attack, is set to launch in Spring 2024 and will introduce more outfits and a boss rush mode to Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 patch notes detail how the powerful Longbow sniper rifle has been nerfed.In the new update, the Longbow has had its hipfire spread benefit removed and its aim down sight time increased from 390ms to 470ms, a whopping 21 percent increase. These changes appear to have been made to reduce the sniper rifle’s effectiveness at close ranges.

Slipknot are getting their Dead By Daylight debut, thanks to an upcoming cosmetic collection.In a livestream on the official Dead By Daylight YouTube channel (which you can watch below), associate art director Leisha Riddel described the crossover. The Slipknot cosmetics being added to the game include seven masks and one full outfit; these designs are all based on “core” Slipknot members, but have been altered slightly to better fit with the style of the horror game.Subliminal Menace for The Legion is the outfit coming to Dead By Daylight, and will feature a white mask and flowing robes inspired by DJ Sid Wilson.Next up is a Metallic Grill for The Wraith, based on guitarist Mick Thomson, along with the Dominant Eye for The Deathslinger, which is based on guitarist Jim Root.

Persona 3 Reload is getting its first piece of DLC, with two sets of songs from Persona 5 Royal and Persona 4 Golden being added.These two sets, featuring 16 songs in total, will be available via Persona 3 Reload‘s expansion pass, which is out now. The expansion pass is free for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers via Game Pass Ultimate Perks through January 31, 2025, and is otherwise available for £28.99 on digital storefronts.From Persona 5, fans will get ‘Life Will Change’, ‘Beneath the Mask’, ‘Kichijoji 199X’, ‘Gentle Madman’, ‘I Believe’, ‘Keeper of Lust’, ‘Blooming Villain’, and ‘Victory’.

Payday 3 developer Starbreeze has fired its CEO, Tobias Sjögren, following the underperformance of the heist-themed first-person shooter.In a notice to investors, Starbreeze stated it has appointed Juergen Goeldner as interim CEO. Goeldner is the former Focus Entertainment CEO and has over 40 years of experience in the video game industry.

Street Fighter 6 is getting another playable character this spring, with series antagonist Akuma on the way.Akuma, first introduced as a secret boss in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, is a long-time antagonist in the series, but players will soon be able to utilise him and his deadly fists.Last night (March 11), publisher and developer Capcom uploaded a new cinematic trailer showing Akuma training in a dark, damp cave. The aging antagonist has a different look now, with a large mane of white hair replacing his signature red.While there may be no more red in his hair, he’s not lost it entirely.

Poncle and iam8bit have announced that the soundtrack to indie hit Vampire Survivors is being released on vinyl this month.Set to launch on March 14, the set will feature 22 songs across two LPs. Priced at $42.99, the soundtrack has been pressed on “blood-splatter coloured red wax”, while its slipcase has an original illustration by artist Nimit Malavia.Discussing the score with NME, composer Daniele Zandara (who scored Vampire Survivors along with Filippo Vicarelli and Will Davies) reveals that he originally “didn’t envision” his music gelling with the game’s chaotic format.“That’s what [Vampire Survivors creator] Luca Galante did from the beginning of my path with Poncle, and still does,” Zandara shared.

Bethesda Softworks director Todd Howard had to stop Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout TV series from using plot points earmarked for Fallout 5.In a new interview with Den Of Geek, Howard, who is also an executive producer on the Amazon series, claimed he had to step in and help shape the storyline. “Well, there were some things where I said, ‘Don’t do this because we are going to do that in Fallout 5’,” he said, before going on to say Amazon were creating an original story within the current Fallout universe.“It wasn’t the translation of an existing story.

Sony Interactive Entertainment and PlayStation worldwide Shawn Layden has spoken about the importance of platform-exclusive games.The discussion around platform-exclusives has heated up in recent months after Microsoft confirmed a number of Xbox-exclusives would be made available on “rival” consoles. Both Grounded and Pentiment are due to come to Nintendo Switch while Hi-Fi Rush and Sea Of Thieves are coming to the PS5.Speaking on the What’s Up PlayStation podcast, Layden said (via VGC): “Exclusivity will always be important, it helps focus and highlight the features of your platform. What can you do here technically that you can’t do someplace else.“But, as your platform becomes established as the market recognises where you sit in that pantheon of gaming options, I think the necessity of exclusivity becomes a little bit less,” he added.Earlier this month, Layden described exclusivity as a studio’s “Achilles’ heel” due to increasing production costs.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth last month, an orchestral world tour has been announced.Set to kick off in August 2024, the tour will allow fans to “experience all new symphonic arrangements” of the music of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.The show will include “beloved scores” by Nobuo Uematsu and “exciting new contributions” from Mitsuto Suzuki, Masashi Hamauzu, and many other esteemed composers and arrangers. The whole thing will be performed by an orchestra and chorus of over 100 musicians led by renowned conductors Arnie Roth and Eric Roth.“Immerse yourself in the world of one of the most visionary games of all time with this sensational multimedia concert experience,” reads the official Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth tour website.Announcing the FFVII REBIRTH ORCHESTRA WORLD TOUR!Immerse yourself in the world of one of the most visionary games of all time with this sensational multimedia concert experience!Experience all new symphonic arrangements of the music of FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH including… pic.twitter.com/SaaIXh8nHk— Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY (@ffdistantworlds) March 8, 2024Select shows will see appearances from the original composers, with Masashi Hamauzu appearing at Los Angeles, Rotterdam, London, Bangkok, Taipei, New York and Paris while Mitsuto Suzuki is set to take part in shows in Chicago, Munich and Rome.Tickets for the tour are being released in waves, with the first leg on sale this Friday, March 15.

Fortnite may be introducing a new series of Jujutsu Kaisen skins as part of an upcoming event.Jujutsu Kaisen is a Japanese manga set in a world where negative emotions can manifest as Curses – a race of demonic entities bent on harming humanity. As well as a manga, Jujutsu Kaisen has gone on to inspire movies, TV shows, video games and a stage play.In celebration of the Jujutsu Kaisen anime’s second season, Fortnite launched a crossover event, with the 2023 limited-time collab featuring a number of skins and a dedicated quest.The skins made another brief return as part of Winterfest 2023 and last month, they were added to the Fortnite store.However, it looks like a new series of skins is set to come to Fortnite.Looking at Fortnite’s API, players have discovered code for a Jujutsu Kaisen cup as part of the ongoing Chapter 25, alongside dedicated leaderboards.Take this with a grain of salt, this could be changed in the upcoming future We may see a wave 2 of JJK skins due to an upcoming Skin Cup being developed for Season 2 pic.twitter.com/PGTtLfP9ae— Leaky (@LeakySussed) March 4, 2024“Take this with a grain of salt, this could be changed in the upcoming future,” added Twitter user Leaky, who shared proof of the rumoured update.The first event saw Gojo, Megumi, Yuji, and Nobara added to Fortnite, with players speculating that this second event could see Maki, Inumaki, Jogo, Panda, Sukuna, Geto, and Kenjaku coming to Epic’s Battle Royale.Last month, Lady Gaga made her Fortnite debut as part of dedicated music game Fortnite Festival.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has accidentally given players access to developer tools and revealed potential future content.Insomniac Games shared the 1.002.000 update yesterday (March 7), which introduced a New Game+ mode to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 alongside new suits, upgraded gadgets and the ability to replay missions.However, it also inadvertently gave players the ability to access the game’s debug menu – a developer tool used to jump about the game to check for bugs and launch various modifications.“We’re aware the latest game update may have inadvertently allowed access to a development game menu. There’s a hotfix on the way,” promised Insomniac before warning that “using this menu could corrupt your saves and trophy progress.“There is no risk associated with playing the game as intended,” they added.⚠️ We're aware the latest game update may have inadvertently allowed access to a development game menu.

Funcom, the studio behind Dune: Awakening, has confirmed the upcoming survival game will veer away from the source material.Dune: Awakening takes place years after the events of the 2021 film and will feature an “alternative” history, according to creative director, Joel Bylos. Funcom worked with both Legendary Pictures, the team behind the big-screen adaptations, as well as the family of Dune author Frank Herbet, but Awakening sees several supposedly-dead characters still alive.That’s not the only change either, with Dune: Awakening “side-stepping” the religious-driven narrative of the original Dune story.“We agree that religion is an integral part of the Dune universe.

Overwatch 2 kicks off its crossover with ’90s sci-fi anime Cowboy Bebop today (March 7), we caught up with Overwatch art director Dion Rogers to learn more about the combination.Though this is Blizzard’s first Cowboy Bebop crossover, Rogers told NME that the team behind Overwatch are “huge fans” of the anime, and it inspired some of the game’s visuals during development.“Cowboy Bebop has an amazing art style blending various artistic influences [including] film noir, westerns and science fiction,” shared Rogers. “The anime’s visuals mix futuristic technology with a world that feels lived-in and with stylized characters that have real human emotions.”“Our game has a nice mix of east meets west art style, which helps fit the Cowboy Bebop aesthetics while maintaining the readability of our heroes,” they added.

11 Bit Studios has confirmed the release date for Frostpunk 2, with the game set for release this summer.Originally announced in 2021, the sequel to the original city-building survival game is set 30 years after the apocalyptic blizzard devastated Earth.In Frostpunk 2, players will take on the role of leader in a resource-hungry metropolis, where the expansion and search for new sources of power is an unavoidable reality. A gameplay trailer was shared earlier this year.Now though, it’s been announced Frostpunk 2 will launch Day One on Xbox Game Pass and will be available on PC from July 25.

Arrowhead Game Studios has promised Helldivers 2 players will be able to utilise mechs in the near future, but has denied rumours Sony is acquiring them.Helldivers 2 was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and quickly became their biggest ever PC launch last month, but creative director Johan Pilestedt has taken to social media to deny rumours they’re set to become part of the official PlayStation family.“We are not owned. We are independently owned,” he wrote, before clarifying the founders own Arrowhead.

TimeSplitters game.Last December, it was confirmed that Free Radical Design would be closing down with immediate effect, with owners Embracer Group carrying out a fierce restructuring program.Since the studio was relaunched in 2021, it had been working on a fourth Timesplitters game. “You asked us and we listened.

Warner Bros. has said it will pivot away from “volatile” AAA games to focus on live service and mobile titles.Last month, the company said the launch of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League “failed” to meet expectations.

Toys For Bob, the developer of Crash Bandicoot 4 and the remastered Spyro collection, has confirmed it’s going independent.Toys For Bob was founded in 1989 before being acquired by Activision in 2005, where they worked on Skylanders. As well as heading up a number of sequels, Toys For Bob also developed Crash Bandicoot 4 and was behind 2018’s Spyro Reignited Trilogy.As part of the recent wave of layoffs at Activision Blizzard, Toys For Bob lost 89 members of staff and saw the closure of their Californian offices.In a new blog post though, Toys For Bob has confirmed it has broken away from Activision.

Nacon’s open-world Terminator game now has a title and an Early Access launch date.Originally announced back in 2022, Terminator: Survivors is the first survival game set in the Terminator universe and was promised to feature “an original story that builds on the events of the official films”.“We can’t say much more for now, but this is definitely something to keep your eyes on,” said Nacon at the time. Now, after months of silence, the studio has confirmed Terminator: Survivors will launch later this year in Early Access.Due for release October 24 on Steam, Nacon have also promised Terminator: Survivors will be released on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S “at a later date” during their Nacon Connect 2024 showcase.“Play as a survivor in an open world set after Judgment Day where you, alone or in co-op, scavenge resources to build a base of operations for mankind. But you’re not alone,” reads the official Steam listing, with the game set after the events of the first two films.“It’s been four years since the day humanity nearly perished.

Stardew Valley is set to receive its first major upgrade since 2020 next month, with the launch of the 1.6 updateTaking to social media to celebrate the 8th anniversary of Stardew Valley, creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone thanked fans for their continued support before confirming the 1.6 update would be launching for PC users on March 19.Console and mobile will follow as soon as possible. “I really really don’t want a big delay between [them].