Fortnite Battle Pass Woes, Xbox’s Perfect Dark

Marvel-themed battle pass worries fans

Fortnite is more than just a super-successful battle royale: It has become a global marketing platform for movies, record artists and other entertainment brands. Is the game turning into one giant advert?

The latest battle pass was just unveiled, and it is heavily Marvel-themed. Fornite boss Donald Mustard insists that it is “all connected” and not just a handful of Marvel-branded swag. Sure enough, a recent webcomic revealed that Galactus and Thor have arrived in the Fortnite universe.

Lore almighty: The island’s power is pulling in characters from other universes, and like a previous dimension-hopping Visitor who ended up in Fortnite, Thor risks forgetting who he is the longer he spends there.

Market forces: The fourth season of Chapter 2 is superhero themed, and Epic recently added a Batman bundle in addition to the upcoming Marvel content. Will Fortnite be able to keep its own identity and storyline intact as more and more branded content appears in the game?

Who was the Sega Saturn mascot?

1. Johnny Turbo
2. Gilius Thunderhead
3. Segata Sanshiro
4. Alex Kidd

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.

Optimus and the dancing robot switch

High Moon Studios’ third-person shooter Transformers: Fall of Cybertron features some pretty weird Easter eggs. Jazz’s grapple ability can break a certain wall in the fifth chapter Cut and Run, revealing a corridor with a switch at the end.

Flip the switch, and it is revealed to be a transformer which does a little dance for you, before a door behind it explodes to reveal a hidden room. You can also find Rumble and Laserbreak in the second chapter, while Soundwave is disguised as a light fixture. If you discover him, he will taunt you and then retreat if you fix your aim on him.

Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today’s fact.

More Pokemon Masters EX updates, while Celebi visits Pokemon Cafe Mix

Another big update for recently renamed Pokémon Masters EX adding new features, UI improvements and new Sync Pairs. There are changes on the horizon for Pokémon GO’s wild area spawns, Pokémon Café Mix is visited by its first Legendary, and more events have been added to Pokémon Virtual Fest.

Pokémon Café Mix

• Celebi will appear and can be recruited until September 9th

Pokémon GO

• Wild Pokémon spawn changes to wild area
• More Pokémon will spawn across a wider area

Pokémon Masters EX

• Pokémon Masters is now Pokémon Masters EX
• UI update includes menus for home and single player content
• Sync Pairs increased to Level 125, with improvable Type Skills

Pokémon Virtual Fest

• Final area The Lapras Maritime Athletics has been added
• Stage Events
  • August 26th – Pokémon Generations episodes
  • August 27th – Pokémon Kids TV
  • August 28th – Pokémon ASMR
  • August 29th – Pikachu Virtual Dance Shows every 90 minutes
  • August 30th – Pokémon Game Gym Battle stream
  • August 31st – Special finale with song and show

Frogwares explains why The Sinking City is vanishing from stores

Horror game The Sinking City is disappearing from Steam and other online stores because of a breach of contract.

Developer Frogwares has been embroiled in a legal dispute with publisher BigBen Interactive/Nacon since The Sinking City was launched in June last year.

“In exchange for a financial contribution to the development, we gave them the right to sell and commercialize the game on 4 platforms,” stated Frogwares, who would keep the IP.

Late payments: “We signed the deal on those terms and we would receive part payments for each production milestone completed. Then a share of revenue starting at the first euro or dollar. So all was well – until the collaboration started,” the statement continues. The publisher is accused of late payments and eventually demanding the source code for the game.

No deal: The trouble started in earnest after release, when BigBen/Nacon retroactively rejected already approved milestones, which meant Frogwares would “not receive any profit from the sales of the game” on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Steam and Epic Game Store.” The whole sordid store can be read on Frogwares’ site.

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• Frogwares’ Magrunner: Dark Pulse is free on Steam making this a perfect time to check out the high-tech Cthulhu adventure
• The SEGA Ages series for Switch has come to an end but Sega might be bringing more re-releases in the future
• 343 Industries responds to Halo Infinite rumours claiming the recent leaks are false and that there are no plans to delay beyond 2021
• New Xbox studio The Initiative making new Perfect Dark, or at least that’s what the rumourmongers at ResetEra believe
• Nintendo Direct Mini stream showing off latest third-party Switch releases with twelve minutes of footage

Who was the Sega Saturn mascot?

Answer: Segata Sanshiro!

Back in the 90s, a good mascot could make or break a console – and the Saturn might not have survived in Japan without Segata Sanshiro.

Segata parodied Kurosawa’s Sugata Sanshiro and was a skilled martial artist who demanded people play on the Sega Saturn, generally by means of judo throws and chokes. No-one is safe anywhere, and Segata accosts children in the street, teenagers in night clubs and even the undead.

He became a national phenomenon in Japan, and his theme song was released as a single – he even got his own game called Segata Sanshirō Shinken Yūgi. Over 5 million Saturn units were sold in Japan. Maybe the console would have fared better in the West if Segata crossed the ocean and bullied people into buying the console?

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