Author: Trafficblast

Hideo Kojima’s new game, Death Stranding, was a no-show at E3 2019 last week. So when will we hear about it next? We might learn more at San Diego Comic-Con in July.

The game developer posted on Twitter today to say he and Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn are coming to San Diego Comic-Con. The specifics are unknown at this point, but it could be that the pair are appearing on some kind of joint panel where they talk about each other’s projects.

The full San Diego Comic-Con schedule hasn’t been posted yet, so there is no word yet on if the Kojima/Winding Refn panel is officially part of the show or connected to it in some other manner. The show runs July 18-21 in San Diego.

Winding Refn is the director of several Ryan Gosling movies including Drive and Only God Forgives. He appears in Death Stranding as the character “Heartman.”

He and Kojima are friends. Kojima appears in Winding Refn’s new Amazon show, Too Old To Die Young, in which he cuts off a man’s finger with a giant sword.

Winding Refn is just the latest celebrity to feature in Death Stranding. The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus plays the main character, while Lea Seydoux, Lindsay Wagner, Mads Mikkelsen, Margaret Qualley, Tommie Earl Jenkins, and Troy Baker all have roles in the game.

Death Stranding releases for PS4 on November 8.

With major players like Microsoft, Sony, and Google invested in game-streaming technologies, it could be the next big evolution for gaming. Now, a Nintendo executive has commented on the possibility of the Mario company getting involved.

Nintendo of America executive Charlie Scibetta told TechCrunch at E3 2019 that streaming is “certainly interesting technology.” He added that Nintendo is monitoring the technology, going on to say that for now at least Nintendo is focusing on physical game sales and sales through the Nintendo eShop.

“Streaming is certainly interesting technology,” he explained. “Nintendo is keeping a close eye on it and we’re evaluating it. We don’t have anything to announce right now in terms of adopting that technology. For us, it’s still physical and it’s digital downloads through our eShop.”

Another executive, marketing boss Doug Bowser (yes, that is his real name), told The Hollywood Reporter that “it’s always interesting to see what others are doing in the space” as it relates to streaming.

“We’re always interested in how various new technologies can enable different ways to play games,” he said.

While Nintendo might not have a streaming service of its own, the company does operate a subscription service in the form of the Nintendo Switch Online membership program.

And though Nintendo doesn’t offer a game-streaming service on Switch, other companies do. Capcom offers Resident Evil 7 as a streaming game on Switch in Japan, while Ubisoft does the same with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in the country.

The public beta for Microsoft’s xCloud game-streaming service launches in October, while Google Stadia is slated for release in November. in other news, Microsoft and Sony recently announced an agreement for new cloud-gaming technologies.

Cyberpunk 2077 is launching in April 2020, which is around six months before Project Scarlett and the rumored PlayStation 5 are supposedly scheduled to launch during the holiday season. Will The Witcher developer’s ambitious RPG also come to the new consoles? It’s something that developer CD Projekt Red is looking at, according to senior level designer Miles Tost.

He told GamerHubTV that CD Projekt Red is currently focused on the current generation of consoles and PC, though the studio is also considering next-generation systems. “We’ll look at [next-generation consoles] and go, ‘Maybe?’ But it’s not our area of interest right now.”

“Of course we are looking at what is happening in the games industry because we are part of it, and we need to always look forward,” he said. “But at the same time, we are a studio that really focuses on the work we’re doing now. So our full attention is on current-gen consoles and PC. Who knows? When the time comes for it, maybe [we’ll support next-gen consoles]. But until [Cyberpunk 2077 launches in April 2020], we have a thing to do. And as far as what I have heard, the next-gen consoles … Xbox just announced holiday 2020. So it’s not really a concern for us now because it comes way after where we want to release our game.”

Project Scarlett is launching in holiday 2020, while the PlayStation 5 is also rumored to be launching around then. Just today, analyst first Cowen & Company released a report that back that up, stating that Sony’s new system is expected to release in the fall/holiday season.

Project Scarlett and the PlayStation 5 are already confirmed to be backwards compatible, so it is expected that Cyberpunk 2077 will play on the new consoles. Both systems are more powerful than the beefiest current generation console hardware, so Tost is likely speaking about next-generation consoles in regards to what capabilities the new hardware might allow Cyberpunk 2077 to achieve on them.

Cyberpunk 2077 launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on April 16, 2020. The Matrix actor Keanu Reeves plays a major role in the game, though unfortunately he won’t sing.