WEEKLY TRENDING NEWS – 08/10/2023

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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's new cinematic Trailer: "Be Greater Together"

It's crazy to think that in less than two weeks we will have Spider-Man 2 in the palms of our hands. It's no secret that the highly anticipated sequel to the critically-acclaimed Insomniac title of 2018 has some high expectations that it will need to meet. However, in Insomniac we trust! In the new CGI trailer for the game, we see both Peter and Miles reflecting on their losses from 2018's Spider-Man PS4. Of course, being Spider-Men, they have no choice but to keep moving forward into a fight against the ginormous Venom. We still don't know for certain who Venom is, but the theory that Peter becomes him is less likely now, because they're really pushing the Peter vs Venom eventual boss fight. I suppose we will know in exactly 11 days from now!

2. A new look at some of the suits from Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man games are known for three things – the web-swinging, the incredible New York city and suits. The sequel seems to be the biggest one yet in that aspect – with Insomniac confirming over 65+ different suits for launch day. They also showcased 10 of them, specifically the digital deluxe edition suits, in recent variant covers. Despite the costumes being created by well-known and talented designers such as Raf Grassetti, the community has been pretty mixed in their feeling about them – me included. They do look very overdesigned, and I probably won't be wearing them, especially during my first playthrough. Insomniac have confirmed that they will reveal more suits on the 12th of October, about a week before release. Look out for that if you want to check out some of the amazing cosmetic choices in the game!

3. Overwatch 2 teases Diablo crossover in spooky new Season 7

Look, Overwatch has many problems, such as balancing and poor communication from the developers. However, skins have never been one of them. The art department usually delivers all the time. This probably includes Season 7, which is thematically supposed to be creepy because of Halloween. Among a new updated Blizzard World map, we also got our first look at the Diablo Lilith skin for Moira, as well as the mythic Hanzo skin, featuring a unique ultimate animation. Will this save the game's continuous downward spiral? No. But for fans of Blizzard games, these references are always welcome.

4. Assassin's Creed Mirage officially releases

A very exciting title from Ubisoft, which is supposed to return the franchise back to its original roots of Stealth-based gameplay and story importance. Originally supposed to be a DLC for Valhalla, Mirage was instead turned into a cheaper standalone game. It's short, features a unique story and combat changes, and of course – the city of Baghdad, which is widely regarded as its best feature. For more information, check out our review of the game.

5. Red Dead Redemption gets a 60 FPS patch on PS5

I covered many times how angry people were because of the Red Dead Redemption port over to new gen consoles. It simply didn't make sense – the graphics were nothing special, the prices were ridiculous for a game as old as this one, and the lack of performance improvements in the FPS department was the cherry on top. Rockstar are not ones to update their games, they simply don't care. Which is why it was really surprising how the port got a silent update, introducing a 60 fps mode to the game. I couldn't believe my eyes – Rockstar actually improving player experience without asking for more money? I guess this gets my hopes up for a potential patch for RDR2 – although if they wanted to do it, I guess they would have done it already.

6. It took $125 million to fix Cyberpunk 2077, according to CD Projekt Red

You gotta respect it, man. A developer releases one of biggest disappointments ever – filled to the brim with confusing systems, mediocre characters and a bunch of technical problems. But they refuse to give up and keep updating the game time after time, fixing one problem after another. Now, more than three years later, Cyberpunk 2077 has one of the best redemption arcs I can think of – especially because of the new Phantom Liberty DLC. Everything that was wrong with the game in 2020, is either completely fixed or majorly improved now. And although it took 125 million dollars, CD Projekt Red says they would do it all over again.

7. Lies of P is seemingly getting a DLC

The fresh new Soulslike, inspired heavily by Bloodborne, has been very critically acclaimed in past few weeks, obtaining scores of at least 8/10 from most sources. For a fan game, it's excellent – everything that you love about Bloodborne is there, but it's also much more unique because it's focused on a dark version of Pinocchio's world. Anyways, the game is great – and the developers behind it are giving it a DLC. For those of you who've played Souls games before, you know the DLC is usually where players find the best bosses and content. If this stays true for Lies of P, it means this game can only get better from here.

8. Microsoft may finally be buying Activision Blizzard next week

The long-awaited moment might finally be arriving – the deal that is supposed to shake the gaming industry. After winning pretty much everything in court, it is now allowed to Microsoft to officially acquire the developer giant behind franchises such as Call of Duty and Diablo. Despite Sony and Nintendo's best efforts to prevent this, most people actually wanted this deal to go through. The truth is, both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard haven't really made top-quality games in the past decade. They've made financial giants, sure, because franchises like COD are so mainstream people buy them regardless of quality. But maybe this will actually help them create better products not just for money, but also out of love and passion for the artform that is videogame development.

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