Spider-Man: Miles Morales (12th November 2020)

[Julius]

Looks like an inFamous First Light/ Uncharted: The Lost Legacy situation. 

Edited November 11, 2020 by Julius

[Jimbob]

Confirmed as a standalone game after rumours swirled about this being a remake with extended extra content.

[Map]

Insomniac confirmation.

 

[Julius]

The trailer from the PS5 event is down because of a copyright claim by Gameloft S.E. on PlayStation YouTube channel. 

I think it's both hilarious and incredibly disheartening.

Hilarious because a big company is making a copyright claim against a much bigger company when they own the rights to almost everything in that trailer, so I can't imagine PlayStation taking this particularly well. And Gameloft is parented by Vivendi who were pushing that hostile takeover of Ubisoft a few years ago (which thankfully fell through), so screw those guys.

Incredibly disheartening because if it wasn't obvious before the copyright claim system on YouTube is just straight up broken, and you're guilty until proven innocent (which makes all of zero sense). PlayStation will be fine, but it makes you feel for those creatives who get copyright claims for no apparent reason and get their accounts shuttered (there was one a couple of months ago where a guy was copyright claimed for uploading his own original music, for instance). 

[Julius]

Official cover art just revealed as part of the PS5 game case reveal: 

Cover art itself looks quite nice, very simple and clean, and of course just like what we got for Spider-Man (2018). 

[Julius]

New image from the EW article which has just been released:

Quote

In Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, set in winter one year after the events of the previous game, Miles' Harlem home is on the verge of being torn apart by a war between an energy corporation and a criminal organization armed to the teeth with advanced tech. It's not a formal sequel to Spider-Man. That, if the coy responses from the creatives are any sign, may or may not be coming later. It's a shorter spin-off, likened in scope to the Lost Legacy game in the Uncharted series. Nevertheless, Intihar promises "it has a lot of heart."

Miles may be training with Peter to hone his Spidey skills, but Horton and Intihar see him as "his own Spider-Man." The animation, the movements, the mechanics, even his powers (including bioshock and invisibility) aren't just unique tricks for this character, they are metaphors for that hero's journey the pair keep mentioning. Peter's origin "was born out of tragedy" — i.e. the death of his Uncle Ben — but Horton mentions Miles "is more so born out of family. What I think is really compelling about Miles as a character is he has friends that he could actually let into his world — his human world and his Spider world. He's a little different in the way he approaches it."

"This is a full arc for Miles Morales that started in Spider-Man," Brian Horton, the game's creative director, says. "We really are completing this hero's coming of age in our game. It is a complete story."

Looks fantastic. Hopefully see some gameplay soon? 

[Julius]

Gameplay from today's Showcase running on PS5:

Now coming to both PS5 and PS4. 

 

[drahkon]

3 minutes ago, Julius said:

Now coming to both PS5 and PS4.

Good.

If it's up to the standard of the previous installment then it's great that even more people get the chance to experience Miles Morales

Edit:

Why not reveal that information in the showcase?

Anyway, good to know.

Edited September 16, 2020 by drahkon

[Julius]

3 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Good.

If it's up to the standard of the previous installment then it's great that even more people get the chance to experience Miles Morales

Absolutely!

I think even if there aren't any issues with production and stock, the PS5 is going to sell out, so from both a business and fan perspective I think it would be a weird decision to lock out 100+ million PS4 owners normally. Especially in the times of COVID, when loads of people who might have been able to be there for the PS5 can't due to issues with work. 

Fair play to PlayStation and Insomniac. I know it's just as much a business move as it is one for the fans, yet I'm glad. I have a friend who loves Miles but wouldn't have been able to get a PS5 for it, now he's got another way to play it, and so does my brother now when he gets my PS4!

Options like these are always a good thing 

[drahkon]

Just now, Julius said:

Options like these are always a good thing 

Exactly!

To be honest, the PS+ collection thingy and this being available on PS4 makes me think about trying to get a PS5 at launch. I might be able to get it done financially but it would take a bit of an effort I'm not sure I wanna take.
 

[Happenstance]

I think I'll grab the PS5 digital edition of Miles Ultimate Edition so I've got both games ready to play.

[Julius]

On 17/09/2020 at 8:58 AM, Happenstance said:

I think I'll grab the PS5 digital edition of Miles Ultimate Edition so I've got both games ready to play.

So from what I'm reading, at launch, that will be the only way to play the PS5 updated version of Spider-Man (2018). 

I imagine a patch will be coming down the line (got to justify that Ultimate Edition somehow), but still, they're marketing it as being a "remaster" though, so I'm not totally sure. Not being able to play the  PS4 copy people already have on their PS5 with the new updates rubs me the wrong way a little.

I'm planning on going through the first game on PS4 again soon anyways, so doesn't impact my plans really, but still 

[Jimbob]

In a way, you're getting the PS5 version of Spider-Man for about £18 (based on Miles Morales being £51.99).  People are wondering if Insomniac will offer the PS5 upgrade to existing Spider-Man owners, i guess time will tell as we get nearer to the games release.  At the moment, the only way to get the PS5 version is via the Ultimate Edition of Miles Morales

[Julius]

A bit more on what the remaster of the first game will bring, and what is included. 

Quote

On PS5, we are announcing an Ultimate Edition that includes a voucher code** for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Remastered. You’ll be able to experience the complete storyline up to this point, which includes the remaster of the original game and all three installments of the Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps DLC so you can play the full narrative arc. 

The remaster for the PS5 is no simple up-res, as many of the game’s art assets have been completely updated to take advantage of the PS5 console’s horsepower. You’ll see better-looking characters with improved skin, eyes, hair, and facial animation (including our new, next-generation Peter Parker). You’ll also see ray-traced reflections and ambient shadows, improved lighting, more pedestrians and vehicles stretching further into the distance, and the same optional performance mode offered on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, allowing you to finally play the game at a targeted 60fps frame rate. We’ll be supporting near-instant loading, 3D audio, and the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback. Lastly we’re adding three amazing new Spider-Man suits, new photo mode features, and even new trophies for those of you looking to Platinum the game all over again.

Putting the work in over at Insomniac! Two new games and a fully featured remaster just two years after release, what a great acquisition they've been.

Still of course hope that the option to upgrade a PS4 copy to have the PS5 upgrade will come down the line, though if we do get something like that I imagine we won't get it until the Ultimate Edition dies down a bit. It being a remaster doesn't exactly quell my fears that all of their big hits are going to receive remasters and be sold to is again. At least not being able to play PS3 games on the PS4 could somewhat justify them last gen.

Makes me question what other games we're going to see this sort of thing with. TLOU2 PS5 upgrade first/exclusively available with Factions Ultimate Edition, if that becomes a full game? God of War with Ragnarok? Horizon Zero Dawn with Horizon Forbidden West?

I've been holding off on returning to some of these to play with the PS5 upgrades, so while it would be cool to still play it through BC and at least get Pro-like performance, definitely a seed of doubt over how exactly this is all going to pan out now. 

Guess time will tell 

[Julius]

The PlayStation Direct pages (US) for the Launch Edition and Ultimate Edition have gone up, revealing that Miles Morales will require a minimum of 50GB, and the Ultimate Edition (which includes the Spidey PS4 remaster) will require a minimum of 105GB. 

[Will]

13 minutes ago, Julius said:

Miles Morales will require a minimum of 50GB

A full 2GB smaller than the PS4 version! After all their talk on asset duplication savings talk I thought they would get a bit more of an improvement than that.

Edited September 19, 2020 by Will

[Julius]

14 minutes ago, Will said:

A full 2GB smaller than the PS4 version! After all their talk on asset duplication savings talk I thought they would get a bit more of an improvement than that.

I'm guessing with the space saved in asset duplication they instead just went with higher quality assets for the PS5. I imagine that's how the remaster of the original comes in at around the same size (GOTY edition on PS4 including all DLC is 55.2GB, the remaster would be approximately the same size based on the listings) despite the higher quality assets. 

But still, yeah...it doesn't look like the consumers will be seeing much of that saved space, developers will just fill it up with other things 

Edited September 19, 2020 by Julius

[Julius]

The PS4 version game is also now up on ShopTo for pre-order at £43.50.

Remember, Miles Morales is confirmed to be getting a free upgrade from the PS4 to the PS5 version, so if you want to save £8 or so and don't mind the PS4 case, that seems to be the cheapest way to go. Ultimate Edition won't be available on PS4 (as wouldn't include the PS5 remaster). 

I'm going to stick with my PS5 version pre-order, mainly for the box, and also so that I don't have as much to download on launch day  

[Julius]

Remaster is going to be exclusive to Ultimate Edition and there will be no upgrade options available for those picking up the standard PS5 edition (for now? Insomniac hasn't been too good on their Twitter account at sticking to one definitive answer). 

Think my plan for now is to play the game again on PS4 and see how I feel after, but leaning more and more towards picking up the Ultimate Edition instead, because the original game is one of those rare examples of a game where I could see myself going back to it again a few years from now, and the new trophies and assets are a big pull. 

[Cube]

It's amusing seeing people acting confused over it. I think those people might struggle to follow Dora the Explorer.

 

[Julius]

33 minutes ago, Cube said:

It's amusing seeing people acting confused over it. I think those people might struggle to follow Dora the Explorer.

Yeah, I think the confusion and small corner of outrage over this was a bit weird. It's a fully fledged remaster vs just your standard boosted performance. 

But, I do think their messaging has been cagey at best. For example, this isn't one of the options listed by Nibellion:

PS5 standard + $20 upgrade (to the Ultimate Edition) for the Remaster, vs dropping $70 outright on the Ultimate Edition. 

I think confusion over how it can be purchased is warranted at this point, they haven't been very clear. Wouldn't surprise me if we got a PS Blog entry to clear this all up. 

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

Wouldn't surprise me if we got a PS Blog entry to clear this all up. 

They'll probably just leave it to Geoff Keighley to explain things again

[Ganepark32]

So I see this is now up for pre-order on the PS Store for the PS4 version at £49.99. With there being a free upgrade to the PS5 version, think I'll be picking it up as I was waiting to see how the digital PS5 version was priced but with a free upgrade from PS4 to PS5, might as well get in at a lower price for playing on my PS5 if it comes for launch.

Having rewatched the gameplay trailer from the showcase the other week, I'm hyped to play the game. I was fine with the first game, did find it was more middle of the road than anything and definitely bogged down by taking inspiration from the wrong sources for its open world design (in terms of the hideouts) but getting to play a bombastic super hero game on launch day is too good an opportunity to miss.

[Julius]

Spider-Man Remaster details and Parker's new look from the PlayStation Blog. 

Quote

We were so excited to announce that a voucher code for Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered will be included* with the Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Ultimate Edition on the PlayStation 5 console. This is a full next-gen remastering of Marvel’s Spider-Man – the team has been carefully crafting the definitive version of the game with new assets, technology, and updates. We’re taking advantage of next-generation technologies that the PlayStation 5 console introduces, as well as bringing some additional features to the game, including three new suits.

Let’s talk about graphical updates. The team has done the painstaking work of updating the city’s environment to take advantage of the new console. Beyond improved models and materials, one of the biggest things we have brought to the game is ray-traced reflections and ambient shadows. We now have true reflections on the windows of buildings, and it looks stunning with our new skies and weather.

Quote

But it’s not just the environments; our characters have also gotten a huge upgrade. From higher fidelity skin, eye, and teeth shaders to individually-rendered strands of hair, the new tech and detail brings our characters and their performances to new life.  

This does bring us to one of the bigger changes. In order to bring the best performances to players with our next-generation Marvel’s Spider-Man games, we have recast the face of Peter Parker. We loved working with John Bubniak on the original game; however, to get a better match to Peter Parker/Spider-Man actor Yuri Lowenthal’s facial capture, we have cast Ben Jordan to be the face model for Peter Parker on the PS5 console. He looks incredible in-game, and Yuri’s moving performances take on a new life.

Gameplay showing off 60 fps Performance Mode:

Quote

Additionally, thanks to the power of the PS5 console, we’re now able to offer a high frame rate through Performance Mode, which targets a 60fps frame rate! This allows you to experience the beginning of the Marvel’s Spider-Man storyline like never before. It feels amazing to play. 

That’s not all! We take full-advantage of other next-generation PlayStation features like near-instant loading (don’t worry, you can turn back on those humorous fast-travel animations if you miss them), Spatial 3D Audio on compatible headphones, and the revolutionary DualSense controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.  We’ve also brought new photo mode features to the game that we developed for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: you can now place lights in the environment and change your Spider-Suit after you’ve lined up your shot! 

And The Amazing Spider-Man Suit revealed as one of the three new suits to be in the game:

Amazing Suit looks great, but such a bizarre choice to change face model 2 years after the original. I know Miles already had one in the first game, but still, seems like such a strange choice to change Pete's in a remaster of all places. 

Edited September 30, 2020 by Julius

[Magnus]

Man, I was expecting Peter to look different, but I wasn't expecting him to look like a completely different person.

Some comparisons: