PS5 Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

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).

God Of War franchise has criticised the direction that the newer games have gone in.Jaffe – who led 2005’s original God Of War title and 2007’s sequel – shared a video onto his YouTube channel, titled “God Of War – does it need to be so… personal?” last week and in it, shares his thoughts on the 2018 reboot and last year’s Ragnarok.Responding to comments that animation director Bruno Velazquez in the past about the franchise mirroring people’s growth from youth to adulthood, Jaffe said: “I don’t want these characters to grow. I don’t give a fuck what you’re going through at the studio.”“If you’re going to build a brand new IP, or you’re going to build a character into the God Of War lore, and that character is struggling or dealing with your problems that a lot of you at the studio have dealt with, that’s great.“But don’t take the character Kratos and go, ‘I’m older now and I’m really into family and I wanna tell stories about fathers and sons’.

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.

God Of War is a beloved franchise that has transcended generations. God Of War: Ragnarok, the latest installment in the franchise, has sold over 15 million copies worldwide across the PS4 and PS5. Now, to show their appreciation to their loyal fans, GOW will be releasing a new free DLC.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has been released on Xbox Series X|S. The hit fantasy game was surprise dropped last night (December 7) during The Game Awards 2023.Baldur’s Gate 3, which is based on the long-running tabletop role-playing game (RPG) Dungeons & Dragons, was released on PC back in August, with a PlayStation version following in September.

NME recently caught up with Loren Allred, the vocalist behind Square Enix‘s newly-revealed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth theme song ‘No Promises To Keep’, to learn about the process behind singing as fan-favourite Final Fantasy character Aerith.In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the song is performed by Aerith during a performance of the stage play Loveless. But in the real world – including its live debut at The Game Awards 2023 – ‘No Promises To Keep’ is performed by Allred, who is best known for singing ‘Never Enough’ in 2017 musical The Greatest Showman.Speaking to NME, Allred shared that although she didn’t play Final Fantasy growing up, she became a fan of composer Nobuo Uematsu through watching her friends play.

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.

GTA 6 trailer was released earlier this week and featured Tom Petty’s ‘Love Is A Long Road’ which has now received a massive spike in listeners on Spotify.In data provided by Spotify, it has been revealed that the song has seen a “huge streaming increase of 36,979 per cent” since last week before the trailer was released.This isn’t the first time gaming has brought new popularity to older songs. Earlier in the year, HBO‘s adaptation of The Last Of Us caused a 4,900 per cent increase in streams for Linda Rondstadt’s ‘Long Long Time’.Spotify has also created a Grand Theft Auto playlist in collaboration with developer Rockstar Games, featuring songs such as ‘Fortunate Son’, ‘Danger Zone’, ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’, and ‘Mississippi Queen’, all of which have featured in previous Grand Theft Auto titles.The trailer for GTA 6 was released a day before when it was intended to drop due to a leak on social media.

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios has revealed the most-romanced character in the game, along with several other interesting statistics about the title.According to Larian, Shadowheart has proven to be the most popular romantic interest among fans, with 51.3 per cent of players reaching the end of her romance path, with Karlach and Lae’zel taking the number two and three slots respectively.1.3million players have completed the game so far, with 94 per cent of players creating a custom character instead of choosing from the available origin characters. Speaking of origin characters, people who did choose to play as one of the pre-created characters chose to play as Gale, with Astarion closely following as the number two choice.The least played as origin character was Lae’zel, with only 228,960 people choosing to play as her, which is almost half of the number that chose to play as Gale.In terms of total playtime, Larian has confirmed that around 452,556,984 hours have been spent in the game, or the equivalent of over 51,662 years.

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.

Remedy Entertainment has seemingly confirmed a new Game Plus mode for Alan Wake 2, via a not-so-subtle teaser on social media.Over the weekend, Remedy shared an image of Alan Wake exploring an abandoned building with his torch illuminating a message that reads “New Game +”. The image came alongside a message that said “new month, new game… plus?,” leading fans to assume the update will be released by the end of 2023.Alan Wake 2 was released at the end of October as a sequel to 2010’s original.

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.

Elden Ring, Shadows of the Erdtree, likely won’t be previewed next week at the The Game Awards 2023.Speaking to Japanese publication Game Watch (with a translation provided by PCGamesN) at the PlayStation Partners Awards, producer Yasuhiro Kitao was asked whether the long-anticipated Elden Ring DLC will be unveiled at next week’s annual industry bash.Kitao replied, stating “It’ll be a little while yet, but progress is going well.” He then went on to specify that the DLC is “like Bloodborne” and that it has “new battles and new characters.”Kitao also spoke a little on FromSoftware’s development process, stating that its “long-standing stance has been to work diligently to create something interesting and valuable.”Elden Ring: Shadows of the Erdtree was officially announced in February of this year, with no real details available other than that the DLC is in development. Fans were hoping to see details from the expansion at The Game Awards 2023, as it was also a Geoff Keighley-hosted show, Summer Game Fest 2021, in which we saw a lengthy look at the base game, but that’s looking increasingly less likely as the event approaches.NME‘s review of Elden Ring stated that the game “exceeds every expectation”, with writer Andy Brown noting that:“A refined open-world format adds unimagined wonder to the game, whilst legacy dungeons will likely go down as some of FromSoftware’s best level design.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has received its fifth patch, fixing numerous issues and adding new content to the game in an update that weighs 30GB.The patch includes a new epilogue which adds almost 4,000 additional lines of dialogue and allows you to say goodbye to characters that you’ve found yourself bonding with throughout the massive RPG.In addition to this, the update has added two new difficulty modes: honor mode and custom mode. Honor mode is a harder version of the game, adding new moves to every boss fight and making it so that you can’t save scum (reload a past save to get a different result).

Baldur’s Gate 3 will receive Patch 5 later this week, with developer Larian Studios confirming that performance issues have been caused by crime.Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 4 was released at the start of the month to a mixed response, with several people on the Baldur’s Gate 3 Reddit complaining about performance issues. One user noted that Act 3 was a “buggy mess” and was absolutely “unplayable”, with companions refusing to follow the player around, and conversations also lagging.Larian offered a statement to IGN explaining the reason that performance issues had been cropping up, stating that a fix in Patch 4 which would “prevent the Scrying Eyes in Moonrise Towers from immediately calling the guards on you” was behind the issue.According to the statement, the fix that the developer made caused the game to essentially always think about the crimes that you’ve committed “without ever moving on or verbalising them”, with players who are more prone to committing crimes in front of Scrying Eyes adding a massive amount of data to the behind the scenes of the game, which caused slowdown issues in Act 3.As Larian put it: “Essentially, the dungeon master becomes unable to operate.”In a five-star review by NME, Andy Brown called Baldur’s Gate 3 a “must-play fantasy”, with our writer stating that “the scope of Baldur’s Gate 3 should be impossible – but time and time again, it proves there’s no such thing.”The game launched in August to near-universal critical acclaim on PC, before launching on PS5 a month later.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 only used 10 per cent of the dialogue recorded for Venom, according to voice actor Tony Todd.Venom serves as one of several antagonists in Spider-Man 2 but speaking at Fan Expo San Francisco 2023, Todd suggested a bigger role was originally planned (via Twitter user Evan Filarca).

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.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 has appeared on the PEGI (Europe’s age ratings board) website.The listing has the release date for the game as 22 March 2024, launching simultaneously across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.Interestingly, the PEGI website also mentions in-game purchases. While this could refer to microtransaction elements in the game, it more than likely refers to potential downloadable content (DLC) that Dragon’s Dogma 2 could be getting after launch.Despite the fact there’s no official word on whether the date is accurate, a new showcase will take place on November 28 at 1 PM PST (9 PM GMT).

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”.

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.