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Apple and Microsoft address Orlando, avoid gay community
Early Sunday morning, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., became the home of the deadliest mass shooting in US history. The following morning Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft's Phil Spencer took the stage at separate, preplanned press conferences to offer support from "the Apple community" and "the gaming community," respectively, before launching into their regularly scheduled hyperbolic outpourings of consumer enthusiasm. In doing so, they not only undermined the tragedy, they ignored the community it most affected.
GoPro and Ubisoft join forces to bring thrillseekers 'Steep'
Love watching amazing stunts recorded by fearless people with skis, snowboards or even wingsuits? Don't have the guts to do all those things yourself? Ubisoft wants to give you the power to experience some of the very same experiences without all the danger with the aid of GoPro in the form of their latest project Steep.
Oculus Touch will control over 30 games this year
Were you worried that Oculus' Touch controller would arrive without any games that used it? If you ask Oculus, there's no reason to worry. It's promising that over 30 Oculus Rift games will use the VR peripheral in 2016. Some of them are titles you'll know, like Rock Band VR and Serious Sam VR, while others are Touch-ready versions of existing VR experiences like Job Simulator and The Climb. Oculus itself will bundle a sculpting title, Oculus Medium.
'Star Trek Bridge Crew' puts you inside a VR starship this fall
While the news leaked before Ubisoft's big E3 showcase, the games company brought together several Star Trek alumni (from all over the series) to play-test its debut VR title Star Trek Bridge Crew, which will be coming to Oculus, Vive and PS VR systems this fall. (Alas, no concrete date just yet.) The game involves collaborating with other players to ensure your starship runs smoothly and fight off enemies or simply escape from them. According to the teaser, a captain and tactical and engineering players will all work together, communicating what each person has to do, which looks like it could descend into cries of "Maximum warp!" and "Shields up!" -- but if LeVar Burton is in the room, then, heck, why not? Take a closer look after the break.
The next 'South Park' game will launch on December 6th
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone just jumped up on stage to share more details about the next game based on their long-standing cartoon. South Park: The Fractured But Whole was announced last year, but today we're seeing a lot of footage from the game, and we also got a release date: it'll be out on December 6th.
Everything we saw at Microsoft's E3 event
Microsoft's E3 press conference is over, and we got a lot of news. There are two new Xboxes: a slimmer Xbox One S with 4K video support due out this August, and Project Scorpio, an Xbox with 4K gaming and VR support due out next year. Confusing much? Elsewhere, we got hefty chunks of gameplay from ReCore, Sea of Thieves and Scalebound, pretty trailers for Forza Horizon 3 and Halo Wars 2, and zombie fun in the form of Dead Rising 4 and State of Decay 2. While we (literally) recharge our batteries before Ubisoft and Sony's shows, you can watch trailers for all the big announcements in the gallery below.
'Superhot VR' brings time-bending shootouts to Oculus Rift
Superhot, the first-person shooter that slows down time whenever you're not moving, is coming to the Oculus Rift. The studio behind the game teased as much last month, but now we've got a trailer showing off how it plays. The biggest addition is the ability to dual-wield -- two fists, two firearms or one of each, depending on your situation. You'll be able to aim, fire and throw punches with the Oculus Touch controllers (which still aren't out) while dodging bullets Matrix-style with the Rift headset. Superhot's creators say the new game "isn't some port" but a "reimagined and redesigned" game built for VR. It'll launch sometime later this year -- there's no word on pricing or whether it'll come to other VR platforms in the future, such as the HTC Vive or PlayStation VR. If you're curious, you can play the original Superhot on PC, Mac, Linux or Xbox One right now.
The Xbox One S vs. the original Xbox One: What's changed?
It's been three years since the Xbox One's launch, which means we're due for a console redesign. But rather than give us the same system in a slimmer case, the Xbox One S also features a few tweaks under its stylish hood. The inclusion of 4K video is a welcome addition, but what else has changed? We've gathered all the relevant specs right here so you can start planning that next console purchase.
AMD targets esports and HD gaming with new Radeon RX GPUs
After surprising us with the $200 VR-ready Radeon RX 480 at Computex, AMD has rounded out its new GPU lineup at E3. The Radeon RX 470 will offer "power-efficient HD gaming," which means it's targeted at people who just need things to run smoothly at 1080p. And at the low end, there's the Radeon RX 460, which is meant for less demanding esports titles. AMD is basically just teasing the cards at E3, so there aren't any pricing or availability details yet. But given that the RX 480 is starting at $200, I'd imagine they'd come in significantly less.
Watch Ubisoft's E3 press conference right here
Assassin's Creed might have taken the year off (well, there's a movie if you want to get technical) but Ubisoft still has plenty to show at E3 this year. Hacker adventure Watch Dogs 2 will no doubt be the centerpiece, expanding on its reveal from last week. We're also expecting some details about South Park: The Fractured But Whole, a follow-up to the well-received Stick of Truth from 2014. Other probables include the historic brawler For Honor, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands and some DLC for The Division. If any of those pique your curiosity, you can watch Ubisoft's livestream right here -- fingers crossed there won't be any laser tag.
Microsoft announces a new super-powered Xbox console: Project Scorpio
Microsoft and Oculus announced a close partnership at last year's E3, but we haven't seen much out of it just yet. That's changing today, as Microsoft just announced a new version of the Xbox console -- one that's optimized to push 4K visuals and high-quality VR out of the box. Project Scorpio will launch during the holiday season in 2017, but most notable is the fact that all games and all accessories will work across the Xbox One, the Xbox One S and Project Scorpio.
'Halo Wars 2' takes the series back to its roots next February
If Halo 5: Guardians disappointed you last year, maybe try Halo Wars 2 on for size on February 21st next year. It takes the shooter series back to its strategy roots, something that's been toyed with a bit before. New stuff like the Mantis mechs from Halo 4 and Halo 5 look to be controllable units, with a heavy emphasis on battling the ape-like Brute enemies. It continues the story of the original game's Spirit of Fire crew and has you battling those enemies on The Ark, a location from Halo 3.
Dragon romp 'Scalebound' offers huge co-op boss battles
Dragons? Check. A spiky-haired hero with attitude rivalling Dante from Devil May Cry? Check. Okay, so we must be talking about Scalebound. The action-RPG was originally slated to come out this fall, however in January developer PlatinumGames announced it had been pushed back to 2017. Today, Microsoft showed off the game's little-talked-about co-op mode, which allows you and a few friends to fight side by side. The trailer starts with the hero discovering an enormous crab-like creature, before watching his companions materialize with their dragons. The group then attacks with some ranged weaponry before switching to their winged companions, finally finishing up with some stylish melee combos. It's pretty epic.
'Minecraft' update takes cross-platform multiplayer online
After selling an incredible 100 million copies (and counting), the world of Minecraft continues to grow today with new functionality and features. Revealed at E3, the new "Friendly Update" lets Minecraft players on Windows 10, iOS and Android (including the Gear VR edition) game together online in the same persistent Realms, no matter what the device.
Xbox Design Lab will make your gamepad gorgeous
Love your Xbox One gamepad, but wish it were a little more ...festive looking? Microsoft is listening. Today at E3, the company announced the Xbox Design Lab -- basically, an online store that lets you customize the color of just about every part of the console's iconic gamepad.
Gwent from 'Witcher 3' is now its own digital card game
If you're a fan of the Witcher series, you've probably heard of Gwent. The collectible card game is an optional part of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, tasking players with collecting cards and ultimately dominating their opponent on the tabletop "battlefield." Now, as expected, the game-within-a-game is being turned into a game of its own (try saying that three times fast.) It'll launch as a closed beta on Xbox One and PC this September, before coming to PlayStation 4 later on. Similar to Blizzard's Hearthstone, it'll be a free-to-play title with optional in-game purchases. Taking a page from The Elder Scrolls: Legends, however, developer CD Projekt Red is also working on a "fully featured single player adventure" for the game.
New Xbox Live features include clan support and friend-finding options
Microsoft is making it a good deal easier to find friends when you want to play a game online this fall. A new "clubs" feature is basically a system-wide clan feature that lets you group together all your friends you play with frequently. Another new feature, "looking for group," will let you put out an alert to your friends when you're trying to get a big Destiny game going. The last feature, "Arena," is aimed at competitive play and lets you find competitions going on around your favorite games.
Mega Man creator's 'ReCore' hits Xbox One and PC September 18th
ReCore's debut trailer, a surprise at last year's E3, both charmed and intrigued us: That robot dog was cute! And how do the orbs, which appear to be swappable between machines, work? Details have been scarce since then, but at today's Xbox showcase in Los Angeles we got a look at actual game play from the new title by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune, as well as a release date of September 18.
This is the Xbox One S
Do you have your best shocked face ready? Microsoft just announced a slimmer Xbox One, the Xbox One S. Okay, so the surprise was kinda ruined by a month of leaks, culminating in a picture of the thing finding its way into the wild yesterday morning. But at least now that it's official, we know exactly why Microsoft thinks you should buy a new Xbox.
Live from Microsoft's Xbox showcase at E3 2016!
We're live at Microsoft's Xbox keynote at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California, ready to kick off this year's E3 conference. Microsoft is poised to reveal new Xbox hardware during today's showcase, furthering its efforts to make PC and console gaming a unified, seamless experience. The Xbox event begins at 9:30 AM PT / 12:30 PM ET and we'll share all of the news right here, right as it's announced. We'll probably make some corny jokes, too. You're welcome in advance.
