Cyber Crunching Punks, Niantic Keeping Pokemon Go Bonuses

CD Projekt RED will crunch to finish Cyberpunk 2077 in time

CD Projekt RED wasn't supposed to crunch to finish Cyberpunk 2077, but after two delays studio boss Adam Badowski has decided to crunch to make the promised November launch – a decision he takes ‘full responsibility’ for.

CEO Adam Kicinski has previously talked up the studio's good work conditions and how they avoided crunch. Now a leaked email suggests that the studio asks its employees to commit to "your typical amount of work and one day on the weekend".

Mandatory: This flies in the face of co-founder Marcin Iwinski's statement that CD Projekt RED would stick to a “non-obligatory crunch policy”.

"I take it upon myself to receive the full backlash for the decision," Badowski said in an internal email.

An apology: "I know this is in direct opposition to what we've said about crunch. It's also in direct opposition to what I personally grew to believe a while back – that crunch should never be the answer. But we've extended all other possible means of navigating the situation."

Cyberpunk 2077 is scheduled to launch November 19, 2020 – unless it gets delayed again.

Who voices the villainous Emperor Doviculus in Brütal Legend?

a) Rob Halford
b) Zack Hanks
c) Tim Curry
d) Lemmy Kilmister

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.
 

Kamek’s potty mouth delayed Mario Party

Hudson Soft's 2007 party game Mario Party 8 for Wii got mysteriously delayed in the UK, with Nintendo vaguely blaming a ‘production issue’ – while retailers said it was because of the word ‘spastic’.

The term is offensive in the UK since it's a slur aimed at disabled people. Kamek would occasionally use the word, which didn't sit well with UK audiences. Ubisoft's Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach suffered a similar ‘production issue’ a month earlier.

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

Pokémon GO will keep temporary bonuses

Niantic implemented some temporary bonuses and features to help adapt Pokémon Go to changing user patterns during the COVID-19 crisis, and they actually improved the game.

The community has been enthusiastic about the changes, and “some of these changes will remain implemented for the foreseeable future, such as the ability to raid remotely, changes to the GO Battle League, and the increased distance at which you can spin Photo Discs at Gyms and PokéStops.”

Bonuses that will remain

• Incense duration will remain 60 minutes.
• Maximum number of gifts that can be carried in Item Bag will remain 20
• The first Pokémon you catch every day will keep yielding three times the Stardust and XP

Bonuses that change on October 1st

• Eggs will go back to normal hatch distances
• Increased Incense effect will only apply while you are walking
• Your Buddy Pokémon will only bring you Gifts when you have nearly run out, and only once per day
• Higher chance of getting a Gift when you spin a PokéStop – but you are not guaranteed to receive a Gift

Rescheduled: More Incubators will be found in boxes bought through the in-game shop. You can read a full summary of the active bonuses in the ‘Special bonuses’ section of the Today View.

“We will continue to monitor these active bonuses and will provide updates as necessary,” said Niantic, and they are “working hard to reschedule previously planned live events” to 2021.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars beats Marvel’s Avengers in UK charts for September

The top seller at UK retail in September was Nintendo's Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which narrowly edged out Marvel's Avengers.

The collection became the second fastest-selling Mario release in the series' history, coming in just behind Super Mario Odyssey back in 2017. Nintendo is doing very well at retail these days, with 32.2% of physical game sales being published by Nintendo, while 41.7% of total sales are games for Switch.

GfK September UK Top 10

1. Super Mario 3D All-Stars
2. Marvel's Avengers
3. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
5. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe
6. Minecraft (Switch)
7. Grand Theft Auto 5
8. NBA 2K21
9. PGA Tour 2K21
10. Ring Fit Adventure

Super Switch: Unsurprisingly, Switch was also the best-selling console, shifting around 146,000 units in September. 1.3 million consoles have been sold in the UK so far this year, an increase of 34.2% over the same period last year. Switch game sales have increased over 90% in the same period.

• Focus Home Interactive partner with Flying Wild Hog to make the Shadow Warrior studio's “most ambitious game to date”
• Lucid Games’ Destruction AllStars coming to PlayStation 5 and will launch alongside the next-gen console
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure available at PlayStation 5 launch and Sumo Digital is presently adding some “finishing touches”
• Doom Eternal and Brütal Legend added to Xbox Game Pass and much more is to come when the EA Play library is added
• Prehistoric Kingdom coming to Early Access according to a trailer showing off the dinosaur zoo management game

Who voices the villainous Emperor Doviculus in Brütal Legend?

ANSWER: Tim Curry!

Brütal Legend featured an all-star cast and an unusual blend of real-time strategy and open-world gameplay, making it one of the oddest games in Double Fine’s decidedly odd library.

Jack Black is outstanding as the hero Eddie, and Tim Curry's turn as villain Doviculus provides perfect contrast. The game is pretty tongue-in-cheek, leaning into its heavy metal pastiche with a big, cheesy grin – but Curry plays his demon lord pretty straight (at least for a Tim Curry performance), and makes for a truly sinister villain. Of course, that only makes his completely over-the-top defeat at the end all the more satisfying!

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

We hope you've enjoyed today's issue DailyBits! Please feel free to send any feedback over to team@dailybits.news. Thank You!