Good morning. It’s Friday Eve, also known as Thursday. The weekend is almost here. I can feel it in my bones. While we wait, here’s today’s Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily round-up of video game news and other stuff you might care about. Today we have news about a Treyarch co-founder, a leaked Yakuza remake appears, Nvidia is making a big investment, and more KPop Demon Hunters is on the way in the near future.
Treyarch Co-Founder Peter Tripp Akemann Sentenced To Prison And House Arrest
In January, Peter Tripp Akemann flew a drone into a large firefighting aircraft that was helping to stop the horrible Palisades fire in the area around Los Angeles. The damage took the aircraft out of commission for a period of time. In February, Akemann pleaded guilty to the crime. And on Monday, Akemann was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald to serve 14 days in federal prison, followed by 30 days of home arrest. Akemann, who helped create the studio that is now part of Activision’s massive Call of Duty machine, will also have to pay around $156,000 in various fines.
As part of a previous plea agreement, Akemann will also complete 150 hours of community service. His lawyers shared a message from the Treyarch co-founder earlier this year stating he was “deeply sorry” about damaging the aircraft and that he “accepts responsibility for his grave error in judgment, and is cooperating with the government in effort to make amends.”
Yakuza 3 Remake Accidentally Leaks Online
It looks like Yakuza 3, originally released in 2009 for the PlayStation 3, is getting a big ol’ remake. That’s according to a leak fans spotted earlier this week on the Yakuza developer’s very own website. As reported by Engadget, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios briefly listed Yakuza Kiwami 3 alongside two previously released remakes, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2. However, Kiwami 3 has yet to be officially announced. Oops!
The listing has since been scrubbed from the site, but not before fans could document it via screenshots and social media posts. Many expect this new remake to be announced at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show later this month.
Microsoft Flight Sim 2024 Reportedly The Next Xbox Game Leaping To PS5
If you thought Xbox was done bringing more games to PlayStation 5, well, then you probably haven’t been paying attention to the company’s activity over the last year or so. Anyway, Xbox is, according to a new report from Polish news site PPE, porting Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 to the PS5. It’s claimed that this new port will be arriving in November of this year and will get a limited physical release. Xbox has yet to confirm, but this seems pretty likely to happen, and I expect an announcement soon.
Nvidia Investing $5 Billion Into Struggling Intel As Part Of Larger Partnership
Well, here’s something unexpected. Nvidia, one of the richest companies on the planet, is partnering with Intel, which has been struggling in recent years, as part of a large deal that involves the GPU giant investing $5 billion. The two companies issued a joint press release confirming the news and announced plans to work together to create “Intel x86 RTX SOCs” that will likely be used in devices like handheld PCs, laptops, and other portable electronics.
As you might expect, this deal also includes a lot of talk about how this will help boost AI performance and move the technology forward. With this investment, Nvidia is now one of Intel’s largest shareholders. Weirdly, the U.S. government is an even bigger shareholder after a wild deal was struck last month, giving the United States 10 percent ownership of the chip maker.
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