PS5 Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Hunt: Showdown turns six this month, we caught up with design director Dennis Schwarz and acting game director Scott Lussier to discuss the game’s anniversary and future.Though developer Crytek already had experience with making first-person shooter (FPS) games thanks to its Crysis series, Schwarz told NME that Hunt: Showdown forced developers at the studio to rethink the way they were used to making games.“Many of our devs at the time came from a boxed-product mindset, where they’d work on a game for some time, release it, and then move on to another project,” said Schwarz. “With Hunt: Showdown being intended as a live product, the plan was to improve and maintain it for years to come.

Call Of Duty kicked off a crossover with AMC’s The Walking Dead, as original leading character Rick Grimes joined the game as a playable operator. With an operator skin for fan-favourite swordswoman Michonne Grimes still on the way, NME caught up with the people responsible for the crossover.Speaking to NME, Clayton Neuman, head of franchise at AMC, said that from “very early conversations,” it was agreed that Rick and Michonne were the best picks to represent The Walking Dead.“Since Rick’s last episode in season 9, there’s been this sort of fan fervour about what happened to him,” shared Neuman.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege creative director Alexander Karpazis has shut down talk of a sequel to the online tactical shooter.Despite being released in 2015, Rainbow Six Siege still has a huge playerbase, with over 100,000 concurrent players logging in over the weekend (via SteamDB) and regular updates from Ubisoft. However, Karpazis has no interest in a sequel.​​”I can confidently say that we have probably one of the best engines in the world when it comes to live PvP shooters,” he said at the 2024 Sieve International in Brazil [via PC Gamer].

Hi-Fi Rush has been officially announced for release on PlayStation 5 next month, alongside several other formerly Xbox console exclusive titles.The title will launch on March 19 on PlayStation 5, with physical versions for the platform available exclusively through Limited Run Games. While a Switch release for Hi-Fi Rush has been rumoured, there is currently no official notice on if those rumours were actually true.Alongside Hi-Fi Rush, Xbox is also bringing three other previously exclusive games to new systems.

Star Wars Jedi series, has said that he would like a live-action appearance of his character as long as it was “right”.Speaking at a panel at Fan Expo Vancouver 2024 on February 17, Monaghan was asked if he had thought any more on the possibility of reprising his role in a film or TV show.“It would have to be right,” answered the actor (via The Direct). “By that I mean, it has to continue the story or the character in some way.

Arrowhead has released a new patch for Helldivers 2 which makes its hardest mission easier.Released today (February 19), the 1.000.009 patch for Helldivers 2 sees developers “continue to focus on stability and matchmaking”.However, the team at Arrowhead has also adjusted the difficulty of a number of missions. According to the patch notes, the Defend event, which is regarded as the hardest mission in the entire game, has had its difficulty “reduced”.It’s not all nerfs though.

Remedy Entertainment has confirmed plans to “expand and grow” the Alan Wake franchise following the success of Alan Wake 2.The long-awaited sequel to the 2010 original was finally released in October last year to critical acclaim. Alan Wake 2 was named NME’s Game Of 2023 and picked up two awards at The Game Awards including Best Narrative.Now Remedy has confirmed the game is the studio’s fastest selling title, with over 1.3million units sold [via VGC].“We are happy with the start of the sales,” explained Remedy’s CEO Tero Virtala.

Xbox has confirmed that four exclusive games will be released on rival consoles, after weeks of speculation.Earlier this month, several reports emerged that Microsoft was planning on releasing several big exclusives like Starfield, Indiana Jones & The Great Circle, Halo and Gears Of Wars on the PlayStation 5. Microsoft then confirmed a press conference to discuss the “vision for the future” of Xbox, which finally took place last night (February 15).Those rumours were swiftly debunked, but Microsoft did announce their intention “to take four games to the other consoles [PS5 and Nintendo Switch]”.

PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch in November 2023.Games that had this content tag accounted for less than two per cent of Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo’s roster of titles available on their digital storefronts.

Doctor Who, has said that the rumour that the sci-fi show is crossing over with Fortnite is a “myth”.Sharing a photo on Instagram of his appearance on BBC Radio 4, a commenter asked if there was anything he could share about the potential crossover.A post shared by Russell T Davies (@russelltdavies63)“There isn’t one!” replied Davies of the hypothetical Doctor Who and Fortnite collaboration. “It’s a complete myth, I’m afraid x”.Eurogamer noted that the denial of the crossover was a surprise because a slew of reliable Fortnite and Doctor Who leakers revealed very convincing specifics on it.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has shared the release windows for both Assassin’s Creed Codename Red and Star Wars Outlaws.Speaking as part of the company’s most recent financial report, Guillemot confirmed Ubisoft were already looking forward to the 2025 fiscal year, which runs April 2024 to March 2025.“Moving forward, we’re gearing up for a very promising line-up for fiscal year 2025,” said Guillemot. He went on to confirm that Star Wars Outlaws, an action-adventure game set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, would be released before the end of 2024.“It should be a major milestone in the video game industry, especially given the undeniable appeal of this legendary franchise that will be coming for the first time to the Open World territory,” he added.Star Wars Outlaws was announced last year.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth players have been covering a number of iconic tracks via a new piano minigame.A demo for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launched earlier this week, with players able to get to grips with the game’s opening chapters. As well as providing a backstory for Cloud and Sephiroth, this demo has also allowed players to try out a number of new minigames.“Some of the minigames are just as fun to watch as they are to play, so they’re perfect to play when you feel like taking a breather from the main story,” said Square Enix, with both collectible card game Queen’s Blood and a series of chocobo time trials available to play.However it’s the piano found in Tifa Lockheart’s room in Nibelheim that’s causing the most excitement.

Atlus has announced that Persona 3 Reload is the fastest-selling game in the history of the company.Atlus West posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Persona 3 Reload has sold over a million copies in the first week of release, making it the fastest-selling game that the company has ever published.The game was launched on February 2 across all platforms. The game was originally revealed by Xbox in June of last year, along with the reveal that the game would be launching on Xbox Game Pass at no additional price to existing subscribers.As reported by Persona Central back in 2021, the Persona series had hit fifteen million sales by the end of Fiscal Year 2021, meaning that Persona 3 Reload has already sold roughly a fifteenth of what the entire series had sold in by the end of its 25th anniversary year.NME reviewed Persona 3 Reload, with our reviewer calling the game a “must-play marvel”.“As the sums of its parts, Reload is phenomenal as both a remake and a standalone game.

Rocksteady Studios has been forced to take Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League offline, less than an hour after it was launched in early access.Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is due for release February 2 via PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Steam but players who purchased the more expensive deluxe edition can access the game 72 hours early.That early access window opened earlier today (January 29), starting with players in New Zealand, but the game was quickly taken offline due to a bug. When some players logged in for the very first time, they found that the game had auto-completed itself.Posting on social media, Rocksteady wrote: “We’re aware that a number of players are currently experiencing an issue whereby upon logging into the game for the first time, they have full story completion.”To fix the bug, the studio confirmed it would be performing “maintenance on the game servers” with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League taken offline soon afterwards.

Ubisoft has announced an open beta for Skull & Bones, with its February release looking set to actually happen.Development on the co-op pirate open-world RPG experience Skull & Bones started in 2013, with the game being made public at E3 2017. Since then, it’s been delayed numerous times with several different directors taking the helm.“Nobody knew what the fuck they were doing,” one former developer claimed, but it seems Ubisoft is now sticking to the February release date it confirmed at The Game Awards 2023.The studio has now announced an open beta for Skull & Bones.

Palworld could be coming to PlayStation soon, per a post on X (formerly Twitter) from PlayStation head of indies Shuhei Yoshida.Yoshida replied to a post which asked for the team to “support SIE [Sony Interactive Entertainment] so that the PS5 version can be released as soon as possible”.Yoshida tagged the development partner at PlayStation in the reply, writing “Yes”.Previously, the community manager of Palworld posted that the title “won’t be on PlayStation” and will only be available on “Xbox and Steam“. However, on January 21 the community manager posted on X to state that Palworld may still come to PlayStation.“The above post said Palworld may release on PS4, PS5, Xbox or PC.

ZeniMax has revealed big plans happening in The Elder Scrolls: Online over the next twelve months, including a new expansion, a roadmap and a pack of downloadable dungeons.Revealed as part of Microsoft’s most recent Xbox Developer Direct, ZeniMax confirmed that the Gold Road expansion would be released in June for The Elder Scrolls: Online.Released June 3 for PC and coming to Xbox and PlytStation consoles on June 18, Gold Road will bring 30 hours of new main quest content to Elder Scrolls: Online, including a storyline with never-before-seen characters and new, but familiar zones for players to explore.The new chapter of The Elder Scrolls: Online will pick up where last year’s Necrom left off, and will return players to locations last seen in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.“In Gold Road players must investigate Ithelia, a Daedric Prince never seen before in the Elder Scrolls series and it’s up to players to uncover the schemes of her most devoted followers. Adventurers will encounter opportunistic woodeElves, and protect the people of West Weald from the chaos of the Forgotten Prince’s return,” said ZeniMax in a blog.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox save woes should be over from today following a new update.Baldur’s Gate 3 launched on Xbox in December 2023 after winning Game of the Year at the 2023 Game of the Year awards. However, it wasn’t released without several issues, such as reports of save files deleting themselves after a crash.

T-Pain is apparently working with Rockstar Games on Grand Theft Auto 6.Speaking to fans during a recent livestream that’s now circulating on social media, T-Pain (real name Faheem Rashad Najm) revealed that he’s working on Grand Theft Auto 6.Responding to a fan question about playing Grand Theft Auto Online, T-Pain explained that he used to be an active member of the GTA role-playing server NoPixel before being asked to quit because of the conflict of interest.“I used to be on NoPixel, then I started working on Grand Theft Auto 6, and [Rockstar] told me I couldn’t do role-play anymore because it kind of goes against [their rules].

Ubisoft has released a free demo of Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown ahead of its launch next week.Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown is the first new installment in the long-running Prince Of Persia franchise since 2010’s The Forgotten Sands and is due for release on January 15 for PlayStation 5, PC and Xbox Series X/S.Ahead of The Lost Crown’s release, Ubisoft has shared a free demo that’s available now direct from the studio as well as the Epic Games Store.“Dash into a stylish and thrilling action-adventure platformer set in a mythological Persian world where the boundaries of time and space are yours to manipulate. Play as Sargon and evolve from sword-wielding prodigy to extraordinary legend as you master acrobatic combat and unlock new time powers and unique super abilities,” reads the game’s description with the demo offering “carefully selected sections from the game” alongside “early unlocks of time powers and amulets”.This allows the demo to “show the main gameplay features while not spoiling the story”.Ubisoft has also confirmed that progression in the demo will not carry over to the finished game.Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s free demo is available now on all platforms! While you download it, come watch us show off never-before-seen gameplay right now on https://t.co/qsHW1TnJRV!— Prince of Persia™ (@princeofpersia) January 11, 2024Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown was surprise-confirmed in May 2023 during the Summer Game Showcase.

Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida has said Square Enix won’t be announcing a release date for the Dawntrail expansion until they’re sure the schedule won’t change.Previous Final Fantasy 14 expansion Endwalker was originally set for release in November 2021 but was delayed by two weeks to allow developers time to “further improve” the quality of the update. According to Yoshida, the decision was only made a few week’s prior to the anticipated release date.Speaking at the Japanese Final Fantasy 14 Fan Fest 2024 over the weekend, Yoshida explained that he didn’t want the same thing to happen with Dawntrail.“Given that this is Fan Fest, you’re probably expecting us to announce the release date of Dawntrail,” said Yoshida via a livestream (thanks PCGamer).

Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke has taken to social media to tell fans the follow-up to Baldur’s Gate 3 is “not what you think” it is.Larian has been busy in recent months with the release of Baldur’s Gate 3 in August 2023 but their CEO and founder Swen Vincke is already thinking about what comes next.Taking to X/Twitter, he posted an update after finally figuring out the first act of “this thing I’ve been working on,” that will presumably be the follow-up to Baldur’s Gate 3. He went on to explain he’d spent the past four months “rewriting and rewriting and abandoning ideas and then revisiting them”.Been a great morning! After 4 months of rewriting and rewriting and abandoning ideas and then revisiting them, finally figured out what act 1 on this thing I've been working on needs to be.

Silent Hill 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 are due for release in 2024 according to Sony.Silent Hill 2 was originally released in 2001 on PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC before a remake was confirmed by Konami in October 2022. Since then though, updates have been scarce with Bloober Team asking for “patience” in November.

Dawntrail expansion for Final Fantasy 14 has been revealed, showing off the new Pictomancer class.Dawntrail is due out summer 2024 and brings two new jobs to Final Fantasy 14. The first, Viper, was confirmed back in October with the second being unveiled over the weekend at the official fan festival in Tokyo.Pictomancer allows players to use ranged, magical attacks via a paintbrush and paint palette.

THQ Nordic has confirmed the release date for South Park: Snow Day via a new trailer.South Park: Snow Day was first teased back in 2022 and properly announced during the 2023 THQ showcase. The co-op multiplayer will see players take charge of a team of new kids who must join in the battle between Stan, Kyle and Cartman.

Rockstar Games was hacked by a teenager using an Amazon Firestick, a hotel TV and a mobile phone.Last September, over 90 videos and screenshots from Grand Theft Auto 6 surfaced online ahead of the game’s public reveal.Rockstar Games confirmed the “early development footage” had been “illegally accessed and downloaded”. Later that month, a teenager in Oxfordshire was arrested in relation to the hack.In July, it was confirmed that 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj would face 12 offences, including six charges under the Computer Misuse Act, three blackmail charges, and two counts of fraud but was deemed “unfit” to stand trial.Earlier this week, Kurtaj was sentenced to an “indefinite hospital order” with a judge ruling that his skills and desire to commit cyber-crime meant he remained a high risk to the public (via BBC).

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.

Remedy Entertainment have released a new update for Alan Wake 2, featuring a new ending alongside various improvements.The 1.0.13 update went live yesterday (December 12) and brings the New Game Plus mode to Alan Wake 2, after it was teased last week. Players will need to have completed Alan Wake 2′s main storyline before accessing the New Game Plus mode, which allows them previously unlocked and upgraded weapons for subsequent playthroughs.

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.