Blizzard seeks suspended lawsuit due to ethics violation

DFEH accused of ethics violations

Activision Blizzard has petitioned that the Californian Department of Fair Employment and Housing's lawsuit be suspended due to an alleged ethics violation.

Lawyers working for the DFEH have allegedly also worked for the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which conducted a federal investigation into Activision Blizzard.

• The EEOC reached a settlement with Activision Blizzard
• DFEH cried foul over the EEOC deal
• Activision Blizzard has requested time to investigate DFEH ethics violations
• They want the case classified as “complex” to qualify for a specialist court

Finger-pointing: Activision Blizzard also alleges that DFEH destroyed information, which also happens to be one of the things the DFEH accuses Activision Blizzard of. The US Securities and Exchange Commission is also investigating whether Activision Blizzard has made full disclosure to its investors.

Internal strife: More than twenty Activision Blizzard employees have left the company since the legal battles started, while more than twenty more have faced disciplinary proceedings following their conduct.

What’s the only console to have a port of King’s Quest 1?

a) Sega Master System
b) NES
c) 3DO 
d) SNES

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.

Gunnin’ for Glory in Gas Guzzlers Extreme

It has been eight years since Gas Guzzlers Extreme first launched, and now it's out for Switch. It's a gritty, grungy, and chaotic vehicular combat game and it still holds up pretty well. The graphics might have been downgraded a bit and there's a bit of slowdown, but duking it out in the deserts and shrublands is still quite amusing.

• No Story? No Problem: Why would you need one when you are barreling down the desert road, firing hood-mounted machine guns at your opponents while you're hurling expletives at them? That there is all the story you need
  • Win races, earn upgrades, unlock cars and discover new tracks. That's all there's to it. You can also increase your earnings by killing opponents, completing challenges, and running over chickens
• Friendless fun: The big missing feature is multiplayer. There's plenty of content and game modes, but playing against the AI gets old after a while
  • The game's sense of humour also gets old, being the raunchy kind of very American male humour that's done well beyond death. To give you an idea, your first sponsor is Buttweiser. Haha, get it? Like Budweiser, but with a butt? Yeah.

In short, Gas Guzzlers Extreme is full of over-the-top action and stupid puns. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, and if you find the game's tone amusing it actually fits the car combat motif pretty well. Racing, smashing, and upgrading are pretty fun, all in all.

God of War coming to PC next year

Santa Monica Studio's God of War reboot is coming to PC on January 14th next year, and Sony promises a “wide range of graphical presets and options”.

“From higher resolution shadows and improved screen space reflections to enhancements to the ambient occlusion pipeline with GTAO and SSDO – God of War on the PC can create striking visual quality unique to the platform,” according to PlayStation.Blog.

Customisation: If you're gaming on an ultra-wide monitor, you're in for a treat: God of War will support up to 21:9 resolutions along with Nvidia DLSS and Reflex low latency technology. It will also feature “robust DualShock 4 and DualSense wireless controller support and keyboard mapping customization.”

Epic Games Publishing signs new games

Epic Games Publishing has announced partnerships with independent studios Eyes Out and Spry Fox, and both are working on original IP.

Eyes Out is headquartered in Los Angeles, and was co-founded by Spec Ops: The Line designer Cory David and Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck. They are working on a “multiplatform cosmic horror” game in Unreal Engine.

Pacifist fun: Spry Fox is developing a “multiplatform, non-violent, persistent multiplayer” game designed to “encourage friendship and reduce loneliness”, with support for cross-play and accounts shared across platforms.

Supporting original IP: “We want to serve them by giving them full ownership of their IPs and creative freedom with best-in-class financial terms and publishing support,” said Epic Games Publishing boss Hector Sanchez.

Devolver, Lovers x Fighters and Dead by Daylight sales over at Humble Bundle

There is quite an eclectic mix of sales at Humble Bundle this week, starting with the Devolver Publisher Sale which offers up to 90% off, matched by the Lovers x Fighters Sale that also offers up to a 90% discount.

Then things get more appropriately spooky in the Dead by Daylight Sale which takes up to 60% off your favorite serial killer escapades. Finally, the Fighting Juggernauts Bundle dispenses justice and offers 7 classic beat-em-up titles for £8.91.

Toy Soldiers HD Giveaway

We have 10 keys for Toy Soldiers HD to give away: 5 for Xbox One and 5 for PlayStation 4, all for Accelerate Games' HD remaster.

Just enter our Toy Soldiers HD giveaway and share DailyBits with your friends and family for a chance to win!

• Half-Life 2 quietly updated for Steam Deck with an all-new beta branch
• Age of Empires IV and Dragon Ball FighterZ coming to Game Pass alongside a handful of other games
• LEGO Star Wars: Castaways will be an iOS exclusive and launch on Apple Arcade
• Sea of Thieves boasts 25 million pirates and Rare celebrates the achievement with a video message
• Pokémon Unite trailer spotlights Greedent and showcases his berry effective moves in battle

What’s the only console to have a port of King’s Quest 1?

ANSWER: Sega Master System!

The King's Quest series is first and foremost a PC classic, but the very first King's Quest game was actually ported for an unlikely console: The Sega Master System. Considering the first games in the series used a text-based parser and communicated most of its actions through text, a console connecting to the TV via coax and featuring a two-button controller is not an obvious target platform.

The solution is similar to that employed by the Lucasarts point-and-clickers: You choose your actions from a list of commands rather than fighting with the parser to find the exact wording it is looking for. Other than that, it is a pretty faithful port and while it's not really the definitive way to experience Sir Graham's first quest, it's still a fun curio.

Today's issue of DailyBits was written by Gavin Herman, Erlend Grefsrud, Simon Priest, and Jamie Davey. If you have any feedback or news tips for the team, please email us!