Fallout Holds Bethesda Deal, Diamond & Pearl Remake Tease?

Are mods DLC? That’s up to a judge now

ZeniMax Entertainment, parent company of Bethesda Softworks and recent addition to Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios stable, is facing a class action lawsuit over the Fallout 4 season pass.

The suit hits just as Microsoft is finalizing the acquisition, which means they will also have to defend against a long and potentially costly legal action. A law firm aptly named The X-Law Group argues that the Fallout 4 season pass does not, in fact, offer “all Fallout 4 DLC for one S.P.E.C.I.A.L. price.”

False advertising: Content from Bethesda's Creation Club, which features both official and fan-made mods for Fallout 4 and Skyrim, is not part of the season pass and X-Law Group argues that this is not a marketplace for mods, but a storefront selling DLC.

Downloadable and content: In other words, the case hinges on the definition of the term DLC. Since Creation Club is curated by Bethesda and it features content that can be downloaded, everything there should be included in the season pass – otherwise, X-Law Group claims, Bethesda will have “artificially removed it from the definition of DLC” and tricked their customers.

Which Crazy Taxi-like game led to a lawsuit from Sega for patent infringement?

a) London Taxi: Rushour
b) Midtown Madness 
c) The Simpsons: Road Rage
d) Smashing Drive

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.

No satire in the zombie mall, please

Capcom was probably not terribly surprised when MKR, who owns the rights to George Romero’s zombie classic Dawn of the Dead, claimed that Dead Rising game was a thinly veiled copy of the movie.

MKR cited similarities like being set in a bi-level shopping mall, combat in a gun shop, helicopters flying over the mall, a rural location surrounded by the National Guard, zombies in plaid shirts, music used for comic effect and – wait for it – satire of rampant consumerism. The case was, perhaps even less surprisingly, dismissed.

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

Pokémon Diamond & Pearl remake tease

One of the most persistent Pokémon rumours claims that Pokémon Diamond & Pearl is coming to Switch as part of the Pokémon 25th anniversary celebration, and now it looks like an announcement is just around the corner.

The official Pokémon Twitter account is counting down to the weekend, and just posted a short video featuring Pokémon from the Sinnoh region, where Pokémon Diamond & Pearl takes place.

Fervent speculation: According to Centro Pokémon, the remake will be fairly close to the Nintendo DS original, unlike Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! which were remakes of Pokémon Yellow that took some liberties with the source material.

Return of the Pokéball: Centro Pokémon claims that Pokémon Diamond & Pearl will be announced on February 27th. It also looks like the Poké Ball Plus is making a comeback. Great timing!

Star Wars: Republic Commando April 6

Clone trooper Delta Three-Eight returns to duty on April 6th when Star Wars: Republic Commando is re-released on PlayStation 4 and Switch.

The tactical first-person shooter originally launched for Xbox and PC in early 2005 and became something of a cult hit, and now Aspyr is bringing it back. Aspyr is also rumoured to be working on a new Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Cloned to perfection: “We’ve done our best to faithfully recreate the original Star Wars Republic Commando feel with a few modern twists,” said developer Aspyr. “We updated the controls to feel just right on the DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers (playable on PS5 via backwards compatibility).”

Trophy hunter: Besides fancypants new controls, the re-release will also feature achievements. For example, there's an achievement called Squeaky Clean rewarded for keeping your commando visor free from pieces of enemy. Who said Star Wars had to be family-friendly?

Pumpkin Jack codes for PS4 or Switch

We’re giving away five copies of the spooky 3D platformer Pumpkin Jack from indie developer Nicolas Meyssonnier. Should you be one of the lucky few then we’ll give you the option of picking between a PlayStation 4 or a Nintendo Switch code for the game.

To be within a chance to a win all you need to do is follow our Twitter account @DailyBitsGaming and visit our official website. Doing both gives you two entries for double the chance! Check out the Pumpkin Jack Giveaway to learn more.

• Sony will broadcast a new State of Play on February 25th which goes live at 2.00pm PT / 5.00pm ET / 10.00pm UTC
• GameStop CFO Jim Bell resigns and the retailer begins search for replacement. Probably completely unrelated to the GameStonks drama that unfolded last month.
• Stardew Valley has become a board game where you presumably have a nice wholesome time running a farm
• Someone built Barad-dur, Sauron's citadel, in Valheim complete with an evil burning eye at the top of the tower
• Sega disavows any connection to Taxi Chaos and insists it has nothing to do with the Crazy Taxi series which sounds a bit like a lawsuit waiting to happen

Which Crazy Taxi-like game led to a lawsuit from Sega for patent infringement?

ANSWER: The Simpsons: Road Rage!

Warner Bros. recently filed a patent for the Nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor, and Namco famously patented minigames on loading screens. But did you know Sega patented Crazy Taxi? Turns out high-speed arcade racing where you drive customers to their destination is patented, which Fox Interactive discovered just a little too late after launching The Simpsons Road Rage: Sega filed a lawsuit against them in 2003.

It’s not particularly common for game mechanics to be patented, so Fox Interactive were rather surprised by the sudden legal action. They eventually settled out of court, and serve as a good reminder to make sure no dastardly multinational has patented your great idea lest you find yourself lawyered into oblivion.

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