Red Dead Online’s Latest Weekly Update Adds A New Legendary Bounty

This week’s Red Dead Online update, the now standalone online component of Red Dead Redemption 2, includes a new Legendary Bounty for those who own the newly available Prestigious Bounty Hunter licence. There are also new bonuses and benefits, and a number of new discounts.

Carmela “La Muñeca” Montez, the recently installed head of the Dos Lobos gang, is this week’s Legendary bounty target. Montez and her posse have claimed responsibility for a string of gruesome highway robberies, with their hideout situated in West Elizabeth at the Hanging Dog Ranch. Those with the Prestigious Bounty Hunter licence can pick up Montez’s wanted poster at any sheriff’s office to begin the pursuit. Revisiting the bounty board again after a brief period will give you the option to replay the mission at a higher difficulty.

All bounties are currently paying out 50% extra, including the new three-part Infamous Bounties. All Bounty Hunters can also get 30% off a horse of their choosing this week, while those who take down Montez and complete the Legendary Bounty will get an additional 30% off a weapon of their choice.

Hunters and Naturalists can take advantage of some other bonuses by visiting Gus’ Store between December 8 and December 21. Doing so will reward you with five Special Health Cures, 200 Express Rifle Ammo rounds, and 10 pieces of Big Game Meat. Players who own Outlaw Pass No. 4 will receive 5,000 player XP and two rewards, each granting a free Ability Card.

When it comes to discounts, aspiring Collectors and Naturalists can take five gold bars off the cost of the Collector’s Bag and Sample Kit, on top of 40% off all cosmetic Collector’s Role items and Novice and Promising Naturalist items. Finding any collectable this week will also earn you an offer for a free emote. Hunters and Marksmen, meanwhile, can take 30% off the Bolt-Action and Elephant Rifles, plus everything in Gus’ Store.

Those who connect their Rockstar Games Social account with Prime Gaming will receive a free Bounty Hunter licence and an award for the Trimmed Amethyst Bounty Wagon livery. Players who connect to Prime Gaming before December 21 will also receive a reward for a free Breton Horse and RDO$100.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Features an Unexpected Cameo From a Games Industry Legend

Cyberpunk 2077 features a cheeky cameo from a games industry legend as part of its main questline. It’s easily missed, so here’s how to find it (and what the mystery cameo entails!)

SPOILER WARNING: Easter egg spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077 follow. This is your last chance to turn away. 

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Early on in Cyberpunk 2077, prior to the title card reveal and the end of Act 1, you’ll take part in a mission called ‘The Heist’ where you infiltrate a swanky hotel. After you suit up and check-in, you’ll follow Jackie through the lobby and encounter a gold-plated waitress. This conversation prompts an option for V – they can choose to go up to the room or have a look around. If you choose to look around, Jackie will leave and you can explore the bar. To the right of the bartender there’s a booth you can walk up to, and inside the booth is Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima, who is called ‘Oshima’ in-game.

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Kojima is sat with a group of friends explaining his philosophy on games. He talks about how Cyberpunk 2077’s braindances (recorded memories that can be experienced by another user which act as an in-universe stand-in for video games) have “expressive limitations” and rely on genre tropes. He goes on to talk about his research team in Tokyo that is exploring how to better capture emotions in braindances, a reference to his studio, Kojima Productions. “I want my productions to convey real, raw human emotion,” Kojima says. “The feeling when you combine happiness and melancholy, or being calm with an underlying sense of anxiety. These complex, realistic feelings and emotions are what I aspire to recreate… woven into much better stories, of course.”

If you speak to Oshima after he has finished his speech, he’ll say “Yes, what is it,” and then “Did you bring a pitch for me?” but there is no further dialogue beyond this point. It’s a cool easter egg, and it uses the Kojima model CD Projekt Red tweeted back in July of this year, to celebrate Death Stranding coming to PC. Kojima also appeared in Remedy’s Control in 2019, as Dr. Yoshimi Tokui.

Kojima himself is no stranger to using big names from the industry in his own games; Death Stranding features a cameo from Geoff Keighley, who plays ‘The Ludens Fan’.

In other Cyberpunk news, you can check out our review of the game here. We scored it a 9, touting its “beautiful, dense cityscape.”

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales Adds A New Ray Tracing Performance Mode

Developer Insomniac Games has released a new update for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PlayStation 5. The latest patch adds a new performance mode that gives players the option to play the web-swinging adventure at 60 frames per second with ray tracing enabled.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales initially launched with two different graphics modes: performance and quality. The former let you play the game at 60 frames per second without ray tracing, while the latter added ray tracing but restricted the frame rate to 30 frames per second. With this latest update, Insomniac has added a third graphics mode: performance RT.

The game describes this as “an alternate version of the 60 frames per second ‘Performance Mode.'” It adds ray tracing by adjusting the scene resolution, reflection quality, and pedestrian density. More options are always better, and this gives you the best of both worlds, even if you lose some of the image quality in the process.

The new graphics mode can be accessed in the game's settings.
The new graphics mode can be accessed in the game’s settings.

Insomniac recently released another patch for Spider-Man: Miles Morales that included a small number of general fixes and improvements.

Here are the full patch notes for update 1.06:

New Features

  • Added messaging if player is playing PS4 app on PS5

General Fixes & Polish

  • Moved “Upgrade to Ultimate Edition” one menu up to the save selection screen. (PS5 only)
  • Fixed issue with selecting “Day” in weather selection
  • Improved stability
  • Performance improvements
  • Various additional fixes

Now Playing: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Video Review

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New GameStop Sale Brings Back Some Of Black Friday’s Best Game Deals

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have passed us by, but if you’re still looking for gift ideas or games for your new console, there are some solid gaming deals to be found throughout December. GameStop is hosting a trio of holiday sales, and the first wave of deals is live through Saturday, December 12. The new sale includes some of the best game deals we saw on Black Friday, including low prices on The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima.

PlayStation owners can take advantage of the best discounts during the holiday sale. The Last of Us Part II is down to its Black Friday price of $30. It’s joined by Ghost of Tsushima, which ties its lowest price since launch at $40. Plenty more PlayStation console exclusives are up for grabs for cheap, too. Nioh 2 is slashed to $10, Dreams is $20, Days Gone is also $20.

The multi-platform game deals for PS4 and Xbox One aren’t quite as good, with many of them on sale for higher prices than Black Friday. Still, if you missed out on some of the best discounts on Black Friday, these deals are still pretty good. Resident Evil 3 is on sale for $23, Star Wars: Squadrons is $25, and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is $25.

Nintendo Switch owners aren’t left out of the party either. BioShock: The Collection and XCOM 2 Collection are down to $20 each, Darksiders Genesis is discounted to $15, and Civilization VI is only $10.

GameStop has also brought back Black Friday deals on its exclusive PC accessory bundles. The Sniper Edition PC Holiday Bundle is on sale for $40, and the Guild Edition PC Holiday Bundle is $50. Both bundles come with a gaming keyboard, gaming mouse, and a mouse pad.

Most of the notable deals are on gaming products, but there are a few collectible promotions that are worth checking out. All $12 Funko Pops are on sale for $8 each, and all $20 T-shirts are 50% off.

We’ve rounded up the highlights from the holiday sale below, and you can browse all of the deals at GameStop. Make sure to check back next week for the second batch of December holiday deals.

Best deals at GameStop

PS4/PS5

Nintendo Switch

PS4/PS5 and Xbox One/Xbox Series X

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New PS5 System Update Includes DualSense Controller Tweaks

Sony has released the latest firmware update for the PlayStation 5, titled version 20.02-02.30. The update introduces a number of improvements to system performance and comes in at the usual size of 868MB.

Aside from improving connection stability for certain Wi-Fi routers and fixing some issues that were causing errors during text input in some PS4 games, the latest firmware also contains updates for the DualSense controller. Sony hasn’t specified what changes have been made to the controller, but the firmware’s installation screen will prompt you to plug your DualSense into the console to get it updated.

Here are the full patch notes for firmware version 20.02-02.30:

  • Resolved an issue where data transfers and downloads were cancelled when trying to download content while a data transfer from a PS4 is in progress.
  • Some issues that were causing errors during text input in some PS4 games have been resolved.
  • The connection stability has been improved for some Wi-Fi routers.

Your PS5 should download the update automatically, but if you want to download it manually, head to Settings > System > System Software > System Software Update and Settings > Update System Software.

Now Playing: PS5 + Xbox Series X Scalpers: Can Anything Be Done?

The Game Awards Will Include 12-15 Brand New Game Announcements

The Game Awards 2020 will feature “around 12 to 15″ brand new game announcements, according to the event’s producer, Geoff Keighley.

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During a recent Reddit AMA for the December event, Keighley was asked how many new games would be revealed. “I think there are a good dozen+ games that will be announced/revealed at the show for the first time”, he replied, and later clarified to a different query that the total number would be “I think around 12 to 15 or so?”

In further clarification on Twitter, Keighley noted that these will be previously unseen games, rather than additional information on games previously announced. “Yeah i’m talking more about brand new games that have not been announced at all” he said on the thread.

We know, for instance, that BioWare will be at The Game Awards with its new Dragon Age game, but since it was announced earlier this year that the game is in development, presumably that means it is not among those 12-15 announcements. As such, we may be seeing more than 12-15 games at the ceremony, alongside the actual award announcements themselves.

To see what to expect at the event, take a look at The Game Awards 2020 nominees, including the six Game of the Year contenders and 30 categories across all aspects of gaming, from games themselves to esports and creators. Recently Keighley announced that Ghost of Tsushima had won the Player’s Voice award.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

How To Make Money In Cyberpunk 2077

Everything has a price, and that’s especially true in Cyberpunk 2077’s dystopian future. If you want to kit out your V with the latest cybernetics, fastest cars, and most stylish outfits, you’ll need to have a lot of money, or in Cyberpunk’s world, eddies, on hand.

In this video, we give you some top tips to help top up your cash flow, from looting and selling off junk items and some useful perks to unlock, to making sure you’re hacking everything in sight. We also point out specific missions you should keep an eye out for that offer big rewards upon completion. Don’t worry, we won’t spoil anything.

Cyberpunk 2077 launches on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Stadia on December 10, and you can read GameSpot’s review of CD Projekt Red’s latest here. For more Cyberpunk 2077 tips, make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/gamespot.

PUBG Is Getting A New Map With Season 10

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is getting a new map named Haven when Season 10 launches later this month. It’ll be available for PC players on December 16 and console players on December 17.

Haven is a much smaller map when compared to PUBG’s other offerings. It’s designed for 32 players and is only one tile wide–a normal map is eight by eight tiles. The map is much denser than other maps, though. Its urban setting includes factories, coal yards, apartments, and other locations that give players a lot of places to find cover.

PUBG's new Haven map.
PUBG’s new Haven map.

In addition to the new map, Season 10 is bringing other features to the battle royale, including new enemy AI combatants. Soldiers that are part of the “The Pillar” faction now roam the map, complete with their own trucks and helicopters, looking for players to kill. Players can kill these bots to earn special gear, although they won’t be easy to take down.

PUBG is also getting an emergency parachute that players can manually deploy mid-match. It’ll be useful for how vertical Haven is–giving players the ability to reposition by jumping out of windows and off rooftops.

Developer PUBG Corporation folded into the parent company, Krafton Inc, to form a new studio earlier this year. The studio, now named PUBG Studio, will focus exclusively on the development of its main properties, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and its mobile counterpart, PUBG Mobile. PUBG Studio is also in charge of expanding the PUBG property in various fields, including esports.

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Xbox Owners Can Play Cyberpunk 2077 Early By Changing Console Region

Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S can be played right now by changing the console’s location to New Zealand.

There are hours to go until the much-anticipated RPG unlocks in Europe and the US, but the game is already playable in New Zealand, and a workaround means you can convince you Xbox you’re there too.

In your Xbox system settings, head to Settings -> System -> Language & Location, and change location to New Zealand. Doing so will unlock the game to play. We’ve tested the method ourselves and confirmed it works.

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Sadly, PS4, PS5, and PCs aren’t so easily convinced that you’ve suddenly moved to another part of the world, meaning you’ll need to wait until your appointed time in the game’s global unlock schedule to play on those platforms.

If you’ve got early access, make sure to check out our huge Cyberpunk 2077 guide for the differences between Life Paths, tips on how to get started and much more.

For more, check out our Cyberpunk 2077 review, as well as the first minutes of gameplay from the CorpoStreet Kid, and Nomad life paths. You can also take a look at how much the game has changed since the 2018 E3 demo.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Cyberpunk 2077 Free DLC Will Start ‘Early 2021’ Reveals Hidden Message

A hidden message in the latest trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 has revealed that free DLC drops for the sci-fi RPG will begin to arrive in “early 2021”.

In a single frame of the trailer, right at the end as the ‘pre-order’ image flashes up, a lengthy message from CD Projekt Red can be viewed. The message reveals that the free DLC program for Cyberpunk 2077 will begin in early 2021, and provide an assortment of free “cool stuff”.

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“We’ve mentioned before that expansions will be coming, and while we’re not ready to talk specifics just yet, we will say that we’ve learned a lot from our work on both Hearts of Stone & Blood and Wine. Our planned expansions will take you even deeper into the world of Cyberpunk 2077, offering substantial, story-driven content that’ll give you tough choices to make through impactful narratives that you won’t soon forget,” said the developer in its hidden message.

“But before we get there, we’ll first be kicking off our free DLC program in early 2021. Just like with The Witcher 3, expect an assortment of free DLC packs to begin hitting Night City, dropping a bunch of cool stuff that’ll inject even more life into the world of the dark future.”

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If you don’t recall CDPR’s approach for The Witcher 3, the free DLC included minor quests, new outfits for both Geralt and the major characters, and a New Game+ mode. Cyberpunk 2077 would certainly be a prime candidate for all those elements, but with learnings from the really rather good Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine expansions under its belt, hopefully there’s some slightly more inspiring tidbits to come with the free program.

For more, check out our Cyberpunk 2077 review, as well as the first minutes of gameplay from the Corpo, Street Kid, and Nomad life paths. You can also take a look at how much the game has changed since the 2018 E3 demo.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.