Hello everyone and welcome to Hailey News, your number one source for news delievered in a unique and nice way! Along with my other kinds of posts, I want to do a regular news post every week or every so often at the very least. I’m not entirely sure exactly how I want to do it, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out as I go along. So with that, let’s get into our first story!

RubRub finally delivers

2023 has been a very interesting and exciting year for the gaming industry, with games like Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Baulder’s Gate 3, Starfield, Pizza Tower, among many MANY others hitting digital storefronts worldwide, not to mention Unreal Engine 4’s scary new hyperrealistic capabilities. However, shockwaves were sent throughout cyberspace when RobTop, at long last, finally pushed out the elusive 2.2 update for Geometry Dash to Steam, Apple App Store and Google Play.

After just under 7 years since update 2.1, the latest update brings a plethora of new content, including the ability to make platformer levels as opposed the traditional autoscroll gameplay. 2.2 also introduces the following:

• The long-fabled “swing copter” mode
• Level playlists (aptly name “Lists”)
• A new classic level: “Dash”
• “The Tower”, a platformer campaign
• Hundreds of unlockable icons
• A SHIT-ton of new editor objects and triggers
• A hell of a lot more (i seriously cannot stress enough how big this update is)

You best better believe that I’ve already had my go at the new content and let me say, it does not disappoint! The platformer mode feels nice and responsive whilst maintaining the feel of Geometry Dash. Another thing I wanted to specifically mention is that you can do whatever you want with the camera now! You can zoom and out, lock it in place, rotate it and much more.

Here’s what some people from the Geometry Dash Discord server have to say about the update:

GD 2.2 turned the game into Roblox but if it was just obbies.
-TheLoachyPianist

They should repair the Alt + Tab on the next update fr
-Ploon

i think that one of the best additions that robtop made was the platformer mode, cuz it is a really cool new gameplay mode. i think that the camera full control and some sound effects new triggers are SOOOOOOOOOOO cool, the keyframe, etc..
-noobzin

great update but slightly underwhelming and the new physics leave something to be desired. honestly i wasn’t as excited as i expected to be when the update dropped[…]just didn’t really feel that life changing
-Hikari

I was planning on getting some words from the man himself, however Sharks, someone who has been working with RobTop on update 2.2, disclosed these DMs he had with him:

Soooo I don’t think we’re going to be hearing from him for a little bit, which is fair enough. The game is currently on sale, so if you wanna get in on all the new action, now’s the best time!

Insomniac faces dangerous data hack

On December 12, a notorious group known as Rhysdia made an announcement, saying that they were holding a mass of Insomniac Games data hostage. It was up for auction on the dark web for 7 days before eventually being posted online for all to see. It contained game files for upcoming games, the company’s 12-year release plan, but most importantly, very sensitive employee information. There were passports, Slack chat logs, meeting recordings, NDAs and much more.

Insomniac Games released a statement last night, which you can read here:

An update regarding Insomniac and Marvel's #WolverinePS5. pic.twitter.com/CMkCCoZwwj

— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) December 22, 2023

I send my deepest regards to every at Insomniac and their families as attacks like these can be extremely harmful.

A Christmas tradition

As for this issue’s news in my own life, I’m (hopefully) going with my family to see our grandparents! We do it every year for Christmas and New Years and it’s such a nice change of pace from the city. They live in this really small and calm town. It’s so small, I could bike around the whole town in a day if I wanted to.

Aaaand I think that just about does it for this issue of Hailey News! I’ll probably have more than 3 stories next time, but until then!

~ Hailey