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Harmonix will bring to an end eight years of weekly Rock Band 4 DLC updates next week. Since the franchise debuted, the studio has added almost 3,000 songs to Rock Band as DLC, according to Harmonix veteran Daniel Sussman, who is now a senior product manager at parent companyEpic Games. “Many of you reading this own a good chunk of this content and we remain committed to protecting that investment – to be very clear, you can play the songs you own within Rock Band 4 for as long as you like,” hesaid....

Rockstar has seemingly removed several jokes from GTA V’s PS5 and Xbox Series X releases that had previously been deemed transphobic by members of the community. First spotted onReddit,a “Captain Spacetoy Intersteller Transgender” figure that had previously hung in the office of the arcade has been replaced with another action figure. In thePS4release, the phrase “Interchangeable genitalia” can be seen at the bottom of the figure. ThePS5version of the game removes the figure and moves the other figures around so that the removal is less noticeable....

SAG-AFTRA, the labour union for American actors, has criticised Epic’s addition of a Darth Vader AI chatbot in Fortnite, and accused the company of unfair labor practices. Fortniteadded the Darth Vader chatbot with its latest season, which allows players to interact with the character, who will respond with the iconic voice of late actor James Earl Jones. Epicsays Jones’s AI-powered voice was used with permission from his family. However, SAG-AFTRA argues that the tool still takes work away from other actors who could’ve voiced the character in his video game form....

Sayonara Wild Hearts developer Simogo has signed a multi-year deal with the game’s publisher Annapurna Interactive that will see the pair continue working together “for the foreseeable future.” In ablog postpublished on Tuesday,Simogosaid the partnership means that future Simogo projects will be published by Annapurna, and said it will now be able to do things that “aren’t possible for us to make by ourselves.” “After having worked together with our good friends atAnnapurna InteractiveonSayonara Wild Heartsfor quite some time, we realized that we really enjoyed making games together....

Sea of Thieves attracted a record number of monthly players in July 2021, according to its developer Rare. TheMicrosoft-owned studioclaimedon Tuesday that 4.8 million people played the nautical adventure game last month, the most since its release almost two-and-a-half-years ago. The game’s record player numbers were driven by the launch ofa Pirates of the Caribbean crossoverwhich arrived alongside Season 3 on June 22. TitledSea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life, the free expansion sees Disney character Jack Sparrow appearing in an original story set across five tales....

EA and developer Full Circle have announced that Skate, which has been in playtests for over a year, will be released in early access next year. Full Circle provided little information about the early access release in its announced on Tuesday, such as platform, however, the game had previously been announced for current consoles andPC. we’re incredibly stoked to announce that skate. will be launching in Early Access in 2025....

Paramount has dated the fourth entry in its Sonic the Hedgehog movie franchise. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 will hit theaters on Jul 12, 2025, it was announced on Tuesday. As reported byVariety, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which was released in December, is now officially the highest-grossing instalment in the franchise, which hasgenerated over $1 billion at the global box office. Released in February 2020, the first Sonic movie earned $148 million domestically and $319....

Sony Interactive Entertainment has invited a select number of users to pre-order a PlayStation 5 console direct from the company. The platform holder distributed invites overnight to a selection of users based on “previous interests andPlayStationactivities.” “There will be a limited quantity ofPS5consoles available for pre-order, so we will be inviting some of our existing consumers to be one of the first to pre-order one from PlayStation,” it said....

Sony reportedly plans to increase research and development spending at its gaming business by about 10% this financial year. According toNikkei,Sony Interactive Entertainment’s R&D spend during the year ending in March 2024 will total 300 billion yen (about $2.17 billion). That will represent around 40% of the group’s total R&D spending for the period, surpassing investment in its electronics and semiconductor businesses. The increased R&D spending atPlayStationis being used to help drive the company’s push into live service games....

What appears to be a standalone version of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered has been spotted on the official PlayStation website. Currently the only official way to access thePS5game is via the $70/£70Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition, which includes a download code for Remastered. This fact is actually stated on thePlayStationStore web page which appears to list the title as a standalone product priced at $39.99in the USand £44.99in the UK....

Star Wars Episode I Racer has been announced for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. Originally developed and published by LucasArts in 1999, the game’s based on the podracing sequence featured in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which also hit cinemas that year. It’s been updated with modern controls by developer Aspyr, which also handled the Switch and PS4 port ofStar Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, which released today....

The director of Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi series has said he hopes to make a trilogy of games. Set for release next month,Star Wars Jedi: Survivorpicks up five years after the events of the hit 2019 gameStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. It continues the story of Cal Kestis, one of the last surviving Jedi Knights, and directorStig Asmussenhas said he’d like to see the protagonist’s journey stretch to a third game....

Starbreeze Studios has revealed the first artwork from Payday 3. The image shows the series’ iconic Payday Gang, also known as the Payday Clowns, as they overlook the city. Payday 3 is due for release in 2023, with Koch Studios publishing it under its newPrime Matterlabel, and will once again follow the Gang as they pull off more heists. “The Payday universe has an ongoing narrative that has been created over the years”, game director Erik Wonnevi explained....