Game of the year contenders are finally being considered as 2020 finally comes to a close. Game Rant has compiled some of the biggest gaming news stories from this past week together into a concise post for fans and enthusiasts to stay up to date on the most important events in the industry per week. Highlighting the most relevant stories, this list is not inherently and totally objective, and will not contain every news story this week. Rather, this is intended for gaming fans who want a quick rundown on the largest/most impactful stories that occurred in the last week in games.
In this week’s gaming news, the Game Awards announced nominees for all of its categories, with The Last of Us 2 leading in category nominations. For the first time in a long time, Grand Theft Auto Online is receiving a sizable map expansion, including a alongside a new heist. PlayStation discusses a potential Game Pass competitor coming in the future, while Xbox clarifies its stance on Bethesda games’ exclusivity. Growing pains for the latest Call of Duty continue to swell, and some hilarious things are happening in Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Here’s the biggest news from the gaming industry this week.
Premiering on December 10, the Game Awards have officially announced all of the nominees for each major category at the awards show. For Game of the Year, here are the contenders: Doom Eternal, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and The Last of Us 2. In particular, The Last of Us 2 holds it down with the most category nominations at 10, most notably in Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction. Additionally, Hades continues to impress as the indie delight with eight nominations.
Other games with numerous nominations include Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Among Us, and Ghost of Tsushima. The most notable exclusion from these nominations is Cyberpunk 2077, which was unfortunately excluded from the awards because of the game’s delay to December 10. Tangentially, games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Spider-Man: Miles Morales may not have received nominations in certain categories because they released too late in the year.
After several rumors popped up about an ambitious Grand Theft Auto Online expansion, Rockstar Games announced the Cayo Perico Heist. Coming to all platforms including backwards compatibility on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, this heist is releasing on December 15, prior to the next-gen enhancement of Grand Theft Auto 5. For the first time, players will be able to team up or play solo on the upcoming heist, which takes place on a completely new land mass being added to the Grand Theft Auto Online map.
Alongside the new heist location, according to Rockstar Games, it seems this island will boast “new social spaces to dance and party with friends and new world-class DJs,” as well. This heist certainly gives off Fyre Festival vibes, though hopefully not as unfortunate. Alongside a new region, there’s also over a hundred new radio songs coming to the game, as well as a new submarine mobile HQ.
IO Interactive, after rebooting the Hitman series to great fanfare, has announced the studio’s next big project: a 007 game. Poised as an origin story for how James Bond achieved his “007” status, Project 007 will be developed on the same engine as the Hitman reboot. IO Interactive has partnered with MGM and Eon productions, the filmmaking and production studios that have supported the Bond films since the beginning.
James Bond has a pretty storied history in video games, releasing some of the best casual shooters and adventure games during the sixth console generation. Recent efforts didn’t release to the same positive reception, so there hasn’t been a new Bond game since 007 Legends in 2012. If this next title is anything like Hitman, Project 007 could be very promising.
There’s been a wealth of PlayStation news this week in the wake of the PS5’s launch. Other than it being incredibly hard to get one, several interviews with Sony Interactive Entertainment’s CEO Jim Ryan brought on some new tidbits of information on the future of PlayStation. For one thing, Ryan hinted at a potential answer to Xbox Game Pass from PlayStation, but didn’t dive into any specifics: “There is actually news to come, but just not today.”
Since the PS4, PlayStation Now has been the only game subscription available for players. PS5 introduces the PS Plus Collection, a bundle of hit PS4 games which are backwards compatible on PS5. PlayStation adding on another Game Pass-like subscription could be interesting.
On the Xbox side of things, Xbox CFO Tim Stuart clarified the situation of exclusivity with Bethesda/Zenimax properties. Cross-platform game releases are to be “first, or better, or best” on Xbox Series X/S, not excluding the possibility of timed-exclusives. Stuart also mentioned that there are no plans to pull existing Bethesda titles off any platforms that aren’t Xbox or Windows/PC. This lines up with comments previously that any platform exclusivity from Bethesda/Zenimax titles, like the upcoming Deathloop on PS5, would still be respected despite acquiring exclusive rights.
The latest Call of Duty entry’s been seeing its fair share of controversy alongside its launch success. As the multiplayer meta begins to settle for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, complaints about the game’s skill-based-matchmaking and broken weapons are beginning to fester. Some believe the SBMM in Black Ops Cold War is far too active, with jarring jumps in difficulty occurring for those who only have a few good games.
Additionally, criticisms of the MP5 (which still remains the best weapon in Black Ops Cold War) even prompted an early patch for that weapon alone. Treyarch promises major balance changes are coming in preparation for Season One in December.
While reception of the latest Spider-Man interquel has been very positive, it hasn’t been without some hilarious glitches as well. One in particular showcases Miles Morales players turning into various objects in the game world’s environment, which can have some pretty comical results. While this is not an attempt by Insomniac Games to cash in on the Prop Hunt craze of 2014, seeing the glitch in action is pretty funny.
Lastly, in the wake of Yakuza: Like a Dragon‘s reimagining of the storied franchise, Yakuza‘s development studio Ryu Ga Gotoku has announced a 15th anniversary stream set for December 8. The content of the stream will largely focus on celebrating Yakuza‘s past, as well as featuring the Japanese voice actors for Kazuma Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga. More promising is the last line of the announcement, which promises discussions on the “future developments for the series.”
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