Video Game Culture: Celebs Rumors

Universal Music Group and Republic Records have announced the launch of Boombox, a new product being integrated into Roblox to allow players to stream in-game music that artists can monetise and have count toward Billboard charts.This collaboration will start in the Twice Square experience, a level in Roblox where players can leave messages for the K-pop girl group, play minigames, and collect virtual items. With Boombox, players will be able to “share and collectively enjoy” Twice‘s music, with each playback being monetisable, as well as counting toward Billboard charts.Boombox is apparently the first “scaled music product across the Roblox platform”.

Fallout TV show has been out for almost a week, and many fans have finished it with unasnwered questions. One is: what are the main characters’ stats? Thanks to Fallout Shelter, we have those answers.As reported by Kotaku, Fallout Shelter recently got an update that adds some characters from Amazon’s show into the game. This means players can check the stats of Lucy, The Ghoul, Maximus, and Ma June.Lucy relies on Luck.

Eurogamer, multiple GAME staff members spoke to the site anonymously and confirmed that most non-managerial staff will now be employed on zero hours contracts. They also added that this was not unexpected.GAME Staff affected by the layoffs will reportedly be told via phone or email, but it is unclear how many will be affected.

Twitch streamers have been skirting the platform’s guidelines by using their chests and bums as greenscreens to display gameplay on, but the company’s new rule aims to put a stop to this new meta.A clip from popular streamer Morgpie recently went viral, showing her streaming Fortnite via her greenscreened bum. People in the replies range from disgusted to impressed with the creativity on display.The Twitch Support Twitter account posted a statement March 27, just 11 days after the viral Morgpie clip was posted.

esports starting 2025. The course will cover topics such as “game design, esports event management, livestreaming, esports marketing, and analysis of competitive gameplay.”As reported by the BBC, the curriculum is being developed in partnership with esports professionals, and Professor Stuart Harmer claims the degree will offer students “a much-needed pathway that allows them an important progression into Higher Education in this industry.”The dean of the school of technology, business, and arts at Suffolk said, “We are thrilled to announce our plans to create one of the first esports undergraduate courses in the East of England”.To help the students, the university has invested in an esports lab featuring high-spec gaming machines so that the university can host its own tournaments and events.

Civilization 6.Neuralink was founded in 2016 by Elon Musk and a number of scientists to develop a way for humans to communicate with technology using neural signals. The company hoped the tech would improve the lives of people living with paralysis, offering them more control over their own lives.At the start of the year, Musk confirmed Neuralink had implanted its first “brain-computer” interface in the head of a patient and, in February, said the unnamed person had made a full recovery and was now able to control a computer cursor by thought alone.Enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking.Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs.

NME, actor Lucy Liu and director Eloise Singer have discussed bringing notorious Chinese pirate Chen Shih to life in VR game The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend.Set in 19th-century China, The Pirate Queen: A Forgotten Legend follows Chen Shih – a real-world pirate who commanded hundreds of ships – on the night she rose to power.Chatting to NME from New York, Singer shared that she felt “compelled” to share Shih’s story upon realising that it wasn’t very well-known.“When I first discovered more about Chen Shih’s story, I was fascinated,” said Singer, pointing to Shih leading 70,000 men in the lead-up to the Opium Wars. “She [also] created a code of laws that meant men and women had to be treated equally on her ship, which was phenomenal.”Originally a courtesan, Chen Shih took control over a large confederation of pirates when her husband fell overboard.

Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra has finally had its title and 2025 launch window revealed, along with incredible facial animations for its main cast.Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra is the hotly-anticipated game from Uncharted legend Amy Hennig’s studio, Skydance New Media. The game is set during World War Two and features four playable characters. There’s Azzuri, the WW2-era Black Panther played by Khary Payton and Steve Rogers as Captain America, played by Drew Moerlein.

IGDA is the world’s largest nonprofit organisation supporting the rights of everyone who works towards creating games.“We are deeply concerned about the increased harassment of historically marginalized developers and those advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives,” they said in a statement following the launch of the so-called Gamergate 2.The original Gamergate happened in 2014 and was a loosely organised campaign of hate against a number of high-profile, female-identifying developers from people who were annoyed that games were being more aware of feminism and diversity. The harassment campaign used the hashtag GamerGate and included doxing, rape threats, false accusations and death threats.In recent months, people have been concerned about a resurgence in the Gamergate campaign with a number of individuals attacking developers over the apparent “woke-ism” in gaming.

One Piece card game shop has opened in Brighton, and represents an “evolution”, Bandai Namco has said to NME.The store opened on North Street in Brighton on February 23. Brighton was chosen due to the city being a “thriving cultural hub” and the One Piece Card Game shop being a “perfect fit and addition for people of the region to collect cards and battle with friends.”When asked by NME why now is the right time to open a One Piece Card Game Shop, Bandai Namco told us that the plan is to offer “multiple experiential products”.“One Piece is one of the biggest IPs globally, with a 25 year back catalogue of anime, manga and films.

Dark Souls books have been announced, with pre-orders available today by Irish publisher Tune & Fairweather.Abyssal Archive: The Mythology of Dark Souls explores the lore and mythos surrounding Dark Souls as a franchise and as a location, with fans working to put together the “most comprehensive fan analysis of the game’s mythos ever undertaken”. The premium softcover edition comes with a fold-out companion map of Lordran, the setting of the game, and retails for £25 ($33).You Died: The Dark Souls Companion, meanwhile, contains analysis of “what makes Dark Souls so riveting, enduring, and influential”, with interview with creator Hidetaka Miyazaki included throughout the game, taken over the years since the game was launched.

SpongeBob SquarePants special edition of the Xbox Series X.The console has been created in conjunction with Best Buy, Paramount Game Studios and GameMill, and is only available to purchase in the United States through set drops on the Best Buy Mobile App, and won’t be available when stocks run out.The bundle comes with an Xbox Wireless Controller featuring characters from the Spongebob SquarePants franchise, while the Xbox Series X itself features Spongebob smiling at the user.A digital download of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is also included in the bundle. This Super Smash Bros-like game featuring classic Nickelodeon cartoons allows players to pit characters such as Invader Zim, SpongeBob SquarePants, Jimmy Neutron and Aang against each other, among many others.The bundle retails for £550 ($699) and is only available in the United States through the Best Buy Mobile App.

Strands, is being added to the New York Times lineup of word games, alongside Wordle and Connections.The objective of the game is to find words that all have something in common, along with a ‘spangram’ that describes what every word has in common and touches two opposite sides of the board. Players are able to connect letters vertically, horizontally and diagonally, along with being able to switch directions in the middle of a word, allowing for a greater variety of potential solutions.“What I saw in looking at the competition is that there aren’t as many word searches with a twist.

Discworld is being turned into a tabletop roleplaying game.Tabletop publisher Modiphius Entertainment has secured the rights to the series, and will be launching a Kickstarter campaign for the tabletop roleplaying game later this year. The first roleplaying game published by them will be set in and around the city of Ankh-Morpork, a prominently featured location in the Discworld series.Modiphius previously released an adventure board game based on The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, as well as a title based on Fallout which allowed you to paint miniatures and take control of a faction within the post-apocalyptic universe.“Terry had a lifelong affection with roleplaying games and it’s an entirely logical path along which you can follow his career from Dungeon Maser to him becoming one of our most celebrated and beloved fantasy authors of all time.

Arrowhead Game Studios has revealed how the war in Helldivers 2 is being organised.Johan Pilestedt, the CEO at Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios, spoke about the war in an interview with PC Gamer, and revealed that it’s all being organised by one man named Joel.“We have an actual person with the job title of Game Master,” Pilestedt said.“We have a lot of systems built into the game where the Game Master has a lot of control over the play experience. It’s something that we’re continuously evolving based on what’s happening in the game.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has received a special easter egg on Google commemorating the launch of the game.By googling the word ‘Chocobo’ on Google, a button will appear featuring the bird. Once pressed, a full herd of different coloured Chocobo’s will run across the screen, causing it to shake as the mounts rampage across your device.For those unfamiliar, a Chocobo is a fictional species that first debuted in Final Fantasy 2.

The Last Of Us director Neil Druckmann has spoken about how many more big titles he’ll be able to make.Druckmann spoke about his uncertainty in an interview with rapper Logic, explaining how he finds directing big games tiring.“I guess that I don’t see myself doing this forever at this scale. It’s just a lot, and it takes a lot out of you.

Paranormal Activity has a video game on the way, it has been announced.While the game is currently slated for a 2026 release and information on the game is fairly scarce, it has been confirmed that it will feature a advanced “haunt system” that dynamically changes how scary the game is based on what they do. Other than that, it’s unclear exactly what form the game will take, though a reveal teaser simply titled “Paranormal Activity: Found Footage” seems to indicate that the game will take a found footage approach.The title will be published by DreadXP, and is being developed by Darkstone Digital.“We are thrilled to work with Paramount Game Studios and to have the opportunity to bring the world of Paranormal Activity to gamers everywhere.

Bloodborne has said in an interview that he knows how much people want a remake, but is unable to offer an update on the chance of that happening.Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer, FromSoftware boss Hidetaka Miyazaki noted the demand for a Bloodborne remake or remaster from fans.“Put simply, it makes me very happy to see it’s a title with a lot of specific memories, both for me and the staff who worked on it. And when we see those passionate voices in the community, of course it makes us feel thrilled, it makes us feel very fortunate to have that and to have those memories,” Miyazaki said in the interview.Miyazaki then moved onto discussing the circumstances in which a potential Bloodborne remake would be released.“I think having new hardware is definitely a part of what gives these remakes value.

Dead By Daylight and Iron Maiden have teamed up for a new collaboration that is available right now.The new collaboration is available for purchase today (22 February) , and includes several new legendary outfits in the form of Iron Maiden mascot Eddie The Head. Four different killers have new Eddie outfits, with The Dredge, The Doctor, The Deathslinger and The Oni all receiving the Iron Maiden treatment.Survivors in the game are able to unlock and equip new tour shirts that feature Eddie The Eagle prominently.

Call Of Duty titles will launch day and date on Xbox Game Pass, according to an interview with Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer.Spencer spoke about how Xbox Game Pass will work with new studios that have been purchased by Xbox in an interview with Gamefile‘s Stephen Totillo.“Our intent is the full portfolio from ZeniMax, Activision Blizzard and XGS- Xbox Game Studios – will be on Game Pass, day one,” Spencer said in the interview. It’s important to note however, that there’s still work to be done before they’re ready to launch day and date on the system.“We’re doing the back end work to make them come to PC and console simultaneously,” Spencer confirmed.In the same interview, Spencer also spoke about what he believes the future of physical media is in regards to the Xbox platform, stating that while Xbox themselves are fans of physical media, they “don’t have a need to drive that disproportionate to customer demand”.“Gaming consoles themselves have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a drive.

Football Manager players have discovered a way to buy players for less than 1% of their overall value.Per a Reddit discovery from PCGamer, it appears that the AI in the game is conditioned to always accept a certain arrangement of terms for a transfer deal.In order to get this glitch working, you need to offer 2.5million euros for the player, while also offering 10% of the money from the next transfer (which essentially means you’ll be paying 10% of whatever you end up selling the player for to their last club). You also need to promise to pay monthly instalments to the club, but with the amount of money you’ll likely having coming in off whatever player you choose you’ll quite likely be fine.It’s important to note, however, that you do have to still sort out contract details with your players and make sure they actually want to play for you.

note sent to customers and displayed on their website, GAME wrote:“The Trade-In programme operated by GAME which offers customers the ability to trade-in unwanted consoles, games or gaming accessories in-store for credit will cease. GAME will also stop selling pre-owned games and consoles in-store and online at game.co.uk once stocks have run out.”“We haven’t taken this decision lightly and we are extremely grateful for your loyal custom throughout the years and remain committed to continue to give our passionate gaming fans the best customer experience,” they added.According to GAME, customers should still be able to sell or exchange games, consoles and accessories up until February 16 but stores “do have a right to refuse trade ins”.GAME was taken over by The Fraser Group in 2019, who have since shut down a number of standalone high-street shops and opened up concessions in larger department stores like House Of Fraser and Sports Direct.The news comes as Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, has spoken about stopping the sale of physical games at some point this year.

Homeworld 3 has received a free demo in Steam Next Fest, along with a new release date.Developer Blackbird Interactive and publisher Gearbox announced the delay on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday evening (February 7).“Watching you share your experiences, exchange and debate strategies, and give us constant feedback has been incredible. This was our first time seeing the game played at scale, which is always an equally thrilling and nerve-wracking moments,” the post read.“We also recently gathered a dedicated group of players from outside our organizations to play through the full game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is offering a free trial this week for players who haven’t yet jumped on the game.To celebrate the launch of Season Two, the game is free for all to play from February 8 to February 12. Highrise, Rust, Meat, Shipment, Stash House, Terminal, Rio, Karachi and Scrapyard are all the maps available for players to experience in the free trial.The modes Team Deathmatch, Hardpoint, Kill Confirmed, Team Gun Game and Domination will be available over this four day period for users to play with friends.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is receiving a new game plus mode next month, after developer Insomniac Games previously confirmed the mode would be coming to the game after launch.The news was officially announced on Insomniac Games X (formerly Twitter) account, and confirmed that a full list of what to expect from the update will be released just before the update arrives on March 7.

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata.Iwata was president of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015 and oversaw both the Nintendo DS and the Wii.However, he was also CEO during the turbulent Wii U era of Nintendo, which was considered a flop by many. Following the failure, he took a 50 per cent pay cut while other executives reduced their salaries by 20 per cent.Speaking about the decision in 2013, Iwata said: “If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, employee morale will decrease.

Legend Of Zelda theme park could be in the works after producer Eiji Aonuma was spotted in a behind-the-scenes video at Orlando’s Universal Studios.As it stands, the Mario-themed Super Nintendo World is open at both Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood, with further areas planned for Universal Studios Singapore and Universal Orlando Resort. A Donkey Kong expansion is also being built at Japan, but this new clip has fans thinking a Zelda world is on the cards.The video in question was released by Universal in an attempt to show the public what everyday life was like at its parks for employees, as well as teasing what the future had to offer.

Nintendo has announced that it will be streaming both a Legend Of Zelda concert and a Splatoon concert next month.The concerts were originally supposed to take place at two different Nintendo Live events which were scheduled to take place on December 16-17 2023 and January 20-21 2024 respectively.However, the events were both cancelled due to “persistent threats targeting our employees”, with the announcement of the cancellation spotted by Eurogamer. In a translated version of the full statement by VGC, Nintendo explained their reasoning for the cancellation.“Our company has been persistently receiving threatening behaviour targeting our staff.

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.

League Of Legends developer Riot Games has laid off 530 staff members and shut down all development on spin-off games.Yesterday, Riot Games announced in a blog post that it is laying off 530 roles globally (11% of overall staffers). Alongside this announcement, the developer has stated that it is stopping all active development on new spin-off games of League Of Legends after the release of Bandle Tale: A League Of Legends Story.“We’re ending new game development under Riot Forge after the upcoming release of Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story. Forge was an experiment to see what would happen when Rioters partnered with their favourite indie devs and let them loose on Runeterra with their unique viewpoints, styles and expertise,” the blog post read.“Across six titles spanning different game genres, regions, and characters, it’s been inspiring to see what these devs created in partnership with the Forge team.

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time‘s Deku Tree may be released later this year, according to known Lego leakers.READ MORE: ‘Persona 3 Reload’ is shaping up to be a must-play remakeAccording to known leakers ‘Brickmerge’ and ‘1414falconfan‘ on Instagram, The Great Deku Tree Lego set could be released in September 2024 and consists of 2,500 pieces. This would be the first set based on The Legend Of Zelda franchise and would come off the back of several collaborations with Nintendo for both Animal Crossing and Mario.Rumor: Could this Zelda lego set be coming soon? pic.twitter.com/2Kea6I6FTT— Zelda Gif World (@GifZelda) February 3, 2023Last year a potential leaked image of the Lego Deku Tree appeared online, supposedly coming from an internal survey that featured other allegedly in-production sets such as a Rivendell set from Lord Of The Rings, which was later confirmed as being real, leading to speculation that the Lego Deku Tree could also be real.Lego later started copyright striking any YouTube video that reported on the leaks, further leading credence to the suspicion that the leak was legit and that a set based on The Legend Of Zelda was coming sooner rather than later.The latest game in The Legend Of Zelda franchise, The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, launched last year and was nominated for several awards, including Game Of The Year at The Game Awards.

Palworld by developer Pocketpair, as it causes an “impossible to recover” from bug.The warning was issued in the Palworld discord, with PCGamesN reporting on what Pocketpair community manager ‘Kei’ posted regarding the bug.“Currently, using the item ‘Memory Reset Drug’ that resets the player’s status may reduce the player’s capture power and make it impossible to recover. We are currently investigating this issue, so we apologise for the inconvenience, but please refrain from using it until the investigation/correction is complete,” the community manager posted.Palworld launched three days ago (January 19) in early access, so issues are to be expected.

Palworld has sold five million copies in three days, despite increasing concern over potential AI use in the game.The title launched in early access on January 19, and since then, it has shot up in Steam charts to the point it had more concurrent players than games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Call Of Duty.Those users don’t include the number of players who are playing the game through the Xbox Game Pass release, and neither do the five million copies sold, meaning that the actual total number of people who have downloaded the game and played it could be much higher.The conversation around Palworld, however, isn’t focused on sales. It’s instead focused on similarities that beasts in the game have to popular Pokemon characters, and the fact that the company openly released a title in early access last year named AI: Art Imposter which uses artificial intelligence in gameplay to generate images.Several posts have circulated on X (formerly Twitter) showing similarities between Pokemon creatures and Palworld creatures, with previous comments from the CEO of Pocketpair discussing AI art, and specifically how to use AI art in order to create new Pokemon, leading people to wonder if the game used the technique at all.There’s currently no confirmation as to whether or not there’s any credibility behind these claims, however.

Fallout Shelter, The Elder Scrolls: Castles, has been announced.The news was announced on the official X (formerly Twitter) Bethesda account, with the post stating that the team is “excited to finally share The Elder Scrolls: Castles, our new mobile game from the team behind Fallout Shelter. The team has been hard at work on it for the last few years and we absolutely adore it.”The game allows you to control and expand your castle over various generations, making decisions that dictate exactly how your citizens perceive you and whether or not they attempt to overthrow your regime.

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.