Today: Call of Duty returns to its roots with new World War 2 romp — Grab yourself some very reasonable games from the Humble Store — Witcher 3 director leaves CD Projekt RED after harassment charges
Sony hastily filed motions to re-seal the documents, but that won't stop the spread of private emails between top executives and other sensitive internal documents presented as evidence in the case.
Crossplay: Witness testimonies have also revealed some of the dealing and wheeling surrounding crossplay, which Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has advocated forcefully for. Documents seem to show that Sony is uninterested in it, and made demands such as ‘cross-play compensation’ for purchases made outside PSN.
Fortnite without Live: One of the email exchanges between Tim Sweeney and Phil Spencer discusses dropping the requirement for an Xbox Live Gold subscription in order to play free online games. Spencer was in favour of opening up free-to-play games to non-subscribers, and he recently got his way.
DAILY QUIZ
Which British comedian sang the opening musical number for Discworld II?
a) John Cleese
b) Michael Palin
c) Eddie Izzard
d) Eric Idle
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.
FACT OF THE DAY
Too complicated for the average gamer
Final Fantasy V never made it to Western shores, and an interview with translator Ted Woolsey reveals why.
His explanation is simple: “It’s just not accessible enough to the average gamer” and Square didn’t think it was worth it. They were planning to release ‘Final Fantasy Extreme’ in 1995, but plans got shelved until Final Fantasy V was finally released for PlayStation in the West in 1999.
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POKEMON NEWS
Gotta glitch ’em all
A small number of players have reported that the European version of Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire for 3DS have suddenly stopped working.
While there have been reports of failing cartridges since 2019, most copies of the game appear to be functioning as expected. Game cartridges are generally quite sturdy, so it's hard to determine exactly why they might be failing after a relatively short amount of time.
Local issues: This is not the first time odd flaws have turned up in Pokémon games: Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire for Game Boy Advance featured the so-called berry glitch, which stopped berry trees growing after 365 days from the first time the game was played.
Unlikely fix: Neither Nintendo nor Game Freak have commented on the problem, and it seems unlikely that they will go out of their way to issue a patch for a game released in 2014.
Call of Duty returns to second world war
Activision is keeping to its regular annual schedule for Call of Duty games, despite Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's somewhat lackluster reception. The new game is in development at Sledgehammer Games, is set during the second world war and promises “really fun integration” with Warzone.
The new game is called Call of Duty WW2: Vanguard and Activision Blizzard's COO Daniel Alegre is confident about it: "Development is being led by Sledgehammer Games, and the game is looking great and on track for its fall release."
More to come:"This is a built for next generation experience with stunning visuals across campaign, multiplayer and cooperative modes of play, designed to both integrate with and enhance the existing COD ecosystem. We look forward to sharing more details with the community soon,” Alegre added.
Warzone integration:“There will be some other really fun integration with the great work that Sledgehammer Game is leading to this year,” according to Activision's Rob Kostich. Sledgehammer's last stand-alone work was Call of Duty: WW2 in 2017, and has provided support for Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War and Warzone alongside Raven Software.
HUMBLE BUNDLE DEALS
Hot Humble Deals
There are some truly hot Humble Deals on right now, but be quick: Some of them are ending as soon as tomorrow! Don't forget that you can make the deals even better by signing up for Humble Choice, which gives you another 20% off.
We think the best deal today is Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar's wild west extravaganza, but if you're more up for some caped vigilantism then Batman: The Arkham Collection offers three excellent Batman games at a spectacular price.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Zombies $35.99/£26.99 @ Humble
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War Definitive $11.99/£7.99 @ Humble
Fan game Wolfenstein: Blade of Agony finally done after “6 years, 1 month and 20 days”, tying together elements from the whole series in one spectacular Doom mod
Which British comedian sang the opening musical number for Discworld II?
ANSWER: Eric Idle!
If you’re a Discworld fan, then you probably know about the trilogy of Discworld point-and-click adventure games too. The first two games starred Eric Idle of Monty Python fame as the incompetent wizardling Rincewind, and even performed a musical number for the second game in the series, Discworld II: Missing Presumed ..?!.
The song is a smooth cabaret performance called “That’s Death”, which literally sings the praises of death. The game is about finding the Grim Reaper himself and convincing him to return to his duties. More games could benefit from a bit of Discworld-style levity, and certainly from more merry songs.
Today's issue of DailyBits was written by Gavin Herman, Nick Akerman, Erlend Grefsrud, Simon Priest, and Jamie Davey. If you have any feedback or news tips for the team, please email us!
