TODAY: Good thing The Witcher 2 was not called Assassins of Presidents — Notch hasn't released any games since Minecraft, but he has left his mark on some — BioWare is finally getting ready to talk about Anthem

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Future Witcher game could star Ciri

CD Project RED's principal writer Jakub Szamalek recently talked about Ciri from The Witcher, who might be getting a more prominent role in future games in the series.

The studio is busy wrapping up the Cyberpunk 2077 campaign before starting to prepare post-launch support and expansions as well as the multiplayer mode, which will be added sometime after launch. Fortunately, that doesn't mean CD Projekt RED is done with The Witcher.

Short and sweet: “Interesting question,” Szamalek replied. “Would you like to play a game with Ciri as a lead character?” You play as Ciri in parts of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, allowing you to act out key moments of her past.

Future uncertain: “I regret we didn’t get to explore Ciri’s past a bit more,” he continued. “She’s such an amazingly rich and complex character.” Look out for her as an Easter egg in Cyberpunk 2077 and cross your fingers for more Ciri: “maybe it’s something we’ll get to get back to in the future.”

Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?

Which CD Projekt game was presented as a gift to the US President?

• The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Gwent
• The Witcher Adventure Game

The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today's issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.

Daily Fact

A crafty weapon that's a notch above

Grinding Gear Games’ 2013 free-to-play action RPG game Path of Exile features a nod to the mighty Minecraft and its creator.

You can come across a unique Decimation Bow called ‘Infractem’, which is an anagram for Minecraft. It was actually made by Notch himself, who supported Path of Exile during its development.

Inspect the weapon’s flavour text, and you'll find another hint to the identity of its creator: “Mark us with mercy, then press on with care, execute us steadily, notch away at our despair.” ‘Mark us’ and ‘press on’ references Notch's real name Markus Persson while ‘notch’ – well, you can figure that one out yourself!

Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today's fact.

Animal Crossing Stamp Rally Event

Celebrate International Museum Day in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Nintendo is celebrating International Museum Day with a Stamp Rally event lasting for the rest of May.

Head to your museum to receive your stamp card, and collect stamps by viewing fish, insects and fossils at various exhibits. This is the third of the events announced last month, as the Nature Day and May Day events are both over. Here's what's left on the calendar:

• International Museum Day (May 18-31)
  • “To celebrate International Museum Day, players can take part in a Stamp Rally. After receiving a special stamp card, players can enjoy viewing fish, insects and fossils while collecting stamps at the various museum exhibits to earn an in-game reward.”
• Wedding Season (June 1-30)
  • “During a nuptial-themed June, players can visit Harvey’s island to meet the married couple Reese and Cyrus, as well as help arrange and take anniversary photos with them in the wedding-picture studio. Players will get wedding-themed items as a token of the couple’s gratitude.”

This Week In Gaming

Get nostalgic with fine new remasters

This is shaping up to be a good week, featuring remasters of a couple of previous-generation classics as well as a buffet of new releases including the delayed Cannibal Cuisine.

Tuesday - May 19

• Golf With Your Friends launches on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch
• The Wonderful 101: Remastered launches on PC, PlayStation 4 and Switch

Wednesday - May 20

• Cannibal Cuisine launches on PC and Switch

Thursday - May 21

• Biped launches on Switch
• The Persistence launches on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch
• Spirit Hunter: NG launches on Switch

Friday - May 22

• Maneater launches on PC,PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
• Monstrum launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch
• Saints Row: The Third Remastered launches on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

What Else Happened Today?

• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 nose-grinds into stores in September! Get ready to create parks and skaters without any microtransactions
• BioWare Austin studio director posts Anthem update as incubation team is “starting to validate” design hypotheses and will start talking to the community soon
• Nintendo has filed ‘quality of life’ patent featuring “information processing system” which provides “motivation for continuously performing measurement” of user’s health
• Tencent Holdings now owns System Shock 3 website, which seems like a strong indication that Otherside Entertainment is about to receive a cash injection from Tencent
• Unreal Engine 5 tech demo “culmination of years of discussions” with Sony according to Tim Sweeney, who promises support for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and high-end PCs

Esports Bits

Evo Online line-up revealed

Evo, the world’s biggest fighting game tournament, had to cancel earlier this month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, the tournament organisers have announced the Evo Online online open tournament as a replacement. The event will feature tournaments for seven games:

• Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r]
• Samurai Shodown
• Soul Calibur VI
• Granblue Fantasy: Versus
• Tekken 7
• Dragon Ball FighterZ
• Street Fighter V

The most obvious omission is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which did not make that cut thanks to its poor netcode. Evo Online will span every weekend in July and the first weekend of August. Keep an eye on Evo’s website to learn how to sign up for the open tournaments.

Kjærbye takes a break from competitive Counter-Strike

Markus Kjærbye, rifler for Team North, has announced a break from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for health reasons. Kjærbye revealed he has been experiencing abdominal pains, breathing problems and chest cramps, causing discomfort when playing.

Kjærbye has given no indication on when he will be back, forcing Team North to field upcoming youth player as substitute. Valve has been criticised for punishing Team North after they were forced to field their coach during a competition since Kjærbye could not play.

Rocket League teams unhappy again

13 Rocket League Championships Series teams have co-signed a letter asking developer Psyonix to address a number of grievances, according to The Esports Observer. The complaints concern Psyonix’s lack of communication regarding slot ownership, monetization of the league and prize money distribution.

The teams want Psyonix to communicate openly with team owners in bi-weekly calls to discuss subjects like marketing and partnership opportunities. This is not the first time professional Rocket League teams have confronted Psyonix: The developer added the Esports Shop to Rocket League as a way to share revenue with the teams.

Quiz Answer - Did You Get It Right?

Which CD Projekt game was presented as a gift to the US President?

Answer: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings!

2011 marks the year that games truly lived up to their geopolitical potential.

Are games art? Maybe. Are they gifts fit for a king? Well, they're certainly fit for a US President: When Barack Obama was touring Europe, he met Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who gave him a few gifts.

One of them was The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings – the Collector’s Edition, no less. According to Polish government spokesman Paweł Graś, the game represented Poland’s innovation and success in the global market. Unfortunately, we don't know if President Obama could beat Vandergrift.

Today's issue of DailyBits was written by Simon Priest, Gavin Herman, Erlend Grefsrud, Christian Vaz and Jamie Davey.