Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s 1.002.000 patch is here, and while it did finally deliver long-awaited features like New Game+, it also unintentionally added access to a development game menu.
Developer Insomniac Games addressed the unintended addition in a post on X/Twitter, explaining that a hotfix for the issue is “on the way.” The message also warns that players who use the menu could face corrupted save data and trophy progress. Those who spend their time swinging around New York City like normal should find no issue, though, so even if you’re curious, you’re probably better off just forgetting about the slip-up for now.
⚠️ We’re aware the latest game update may have inadvertently allowed access to a development game menu. There’s a hotfix on the way.
Please note that using this menu could corrupt your saves and trophy progress.
There is no risk associated with playing the game as intended.
Unfortunately, it sounds like the menu is relatively easy to access. For the sake of your save files, we won’t delve into the process here, but players on Reddit were quick to figure it out. Some have even said they gained access by accidentally stumbling across it, so watch out for that too.
Screenshots of the menu options include settings for items, enemies, health, and more, potentially giving players access to game-breaking tools they were never meant to have. Again, Insomniac warns that those who take advantage of the bug could find themselves with corrupted data, so that’s the risk if you can’t help but take peek behind the scenes. No hotfix is available yet, but we’ll update this story when one arrives.
Most Spider-Man 2 players are too preoccupied with the update’s other many goodies to spend their time with these unintended new options. Some highlights from the 1.002.000 patch include new suits, a Mission Replay feature, and the option to switch the in-game time of day. It’s a massive content drop for the sequel, which launched in October of last year and has managed to sell 10 million copies thus far.
For more on Spider-Man 2, be sure to read our 8/10 review. At the time, we said, “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 delivers Insomniac’s best tale yet, and despite its open world falling short, is a reliably fun superhero power trip.”
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.
Today, Blizzard revealed a stylish trailer for Overwatch 2’s next big crossover collaboration event with none other than the fan-favorite 90’s anime series, Cowboy Bebop. The special collaboration will launch as a part of Overwatch 2 Season 9 on March 12.
In typical Overwatch fashion, the Cowboy Bebop collaboration trailer spoofs animation studio Sunrise anime’s iconic opening animated sequence and opening theme song “Tank” by Yoko Kanno. In it, we see Cassidy as the bebop’s laissez-faire bounty hunter, Spike Spiegel; Ashe as its femme fatale, Faye Valentine; Mauga as the gruff ex-cop, Jet Black; Wrecking Ball as the super-smart hound, Ein; and Sombra as the crew’s rambunctious hacker, Ed.
While Blizzard has yet to reveal whether or not the Cowboy Bebop collab will see the addition of a new limited-time game mode like its One Punch Man and Le Sserafim event, the collab trailer and YouTube description text tease the Overwatch heroes prepping for some sort of train heist.
Arguably, one of the main things on the backs of diehard Overwatch 2 players’ minds will be how much its yet-to-be-seen exclusive anime skins will cost and if it’ll be locked behind a steep season pass bundle like its contentious $40 Diablo IV collab. The answers to these questions will likely all come to light when Overwatch 2 Season 9 launches next week.
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh
One of the sillier aspects of the original Dragon’s Dogma was accidentally falling head over heels for some rando innkeeper, and having them appear beside you as your sweetheart during the ending scenes, much to the surprise of many players who didn’t realise they were hitting on every NPC they did a favour for.
The game’s Affinity system saw NPCs organically forming an attachment to players when you interacted with them, gave them things or carried out tasks for them. Towards the conclusion, one NPC is selected as “Beloved” and promptly abducted by a dragon for you to quest forth and rescue. There are a few characters who are positioned more obviously as romanceables, but the brilliance of the system is that you can raise your Affinity with pretty much anybody. If you want to finish the game staring passionately into the eyes of the court jester or that hearty bloke who runs the armour shop, it’s within your power.
Hello Xbox fans! Our co-op sandbox survival game Wizard With a Gun unloads an expanded arsenal of new content today in Bounty of Guns, our newest free update! There’s a crate-load of fresh, awesome stuff in Bounty of Guns, including new enemies, events and fashionable furniture for your refuge in the Tower, but, as the name suggests, there’s one new feature in particular that wizards who love weapons will really get a kick out of.
Lucrative new Bounties offer you the chance to gain special rewards from an assortment of more than 50 firearms, and we’ve picked out five of our favourites to help kickstart your collection.
Fidrow Cultbuster
Favoured for its steady output, larger magazine size, and stronger bullets, the Fidrow Cultbuster is a great way to keep your enemies hiding behind cover. The Cultbuster has been banned on the plains after the Cult of Iron Massacre six years ago, but the contraband wand has found its way on the Shatter in the hands of those same cultists.
Odden’s Pointer
Odden Hammerite is a mechanist craftswoman from the eastern plains whose guns are recognizable from their brutalist designs. She’s a supplier of the Gladwell family, who value the added power the guns generate by charging up shots. Together, her line of guns is known as Odden’s Fist.
Vitriol
The Cult of Lead has developed numerous weapons to better spread poison and corruption. Vitriol is one of their most successful experimental weapons yet. Each shot adds an additional poison dose to its bullet, making it the ideal companion to lethal finisher spells!
Malediction
Draco Scarpath is renowned for his extraordinarily powerful gunmancy. The downside to his obsidian-infused wands is that every shot drains the life from their wielder’s body. The more powerful the gun, the higher a toll it takes. Most wizards stay far away from his cursed weapons… except those who prize power above all else.
Blightspreader
Since discovering the Infinite Well in the Tower, Orion has spent years trying to cleanse its poison. His idea for the Blightspreader came originally as a way to deliver antidotes faster than the Well’s rate of decay, but now his gun too has been corrupted. Orion has infused the minigun with the Well’s poison and wields it as a weapon against those who would attack Hilda and her Riders.
We hope you enjoy racking up Bounties, getting to grips with your new toys, and putting your Gun Racks to good use. Good luck, gunslingers! You’re gonna need it…
Wizard With a Gun is out now for Xbox Series X|S. The Bounty of Guns update arrives for free today.
Few artists have been more requested by our community than our latest release, Daft Punk. The wait is over, we are excited to announce the Daft Punk Music Pack is now available on Beat Saber for PS VR and PS VR 2!
Formed in Paris in 1993, the duo quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the most influential electronic music artists of all time, spanning genres and inspiring the global music industry for many years. The iconic helmets and robot personas they adopted allowed more focus on their music and craft, and became an undeniable part of Daft Punk’s image and brand.
The Daft Punk Music Pack brings 10 of the band’s top hits so we can all celebrate their work through their almost 30-year history. We’re sure that everyone will find their favorites in our packed selection.
The tracklist includes:
Around The World
Around The World / Harder Better Faster Stronger (Live 2007)
Da Funk / Daftendirekt (Live 2007)
Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers)
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Lose Yourself to Dance (feat. Pharrell Williams)
One More Time
Technologic
The Prime Time of Your Life (Live 2007)
Veridis Quo
What’s even more exciting is that for the very first time ever, we’re launching live music in the game, bringing select high-energy tracks from the legendary live show Alive 2007. If you’re up for a challenge, this music pack features the longest song ever released on Beat Saber – The Prime Time of Your Life (Live 2007) – it’s 10 mins and 23 seconds long!
The music pack is accompanied by a new custom in-game environment in gold/silver color palette, inspired by the band’s iconic triangle stage look from their live shows. We took it to the next level and created a beautiful space-y environment, surrounding the player with stars (some even orbit around you). The environment brings captivating new tech for lasers like physics and length.
Beat Saber players can get the 10-song Daft Punk Music Pack for 12.99 USD / 12.99 EUR, or if they don’t have Beat Saber just yet, they can jump in with a discounted bundle that includes the Beat Saber base game plus a full music pack for 39.99 USD / 39.99 EUR.
The three most important things to know about South Park: Snow Day are 1) that it’s a roguelike-inspired battle game rather than an RPG, 2) it’s 3D rather than 2D, and 3) the South Park TV show supplied over 50 different fart sound effects for use in the game. We went hands-on with the multiplayer spin-off ahead of its March 26 release and, full disclosure, got our asses handed to us by Stan and his elves.
Head into the snowy landscapes of the South Park streets and the reason for the 3D upgrade is obvious, allowing for the type of chaotic action that the previous South Park games could only dream of. Playing as New Kid, you can team up with three friends, or bots if you have social anxiety, to do Hades-like runs through different areas of the town, taking on waves of enemies and the odd boss battle with a combination of a melee weapon, ranged weapon, two special powers – like Hurry-Cane that grants a whirlwind attack – and the brilliantly named Bullshit powers. These will reset every run, but any character perks you’ve bought with Dark Matter and character cosmetics will persist. Think screaming at your friend for a health totem (a bag of Cheesy Poofs tied to a stick) as Princess Kenny tries to charm you with weaponized hearts, or levitating through the power of farts to get away from a cluster of foes. It’s chaos, all punctuated with Cartman calling you out when you suck, and the sound of little kids (voiced by actual children) cussing and shouting as the battle.
The only yellow snow spots in the fun drift were that the movement had a sort of floaty feeling that took me a while to get used to, and as a result I couldn’t take advantage of the higher ground or trampoline pads without risking missing my target. The bosses we saw were tough too, Stan – as his elf warrior alter ego – had a vicious thorny vine attack that meant I just couldn’t get near him. They’re the kind of issues that fade away when you’ve had more than a few hours with a game, but time will tell if my Cartman-esque temper can handle it.
Snow much fun
Underneath the simple premise, four players, rouge-like runs, and arenas packed with areas to gain the advantage, there’s an extra level of depth – all delivered with biting South Park wit. The Bullshit powers are a great twist on any kid’s tendency to start making up spurious rules when they’re playing any kind of pretend game. In Snow Day that scenario is managed with Bullshit cards that bestow hugely OP but seriously rationed powers on your character. Overseen by Paladin Butters, you get to choose one upgrade card and one Bullshit card before every run. There’s one BS card you can use twice that gives you laser eyes, or the “Radioactive God” BS card that has three uses and makes your team emit fumes to gross out your enemies. To mix things up even more, Henrietta the Goth can be found around the levels with a set of Tarot cards that will let you tweak the way your upgrades for that run work. Basically, it’s going to be hard to make a run feel the same way twice, even if you’re really trying. As someone who is a tank that likes to hit things with melee weapons, the Bullshit cards feel like a win for me. It’s easy for roguelikes to get a bit samey when you’re just bashing everything in sight, but it’s impossible to get bored of that when you know you’ve got the power to call up a meteor storm or an actual vampire in your back pocket. The cards themselves look freaking neat too, and if there was an IRL physical version I’d happily dip into my collectibles fund for them.
As you make it through Snow Day there are three types of currency to collect: toilet paper, Dark Matter, and PP. Apart from its usual uses, in South Park: Snow Day toilet paper can be spent to beef up the power of your upgrade cards or re-roll your choices, with Jimmy the Bard as your friendly shopkeeper. Platinum Pieces have to be earned through gameplay progression and conquering certain challenges but will unlock new cosmetics and emotes to keep your New Kid looking fresh. And Dark Matter – a strange substance somehow tied to the endless blizzard affecting the town – is the most important of the three. It’s what you’ll use between runs to buy perks and jack up your speed, stamina, health, and strength stats. I’m not a careful player in any gaming scenario so the fact that Dark Matter perks I’ve bought (and cosmetics like chin balls) persist between runs is important, and can stop repeated attempts at a level feeling like a hard day at the office.
Stay frosty
The setup could easily have made for a classic South Park episode. Arctic conditions mean the kids get time off school to stage Dungeons and Dragons-style battles, but as the snow drags on and you fight through the campaign you’ll find that this is no ordinary weather event. While a lot of the characters like Professor Chaos and Wizard Cartman might be familiar from Stick of Truth and The Fractured but Whole, Snow Day swaps the narrative heft of the RPG for a combat caper you can play over and over again with friends. That doesn’t mean you won’t get plenty of South Park laughs as you maul your enemies, but think of the campaign as more of an episode of the show, rather than a movie like the aforementioned RPGs. The plan is for more content to be added over time, too, something that the structure of the RPGs made difficult, but here presents the compelling opportunity for the game to reflect what’s happening in the TV show. I’d love to see the same crazy, up-to-the-minute cultural comedy find a way into the game, the right care and attention could keep Snow Day feeling fresh long after you’ve burned through the main storyline.
As for that new look, yes Cartman has more junk in his trunk, but after five minutes it just looks normal, and you’ll be too busy dodging swipes from a weaponized road sign to build up any South Park Purist rage about it. In some sort of beautiful, poop joke-fuelled meta-universe it kind of feels like the sort of game Cartman, Kenny, Kyle, and Stan would get obsessed with. Its longevity won’t become clear until the game is released on March 26, but right now we can all be safe in the knowledge that the South Park soul lives on in Snow Day.
In further confirmation that one can never truly own digital media, Warner Bros. Discovery has decided to “retire” 2016’s noodling around puzzle game Small Radios Big Televisions – meaning it’ll disappear off storefronts in the next 60 days. Developer Owen Deery revealed this news on Xitter a couple of days ago, simultaneously announcing that the game is now free to download. Deery also noted you can buy the synthy soundtrack to show support.
Insomniac Games has released the hotly anticipated New Game+ update for PlayStation 5 exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and it adds a number of significant new features to the game.
Patch 1.002.000, out now, adds the aforementioned New Game+ as well as Mission Replay and time of day options. Insomniac has also added new accessibility options, including Audio Descriptions and Screen Reader, both of which are localized in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish (LATAM/Spain), and Japanese.
Fans will be particularly interested in the New Game+ features, which include Ultimate Levels and their associated story Symbiote suit styles, and a new trophy for completing the story in NG+. There are new suits for Peter and Miles, too, and a raft of improvements and fixes across the board.
Spider-Man 2 launched in October last year and has sold 10 million copies so far. Thoughts have already turned to what’s next from Insomniac, which recently suffered layoffs as part of mass cuts at Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Audio Descriptions: A narrator will describe key visuals and actions during cinematics
Sub Option: Volume Slider
Screen Reader: Audio narration relaying text across menus, tutorials, and control hints
Sub Options: Volume Slider, Repeat Delay Time, Repeat Delay Scale
Mono Audio: Combine all audio into a singular output
Captions: Display captions for important in-game sounds during cinematics and some gameplay
Sub options: Size, Color, Background Color, Background Opacity
In-World Text Translations: Enable text boxes to show translated in-world text
High Contrast Outlines: Outline friendlies and enemies with specific High Contrast colors
High Contrast Outlines Friendly
High Contrast Outlines Enemy
High Contrast Presets: Access preset High Contrast settings for streamlined use
Center Dot Color: Adjust the color of the center dot on screen
Aim Arc Color: Adjust the color of the arc that displays during certain moments when aiming
Target Arc Color: Change the color of the arc indicator when throwing certain items on target
Motion Sensor Aiming: Aim using the DualSense Controller’s motion sensors
Sub Options include: Calibration & Sensitivity
UI Holds: Switch UI holds to toggle
Touch Pad in Combat: Disable the Touch Pad during combat to prevent accidental presses
IMPROVEMENTS / FIXES
GENERAL
General improvements to game stability
Addressed global crashing and freezing issues that may occur during cutscenes and/or gameplay
Addressed global visual issues that may occur during cutscenes and/or gameplay
Addressed issues where hiding HUD would prevent the next mission from spawning
Addressed issues where players wouldn’t be able to progress certain tutorials or sections
Addressed an issue where Web Wings would automatically deploy if tutorials are set to off
Addressed an issue where trick animations would reset during dives
Addressed issues relating to incorrect player spawns after failing or restarting checkpoint
Updated Webbed Suit textures
Addressed clipping and artifact issues with some suit lenses
Improved deformation across several suits
Various additional fixes across the game
ACCESSIBILITY
Made several improvements and fixes to High Contrast settings
Addressed visibility issues across several enemy types, attacks, puzzles, and interactable objects
Added the pause menu option to skip Adaptive Trigger minigames, joining previously included features such as:
Turning off Adaptive Triggers via PS5 console settings to automatically skips these puzzles
QTE Autocomplete can automatically skip these puzzles
Made improvements and fixes to Toggles
Enabling Swing/Parkour toggle adds tap on/off functionality for Spider-Bot Jump Jets
Enabling Swing/Parkour toggle adds functionality for MJ to navigate squeeze-throughs automatically
Toggle icons display properly when restarting the game
Addressed an issue where tutorials would interfere with Swing/Parkour toggle functionality
Addressed an issue where Swing/Parkour wouldn’t enable fast enough when sprinting as MJ
Addressed issues with Aim Mode toggle with MJ’s lure
Addressed issues with Friendly Neighborhood Challenge Level
Symbiote nests and tanker crimes can no longer be failed
Made several improvements to Look at Waypoint across several missions in the game
Added Point of Interest (POI) Audio Indicator
This feature emits audio feedback ticking when Spider-Senses are used and there is a POI on the screen to aid in judging distance, height, and occlusion
Made several improvements to DualSense haptics
When the Haptics setting is set to Functional and the POI Audio Indicator is enabled, the system includes an additional haptic component for the waypoints.
Added distinct haptics for Abilities and Gadgets ready with Functional Haptics turned on
Added hot/cold haptics when doing object navigations with Functional Haptics turned on
Added haptic feedback when interact prompt is on screen
Adjusted haptics across different puzzles and combat scenarios in the game
Toned down damage received haptic a bit.
Selected Shortcuts now display in the first boot menu
Added the ability to enable Screen Reader in the first boot menu via Square button press
Fixed resolution and other oddities when setting Button Prompt Size to Largest
If enabled, Auto-Heal can save the player from fall damage death if the player has a full Focus bar
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
This week Steam unveiled a couple of changes. Your shopping basket from the Steam store is now shared between devices, so if you put something in there on browser you can finish it up on your Steam Deck. But, more importantly, you can now hide single, selected games from your library, so your friends can’t see when you’re playing them – or even that you own them. Obviously the first thing that comes to mind is that this could usher in a new dawn of secret perverts able to hide their embarrassing 3D sex games, but are there other use cases for it? We discuss on this week’s podcast. Plus: we’ve been playing current games! Cheese! And some more booze recommendations from James!
