Bungie teams up with PlayStation

Bungie joins PlayStation for $3.6 billion

Big news as Sony PlayStation has just announced that it has acquired original Halo and Destiny developer Bungie; however the studio will remain independently run and even multi-platform.

“…I want to be very clear to the community that Bungie will remain an independent and multi-platform studio and publisher,” said Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO, Jim Ryan.

• Halo creator Bungie was previously owned by Microsoft
• Friction with Activision ended Destiny partnership early
• $3.6 billion deal the latest in a string of major purchases
• Sony intent on acquiring more studios hints Jim Ryan

Independence: “…we have found a partner who unconditionally supports us in all we are and who wants to accelerate our vision to create generation-spanning entertainment, all while preserving the creative independence that beats in Bungie’s heart,” added Bungie.

’More to come’: The deal is more about Sony acquiring multiplatform live-service games and not locking down PlayStation exclusives, with Ryan teasing that Sony has “many more moves to make.”

What MMO played a role in the CSI: NY episode “Down the Rabbit Hole”

a) World of Warcraft 
b) Entropia Universe
c) Eve Online
d) Second Life

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.

Prepare for DD-defeat in Master Duel

Do you have any idea how many Yu-Gi-Oh games there are? You probably don't, because the number is staggering. Practically overwhelming. That also means there's a pretty big yet disparate community with a lot of opinions on which of the many games is the best one, but it seems to be uniting around Yu-Gi-Oh: Master Duel.

Lots to Learn: If learning Yu-Gi-Oh sounds like a major effort, the game's solo challenges will help you understand the intricacies of fusions and special summons.

• Yu-Gi-Oh is a bit too complex to be properly explained in a bite-sized review like this, but suffice to say there is plenty of tension in a well-balanced match – if you can find one.

Noobs Beware: Ranked duels can be pretty rough going: Our first attempt was against an opponent who managed to summon three monsters consecutively and clean up without any problems.

• As a result, our turns got interrupted, again and again, ensuring defeat within the space of four turns. That might sound pretty demoralizing, and it is: Beginners will have a pretty rough time even though the game just came out.

Bounties of Boosters: The prebuilt decks are not particularly powerful, so you pretty much have to shell out for a few boosters or even a battle pass to be competitive.

• The Battle Pass is pretty standard: Playing the game earns you levels that award you cosmetics and currency that allows you to buy new cards.
• You can also buy content using the in-game currency, which you can earn from solo play and missions so you can trade in time rather than money – but you can't rely on generosity alone. If you want to remain competitive, it will cost money.

It's an open question whether Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel will survive once the initial hype has died down, but it's a solid package with loads of content that will definitely keep fans satisfied. The question is whether the mix of microtransactions and merciless seasoned veterans waiting in the wings can win over a new audience. 

Nintendo orders takedown of over 1,300 videos featuring classic videogame music

Nintendo of Japan has pounced on YouTuber GilvaSunner, taking down no less than 1,300 videos featuring music from Nintendo games.

Nintendo started issuing takedown requests in 2019 despite the videos not being monetized, but YouTube took a long time to drop the hammer. Nintendo appears to be going through the channel game by game, issuing requests along the way.

Grey area: “Let me clarify again that I do not monetize videos and do not profit from them. I do realize that doesn’t justify uploading the content,” GilvaSunner said in 2020.

It is theirs: “If Nintendo thinks this is what needs to be done (to set an example), I will let them take down the channel. It is their content after all,” GilvaSunner concluded. Nintendo is notoriously defensive of its intellectual property.

Sony by the moonlight and classic puzzles

Humble Bundle is howling at the moon with the Sony Lunar Sale offering as much as 75% off games like Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn, Helldivers and Predator.

There's also the pay-what-you-want Myst & More Bundle featuring 12 items including the classic Myst and its sequel Riven.

• Square Enix issues a special Final Fantasy VII 25th anniversary message from Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura
• New PlayStation State of Play stream on February 2nd promising an in-depth look at Gran Turismo 7
• New trailer for the upcoming Halo TV show offers a glimpse of the conflict against the Covenant which begins on March 24th
• Strong launch for Pokémon Legends: Arceus in the UK, making it the fourth-biggest Pokémon launch in the British isles
• Hisui region Voltorb is now available in Pokémon Go after appearing in Pokémon Legends: Arceus

What MMO played a role in the CSI: NY episode “Down the Rabbit Hole”

ANSWER: Second Life!

Videogames and television generally doesn't mix, or at least gaming gets what can only be described as short shrift. A great example was CSI: NY's take on the whole Second Life fad back in 2007. A woman is found murdered, it turns out she looks like a famous Second Life avatar and Mac Taylor must investigate the metaverse to find the murderer.

CSI even made a Second Life world to tie into the episode, with CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker breathlessly hyping the crossover. The result was, of course, spectacularly silly and a great reminder of just how half-cocked Second Life really was. Still, it was perhaps more ambitious and interesting than what Facebook is up to…

The Bungie deal with Sony has been in the planning stage for over 6 months, so we've yet to see the retaliation for the Activision and Microsoft deal. Who could Sony acquire next? We'd secretly love there to be some deal with Konami, just so we can see the return of Metal Gear and Silent Hill… How about you?  

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!