Month: June 2019

E3 2019 formally begins on Tuesday, June 11. Over the years fans have grown accustomed to the weekend prior having a sequence of press conferences and presentations as publishers announce their games and hardware before showing them on a convention floor, but this year the event seems to have expanded yet again.

Several companies have announced their own events for the week prior to E3, getting out ahead of the rush of announcements and staking a claim to their own time to make an impact on viewers. As a result, E3 is almost two full weeks–the first seeded with pre-E3 announcements, and the second consisting of publisher press conferences and convention days. In fact, there’s something happening almost every day until the end of E3.

The wide swath of events is getting so large you may have trouble keeping track, so for your convenience we’ve compiled them all here. Be sure to check out our full press conference schedule for what times to watch the event for more details.

Apple WWDC Event – Monday, June 3

This isn’t a first, as Apple often targets its WWDC event for early June, and its proximity to E3 has been noted as Apple ventured further into gaming offerings on the App Store. But in the overall sequence of E3-adjacent events, it seems to be the first out of the gate. This year’s WWDC announced support for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One controllers for iOS and Apple TV.

Pokemon Sword & Shield Nintendo Direct – Wednesday, June 5 (6 AM PT)

Nintendo doubtless has loads to show at E3, but it’s giving more details on one of its biggest franchises its own time slot. Pokemon Sword & Shield, the next main installment in the hit franchise for Nintendo Switch, will have a dedicated presentation on Wednesday morning. It will be about 15 minutes long, but as Nintendo showed in its recent Super Mario Maker 2 presentation, it can pack a lot of details into that amount of time. Check out when and how to watch the Pokemon Direct for more details.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 Space Monkey Report – Wednesday, June 5 (6 PM PT)

Ubisoft has outlined some of its plans for E3 2019, but has also stated flatly that Beyond Good & Evil 2 won’t be among them. Still, the pre-E3 period won’t be entirely without BG&E news, as the game is planning the next of its Space Monkey Report streams for the Wednesday prior. These have been semi-regular events updating fans on the progress of the game. Ubisoft’s decision to hold back from E3 suggests it won’t be chock full of big reveals, but if you’ve been looking forward to more Beyond Good & Evil, it should provide some interesting tidbits.

Google Stadia Connect – Thursday, June 6 (9 AM PT)

Google will make good on its promise to reveal price and launch details for its Stadia streaming service this week, with the first of its “Stadia Connect” presentations ready to debut on Thursday. The company has confirmed that the presentation will outline launch plans, including game announcements and a price reveal. Check out when and how to watch the Stadia presentation for more details.

Destiny 2 Next Chapter – Thursday, June 6 (10 AM PT)

Just after the Google Stadia announcement, Bungie will be explaining its plans for Destiny 2. The current season of content is coming to a close, and with Bungie now split with publisher Activision fans have wondered what will happen now. The “Next Chapter” announcement will explain these next steps, and given that it’s targeting the announcement right next to E3, it probably isn’t just going into maintenance mode.

EA Play – Saturday, June 8 (9:30 AM PT)

Electronic Arts is once again forgoing E3 proper, instead holding a fan-focused event at a nearby location. This year, though, it’s not having a formal press conference at EA Play. It will hold a series of livestreams covering several of its upcoming games, beginning with Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. Others on tap include Apex Legends and its Season 2 Battle Pass, Battlefield V, FIFA 20, Madden NFL 20, and The Sims 4. Check out how and when to watch EA Play for more details.

Nintendo Invitational Tournaments – Saturday, June 8 (11 AM PT)

Between its Pokemon-focused Nintendo Direct on Wednesday and its E3 Nintendo Direct the following Tuesday morning, Nintendo has one more event during the weekend. It will be hosting a series of tournaments throughout the day on Saturday. The Super Mario Maker 2 tournament promises a lengthy look at the game to be released later in June, while the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament could drop some hints regarding upcoming DLC characters. A Splatoon 2 tournament is also planned to ink up the place.

The picture of what to expect from Remedy Entertainment’s Control is slowly coalescing as the developer gives more and more looks at the upcoming title, but just because we’ve seen more of Control, doesn’t mean we’re any closer to understanding it. A recent preview of the game for journalists ahead of E3 2019, in which we delved into one early-ish level, left us with as many questions as answers. But it did give an impression of what the game will be like as it delivers the story of the Federal Bureau of Control, its directive to deal with all sorts of paranormal stuff, and Jesse, its new director.

The mission Remedy previewed was called Directorial Override. At the start of Control, strange creatures called the Hiss invade the Oldest House, the skyscraper headquarters for the Bureau of Control, possessing various employees and turning them into hostile, gun-toting creatures and monsters. That created a lockdown in the building that prevents Jesse from moving freely, so she needs to use her new director authorization to lift it. To do so, she has to head to the building’s maintenance sector, fight a bunch of monsters, and meet some other Bureau of Control characters along the way.

In the Bureau of Control, communing with ghosts is something they have the equipment to help with.

The preview only gave some vague hints at the story Control is trying to tell and the unusual ways it’ll deliver it. Jesse’s first day on the job as director of the Bureau comes after the death of Zachariah Trench, who previously held the position. But the supernatural nature of the Bureau means that Trench is not all the way gone. Navigating through the level, Jesse would hear Trench’s voice at times, providing her disjointed hints about what she should be doing or what her role as the director is. It seems that in the level preceding the one in the preview, Jesse’s task was to find an object called “the Hotline” that would allow her to hear Trench’s messages from beyond the grave more clearly. In the Bureau of Control, communing with ghosts is something they have the equipment to help with.

It’s from Trench that Jesse gets the names of several Bureau employees she should seek out, but they’re scattered throughout the facility and she can’t reach them without releasing the lockdown. As Jesse talks to various other characters, the game also presents her internal monologue with a closeup of her face. We learn that Jesse isn’t entirely trusting of all her new coworkers. As a narrative device, Jesse’s internal monologue shows how she’s maneuvering through the Hiss invasion by gauging who to trust, suggesting there’s a lot more to the interpersonal dynamic of the story than we’ve seen so far.

In one conversation, Jesse reveals that she and her brother Dylan had contact with the Bureau of Control when they were children after they discovered a paranormal object: a slide projector that could open up doorways to what sound like other dimensions. Dangerous things came through those doorways, but Jesse and Dylan also managed to use one to contact some kind of entity that helped them deal with the situation. The Bureau showed up soon after; Jesse escaped but Dylan was captured, and she’s been searching for him ever since. It sounds like that’s what led Jesse to the Bureau to begin with, but as we learn from her internal monologue, there’s a lot more to the story that Jesse is holding back and that we haven’t heard yet.

Control also looks to boast some out-there characters for Jesse to meet as she moves through the building. The preview included Ahti, a janitor Jesse talks to as she’s looking for a way through the maintenance sector to reach the directorial override controls. Remedy’s known to take inspiration from the works of David Lynch, and with the headphones he never takes off and shock of messy gray hair, Ahti is an homage to the director’s character from Twin Peaks. True to his inspiration, Ahti is also a bit strange. He thinks Jesse is his new assistant, dispatching her to do some maintenance work. In practical terms, it mostly means clearing out Hiss enemies and removing an enormous fleshy, living mass from a nearby power generator before it explodes.

Remedy has offered journalists opportunities to try the game’s combat before, and this preview didn’t include all of the bells and whistles (and levitation) of previous looks at the game. It did give a sense of the ways combat can evolve, though. We faced off against various Hiss enemies (some of whom exploded like suicide bombers, others who were a bit smarter and tried to use cover or flank Jesse. Fighting in Control is about quickly mixing and matching the tools you have at your disposal, like picking up objects with your mind and heaving them at enemies before following up with a barrage of pistol fire. If the Hiss get too close, your shape-shifting gun can change into a shotgun that’s great for clearing some space, as is Jesse’s melee attack. Battles require a lot of adaptation as the Hiss flood in, requiring you to keep moving and addressing targets as quickly as you can before you get overwhelmed.

Luckily, there are things that can help with that. As Jesse explored the maintenance sector, at one point, a linoleum floor gave way, dropping her into a strange while and concrete hallway–a portion of the astral plane. These locations are puzzle areas where Jesse can gain new abilities by finding Objects of Power, and after completing some careful platforming, Jesse reached a plastic carousel horse that gave Jesse the ability to do a short-range dash move, useful for clearing large gaps and getting out of harm’s way quickly. When we got back out to fight the Hiss, dashing around became essential to keep from exploding or getting cut down by gunfire.

Though the Control preview gave a sense of how the game will play–it feels a lot like Remedy’s last title, Quantum Break, but a little more fluid and adaptive–we’re still waiting to see how all these story elements will gel together into a cohesive narrative. Things like Jesse’s internal monologue suggesting she’s not exactly who she says she is, and Trench’s ghostly help for his successor, pique interest and give a sense that there’s a lot under the surface of Control, beyond its most apparent paranormal ideas and creatures. But picking the game up in the middle left us more confused than anything about all those things, and how they work together in the overall narrative.

This preview did show that Control is iterating on the gameplay ideas of Remedy’s past titles, Alan Wake and Quantum Break, to make combat that feels even more fast, intuitive, and responsive in the moment. And Remedy is taking things in even weirder directions than it did with a game about a writer’s words come to life and another about a time travel-induced end of the world, which is very enticing. Remedy has a strong history with telling stories in games, especially strange ones, and this look at Control did nothing but increase curiosity.

Apple hosted its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) today with a bevy of announcements for both its hardware and software. Kicking the conference off was an unexpected surprise: PS4 and Xbox One controller support is headed to both iPhone (via iOS 13) and the Apple TV.

According to Apple’s official iOS 13 features preview, the upcoming software update–slated to launch this fall–will allow PS4 and Xbox One controllers to work on iPhones via Bluetooth compatibility. With Apple’s tvOS update–also slated to launch this fall–both controllers will work on the Apple TV as well. As a CNET report states, Apple hasn’t confirmed whether all controller features–such as rumble vibration and headphone functionality–will work once both products receive their respective updates.

The news comes not long after the California-based company unveiled its gaming streaming service, Apple Arcade. The monthly subscription service is expected to launch this fall, and while pricing remains undisclosed, Apple has confirmed that a lot of developers–including Konami, Sega, Sumo Digital, and more–are working on bringing games to the platform. Some titles include Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm, Team Sonic Racing, The Artful Escape, Where Cards Fall, and more.

In other WWDC news, iOS 13 will introduce the highly-requested dark mode feature to the entire platform. The iPad is getting its own software titled iPadOS and will implement new features like a column view for better multitasking. A dedicated app store is heading to the Apple Watch which will make downloads much easier and more streamlined. Apple also brought back the Mac Pro with 28 cores, a six-channel memory system, eight PCI expansion slots, and more.

The Apple TV got a 4K overhaul in September 2017 and is currently available for $179. CNET called the device an answer for those who have a 4K HDR TV and lots of iTunes purchases.

With E3 2019 on the horizon, June is gearing up to be an exciting month for gamers, but in the midst of all the buzz, don’t forget there are new free games to be had this month. Amazon is giving away another free batch of indie PC games in June, and to claim them, you just need to be a Twitch Prime member, a service included with every Amazon Prime subscription.

Stikbold: A Dodgeball Adventure

First up is Aegis Defenders, a 2D platformer where you play as a team of Ruinhunters searching for a legendary weapon that can save their village. The gameplay involves Metroidvania-style combat and tower-defense strategy. The next available free game is Stikbold, a colorful sports game similar to dodgeball that pits you against your friends through hectic local co-multiplayer gameplay.

10 Second Ninja X

The premise of 10 Second Ninja X is simple: You’re a ninja, and you have 10 seconds to take out all the Nazi robots on the map. The side-scrolling platformer has over 100 levels, and Prime members can grab it for free right now. Finally, there’s The Metronomicon, a rhythmic game where you fight monsters with the power of music. There are eight different heroes to control, and each has their own unique abilities and attacks.

If you’re already an Amazon Prime member, don’t miss out on Twitch Prime’s other perks. In addition to free games, you can currently get 12 months of free Nintendo Switch Online, four months of free League of Legends loot, 30 days of free Crunchyroll Premium, and more.

June’s free PC games for Prime members will be available until July 1; after that, they’ll be replaced by a new batch of titles. Once you claim the games at Twitch, they’ll be yours to keep. Just be sure you’re logged in and that your Twitch account is linked to your Amazon Prime account.

SIGN UP FOR TWITCH PRIME »

How to link an existing Amazon Prime account to Twitch »

Twitch Prime Free PC Games for June 2019

• Aegis Defenders
• Stikbold
• 10 Second Ninja X
• The Metronomicon

E3 2019 is fast approaching, but this year the industry’s big annual event is getting preempted by a new challenger. Google has announced it will hold a special “Stadia Connect” presentation that will outline several key pieces of information about its ambitious video game streaming service, just days before the rest of the games industry debuts its wares in and around the Los Angeles Convention Center.

What Time Does Google’s Stadia Connect Livestream Start?

Google Stadia Connect will debut on Thursday, June 6. For those in the United States, it will bein at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET. For UK gamers, that’s 5 PM BST. Australian watchers will need to make a late night of it, since the stream will begin at 2 AM AET on June 7.

Where To Watch

Google Stadia Connect will air through Google’s own Stadia YouTube channel. You can check it out through your standard YouTube app, or just bookmark this page and watch it right here. The company has already set a placeholder stream for the live event, embedded below.

What To Expect

Google previously promised that the details to come this summer would include price, game announcements, and launch information. The brief teaser confirmed that all of those are on-tap for Thursday’s event, which means we’ll soon see some of the answers to our most burning questions.

Google has already stated that Stadia won’t be sold like a traditional video game console. It is a streaming solution, so it can be used on anything with a Chrome browser. That includes Chromecasts, which can act as your connection to a TV, but you could just as easily play on your tablet or laptop. Google will be introducing dedicated hardware in the form of the Stadia controller, however. The price details will probably include a price for both the controller itself, and more broadly, how games will be priced. At the moment it’s an open question if games will be sold a la carte or as some kind of subscription plan.

The launch details should include word of when we can expect Stadia to become widely available in various territories. Likewise, the game announcements should give a better idea of what we’ll be able to play when it does launch. We know that the company is working closely with Ubisoft, and that Bethesda is planning to make Doom Eternal available on it.

For more on E3 2019, check out the schedule of all the E3 2019 press conferences.

Following Telltale Games’ closure, another of its games is scheduled to be delisted. Both seasons of Minecraft: Story Mode will be gone from all digital storefronts and no longer downloadable come June 25.

“On behalf of the publisher, Minecraft: Story Mode – A Telltale Games Series, Season 1 and 2 will no longer be supported on June 25th, 2019,” Mojang published in a blog post. “If you have purchased these seasons, please download all remaining episodes prior to the service being discontinued in June.”

Just because a game has been delisted doesn’t mean it’s lost to you forever, but you’ll have to be quick and careful. If you want to keep playing Minecraft: Story Mode after June 25, you’ll need to download all of the game’s episodes before then. To keep them, you can never delete them from your system.

Even if you still own the episodes, you won’t be able to redownload them. If you own the physical versions of Minecraft: Story Mode, check to see if all episodes are on the disc. In some cases, only the first episode is stored on the disc, and the next ones are digital downloads. If that’s true for your copy, you’ll need to download the episodes that aren’t on your disc before June 25.

Minecraft: Story Mode is merely the latest in a long line of Telltale Games’ titles that have been recently delisted in the wake of the studio’s closing. On GOG, you can no longer download The Wolf Among Us, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Hector: Badge of Carnage, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, both Batman: The Telltale Series and Batman: The Enemy Within, and the entire Sam & Max series. Most of those series cannot be bought on Steam as well, though several are still available on Xbox One and PS4’s digital marketplaces. 2K is working to preserve Tales from the Borderlands on digital storefronts, however.

Currently, Minecraft: Story Mode is available on Xbox One, PS4, PC, Nintendo Switch, Wii U, PS Vita, PS3, and mobile devices. But, again, come June 25, that will no longer be the case.

You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

Sorry, but you can’t access this content!

Who could have guessed that Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would wind up being two great tastes that taste great together? DC Entertainment and IDW are continuing their hot streak of hilariously over-the-top collisions between the rain-slicked gloom of Gotham and the cartoon color of the Turtles’ New York City with Batman/TMNT III–the third and final miniseries in the crossover saga. And this time, TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman is getting in on the action alongside writer James Tynion IV and artist Freddie Williams II.

Take a look at this exclusive preview of Batman/TMNT III #2.

While the first miniseries brought the villainous Foot Clan to Gotham and the second brought longtime Batman foe, Bane, to NYC, the third series is getting bigger than ever before as Krang–though probably not the Krang you might be familiar with–poses a threat to the multiverse itself.

That’s right, the weird and wild world of Batman/TMNT is going full Cosmic Crisis as Krang is mixed in with the Anti-Monitor. And that’s only the beginning of Batman/TMNT III’s reimagining of classic characters: The Turtles themselves all borrow looks from the roster of Robin alumni like Red Hood and Nightwing while Joker is now the Shredder-like leader of the terrifying Smile Clan.

Issue #2 continues the multiversal insanity as Batman and the Turtles are pitted against strange black-and-white doppelgangers of themselves that may or may not be from some other dimension. Or, maybe, something even more insidious is at play.

Batman/TMNT III hits shelves June 5.