Pokémon Gets Open World Prequel, FFVII Intergrade Revealed

PlayStation’s State of Play round-up

Sony just broadcast the latest State of Play, featuring a heady mix of announcements and revelations, including Final Fantasy VII Remake for PlayStation 5.

• State of Play
• News Recap

Highlights

• Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade – Announcement Trailer / PS5 Features Video – June 10, 2021 (PS5)
• Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time – PlayStation 5 Features Trailer – March 12, 2021 (PS5)
• Deathloop – Gameplay Trailer #3 – deja vu – May 21, 2021 (PS5)
• Oddworld: Soulstorm – Trailer – April 6, 2021 (PS4, PS5)
• Returnal – Gameplay Walkthrough – April 30, 2021 (PS5)
• Solar Ash – Gameplay Reveal – TBA 2021 (PS4, PS5)
• Sifu – Official Reveal Trailer – TBA 2021 (PS4, PS5)
• Knockout City – Gameplay Spotlight – May 21, 2021 (PS4)
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach – Gameplay Trailer – TBA 2021 (PS5)
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits – Trailer – August 24, 2021 (PS4, PS5)

What was the third-person action game starring Vincent Valentine called?

a) Dirge of Cerberus
b) Crisis Core
c) Before Crisis
d) Ever Crisis

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.

Rage quitting life out of pure shame

Dark Souls II features a boss who is so overcome with shame when you defeat him that he will take his own life. If you manage to best Sir Alonne within five minutes without taking any damage, his death animation changes and he commits seppuku.

Some more trivia from the slightly underappreciated sequel: You can find concept art for a child model of the Emerald Herald in the game files, but there’s no sign of it at all in the game or lore. If you release a pool of acid using a Pherros Lock Stone, you can glimpse a Heineken beer can in its texture.

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

Pokémon Presents confirms remakes

Turns out the rumours were true after all! The special 25th anniversary Pokémon Presents episode confirms that Pokémon Diamond & Pearl is being remade for Switch. The open-world RPG Pokémon Legends: Arceus was also announced.

• Pokémon Presents | #Pokemon25

Highlights

“Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl enable fans to experience the original story and game features from Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl in a fresh way. The original games have been faithfully reproduced and colourfully revitalized for Nintendo Switch.”

“The fun of exploring while catching Pokémon and filling in a Pokédex has always been a core part of the Pokémon video game series. Pokémon Legends: Arceus was developed with the desire to deliver an experience infused with new action and RPG elements that go beyond the framework established thus far, while honoring the core gameplay of past Pokémon titles.”

• Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl – Announcement Trailer – Late 2021
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus – Announcement Trailer – TBA 2022
• New Pokémon Snap – Lental Region Trailer – April 30, 2021

EA scrap Motive’s ‘Gaia’ after 6 years

EA appears to be doing a bit of spring cleaning. They just announced that Anthem Next won't see the light of day, and Bloomberg just revealed that a project named Gaia has been cancelled.

Gaia has been in development at Motive in Montreal – most famous for Star Wars Squadrons – for about six years, and has been rebooted at least once before EA decided to cut their losses. Gaia was first mentioned by Jade Raymond back when EA Motive was opened in 2015, but was never properly announced or revealed.

Absorbant: After Mass Effect Andromeda's poor reception, BioWare Montreal was shut down and many of the developers joined Motive.

Embattled: The studio contributed to Star Wars Battlefront II, and there were apparently some cultural tension when the Battlefront II team was merged with the Gaia team after launch. Motive's future seems secure – for now

Pumpkin Jack codes for PS4 or Switch

This week we were giving away five copies of the spooky 3D platformer Pumpkin Jack from indie developer Nicolas Meyssonnier. Here's the 5 winners that have now been sent a code!

• Eduardo Estrada
• Sam White
• Jörn Koenen
• Pikachu
• Sebastian Jonestig

Thanks to everyone that entered, the next giveaway will be launching in Monday's issue, so don't miss it! 

• A look at the making of Zeta Halo from 343 Industries' ambitious open world Halo Infinite
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons somehow manages to get even cuter with a Sanrio crossover
• Monster Hunter Rise arrives on PC next year making it a timed Switch exclusive
• Subnautica: Below Zero dives onto consoles on May 14th and the latest trailer is brimming with story spoilers
• Monthly games for PlayStation Plus subscribers includes Final Fantasy VII Remake

What was the third-person action game starring Vincent Valentine called?

ANSWER: Dirge of Cerberus!

Final Fantasy VII has become a popular series of its own with several spin-off titles continuing and elaborating on its story, including the third-person action game Dirge of Cerberus. It stars the coffin-dwelling science experiment Vincent Valentine and chronicles his battle against Deepground, a Shinra department dedicated to summoning a beast called Omega to cleanse the planet – oh, and he comes to terms with his dark, mysterious past too.

Dirge of Cerberus is not particularly fondly remembered. The story is turgid and neither gameplay nor the level design are particularly compelling, but at least the presentation is quite impressive. If you want to play a mid-2000s action game, you’ll have much more fun with Devil May Cry 3 or Timesplitters 3 instead.

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