Many of you reading this are still recovering from what was a pretty lengthy Game Awards ceremony on Thursday night. A lot of famous faces, a lot of ads, and a lot of collar on Sting's shirt. Most importantly of all though, a lot of announcements and trailers. There was enough news during TGA to fill this article, but even outside of Geoff Keighley's annual shindig, it was a pretty big week for video games. Players have been floating in Fortnite's virtual sea, waiting in Final Fantasy 14's virtual queues, and learning more about a non-virtual version of The Last Of Us. All of that and more in our roundup of the biggest stories from the last seven days below.
The Game Awards
Rather than use up this entire article to cover the biggest stories coming out of The Game Awards (if you're after that sort of thing you can find it here), let's sum it up in one news-filled paragrapgh. It Takes Two was dubbed Game of the Year, beating out the likes of Deathloop and Metroid Dread. There were more reveals and trailers than you could shake a lightsaber at and yes, a Star Wars game was among them. Quantic Dream's Eclipse was shown off alongside Sonic Frontiers, Alan Wake 2, some Suicide Squad gameplay, and a Wonder Woman game. A jam-packed show indeed, although three and a half hours might have been a tad too long.
Everyone's Waiting In Endwalker Queues
Whether you like and play Final Fantasy 14 or not, odds are your Twitter timelines have been loaded up with Endwalker updates this week. The expansion launched a few days ago and it has been going down like a storm with FF14's loyal fanbase. That's if you've managed to log in of course. The biggest takeaway from Endwalker's arrival has been the long queues just to get into a world. It has become such a hot topic of conversation that a commemorative keyring was made modeled after the pop-up telling you where you are in the queue.
Spider-Man Swings Into Fortnite
Epic took Fortnite players somewhat by surprise in 2019 when it revealed that we had only seen the game's first chapter. The island was sucked into a black hole and when it reappeared, Chapter 2 was ushered in. More than two years later and now Fortnite has started its third chapter. This time the island was flipped upside down as that was the only way to rid The Loop of the invading Cube Queen. The Queen is gone and the island has welcomed some new residents. The Rock, although he was technically there all along since he is playing The Foundation, and Spider-Man. Spidey can be unlocked through battle pass progression and the swinging mechanic added to the game has been a huge hit so far.
GTA Online Is Getting Dr. Dre-themed Story DLC
Every time GTA players think something — anything — about GTA 6 is going to be announced, those hopes are thwarted. The Trilogy, the next-gen version of GTA 5, and now an update that includes a follow up to the game's story all feel like ways to stave off those hungry for an all-new game. GTA Online's upcoming update even shoots down the rumors that Dr. Dre was recording music for GTA 6. The rapper has indeed been working with Rockstar, but it was for this — not the hypothetical new game. Franklin also returns and has been tasked with tracking down Dre's lost phone on which there is unreleased music.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla Is Getting Some Big DLC
If you've played Assassin's Creed Valhalla, then you'll know it's a big old game. Even without the DLC that has arrived since launch, you can easily sink more than 100 hours into it wtithout getting tired of its breathtaking landscape and expansive map. Well, brace yourselves as according to a leak this week, there's still more to come. The leak claims Valhalla will be getting a God of War-style expansion in 2022 that will add 40 more hours of gameplay. An update so big that it will reportedly require you to completely reinstall the game.
Joel, Ellie, And Ron Swanson
HBO continues to work on its TV adaptation of The Last Of Us and has been absolutely knocking the casting for the show out of the park. What started as an accidental reveal at the start of the week was confirmed soon after as HBO announced Nick Offerman will play Bill on the show. For those unfamiliar with the name, Offerman is most famous for his portrayal of Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation. Not only does Offerman look a lot like TLOU's Bill, but if there's one person from the sitcom world who would definitely be able to hold their own in an apocalypse, it's Ron Swanson.