Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 actor Yuri Lowenthal has had it with players complaining about Peter Parker’s (now-not-so) new face. The character was recast while remastering Spider-Man PS4, which ended up being quite an unpopular change.

Yuri Lowenthal on his performance as Peter Parker in Spider-Man 2

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Lowenthal said that the new visual didn’t impact his performance, and he personally wouldn’t have cared if his character looked like a “goblin” instead. While he understood why the change didn’t go down well with some fans, Lowenthal says it’s time to move on.

“The one positive thing I take away from this experience is that people connected emotionally so hard and so deeply in the first game that they’re mad when they feel that person changes,” Lowenthal said. “I can only be so mad about that because it worked, not the change thing, but you connected with the character which is great. Now, get over it!”

Lowenthal previously told ComingSoon.net that his character’s visual is just one piece of the puzzle. While seeing what his character looks like does somewhat influence how he performs, there’s a lot more to it than that. “So I think that visual part is an important part to creating the character, but it’s only one piece, and one piece that I sometimes don’t get,” Lowenthal said.

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Saints Row studio Volition was the first developer shut down by Embracer Group in its ongoing restructuring exercise, but it won’t be the last. The company has warned of more closures in what is perhaps one of the most egregious cases of serial acquisitions in recent years, followed by months of layoffs.

Embracer Group now wants to downsize

In a recent annual general meeting, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors told stakeholders that the company will continue to restructure and downsize until it achieves its financial targets. Embracer has been bleeding cash due to a number of high-profile studio and IP acquisitions over the recent years — all while failing to attract financial partners.

“Preferably, we would like to find new opportunities for the employees, even if it’s outside of Embracer,” Wingefors said. “Sometimes it’ll be a divestment, or that we are working with partners to finance some projects, but ultimately, we are making decisions to either restructure or to downsize some teams, and there will be a few cases of closures.”

Wingefors said that he’s “confident” that Embracer will be able to deliver on its targets by the end of the fiscal year. Its most recent studio hit by layoffs is Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics.

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Microsoft has almost cleared the final hurdle in its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) — the only regulator holding the deal back from closing — has provisionally approved the merger following a number of remedies proposed by Microsoft.

Microsoft-Activision deal all set to close in October

CMA had raised concerns about the nascent cloud market, which it felt that Microsoft would be able to monopolize if the merger went through. As a result, Microsoft sold Activision Blizzard’s game streaming rights to Ubisoft.

“In contrast to the original deal, Microsoft will no longer control cloud gaming rights for Activision’s content, so would not be in a position to limit access to Activision’s key content to its own cloud gaming service or to withhold those games from rivals,” the CMA has concluded. “The deal with Ubisoft also requires Microsoft to port Activision games to operating systems other than Windows and support game emulators when requested, addressing the other main shortcoming with the previous remedies package.”

Although the acquisition has not been approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft can close the deal in October after a recent court ruling in its favor that denied the regulator’s request for a preliminary injunction.

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Insomniac Games has shed some light on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s fall damage feature, which was recently discovered at a hands-on preview event. We wondered why fall damage wasn’t mentioned in any of the recent previews until YouTube Caboose mentioned it, and it turns out the feature wasn’t turned on for anyone to notice.

Spider-Man 2’s fall damage is turned off by default

Senior Programming Director Doug Sheahan provided a statement to IGN confirming that fall damage has indeed been added to Spider-Man 2, but it’s an optional feature that’s turned off by default. That explains why Caboose only noticed it while he was messing around with the game’s various settings.

“Something we’re seeing more and more of is that players like to be able to customize their experience,” Sheahan told IGN. “For those players, we added the ability to enable fall damage (fall damage defaults to Off) and even let people tweak how swinging feels with our Swing Steering Assist setting. We hope players who enjoy a deep dive into the details have fun experimenting.”

Insomniac hasn’t explained how the Swing Steering Assist setting works, and Community Manager James Stevenson had a coy response when quizzed about it on Twitter.

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Steamforged Games has announced Horizon Forbidden West: Seeds of Rebellion board game in collaboration with Guerrilla Games. The companies are working closely to craft an “official story” that’s set before Aloy’s arrival in the Forbidden West.

Horizon Forbidden West board game will land on Kickstarter in November

Steamforged plans to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to fund the project. The board game is designed for 1-4 players and promises a “fully cooperative, narrative-driven experience.”

Alongside a new narrative, Seeds of Rebellion will feature new machines, exploration, a new cooperative stealth system, and a bunch of new abilities. The board game will be backward compatible with Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game via a compatibility pack that will be free for returning Kickstarter backers. A synopsis reads:

In the distant lands of a far-future Earth, colossal machines rule and humans exist in pre-industrial tribes. Your adventure will take you to the majestic yet deadly Forbidden West, before Aloy’s arrival. Much of this frontier is the territory of the warlike Tenakth. Though the tribe is currently united under the great Chief Hekarro, a rebellion is fomenting in the dark corners of this mysterious place. This potential insurrection threatens the hard-won, fragile peace between the Tenakth’s three clans.

You and your fellow Marshals must uncover, investigate, and fight this threat before unnecessary blood is shed and the fate of the Clan Lands is changed for generations to come. Along the way, you’ll explore the vibrant world, earn powerful equipment, and undertake life-or-death quests, testing your skills against an ever-present menace: the deadly, ever-evolving machines.

Will you fall to the spear, the claw, or the toxic blight? Or will you rise against the odds together and unravel the untold mysteries of the Forbidden West?

Horizon Forbidden West: Seeds of Rebellion’s Kickstarter campaign will launch on November 21, 2023.

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Nacon has announced a new Revolution 5 Pro controller for the PS5 and PS4. The officially licensed controller will launch in October with the same price tag as Sony’s own DualSense Edge.

Nacon Revolution 5 Pro PS5, PS4 controller details

Revolution 5 Pro features Hall Effect technology for precision gaming, with joysticks and triggers that promise “a very long service life.” In a press release, Nacon said that the controller has been designed to allow players to repair and replace key components with ease.

Revolution 5 Pro targets the competitive gaming market with extensive customization. Its battery life is up to 10 hours and it can connect to wireless headsets via Bluetooth as well as wired headsets via its 3.5mm jack. The controller will cost $199.90.

Key features include:

• Over 60 customization options
• 10 hours of autonomy
• Equipped with trigger blockers
• Wireless and wired
• Designed with premium materials

“The Revolution 5 Pro combines the best of our expertise, technological innovation and ergonomics,” said Yannick Allaert, Nacon’s head of accessories division. “I want to thank Sony Interactive Entertainment, our long-time partner, who has enabled us to develop this product in the best way possible.”

A specific release date for Nacon Revolution 5 Pro has yet to be announced.

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Xbox chief Phil Spencer told the court in a recent hearing that if Microsoft‘s gaming division doesn’t significantly grow beyond the console, it may end up exiting the games business altogether, leaving PlayStation with no rival. Spencer’s deposition was recently made public and sheds more light on Microsoft’s push into mobile and PC.

Microsoft-Activision deal goes beyond PlayStation vs. Xbox console wars

It’s no secret that Microsoft’s console business has been in the doldrums for a while. Even the Xbox Series X|S is currently behind Xbox One’s sales on a time-aligned basis. As a result, Microsoft has been pushing Xbox Game Pass on PC and console and has repeatedly said that it wants to make a splash in the mobile market.

Explaining an internal company chart about the future of Microsoft’s gaming business, Spencer told the court that he can “fairly safely say that if we do not make more progress than this off of console, we would exit the gaming business.”

Spencer added that if Microsoft doesn’t succeed in the mobile and PC gaming business, he would not advocate for the company to go back to a closed device like Xbox. “If we don’t gain a foothold on mobile, there’s really no future for us, in Microsoft investment in gaming,” Spencer reiterated.

Spencer also revealed that one of the first questions Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella asked him when they met was why the company was still in the gaming business after difficult years. Spencer is of the view that acquiring Activision Blizzard King will be the gaming division’s saving grace.

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Konami has finally confirmed Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 PS4 release date. Last-gen players won’t have to wait as the PS4 version’s launch will coincide with the PS5 launch.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 hits PS4 in October

Both PS4 and PS5 players will be able to get their hands on Vol. 1 on October 24, per Konami (thanks, Gematsu). Pre-orders are already live on the PS Store. Unlike the PS5 version, the collection will only be released digitally on the PS4.

As a reminder, here’s what MGS: Master Collection Vol. 1 includes:

• Metal Gear
• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
• Metal Gear Solid (including VR Missions / Special Missions)
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (HD Collection version)
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (HD Collection version)
• Metal Gear (Nintendo Entertainment System / Famicom version)
• Snake’s Revenge
• Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Digital Graphic Novel
• Metal Gear Solid: Digital Soundtrack
• Digital book
  • Metal Gear Solid: Screenplay Book
  • Metal Gear Solid: Master Book
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Screenplay Book
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Master Book
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Screenplay Book
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Master Book
  • Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Screenplay Book
  • Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Master Book

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Square Enix has revealed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s install size, and if you don’t have extended storage, you might wanna wrap up some games by February. FF7 Rebirth weighs a whopping 150 GB, and like its predecessor FF7 Remake, it comes on two discs.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth size explained

Director Naoki Hamaguchi told Game Informer that FF7 Rebirth’s 150 GB will be split between two discs in such a way that players won’t have to swap discs like they did while playing FF7 Remake. One disc will hold 100 GB of data, while the other will hold just 50 GB of data.

Thanks to the PS5’s architecture, players will simply have to install the game using both discs, following which they will only need to pop one of the discs into the drive to play.

Hamaguchi says that FF7 Rebirth’s size is the result of its development team’s ambitious vision for the game. Apparently, Square Enix always wanted Rebirth to be heavily detailed and more immersive than Remake. This meant having to put the game on two discs because cramming everything into a single Blu-ray would have forced the development team to cut down some of the content.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will be released on February 29, 2024.

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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PS5 gameplay apparently features fall damage. Insomniac Games recently held a preview event during which one previewer noted the option to toggle fall damage on or off.

Players happy about the addition of fall damage in Spider-Man 2 PS5 gameplay

Fall damage was a frequently debated topic among Spider-Man PS4 players, with some arguing that it makes the game more realistic while others said that the superhero is strong enough to always land on his feet. It looks like Insomniac Games took the feedback on board and decided to make fall damage an optional feature.

This tidbit was surprisingly missing from recent previews, but it looks like previewers would have to be fiddling with the game’s settings to take note. That’s how YouTuber Caboose claims to have found the feature, which he explains in the video below. A quick look at responses to his video suggests that players are very happy about the addition.

Caboose says that he didn’t experiment with the option as he was more focused on other aspects for his preview, so he can’t say how fall damage has been implemented and how much of a hit Spider-Man’s health takes if he falls off a building. However, we fully expect players to scale the tallest of structures and test this out themselves when Spider-Man 2 launches on October 20.

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