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Sony’s E3 happened without you noticing
Sure, Sony says it's skipping E3 this year, but let's take a look at the facts. Within the past eight weeks, the company has unveiled the PlayStation 5, teasing out details about its upgraded architecture and 8K capabilities, and clearly delineating the start of a new console generation. A buzzy new trailer for one of PlayStation's most-anticipated exclusive games, Death Stranding, dropped two weeks ago, complete with a release date (and details about a $200 collector's edition that comes with a life-sized pod baby). That's not to mention the things that Sony is doing during E3. PlayStation is hosting its annual Days of Play sale this week, and even though it isn't holding a press conference, it's making headlines at other companies' shows. Final Fantasy VII Remake is a major title at E3 2019, as Square Enix just revealed a release date and fresh details -- and it happens to be a PlayStation exclusive. And that's just the start. Turns out, Sony doesn't have to actually attend E3 to do E3.
SteelSeries' $50 Arctis headset is for gamers on a budget
SteelSeries has released an Arctis headset aimed at more budget-conscious gamers, though it uses many of the same components as the Arctis 3, 5, 7 and 9X. The Arctis 1 has the same design, speaker drivers, cushions and noise-canceling microphone as its siblings. The latter is detachable rather than retractable to help convert it from headset to headphones.
'Minecraft Dungeons' is a blocky, smash-and-slash adventure
If you've been living under a rock since 2009, or just don't know anybody under the age of 15, you may not be aware that Minecraft is kind of a big deal. Like, "best selling videogame of all time," kind of a big deal. At E3 2019, the game's developer, Mojang, revealed its next project in the block-based world, Minecraft Dungeons.
Xbox Live ID numbers let you choose a Gamertag that's already taken
As Microsoft makes Xbox Live an entertainment service that spreads across more platforms (including Switch, Android and iOS), it's also relaxing the naming scheme. Since it's been in operation since 2002, many commonly-requested aliases are already taken, but now users can grab pretty much any name they want, even if someone else already has it. Now, it will still let you create a new user name even if someone else has it, but it will auto-assign an ID number after it to make yours unique. Other services like Steam and Discord already use a similar setup, and it should mean an end to purging old, abandoned usernames or forcing them to expire so that new users can get a crack at them. Of course, if you've been around for a while, everyone will know you are the original CheeToMan247 given your lack of an add-on ID number.
Throwback action-RPG 'Oninaki' releases August 22nd
Oninaki is an upcoming throwback action RPG from the makers of I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear -- and it now has a release date of August 22nd. With Takashi Tokita (of Chrono Trigger and Parasite Eve) as creative producer, players will traverse the lands of the living and the dead in a world of reincarnation. The protagonist is a "Watcher" who manages the divide between the two realms. As a Watcher, the main character will leverage "daemons" to battle alongside them, conferring specific weapons and skills. The title will be out on Switch, PS4 and PC. There's more from developer Tokyo RPG Factory -- Square Enix's classic JRPG-inspired studio -- in the trailer below:
The Marvel's Avengers game arrives May 15th, 2020
Back in 2017, Square Enix signed a multi-year development deal with Marvel. The first item on their list was a secretive title dubbed, Project Avengers. Tonight, at Square Enix's keynote ahead of E3, the company unveiled the results of its two years of hard work. Behold the newly anointed Marvel's Avengers.
'Final Fantasy VIII' is getting its own, less-involved remaster
Final Fantasy VIII, which curiously missed out on the journey to the Nintendo Switch when the rest of the series was ported over, is back. The reason for the delay? Square Enix was working on another remaster. To that point, the characters' battle models are more polished than the original, and even the higher-resolution PC version. Don't expect entirely reinvented battle systems or episodic content like Final Fantasy VII Remake, however. This is a humbler re-polish for 2019 (it will launch later this year) and will come to PS4, Xbox, Nintendo's Switch and Steam. See how it'll look in the trailer below.
'Outriders' is a co-op shooter from the makers of 'Bulletstorm'
Outriders is a new "dark, modern shooter" as described by People Can Fly, the developers behind Gears of War: Judgment and Bulletstorm. It will be a co-op shooter for one to three players, and releasing on Xbox One, PS4 and PC in summer 2020. The Outriders are a genetically engineered species tied to the Marvel Universe yet the M-word was conspicuously absent during Square Enix's E3 announcement. Here's the first look:
'Circuit Superstars' is the 'Forza' of Micro Machines
Back in 2014, Square Enix Collective was created to help indie developers with getting their game out there, and it has helped introduce titles like Forgotton Anne to the world. Now it's getting into the world of racing with Circuit Superstars, a top-down motorsport game developed by Original Fire Games.
'Final Fantasy VII Remake' will take up two Blu-ray discs
Want more Final Fantasy VII Remake details? We've got them. Following up on a new trailer last night, which teased some core game changes to the 20-year-old original (Aeris, attacked by ghosts?), Square Enix used the beginning of its E3 event to dive straight into the remake. It all kicked off with a remade intro, scene-by-scene matching the PSOne original. Producer Kitase then took to the stage to announce the game will encompass two Blu-Ray discs in total, with the city of Midgar alone taking up an entire disc. The original game came on three CD discs. Bless!
Microsoft's Xbox, Xbox 360 backward compatibility list ends here
Now that Microsoft has unveiled its Project Scarlett Xbox gaming ambitions, there's some good news and some bad news about backward compatibility. The good news is that games from four generations of Xbox will be playable on the new hardware. Even better news is that a pretty sweet list of titles are being added to the program today. The bad news is that the program, which launched during E3 in 2015, is coming to an end for original Xbox and Xbox 360 games.
Watch Square Enix's E3 2019 press event here with us!
Square Enix is at E3 2019 and it has one of the flashiest titles of the year, Final Fantasy VII Remake. The company dropped a new trailer and revealed the game's release date during a live symphony performance last night, showing off what it means by "rebuilding and expanding" on the original title. Four years after the game's announcement, fans can mark a release date in their calendars: Final Fantasy VII Remake comes out on March 3rd, 2020.
How many times do I have to buy 'Final Fantasy VII'?
Ahead of whatever Square Enix shows at E3 this year, lots of questions remain regarding its remake of Final Fantasy VII. Since being announced at E3 2015, details and updates have been scant. For a while, it was all a little worrying -- until Square Enix snuck out a slightly longer trailer last month. It was proof of the game's continued existence and came with the promise of more details in June. Hopefully, it meant today. It's already taken four years to get this far, and the original game launched on the first PlayStation 18 years before that.
AMD's $749 Ryzen 9 3950X is the 'world's first' 16-core gaming CPU
Today during its E3 2019 press conference, AMD announced it's pushing gaming beyond 8- or 12-cores, with a new "best of the best" CPU. The "World's first 16-core gaming CPU" is the Ryzen 9 3950X, which will be available in September for $749. Outdoing Intel's 8-core gaming CPU, CEO Dr. Lisa Su said this chip has "the highest boost frequency in our stack" that goes up to 4.7Ghz with 72MB of cache. Continuing AMD's theme of trying to beat Intel on the combination of performance, value and efficiency, the Zen 2 hardware operates at 105 watts. Of course, there's more to the world than gaming CPUs and cores don't always translate to an advantage in raw performance. Still, this latest addition to the Ryzen line is a powerful challenge, and keeps up the pressure following the introduction of its 12-core sibling, the 3900X, just last month at Computex.
Xbox on a phone: Microsoft Project xCloud hands-on
Microsoft's Project xCloud is almost ready for public consumption. In fact, it's launching in some capacity this October, with the ability to stream games from your at-home Xbox One to any device you own. The company's big E3 showcase mentioned this, but not much else. Sure, we had news of the next-gen Project Scarlett console to keep the faithful hyped for what's coming up, but concrete details and specifications are still scant. This means that getting to test the service out, with real, triple-A games was all the more important -- and that's what I just did. I played Resident Evil 7, Hellblade, Halo 5 and more through a Galaxy S10, with an Xbox controller, and it was rather wonderful.
I survived the new Escape mode in 'Gears 5'
I haven't played a Gears of War game since the original came out in 2006. It's no surprise, then, that I would be hesitant to grab an Xbox One controller and play the latest instalment of Microsoft's legendary franchise, Gears 5. But I did it, particularly because I wanted to check out Escape, a new co-op mode that you can play with three friends online or locally. Look, I'm a simple man: You tell me I can kill some aliens and I'm in.
AMD tells all about its $449 Radeon RX 5700 XT GPU
After unveiling its first 7-nanometer "Navi" GPUs a few weeks ago at Computex, the Radeon RX 5000 series, AMD finally gave us more details at E3. Its first cards from the new "RDNA" family will be the $449 Radeon RX 5700 XT, which will take on NVIDIA's RTX 2070, and the $379 RX 5700, which competes with the NVIDIA RTX 2060. AMD says the more powerful 5700 XT will feature 40 compute units, boost speeds upwards of 1.9GHz, and up to 9.75 teraflops. In an on-stage gameplay demo, it outperformed the RTX 2070 by around 20 FPS in 1440p. The 5700, meanwhile, has 36 compute units and speeds up to 1.7GHz. Both cards will be available on July 7th.
Watch AMD's E3 2019 event here
AMD is about to go live with its E3 2019 Next Horizon Gaming event, and we're expecting plenty of new details on their Navi GPU line. Post-Computex, we're waiting to hear more on what these cards can do, including information about ray tracing. While AMD has said little about the feature yet, both Sony and Microsoft have said their new consoles will use these GPUs and support ray tracing. While we might hear some news about CPUs, we're expecting for it to stay gaming-focused. The stream will be live at 3PM PT here:
'The Division 2' takes players back to New York in its upcoming DLC
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is not even two months old but Ubisoft laid out its year one plans for the action shooter RPG at E3 today. We already knew three additional episodes were coming via DLC, but a first look trailer revealed some of the locations players will soon be able to visit both in and outside a post-apocalyptic Washington DC, including the Pentagon and the National Zoo. Players will get new gear, weapons and new rewards to go along with the new areas to explore.
'Gods & Monsters' is the latest from the 'AC: Odyssey' team
Ubisoft's latest game goes back to classical mythology with 'Gods & Monsters,' which the publisher showcased with a cartoony first trailer at E3. According to Ubisoft, it's an "adventure about a forgotten hero on a quest to save the Greek gods." The player will have god-like powers and battle Gorgons, Hydras, and Cyclops. More details should emerge before the launch date of February 25th 2020.
