Have you ever needed to send a text that you wished you could’ve had some help with? In FixyText, coming soon to The Jackbox Party Pack 10, every game is an opportunity to work together to send a message that’s as fun to write as it is to read.
In FixyText, players are given a text to which they need to respond. These texts come from one of four different categories: Flirty, Serious Business, Friends and Family, or Unknown Number. You and your friends have to work together to respond to your text… but each of you may have their own agenda. Oh, and did we mention that there’s no delete key?
After you generate your hilariously incoherent messages, players get to vote on their favorite words and phrases in each text. Before you know it, the player with the most points will be crowned the best texter, and the player with the least points will be banned from texting forever. (We’re kidding. Or are we?)
Behind the Scenes of FixyText
FixyText was inspired by a question posed by Editorial Lead Liz Anderson, who asked, “What if a group of friends could answer your risky texts for you by jamming together in a single text box? And also, what if there was no delete key?!” Game Director Alina Constantin has further stated that the game was inspired by the universal feeling of pressing send on an important message, looking back at what you wrote, and wanting to throw your phone at the wall.
In order to create the world of FixyText, the team at Jackbox first needed to create a brand-new mechanism for recording real-time typing updates that could sync up all players’ contributions simultaneously and accurately. They then sought to balance all the text-based chaos with lo-fi bops, minimal print graphics, and ASCII characters. The result? A minimalistic blank canvas that lets your writing be the star of the show.
Work-in-progress designs of FixyText avatars by Lead Artist Bruno Rodríguez
The FixyText team also designed the game in order to let every player shine. For example, players are offered optional suggested agendas (such as “write like you’re a ship’s captain”) that they can use for inspiration and added hilarity. What’s more, the FixyText team scripted a system of call-outs where game prompts are drafted to include player names and favorited words from earlier rounds. That means that every FixyText game spins inside jokes out of your very own words!
The World of FixyText
Because the gameplay of FixyText is so deeply rooted in the world of texting culture and online communication, the team opted for a low-tech audio-visual backdrop. Bruno Rodriguez’s minimalist art was inspired by risograph printing, 1950’s Italian typewriter manuals, ASCII art and the Teenage Engineering design studio, while musician Kelly Shuda drew inspiration from remixing 80s drum machines, keyboard sounds, and funky hip-hop vibes for their groovy beats.
3D renderings of early FixyText avatars by Lead Artist Bruno Rodríguez
The team hopes that FixyText becomes a game that people keep coming back to for its hare-brained hive mind effect as well as its orchestrated chaos and zany humor. Game Director Alina Constantin states:
“We hope it’s the kind of game that connects players and gives space for different kinds of joyful creativity, a place where people can feel both seen and inspired to be funny in their own way. We’re excited to see it help folks create words or phrases together that they take with them to other party games and parts of their life, long after the game is done.”
Don’t forget to check out FixyText on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S as part of The Jackbox Party Pack 10 along with four other brand-new games: Tee K.O. 2, Hypnotorious, Dodo Re Mi and Timejinx! Make sure to follow Jackbox Games on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to ensure you don’t miss out on game updates and further behind-the-scenes content.
Become a party legend with The Jackbox Party Pack 10.
Start Your Party
The celebrated franchise returns with 5 new party games in 1 hilarious pack. Reunion? Work Party? Hanging with pals? There’s a game for everyone and every occasion, from strategy, drawing, trivia or music!
Play with your phone or tablet – no special controller required. Games support up to 9 players and 10,000 audience members. Ready to take things global? All Party Pack 10 games can be played in English, French, Italian, German, or Spanish.
Choose Your Game
Tee K.O. 2 (Drawing, Writing): In Tee K.O. 2, return to T-Shirt Island, where the most hardened warriors in the world compete in a deadly fighting tournament. The drawing finger–not the fist–decides the victory!
FixyText (Writing, Teamwork): FixyText is the Wild West of text-editing. In this chaotic game, everyone’s in group chat, typing all at once to make the most memorable statement. And there’s no delete key. Take that auto-correct!
Hypnotorious (Hidden Identity, Roleplaying): Hypnotorious is a game with secret roles, tentative alliances and of course, silly answers to ridiculous questions. Who is on your side?
Timejinx (Trivia): In Timejinx, you’re a time traveler from the future competing in a high-stakes trivia night. Save your current timeline by answering questions about the past.
Dodo Re Mi (Music, Teamwork): In Dodo Re Mi, your phone is your instrument. You and your flock must make music together to escape the hungry jungle plant.
There’s fierce competition in the 2230 NVMe SSD space right now, as these pint-sized SSDs are the only ones that will fit in PC handhelds like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. Previously Sabrent were offering the cheapest option available at the 1TB price point at £85, but now Scan has reduced the price of the WD SN740 to just £80. This is a good deal on a PCIe 4.0 2230-size SSD, offering speeds of up to 5150MB/s on the ROG Ally and around 3500MB/s for the PCIe 3.0 Steam Deck.
When a mystery story has been told millions of times before, how can it still be a mystery? This is the challenge faced by anyone adapting Agatha Christie’s phenomenally widely-read 1934 novel, Murder on the Orient Express. And just in case anyone missed out on the book, decades of film adaptations have also solved the case again and again. This is the challenge taken on by Microids Studio Lyon, as the team packs our bags and stows us away on the legendary locomotive, playing the role of celebrated detective Hercule Poirot.
Murder on the Orient Express, like the novel, begins in Istanbul, in the grand Tokatlian Hotel. Several of the story’s ensemble cast are introduced in quick succession. Details are kept light and the player is tested on a few key facts about each character to reinforce the basics of who’s who. Since the complex relationships and interactions of figures from different backgrounds are a hallmark of Christie’s mysteries, it’s essential the characters are internalised. Microids, having opted for rote drilling of name, nationality, occupation, and age, have not found the most elegant solution, but it will at least be effective for newcomers while keeping things moving for those already familiar. The game trades the 1930s setting of the novel for the modern day, and with 2023 being the 140th anniversary of the Orient Express itself, there is a perfect excuse for Poirot and his crew of soon-to-be suspects to be stepping aboard.
Take control of a real Formula 1 team making key decisions both on and off track as you build your legacy in the world’s most prestigious motorsport.
Put your tactics to the test in Race Replay scenarios using data and conditions from real 2023 Formula 1 races.
F1 Manager 2023 is available now on Windows PC and Xbox Series X|S, and accelerates onto Game Pass today.
While the drivers might be the stars of the show in Formula 1, it takes an entire team to build lasting success. F1 Manager 2023 is our officially licensed management simulation which puts you in the shoes of Toto Wolff, Christian Horner, and Guenther Steiner, as you lead one of the ten official F1 teams to glory. It will take strategy, decision making, and foresight to write your name in the history books and establish yourself as one of the greats.
“You don’t expect to be at the top of the mountain the day you start climbing” – Ron Dennis, CEO McLaren Racing (1981 – 2016)
Brand new in 2023 is the addition of ‘Race Replay’ – a game mode which offers single race scenarios based on data and conditions from the real-life 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship. Start from the grid and improve on the team’s results in ‘Starting Grid’, or rewrite some of the season’s key strategy calls in ‘Race Moments’ as you answer a selection of 2023’s ‘what ifs’. New Race Replay scenarios are added after every race in the 2023 season, so you’ll regularly have new content as we accelerate towards the glamorous neon lights of Las Vegas and the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
For those seeking the ultimate challenge, the returning and improved career mode will see you taking responsibility for every area of your team. At HQ your leadership and direction will cover all bases, from designing and researching parts, recruiting and developing drivers and staff, even down to defining the training schedule of your pit crew. On-track, you’ll see all the action unfold in a stunning broadcast-like experience, with the new visor cam bringing you even closer to every thrilling moment. Relaying commands to your drivers via real team radio messages, your strategizing will be put to the test as you aim to maximize your results, reacting to pit-stop mistakes, safety cars, and weather changes.
Before you take your seat on the pit wall, we’ve put together a dossier of essential reading for Team Principals to give you the edge over your rivals.
Designing the Ultimate Upgrade
Whilst a star-studded driver line-up might get you moving up the grid order, crucial to your success across the season is the development of new car parts. When designing these, there are a few considerations you’ll want to account for – including managing your Aerodynamic Testing Restriction (ATR) budget. In Formula 1, teams are allocated a limited number of hours they can spend testing their aerodynamic parts in the Wind Tunnel or with Computational Fluid Dynamics, with those towards the back of the field being allocated more to help them close the gap.
ATR allocation will reset at set times throughout the season, and any unused time when this happens will be lost, so top Principals will utilize of all these hours before their allocation resets. Making the most of this testing will allow you to improve your car’s pace against your competitors and increase the Expertise of your team, allowing you to create even better parts in future.
Building Your Dream Team
Crucial to success in F1 is an ability to always look ahead and plan for the next challenge. In F1 Manager 2023, you’ll invest your budgets into developing your car, your facilities, and your people. Staffing your team with the best upcoming talent can often give you an edge when you might have a disadvantage on the balance sheet.
When recruiting, consider the impact of changing out a driver or staff member during their contract. There will often be a costly fee for cutting short their time with the team, and instead you might look to offer your new recruit a position starting in the following season. Each driver and key staff member can develop their skills based on your preference, so identifying areas of weakness and considering whether to take the time to train, or whether to opt for an immediate change, will likely be influenced by your own board objectives.
Practice Makes Perfect
Although you’re able to simulate each of the three practice sessions during an F1 race weekend, you can gain an edge on your rivals by managing these yourself and responding to each of your drivers’ feedback. When each car is on track, drivers will build up their track familiarity (how well they know how their car handles on the circuit this year) as well as gathering feedback on the individual set-up of the car. Once a driver’s accrued five pieces of feedback covering each major area of the car (indicated by a number out of 5 next to a speech bubble in the driver control panel), it’s best to bring them back into the pitlane to see how you need to adjust.
It might be tempting to put on a fresh set of soft tires in every stint to finish top of the table in practice, remember that you won’t get any points for that! Tire usage is rolled over to each session, with an allocation being returned to Pirelli after every session on track. You’ll need to use a minimum of two compounds during a dry race, so remember that sometimes it can be beneficial to save a set of tires to give yourself the edge when it really counts.
Tire-ing Work and Crucial Race Strategy
Race strategy is king on track, and even an underperforming car can deliver exceptional results in the right circumstances. Before the race begins, make sure to take a moment to assign a strategy for each driver. Keep an eye on the ‘estimated race time’ to weigh up your options, as well as the weather forecast for any downpours which might create an opportunity.
During the race, it can be easy to give your drivers’ the freedom to push as hard as they possibly can, but a good Team Principal knows when to push and when to hold some pace in reserve. When you ask your drivers to increase their pace, you’ll be increasing their tire wear and their usage of fuel and stored ERS (Energy Recovery System) charge.
As tire life decreases, so too will your drivers’ ability to consistently improve their lap-times.Remember to consider the tire temperatures, which will fluctuate throughout the race depending on how hard your driver is pushing, as well as the track conditions. When the tire drops below 30% of its’ remaining life, expect to see a significant drop in your pace and an increased risk of a costly puncture.
Cementing A Place in the History Books
The Greatest Team Principals can establish a team as a dominant force, returning season after season to challenge for every title and lifting new drivers into the spotlight as older talents move on. In F1 Manager 2023, building a team that can not only succeed but maintain that success is something which will challenge you, just as it challenges the real 10 Team Principals currently heading up official F1 teams in 2023.
Our aim has always been to recreate this thrilling sport in all its detail, and to put you, our players, behind those big decisions which shape the sport. Remember, you can always hone that race strategy in Race Replay mode and compare your results to reality. Armed with our top tips and hopefully plenty of silverware from a glittering career, maybe it’s time to dust off that cover letter and add your F1 Manager achievements to your CV… Good luck out there!
Purchase the Deluxe Edition of F1® Manager 2023 now to receive:
The Exclusive Scenarios Pack which offers 12 unique challenges, including both starting grid and race moments, that will put even the most strategic Team Principal to the test.
The intense world of Formula 1® comes alive for a new season in F1® Manager 2023. 23 races, six F1® Sprint events, new cars, new circuits including the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, new drivers, new challenges… Your legacy begins here.
F1® Manager 2023 challenges you to manage the F1® team of your choice on your terms. Start your career as Team Principal at one of the 10 F1® teams and manage every aspect from the factory to the garage, to the starting grid
Experience broadcast-quality presentation as you take your team through practice, qualifying and a thrilling race day for each race of the season, and beyond
Detailed management systems give you control over your drivers, staff and car. Your decisions determine how your season unfolds
New Race Replay Mode
Relive thrilling races and key moments from the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship in Race Replay, a brand-new mode which brings you even closer to the excitement and drama of F1®.
Utilising real world F1® data taken from the live races, Starting Grid replicates the race conditions and driver starting positions of every race from the 2023 season, and Race Moments allow you to take control of a specific team during a pivotal moment of a real race from the 2023 season.
Whether it’s taking control of Aston Martin at Monaco and trying to get Alonso his first win of the season or trying to keep McLaren in the points after a chaotic Australian GP, Race Moments challenges you to make those defining split-second decisions in the moments that matter.
Fine-tuned Racing Simulation
Races are more dramatic and dynamic than ever with refinements to racing lines, overtakes and incidents. Improved driver AI, rival team decision making, and an enhanced tyre temperature simulation will pose a greater challenge across fully-realised F1® races.
Get closer to the racing action than ever before with all-new visor camera, jump on board with any of the 20 drivers on track and experience the thrill of a Formula 1® race from their point of view.
Driver Tactics & Confidence
Feel the emotional highs and lows of the drivers as they compete for victory. A spin, pit stop error or failed overtake may affect your driver’s confidence. Weigh up the risks and use the new Driver Tactics options to instruct your drivers on how to approach the racing action and come out on top of important battles for positions.
Enhanced Management Experience
Compete at the highest level of motorsport with more depth and detail than ever before. Older drivers will regress as they age, so scout the simulated F2 and F3 championships for the next generational talent. In order to catch the enhanced race AI, making the next breakthrough in car development is more important than ever. Balance the push for performance against the need to replace less durable parts.
Hire an experienced Sporting Director, opening up the ability to manage your pit crew’s training regime and hone their skills, crucial for a successful race weekend, avoiding costly errors and winning the Fastest Pit Stop award.
The intense world of Formula 1® comes alive for a new season in F1® Manager 2023. 23 races, six F1® Sprint events, new cars, new circuits including the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, new drivers, new challenges… Your legacy begins here.
• F1® Manager 2023 challenges you to manage the F1® team of your choice on your terms. Start your career as Team Principal at one of the 10 F1® teams and manage every aspect from the factory to the garage, to the starting grid
• Experience broadcast-quality presentation as you take your team through practice, qualifying and a thrilling race day for each race of the season, and beyond
• Detailed management systems give you control over your drivers, staff and car. Your decisions determine how your season unfolds
NEW RACE REPLAY MODE
Relive thrilling races and key moments from the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship in Race Replay, a brand-new mode which brings you even closer to the excitement and drama of F1®.
Utilising real world F1® data taken from the live races, Starting Grid replicates the race conditions and driver starting positions of every race from the 2023 season, and Race Moments allow you to take control of a specific team during a pivotal moment of a real race from the 2023 season.
Whether it’s taking control of Aston Martin at Monaco and trying to get Alonso his first win of the season or trying to keep McLaren in the points after a chaotic Australian GP, Race Moments challenges you to make those defining split-second decisions in the moments that matter.
FINE-TUNED RACING SIMULATION
Races are more dramatic and dynamic than ever with refinements to racing lines, overtakes and incidents. Improved driver AI, rival team decision making, and an enhanced tyre temperature simulation will pose a greater challenge across fully-realised F1® races.
Get closer to the racing action than ever before with all-new visor camera, jump on board with any of the 20 drivers on track and experience the thrill of a Formula 1® race from their point of view.
DRIVER TACTICS & CONFIDENCE
Feel the emotional highs and lows of the drivers as they compete for victory. A spin, pit stop error or failed overtake may affect your driver’s confidence. Weigh up the risks and use the new Driver Tactics options to instruct your drivers on how to approach the racing action and come out on top of important battles for positions.
ENHANCED MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE
Compete at the highest level of motorsport with more depth and detail than ever before. Older drivers will regress as they age, so scout the simulated F2 and F3 championships for the next generational talent. In order to catch the enhanced race AI, making the next breakthrough in car development is more important than ever. Balance the push for performance against the need to replace less durable parts.
Hire an experienced Sporting Director, opening up the ability to manage your pit crew’s training regime and hone their skills, crucial for a successful race weekend, avoiding costly errors and winning the Fastest Pit Stop award.
We’re a scant two days away from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s launch. Soon we can delve into the next chapter of Peter and Miles’ story. Get to grips with the awesome power of the black suit. Encounter new foes and test new abilities. And for some (including myself), the chance to try out the game’s Photo Mode.
Insomniac’s previous games include robust, feature-rich Photo Modes, giving players free rein to freeze the on-screen action, find a great angle, customize, and capture a memorable shot. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is no different. I’ve spent somea lot of time tinkering in its Photo Mode the past few weeks. For virtual photographers (especially for those of you who submit such excellent shots to PS Blog’s Share of the Week series), here’s what’s returning, what’s new or improved, plus some suggestions on using those options to snap your way across Marvel’s New York City. There’s also additional information and tips from Insomniac’s Aaron Jason Espinoza in addition to a sampling of the studio’s own snaps to inspire you.
Note: no story spoilers here, outside what has been revealed for the game in trailers or hands-on thus far.
Peter and Miles’suits will tear and rip if you get bodied during combat. Turn any L into a W by using the punished look in snaps to add extra intensity.
Shortcut to Photo Mode
First things first: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 lets you assign shortcuts to certain menu options by mapping them to either the left or right D-Pad button. You can equally tap the Options button to call up the pause menu and scroll down to and activate Photo Mode there. My preference is to have my Photo Mode options ready in a blink when I spot a great visual. If virtual photography is a key focus during your time in Marvel’s New York, map that as soon as you can. You could also map a complementary action to the other shortcut – I’ll get to that in a bit.
Menus and their options
If you’re coming from the previous two games, the Photo Mode UI and menu options will be familiar.
You’ll default to Camera Mode, L1 and R1 switching you between four tabs. First is Camera, letting you turn Hero or Enemy visibility off, play or pause visual effects (such as moving lights, smoke or the subtle rippling motion of the Black Suit). You can garb Peter or Miles in any unlocked Suits and Suit Styles and tilt the camera. A new Precision option will greatly lower the response on your analog stick movements or trigger pulls, allowing finer adjustments to get your camera positioning just so. Use this to get your final composition just right.
The Lens tab changes Field of View (think close-up portrait or wide-angle landscape scene) and Exposure. This menu also lets you set your Depth of Field tinkering between Aperture, DOF Range Near and DOF Aperture Near. It means you can have background and foreground blurred if you want the eye focused on the scene or figure in the middle-distance. Filters and Frames are self-explanatory, with Filters from the previous games returning, and Frames featuring new Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 specific styles. The last tab, Overlays, introduces Vignette, Film Grain and Sharpening to your chosen image.
Tapping Square will switch you over to three other menus. Character Mode (letting you choose from a shortlist of preset poses that are character specific, rotate those poses and change your character’s facial expression). You can tailor your lighting setups with Lighting Mode, offering three independent lights (in Spot Light or Sphere Light versions) and the ability to fine-tune the natural lighting of a scene (locked to whatever time of day you’re currently playing in). Sticker Mode has four different subsets of sticker types that can be moved, resized and plastered onto your shot. I’ll leave the specifics of what those are to be discovered: there are some fun ones that’ll appeal to long-time comic fans.
Finally, two key options. Triangle hides the UI. Doing so also locks the menu to make sure you don’t accidentally lose your setup. But if you do want to reset everything, reactivate the menu then hit the Touchpad.
“I wanted to share my personal new favorite addition that’ll be available soon – Action Figure mode! Arriving in a future update (release date TBA), this option will scale down your hero, making them appear in the world as tiny little figures! Place them on tables, signs, or almost anywhere!” – Aaron Jason Espinoza
Now, let’s talk about taking advantage of all the above.
Adjusting Game Speed
So, that other shortcut. Aside from Photo Mode, there’s a multitude of other options for the extra button: open the FNSM App (to quick select missions) toggle on the in-game Camera Gadget (to snap side-activity specific shots). You can also map some of the fantastic Accessibility options the game includes to the Shortcuts. One of those is reducing game speed to 70%, 50% or even 30%. This has a secondary yet equally super useful benefit when it comes to virtual photography: more easily capturing the perfect combat composition or mid-web-swing pose.
Two acrobatic Spider-Men captured at the perfect angle of their swing, thanks to activating Game Speed adjustment. For both, I positioned Artificial Lighting in front of them to illuminate their previously-shadow covered forms. For Peter, I also adjusted the Depth of Field to infer the heavy city traffic below, but not have it distract from the focus of the shot.
“You know, I’m somewhat of a virtual photographer myself… so I always urge players to adjust their lens! Adjusting Aperture and Focus Distance can add a ton of dimension to your photos. Meanwhile, a higher field of view (FoV) can produce great landscape shots, while narrow FoV can accentuate finer details. The slightest changes here can upgrade your photo from a mere screenshot to a masterful piece of virtual photography.” – Aaron Jason Espinoza
Using custom poses, Artificial Lighting options, and reframing
You can use artificial lighting to increase the intensity, infer game world lighting to still highlight characters that’d otherwise be in shadow, or make your photo both more natural and moody.
The photo of Miles below is captured in the same moment as the shot of him above. I liked how his figure was lit in the original (single, high-intensity light positioned at his front), but I thought I could better infer – and incorporate – the billboard lighting of Times Square. But first, I fired up the Character Mode to choose a new pose. Worth noting: there are separate pose sets when on the ground or in the air. I spun the first artificial light from his front to his side, then activated two others and positioned them similarly. I altered the coloring of all three to better match the output of the billboards behind. The resultant silhouette shot – bathed and framed by the lights of Time Square – is much better.
It’s worth noting there are separate custom pose sets on the ground and in the air. Fun Easter Egg: Miles’ aerial poses include one that mirrors the key art from Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Another note: rather than being halted by one end of the Tilt option bar or the other in Camera Mode, you can keep spinning, as it resets to the other side automatically if you keep left or right on the D-Pad when held down.
“Experiment with Spot Lights and Sphere Lights and make your subjects pop in to frame! We always recommend using at least one Spot Light to get a nice rim light on your subject, which can cast a luminescent outline to their silhouette or separate them from the background.” – Aaron Jason Espinoza
Peter Parker sitting, admiring the rides of Coney Island. The camera’s generous in how far you can pull it out from your playable character. Coupled with FOV you can capture some great landscape shots. Originally Pete was in shadow, so I added a spotlight and moved it high overhead, to suggest he was being illuminated by the street lamp above him. This is also a great way to draw attention to a specific character in a crowded scene. Tip: if you want your character’s attention seemingly captured by something/someone in frame, turn the right stick’s camera in that direction – and therefore their gaze – before jumping into Photo Mode.
There’s a marked difference in a shot depending on the positioning and intensity of your artificial light. To the left, a Sphere Light just out of frame, positioned to outline Peter’s silhouette. The color intensity is pulled right down to appear white, and suggest he’s lit by the moon’s glow. There’s a totally different vibe on the right, as the Light is switched from Sphere to Spot, and the intensity cranked right up. The left is a moody, nighttime shot that showcases the ambient light of the city behind. Peter is the focus of the frame as Photo Mode automatically adjusts the background lighting.
Before you exit Photo Mode, swing the camera around – you may spot a background detail you hadn’t considered and gives you a different dynamic to your shot. The above is shot in the same place as the original pair: I angled the camera round and spotted the sun’s set illuminating the water below. Thanks to Custom Pose rotation, I could ‘swing’ Peter round with a few taps so he was again facing the camera.
Rotating Custom Poses can give the illusion your playable character is included in an NPC scene, rather than observing it. Here, switching to Custom Pose meant Miles ‘hovered’ near the bench. A few taps and boom – he’s sitting, absorbed in the conversation. A natural shot.
“We have more enhancements planned for pose movement in a future update (release date TBA)!” – Aaron Jason Espinoza
Another example of considering a reframe to enrich a photo. Same scene as the above two but bringing the camera to an isometric view pulls the focus to the speaker of the scene, rather than their spandex-clad listener.
Look around to capture the flavor of Marvel’s New York
Marvel’s New York is teeming with life. Be it street side or rooftop, school or festival, there’s plenty to capture outside combat and big story beats, from candid snaps of friends talking, portraits of key characters, or taking the time to grab a memory of an enemy takedown. So: keep your eyes out while patrolling and get your feet on the street. Not shown here: spectacular art exhibitions and statues dotted throughout the city, which are also worth a photo tour.
Using environmental lighting, colored backgrounds, filters
Don’t overlook environmental or in-game artificial lighting. Over the course of the game you’ll be exploring Manhattan during different times of the day, so create a Manual Save with each switch to easily get back to the sky you need. Equally if you spot a potentially cool moment with lighting you can take advantage of: Manual Save.
If you watched me play, you’d see me gravitate to any new light source with the intensity and single-mindedness of a moth. Below was captured early into the game’s story, as a civilian-clothed Peter walked past a light fixture. Turning his head slightly, I switched to Photo Mode, activated the Noir filter and voila. However, some background detail was still apparent and distracted from the portrait. Chance then to test out the Background option: a shortlist of colored backgrounds that isolate the playable character from the environment. I switched colors (and filter) for an additional, warm yellow approach to the same setup.
“The Filters and Frames and Overlay adjustments are great ways to add character to your captures, such as comic book frames or quick color adjustments. You can also add grain effects to give your shots a print-like quality or increase the sharpness for even finer detail.” – Aaron Jason Espinoza
Bringing it all together
The above brings together in-game lighting and artificial lighting, custom poses and different suits. There’s a side-mission early into the game that involves blacklight-style wall projection. Standing Miles in front of it, then using multiple artificial sphere lights and different filters created this awesome, fashion-like shoot [left]. Switching to the (newly announced) Brooklyn 2099 Suit demonstrates how the metallic surface reflects the lights, adding additional glow and detail to the same photograph [right].
I hope this quick guide and suggestions for how to use Photo Mode helps and inspires. I’m looking forward to seeing what my fellow photographers create in the coming days and weeks. Happy shooting!
“Anyone can wield the camera. Whether you’re capturing photos of Peter Parker soaring between buildings with Web Wings or getting that electrifying shot of Miles Morales’ new Venom Powers, we look forward to seeing what captures your eye when Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches on October 20. Don’t forget to tag us on social media @InsomniacGames and use #InsomGamesCommunity for a chance to be re-shared on our official social media accounts! In anticipation of our upcoming launch, Insomniacs captured a few shots for us! Here’s our studio’s Photo Mode Gallery below!” – Aaron Jason Espinoza
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The Empire State Building image® is a registered trademark of ESRT Empire State Building, L.L.C. and is used with permission.
Special thanks to The Madison Square Garden Company. Madison Square Garden, Radio City and Radio City Music Hall are registered trademarks of MSG Sports & Entertainment, LLC or its affiliates.
Lords of the Fallen developers Hexworks are still busily carving a path through the game’s various bugs and performance issues. The latest Lords of the Fallen update, Patch v.1.1.207, is a thrilling litany of technical gremlins that have now been tracked down and slaughtered.
Amongst other things, the developers have turned off collision detection for an entire library, to avoid tanking the frame-rate when you – for reasons best known only to yourself – attack the books. In other news, the game will no longer crash itself in “revenge” when you hit walls too often (a rare, and rather amusing-sounding bug – best be wary when looking for secret rooms I guess). Hexworks have also identified the source of a crashing problem when playing Lords of the Fallen on Steam Deck, though the fix for that particular issue hasn’t yet passed QA. Oh, and they’ve made the continue button “sexier”. Look, don’t ask me, I just work here.
Please ignore that I erroneously call this episode 34 at the start of the episode. In episode 35 of The Electronic Wireless Show podcast we briefly discuss Just Stop Oil’s game-themed protest at EGX this weekend, as well as re-highlighting a guide from the Arma 3 devs so you can tell when someone is trying to share fake war footage (originally created during the early weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but now relevant again with the spread of fake Israeli-Palestinian conflict videos). For our larger theme we discuss games that flip-reverse their theme when you least expect it, which is usually seemingly-cute games becoming horror – much like Harvest Island.
Plus: James gives us a rundown of fun games he tried at EGX, which sound very cool!
Publisher GameMill Entertainment has announced that The Walking Dead: Destinies will launch digitally on the Nintendo Switch eShop on November 17th, 2023, with a physical edition following in December 2023. A brand new trailer has been released which you can now view on YouTube, but just be aware that it’s age-restricted, so make sure you’re signed in (and over 18, of course).
Based on the first four seasons of the AMC TV series, Destinies will take place across iconic locations from the Walking Dead universe, including Atlanta, the Greene family farm, the prison, and Woodbury. Players will need to make key decisions throughout the game to change the course of the franchise’s history. Will you sentence protagonist Rick Grimes to an early death? It’s entirely up to you.
After busting down the castle door with their chaotic, siege-based citybuilder Diplomacy Is Not An Option last year, the last thing I expected to see next from developers Door 407 was a chill, meditative puzzle game that’s just about, well, building tiny cities. In Urbo there are no sky lasers, no oncoming hordes. Nothing. Just dinky little grid-based maps, and an endless stream of tiny adorable buildings to plonk down on them in the pursuit of sweet, sweet point scores.
This being a puzzle game, the aim here is to place three buildings of the same type altogether, either in a line or right-angled cluster, at which point they’ll all shzooge together to level up to the next building type. This is where the Threes comparison comes in, though you can zhuzh more than three of the same building together if you’re smart to earn more points. But it’s not quite as simple as that. You see, your buildings will only shoump onto the tile you placed down last, and careful city planners will likely want to think about placing their buildings in reverse so they end up with their fancy new house in the place they actually want it, not in an awkward middle spot that cuts off two precious tiles from play, or awkwardly sits in the middle of another chain of dwellings accidentally. And yep, that’s where the Dorfromantik connection comes in, and I really do like it very, very much.
Today, we’re excited to invite all gamers into the fantastic, inspirational, spectacular world of endless possibilities that gaming provides with our latest Xbox Power Your Dreams global brand campaign.
Power Your Dreams is a direct reflection of the extraordinary experiences gamers will have across new worlds, iconic characters, inspirational stories, and unforgettable moments. With an incredible lineup of launches, Starfield, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Forza Motorsport, the future launches of Star Wars Outlaws and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and an exciting holiday with new games being added to Xbox Game Pass all the time – now has never been a better time to play with Xbox.
Wake Up and Dream
We celebrate the launch of this new, immersive, multimedia campaign by debuting our new live-action trailer – “Wake Up and Dream” – exclusively for the Xbox community before airing this evening during Thursday Night Football on Prime Video and continuing to run across global markets through the holidays.
“Wake Up and Dream” is an immersive adventure story, inspired by gamers and their dreams – going beyond imagination, and capturing the fun, joy, community and love we all share for our favorite games and epic gaming moments experienced with friends.
Melina Juergens as Senua
“Wake Up and Dream” is custom scored by Son Lux, a BAFTA-nominated band, and Academy Award® nominee for the musical score to the film, “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”
This original score provides an ethereal sound scape, meticulously designed with never-before-heard sounds and melodies, that heighten the emotional intimacy of each unique visual moment and experience.
Xbox Is on Display
From dreamy worlds to unforgettable spectacles, Power Your Dream visuals and activations will spring to life throughout the duration of the campaign – ranging from awe-inspiring to downright playful. If you are an Xbox fan and you come across one of the many dream-worthy activations, be sure to capture and share them by tagging #PowerYourDreams on social media.
An Xbox Console for Everyone
Xbox welcomes gamers who play all kinds of games to do so playing on Xbox consoles that meet any gaming ambition. From the powerful Xbox Series X, to the small and next-gen performant Xbox Series S, including the recently released Carbon Black Xbox Series S with 1TB of storage and the recently announced Xbox Series S – Starter Bundle, which includes Xbox Series S and access to hundreds of games with 3 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – there is a console for everyone in this growing and expansive community.
in Race Replay, a brand-new mode which brings you even closer to the excitement and drama of F1®. 
