CD Projekt Hack Ransom, Super Mario 64 Ray-Tracing

CD Projekt RED hit by ransomware attack

Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Proejekt RED has fallen victim to a cyber attack. The studio is refusing the attackers' ransom demands and will work with security professionals and law enforcement to minimize harm.

“An unidentified actor gained unauthorised access to our internal network, collected certain data belonging to CD PROJEKT capital group, and left a ransom note”, which they published. Some attached devices were encrypted by the hackers but backups are restoring data.

Terminal breached: The attackers claim to have stolen source code for Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3, Gwent and an unreleased version of The Witcher 3. The hackers also made off with various paperwork relating to accounting, administration, legal, human resources and investor relations. The attackers threatened to make this information public unless their demands are met.

No negotiation: CD Projekt RED “will not give in to the demands nor negotiate with the actor,” and are confident that no personal user data was stolen, although the company is still determining the full extent of the attack.

What year was the first E3 show?

a) 1990
b) 1993
c) 1995
d) 2000

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.

The evil within Noodle chef Takahashi

Next time you find yourself in Fallout 4’s irradiated New England, make sure to swing by Diamond City’s Power Noodles where the protectron Takahashi will take your order. He is even voiced by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami in the Japanese version.

One fan wrote to Bethesda and told them how Fallout 4 helped him cope with the death of his father and brother, and Bethesda responded by immortalizing the brother Evan as an NPC in the Nuka World DLC.

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

Lunar New Year comes to Pokémon Go

The year of the ox is upon us, and Pokémon Go is celebrating with an event focusing on red Pokémon, while Pokémon Masters EX gets a new legendary event.

If you're in the market for a gigantic Pokémon plushie, Pokémon Center is selling a 1:20 scale Gigantamax Meowth standing just under 5 and a half feet. Just $300 if you can beat the bots!

Pokémon GO

• Lunar New Year Event starts
  • Lasts until February 14th
  • Boosts various Red pokémon
  • Introduces Mega Gyarados

Pokémon Masters EX

• Legendary Event ‘Give and Take’ starts February 11th
  • Story focused on Lysandre and Professor Sycamore
  • Adds Professor Sycamore & Xerneas Sync Pair
  • Poké Fair scout rewards Lysandre & Yveltal

Pokémon Sword & Shield

• Max Raid Battles revert to Fighting & Psychic-types until February 28th
• Gigantamax Machamp & Orbeetle included in Max Raid Battles

Goldeneye 007 for Xbox was nearly done

The Xbox Live Arcade remaster of GoldenEye 007 was almost ready to launch on Xbox 360, but a Nintendo executive stepped in and pulled the plug at the last minute.

Ars Technica interviewed the team working on the remaster, who started work on the project before all the legalities had been sorted out and wanted to keep as close as possible to the original.

You Only Live Twice: Unfortunately, the Big N intervened and according to artist Ross Bury they they were quite blunt about their motivations: “’There is no way a Nintendo game is coming out on a Microsoft console.’”.

Never Say Never Again: Rare did release some of their Nintendo-exclusive games on Xbox, but only where they actually owned the intellectual property. Nintendo owned the rights to GoldenEye 007, and Nintendo decided to keep it to themselves. A Wii remake was eventually released in 2010.

• Flames of the Nether DLC for Minecraft Dungeons takes us to the “blazing heart” of the Nether
• Forza Horizon 4 finally appearing on Steam on March 9th Playground Games’ racer ends the series' long exclusivity period
• Co-op puzzler We Were Here free on PlayStation Store ahead of the rest of the series launching on February 23rd
• ESA's vision of a digital-only E3 will feature multiple two-hour keynotes as well as streamable gameplay demos
• Fans add ray-tracing to Super Mario 64 PC port harnessing the latest GPUs to enhance lighting and reflections

What year was the first E3 show?

ANSWER: 1995!

E3 won’t be the same again after last year’s cancellation, so let’s have a trip down memory lane and reminisce about the inaugural show in 1995. Nintendo, Sega and Sony started the tradition of hosting big press conferences, while pretenders like Atari and 3DO scrambled to compete.

Sony introduced the PlayStation, while Sega announced the Saturn’s outrageous $399 launch price. The Ultra 64 was still not complete and only shown in prototype form, so the ill-fated Virtual Boy was Nintendo’s big presence at the show. Somehow that makes 1995 feel even longer ago than it really is.

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