Insomniac has detailed the enhancements coming to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on PS5 Pro, saying the mid-gen upgrade enables the “quintessential version of the Spider-Man experience.”
In a new video, below, developers from Sony-owned Insomniac talk about the PS5 Pro enhancements for Spider-Man 2, including much-improved ray tracing (yes, even in the puddles!), detail, and the ability to play at 60 frames per second but with the visual quality normally reserved for fidelity mode on the base PS5.
Senior creative director Bryan Intihar said that Spider-Man 2 running on base PS5 was a “compromise between the creative vision and the technical limitations” Insomniac ran up against when developing the 2023 adventure, which has sold over 11 million copies.
It’s a different story on the more powerful $700 PS5 Pro, as you’d expect. “When players play Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on PlayStation 5 Pro, they are playing the quintessential version of the Spider-Man experience on the PlayStation 5,” Intihar insisted.
While Spider-Man 2 may enjoy a jolt in the arm with the release of PS5 Pro on November 7, Insomniac has confirmed it has no plans to release DLC, much to the disappointment of some fans. The announcement came in the same breath that Sony announced a PC version of Spider-Man 2 launches in January — one of the quickest turnarounds from single-player PS5 exclusive to PC from the company so far.
IGN’s Spider-Man 2 review returned an 8/10. 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.”
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.
Minor spoilers for the first few hours of Veilguard and heavy spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3
For all the things I ended up enjoying about Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it isn’t much of an RPG. What little roleplaying it does offer revolves around what flavour of supportive hero you prefer, and you can count the number of impactful dialogue decisions on a three-fingered hand. This might sound utterly damning in the wake of Baldur’s Gate 3’s incredible reactivity, and if I approached games as some sort of tedious comparative intellectual exercise rather than just, y’know, seeing how I felt about them, then I suppose it would be. Weirdly, though, the recent memory of Baldur’s Gate 3 didn’t diminish my time with Veilguard at all. It was actually the opposite: it freed Dragon Age from having to carry the torch for a certain period in Bioware’s history, and let me enjoy Veilguard for what it was.
Earning 3x more per day than Pokémon GO, apparently.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket arrived on mobile last week, and, after racking up an impressive 10 million downloads in its first 48 hours, it has reportedly been pulling in some beefy revenue numbers over the weekend (thanks, VGC).
As reported by MobileGamer.biz, the mobile market research firm AppMagic estimates that TCG Pocket has been bringing in a sweet $3 million per day since launch, racking up $12 million in its first four days on the market.
Coming to Game Pass: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Goat Simulator Remastered, and More
Megan Spurr, Senior Community Lead, Xbox Game Pass
Welcome back friends to our latest issue of Coming to Game Pass, answering the question, “What should I play next?”. If constructing additional pylons isn’t your thing (subtle plug that StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II: Campaign Collection are coming to PC tomorrow) we have goats, we have planes, we have rougue-lites and more. Grab your mouse and your favorite controller, and let’s get to the games!
Coming Soon
Metal Slug Tactics (Cloud, Console, and PC) – November 5 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one! Metal Slug is making an explosive return! Dive into this dynamic tactical RPG with a roguelite thrill and experience the iconic run’n’gun action of the original series, redefined. Grab your weapons, assemble your squad, and conquer the battlefield to defeat the infamous Rebel Army.
Go Mecha Ball (Console) – November 6 Now with Game Pass Standard
Load up and roll out in this twin-stick shooter with roguelike progression! Blast your way through arcade-style levels, using pinball-like physics mixed with an arsenal of devastating weapons. Defeat waves of enemy bots, battle big bosses, and upgrade your mech between runs!
Harold Halibut (Xbox Series X|S) – November 6 Now with Game Pass Standard
Harold Halibut is a handmade narrative game about friendship and life on a city-sized spaceship submerged in an alien ocean. Join Harold as he explores a vibrant retro-future world in his quest to find the true meaning of home.
The Rewinder (Console) – November 6 Now with Game Pass Standard
A 2D puzzle adventure game inspired by traditional Chinese folklore. You will take on the role of Yun, a “rewinder” who has the ability to enter people’s memories and influence their actions. By utilizing “senses” and swaying others’ “intentions”, you can change history.
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (Console) – November 6 Now with Game Pass Standard
Join Turnip Boy in teaming up with the Pickled Gang to plan and execute the weirdest heist of all time. Shake down hostages, steal valuables, battle the fuzz, and use wacky tools bought off the dark web to move further into the vaults of the Botanical Bank.
Goat Simulator Remastered (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – November 7 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one! The GOAT is baaa-ck! Lick, flip, and headbutt your way across a chaotic sandbox world where you make the rules. Enjoy wacky physics, upgraded graphics, and DLC classics in one neat package. It’s time to grab life by the horns and set out on an adventure!
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – November 19 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one! From Xbox Game Studios and Asobo Studios, pursue your aviation career with dynamically generated missions, compete against other pilots, and explore the most detailed digital twin of the world to date. Set out on your global adventure with our largest fleet of aircraft as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 takes simulation to new heights of authenticity and realism. Pre-install today to answer the call on day one!
In Case You Missed It
Botany Manor Now Available with Game Pass Standard Explore the historic manor home of retired botanist Arabella Greene, who has amassed a collection of rare, long-forgotten flora that require special conditions to help them bloom. Unlock new seeds, look for clues in the items scattered around the residence, and solve each gardening puzzle to revive these plants.
StarCraft: Remastered (PC) – November 5 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Prepare to rediscover a classic. StarCraft: Remastered upgrades Blizzard Entertainment’s original sci-fi real-time strategy game and its acclaimed expansion, StarCraft: Brood War, from beginning to end. Experience the intergalactic battle between the terran, protoss, and zerg with improved graphics and audio, and the same classic gameplay that made StarCraft a global phenomenon.
StarCraft II: Campaign Collection (PC) – November 5 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
With millions of players already in the fight, StarCraft II has made gaming history. Now it’s your turn to take command and lead vast armies of terran, protoss and zerg to victory amongst the stars. Prepare for interstellar war, commander. You’re needed at the front. The StarCraft II: Campaign Collection includes Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void, and Nova Covert Ops.
DLC / Game Updates
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Nuketown Multiplayer Map – Available now The original Nuketown is back! This homage to the version players first encountered in Call of Duty: Black Ops is an exact — though graphically much improved — version of the original, keeping the classic 1950s design of the Nevada testing site. Learn more about the latest content update on the Call of Duty blog.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Vault Edition Upgrade – Available now Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members can purchase the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Vault Edition Upgrade to unlock bonus content including BlackCell, which includes the Season 1 Battle Pass, 20 Tier Skips, 1,100 CP, and more. The Vault Edition Upgrade also features the Hunters vs Hunted Operator Pack, five Mastercraft weapons, and the Gobblegum Pack for Round-Based Zombies.
No Man’s Sky: The Cursed Expedition – Available now No Man’s Sky’s sixteenth expedition, The Cursed, sees players battle against collapsing realities in an eerie twilight zone, with the promise of exclusive limited-time rewards, including the all-new, saucer-like Boundary Herald Starship.
Sea of Stars: Dawn of Equinox – November 12 In this free update, Dawn of Equinox will bring to life the completed vision for Sea of Stars, incorporating everything that couldn’t be included at launch, along with some of the most requested features and improvements including local co-op, combat 2.0, a revamped prologue, and much more.
Game Pass Ultimate Perks
EA Sports UFC 4: 1600 UFC Points – Available now Waltz into the Octagon in style in UFC 4 with 1600 UFC Points to customize your fighter with unlockable gear, emotes, profile cards and more. Personalize your fighter and shape your legend!
Leaving November 15
The following games are leaving the Game Pass library soon. Jump back in to grab any remaining achievements before they go or use your membership discount to save up to 20% on your purchase to keep them in your library!
Dicey Dungeons (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Dungeons 4 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Goat Simulator (PC)
Like a Dragon: Ishin! (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Persona 5 Tactica (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Somerville (Cloud, Console, and PC)
As always, you can find the latest reminders of when these “coming soon” games turn into “available today” on Game Pass, PC Game Pass, and Xbox. We’ll be back soon with even more games!
On November 7 PlayStation 5 Pro unleashes a new era of impressive visuals. The console enables graphical enhancements like advanced ray tracing, PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, and silky smooth framerates of 60hz or 120hz through an upgraded GPU (depending on your TV).
Of course, crackling new power means little without immersive games to get lost in. This list is a sample of more than 50 games boasting PS5 Pro enhancements at launch, with many more to follow.
Alan Wake 2
Albatroz
Apex Legends
Arma Reforger
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Baldur’s Gate 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
EA Sports College Football 25
Dead Island 2
Demon’s Souls
Diablo IV
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Dying Light 2 Reloaded Edition
EA Sports FC 25
Enlisted
F1 24
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Fortnite
God of War Ragnarök
Hogwarts Legacy
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
Kayak VR: Mirage
Lies of P
Madden NFL 25
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Naraka: Bladepoint
NBA2K 25
No Man’s Sky
Palworld
Paladin’s Passage
Planet Coaster 2
Professional Spirits Baseball 2024-2025
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil Village
Rise of the Ronin
Rogue Flight
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor
Star Wars: Outlaws
Stellar Blade
Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown
The Callisto Protocol
The Crew Motorfest
The Finals
The First Descendant
The Last of Us Part I
The Last of Us Part II Remastered
Until Dawn
War Thunder
Warframe
World of Warships: Legends
To learn more about PS5 Pro, head to playstation.com. What will be the first game you play on PS5 Pro?
Microsoft has confirmed the Xbox Game Pass November 2024 Wave 1 lineup, which includes Metal Slug Tactics, Goat Simulator Remastered, and lots of StarCraft.
First up, on November 5, Metal Slug Tactics (Cloud, Console, and PC) hits Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass as a day one launch. “Metal Slug is making an explosive return!” reads the official blurb. “Dive into this dynamic tactical RPG with a roguelite thrill and experience the iconic run’n’gun action of the original series, redefined. Grab your weapons, assemble your squad, and conquer the battlefield to defeat the infamous Rebel Army.”
November 5 is also a big day for Blizzard’s StarCraft as more Activision games enter Game Pass following Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of the company last year. StarCraft: Remastered (PC) and StarCraft II: Campaign Collection (PC) both hit Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on November 5, which should help boost interest in the classic sci-fi real-time strategy games.
November 6 is a stacked day for Game Pass, with four games entering Game Pass Standard: Go Mecha Ball (Console); Harold Halibut (Xbox Series X|S); The Rewinder (Console); and Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (Console).
Moving on to November 7, and we have the day one launch of Goat Simulator Remastered (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) into Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. “The GOAT is baaa-ck!” reads the official blurb. “Lick, flip, and headbutt your way across a chaotic sandbox world where you make the rules. Enjoy wacky physics, upgraded graphics, and DLC classics in one neat package. It’s time to grab life by the horns and set out on an adventure!”
Sticking with the day one releases, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) hits Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on November 19. “From Xbox Game Studios and Asobo Studios, pursue your aviation career with dynamically generated missions, compete against other pilots, and explore the most detailed digital twin of the world to date. Set out on your global adventure with our largest fleet of aircraft as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 takes simulation to new heights of authenticity and realism. Pre-install today to answer the call on day one!”
Xbox Game Pass November 2024 Wave 1 lineup:
Metal Slug Tactics (Cloud, Console, and PC) – November 5 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
StarCraft: Remastered (PC) – November 5 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
StarCraft II: Campaign Collection (PC) – November 5 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Go Mecha Ball (Console) – November 6 Now with Game Pass Standard
Harold Halibut (Xbox Series X|S) – November 6 Now with Game Pass Standard
The Rewinder (Console) – November 6 Now with Game Pass Standard
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (Console) – November 6 Now with Game Pass Standard
Goat Simulator Remastered (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – November 7 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – November 19 Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
As always, a number of games leave Game Pass this month.
Games leaving Game Pass on November 15, 2024:
Dicey Dungeons (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Dungeons 4 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Goat Simulator (PC)
Like a Dragon: Ishin! (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Persona 5 Tactica (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Somerville (Cloud, Console, and PC)
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.
The mystery surrounding Deadlock, Valve’s work-in-progress MOBA shooter, has largely evaporated. Its freely extendable invite system is about as effective at controlling player headcount as a disinterested football steward, meaning pretty much anyone with a clued-in Steam friend can get in and start poking around its secrets. And yet, being a lane-pushing wizard fighter in the Dota 2 vein, it’s already a vast tangle of interplaying abilities, items, strats, and often unspoken rules, of the kind that even experienced gankists will take hundreds of hours to learn. It’s been too much for poor Brendy, at any rate.
Still, Brendy is but one man. What if we had but four men, working in tandem to crush lanes and flatten Patrons just as Gabe intended? To find out if Deadlock is indeed more comprehensible as a team sport, Graham, Ed, Ollie, and James joined forces, promptly getting fucked up yet emerging from the warlock hospital with a deeper understanding of its workings. Or, at least, if anyone would keep playing.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn’t even a week old, but the mods are coming in thick and fast. In these early days, the most popular on Nexus Mods revolve around performance improvements on PC and various character presets, and there’s even one that strips the purple from the game to make it look more like a dark fantasy RPG.
Let’s start with the latter. Vktrfly’s Dark Fantasy Look-Up Table (LUT) mod is a reshade that aims to remove the purple/magenta elements from the game and give it “a darker, more atmospheric look.”
Ever since BioWare unveiled The Veilguard gameplay, fans have debated its art style, with some lamenting the developer’s decision to go for a heavily stylized, almost cartoony look compared to the more gritty, realistic prior games in the series. The Veilguard, with its smooth, purple-hued visuals, is certainly at the opposite end of the Dragon Age art style spectrum, with 2009’s Origins heavy on mud and blood-drenched medieval fantasy and Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition occupying a place somewhere in between.
But the most popular mod so far is ChemBoy1’s Anti-Stutter – Performance Enhancer – High CPU and Disk Priority – DATV mod, which enables high CPU and disk priority for the Dragon Age: The Veilguard executable. This can help with performance on weaker CPUs and slower disks, and helps reduce stuttering on all CPU and disks, ChemBoy1 said.
Also high on the most downloaded mods list is Nyctaginae’s preset and sliders for their Rook (Veilguard’s customizable main character), Ayse de Riva, a female mage and elf Antivan Crow (“Based on my OC of 15+ years, hope you like her!”).
Expect more elaborate mods to release as modders get to grips with The Veilguard. We’ve seen the likes of Larian and CD Projekt release official mod tools for Baldur’s Gate 3 and The Witcher 3 respectively, which have unlocked an explosion in each game’s modding scene. Perhaps at some point down the line, BioWare will do the same for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
In the meantime, fans are busy digging into BioWare’s latest RPG after Dragon Age’s release on Thursday, propelling it to new highs for an EA game on Steam. They have plenty to find even without DLC — estimates on IGN sister site HowLongToBeat suggest that it can take upwards of 88 hours to complete the main story while doing sidequests.
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.
When nightmarish sci-fi extraction shooter The Forever Winter launched into early access in September it was somewhat messy. Bugs and maddening enemy spawns diminished the tension of being a fleshy human scavenger in a mech battlefield. But one feature annoyed some players much more – fresh water. See, you need to keep your headquarters stocked with water, as it gets steadily used by your settlement’s inhabitants. The catch being that this water diminishes even while you’re not playing the game. If it runs out completely, then everything you’ve collected gets wiped. The developers have listened to complaints about this most Farmville of mechanics, and they’ve answered in an interesting way. Water thieves! Now, on top of the usual downward trickle, burglars will come to steal your H2O as well.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket launched on October 30, and already there are signs it’s going to be a massive hit.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is a mobile version of the Pokémon TCG for iOS and Android, developed by Creatures and DeNA and published by The Pokémon Company. Players swipe to open virtual packs of Pokémon trading cards, with “immersive cards” leaping into the world of the card’s illustration.
Players can open two booster packs every day at no cost, including cards with nostalgic illustrations as well as new cards only found in the app. But they must pay to open more, and it’s this mechanic that’s helping the money to roll in.
According to estimates from Appmagic reported on by mobilegamer.biz, Pokémon TCG Pocket is earning around $3 million a day, making over $12 million in just four days. That’s more than the eternally popular Pokémon Go is currently making on app stores, according to estimates ($1 million every day). If Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket keeps that revenue pace up, it’ll make over $1 billion a year.
Appmagic said most of the money Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is making comes from Japan, then the U.S., followed by Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, New Zealand, and France. Officially, Pokémon TCG Pocket passed 10 million downloads on November 2, but Appmagic estimates it’s now over 12 million.
Wow. Completely awestruck here. 😳
Thank you to everyone who helped #PokemonTCGPocket reach over 10 million downloads! We’re incredibly grateful and hope everyone continues to enjoy the game. There are more great things to come!
Of course, Pokémon TCG Pocket will need to see explosive growth to reach the height of Pokémon Go’s glory days, but it does look like all involved will be pleased with this start. The success comes at a troubling time for The Pokémon Company – in August Pokémon video game developer Game Freak suffered a significant data breach that saw 2,606 cases of current, former, and contract employee names and email addresses accessed. The Pokémon Company has also joined forces with Nintendo to sue Palworld developer Pocketpair over “multiple” patent infringements.
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.
