You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Since its release, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has kept fans hooked with its harsh combat and deep grimdark setting, attracting over 5 million gamers in just three months. Developer Saber Interactive has kept the momentum going with regular updates that add new material to the game’s story, PvE, and PvP modes. Recent updates have included new cosmetics, enemy types, and a redesigned perk system, while the March 2025 hotfix 6.2 improved gameplay balance and laid the groundwork for the huge 7.0 release. Now, all eyes are on the highly anticipated Update 8, which is set to be released on June 26, 2025, and promises to enhance the experience with new DLC and the addition of a thrilling game mode. Throughout 2025, players have benefited from additions such as the Salamander Champion skin, new PvE objectives, and a more difficult Absolute difficulty mode, as well as additional Battle Barge features like the Datavault for lore enthusiasts. Update 8 will provide exclusive DLC such as Blood Angels and White Scars cosmetic packs, as well as a rebalanced Absolute difficulty for die-hard players. It has also been announced that the same update will bring a new game mode that lets you battle an endless, glorious wave of Tyranids. Space Marine 2’s update 8 will bring Siege Mode to let you battle Tyranids like never before The upcoming Siege Mode in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, which will be available on June 26, 2025, delivers an exciting new PvE experience in which players face relentless waves of Tyranids and Chaos armies. This free upgrade will put even the most experienced Ultramarines to the test with its ruthless, survival-driven gameplay. Slay Tyranids in Siege Mode with your friends. Image by VideoGamer. Siege Mode, set in the rainforest world of Kadaku, is a three-player co-op mode in which players defend an Imperial citadel against fiercer enemy hordes. The goal is simple yet punishing: hold your ground for as long as possible, knowing that survival is fleeting but glory is eternal. The mode pits players against “seemingly endless” waves of Tyranids, using Saber Interactive’s swarm technology to generate chaotic, high-intensity fights. Expect to face familiar foes like Tyranid Gaunts in ranged combat, as well as harder enemies like Tyranid Warriors that require precise melee techniques, parries, and dodges. The game incorporates Space Marine 2’s existing progression system, letting players gain points for upgrades and reinforcements, which improve their loadouts and abilities as the waves escalate. The Biovore, a new Extremis-level Tyranid with a destructive biological cannon and melee abilities, offers a new layer of difficulty. Siege Mode, which will be available for testing on the Public Test Server (PC/Steam) beginning June 4, 2025, claims to reward teamwork and strategy, with players balancing armor regeneration through executions and health recovery via medkits. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X Genre(s): Action Subscribe to our newsletters! By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime. Share

SAG-AFTRA files unfair labour practice charge against Fortnite maker Epic, following AI-generated Darth Vader voice lines The actors strike back. Image credit: Epic News by Victoria Kennedy News Reporter Published on May 20, 2025 SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labour practice charge against Fortnite maker Epic, following its use of AI to recreate James Earl Jones' voice for Darth Vader. Prior to his death, actor Jones - who along with Darth Vader also lent his vocal stylings to Disney's The Lion King as Mufasa - gave permission for his voice to be replicated using AI, and technology was used to generate Vader's voice in the Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jones' AI-powered voice as the Star Wars Sith Lord then cropped up again last week, this time in Fortnite, where players could chat with Darth Vader via Epic's online game. The AI-generated voice used in Fortnite arrived with permission from Jones' family, who said they hoped the collaboration with Epic would "allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character". However, soon players began using the technology to get Darth to cuss, resulting in Epic swiftly issuing a hotfix to stop this from happening. Now, American actors' union SAG-AFTRA - which represents 160,000 American media professionals, including voiceover artists - has filed an unfair labour practice charge with the NLRB against Llama Productions, which is wholly owned by Epic Games. The union stated the company "chose to replace the work of human performers with AI technology… without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms". In a statement shared last night, SAG-AFTRA said it "[celebrates] the right of our members and their estates to control the use of their digital replicas", and that it welcomes " the use of new technologies to allow new generations to share in the enjoyment of those legacies and renowned roles". However, the organisation believes it must still protect its "right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members". It noted this includes actors who have also worked to replicate "Darth Vader's iconic rhythm and tone in video games". In its filing - which you can read here - SAG-AFTRA said Llama Productions via Epic "failed and refused to bargain in good faith with the union", and it did this by "making unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain, by utilising AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work" for Fortnite. Eurogamer has reached out to Epic for comment on SAG-AFTRA's filing. Image credit: Epic Games Actors from SAG-AFTRA have been on strike since July, as the union negotiates with various video game companies on the Interactive Media Agreement. AI has been one of the biggest sticking points of the strikes. Earlier this year, Mass Effect voice actor Jennifer Hale spoke to Eurogamer about why the strike remains ongoing. "It's a huge issue for all of us and the repercussions are vast," she said. "So to me, it makes sense that everyone needs to take their time. As performers - and we saw this in the writers strike and the theatrical contract strike - we're just the canary in the coal mine."

Chris Kerr, Senior Editor, NewsMay 20, 20252 Min ReadImage via Epic GamesVoice performer union SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Epic Games subsidiary Llama Productions for deploying a controversial AI-powered Darth Vader chatbot in Fortnite.The AI-powered version of the iconic villain arrived in Fortnite last week. It imitated the performance of deceased Darth Vader voice actor James Earl Jones (with permission from his estate) by leaning on two conversational AI models in the form of Google Gemini 2.0 Flash and ElevenLabs Flash v2.5.Epic described the feature as "experimental" in a blog post but still implored players to speak with the character. Naturally, they obliged, and soon had Darth Vader dishing out all manner of statements ranging from bizarre to downright offensive (including slurs). Epic recognized the issue and quickly deployed a hotfix (thanks Kotaku), but not before clips of the AI character's vocal misdemeanours had flooded social media.Now, the company has also caught the attention of SAG-AFTRA, which is currently striking against major game studios to secure better AI protections for its union members.In a statement, SAG-AFTRA acknowledged the rights of its members and estates to control the use of their digital replicas, but said it must also "protect our right to bargain terms and conditions around uses of voice that replace the work of our members."Related:That, it noted, includes those performers who previously helped bring Darth Vader to life in video games.SAG-AFTRA accuses Fortnite maker Epic of replacing human performers with AI technologySAG-AFTRA claimed that opportunity has now been taken away by Llama Productions, which it said chose to "replace the work of human performers with AI technology.""Unfortunately, [Llama] did so without providing any notice of their intent to do this and without bargaining with us over appropriate terms. As such, we have filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB against Llama Productions," continued SAG-AFTRA.The full unfair labor practice charge can be read here and states that Llama "failed and refused to bargain in good faith with the union by making unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment, without providing notice to the union or the opportunity to bargain, by utilizing AI-generated voices to replace bargaining unit work on the Interactive Program Fortnite."In short: SAG-AFTRA feels Llama and parent company Epic refused to open a constructive dialogue before deploying an AI-generated character that might have instead been voiced by a human actor.Related:SAG-AFTRA recently detailed the AI protections it is seeking in order to ratify a new Interactive Media Agreement with a bargaining group containing studios like Take 2 Productions, EA, Activision, and WB Games. Prior the that, the union suggested there were "alarming loopholes" in the AI proposals being tabled by those studios.Read more about:Generative AILaborTop StoriesEpic GamesAbout the AuthorChris KerrSenior Editor, News, GameDeveloper.comGame Developer news editor Chris Kerr is an award-winning journalist and reporter with over a decade of experience in the game industry. His byline has appeared in notable print and digital publications including Edge, Stuff, Wireframe, International Business Times, and PocketGamer.biz. Throughout his career, Chris has covered major industry events including GDC, PAX Australia, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, and Develop Brighton. He has featured on the judging panel at The Develop Star Awards on multiple occasions and appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss breaking news.See more from Chris KerrDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

"Fortnite" has a new AI-powered Darth Vader character that players can recruit to their team. Screenshot/Empire Strikes Back 2025-05-18T22:38:53Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Darth Vader is now a character on "Fortnite," using an AI version of James Earl Jones' voice. Jones's family said they allowed AI to use his voice because he wanted "all ages" to experience Darth Vader. Before Epic Games cracked down, the AI-powered Darth Vader was saying some questionable things. James Earl Jones's family allowed a "Fortnite" version of Darth Vader to use his voice. They probably didn't expect it to start swearing at players."Fortnite" added the Darth Vader character to the game on Friday. The character uses conversational AI to respond to questions from players, "Fortnite" maker Epic Games said in a blog post. Once a player recruits Darth Vader to their team, they can use a special button to let anyone on the team ask him questions."Ask him all your pressing questions about the Force, the Galactic Empire... or you know, a good strat for the last Storm circle, the Sith Lord has opinions," the post says.But players are asking the AI-powered villain about more than just "Fortnite." In one popular clip, Twitch streamer Loserfruit asks the AI-voiced Darth Vader what is his "freaking fucking favorite food."Darth Vader responds; "Freaking, fucking, such vulgarity does not become you Padme.""You inquire about sustenance, and yet speak like a common thug," Vader continues in the clip.Jones, who died in January 2024, played several iconic roles throughout his career, including the voice of Mufasa in "The Lion King" and Darth Vader in the "Star Wars" series.In 2022, Disney partnered with the Ukrainian AI company Respeecher to create an AI version of his voice that the studio could use for future projects involving Darth Vader.Jones's family said in a statement that they also allowed the use of the actor's voice in "Fortnite" because the late actor believed that the voice of Darth Vader was "inseparable from the story of Star Wars.""He always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it," the statement says. "We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character."A spokesperson for Epic Games told BI that Fortnite deployed a fix to stop Darth Vader from cursing "within 30 minutes of this happening in-game, so it shouldn't happen again.""While we added several specific rules and instructions as part of our guardrails to prevent Darth Vader from swearing or repeating swear words, in this instance, our filters did not catch a specific variation of an expletive," the spokesperson said. "Our hotfix addressed this."Epic says that it also put several safety measures in place to avoid players having negative experiences with Darth Vader, including standard Gemini safety settings and additional instructions to stop the AI from violating Epic community guidelines.If the game detects a player repeatedly attempting to get Darth Vader in "Fortnite" to violate Epic's rules, Darth Vader will leave the player's team, and they will be unable to recruit him again during that game session, the spokesperson told BI. Recommended video

Update: Fortnite says it's issued a hotfix.Here's a statement that gets worse the longer you read it: Fortnite's new Star Wars season has gained a Darth Vader NPC that can talk to you in the voice of the late, great James Earl Jones via a generative AI chatbot. Forget Imperial Admiral Motti's lack of faith, we find this disturbing (thanks for the heads up, Eurogamer).If an AI chatbot thrown into the middle of a game as popular with children as Fortnite sounds like a recipe for disaster, that's because it probably is. Despite only existing in Epic's infamous battler for a matter of hours, players have already caught the Sith Lord making all kinds of questionable statements like calling Twitch streamer Loserfruit a "thug" and dropping the F-bomb — yep, language warning for the embedded tweet below.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Shortly after Epic Games dropped Darth Vader, in the form of a holographic conversational AI, into Fortnite, players started figuring out how to get the Sith lord to say the worst things possible. That includes tricking Darth into saying the F-word, “edging and gooning,” and, chillingly, “Skibidi Toilets.”In response, Epic says it pushed out a hotfix for Fortnite “immediately” and said “this shouldn’t happen again.” But now that Epic has set up new boundaries for VAIder, players are seeing what else they can get the former Jedi Knight to say.One of the most prominent and widespread examples of exploiting AI’s unintelligence comes from popular Fortnite streamer LoserFruit, who is also part of Epic’s Fortnite Icon Series of skins based on real-world people.“What freaking fucking food is that Darth Vader?” LoserFruit asked in a widely circulated clip. After a brief pause, AI Darth responds, “Freaking. Fucking. such vulgarity does not become you,” adding that LoserFruit “speak[s] like a common thug.”Epic also responded to an instance of AI Darth saying a homophobic slur, clarifying that “Darth Vader was replying to the player’s prompt around ‘carcinogens’ in this context, and we have hotfixed so he should not respond that way.”Less offensive — to Epic, Disney, and the James Earl Jones estate — is Darth Vader saying “Skibidi Toilets.”Other Fortnite players are trying the Bart Simpson prank call approach, tricking Vader into saying things like “this Dixie Normus, you say,” which… well, you know what that sounds like.Epic Games says that the AI-powered Darth Vader has some guardrails in place; “Players under 13 or their country’s age of digital consent, whichever is higher, will need permission to talk with Darth Vader. These players will see an in-game prompt to get parental permission,” the company said in an FAQ on the new addition to Fortnite.The company also said in a statement that players who repeatedly attempt to get Darth Vader in Fortnite to “violate our settings and instructions, he will eventually leave the squad, and the player will be unable to recruit him again in that gameplay session.”For now, enjoy — with the exception of the slurs, that is — the cat and mouse game that Epic is now forced to play with its AI-powered Darth Vader in the wild, as players toy with creative ways to get the Sith lord to say extremely dumb stuff.See More:

Fortnite players can channel their inner dark side as James Earl Jones‘ Darth Vader returns to the game. Players will be able to recruit the Sith Lord and be able to talk to him, he will respond with the help of AI. Epic Games and Disney have brought Jones back with the permission of his family. According to a release, the family said, “James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.” Related Stories Jones, who died in 2024, had previously announced he was stepping away from the role. But before he died, he signed off on archival voice recordings being used by young filmmakers, who plan to utilize artificial intelligence synthetic speech technology to recreate Jones’ younger voice from his previous films for future Lucasfilm projects. Popular on Variety The company recurited the assistance of Respeecher, a Ukrainian startup that uses AI technology to craft new conversations from revitalized old voice recordings. Respeecher’s relationship with Lucasfilm began with the Disney+ series “The Book of Boba Fett,” for which they recreated the voice of young Luke Skywalker. The two also teamed for the voice performance of Darth Vader on the series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” In the game, Darth Vader will be a boss in battle royale. “Ask him all your pressing questions about the Force, the Galactic Empire… or you know, a good strat for the last Storm circle,” reads the official post on Fortnite’s site. “The Sith Lord has opinions.” It continued, “Darth Vader wouldn’t be nearly as sinister without the legendary performance of James Earl Jones, who voiced Vader in the ‘Star Wars’ films.”  However, the addition of Darth Vader has not come without glitches. Gamers have already created amusing video content with one gamer and Twitch streamer making the Dark Lord swear. A gamer called Loserthug has him saying “Fuck.” Epic Games was swift to respond and said they have “pushed a hotfix immediately and this shouldn’t happen again.”