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NACON Showcase Steelrising, Bungie’s Risk With Activision

TODAY: Bungie knew working with Activision would be hard, but they thought they could handle it — Final Fantasy IX developers interviewed for its 20th anniversary — Halo 3 for PC is just around the corner now

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Highlights from NACON Connect event

The French publisher Nacon has jumped on the online event bandwagon and just announced a bunch of new games at their NACON Connect event.

The event lasted for about 40 minutes, and six games were announced with teaser, story or gameplay trailers – and two of them are World of Darkness games. Here are the highlights:

  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong by Big Bad Wolf Studio – The Invitation Trailer – TBA 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Switch
  • Rogue Lords by Leikir Studio, Cyanide – Story Trailer – TBA 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch
  • Steelrising by Spiders – Teaser Trailer – TBA for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X
  • Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood by Cyanide – Gameplay Trailer – February 4, 2021 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X
  • Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown by KT Racing – Trailer
  • WRC 9 by KT Racing – Safari Rally Kenya Gameplay – September 3, 2020 for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One) / TBA 2021 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Switch

Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?

Which medieval RPG was created by the writer and director of Mafia I and II?

  • Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord
  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance
  • The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
  • Sir Whoopass: Immortal Death

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.

Daily Fact

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 maps have real-world GPS coordinates

If you perform a tactical insertion in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2’s multiplayer mode, you can see a set of coordinates on the device screen your character is holding.

Enter the coordinates into Google Maps, and you will discover real-world locations bearing a striking resemblence to the game’s maps. Good examples are the coordinates from Hijacked which take you to a ship off the coast, while Express shows you an LA train station.

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

Bungie and Activision's Partnership

Bungie knew the risks of working with Activision, but decided to try anyway

Bungie co-founder and former audio director Marty O’Donnell pulls no punches talking about Bungie’s partnership with Activision during the development of Destiny.

O’Donnell talked to HiddenXperia about Bungie’s difficult relationship with Activision. Bungie’s senior management was of two minds about joining forces with the publishing giant, and O’Donnell admits that he’s partly to blame for going ahead anyway.

No love lost: “We knew it was a risk right from the get go, and it turned out to be exactly as bad as we thought it to be,” he said, adding that only him and anyone who has left Bungie would likely admit it publicly. “That was not a marriage made in heaven at all.” His major concern was retaining control over their new IP.

IP control: “…Activision agreed to that, and all of the other big players during that period would not agree to do that, including Microsoft who was very close to making a serious [offer].” O’Donnell was terminated without cause in early 2014, and then sued Bungie for unpaid wages, which led to the closure of O’Donnell’s stock in the company and denial of participation in the Profit Participation Plan.

Warner Looking to Sell Games Division

Final Fantasy IX developers reflect on the classic for its 20th anniversary

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy series is one of the oldest names in videogames, and has accrued a sizable volume of entries over the years.

Final Fantasy IX is 20 years old this year, and key personnel have looked back on the project and its development in an interview with RPGSite.net.

Never a spin-off: “Final Fantasy IX was led and written by Hironobu Sakaguchi, so I think Sakaguchi’s vision and the world he wanted to create really came through,” said game producer Shinji Hashimoto. The ninth game in the series was a significant departure from the stylish science-fantasy aesthetics seen in Final Fantasy VII.

East meets West: Part of Final Fantasy IX’s big change was the more international development team that – while still dominantly Japanese – had its fair share of western influence. That’s one of the reasons why the game “might seem like a medieval European fantasy at first glance,” said character artist Toshiyuki Itahana. Check out the full interview for more.

What Else Happened Today?

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The Great Perhaps for Switch

You have a chance to nab a code for The Great Perhaps on Nintendo Switch if you refer DailyBits to a friend! Use our widget to start earning referrals, which you can build up throughout the year to increase your chance of being selected.

The Great Perhaps will be available on the eShop for $9.99 or £8.99, and we’ve got some codes to hand out this week, just in time for the release on Friday July 10th. This week’s giveaway is only open to US regions.

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Quiz Answer - Did You Get It Right?

Which medieval RPG was created by the writer and director of Mafia I and II?

Answer: Kingdom Come: Deliverance!

The first two Mafia games were written and directed by Daniel Vávra, who worked at Illusion Softworks which later became 2K Czech.

He left 2K Czech in 2011 and founded Warhorse Studios with former Bohemia Interactive developers. Their first game was Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which raised over £1 million on Kickstarter.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance tells the story of a blacksmith’s apprentice named Henry and his quest for vengeance. It was praised for its authentic portrayal of medieval life but also suffered from technical problems, a weird save system and was the subject of some controversy over the portrayal of medieval Bohemia as homogeneously white.

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