EA Picking up Codemasters, Cyberpunk 2077 offering Refunds

CD Projekt RED apologizes for launching Cyberpunk 2077 in nearly unplayable state

The Cyberpunk 2077 launch has been far from smooth and while the console ports have been particularly disastrous, the PC version also has quite a few issues.

The console versions are bad enough that CD Projekt RED has issued an apology for the state of the game, promising an update next week and continuous fixes as they become ready, followed by bigger patches early next year.

Patch schedule: The two major upcoming updates will supposedly fix a lot of the performance and graphics problems plaguing the previous-generation console versions. They won't ever match the next-gen consoles or a high-end PC, but the experience should become a bit smoother. CD Projekt RED asks for patience, but will also help any customers who want a refund.

Assisted refunds: CD Projekt RED asks disappointed customers to “please use the refund system of PSN or Xbox respectively,” while physical copies should be returned to the retailer. If you have problems, you can contact helpmerefund@cdprojektred.com and get help.

Which 20 minute track appears in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock?

a) 2112
b) Octavium
c) Black Rose Immortal
d) Empire of the Clouds

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.

A long time ago, in a galaxy close to home

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a vehicular action game set during the events at the end of and shortly after Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, and it looks like the game was built on the foundations of one of Pandemic’s earlier titles.

The GameCube version features bits and bobs from Battlezone II: Combat Commander, a vehicular science-fiction action/strategy hybrid from 1999 that was remastered by Rebellion in 2018.

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

Post-Cyberpunk 2077 peace and quiet

It’s calm after the storm, and the highlights this week are Collection of SaGa: Final Fantasy Legend, the racing simulator MXGP 2020 and rhythm-action game Deemo: Reborn.

Tuesday — December 15th

• Collection of SaGa: Final Fantasy Legend for Switch

Wednesday — December 16th

• MXGP 2020 for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Thursday — December 17th

• Deemo: Reborn for Switch, iOS, Android
• Misshitsu no Sacrifice for PC, Switch
• Neptunia reVerse for PlayStation 5

EA acquires Codemasters for $1.2 billion

Take-Two bid nearly a billion dollars for Codemasters a few weeks ago, but EA swooped in and outbid them by over $200 million and will soon be the proud owner of the UK racing specialist.

Codemasters chairman Gerhard Florin stated they and EA "have a shared ambition to lead the video game racing category." EA has struggled to maintain their racing franchises, and outbidding Take-Two was probably both a way to revitalize EA's presence in the racing game market, and a way of preventing Take-Two from gaining a strong foothold in it.

Global racing: "With the full leverage of EA's technology, platform expertise, and global reach, this combination will allow us to grow our existing franchises and deliver more industry-defining racing experiences to a global fan base,” said EA CEO Andrew Wilson.

Vroom vroom: That means EA will be the new steward of Formula One, DiRT, Grid and Project Cars in addition to their existing Need for Speed, Burnout and Real Racing series. The acquisition will complete early next year, and Codemasters' current management will stay in charge of the company for now.

PUBG Mobile purges 1.49m accounts

Many suspected cheaters have been banned from Playerunknown's Battlegrounds Mobile in a big clean-up where nearly 1.5 million accounts were nuked in the space of a week.

There are many ways for players to earn an unfair advantage, but the most common ones are aimbots and wallhacks. The majority of bans had a bronze ranking, while only 2% of the banned accounts had reached conqueror rank.

Lee “Flame” Ho-jong retires from league

The 28-year-old esports pro Lee “Flame” Ho-jong is retiring after 8 years as a professional League of Legends player.

He spent three years playing for American teams, before returning to Korea in 2019 to join DAMWON Gaming as a substitute. The team won the 2020 World Championships, but Lee Ho-jong did not play in any of the matches and left the team shortly afterwards.

• Resident Evil 8 development build allegedly leaked in following ransomware attack against Capcom
• Guitar Hero streamer performs hilarious a capella number demonstrating how ridiculous DMCA safe streaming is
• Not everything is dark and terrible in Cyberpunk 2077: Pineapple pizza has literally been outlawed by the Pizza Desecration Act
• Hollow Knight: Silksong might appear on the next Edge cover judging by an extremely ambiguous hint posted on Twitter
• Nintendo is broadcasting a Indie World Showcase showing off upcoming indie games for Switch tomorrow

As we head into the end of the year, we're going to be giving away a PlayStation 5 to one lucky reader. The winner will be revealed in the Christmas eve issue of DailyBits.

Here’s the Giveaway Code for Week 51, which will allow you to gain more points: 5362

Which 20 minute track appears in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock?

ANSWER: 2112!

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock landed the final blow to the peripheral-driven rhythm-action boom of the mid-2000s. The market got pretty saturated after a few annual instalments of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but at least it went out with a bang rather than a whimper.

Warriors of Rock featured Rush’s 2112, a twenty-minute prog rock epic chronicling the struggles of a musician trying to live and create in an oppressive society, which forms the basis of the game’s story mode. The band even shows up to narrate in between the different segments. It’s almost good enough reason to buy Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, but it is also available as DLC for Rock Band 3 and Rock Band Blitz.

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