WEEKLY TRENDING NEWS – 24/09/2023

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. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has gone gold

For those of you who don't know, a game going gold essentially means that it's ready for release. Spider-Man 2 is coming out in less than a month now – on October 20th! Insomniac Games released a video on all social media platforms where the voice actors of the main cast Nadji Jeter, Yuri Lowenthal, Laura Bailey and the one and only Tony Todd confirm that the game is finished and that they can't wait for us to get our hands on it. Well, the feeling is mutual! From what we've seen from gameplay and trailers, Spider-Man 2 seems to improve on the first two games in every aspect, including narrative. All aboard the hype train!

2. Massive Baldur's Gate 3 patch

In my review of BG3 I stated that what really made this game special was the thought and care that the developers of Larian give their project. This continues to be true, because we've officially gotten patch 3.0 – which fixes many bugs, rework features such as inventory bags and adds the Magic Mirror – tucked away at your camp, you can use this to alter the way your character looks (just their aesthetics though, not their origin!). If you still haven't jumped on the opportunity to experience this masterpiece of a CRPG – then now is the best time to do so.

3. Ed Boon promises to fix Mortal Kombat 1's Switch version

For those of you who are unaware, MK1 was released recently and has been received very well by the community. Usually rated between an 8-9. The game looks absolutely spectacular on new gen consoles and gaming PCs, however, the same cannot be said about the Switch version of the game. It's obviously much weaker hardware than a PS5 or a Series X, which leads to the experience being sometimes unplayable. Laughably bad character models and animation, laggy combat and worst of all – walking from left to right not fitting in the 2D dimension. Yes, your characters can actually walk off screen if you do the bug properly. Thankfully, NetherRealm's Ed Boon promised patches for this iteration – which will hopefully make the game playable for Switch users.  

4. CD ProjektRed advises to start a new file after Cyberpunk 2.0

Patch 2.0 will finally fix Cyberpunk – according to the developers, and the initially intended experience will finally be there. Along with many aspects of the game being reworked, such as skill trees and NPC interactions, the new story will probably be set before the ending of the game (as all CDProjekt Red DLCs not named Blood and Wine). Therefore, the developers advise people to start new save files and experience the intended storyline that way. I know I will, because as a fan of Cyberpunk 2077, this redemption arc is important to me. Crossing my fingers that the game officially takes off and people forget about the buggy launch back in 2020.

5. Potential Red Dead Redemption 2 next gen port

In classic Rockstar fashion, instead of updating the game to 60fps they would rather sell it again, which from a business perspective makes complete sense – GTA and RDR are some of the highest selling franchises in the industry. In a leaked Xbox document, it's been semi-confirmed that a next gen port will indeed be coming for Gen 9 consoles – which means the PS5 and Series X/S. Still, take this with a grain of salt, because nothing is 100% certain unless Rockstar confirm it themselves. I'm just glad for the possibility that I'll finally enjoy the game at 60 fps on my PS5.

6. Metal Gear Solid fans are not happy with the framerate of the remaster

Speaking of 30 FPS, MGS: The Master Collection is coming to all new gen consoles and will feature MGS 1, 2 and 3. 2 and 3 will be running at 60fps, 1080p, which is acceptable. However, MGS 1 is capped at 30 fps. The reason behind why this sucks is because the PS3 versions of these games already had 60 fps, which means MGS 1 was the main one which needed upgrading. Konami had also stated that they would target 60 fps for everything accept the Switch versions. So yeah, unfortunately, the 30fps curse continues. When will it end? Hopefully soon.

7. Marvel's Avengers is nearing its end – and it's a steal now

Marvel's Avengers was one of the biggest disappointments of the last few years, and it seems that no one will miss it when it officially gets delisted on September 30th. That means there's less than a week for you to purchase the game. It's currently available for about 10% of its usual price. Honestly, the campaign is not that bad, so for that cheap of a price it's a strong recommendation. Online will continue for players who have the game (though no one plays it, let's be honest) even after it gets taken down from the stores. But yeah – for such a cheap price, you might as well get your hands on a decent campaign. If you're a marvel fan – I would recommend it.

8. Unity promises positive change after the backlash

After the massive backlash against their new toll-per-download policy, Unity has made the only reasonable decision – which is to walk back the change. They said they were changing what people mostly complained about and that in the next few days we would get an official statement regarding the new-new policy and how it would function. Honestly, it's not impossible that this was all just a big stunt – meant for people to recognize Unity more-so than its competitors. It's likely that Unity will be better now than it was before the policy – however, customer trust is also important, and some people have lost theirs. We'll have to wait and see how this drama unfold, but for now, at least game developers and gamers win against corporate greed.

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