New modes, Hellfire Gala suits, and accessibility features, plus suits created in collaboration with Gameheads.
A quick update! We’re pleased to announce that as of this morning two game updates have been deployed for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to enable the features detailed below in this blog. If you are playing version 1.002 – you have them both! These updates include New Game+, Mission Replay, the ability to change time of day and brand-new accessibility features like Screen Reader, Audio Descriptions and more. We also added the Hellfire Gala suits for Peter and Miles – both of which are free for all players. And we added the ability to purchase the Gameheads Fly N’ Fresh Suit Pack – which benefits Gameheads*.
Here’s Sam Schaffel, Accessibility Design Researcher at Insomniac Games, on the brand-new accessibility features that 1.002 adds to the game nominated for Best Innovation in Accessibility at The Game Awards:
“We’re so excited to bring all of these accessibility features and improvements to you – thank you for your patience and support as we prepared for the 1.002 update,” said Schaffel. “With our first-ever Screen Reader, we cover not only the settings but the FNSM App and all the Touch Pad menus including comprehensive map, skill tree, tech readouts and more.
Robust cinematic caption and customization options cover off-screen sounds, emotional music cues and key gameplay sounds – written concisely so they can be easily read during calm scenes or intense set pieces. All these features, along with over 60 others, were crafted with love and care to add to player’s experiences. We hope you enjoy these accessibility features whether it’s your first-time playing Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, or if you’re returning to check out New Game+.”
– Sam Schaffel, Accessibility Design Researcher, Insomniac Games
Haven’t had a chance to download yet and want to see a bit more? Here’s an amazing new Game of the Year trailer the team put together to celebrate Marvel Spider-Man 2’s multiple nominations (including Game of the Year) at several industry award shows like The Game Awards, D.I.C.E., GDCA, and many more. It also shows off many of the new features in the update!
We’re also thrilled to give you your first look at the Fly N’ Fresh Suits in motion – check out the trailer here:
1.002 title update is available now – download it today for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and get web-swinging!
We cannot explain to you how grateful we have been for everyone who has picked up Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 over the holiday season. Everyone here at Insomniac Games is proud of the game, and we’re very excited to share details with you about the major title update that will hit your PS5 console on March 7
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 version 1.002 will bring New Game+ to the game. We know many of you have been eager to replay the game on a harder difficulty, with all your suits and abilities carrying over. Or perhaps you want to just replay a favorite mission or two – you can do that, too! And there’s more to unlock – with Ultimate Levels, Golden Gadget styles, and more!
Speaking of styles: we’ve added suit styles for several of Peter’s symbiote story suits in the game, allowing you to further customize your look if you play and unlock them via New Game+ Ultimate Levels. And yes, you’ll be able to set which color your symbiote abilities are as well. But we couldn’t just stop at new styles – we know how much you all love when we add suits with no additional cost to the game. You’re in luck – we’ve brought Marvel’s Hellfire Gala suits to the game for both Peter and Miles. Peter sports the design created by Russell Dauterman, and Miles gets his iconic look from Bernard Chang’s gorgeous Hellfire Gala variant cover for Miles Morales: Spider-Man #8.
And you’ll want to show those looks off as much as possible with our updates to Photo Mode – including action figure mode and stickers. You’ll also be able to change the time of day once you complete the story, allowing you to get all those cool Photo Mode shots with just the right lighting. Make sure you share them with us on social by using the #InsomGamesCommunity hashtag!
This update also contains some major updates for Accessibility. We’ve added Audio Descriptions** and Screen Reader** to the game. We know that these features were highly anticipated, and we’re thankful to the community for giving us a little extra time to ensure they were polished and ready to be released. We also have additional features like Cinematic Captions and High Contrast Outlines, among several new features added to this update.
We’re also excited to announce two new suits for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 that Insomniac Games, Marvel Games, and Gameheads have partnered to create. Early access to the Fly N’ Fresh suits will be available for $4.99. Starting March 7,2024 and continuing through April 5, 2024, PlayStation will donate $4.99 (100% of the purchase price) of each Fly N’ Fresh Suit Pack in the United States to Gameheads, up to $1 million*. We appreciate your help in supporting Gameheads’ mission of empowering low-income youth and youth of color to thrive in the video games industry. Don’t worry, we don’t plan to start charging for suits in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2; the Fly N’ Fresh Suit Pack will be available for at no additional cost to all players at a later date.
Fly N’ Fresh Suit Pack includes;
- Fly Suit for Peter
- Fresh Suit for Miles
- 10 photo mode stickers
- 2 photo mode frames
Working with Gameheads as part of our efforts to increase representation in the videogame industry is an important cause to us. Insomniac Games President Ted Price shares more in this video:
To talk more about our collaboration with Gameheads, I sat down with Malia Atta, Insomniac’s Manager of Culture and Belonging, Damon Packwood, Director of Gameheads, and Eric Monacelli, Senior Director, Product and Franchise Development at Marvel Games for more insight.
What is Gameheads?
Damon Packwood: “We develop diverse talent and bold new voices in gaming, train students for the tech ecosystem and prepare them for college, career and civic life. We serve low-income students, and underrepresented students (ages 15-25) in 15 different states with expansions to Honolulu and Atlanta.
What is the origin of the Gameheads and Insomniac partnership?
Malia Atta: “Gameheads has been a partner of SIE for many years; however, the partnership with Insomniac Games began when we brought on three apprentices in our Core Technology, People Experience, and Design departments. Each apprentice made meaningful contributions to the game, and we saw an awesome opportunity to support and elevate the Gameheads Mission by asking their artists to design suits for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.”
That sounds really great – what’s the goal?
Malia Atta: “The partnership benefits both Insomniac and Gameheads by providing our teams with opportunity to mentor, coach, and develop emerging talent who then infuse fresh ideas and energy into our games and culture. This partnership also makes way for more people from different backgrounds to gain access to the industry.
From a bigger picture, Insomniac Games is focused on creating a supportive, vibrant, and diverse environment that reflects our players and communities. We are currently focused on uplifting and amplifying the voices of our devs and allowing them to bring their unique voices and gifts to how we make games.”
Eric Monacelli: “Our creative collaboration with Insomniac values fostering a world of belonging via our characters in our video games. The Gameheads initiative is a real-world manifestation of this. Marvel has always been about reflecting the world outside one’s world authentically, especially in ways that make creative endeavors and Marvel storytelling more accessible, diverse, and inclusive.”
What was the process like collaborating and iterating on the suit designs?
Damon Packwood: “We had a great time working with (Insomniac artists) Bobby Hernandez, Johnson Truong and Davison Carvalho. We had six of our students creating iterations for the suit and stickers over the summer. The process was pretty professional. Our students went through 1-2 week sprints, showcased their artwork to the Insomniac team, got feedback and after a few weeks we settled on a concept. Once the concept was approved, each of the students picked a different aspect of the suit (shoes, texture, mask, web shooters) and we finalized the suit and the stickers in August.”
Tell us more about the final Fly N’ Fresh designs:
Damon Packwood: “The inspiration for Miles Morales’ Fresh Suit design was a 90’s b-boy. Peter Parker’s Fly Suit design was inspired by 90s television’. Marisa Diaz, who designed the suits, was just having fun. We never expected Insomniac to like it but it was definitely fun to design. Our designers had fun being silly and the older folks, me and the Insomniac crew, had fun reminiscing on our 90’s fashion choices.”
That’s all for now! Thanks to everyone for all of your support, and we can’t wait to see you swinging back through Marvel’s New York in your Hellfire Gala and Fly N’ Fresh suits while checking out New Game+!
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is available now, only on the PS5 console.
*PlayStation will donate $4.99 per pack sold in the United States from March 7, 2024 through April 5, 2024 to Gameheads up to $1 million via its fiscal sponsor, Community Initiatives. This purchase is not tax deductible. Community Initiatives is tax exempt. https://communityinitiatives.org/. Gameheads is not tax exempt. https://gameheadsoakland.org/
**Only available in English, Spanish (LATAM), Spanish (Spain), Italian, German, French and Japanese
Comments are closed.
44 Comments
Loading More Comments