Pokemon Lurking Shadow Event, PS2’s 20th Anniversary!

Pokemon News and Events

Pokémon Home maintenance this week, Lurking Shadow for Pokémon Masters

There’s another string of events coming up hot on the heels of Pokémon Day as well as some spring cleaning in Pokémon Home.

Pokémon Home will undergo maintenance on March 6th between 01:30 and 08:00 UTC. This should fix a bug preventing people from receiving the Original Color Magearna and registering completed Pokédexes properly.

Pokémon Masters

• Legendary Event Lurking Shadow starting March 6th @ 06:00 UTC
• Sync Pair Giovanni & Mewtwo are back with updated rewards

Pokémon Rumble Rush

• Ho-Oh & 151 Pals event has begun and lasts until March 25th
  • Focused on an island around Ho-Oh
  • Features new Pokémon as well as all Kanto Pokémon
• Battle Royale mode and Poké Glam decorations introduced
• Each stage now has 0.025 percent chance of rare Pokémon

Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?

What is Master Chief’s real name?

• John 117
• Jessie 7719
• Jack 525-600
• Jim 420

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

Indiana Jones game was first movie tie-in

Steven Spielberg’s classic 1981 adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark had the dubious honour of being the first movie with an official licensed videogame.

The tie-in was developed by Atari, and was released for the Atari 2600 in November 1982. Designer Howard Scott Warshaw joked that he got into character for the game by wearing a hat and treating himself to a real, ten-foot leather bullwhip.

The game did well, and probably raised expectations for Atari’s next official Spielberg tie-in, the eagerly anticipated E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, which was also designed by Warshaw and would release only a month later. Maybe Indy will exhume the lost ET cartridges in a future adventure?

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

Valve Wants More Life

Half-Life: Alyx is sort of Half-Life 3

VR exclusive Half-Life: Alyx is not just a cynical cash-in but a whole new beginning for the classic FPS series, according to Valve.

The dev team features members of the original Half-Life and Half-Life 2 development teams, as well as many new faces. Valve’s Robin Walker told Game Informer that “We absolutely see Half-Life: Alyx as our return to this world, not the end of it,”

Quiet since 2007: It has been 13 years since the last game in the series, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, was launched in 2007. Now the story continues in Half-Life: Alyx, and will hopefully continue with slightly more regular entries from here on.

Catch up on your Half-Life: All Half-Life games are free to play on Steam until Half-Life: Alyx arrives on March 23rd, making it the perfect time for new and old fans to strap into the HEV suit and stop some alien invasions.

Developer AMA

Hunt: Showdown AMA with Crytek

First-person multiplayer survival-horror Hunt: Showdown launched for PlayStation 4 on February 18th, and developer Crytek just held an AMA about the game on Reddit.

There were a lot of questions about the input lag issues plaguing the game as well as the game’s prestige system, which some players find pointless and wonder if it will be redesigned. Some were also concerned about so-called match dodging.

Lag is a drag: “We are currently still investigating the input lag issue, but hope to have this go live with the same update that will introduce crossplay between XBOX and PS4 players,” read the first reply. They also “definitely want to explore more live events in the community.” Crossplay is also coming ‘within weeks’.

Weather, time and 1.3: Crytek also talked about weather variety and explained that it’s not easy to add thanks to their performance envelope and the “audio-focused gameplay in Hunt,” but that they are introducing a new time-of-day solution in the upcoming 1.3 Update. They also mentioned the possibility of roaming bosses. Hungry for more? Check out the full Hunt: Showdown AMA.

What Else Happened Today?

• Skater XL still grinding along in Early Access, and developer Easy Day Studios expect to kickflip onto PlayStation 4 when the game is fully decked
• DuckTales: Remastered is back on sale after a brief absence, but now quacking good 8-bit fun may be had once again on both PC and consoles
• Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary now available in The Master Chief Collection, joining Halo: Reach which launched late last year
• Satisfy your revolutionary ambitions in Europa Universalis IV: Emperor. Become head of a European power, show your might and conquer all Christendom like a boss
• Luigi’s Mansion 3 multiplayer DLC available now, alongside the version 1.3.0 update. Expect hair-raising new features and spooky fixes

Share DailyBits With Friends And Family

The Story Goes On Switch Codes

You could be in with a chance to receive a Switch code for The Story Goes On if you refer DailyBits to a friend or family member! You can use our widget to start earning your referrals.

The Story Goes On is currently available on the Nintendo eShop for $5 or £5, and we’ve got a code to hand out in Europe, US, and Australia (Includes New Zealand).

You are the hero inside the storybook of an obsessed author pondering with his life’s work. Explore repeating worlds, befriend a talking scarecrow and swing your sword really fast, while uncovering the true, overarching adventure within.

Quiz Answer - Did You Get It Right?

What is Master Chief’s real name?

Answer: John 117!

Yup, everyone’s favorite sentient alien-repellent battlesuit has a first name and it’s … John. The slightly anticlimactic revelation took place in Halo 3 from 2007.

Fans eager enough to read the tie-in novels would have found out as early as 2001 in The Fall of Reach, but it feels safe to assume most players were busy blowing each other up in Blood Gulch.

More or less obsessive fans have suggested that John 117 is a reference to the Gospel of John, but neither of the possible passages seem very relevant to humanity’s struggle against the Covenant: John 1:17 states “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” whilst John 11:7 reads “Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let’s go into Judea again’”.

Message From The Team

Happy Birthday PlayStation 2!

Today is the 20th birthday for PlayStation 2, launching in Japan on 4th March, 2000 and going on to be produced for over 12 years when it finally discontinued on 28th December, 2012. It managed to sell 158 million units worldwide, making it one of the most successful consoles ever.

We’ve been thinking about our fondest memories with the machine along with the greatest games that went with it, and we’d love to hear about some of yours too! We’ll share some of your responses on Twitter.

• Rolling up a big ball of whales, houses and super heroes in Katamari Damacy before having it belittled by the King of All Cosmos
• The beautiful melancholy of Silent Hill 2. Very few games reached that level of maturity and it’s still worth playing to this day
• Finally getting a copy of Resident Evil 4, after waiting months for Capcom to end exclusivity on the Nintendo GameCube
• Finding the Dodo in Grand Theft Auto III and spending hours trying to figure out how to fly it before finally seeing Liberty City from the air

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