‘The Witcher 3’ Street Date Broken, See Conan O’Brien's Review

Though the official release date for CD Projekt Red’s magnum opus “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” is May 19, that hasn’t stopped a few stores from listing the game for sale already. Needless to say, those who don’t want the game spoiled will need to be wary online.

News of the leak comes from the official “Witcher” series forums, where a user named Coolix33 alleges that the leak originated in a store in the United Arab Emirates. Images accompanying Coolix33’s post show copies of both the Xbox One and PS4 versions out in the wild.

Following the leak, videogame streaming website, Twitch, was quick to send out a tweet letting gamers know that anyone caught streaming “The Witcher 3” on its service would be subject to punishment under the DMCA guidelines. The site is has been known to crack down hard on streams showing gameplay before an official release date by shutting down streams and even banning accounts.

While gamers will have to wait at least a week and a half for the first official reviews to drop, comedian and late night host, Conan O'Brien has been kind enough to grace gamers with his early thoughts. As part of his ongoing “Clueless Gamer” series of sponsored segments, the ginger-haired funnyman recorded nearly 11 minutes worth of review footage, hosted on the official Team Coco YouTube channel. During the review, Conan learns the finer points of combat and searches the width and breadth of the game’s open world in search of a little female companionship.

Elsewhere, CD Projekt Red Visual Effects Artist Jose Teixera spoke to DualShockers about the game’s impressive weather effects. Teixera spoke specifically about the game’s thunderstorms, and cited PS4 exclusive “Driveclub” as a huge influence on the game’s treatment of weather.

“We do have thunderstorms, the majority of them you’ll see far away, like in real life, however, there will be some occasions where you’ll have lightning close to you, but only in some special moments for added drama. ‘Driveclub’ has fantastic weather effects, they were a huge inspiration for us,” he said.

Broken street dates or not, it won’t be long till gamers everywhere are able to get their hands on the long awaited conclusion to the epic “Witcher” trilogy. “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” is set to be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC, on May 19.