TODAY: Rumors say Nintendo has three Metroid projects in development — Resident Evil spirit event in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate this weekend — You can put away the binoculars: Death Stranding gets bigger text!

Top Story

Sony patents ‘scene tagging’

Sony has filed a new patent for something called ‘scene tagging’ which enable developers to inject meta data into screenshots, video or other user-generated content captured from a game.

The patent filing specifically mentions meta data describing “where the recording or screenshot was taken, who was included in the user-generated content, and what objects are found in the user-generated content.” This would make it easier to search for screenshots from particular parts of a game, or video showing how to solve a particular puzzle.

Sharing is caring (patent pending)

Another part of the patent mentions that “the metadata associated with the user-generated content would allow viewers to experience the same events that were recorded.” This could mean that screenshots and videos could include game data like instant replays, ghost cars for racing games or even save games.

The patent even seems to mention virtual and augmented reality: “This technology may use an infrared projector, a camera, a depth sensor, and a microchip to track the movement of objects and individuals in three dimensions.” It'll definitely be exciting to see what kind of new sharing options PlayStation 5 will offer.

Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?

Which Mario character has made an appearance in all of the Mario Party games except from one?

• Waluigi
• Daisy
• Yoshi
• Wario

The answer will be revealed in tomorrow's issue of DailyBits. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be!

News Bits

Pokémon Global Link gets severed after 9 years on February 24, 2020

Sorry Trainers, but the Pokémon Global Link will be retired as of February 24th, 2020, after helping connect Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon and Pokémon Sun & Moon for 3 years. These older 3DS Pokémon games will keep ‘other online functionality’ but Global Link will be gone. Fortunately, Pokémon Sword & Shield offer similar features, so the idea is not going away.

‘Three Metroid games’ in the pipeline

Retro Studios' Metroid Prime 4 isn't Nintendo's only Metroid project: According to Twitter tipster LeakyPanda there is also a Metroid Prime Trilogy headed for Switch, alongside a Super Metroid remake in the style of the Metroid II: Samus Returns remake for 3DS.

Metroid Prime 4 was originally announced at E3 2017 and was under development at Bandai Namco, but that project got cancelled and development was apparently handed to Retro Studios before development started over in January this year.

Daily Fact

Revengeance enraged an artist so much he extended his contract

When Konami announced Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and it was revealed to be a spectacle brawler rather than the usual stealth action soap opera the series is famous for, quite a few feathers were ruffled. Fortunately, the game turned out to be a bit of a modern classic despite starring the divisive character Raiden, the unwelcome surprise star from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

Revengeance was developed by PlatinumGames, and artist Kenichirou Yoshimura was planning to leave the studio while the game was still in early development – but he changed his mind when he saw what kind of ideas the concept artists had for cyborg samurai Jetstream Sam.

Why? He was simply enraged that they weren't taking the Metal Gear franchise seriously enough, and told the game's art director that they “cannot place this in a Metal Gear game!" Yoshimura ended up staying for half a year longer just to make sure his employer did the Metal Gear universe justice.

Come and join the rest of the community and discuss today's fact on Twitter and Facebook.

Daily News

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate adding Resident Evil spirits, not fighters

If you play Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, then you probably know about the Spirit system, which enable existing characters to be possessed by the spirits of characters not featured in the roster.

It's a clever way to include characters from other franchises without undertaking the gargantuan task of adding a whole new character with a full move set and the necessary balance adjustments. Unfortunately, this also means anyone who shows up as a spirit is unlikely to be added to the official roster and so Resident Evil fans weep, since the next spirit event features characters from everyone's favorite survival horror series.

Wesker, Leon, Chris and Jill are all showing up in the next spirit event this weekend. Fans have long hoped that some Resident Evil characters could find their way into the fighting game, but so far no spirit has ever been upgraded to a full fighter. Of course, no-one is saying there is no way any Resident Evil characters might appear, but it's not looking likely.

Pokémon Sword and Shield recently had a SSBU spirit event

Interestingly, there have been spirit events involving characters that are already part of the roster, so clearly it can work the other way around: Joker, Hero, Banjo-Kazooie and Terry Bogard have all possessed other characters in the game. Game director Masahiro Sakurai recently delivered some teasers about the fifth DLC fighter, and Nintendo seems to have plans for several more fighter releases.

Bigger text coming mid-December for Death Stranding

Kojima Productions are patching in some accessibility and quality of life options into Death Stranding: The mid-December update will support larger text for the UI, and add ‘disposable vehicles’.

Text sizes are often one-size-fits-all despite the huge variation in the screens games are played on, and the distance players prefer to view the screens from. Fortunately, Kojima has seen fit to grant us the ultimate power: the ability to to fiddle with the size of the UI text. Oh, and we will be able to “dispose of individual vehicles,” whatever that might entail.

Kojima's inexplicable desire to please rather than annoy his fans has prompted fans to ask for more improvements, such as a music player to allow players to enjoy the soundtrack after the game is over. Maybe we'll see something like the portable cassette player from Metal Gear Solid V one day?

You can put the binoculars away again next month

Other popular requests include a photo mode, and some kind of New Game Plus mode. It wouldn't be too surprising if some of these were added to the PC version, which will be released sometime next year. And who knows, maybe there are more unannounced improvements in the mid-December patch?

News Bits

New video from Pokémon Masters team discusses upcoming features

The Pokémon Masters development team has published a message from producers Yu Sasaki and Tetsuya Iguchi, unveiling some of their plans for the game's future. They talk about the Legendary Pokémon Event featuring MewTwo, which will play out as a story event, as well as new sync pairs and a number of other improvements.

Beat Games friended by Facebook

VR title Beat Saber was launched in May 2019, and did spectacularly well for a VR game – so well, in fact, that Facebook decided to buy the developer, Beat Games. The studio will become a division of the social networking giant's existing Oculus Studio, but will stay in Prague and continue operating independently. According to Oculus' Mike Verdu, both parties “know that there is so much more that can be done across VR, games, and music,” so expect more immersive rhythm games in the future!

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Quiz Answer - Did You Get It Right?

Which Sega character besides Sonic was playable in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U?

Answer: Bayonetta!

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U featured a load of guest characters, including Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid, Cloud from Final Fantasy VII and everyone's favorite time-twisting Umbran witch, Bayonetta.

All these characters – and many more – stayed on the roster for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on Switch, making its roster the biggest in fighting game history.

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