Happy Home Paradise in Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct unveils Happy Home Paradise expansion

Nintendo streamed their latest Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct presentation today and it ran for about 20 minutes. It looked at the upcoming new content due out this November for the island life sim.

They put the spotlight on specific changes like Harv's Island getting a shopping area, a new Group Stretching activity in the plaza among villagers, and the return of Town Ordinances to set some rules.

• It’s Nintendo’s last “major free content update”
• Island Life 101 App on NookPhone as a tutorial
• Camera App adds first-person and tripod mode
• Happy Home Paradise paid expansion for $24.99
• Included with Switch Online + Expansion Pack

A home storage upgrade bumps total storable items to 5,000 with more exterior options for homes. Cooking is introduced to DIY recipes with new farmable crops to make all kinds of new dishes.

Paid Expansion Features:

Happy Home Paradise offers more “creative design options” as you design homes, gardens and more on tropical islands. New ‘Poki’ currency for exclusive furniture items with new villagers added.

Sharable homes can ‘match make’ villagers and you can also construct schools, restaurants, theatres etc. with villagers using them. Happy Home designs can be shared and creators followed for tips.

New features such as partition walls, soundscapes, pillars etc. can carry over into the main game. Happy Home Paradise launches November 5 alongside the major free update from Nintendo.

What small American town does Dead Rising take place in?

a) Le Carré, Louisiana
b) Greenvale,Washington
c) Stone Ville, Illinois
d) Willamette, Colorado

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.

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes upset some fans over Experience Share

The upcoming Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes the originals for Nintendo Switch but not all changes have fans happy and one such gripe is the Experience Share feature.

What does it do? It shares experience points across all members of a Pokémon party and it’s going to be permanently on. It’s stirred mixed reactions among Trainers as some consider it a ‘step back’.

Group effort: Exp. Share impacts gameplay as previously only those Pokémon in a battle could benefit from any experience but newer games like Pokémon Sword & Shield change this to party-wide.

’Easy mode’: It’s also criticised for making modern Pokémon titles ‘too easy’ with more competitive Trainers worrying it’ll affect “effort values” which are hidden stats and can make all the difference.

MercurySteam reportedly discredits multiple Metroid Dread developers

It’s been reported that Spanish developer MercurySteam has purposefully avoided crediting those who worked on the latest and critically well-received Metroid Dread for Nintendo Switch.

It’s company policy that no one working on a project will be credited if they fail to cross a 25% threshold of the game’s time in development, unless they meet ‘exceptional circumstances'.

Unsung creators: “…despite not appearing in the game's credits, I was part of that team for about eight months,” 3D artist Roberto Mejías posted to his LinkedIn congratulating the Metroid Dread team.

Arbitrary policy: "Not accrediting the work of the team that puts all the love in the project, and the effort, is a very ugly practice," one anonymous dev who worked 11 months told Spanish outlet Vandal.

Enlist now for chance at playing Toy Soldiers HD

We’ve got 10 game keys for Toy Soldiers HD to giveaway. That’s 5 keys for Xbox One and 5 for PlayStation 4 that are up for grabs from Accelerate Games who are behind the big HD push.

To be within a chance of securing your Xbox or PlayStation key of choice just enter our Toy Soldiers HD giveaway and share DailyBits with your friends and family!

Paradox Interactive DLC bundle sale

The Paradox Interactive Build Your Own DLC Bundle lets you pick and mix from Paradox's vast library of DLC for most of its major products.

Europe Universalis 4, Hearts of Iron 4, Crusader Kings II & III, Stellaris, Cities Skylines and Surviving Mars are all part of the promotion. Buy 3 or more to unlock the full 65% off discount!

• Register directly for limited PlayStation 5 stock this Holiday with the PlayStation website offering pre-orders for US customers
• Apple Music app spotted on PlayStation 5 menu when a new user tries setting up their Spotify account
• Monster Hunter Rise demo now playable on PC available through Steam ahead of Jan. 12, 2022 launch
• Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester talks Bloodlines 2 revealing ‘new pitch’ saved RPG project from cancellation
• Splash Damage tease an “original sci-fi universe” is in the pipeline as it looks for new people to join the studio

What small American town does Dead Rising take place in?

ANSWER: Willamette, Colorado!

We might remember the zombie slaughter, the psychopaths, and photography, but do you even remember where Dead Rising takes place? No shame if you didn’t, we forgot even with all the time spent in that mall. In the first Dead Rising, Frank West goes to the small town of Willamette to uncover a government conspiracy. 

Clearly, it’s not just a simple quarantine and is actually hiding a zombie outbreak from the rest of the country. Frank might escape in the end, but that’s not the last time Frank went to the town. Dead Rising 4 brought us back to Willamette, but it just didn’t have the same flare as it did back in 2006.

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!