#38: Wolfenstein’s New Blood

Top Story

Over 50 countries ban access to GTA Online’s new casino

GTA Online, Grand Theft Auto 5’s extraordinarily successful online mode, remains popular over 5 years after release thanks to a steady stream of updates and significant expansions – all of which make Rockstar Games and publisher 2K a lot of money.

The game’s latest update is bordering on the shameless: A casino where players can change real-world money into in-game money and gamble in classic games of chance like blackjack and roulette.

While the Diamond Casino & Resort update does add some exciting new story missions, GTA and Rockstar might have gone too far this time. According to reports, the new update is actually banned in over 50 countries – thanks to the gambling.

The loosest slots in town

The list of countries includes China, Greece, North Korea, South Africa, Poland, and Vietnam – all of which have strict laws against online gambling, which Rockstar would be breaking if they made the Diamond Casino update available. While some features of the casino are still available to people playing GTA Online in these countries, it’s pretty much just a fancy building to them.

Reddit user ThatFlameThrough tried to buy some chips and got the error message “your account does not have permission to complete this transaction”, and was told by support that “because of my region I cannot enjoy the gambling related content in the new DLC.” While it is possible to play using VPNs moderators advise against it since you would literally break the law. Sorry.

Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?

What renowned studio worked on Wolfenstein: Youngblood alongside MachineGames?

• Id Software (developer of Doom, Quake, Rage, and Wolfenstein 3D)
• Raven Software (developer of Quake 4 and Wolfenstein 2009)
• Tango Gameworks (developer of The Evil Within 1 and 2)
• Arkane Studios (developer of Dishonored and Prey)

The answer will be revealed at the end of this issue!

News Bits

Rage 2’s got a flashlight now

If you’ve played Rage 2, you know it’s a bright and surprisingly cheery post-apocalyptic game featuring plenty of sunlight – at least until you go indoors. Then it’s so dark you can forget about seeing anything.

At release, there was no flashlight available, and hardly any brightness settings either. Fortunately, today’s update adds a much-needed flashlight, as well as a New Game Plus mode – but to be honest, we’re more excited to be able to finally see more than a foot ahead of us.

Daily Fact

Tomb Raider changed from guy to gal, then from Cruz to Croft

Core Design’s classic Tomb Raider would probably not have earned quite as many magazine spreads if the studio had stuck to their original vision. Their archeologist hero was a bit too similar to Indiana Jones, and the team would rather be bit original.

The team shuffled some polygons around, and produced the gun-toting, artifact-plundering South American Laura Cruz. The team decided to stay a bit closer to home, and dug into the phone book to find a more quintessentially British name for their heroine. A few paper cuts later, Lara Croft was born.

Tomb Raider was a surprise hit back in 1996, and Lara Croft has starred in nearly 20 games, including spin-offs.

Daily News

Curve Digital to colonize a world near you with Autonauts this autumn

Get ready to colonize new worlds in Denki Studios’ Autonauts. According to the announcement trailer, you pick a planet, touch down, make some tools, gather some resources – and build your first robot! Once your robot is ready, you can program it with different behaviours and before you know it, your colony is automated!

Featuring a cute, breezy aesthetic, Autonauts lets you automate lumbering, mining, farming, fishing and more by visually programming your robot slaves. The goal is to help your colonists reach a “state of transcendence” as you continue to improve their programming. Publisher Curve Digital summarizes the experience like so:

“Autonauts combines the very best of agriculture, simulation, crafting, building, production-line and resource management titles to create a brand new experience unlike any other. Create the automated world of your dreams! The future is now!”

Actually, the future is not until this autumn, according to our automated scrutiny of the Steam store page.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood review round-up

The latest entry in the venerable Wolfenstein franchise is out today, featuring the series’ first foray into co-op. We might have some thoughts of our own later, but let’s first have a look at what the rest of the press is saying.

It seems like the co-op is jolly good fun, while the story and characters don’t live up to the series’ surprisingly high standards. The level design – reminiscent of stealth-action classic Dishonored – appears to be a cut above, and makes the Nazi-infested streets of Paris well worth visiting.

• The Guardian: “It’s a messy, hyperactive experience that struggles with some teething problems, but ends up the most entertaining of all the recent Wolfenstein games.” 4 out of 5
• PC Gamer: “Youngblood is a great time, even better with friends, but it drags whenever the level system demands attention.” 79%
• PCGamesN: “Solo play is fun if flawed, but play with a friend, and you’ll both have one of the best shooter experiences of the year so far.” 8 out of 10
• GameInformer: “I didn’t mind the lack of an engaging story that much because Youngblood is such a generously entertaining romp.” 8.5 out of 10
• IGN: “Wolfenstein: Youngblood is an aggressively okay co-op shooter that doesn’t come close to recapturing the joy of its predecessor’s action or its surprisingly interesting characters and story.” 6.5 out of 10
• Destructoid: “Maybe I just expected too much, but I find myself missing the careful balance of story and gameplay that The New Order had down pat. Youngblood makes plenty of strides forward for this series, but it also takes some steps backward that end up hurting the overall package.” 6 out of 10

Wolfenstein: Youngblood is out now on PC, and tomorrow on Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.

Weekly Giveaway

Rise of Insanity

It’s time for another awesome giveaway from all of us here at Dailybits – and this one’s not for the faint of heart. It’s a first-person psychological horror game called Rise of Insanity – think Silent Hill, Layers of Fear, or P.T., except a little bit scarier. It’s even got VR support, if you think you’re brave enough…

Every day this week, we will give one lucky winner on our active reader list a PS4 code!

“Set in America in the 1970s, the story centers around Dr. Stephen Dowell, a renowned psychologist faced with a difficult patient who shows distinct yet contradictory symptoms of different mental disorders.
The life of the doctor himself is also shrouded in mystery – you must step into his shoes to find out the truth. What terrible fate has befallen your wife and child? Is your new patient, on whom you are testing your experimental treatment methods, somewhat responsible for what happened?

Who is to blame? Don’t lose your nerve, and overcome your fear.”

News Bits

New look at Astral Chain from the Nier Automata team

Platinum Games’ Nier Automata is one of the most compelling games of this generation, and now the studio is back with Switch-exclusive Astral Chain.

Directed by Nier game designer Takahisa Taura and overseen by Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya, Astral Chains follows two rookie cops trying to stop an interdimensional invasion. There’s a brand-new, 8 minutes long Japanese trailer out now that offer a closer look at the game.

Quiz Answer - Did You Get It Right?

What renowned studio worked on Wolfenstein: Youngblood alongside MachineGames?

Answer: Arkane Studios!

Co-op nazi-stomping extravaganza Wolfenstein: Youngblood is out today – and guess what, the game itself is the product of a co-op effort! MachineGames have had help from Arkane Studios – creators of Dishonored and Prey – and their influence can be keenly felt in the streets of Paris.

Like before, id Software is providing the latest id Tech engine – the same engine used in id’s recent Doom games – but they’re not involved in the development. Former Wolfenstein developer Raven Software are a fully-owned subsidiary of Activision now, and is busy making Call of Duty games – although Youngblood could be a bit inspired by their 2009 Wolfenstein reboot, which featured an open-world city.

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