Starfield, Rabbids and Blue Space Cats

Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase

Todd Howard opened the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase by revealing sci-fi RPG Starfield and announcing its release date: November 11th, 2022.

• Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chernobyl made an appearance, followed by Back 4 Blood and Avalanche Studios' new open-world caper Contraband.

Sea of Thieves is crossing over with Pirates of the Caribbean on June 22nd, before Battlefield 2042 exploded onto the scene with a gameplay montage. Then attention shifted to Psychonauts 2, which finally has a release date: August 25th.

Next up is fuzzy fighting with Party Animals, then make your escape from Hades on August 13th before turning your attention to the mysteries of Somerville.

Halo Infinite is on track for a holiday launch, and the multiplayer looks pretty sweet. The Outer Worlds 2 was announced, another glimpse of Age of Empires IV was shown, Microsoft Flight Simulator is headed to Xbox Series X/S and Forza Horizon 5 takes the driving extravaganza next-gen.

Oh, and Arkane is delivering their own take on the Left 4 Dead formula with Redfall, a futuristic co-op romp with vampires.

Other highlights

• Yakuza: Like a Dragon now on Xbox Game Pass
• 10 more Bethesda games on Game Pass including DOOM Eternal
• New Fallout 76 Steel Reign Brotherhood of Steel teaser
• Halo Infinite multiplayer will be free-to-play to all on Xbox and PC
• Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo II Resurrected launches on September 23rd

Who is the final boss in Unreal Tournament’s campaign mode?

a) Xan Kriegor
b) Skaarj ClanLord
c) Szalor and Torgr
d) Akasha

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.

His pink brow furrowed in bottomless fury

Kirby: Squeak Squad is called Kirby: Mouse Attack in the European version, and the Western versions both added angry eyebrows to the box art to make sure the pink pudding didn't scare off any manly men.

Digging deeper into the game files reveals a fully implemented block ability that is perfectly functional but ended up getting cut – most likely because it’s too similar to the Triple Star ability.

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

Next-gen Metro Exodus and Elder Scrolls

Early summer is clearly the time for announcements rather than releases, and there are really only two big games on the menu this week: Metro Exodus and The Elder Scrolls Online both go next-gen.

Tuesday – June 15th

• The Elder Scrolls Online for PS5, XSX

Wednesday – June 9th

• Metro Exodus Complete Edition for PS5, XSX

Ubisoft, Gearbox and Square highlights

Microsoft wasn't the only one spilling the beans this week: Ubisoft, Gearbox, and Square Enix all hosted live streams showing off their upcoming games, and we have compiled a nice list of highlights.

• Ubisoft Forward: Official Livestream – June 2021

Bloodline DLC for Watch Dogs: Legion, a Riders Republic overview, Rainbow Six Extraction gameplay reveal, a Far Cry 6 cinematic, Just Dance 2022 was announced, alongside Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

• Gearbox E3 2021 Showcase Livestream

Mostly updates on already announced projects such as Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and Homeworld 3, a Tribes of Midgard overview, and Godfall was announced for PlayStation 4.

• Square Enix Presents

Square Enix is keeping up the collaboration with Marvel Entertainment, and next up is Guardians of the Galaxy from Eidos Montreal on October 26th, complete with developer interviews and a gameplay demo.

Other top picks

• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope was announced for Switch
• Far Cry 6: Season Pass lets you play as villains from earlier games
• Sneak peek at Werewolves Within based on Ubisoft’s VR IP
• Rainbow Six Siege crossplay and cross-save support June 30th
• Rocksmith+ teaches music fans real instruments

We’ve got 5 copies of adventure Backbone for PC

Furry noir detective adventure Backbone is out now on PC, and we've got 5 Steam keys to give away so you can release your inner sleuth and unravel the mysteries of Vancouver as raccoon private dick Howard Lotor. It will be available on PS4, Xbox One and Switch later on this year. 

Poke holes in alibis, hide liquor in your drawer, and size up crooks by participating in our Backbone Giveaway!

• Devolver Digital Showcase had 8 announcements; samurai-themed Trek to Yomi, co-op survival Wizard with a Gun, card-playing horror Inscryption, mobile parody Devolver Tumble Time, physical-only Demon Throttle, July 20 for Death’s Door, early access for Phantom Abyss, and the rebooted Shadow Warrior 3.
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance for Switch was a “happy mistake”, and came to be after strong response to an erroneous listing after wrong listing
• Stardew Valley fan homage in Animal Crossing is still a work in progress but looks pretty great
• Niantic launches Pokémon Go and Harry Potter Wizards Unite Live Events that will be both in-person and virtual
• Xbox’s Summer Game Fest demo event on June 15th gives you time-limited tasters of new games via the Xbox Dashboard

Who is the final boss in Unreal Tournament’s campaign mode?

ANSWER: Xan Kriegor!

The first few runs of Tiger Woods 99 for PlayStation featured a clip of Jesus vs. Santa, an animated short by Trey Parker and Matt Stone which introduced the town of South Park and its foul-mouthed children. If you stick the disc in a computer CD-ROM drive, you’ll find a quicktime file with the minute short.

Ah, the 90s, those halcyon days when the AI could cheat unashamedly and no one would complain. Remember the final level of Unreal Tournament? After beating every challenge across each game mode in the single-player mode, your final lesson was a one-on-one against Xan Kriegor on DM-HyperBlast. Dear reader, it was a very harsh lesson indeed.

The map is small, Xan makes off with all the weapons and power-ups you need to defeat him at the beginning of the match and he has literally perfect aim. Of course, you can beat him since he’s not tremendously smart, but not without tearing your hair out in the process. Besides, why are you even playing the single-player? It’s Unreal Tournament!

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!