Crossing Gets Seasonal, Poke VR

Nintendo Direct

All about the new Animal Crossing

The latest Nintendo Direct stream was just broadcast, and it was a 25 minutes long “in-depth look” at Animal Crossing: New Horizons, due out on March 20th.

Setting and seasons

• Multiple island destinations to pick from
• Choose between the northern and southern hemisphere
• Both hemispheres offer four seasons but at different times
• Each day starts with an island-wide broadcast of important events
• Seasons determine what activities are available

Customization and visitors

• Building a home requires taking out a loan, with no deadline or interest
  • Houses include their storage where you can put away items
  • You can easily change the furniture on and item placement in your house
  • Houses can be extended and remodelled with multiple rooms
• You can choose where other residents set up their homes
• Resident Services are open 24 hours for trading, crafting, advice
• Everything can be customized, from colours to custom designs
• The airport is open 24 hours a day so you can visit other islands as well as receive visitors and mail
• Up to 8 players can be on one island at the same time

The Nook Business empire

• New players are introduced to the game by Nook Inc. staff
• NookPhone issued provides access to essentials like camera, map, recipes etc.
• ‘Nook Miles’ are earned by completing small objectives that help guide players
  • Can be used to pay off island package or exchanged for rewards
  • Nook Miles Ticket will fly you to random small islands to explore

Exploration and discovery

• Talks about hazards on the deserted island and possible solutions
• Chance of meeting beached castaways
• Rescue Service fast travels you if you are stuck or stranded
• Players can jump to traverse small obstacles
• Party Play lets up to four players explore the island together

Check out the Nintendo Direct stream for yourself to learn more.

Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?

Which League of Legends champion uses playing cards as a weapon?

• Illaoi
• Twisted Fate
• Malzahar
• Soraka

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

Twisted Metal: Black might have been a diseased mind’s fever dream all along

Twisted Metal: Black for PlayStation 2 may have taken place in the head of serial killer ice cream clown Sweet Tooth.

Minion’s loading screen features him communicating in numbers, claiming that they’re all ‘trapped in his head’ and that this is how Sweet Tooth ‘sees the world’.

The final boss fight in Twisted Metal: Black was against Warhawk, who was originally meant to be a playable character up until the final days of production.

At the last minute, the developers decided Warhawk was ‘too powerful’ for multiplayer, and that the game controls didn’t translate well to his helicopter, and thus he became the final boss instead.

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

Games That Serve You

What’s up in the big online games?

Here’s a quick round-up of the latest changes to live games like Fortnite, Dead by Daylight, Rainbow Six Siege and other online games.

• Fortnite
  • Chapter 2 – Season 2 launches today, February 20th
  • Battle Pass Gameplay Trailer
  • Top Secret Launch Trailer
• Dead by Daylight
  • The new chapter Chains of Hate launches on March 10th
  • Features the new killer The Deathslinger, and a new survivor named Zarina Kassir
  • Adds Dead Dawg Saloon map
  • Public Test Build available now
  • All killers can use the new breakable walls mechanic
• Rainbow Six Siege
  • Operation Void Edge marks the start of Year 5
  • Available on the test server since February 17th
  • Introduces new Operators Oryx and Iana
  • Old Oregon map reworked in Void Edge
• For Honor
  • Leaders of Wyverndale, February 20th – weekly arcade quest (Marching Fire only)
  • Dura Lex, February 27th – weekly arcade quest (Marching Fire only)
  • Extra Loot Fest between February 21st and 24th
• Hunt Showdown
  • Launched on PlayStation 4 this week, on February 18th

New Seattle Studio

New Seattle studio dedicated to making Kerbal Space Program 2

Take Two Interactive subsidiary Private Division has opened up a new studio in the greater Seattle area focused on making Kerbal Space Program 2.

“Since we acquired Kerbal Space Program in 2017, we have consistently produced, high-quality content for our community, which in turn has resulted in strong growth, both in terms of new players engaging with the franchise, and our ambitions to take it to the next level,” said Private Division’s Michael Worosz.

The Kerbal Space Program developers are among the key members of the new studio, including:

• Jeremy Ables, studio head
• Nate Simpson, creative director
• Nate Robinson, lead producer

Lift-off in the next year: Kerbal Space Program 2 is on track for launch sometime in Take-Two’s fiscal year 2021, which begins April 1st and ends March 31th next year.

VR Bits

More VR arcade games from Ubisoft

Ubisoft Düsseldorf has listed a host of jobs for an unannounced VR project, including Lead Level Designer, Senior Technical Artist and much more. According to the job listings the project is based on “one of Ubisoft’s greatest IP’s” and is using “cutting-edge VR technology”.

Ubisoft Düsseldorf is the team behind Ubisoft’s arcade-exclusive VR escape room games – the latest one being Prince of Persia: The Dagger of Time – so the new game could be pretty much anything from Ubisoft’s extensive catalogue. Beyond Good and Evil photography game, maybe?

Get your Pokémon on in VR fan game

If you’ve dreamed of hunting Pokémon in VR, now is your chance – but be quick, because Nintendo is definitely going to shut down this project. Pokémon VR is a fan-made Oculus game bringing the Pokémon world to VR.

The early alpha test allows you to explore a city with Pokémon Centres and Poké Marts, build a team and battle other trainers. The game is in a very early state, and you can keep up with the development in their Discord channel.

Finally! Checkpoints in Boneworks

Boneworks developer Stress Level Zero has finally updated the game to include checkpoints. The lack of checkpoints made it so players were forced to complete levels in one playthrough, and players were not amused.

The first level takes about 40 minutes to complete, and if something should force you to quit before you’re done, you’ll have to start all over again. The patch includes a number of other features too – check out the patch notes to find out more.

What Else Happened Today?

Coronavirus scares Sony out of PAX

Sony is pulling out of PAX East “due to increasing concerns” over the COVID-19 outbreak. “We felt this was the safest option as the situation is changing daily,” according to the US PlayStation blog, adding that the “health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern.” That probably means The Last of Us Part II and Final Fantasy VII Remake won’t be on the show floor after all.

Yacht Club to stream their plans

Yacht Club Games will broadcast their second Nintendo Direct-like announcement stream next week on February 26th @ 9.00am PST, giving an update on what’s going on at the studio. Could there be more Shovel Knight in the works, since the King of Cards update came out not too long ago? You can watch the stream on YouTube or Twitch.

Ring Fit Adventure shortage in Oz

Ring Fit Adventure shortages has led to a thriving scalpers market as people buy available stock to resell at inflated prices, so EB Games is limiting purchases to two per customer. Since the game requires a physical peripheral it can’t be bought digitally. The shortages could be thanks to stock being diverted to China, where the Switch was launched just before Christmas.

Hardspace: Shipbreaker revealed

Focus Home Interactive and Blackbird Interactive have announced Hardspace: Shipbreaker. It uses “true-to-life physics and demolition effects” in a sandbox of destruction and creativity. It’s coming to Steam Early Access this summer, and puts you in the shoes of a plucky ‘space cutter’ who salvages derelict spacecraft in the first act of the game’s campaign.

Weekly Giveaway

5,000 Shadow Arena Beta Codes

We’ve got a special treat for you this week, with up to 5,000 Shadow Arena Closed Beta Codes to give away. Share DailyBits with your friends so they can join you in this 40 player fantasy battle royale experience! Grab your code here!

Countless will fall and only one will ultimately rise victorious in the Shadow Arena. In battles that pit 40 heroes against each other in fierce, action-packed showdowns, do you have what it takes to defeat your opponents and become the final survivor, the sole champion?

Quiz Answer - Did You Get It Right?

Which League of Legends champion uses playing cards as a weapon?

Answer: Twisted Fate!

There are over 140 champions in League of Legends, so it can be a bit tricky to remember all of them.

Twisted Fate is a mage champion released in 2009, making him one of the game’s oldest champions as well as one of the most challenging to play. Originally a Romani gambler who gained magical powers in an experiment, his backstory was retconned to make him a card shark who learned magic at a young age. He is also being chased down by the outlaw Graves after a heist gone bad.

While his backstory has changed throughout the years, it’s pretty clear who he’s based on: A man with a southern accent and a playing card motif? Prrrrrretty sure that’s Gambit from X-Men. Why not check him out and play some card tricks on your opponents next time you head for the Summoner’s Rift?

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