Fan Ocarina of Time PC Port nearing completion

Ocarina of Time PC port nearly complete

Dedicated fans have been making a native PC port of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and it's finally closing in on the finish line complete with features like widescreen support and upscaling.

Additional improvements like 60FPS support is in the works, but there are still some “minor glitches” to iron out first.

• Ocarina of Time PC Port gameplay showcase
• Originally launched for Nintendo 64 in November 1998
• An enhanced version launched for Nintendo 3DS in June 2011
• The project has its own Discord server

Pre-release: The PC port is not available to the public yet, and the team is careful to note that it is not associated with any other groups working on similar projects. The big question is what the team will do once Nintendo's lawyers come knocking.

Game leaks: The source code for the original game leaked during the great Nintendo Gigaleak of 2020 and 2021, so Nintendo can not strictly speaking claim the project distributes their code. Super Mario 64 was already released for PC in 2020.

What was the first Nintendo 64 game to run at 60 FPS?

a) Turok 2
b) Dark Rift
c) Super Mario 64
d) Shadowman

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.

FTC investigates Activision Blizzard deal

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the US Federal Trade Commission has decided to conduct an investigation of Microsoft's planned $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The FTC will be sniffing around for anything with even a hint of anti-trust issues, as the Biden administration has vowed to be tougher on major mergers and industry consolidation.

Anti-trust: Lockheed Martin's attempted $4.4 billion purchase of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings was already halted by the FTC and they have big tech in their sights.

Not certain: The FTC also put up hurdles for Nvidia's acquisition of ARM, and the combined efforts of US and UK regulators have apparently put paid to the deal. In other words, Microsoft might have a fight on its hands.

EA DICE unevils Battlefield 2042 plans

EA DICE has finally acknowledged the elephant in the room and revealed its plans for bringing Battlefield 2042 more in line with audience expectations following the worst launch the long-running series has ever suffered.

The studio has pledged to keep “working on taking action on multiple fronts to address feedback and implement extensive fixes to the game, key features that are important to you, and getting team play where it needs to be.”

Upcoming: Upcoming updates will add a scoreboard, voice communication support on all platforms, and a “better overview” of your career record.

New loop: The developers are also working on a new “feedback loop”, promising “four Seasons, four new Specialists, and new locations”. The first season has been pushed back to this summer.

Nintendo deals and Caribbean discounts

Time for some Nintendo deals, starting with New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe for Switch, which is 42% off at £28.99 on Amazon.

You can also nab an Animal Crossing amiibo cards Series 5 Bundle for just £7.99 on the My Nintendo Store. If you'd rather overthrow some dictators, you can get 38% off Far Cry 6 Limited Edition for PlayStation 5, bringing the price down to £33.99 on Amazon.

• Team17 attracted much ire following Worms NFT announcement including from indie devs AGGRO CRAB, Ghost Town Games and Playtonic
• Activision's VP of QA’s internal memo on unions has been shared and mocked by employees for its anti-union rhetoric
• The New York Times has acquired Wordle and promises it “will be free to play” for new and old users
• Contrast, CrossfireX and Skul: The Hero Slayer coming to Game Pass in February
• Legend of Zelda Hyrule map recreated in Lego, built from 25,000 plastic bricks with 2,779 trees and 493 enemies

What was the first Nintendo 64 game to run at 60 FPS?

ANSWER: Dark Rift!

The Nintendo 64 had a lot of great games, but few of them featured particularly high or even stable framerates. One of the very few games to achieve a solid 60 frames per second on the console was actually an obscure fighting game.

Dark Rift was the sequel to Kronos Digital's previous fighting game Criticom, but let's just say the story, setting and characters are not the game's strongest suit anyway. It's not exactly a great fighting game either, but let us not forget what really matters in a videogame: 60 frames per second.

Team 17 revealed overnight that it's now pulling out of the NFT space, so while publishers will probably be more cautious about NFT reveals in the future, we don't think it's going to go away any time soon.

We also wanted to end with a little update on the fan-made Resident Evil 4 HD Project that we mentioned last week, which has now been released with a mighty 38 GB download size. 

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!