Luigi’s Death Stare Rival, GameStop’s Stock Storm

GameStop becomes financial battlefield

Ailing retailer GameStop is currently the subject of an epic stock market struggle after the subreddit r/WallStreetBets discovered that a hedge fund had made a huge bet on GameStop’s share value falling.

The hedge fund Melvin Capital had made a particularly huge bet, and needed a $2.75 billion cash injection after margin calls cost the fund nearly 30% of its assets and forced it to close its position at a huge loss. Meanwhile, other funds kept shorting GameStop in the hopes of scaring the retail investors from r/WallStreetBets into selling en masse, causing the share value to plunge again.

Stonking the flames: Several hedge funds have made huge loses and have called r/WallStreetBets' organizing an act of market manipulation, calling for regulators and stock exchanges to halt trading. the WallStreetBets Discord channel was closed shortly afterwards, and the subreddit went private for a while to avoid being closed. The trading app RobinHood has blocked buying several stocks including GameStop, but still allow selling them.

The storm rages on: Now troubled cinema chain AMC Entertainment's stock has surged over 200% in another effort to punish more short-sellers, and several other stocks with poor prospects are suggested as future targets. The US government is monitoring the situation, although it's unclear if anything that has happened is illegal.

What is the Doom file extension WAD an acronym for?

a) Wired Access Display
b) Web Access Directory
c) Wild Arsenal Demo
d) Where’s All the Data?

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.

Top Man almost became Crash Man

Keiji Inafune’s most vivid memory from the development of Mega Man 3 was a computer crash that ruined all his work on Top Man, and forced him to rebuild the boss from scratch in a grueling 3-day sprint.

He considers Mega Man 3 to be the least polished of the NES games, since the team only had a year to make it and things kept going wrong. Capcom did not want to delay it, leading to some oddities such as debugging features being left in the retail version of the game.

Complete the level, and you will be treated to a large portrait of the development team, surrounded by gag props like snacks and soda.

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

Animal Crossing’s masterful ‘side-eye’

Animal Crossing: New Horizon might seem the very definition of wholesomeness, but that doesn’t mean the game totally lacks bite.

Take this clip showing Bob showing some serious feline side-eye to raccoon twins Timmy and Tommy. Bob doesn't need words to express his satisfaction that the adorable kids didn't get anything.

How memes are born: Much like the classic Luigi Death Stare from Mario Kart 8, the clip demonstrates how emotive Nintendo's games can be. If you never played an Animal Crossing game before, you might be surprised to find out how much sarcasm, sass and bullying the game has to offer.

Have your way with Johnny Silverhand 

CD Projekt RED doesn’t mind a bit of modding, but it looks like they have to draw a line when the mods start interfering with Keanu Reeves.

There's a mod that lets you, well, get it on with any character from the game – which means you could enjoy a spot of cyber with Johnny Silverhand himself. It's safe to assume this eventuality was not covered by Mr. Reeves' contract.

Johnny Grabhands: “Our most important rule regarding user-generated content, game mods in particular, is that it can't be harmful towards others," stated CD Projekt RED. “…especially those that involve explicit situations, it can be perceived as such by the people who lent us their appearance for the purpose of creating characters in Cyberpunk 2077.”

Real world collision: If lending your appearance to a video game means you run the risk of starring in machinima porn, it's safe to assume very few high-profile stars will want to do so. CD Projekt RED clarifies that they “broadly permit you to tweak the game at will and just have fun,” but that they need to draw a line in this case.

Australian board lists id Software VR title

According to a filing made to the Australian Classification Board, id Software is developing a new VR project with the not particularly revealing working title Project 2021A. Nothing much is revealed by the filing, except that the game will receive an 18+ certification for violence.

id Software dipped their toes with Doom VFR, a VR remix of 2016's Doom reboot, so it's not inconceivable that the new game is based on Doom Eternal.

I Expect You To Die 2 is announced

Prepare for virtual espionage antics in I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar, coming later this year. The first game earned developer Schell Games over $6 million, so it's hardly a surprise that the company – which has mostly made educational games – decided to follow it up.

• Get Control for free with PlayStation Plus next month alongside Destruction AllStars and Concrete Genie
• Netflix working on anime adaptation of Tomb Raider as well as an animated King Kong show
• Hamster braves Pokémon-themed maze, defeating wild spawns and even thwarting a Team Rocket assault
• A gallery of discarded Wii logos reveals some zany designs and unfortunate misspelling
• Travel inside the majestic horizon of the universe in Batora: Lost Haven's announcement trailer

What is the Doom file extension WAD an acronym for?

ANSWER: Where’s All the Data?!

Doom was not just a marvel of design and technology, it was built from the ground up to be modded. All game data was stored in so-called WAD files, a not exactly descriptive acronym for Where’s All the Data. All sounds, graphics and other game data were stored in WADs and were separate from the game engine, which meant new WADs could be created or existing WADs modified.

The simple but powerful file format spawned a modding scene that’s still going strong, over 25 years after Doom launched, and arguably inspired id Software to keep making open-ended and modifiable games that turned their game engines into the industry standard for nearly a decade.

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