Pokémon Happy Meals & Minecraft’s Caves and Cliffs

Caves & Cliffs split up into two updates

Mojang has announced that they'll need a bit more time to deliver the upcoming Caves & Cliffs update for Minecraft, so they'll split it up and release it in two parts instead.

The first half of the update will be released this summer, while the second part will come closer to the holiday season. Releasing the full package this summer would mean “compromising on quality,” and Mojang wouldn't take the chance of running into game-breaking bugs.

The new world: “There are also significant technical challenges we need to overcome before certain parts of the update are ready to ship,” Mojang explained. World generation is being overhauled, so once Cliffs & Caves is out newly generated worlds will look quite different from old ones.

Slowed down: The studio is also concerned about performance, since “more stuff in the game also slows it down and we want to avoid that.” There is also COVID-19 restrictions in play, and the team has been progressing a bit more slowly since it started working from home.

Which indie developer composed for Pokémon Sword and Shield?

a) Austin Jorgensen
b) Toby Fox
c) Kouri
d) Nankidai

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.

A toad firmly rooted to the ground

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker was a Super Mario spin-off starring the courageous Captain Toad, called “Onward, Captain Toad!” in Japan. The fourth section of the first chapter of the game also carried this name in the English-language version.

The game was originally pitched as an adventure along the lines of the Zelda games, since game director Shinya Hiratake wasn’t terribly interested in jumping. Jumping is pretty much the number-one thing people do in Mario games, however, so he had to come up with something else.

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

Pokémon Happy Meals on way to UK

Pokémon Happy Meals will go on sale in McDonald’s across the UK on May 19th, and they might feature the sought-after 25th anniversary trading cards.

New Pokémon Snap is coming soon, and there is a load of new previews and interviews revealing new details about the photography game. Pokémon Go is promoting it with a New Pokémon Snap Celebration event, while Pokémon Masters EX can offer the Trials on the Isle story event.

Pokémon GO

• Claim a free bundle with a Remote Raid Pass every week in April
• New Pokémon Snap Celebration
  • Starts on April 29th at 10:00am and lasts until May 2nd at 08:00pm local time
  • Desert, jungle and sea themed Pokémon boosted
  • Smeargle more in Snapshot, with Shiny Smeargle encounters
  • Lental region inspired Pokémon appear more in raids
  • Field Research and Timed Research focused on Snapshots
  • Camera avatar item and camera-themed Gift sticker

Pokémon Masters EX

• Trials on the Isle Story Event
  • Lasts until April 29th
  • Focuses on Elio & Selene coming to Alola
  • Spotlight Scout rewards Sync Pair of Selene & Rowlet

Sea of Thieves Season 2 overview trailer

Sea of Thieves Season 2 is live, and Rare has posted a feature overview trailer alongside it. You can also read about all the changes on the official website.

The trailer shows off big changes like the new world event called Fort of Fortune, the new resource crates from the Merchant Guild as well as new emissary trade routes and ledger rewards.

Booty abounds: There are also 100 more levels of renown to earn, with new rewards and the fashion-conscious pirate can enjoy regular updates to the Pirate Emporium. The Season 2 Plunder Pass wraps everything up in one big, neat package if you can't get enough of the pirate life.

Buried treasure: “Pay once and that Season’s Plunder Pass sends even more treasures cascading into the pool of rewards obtainable by raising your Renown,” according to Rare. Plunder Pass owners receive items before other players can see them in the Pirate Emporium.

• Playable demo for horror puzzle game The Lunar Effect, feauturing old-school fixed camera angle horror
• New trailer for Sky: Children of the Light called Season of Assembly which introduces a lone Scout guide
• Learn about the Resident Evil Village’s upgrade system in new Game Informer feature
• Wrath of the Druids for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla delayed until May 13th
• Sony Bend’s Days Gone hits PC on May 18th with loads of new graphics settings as revealed in the feature highlight trailer

Which indie developer composed for Pokémon Sword and Shield?

ANSWER: Toby Fox!

Toby Fox is most famous for his work on Undertale, but he started out as a composer before he became a game designer. He got his big break composing for Homestuck, and also contributed to YIIK: A Postmodern RPG and Little Town Hero. He wrote the Battle Tower theme for Pokémon Sword & Shield, and it definitely has that Toby Fox touch.

Particularly ardent fans of his music might notice that the tune is slightly similar to a joke track called The Baby is You from Homestuck. The song was a homage to weird Homestuck fan fiction, and its rhythm certainly resembles the Battle Tower theme. It probably wasn’t intentional, but it’s funny how Toby Fox has built a kind of bridge between Homestuck and Pokémon through his music.

Today's issue of DailyBits was written by Gavin Herman, Nick Akerman, Erlend Grefsrud, Simon Priest, and Jamie Davey. If you have any feedback or news tips for the team, please email us!