Pokemon Go Fest, What’s the worlds largest console?

Top Story

PlayStation 5 is going to be huge

Sony finally lifted the veil on PlayStation 5 last week, but one thing they did not reveal was the size of their next-gen console.

Fortunately, gamers are a crafty bunch and Redditor (GREB07) has estimated the size. Using USB ports and the disk drive as reference and comparing to other consoles shows that PlayStation 5 just might be the biggest console ever, dwarfing even the humongous PlayStation 3.

• Most of Sony’s promo shots show PlayStation 5 in its vertical orientation. Will the base be included?
• You can lay the console down on its side, but it could still be too big for your TV cabinet

Why so huge? Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Simon Rutter told The Guardian that PlayStation 5 is designed to be a lot less noisy than PlayStation 4. Considering the jet engine level of noise produced by PlayStation 4, trading size for noise seems like a great compromise.

Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?

Which tech giant served as incubator for Pokémon Go developer Niantic?

• Apple
• Facebook
• Google
• Yahoo

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.

Pokemon News and Events

Pokemon Go Fest 2020 plans unveiled

COVID-19 has forced Niantic to make this year’s Pokémon Go Fest into a virtual, global event that will be held on July 25th and 26th from 10AM to 8PM your local time.

The Go Fest ticket costs $14.99/£14.99, and some of the proceeds will be added to a $5 million pool that will be donated to different causes. Half of the money will go to gaming projects by black creators, while the other half will be given to various nonprofits in the US.

• Pokémon Go players have made over 290 billion visits and walked more than 17.3 billion miles since launch
• Pokémon Go Fest tickets have sold out quickly in the past, but the virtual event will not have limited places so anyone can participate

Black Lives Matter: “We felt like the biggest impact we could make would be to leverage our scale to accelerate the work of black creators. So we’re allocating half of that fund to projects from black creators that can live on the Niantic platform, with the goal of shining a light on characters, story, and points of view that validate the lives and experiences of the black community,” said Niantic CEO John Hanke

Fortnite's Next Chapter

Over 20 million people watched as Epic switched on The Device in Fortnite

Over 12 million players participated in The Device, Fortnite’s latest event, while another 8.4 million people watched streams on Twitch and YouTube.

The event showed players Midas’ device in action as it attempted to hold back the storm. Towards the end of the event, the perspective shifted to a first-person cutscene showing Agent Jonesy’s reaction to the device. If you missed it, you can watch the whole thing on YouTube.

• 2.3 million viewers watched Fortnite on Twitch during the event
• The third season of Fortnite chapter 2 will launch on Wednesday

Not operating at full capacity: The developers had to cap the server population to keep Fortnite running smoothly, so not everyone who wanted to participate in the event could get in. If Epic can improve their server capacity, the next events could get even more participants than this.

What Else Happened Today?

• Microsoft has explained exactly what Smart Delivery is on the Xbox blog and listed all the games that support it.
• Remedy wants to expand the Control franchise and is advertising for a Senior Producer. Control will also appear on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
• A Redditor has built a working virtual machine in Minecraft which can run Windows 98 inside the game. You really can make anything in Minecraft!
• Operation Steel Wave for Rainbow Six Siege out today, alongside a trailer showing off the new operators Ace and Melusi.
• Invisible Inc. has sneaked onto Switch and is available now on the Nintendo eShop. The Switch version includes the Contingency Plan DLC and costs £17.99.

DailyBits Pickups

Star Wars: Squadrons Pre-order

EA just unveiled Star Wars: Squadrons, a first-person dogfighting game set in the Star Wars universe. Taking place after Return of the Jedi, the single-player campaign focuses on pilots from the original trilogy, including Wedge Antilles and Hera Syndulla. There’s also 5v5 online multiplayer where you can prove that you’re the finest pilot in the galaxy.

Star Wars: Squadrons is developed by Motive Studios, and features crossplay between PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One ensuring there’s always competition to be found. There won’t be any microtransactions, so it looks like EA has learned a thing or two from the Star Wars: Battlefront II debacle.

If you pre-order Star Wars: Squadrons through our link, Daily Bits will earn a small commission!

Quiz Answer - Did You Get It Right?

Which tech giant served as incubator for Pokémon Go developer Niantic?

Answer: Google!

You probably know Niantic thanks to Pokémon Go (or possibly Harry Potter: Wizards Unite), but they have actually been around for quite a while.

Niantic started as a division of Google and its staff of 35 released the location-based mobile game Ingress in 2013. It used real-world maps and encouraged community formation, and it’s not hard to see how it influenced Pokémon Go.

In 2015, Niantic was spun out of Google and became an independent company, funded by Google, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company. Just a year later, Niantic struck gold with Pokémon Go, which only goes to show: Anyone can make a billion dollars if they just have world-famous IP, millions of dollars and backing from the world’s biggest tech companies.

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