Fortnite’s Shared Wallet Finally Comes To PlayStation

As of Fortnite update 20.40, PlayStation consoles will join Fortnite’s Shared Wallet system, meaning any funds purchased on the PS4 or PS5 can be spent on other platforms, and vice versa. Once this update is live, the Nintendo Switch will be the only platform that doesn’t support the Shared Wallet.

How Fortnite handles V-Bucks in cross-platform play can be a little complicated–any V-Bucks that are earned through the Battle Pass or other gameplay are automatically shared between all platforms, while purchased V-Bucks can only be shared between platforms that support the Shared Wallet.

The addition of the PS4 and PS5 to the Shared Wallet system will simplify this a little, meaning all funds can be shared between PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Android, and cloud gaming platforms. Only the Nintendo Switch is still wallet-locked, meaning funds purchased on Nintendo’s platform won’t be able to be used on other platforms, and vice versa.

To take advantage of the Shared Wallet feature, PlayStation players should make sure their PlayStation accounts are linked to their Epic Games account, and check that all platforms are logged into the same Epic account.

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Insomniac Pledges $50,000 To Abortion Rights Group, Sony To Match Contribution – Report

Following widespread criticism of PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan’s email last week urging employees to “respect differences of opinion” around abortion rights before writing at length about his cat’s birthdays, Insomniac Games has reportedly decided to donate $50,000 to the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, a pro-choice organization.

According to The Washington Post, Insomniac shared the news in an internal email sent May 13. In it, Insomniac CEO Ted Price also confirmed that parent company Sony has agreed to match the studio’s donation, a marked departure from Ryan’s “middle-of-the-road” stance last week. Furthermore, Sony has also pledged to match all donations made from individual Insomniac employees as long as they make them via the company’s PlayStation Cares program.

The Ratchet and Clank and Marvel’s Spider-Man developer then revealed it is currently working with Sony to “formulate an initiative to provide financial assistance to employees who might have to travel to different states to receive reproductive care.” However, both companies have stated their intentions to remain quiet about the donations, and have forbidden employees from explicitly mentioning Insomniac or Sony “should they decide to retweet any announcements the WRRAP might make.”

However, Insomniac has reportedly expressed interest in sharing a message of support for Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision establishing access to abortions as a constitutional right for all US citizens that is currently at risk of being overturned. The call to remain quiet, it seems, has been entirely made by Sony, as Price wrote there would be “material repercussions for us as a wholly owned subsidiary” if he or the studio were to release a message.

“Among other things, any progress that we might make in helping change [Sony Interactive Entertainment’s] approach would be stopped dead in its track,” Price wrote in the letter. “We’d also probably be severely restricted from doing important public-facing work in the future.”

One company that is taking a stand against the Supreme Courts apparent attempt at overturning Roe v. Wade, however, is Destiny developer Bungie. In a blog post shared on the studio’s official website last week, the company called the decision “a direct attack on human rights.” The company then listed a number of pro-choice organizations supporters can donate to including URGE (Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity) and NARAL Pro-Choice America. It is interesting to note, however, that Bungie is on its way to becoming a PlayStation studio as well, having been recently acquired by the company.

GameSpot has written an article explaining the impact overturning Roe v. Wade might have on American citizens, as well as outlining a number of pro-choice organizations you can support.

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GIGABYTE Issues Recall on Z690I Aorus Ultra Motherboards, Citing PCIe Gen 4 Issues

GIGABYTE has officially announced that it is offering an RMA replacement service for users that have purchased one of its key mini-ITX models for Intel’s 12th Gen Core series processors, the Z690I Aorus Ultra. With reports of numerous users experiencing compatibility and crashing issues when using PCIe 4.0 graphics cards on the board’s single full-length slot, GIGABYTE has opened up a special returns program for specific customers to offer a replacement board with the particular PCIe Gen 4 issue fixed.

On its website, GIGABYTE announced publically that it had investigated reports of customers experiencing issues with the Z690I Aorus Ultra and concluded that the PCIe 4.0 slot isn’t working as intended. Users’ fundamental problems when using the GIGABYTE Z690I Aorus Ultra came through a WHEA PCIe error, WHEA being short for Windows Hardware Error Architecture, which is designed to report errors when a system is experiencing instability. 


The front page of the GIGABYTE Z690I Aorus Ultra Customer Exchange/Refund Request Form

The ‘special’ program applies to all of its customers who purchased the Z690I Aorus Ultra, including the DDR5 and DDR4 variants, from non-third-party retailers such as Micro Center. GIGABYTE says the program will run until November 30th, 2022, with customers being able to opt for either request a replacement board or a refund. Of course, some terms and conditions are attached to this, with users requiring a valid serial number and a purchase receipt to show that they purchased this from a qualifying retailer or online store. 

For users who do not (or cannot) swap, GIGABYTE has also offered a workaround for the WHEA PCIe error, albeit a suboptimal one. The fix consists of going into the BIOS by pressing either F2 or the Del key during post and forcing the PCIe slot to operate at Gen 3 speeds rather than the defaulted Gen 4 speeds. 

The link to the replacement/refund RMA service is here: https://member.aorus.com/z690i-aorus-ultra-exchange-refund

Source: GIGABYTE

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GTA 5 Passes 165 Million Sold, As Red Dead Redemption 2 Reaches 44 Million

Grand Theft Auto V continues to soar. The open-world action game has now passed 165 million copies sold as of March 31, 2022, which is up by 5 million copies since Take-Two last disclosed a sales figure in February 2022.

The entire GTA series has now sold more than 375 million copies, Take-Two announced. GTA V’s newest version was released in March for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Take-Two did not disclose a sales number for this new-generation version specifically, however. Another GTA game, GTA: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, launched for Nintendo Switch in February, but Take-Two didn’t share a sales number.

Another notable GTA release in the past quarter was GTA Online’s new standalone edition for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, as well as the subscription program, GTA+.

Take-Two also revealed a new sales number for Red Dead Redemption II; it has now sold 44 million copies, which is up from 43 million back in February. The series has sold 67 million copies, which means 2010’s Red Dead Redemption 1 shifted around 23 million copies.

Both GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2 make even more money from microtransaction sales within their online modes. And if Take-Two makes more money from microtransactions, CEO Strauss Zelnick stands to make a bigger bonus.

For Take-Two’s fiscal fourth quarter, the company made $930 million in revenue, which was up 11% compared to last year. Recurrent consumer spending, which includes microtransactions, rose by 1% and accounted for 64% of total revenue. Take-Two made an overall profit of $110 million for the period, which was down substantially from the profit of $218.8 million this quarter last year.

GTA 6 is now in development, but Take-Two did not mention it in its earnings release. Despite development being “well underway,” it’s not expected to be released for some time.

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PlayStation Has Created A “Gamer Dictionary” And It’s Actually Incredibly Useful

Sony has released PlayStation’s ultimate list of popular, gaming-related terms, and while that might conjure up images of someone twice your age explaining what “pwning some noobs” means, it turns out it’s actually incredible useful.

Published as a part of Sony’s “This Month On PlayStation” blog, the list contains well over 100 words and phrases that are all regularly used in gaming spaces. While it does contain more than a few dated phrases (see: “git gud” and “noob-tube”), the list delves into plenty of useful terms as well.

For example, the list might be helpful to those trying to understand certain game design elements or genres, as it explains things such as what it means for a game to be procedurally generated as well as the differences between RPGs, ARPGs, JRPGS, and CPRGs. It also covers quite a few more technical and hardware-driven terms, including haptic feedback, ray-tracing, resolution, frame rate, and more. For those new to certain genres or online gaming, it also explains concepts like “farming,” “min-maxing,” “camping,” and “juggling.” Not sure what it means when your teammates tell you to “pull aggro” or ask you about your loadout? Sony’s dictionary covers that too.

In addition, Sony also has added a few in-game examples to better explain certain terms. For example, the company included a short paragraph on how area-of-effect attacks are used in Elden Ring, writing, “Area-of-effect attacks are frequently used in Elden Ring’s boss design, with terrifying enemies like Godrick the Grafted filling areas of the arena with beds of fire or battering whirlwinds.” The blog also makes mention of Destiny 2’s routinely celebrated endgame content, Final Fantasy’s signature hit-points system, No Man’s Sky’s procedurally generated world, and much more.

In addition to the gaming dictionary, PlayStation also published articles on the making of Returnal’s Selene Vassos and the best strategy games on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. The making of Selene article comes shortly after developer Housemarque implemented campaign co-op into Returnal. For GameSpot’s take on what PlayStation games you gotta play, check out our lists covering the best titles on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.

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Multiple Silent Hill Projects Are Rumored To Be In Development

Silent Hill rumors continue to swirl. Following last week’s leaked Silent Hill art, journalist Jeff Grub and leaker NateTheHate2 took to Twitter to comment on two pieces of information they’ve heard from sources.

The first is that Konami is likely working on multiple Silent Hill Games–including a mainline title and side “stories.” The second allegedly confirms Bloober Team’s involvement in a Silent Hill title–Silent Hill 2 Remake. The remake will receive reworked puzzles, new endings, and could possibly be a timed PlayStation exclusive.

This is the stuff I’ve heard, and it comes from multiple different sources. Not all of my sources are primary, but everything is mostly lining up. To me, the biggest indicator is the stuff I’ve seen lines up with Konami doing a big reveal at E3 last year before it pulled out. https://t.co/GzUb3jzrwX

— Jeff Grubb (@JeffGrubb) May 16, 2022

VGC also says that its sources support such claims.

Bloober Team has long been rumored to be working on some sort of Silent Hill project. In 2021, Konami and Bloober Team announced a partnership, a deal that allows the two companies to “produce games from existing and new IPs.”

Konami did plan to showcase projects at E3 in 2021, but pulled out due to not being ready to present. At the time, the company stated, “We are in deep development on a number of key projects, so please stay tuned for some updates in the coming months.” Many people speculate that Silent Hill was part of Konami’s E3 2021 presentation.

In other Konami news, the company made tons of money in 2021 thanks to Yu-Gi-Oh. Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, the digital edition of the classic card game, has been a veritable hit and downloaded over 30 million times. In Japan, Professional Baseball Spirits and eBaseball Powerful Pro Yakyu 2022 drove sales for Konami as well. And its sector that handles pachinko and casino operations reported record profits as well.

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Elden Ring Player Survey Proves That Ranni Is Everybody’s Favorite

Famitsu surveyed 1700 Elden Ring players to get their opinions on why they liked the game, what weapons they liked the most, and more. Frontline Gaming Japan translated the survey results.

When asked what element they liked most about Elden Ring, the surveyed players chose the story and world, the field, and exploration as the top three categories. Boss combat and weapon/armor also ranked highly. To no surprise, item crafting, the equipment upgrade system, and multiplayer elements ranked at the bottom.

One player commented, “[Elden Ring has] the perfect balance for combat, where you can kill even a god when going one-on-one, but can be killed by regular enemies when going up against many.”

Among favorite weapon types, Katanas, Greatswords, and medium shields ranked in the top three. Ranni the Witch, Iron Fist Alexander, and Blaidd made it to the top three people’s favorite NPCs (or NPCs that “left the strongest impression”) category. Ranni came in at number one and clearly is a fan favorite NPC.

People’s favorite boss fights are no surprise either: Radahn, Malenia, and Margit ranked top three. Among the memorable environments, rot-destroyed Caelid, starting area Limgrave, and Leyendell, the Royal Capital, were among the surveyed players’ favorites.

People’s favorite online feature was messages and least favorite was hostile multiplayer.

There’s more information over at Frontline Gaming Japan for those curious about the full survey results. In other Elden Ring news, the game outsold Call of Duty: Vanguard in the US and overall, has sold more than 13.4 million copies.

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Ubisoft+ Is Being Added To PS Plus Extra And Premium In June

As part of the refreshed PlayStation Plus launching next month in the US, Ubisoft+ Classics is being bundled into the PS Plus Extra and Premium tiers. Ubisoft+ Classics will launch with 27 curated games on June 13 in the US, and the lineup is expected to grow to around 50 games by the end of the year. The initial list includes Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, For Honor, and a few Trials games in case you have a few controllers lying around that you don’t mind breaking.

Ubisoft+, the more standard version of the service that offers day-one releases, classic games, and premium editions, will be added to PlayStation at a later date. The service will also be coming to Xbox in the future and more of its games will be made available through Game Pass as part of a new deal between the companies.

As revealed earlier today, the new PS Plus library will feature a healthy selection of contemporary and classic games. While the offerings do lean further towards more modern titles, the partial list so far is populated with retro games such as Ape Escape, Tekken 2, and Syphon Filter. Any of the games on that list that you purchased digitally can be downloaded free of charge on PS4 and PS5 and will benefit from quality-of-life upgrades.

To get more details on what to expect, you can check out GameSpot’s guide on PS Plus pricing and everything else that we know about it.

Ubisoft+ Classics games on PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium

Assassin’s Creed ValhallaFor HonorThe Crew 2Child of LightEagle FlightFar Cry 3: Blood DragonFar Cry 3 RemasterFar Cry 4Legendary FishingRisk: Urban AssaultSouth Park: The Fractured but WholeSouth Park: The Stick of TruthSpace JunkiesStar Trek: Bridge CrewStarlink: Battle for AtlasSTEEPThe CrewThe DivisionTrackmania TurboTransferenceTrials FusionTrials of the Blood Dragon GameTrials RisingValiant Hearts: The Great WarWatch DogsWerewolves WithinZOMBI

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New Multiversus Trailer Confirms July Open Beta: New Characters Taz, Velma, Iron Giant, And More

A brand-new trailer for Multiversus–the upcoming free-to-play platform fighter starring Warner Bros.’ biggest franchises–has dropped, confirming not only when the open beta begins but also a few new faces in the cast.

The cinematic trailer shows a few characters we’ve already seen being forced to team up, including Batman and Shaggy, Bugs Bunny and Arya Stark, Garnet from Steven Universe and Jake from Adventure Time. Harley Quinn also features, but her teammate is the trailer’s first confirmed new character: the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes.

The end of the trailer also teases two more new additions to the roster–Velma from Scooby-Doo and the Iron Giant from the 1999 film–before confirming an open beta test is coming in July.

More details on the closed alpha test scheduled for May 19-27 were also unveiled, as the test will feature 15 characters–including Taz and Velma–as well as seven maps ranging from the Batcave to the Haunted Mansion from Scooby-Doo. The test will feature multiple game modes including 2v2, 1v1, four-player free-for-all, and a training mode.

Multiversus is scheduled for release this fall on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.

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YouTuber Ali-A Joins Fortnite Icon Series

Continuing the Fortnite Icon Series fresh off of last week’s Chica skin, comes the new Ali-A skin. Epic Games continues to add skins that either depict or are inspired by real-life people into the game, with offerings like Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim getting her own skin or the Wu-Tang Clan getting their Wu Wear bundles in the Item Shop. UK-based YouTuber Ali-A is the latest addition to this lineup, with his years of work in the Fortnite content creation scene culminating in him being added to the game.

Epic is using their Fortnite Icon Series, as well as an in-game competition and creative experience, to showcase his five-year career and cement his status as a key member in the Fortnite content creation space. Starting May 19 at 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET, Ali’s fans will be able to pick up his Icon Series set from the item shop. The set will include the Ali-A outfit with eight different styles as well as multiple color and lighting options, along with customizable back bling and a glider that’s built into the outfit.

There will also be a Zero Build Duos Cup for players to compete to earn the skin in, and a creative experience showcasing bits of both Ali-A’s career and Fortnite’s history. A new quest to eliminate 15 opponents at the Ali-A experience will also be available for the experience’s duration, unlocking the Ali-A Was Here spray for all who complete it. For other skins, check out our list of all the Marvel skins currently in Fortnite or find out how to unlock the free Splash Squadron skin here.

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