Xbox Series S Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

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.

Warhorse Studios has revealed Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, with a new trailer revealing everything fans can expect from the medieval role-playing game (RPG).A direct sequel to 2018’s Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is set to launch in 2024 and will continue the story of peasant-turned-knight Henry in 15th century Bohemia.Speaking to press, Warhorse Studios confirmed that the “majority” of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 will take place in the Bohemian city of Kuttenberg, and its full world will be two times bigger than the first game.Additionally, Henry’s story will be much grander in scope. He’ll now be dealing with the “problems of kings” on a quest to avenge his destroyed village, and the first trailer teases that with scenes of large-scale sieges and urban warfare.

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.

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.

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.

NME, Warhammer Age Of Sigmar: Realms Of Ruin game designer Daniel Saunders has discussed the effort that goes into turning a Warhammer story into a real-time strategy (RTS) campaign.Set in the savage realm of Ghur, Realms Of Ruin‘s campaign takes place as a band of Stormcast Eternals – some of humanity’s strongest warriors – fight to secure a foothold against Orruk tribes, undead Nighthaunt, and Chaos-touched Disciples Of Tzeentch.“Getting to a campaign to operate where you’re playing from multiple perspectives is quite tricky,” shared Saunders. He says more of that challenge lay with principle designer Sandy Sammarco and veteran Games Workshop author Gav Thorpe, who worked with Frontier Developments on the plot.“They had to weave together a story where each of these factions having something to do with each other, whatever that may be, had to make sense,” said Saunders.

Rocksteady Studios has released a twenty-minute Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League video which delves into the story and mechanics of the long-delayed title.The video confirms that Metropolis will be “twice the size” of Gotham City in the studio’s Batman: Arkham Knight game, meaning each of the Squad has a unique traversal method for getting around. Harley Quinn has a glider and grappling hook, Deadshot has a jetpack, King Shark can jump incredibly high and Captain Boomerang has a type of super speed.Rocksteady also confirmed that Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is a “third-person action shooter”.

Baldur’s Gate 3 may be receiving an official release date on Xbox platforms this week after several delays to the popular Computer Role Playing Game (CRPG) port.After a series of delays due to worries about quality slippage, and reassurances that Xbox would in fact receive the game this year, the official Larian Studios X (formerly Twitter) account posted the following interesting sentence amid celebrations of the multiple awards Baldur’s Gate 3 was nominated for at The Game Awards yesterday (November 14).The Baldur’s Gate 3 developers posted: “Xbox fans, and fans of physical media, watch this space for a formal announcement.

Starfield features a silent main character, actor Elias Toufexis has revealed he spent “months” voicing the game’s protagonist before being moved to another role.Toufexis, best known for voicing Adam Jensen in the Deus Ex series, took to Twitter yesterday (November 8) to confirm he was originally hired to be the players’ voice in Starfield, along with BAFTA-winning voice actor and The Owl House star Cissy Jones.“We worked for months,” he shared (via Gamesradar), although developer Bethesda Softworks ultimately decided to scrap the main character’s voice-acted lines.However, it wasn’t all bad news. Toufexis and Jones were instead given two different leading roles as members of Constellation – Toufexis as spacefaring cowboy Sam Coe, and Jones as ex-spy Andreja.

Xbox players switch on their console, the first thing they see is a prompt to purchase Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and some people have not reacted well to this splash screen.“Fight against the ultimate threat. Play the Campaign now.

Xbox controllers and accessories will no longer work after November has concerned disabled gamers who use their own controllers.Error “0x82d60002” has popped up for those using an unauthorised controller to play on the Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles, stating that the controller “will be blocked from use on [November 12]”.Microsoft provided a statement to clear up the confusion, saying that “unauthorised accessories can compromise the gaming experience” and this new policy is part of maintaining “quality standards for performance, security, and safety”.Yet, disabled gamers who play with controller and accessory combinations that use third-party technology have aired their aggravation at the announcement.“Xbox I urge you to give a statement on if this will affect the disability community and if so, how is this in line with your vision for accessibility in gaming,” said streamer Elisabeth “Arevya” Sivertsen in a post to X.Another said it was a “step backwards in inclusivity” for Xbox, as the release of the Xbox Adaptive Controller in 2018 won it several awards for the innovation in its design.“For a company that touts their accessibility and inclusion efforts so hard, this move by Xbox is really confusing and disappointing,” added X user and game developer jasonthinks.Fortunately, it appears that conversations about the impact of this policy on disabled players are occurring.

Ubisoft Massive has shared the PC system specifications for Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora, allowing fans to work out whether their PCs can run the anticipated game.The developer listed four visual settings for the game increasing in complexity and detail for the characters and environments.PC players of Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora will also benefit from features like ray tracing, ultrawide monitor support, AMD FSR 2 and DLSS, high frame rates and access to benchmark tools.Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora minimum PC requirementsAvatar: Frontiers Of Pandora recommended PC requirementsAvatar: Frontiers Of Pandora enthusiast PC requirementsAvatar: Frontiers Of Pandora ultra PC requirementsAvatar: Frontiers Of Pandora arrives for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Amazon Luna on December 7.None of the above applies if the player opts for the console version of the game as these versions will automatically be compatible with the technology inside the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.In other gaming news, actor Sarah Michelle Gellar is the official judge of a vampire hunting competition in Diablo 4 where three players will win a prize of signed vampire hunting props and credit to their Battle.net account.

Microsoft will not allow players to use unauthorised third-party controllers and accessories for their Xbox from November in the interest of “performance, security, and safety”.Windows Central reported that players have been encountering error “0x82d60002” when they attach a third-party accessory in an article from October 29.“Using unauthorised accessories compromises your gaming experience. For this reason, the unauthorised accessory will be blocked from use on 11/12/2023,” read the pop-up on the console.

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.

Starbreeze Studios has claimed that matchmaking issues with Payday 3 have been fixed, following the heist shooter’s rocky launch last month.Following its release on September 21, Payday 3 struggled with significant server issues that prevented players from matchmaking and starting heists. Due to the game’s always-online nature, this meant Payday 3 has been frequently unplayable, and last week Starbreeze claimed a third-party matchmaking partner was responsible for the errors.Today (October 2), a post on Starbreeze’s website announced that “initial matchmaking issues” have since been fixed, and the studio “will now intensify the commercial activities around Payday 3“.Tobias Sjögren, the CEO of Starbreeze Entertainment, also thanked players for their “patience” with Payday‘s launch.“Our community is the engine that drives both our games and our company forward,” he shared.

EA Sports FC 24, suggesting he feels short-changed.Last week, EA Sports FC 24 revealed its highest-rated players, including Erling Haaland, Alexia Putellas, Kevin De Bruyne and Kylian Mbappé.In a promotional video for the Premier League and the new game, Rashford tried to guess how his in-game rating had improved over the last year, and he wasn’t totally thrilled by some categories. Check it out below:Rashford was rated an 83 in FIFA 23 and he is now rated an 85 in EA Sports FC 24. In the first instance, he was pleased with his new rating for pace which is 90 in the upcoming simulation game.

The Crew Motorfest has been shared, featuring Kim Petras, Tame Impala, The Black Keys, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and more.With over 140 licensed songs and 25 compositions for the upcoming game, The Crew Motorfest has eight radio stations for the player to scroll through. Blue Stahli and Ribongia are behind the game’s original soundtrack under Ubisoft Music, meaning that it’ll likely be available on all major music streaming services upon launch.These radio stations are split into genres – “Deep Stage”, “EDM”, “Goldies”, “Hit & Outrun”, “Power Of The Riff”, “Ravin'”, “The Drop” and “Vibin”.

EA Sports FC 24 has named and rated the highest performing football players in the anticipated game, and expectedly, Manchester City striker Erling Haaland tops the list.With a total of 42 goals scored in his first season at Manchester City and his contribution to the club’s continental treble this year, it’s unsurprising that he is a must-have in EA Sports FC 24. As well as Haaland, Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas, Manchester City captain Kevin De Bruyne and PSG star Kylian Mbappé share a rating of 91.Following these four are Aitana Bonmati, Caroline Graham Hansen, Harry Kane, Karim Benzema, Robert Lewandowski, Sam Kerr, Thibaut Courtois and Lionel Messi with a score of 90.The remainder of the presently announced players were given a rating of 89 — Ada Hegerberg, Alex Morgan, Alexandra Popp, Alisson, Debinha, Guro Reiten, Kadidiatou Diani, Mapi Leon, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Mohamed Salah, Neymar Jr, Rodri, Ruben Dias, Vinicius Jr and Virgil Van Dijk.In EA Sports FC 24, Ultimate Team is now known as Ultimate Team Evolutions.

Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl developer GSC Game World has confirmed that a fire recently broke out in its Prague office.As reported by Vortex, the fire started on September 7 and prompted an evacuation from the office. While there were no injuries, the fire reportedly caused 1.5million Czech crowns (£52,639) in damages.GSC Game World has since confirmed the report. Speaking through Discord, a GSC Game World employee going by Mol1t outlined the situation to fans.“It is true,” they shared.

Starfield features contributions from a former The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim writer who is now training to become a priest.Religion acted as a conduit for Starfield‘s themes of theology yet, as it is such a personal part of people’s lives, the team was aware they might mistakenly offend players. In the game, Sanctum Universum believes that God exists in the universe and that the Grav Drive (that allows for interstellar travel) is evidence that He is encouraging humans to find Him.In an interview with Polygon, design director Emil Pagliarulo shared that Bethesda reached out to one of their old employees for a realistic perspective on a fictional religion.“We actually had Shane Liesegang, who was one of our writers [on Skyrim and Fallout 4] … He’s now studying to be a Jesuit priest,” explained Pagliarulo.

Bethesda fans are the “smartest” in the gaming space according to director Todd Howard, who thanked the community for their patience and passion for Starfield over the years.“Hey everyone! Long time lurker here,” said Howard in a post to the game’s subreddit yesterday (August 30).“A quick THANK YOU for your passion and excitement for Starfield. I can remember when this sub started, and as it’s grown, your excitement has fuelled all of us at Bethesda.

Imagine Dragons have released ‘Children Of The Sky’, a song created for upcoming sci-fi role-playing game (RPG) Starfield.Incorporating the game’s main musical theme from Inon Zur, the song’s official music video takes the viewer on a tour of the array of planets that Starfield will feature. Check out ‘Children Of The Sky’ below:“Bethesda created iconic games we’ve been playing for most of our lives, and we’re honoured to have collaborated on this song for Starfield,” said frontman Dan Reynolds in a press release.

Pizza Possum, an arcade action game about a ravenous possum eating their way through an idyllic village, is coming to PC and consoles in September.Developer Cosy Computer and publisher Raw Fury showcased a new trailer revealing the game’s release date as well as the chaos that players will wreak on the residents. Check it out below:The village’s patrol dogs are wise to the possum’s proclivities and will chase down the criminal relentlessly until the player is caught.

Warhammer Age Of Sigmar: Realms Of Ruin has confirmed it will be launching this November, with a reveal trailer confirming its third playable faction.During Gamescom‘s Opening Night Live showcase, Frontier Developments confirmed that Realms Of Ruin will be launching on November 17 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.The release date was shared with a new trailer for the fantasy game, which also revealed that the Nighthaunt will be one of the four playable factions available at launch.The Nighthaunt are undead servants of Nagash, the god of death, and rely on swarming opponents with ethereal units. In a hands-on preview, NME got to play against the Nighthaunt in a single-player campaign level, where human Stormguard forces are beset by the forces of Nagash at a haunted temple.There, a number of the Nighthaunt’s units could be spotted, including units of Craventhrone Guard.

Starfield PC and Xbox Series X|S players are able to pre-load Bethesda‘s new sprawling sci-fi game from today (August 17), and they’ve recently been treated to a tonne of extra detail about what to expect.PC players who have purchased the game through Steam won’t have the chance to pre-load Starfield until August 30. That cuts it close when it comes to the game’s launch date of September 1, as it weighs in at a significant 125GB.Previously, the team has been reluctantly reticent regarding the role-playing game, stating that it is only director and executive producer Todd Howard who is allowed to publicise “unreleased” details.It appears that Bethesda has relaxed a little as lead quest designer Will Shen and studio design director Emil Pagliarulo shared a lot of information in a recent Starfield question and answer session.For example, a totally “pacifist” playthrough is not possible in Starfield.

Stardew Valley fans will soon be able to cook their way through the seasons with the official cookbook from developer Eric ‘ConcernedApe‘ Barone and author Ryan Novak.With over 50 recipes inspired by the game, like the famous Pink Cake that is the favourite of a few of the villagers, the cookbook focuses on seasonal ingredients to reflect Stardew Valley‘s sustainable principles (spotted by PC Gamer). While some of the dishes are self-explanatory like the Farmer’s Lunch or the Crab Cakes, there are surprises in store.The Strange Bun is featured, and seeing that this requires wheat flour, periwinkle and void mayonnaise to bake it in Stardew Valley, it’s a mystery what Barone and Novak will choose for its real world version.Long-time fans of the farming simulation game will also be thrilled to find out that the cookbook contains original illustrations as well as the photographs of all the nibbles and desserts.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is in fact launching one week earlier than expected as it was announced by Ubisoft that the game has gone gold on August 14.“On behalf of the entire team, we can’t wait for you to explore 9th Century Baghdad with Basim,” said the studio.

Starfield is now less than a month away from releasing, and in the run-up to launch, Bethesda has shared a timeline that covers 300 years of history in the sci-fi game’s universe.As visible on Bethesda’s website, the timeline begins with humanity first arriving on Mars in 2050, and runs up to 2328 – just two years before Starfield takes place in 2330.As for what the timeline includes, after landing on Mars it takes humans another 50 years to begin living in space. Settlers then make it to the Alpha Centauri star system by 2156 and establish one of the game’s major factions, the United Colonies (UC).However, 2188 sees the foundation of rival faction The Freestar Collective, which ultimately goes to war with the UC in 2196.

South Park co-op game, which will bring the characters of the titular town into the third dimension. Coming to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Nintendo Switch in 2024, South Park: Snow Day! will see up to four players wreak havoc during their time off school, while also trying to prevent the end of the world.