A man completes an absurd but humanity-affirming journey in Minecraft. Control finally gets Hideo Kojima’s voiceover on console. And the first indicator of Ghost of Yotei sales is a potentially impressive one. Welcome to the latest Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily roundup of gaming news and culture. My co-author, Zack Zwiezen, is out on vacation to parts unknown for a while so in the meantime, you’re stuck with me. The good news is that I’m closer than ever to getting the Platinum in Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. The bad news is the Birds blew their chance to go 5-0 this weekend. I’m glad I only looked up to watch occasionally while grinding the Deep Dungeon. The Eagles might not cruise to another Super Bowl, but at least I did get Ramza to learn Zodiark.
A record-breaking Minecraft hike has finally been completed
Streamer KurtJMac’s “Far Lands or Bust Marathon Subathon” finally saw its goal of reaching the glitched edge of the Minecraft map realized over a decade later, Polygon reports. The Far Lands is the infamous end of the game that appears as a bizarre swiss-cheese wall of stone and dirt reaching up to the sky. It’s no small task for people playing in survival mode without cheats. While not the first person to reach this milestone, KurtJMac’s virtual hike holds the record for longest Minecraft journey ever.
It’s also raised over $525,000 for charity since he started streaming the trek back in 2011. The stream is currently trying to raise $50,000 for UNRWA USA which provides aid to Palestinian refugees. You can see KurtJMac’s reaction to finally reaching his journey’s end at around 3:43:00 in the video below, when the Far Lands suddenly appear out of an ocean-y mist as he’s sailing.
The original Crysis has joined the GOG preservation library
“We’re thrilled to announce that the Crysis Remastered Trilogy has joined our catalog, and the original Crysis is now part of the GOG Preservation Program, ensuring it will always run hassle-free on modern systems,” the storefront announced. “Each remastered title is available separately as well, DRM-free and at great discounts, so that you can experience the evolution of one of gaming’s most iconic shooters, from the jungles of the Lingshan Islands to the streets of New York City, in their definitive modern form.”
Battlefield 6 promises a 120fps mode
MP1st reports that an email EA sent to currently registered players is promoting an extra-responsive framerate on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. “Up to 120FPS or high-fidelity visuals,” it reads, indicating the higher frame rate will be linked to the game’s Performance Mode.
An Interplay cofounder and the first video game champion ever needs your help
Rebecca Heineman won the national championship Space Invaders tournament in 1980 and later cofounded RPG powerhouse Interplay (The Bard’s Tale, Fallout) with Brian Fargo and others. She’s credited on dozens of games, from Wasteland to Heroes of Might and Magic IV, and she’s now trying to crowdsource funds for medical treatment following a diagnosis of an aggressive form of cancer.
“This is the fight for my life. Please help me,” Heineman wrote on her new GoFundMe page (via PC Gamer). “I want to keep creating games and comics and I need your help to beat this cancer.”
Ghost of Yotei was number one in the UK last week for boxed copies sold
That’s via Game Business author Chris Dring who said Sony’s open-world samurai adventure beat out the second week of EA Sports FC, traditionally the best-selling game across all of Europe every year. It also sold three times what Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 did on Switch, but was still 40 percent behind where Ghost of Tsushima was in 2020. Reasons for that drop-off could be the busier release calendar right now, and the fact that there are fewer PS5 units out in the wild at this point than there were PS4s when Tsushima was released.
The Control Ultimate Edition free update is finally out on console
The new content includes the mission “Dr. Yoshimi Tokui’s Guided Imagery Experience” which features a voiceover by Death Stranding director Hideo Kojima. Players also get access to costumes that were originally pre-order bonuses, as well as new performance settings for both PS5 and Xbox Series X/S including uncapped framerates, VRR and 120Hz display, and HDR support.
