Daily Briefing: Tuesday 2nd March

Need for Speed delayed into next year, Criterion shifted to Battlefield

Chief Studios Officer Laura Miele told Polygon that the decision was influenced by a combination of pandemic pressures and the fact that EA's recent acquisition of Codemasters will be delivering at least one racing title by the end of this year - though she also emphasised that the franchise isn't in trouble and Criterion haven't been permanently removed.

• The decision does make a decent bit of sense actually, but there may still be some trepidation amongst fans considering this announcement comes just one week after EA cancelled Anthem's planned reboot. At any rate, Miele says that Battlefield is "shaping up great", so folks have that to look forward to at least.

Leaked Elden Ring footage is doing the rounds online

It seems like yesterday's batch of rumours were just the precursor to a bit of an online mess, with a leaked Elden Ring trailer now confirmed to be circulating among chat groups. The trailer, which is marked as confidential, shows a considerable amount of off-screen footage of what looks like a genuine gameplay trailer.

• The footage is still kicking about at time of writing, though there's some debate in the community about how much of it is authentic. Bandai Namco recently trademarked Bandai Namco Next, which could hint at an upcoming Nintendo Direct-style showcase where we may finally get some official news on FromSoftware's much anticipated title.

Nintendo really are axing all those Mario games later in the month

The Mario 35th Anniversary celebrations are coming to an end this month and, with that, Nintendo have confirmed that they will indeed be removing several products from sale - classic game compilation Super Mario 3D All-Stars, weird battle royale runner thing Super Mario 35, and the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch console.

• Nintendo's decision to offer these products as a limited release drew some serious criticism across the industry, as it was viewed as an cynical attempt to manufacture scarcity in an attempt to drive sales. The question is, what's happening at the end of March? Nintendo have repeatedly declined to comment on plans beyond this quarter - but where's that Switch Pro?

DualSense class action lawsuit firm wants the case settled in court

In the US the terms of Sony's software licensing agreement (which users have to agree to in order to, y'know, play games) include an arbitration clause which could render users unable to pursue issues in court. Law firm Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith, who are handling the drift lawsuit, aren't happy with this.

• PS5 players can opt-out of resolving these sorts of disputes via arbitration by sending a letter to Sony within a month of booting up their console for the first time and, to facilitate this, CSK&D have prepared a template letter for class action members to complete. The firm will also send the letters to Sony on the claimants' behalf.