As always, the world of gaming has been abuzz with news, rumours, and speculation this week, and we’re here to document the best parts.
If you want to know what’s been going on in the gaming industry this week, look no further. Here’s our weekly gaming news roundup for March 18th through March 24th.
Apex Legends esports event gets hacked
Getting hacked during play is every esports pro’s worst nightmare, and this week, that nightmare came true during an Apex Legends Global Series game.
Two esports pros, Imperial Hal and Genburten, were granted game-breaking assist tools during the course of their games, and a message could be seen in the text box proclaiming that this was the result of a hack.
The hack was serious enough that it caused Apex Legends’ official esports account to declare that the “competitive integrity of this series” had been compromised, and that the finals were delayed until further notice.
Even professionals aren’t completely immune to being hacked in Apex Legends, it seems. Stay vigilant the next time you find yourself in a game.
PS5 Pro specs could have been leaked
Since the PS5’s launch back in 2020, speculation has been rife regarding whether any kind of PS5 Pro interstitial upgrade will be released, along the same lines as the PS4 Pro.
Well, if YouTube channel Moore’s Law Is Dead is anything to go by, a PS5 Pro is indeed in the works. Supposedly, the console will feature a detachable physical disc drive and a terabyte of storage.
It will also apparently feature a new 3.85GHz CPU and a GPU with 33.5 teraflops of power, although whether it performs up to those standards in the wild rather than during lab tests remains to be seen.
Eurogamer also says that it understands the specs to be legitimately sourced from Sony itself, which lends a fair amount of credence to Moore’s Law Is Dead’s claims. Exciting!
Alpha Protocol is back on PC
The issue of game preservation is one that’s facing a lot of developers and publishers right now. Can studios successfully preserve games that were made for defunct consoles?
Happily, that’s not a question that will need to trouble Obsidian Entertainment’s underrated Alpha Protocol, at least not for the time being, since the game made a reappearance on PC this week via GOG.
Alpha Protocol is arguably one of the most overlooked games of its generation, combining the contemporaneous obsession with modern military shooters with a genuinely innovative and fascinating RPG approach.
It doesn’t always work, but when it does, Alpha Protocol is truly one-of-a-kind, so head down to GOG right now and pick up your copy before it gets lost again.
A new Marvel game is revealed, and it looks insane
Marvel’s track record when it comes to video games is spotty, to say the least. On the one hand, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy are solid enough, but on the other, 2020’s Avengers was a colossal disappointment.
This week, we got a glimpse at another new Marvel project, this one helmed by Uncharted’s Amy Hennig. Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra is set, as the name suggests, in 1943, and stars Captain America and Black Panther.
The debut trailer for the game looks absolutely incredible, but then again, it would, because it’s largely showing off cinematic footage rather than actual gameplay.
It’s safe to say the jury’s out for this one, but if it’s even half as fun as the trailer is beautiful, then we could have another bona fide Marvel hit on our hands next year.
Margot Robbie is producing a Sims movie
The Hollywood Reporter, erm, reported this week that Barbie star Margot Robbie will produce a movie based on the hugely popular The Sims franchise.
Robbie’s production company LuckyChap will produce the movie, alongside Vertigo Entertainment and EA. At the moment, Loki director Kate Herron is attached to the project, but these things can be subject to change.
We’re not entirely sure how a Sims movie would play out, but it’s safe to say that the project will probably take a meta direction; a straightforward take on the franchise would likely be a little too difficult to pull off.
At the moment, the project hasn’t officially been announced by EA or any of the aforementioned production staff, so it’s best to wait and see what this Sims movie could have in store.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is out, and fans aren’t happy
This week, Capcom released Dragon’s Dogma 2, the unexpected sequel to the rough-around-the-edges (but rather charming) Dragon’s Dogma, which dates all the way back to 2012.
The sequel has been a long time in the making, and fans were looking forward to getting to explore the game’s new setting and meet its new characters, but reception has been mixed, to say the least.
On the day of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s release, Capcom released a statement apologising for the game’s frame rate issues and performance problems, as well as its bugs and crashes, many of which have been documented in negative Steam reviews.
Capcom did, however, stop short of apologising for the paid DLC that has caused so much controversy among fans, simply pointing out that all of the items you can buy from the store can also be obtained in the game by playing.
Overwatch 2 PvE missions reportedly scrapped
A report emerged from Bloomberg this week that suggests Overwatch 2’s PvE contingent has been scrapped completely as the game struggles to retain an audience.
According to Jason Schreier (a generally reputable source of information within the gaming industry), Overwatch 2 employees were denied their bonus targets earlier this month, which is a rare move for Blizzard.
Schreier suggests that the poor reception of Overwatch 2’s existing PvE missions, which were released last year, is likely the reason behind any further PvE content being cancelled.
No official statement has been made by Activision or Blizzard regarding this change, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if we heard something in the next week or two, so keep an eye out.
