Daily Briefing: Friday 20th August

Hey everyone! Apologies about the lack of Daily Briefing yesterday - Adam is off & there was no-one available to cover. Until he's back, I'll be delivering the news straight to you. Today, it's a remaster news special.

• Matt

Surprise! Skyrim Is Getting A Re-Re-Re-Release!

Bethesda have announced a new edition of Skyrim. The Anniversary Edition celebrates 10 years since Skyrim's release, and adds fishing, new quests and a survival mode, among 500 other pieces of Creation Club content. Anyone who owns the Special Edition right now will get fishing, some quests and Survival Mode for free via the Creation Club, while PS5/Xbox owners of the Special Edition will get free next-gen updates on it's November 11th release.

• Creation Club, or 'paid modding' as some may call it, seems to be successful - being able to sell Skyrim yet again, with additional community-created content, is a clear win for Bethesda. It's as Todd Howard said "If you want us to stop releasing it, then stop buying it.". Starfield and TES VI will be well-funded, anyway.

GTA Remasters Aiming For 2022, Says Leaker

The much-rumoured and reported on GTA3, Vice City and San Andreas remasters have been backed up again by noted Call of Duty and Battlefield leaker Tom Henderson, with one difference: most rumours and reporting mention 2021 as a target, but Tom says he's heard "sometime in 2022".

• Makes sense! A 2021 release would likely cannibalise their own sales, with the GTA V next-gen release due on November 11 this year. Rockstar could be better served by pacing out their limited releases while the world waits for the next GTA. Here's hoping they look to Bully after the GTA Trilogy gets a lease of new life.

Remasters & Upgrades Continue: Quake!

Out of the blue at QuakeCon, id Software released Quake again across PC and consoles. NightDive Studios were involved in this 'enhanced' edition, adding up to 4K support, widescreen, enhanced graphical effects and models, while also adding both original expansions, and two expansions developed by MachineGames - one of which is brand new for this release. It's available on almost everything for $10, as well as Xbox Game Pass. If you own the original on Steam, you'll get this for free.

• This is how it's done! NightDive Studios do great work modernising old games for modern systems, and so far this seems like an all-around win. New content, running beautifully, and a chance for newer gamers to experience one of the icons of FPS design.

Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut Fixes Save Problems

The Director's Cut of Ghost of Tsushima released yesterday, bringing PS5 features to the game, the Iki Island expansion, and has been received well. It also included a feature that sets a precedent for PS5 users: A save transfer menu option. For other games with upgrades, the process has been criticised as needlessly complex, requiring multiple game installs and manual uploads. In Ghost of Tsushima, the game will find your save and transfer it to the PS5 version for you!

• To be expected: A Sony studio can figure out the Sony console API to let their game do steps like this for them. Hopefully, they can integrate this with games by default as an option, or allow other developers to use this solution. Selling people upgraded versions of old games they already own is already a black mark on Sony's book compared to the Xbox method, so they could at least make it a seamless experience.