Not all tech news makes the cut, kids – it’s a tech-eat-tech world out there. Fortunately, week by week, we’ll be salvaging some of those news stories and putting them all into one place, every Sunday. That’s right, we’re working on our day off for you keen tech readers – all ‘thank you’ emails welcome.
Tech News Roundup is a little different this week; we’ll be focusing on the Electronic Entertainment Expo and its three main conferences. If you want detailed coverage of all the events that took place on the show floor, head on over to YouTube. Everyone else, get comfortable.
Microsoft:
gAmes gAmes gAmes – Microsoft’s conference was a big win for gamers, focusing solely on games from start to finish, in stark contrast to the Xbox One’s reveal presentation last year. The AAA blockbusters presented included Assassins Creed: Unity, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Forza Motorsport 5, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Tom Clancy’s The Division. For any Kinect fanatics, we assume there was a lot of grieving this year.
Indie zone – We were excited to see indie developers receiving the respect they deserve with the new ID@Xbox program, a self-publishing platform for indie developers. With this in mind Playdead, the developers of indie sensation Limbo, revealed their new game Inside, a title that is shaping up to better its formidable predecessor. And yes, it’s as wonderfully depressing as you might have expected.
I can see your Halo – 343 industries, the new developers of the Halo franchise, revealed some multilayer gameplay of Halo 5: Guardians and the opportunity for fans to partake in the multiplayer beta later this year with the purchase of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Not exactly helping the ‘all Xbox players play Halo‘ cliché, but still, we’re sure it’ll be welcomed with open arms.
If you want the full picture of this year’s Microsoft conference, including all of the titles not mentioned above and the opportunity to enjoy Phil Spencer’s permanent and impressively smug grin, check out the video below, via Gamespot:
Sony:
Playsomewhereelsestation – Sony’s presentation, whilst also dominated by games, did mix things up a bit with the announcement of Playstation TV. This handy little device will allow you to stream games to any TV in your house via remote play, as well as TV, films and music, with an HDMI cable. Whilst it may not be a drastic change to the Playstation ecosystem, the device is looking to make Playstation’s features more complete than rival Xbox One’s.
More gAmes gAmes gAmes – In terms of games, Sony presented a whopping variety of AAA titles, including The Order: 1866, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, Bloodbourne, The Last of Us: Remastered, Grand Theft Auto V and of course, the highly anticipated Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Did we mention Grand Theft Auto V? In case we didn’t, Grand Theft Auto V.
Bungie beta – Renowned Halo developer Bungie presented more footage of its upcoming, open world co-op shooter, Destiny, announcing that Playstation 4 users will gain access to the Beta first on July 17th. That’s right, Sony fanboys, Microsoft aren’t screwing you over by giving Xbox players early access – hurrah!
That’s just a piece of the magic from this year’s Sony conference. If you want more information, or just want to feel nostalgic, watch the below video via IGN:
Nintendo:
Not-so gAmes gAmes gAmes – Nintendo ensuered that their somewhat bizzare digital event would be one to remember, with plenty of desperately- needed titles shown in all their brevity . Games included Yoshi’s Woolly World, Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker, Hyrule Warriors (a cross between Dynasty Warriors and Zelda), Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Bayonetta 2 and a new Starfox title, of which one of our friends responded to with ‘HOLY F**K’.
It’s a-me, Mario Maker – Aspiring level creators can prove their worth in 2015 with the upcoming Mario Maker. Whilst originally created to help developers of Mario games, the title will allow gamers to create levels similar to those found in Super Mario Bros. This reportedly has nothing to do with the lack of official games available on the system… they say.
Amiibo – If you’re sick to the back teeth of your younger sibling banging on about Skylanders or Disney Infinity, then look away for their own safety. Nintendo have officially unveiled their own adaption of the NFC-enabled platform where various figures, such as Mario and Samos, can be used as independent characters for players to progress at their leisure. No more fights-to-the-death as the same character anymore – it seems that ‘same characters’ no longer exist!
Nintendo’s event was somewhat briefer compared to that of Sony and Microsoft. However, don’t mistake quantity for quality – theirs had two of their presidents fight to the death in a cheesy boxing match. Don’t believe us? Feast your eyes on this which, we’ll have you know, isn’t from IGN: