WEEKLY TRENDING NEWS – 17/09/2023

By Nikola Hristov

Welcome back, everybody! In this weekly roundup of all the trending news from the past seven days we have compiled everything that's important for you to stay up to date! What exactly is happening in the online space, and what can you expect from your beloved franchises in the future? Well, let's find out right now!

1. More Marvel's Spider-Man 2 news after the recent State of Play

Last Thursday we got the usual September State of Play that Sony has every year. Aside from FF7 Rebirth and Spider-Man, it was rather disappointing. But thankfully Peter and Miles' adventure got even more details revealed. On top of more story information, we also got the confirmation of 65 different suits, including things like Black Raimi suit and Superior Spider-Man. There's also new combat gameplay that showcased the Symbiote combat of Peter and a boss fight with the Lizard which happens right after what we saw at the May State of Play. There are also new swinging animations, which are sure to spice up traversal along with the web wings and the larger map of New York. I cannot wait to get my hands on this GOTY contender on October 20th!

2. Resident Evil 4 Remake is getting the Separate Ways DLC

Fans of the original RE4 may remember the Ada Wong DLC which tells the story of the game from her perspective. Well, the remake is getting it too – so we get to see a different side of story from that of Leon. Ada was in the cursed village even before him, but after the story begins, she suffers from the same problem that he has – something evil eating her from within. Players will get to experience the full RE4 narrative from Ada's point of view. Along with new combat and traversal options, this DLC is surely worth a playthrough.

3. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth reveals new gameplay and release date

Along with Spider-Man 2, this announcement carried the recent State of Play, because the Final Fantasy games, especially 7, have a massive audience and tons of diehard fans. Remake substantially changed the story of the original and technically only told a third of it, so we are left wondering if this will even be close to the classic story. In the trailer we got to see characters such as Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, Aerith, as well as Vincent and fan-favorite Cait Sith. The game is currently set to be released on the 29th of February 2024. Why the 29th of February? Because it's funny probably. Even if it gets slightly delayed, the game is likely to come out in the first half of 2024.

4. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora info revealed

This Ubisoft project was also featured in the state of play and revealed tons of gameplay elements such as the combination of Na'Vi and human weapons during combat, flight and diving, and massive open world exploration. It's been described as Far Cry on Pandora – so make of that what you will. Graphically it looks insanely impressive, my jaw quite literally dropped during the trailer. However, with Ubisoft you can never get your hopes up too much. This doesn't look like it will disappoint, but you never know for certain. The game will be released this December.

5. Mortal Kombat 1 officially out

Well, on September 14th we finally got to play the next instalment in the Mortal Kombat franchise and thankfully – it's great. With a brand-new narrative that is driven by Liu Kang's creation of the new universe and many old Mortal Kombat characters being reimagined in a modern fashion, 1 feels like a breath of fresh air that the franchise absolutely needed. There so many cool easter eggs and pop-culture references, such as Shang Tsung's Kill Bill fatality, Johnny Cage's Jean-Claude van Damme skin and many others. I've personally already fallen in love with Smoke, not only because he's played by Yuri Lowenthal, but because of his knife-based playstyle and flashy combos. If you've always wanted to jump into the franchise but never got the chance to, you should do so now.

6. iPhone 15 Pro is the first AAA gaming phone

Apple seem to be really pushing a massive jump for their most popular product. On top of the switch to USB C they're also rather enthusiastic about the gaming future of this phone. Many AAA games such as Resident Evil 4 and Village, AC Mirage and others are coming to the hardware. Although they'll be capped at 30 fps, it seems like we may finally have a portable PlayStation that plays all the great games on our hands. Obviously, we're going to have to wait and see, but I'm optimistic about this device and how it can push the boundaries even further.

7. Netflix's One Piece Season 2 announced

The positive reception of Season 1 of the live action One Piece show is officially going to allow the team to continue recreating the stories of the franchise. Eiichiro Oda has come out to announce that work on Season 2 is starting soon AND he's also teased the coming of the Straw hat Pirates' doctor, Tony Tony Chopper. Although everyone agrees that the show isn't perfect, it has managed to do what many others of its kind fail to – recreating anime in real life. This has solidified the show a spot in Netflix's future schedules, similarly to other successful shows like Squid Game.

8. Massive Unity backlash amidst company's new policy

Recently, as I'm sure most of you have heard, Unity announced a new policy that they would basically start charging game developers per install on their games. It's complicated to explain the math, but essentially, any even remotely successful games that have over 200 000 thousand downloads will be affected by this change. This basically means that lots of developers will have to pay hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars back to the company. This of course sparks massive backlash from both gamers themselves and industry workers, and as a growing developer myself I absolutely despise the greediness of Unity's board, especially the CEO. However, the drama has been so much recently that if they actually decide to keep the policy, people will delete their games from stores so they aren't charged (Like Cult of the Lamb devs) and they'll stop using the engine permanently. Unity, wake the f*ck up – this will kill your reputation as a good engine!

Well, that's about everything for this week's news! Stay tuned for more gaming reviews and articles regarding all your favorite franchises right here, on One Up Gaming.

Written by: Nikola Hristov