LA Noire 2 began trending in gaming circles over the weekend as a rumor made rounds that its former developers are making a new thriller set in the 1940s. The rumor stemmed from an Instagram post by Australian composer Freyja Garbett, and while she did indeed work on an LA Noire based project, it wasn’t quite what we thought.

Fans renew demands for LA Noire 2

In a now deleted Instagram post, Garbett uploaded photos of a recorded session for something called “Sowden House.” “From the creators of LA Noire comes Sowden House, a psychological thriller set in 1940s LA that will have you questioning your sanity,” she wrote, expressing excitement for working on a video game.

Sowden House is a reference to Black Dhalia murder as its prime suspect once owned the residence in LA.

The studio behind the project, Video Games Deluxe, is exclusively working for Rockstar Games. Unfortunately, however, an official statement debunking the rumor revealed that Sowden House was just a tech demo.

“We commissioned some music from a local composer Freyja Garbett for a VR project that we were working on a number of years ago when between projects,” the statement reads. “It is based on a case from LA Noire that did not make the cut but was more of a tech demo than anything else. We have no idea whether this will ever see the light of day but we decided to finish the score commission to support a local composer.”

Garbett has since deleted the Instagram post.

The post L.A. Noire Devs Debunk Rumor of New 1940s Game appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

As much fun as players have had with Grand Theft Auto Online over the years, it’s still unfortunate that Rockstar Games never released any GTA 5 story DLC. However, it turns out that the studio was working on single-player content at one point, and Online’s success played a role in its cancellation.

Why didn’t Rockstar make GTA 5 story DLC?

Former Rockstar developer Joe Robino recently spoke with YouTuber StanInPlay about the canceled single-player add-on. As he explained, the studio was working on GTA Online, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the canceled GTA 5 story DLC simultaneously. According to Robino, the DLC project was about halfway done when Rockstar paused development to focus on Online. The multiplayer mode’s success eventually made it difficult to justify continuing to spend resources on new single-player content.

“It was really, really good,” Robino said about the canceled GTA 5 story DLC. “But when GTA Online came out it was so much of a cash cow, and people were loving it so much that it was hard to make an argument that a standalone DLC would outcompete that. I think, looking back now, you could probably do both. But that was a business decision they made. I was a little upset about that.”

“That actually was a lot of the reason for me being a little sour at that time,” he adds. “Because I was like, yo, WTF guys? This s—’s awesome. Let’s keep going. Let’s finish this s—.”

The silver lining is that Rockstar didn’t waste everything from the unfinished GTA 5 story DLC. Instead, Robino says that a lot of it eventually made its way into Online. However, it’s still interesting for fans to imagine what could have been.

The post GTA 5 Story DLC Was Scrapped in Favor of GTA Online appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Rockstar launched Grand Theft Auto Online’s Bottom Dollar Bounties expansion last week, adding a variety of new content. However, while fans were paying attention to the new cars and missions, developers added a sneaky GTA 6 easter egg in the form of a new cosmetic item.

What’s the GTA 6 Easter egg in GTA Online?

Bottom Dollar Bounties adds a piece of jewelry called the Silver Layered Necklace to GTA Online. However, as Reddit user DogWifDreads pointed out, it’s the exact same necklace worn by the bikini-clad woman, widely believed to be co-protagonist Lucia, at the rooftop pool in the GTA 6 trailer.

A few commenters tried to determine if the new item might contain hidden information about the upcoming game. “Considering all last digits [of the price] are 0, we could skip that, and we’ll have 4 digits, a possible date and month – for something,” one wrote. However, even they acknowledged that it could be nothing, and the easter egg probably doesn’t have any deeper meaning. It could, however, indicate that Rockstar will add more GTA 6 items to GTA Online.

In addition to this shiny easter egg, GTA Online’s Bottom Dollar Bounties update adds several law-enforcement-themed missions. Players can complete bounties for Bottom Dollar Bail Enforcement or help Vince with some off-the-books police work. The expansion also adds nine new vehicles to Rockstar’s online open world.

Meanwhile, Rockstar Games’ parent company plans to release Grand Theft Auto 6 in Fall 2025. The upcoming game features two protagonists, Luica and Jason, and takes players to the Miami-inspired Vice City.

The post GTA 6 Easter Egg Added to Grand Theft Auto Online appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

PS Plus Premium might just be getting a beloved Rockstar Games classic sometime in 2024, if a datamined string is anything to go by. A fan ploughing through Red Dead Redemption‘s website found a string which mentioned RDR1 for PS Plus Premium and Xbox Game Pass.

Which version of RDR1 could be joining 2024’s PS Plus Premium games lineup?

The aforementioned string was found by Reddit user Timtendo12, who also provided a screenshot. However, there’s speculation that this string might be a placeholder. Regardless, there’s some confusion over which version of RDR1 could be headed to PS Plus Premium.

Rockstar re-released RDR1 for the PS4 in August 2023 — which came with the Undead Nightmare DLC — for a hefty price tag of $50. The move resulted in backlash because the release was seen as a straight port of the PS3 game rather than a full-fledged remaster. Worth noting that RDR1 was unavailable to PS4 and PS5 players up until last year because of lack of backwards compatibility with the PS3. Meanwhile, Xbox players continued to enjoy access to the classic.

If this leak is correct, it’s possible that the PS4 port will land on PS Plus Premium, like PS4’s The Last of Us Remastered did at one point. It’s also possible that the original will become available via PS Plus Premium’s PS3 streaming support.

The post PS Plus Premium Might Be Getting a Rockstar Games Classic, Leak Suggests appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Publisher Take-Two Interactive has narrowed down the GTA 6 release date window to fall 2025. While rumors meant that many were hoping Grand Theft Auto 6 would be released earlier in the year, Rockstar seems to be taking its time so that the game meets the “high-quality expectations” of its parent company.

GTA 6 release date has not been delayed

The Grand Theft Auto 6 release date has been rumored and speculated even before Rockstar confirmed they were working on the game. Microsoft said they expected the game to be released in 2024, while cryptic comments from Take Two about “several groundbreaking titles” seemingly placed the release date sometime between April 2024 and March 2025.

When Rockstar announced a 2025 release date window for Grand Theft Auto 6, the previous rumors meant many took this to mean the game would be released between January and March 2025. However, this was never confirmed by either company, therefore Take-Two’s new release date window of “Fall of Calendar 2025” is merely narrowing down the official window rather than delaying the game.

Take-Two also revealed release date windows for all of its announced games so far. NBA 2K25, WWE 2K25, and Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game are all due to be released this fiscal year, so before the end of March 2025. There is also Judas from Ghost Story Games and Project Bloom from Game Freak; both of these are due to be released before the end of March 2027.

The development pipeline slide also revealed a large number of games that are still to be announced. These include 17 “immersive core” games and 5 “new iterations of previously released titles.” One of those immersive core games is set to be revealed at Summer Game Fest 2024. The “next iteration in one of 2K’s biggest and most beloved franchises” is rumored to be a reveal of either the new Mafia game or the new BioShock game.

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Veteran actor Troy Baker has finally shot down fan theories that he’s the voice of GTA 6 protagonist, Jason. Jason is one of the game’s two main characters, with the other protagonist being a female named Lucia. Rockstar Games has yet to reveal the game’s cast, but that hasn’t stopped fans from trying to figure out the voices behind Lucia and Jason.

Troy Baker wants the actual voice behind GTA 6 protagonist to get credit

In an interview with The Movie Dweeb, Baker said that he’s speaking out because he wants the actual actor behind GTA 6’s Jason to get credit for his work, not him. GTA 6’s trailer didn’t reveal much of the protagonists, but from the very little they heard, fans theorized that Baker was Jason.

It certainly doesn’t help that Baker tends to be a recurring voice in video games. Baker himself admitted that he’s enjoyed a privileged career in that he’s been in so many games that he may be losing some work precisely because he’s seemingly everywhere.

“I want that guy, whoever it is, to get credit for his work, because I’m sure it’s going to be great,” Baker said, adding that he took the debunked fan theory as a compliment.

The post Troy Baker Confirms GTA 6 Protagonist Isn’t Voiced By Him appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

A recent report by Kotaku claimed that GTA 6‘s release date was originally set for sometime in Q1 2025, but the game is potentially facing a delay into 2026. The news resulted in publisher Take-Two Interactive‘s stock plummeting by 5.2%, but Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier claims that the report was overblown, while other known insiders have pointed out GTA 6 was never confirmed for Q1 2025 to begin with.

There’s still a possibility of GTA 6 release date slipping out of 2025

Following the publication of Kotaku’s article, a number of known insiders including Tom Henderson questioned the report, with some criticizing it for being purely conjecture. In his article on Bloomberg, Schreier refrained from criticizing his former employer, but did say that the report was “soft and full of caveats.”

Schreier pointed out that games often go through internal delays during the course of development, and that Rockstar Games only promised a generic release window of 2025 in GTA 6’s trailer. And while it’s still possible that the game will slip into 2026, there’s currently no indication that this is certainly the case.

When contacted for comment on the latest rumor, Schrier said he was “mostly met with shrugs” from Rockstar Games employees.

The post GTA 6 Release Date Delay Report Was ‘Overblown,’ According to Bloomberg appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

PS4 and PS5 owners can currently download Red Dead Redemption 1 re-release for free if they’re subscribed to GTA+. The game, which released last October, is currently available for $39.99 (originally $49.99) without a subscription as part of the PlayStation Store Spring sale.

What’s GTA+ and how to play Red Dead Redemption for cheap on PS4, PS5?

You’ll be forgiven for not knowing what GTA+ is, especially if you’re not an active GTA Online player. It’s a subscription designed for those who enjoy Rockstar Games’ multiplayer offering, with the developer throwing in a few games to sweeten the deal. The inclusion of RDR1 is quite a departure from what subscribers usually get.

If you don’t have GTA+ and still want to try out RDR1 on PS4 or PS5 then it might be worth subscribing for just one month, provided you’re able to finish the game within 30 days. A one-month GTA+ subscription via PS Store costs $5.99, which is still a whole lot cheaper than forking out $39.99 for it.

As a reminder, Rockstar Games released a patch to add support for 60 frames-per-second on the PS5. Although RDR1 isn’t natively available on the PS5, the ability to play in 60 FPS via backwards compatibility is much welcome.

The post Red Dead Redemption PS4, PS5 Currently Free to Play for GTA+ Subscribers appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Digital Foundry tech expert Richard Leadbetter has cast some doubt over speculations that GTA 6‘s PS5 Pro version will run at 60 FPS. GTA 6 has been associated with Sony’s powerful mid-gen upgrade given the console’s rumored release ahead of the game. Analysts say Sony will leverage the hype surrounding the highly-anticipated Rockstar Games title to promote the PS5 Pro as the “best place to play” GTA 6.

Will PS5 Pro be the best place to play GTA 6?

Commenting on the conjecture that GTA 6 might run at 60 FPS on Sony’s upgraded hardware, Leadbetter pointed towards the limited CPU improvement as the reason that’s unlikely to be the case.

As previously revealed, the PS5 Pro’s CPU is almost identical to the base PS5’s CPU, but comes with a “High CPU Frequency Mode” that boosts it to 3.85 GHz. This is a boost of about 10% over the original. Leadbetter says that this extra 10% isn’t enough, so unless Sony has some “magical” stuff going on that we’re not yet aware of, players should keep their expectations in check.

“You know, all of the sort of conjectures ‘Hey, this is going to be a great box for Grand Theft Auto 6, we’ll be able to run that at 60 frames-per-second…’ unless there’s some magical CPU stuff being done by Rockstar, I suggest that’s not going to happen,” Leadbetter says in the video below, starting around the 11:00 mark. “Extra 10% on clocks isn’t really going to do much at all.”

The post GTA 6 on PS5 Pro Unlikely to Run at 60 FPS, Digital Foundry Suggests appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

It’s being speculated that emulation company Implicit Conversions is helping to bring Rockstar Games and Konami classics to PS Plus Premium. Implicit Conversions was recently thrust into the limelight following reports that it was working on PS2 games for PS Plus — a claim that it later removed from its website, but didn’t deny either.

Why fans think Rockstar and Konami classics are headed to PS Plus Premium

Implicit Conversions is the company behind a large number of classics on PS Plus Premium, and has a list of its partners published on its website and official LinkedIn page. As noted by Reddit sleuth TURB0_THUNDER, every company that Implicit is partnered with has released a game or two on PS Plus Premium, with the exception of Rockstar Games, Konami, and Cyan. Hmm…

Considering Rockstar and Konami are behind a large number of beloved classics across the PS1, PS2, and PSP — many of which exclusively released on PlayStation — one can see why fans are getting their hopes up for the likes of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Manhunt, and original Silent Hill games on PS Plus.

Although all of the above is merely speculation, we can confirm that Rockstar Games and Konami are listed among Implicit Conversion’s partners on its website at the time of this writing.

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