Crunch plagues LEGO Skywalker Saga development

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga out this spring after troubled development

The oft-delayed and much-anticipated Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is almost upon us, and the latest trailer reveals the release date: April 5th, 2022.

The Skywalker Saga adapts all the 9 main series movies and features an all-new third-person action design complete with a combo-based combat system, and a mumble mode that replaces the voice acting with, well, mumbling.

• Biggest Lego Star Wars game to date
• Billy Dee Williams voices Lando Calrissian
• Explore locations from all 9 movies in any order
• New game engine and approach to design

Dev crunch: Development has not been a completely smooth ride, and developers at TT Games claim that there was substantial pressure to work "voluntary" overtime which amounted to “very soft-spoken blackmail.”

Production: The Skywalker Saga was delayed three times, and apparently suffered high staff turnover and low morale, while poor management saw the project run low on resources. We've reached out to TT Games and Warner Bros for comment on the report but didn't hear anything back by the time of publishing.

Which boss caused the Corrupted Blood plague in World of Warcraft?

a) Kel’Thuzad
b) Uu’nat
c) Hakkar the Soulflayer
d) Arthas Menethil

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.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus out this week

Game Freak's open-world extravaganza Pokémon Legends: Arceus is finally out this week, while Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection hits PlayStation 5.

Tuesday – January 25th

• The Artful Escape for NS, PS4, PS5

Thursday – January 27th

• Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX 2 for PC, NS, PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX

Friday – January 28th

• Pokémon Legends: Arceus for NS
• Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection for PS5

Most developers are uninterested in NFTs

The annual Game Developers Conference survey attempts to gauge the state of the industry and map out current and future trends by polling thousands of game developers.

One of the big topics this year is cryptocurrency, with studios and publishers suddenly jumping on the NFT bandwagon. The subject has been controversial among gamers, and it appears game developers are not much more enthusiastic.

Uninterested: 72% of the respondents said they are “not interested in it in any capacity,”, while around 1,300 respondents elaborated on their opinions.

Meta-hype: The so-called metaverse was another hot topic, with 83% of respondents saying they are not involved in work relating to it, and 33% believing it's nothing but hype and buzzwords.

Brave Browser rewards you for surfing

Maybe your internet connection is fast, but what about your browser? The Brave Browser is built from the ground up for speed, privacy and providing an ad-free Internet.

You can opt-in for ads that respect your privacy, and even earn rewards. It’s quick and easy to use, featuring the same comforts and conveniences you expect from a modern browser.

• The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is coming to Switch Online for Expansion Pack subscribers, following Banjo-Kazooie
• Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy physical edition coming to Switch on February 11th, although it will still require a digital download
• Dune: Spice Wars developers unveils its take on House Atreides showcasing key characters, general gameplay and a brief history
• Life is Strange: Remastered Collection for Switch is delayed and will launch after the PC and other console versions release on February 1st
• Striking Raven Software QA dev testers “form a union”, and the 34 members are requesting recognition from Activision

Which boss caused the Corrupted Blood plague in World of Warcraft?

ANSWER: Hakkar the Soulflayer!

World of Warcraft was a groundbreaking MMO, and one of its many unexpected features was the potential for in-game pandemics. Hakkar the Soulflayer had an ability called Corrupted Blood, a contagious debuff that forced players to spread out. The ability was supposed to be confined to a single raid instance, but managed to spread outside thanks to pets that could be affected.

Once out in the wild, Corrupted Blood quickly spread through the entire game world and did not stop until Blizzard reset the servers. The Corrupted Blood incident was studied by epidemiologists as an example of how diseases propagate through a population, and The Lancet published an article on it. Virtual worlds might not be real, but they can still tell us something about reality.

Who’s taking this Friday off work, ready for the launch of Pokémon Legends: Arceus?

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!