Dungeon Siege appears in Sandbox crossover

Square Enix partners with The Sandbox

Square Enix is teaming up with the decentralized virtual world The Sandbox for a … Dungeon Siege crossover. That means locations and lore from the classic action RPG will make an appearance in The Sandbox.

“The collaboration comprises two complementary parts. The first will deliver a Dungeon Siege LAND on Square Enix’s estate with interactive RPG experiences players can enjoy”, according to a statement.

• The Sandbox monetises NFT-based assets on a blockchain
• VoxEdit lets users create and animate voxel artworks
• Includes a Game Maker tool so you can make your own game experiences
• Dungeon Siege 3 from 2011 was the last game in the series

Voxel trade: “The second will make Dungeon Siege voxel characters and items available for players and creators to incorporate into their unique experiences using The Sandbox’s free VoxEdit” and other tools.

Meta Siege: You can catch a glimpse of the Dungeon Siege assets in the very short teaser trailer. The partnership is one of the first steps in Square Enix's plan to bring their IP catalogue to the so-called metaverse.

What language is Metal Gear’s “The Best is Yet to Come” sung in?

a) Gaeilge
b) French
c) Nahuatl    
d) Finnish

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.

Did these lost Nintendo games ever exist?

Many so-called lost games have been found by videogame preservationists over the years, but did many of them even exist? Did You Know Gaming has investigated some of them.

The investigation aims to find out “if they actually [sic] existed, or if they were just rumors that got out of control.” Animal Crossing 2 for GameCube is one of the games collectors and preservationists claim to have uncovered.

Unreleased: Another title under the microscope is the supposedly completely finished F-Zero VB, also known as G-Zero and Zero Racers, which was intended for Nintendo's ill-fated Virtual Boy system.

Cancelled: Not even Pokémon games are safe from the dustbin of history. There are rumours of Pokémon Stars for the Switch which was supposed to be an expanded version of Pokémon Sun and Moon.

Pokémon card sells for $900,000

Another record-breaking videogame-related auction after a holographic Illustrator Pikachu Pokémon card from 1998 fetches $900,000 on Goldin.

The card was rated “Near Mint 7” by the grading firm PSA. The old price record of $375,000 for a Pokémon card was set in an auction in February last year, by what just so happened to be another Illustrator Pikachu.

Rare breed: The Illustrator Pikachu card is one of only 40 in existence according to PSA, and only one other copy of the card has been rated “Near Mint 7” by the company.

Minty fresh: Illustrator Pikachus seems to be appreciating rapidly: A “Mint 9"-grade Illustrator Pikachu sold for "just" $195,000 in 2019.

Sid Meier, positive gems and VR bundles

Humble will not give an inch on the discount front and now offers a Sid Meier’s Ultimate Collection pay-what-you-want bundle that includes 21 items, with most of the Civilization series and even Sid Meier’s Pirates!

If that's a bit too strategic for you, the Overwhelmingly Positive Gems bundle features 7 items including some hidden gems, while the VR Discovery bundle offers 9 items including Trover Saves the Universe.

• Valve has no plans for a Steam Pass but would be “more than happy” to play host to Xbox Game Pass
• Rollback netcode coming to Persona 4 Arena Ultimax on PC and PlayStation 4, but it will not be available at launch
• Konami has allowed the official Silent Hill domain to lapse, but a fan picked it up and forwards visitors to an Masahiro Ito's tweet expressing regret about designing Pyramid Head
• Robert Patterson talks about Final Fantasy VII and confesses his tortured Aeris & Tifa love triangle
• This year's Tokyo Game Show will be a live event at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan between September 15th and 18th

What language is Metal Gear’s “The Best is Yet to Come” sung in?

ANSWER: Gaeilge!

Metal Gear Solid was a pioneering work in lots of ways, and its use of music was one of them. The end credits theme was called The Best Is Yet To Come, sung entirely in Gaeilge by the Irish singer Aoife Ní Fhearraigh.

While most of us can't understand a word of the lyrics, its mood is unmistakeable. The song returned in Metal Gear Solid 4: Rise of the Patriots upon Snake's return to Shadow Moses, reminding us that even though Hideo Kojima is not afraid to go over-the-top, his heart is definitely in the right place.

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!