Unity showcases near-photorealistic character running in real-time

New cinematic showcase from Unity

Unity has created another cinematic showcase for its rendering technology, a short called Enemies featuring a ridiculously detailed environment, sumptuous lighting, and a near-photorealistic character all running in real-time.

The two-minute video shows the intricate architecture, complex environmental animations, and a dramatic monologue delivered by a lady toying with pieces on a chessboard. 

“It showcases Unity’s capabilities for powering high-end visuals in 2022, including the latest improvements to its High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP), new high-end Adaptive Probe Volume lighting system, an all-new strand-based Hair solution, and an evolved Digital Human toolkit.”

Breakdown: You can read a detailed explanation of just how the Unity demo team achieved this kind of graphical fidelity on Unity's website.

What is the Master’s plan in Fallout?

a) Turn everyone into a super mutant.
b) Kill everyone.
c) Create new nuclear weapons.
d) Make the best pizza joint in the wasteland.

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.

Wii and DSi eShop channels are down

The Nintendo eShop for Wii and DSi are both down, and there's no word on when or whether they'll return. Does that mean many classic games will never be available again?

It has not been possible to make new purchases in the Wii eShop since 2019, while the DSi one closed in 2017. What's new is that you can no longer download your existing purchases.

Deadline: Nintendo has warned that both services would shut down permanently, but the abruptness of the seeming closure, if that's what this downtime is, has caught people off-guard.

Transfer: DSiWare content can be transferred “to a Nintendo 3DS family system”, but this grace period for transfers won't last forever. The same applies to Wii games, which can be transferred to WiiU.

Haven Studios joins PlayStation Studios

Sony has acquired Haven Studios, its first Canadian first-party developer. The studio was co-founded by Jade Raymond, best known for creating the Assassin's Creed franchise with Patrice Désilets and Corey May.

Sony made an investment in Haven Studios in March last year, and now it will become a part of PlayStation Studios. The company has been working on an exclusive original IP for PlayStation.

Acquisition: “On the anniversary of when we made our partnership official, it’s especially exciting to formally welcome them into the PlayStation family,” said PlayStation Studios head Hermen Hulst.

Multiplayer: Haven Studios' project remains unannounced, the only details being that it's a “live service” game with a “systemic and evolving world”. Haven Studios employs over 60 staff and is the 18th studio in the PlayStation group.

Couch co-op action in D-Corp, with demo

Battle sinister alien cacti in Frogsong Studios' colourful couch co-op game D-Corp, soon to be updated with new difficulty modes and four all-new maps.

Frogsong is also preparing a bunch of DLC packs, and best of all you can try D-Corp for nothing with its demo available to play right now on its Steam store page!

• Yamper is now available in Pokémon Café ReMix through Pelipper Delivery and encounters are raised until March 27th
• Curve Games has announced the party game Golf Gang, promising the “fastest game of minigolf” you’ll ever play ever
• Stardew Valley creator talks about Chucklefish following reports of “abusive labor practices” on Starbound
• Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack trailer gives an overview of the latest changes to the subscription service
• Starship Troopers – Terran Command delayed while the development team work on splatting bugs until June 16th

What is the Master’s plan in Fallout?

ANSWER: Turn everyone into a super mutant!

The Master from the first Fallout is a great example of just how dark and weird the first game was. A misshapen mass of schizoid intellect, The Master's grand plan was to transform as many people as possible into super mutants, which he regarded as the next evolutionary step for humanity.

Since super mutants are sterile, The Master's plan is essentially futile but he somehow failed to notice that little detail. But if you notice the logical inconsistencies in his plan, you just might be able to convince him that it will fail and win the final boss battle without firing a single shot. Thus began the long-running Fallout tradition of persuading big baddies to just admit that their world domination plan is a little bit silly.

Did anyone else think the Unity Enemies clip was a new DLC announcement for Age of Empires 4?

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