Apple is preparing to make its entry into streaming content with its Show Time event, but in an uncharacteristic move the company started up its stream early. The result has been a whole bunch of slightly odd teases leading up to the event.

CNET reports that the stream featured a 1980s VCR aesthetic and had occasional interruptions by celebrities. Those include a call from Chris Evans (who plays Captain America in the Marvel films), a recitation of Emily Dickinson poetry, Sara Bareilles singing “I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me,” and finally, an overlay of Apple’s CarPlay navigation. That appears to be tracking a path between Hollywood and Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.

The shenanigans appear to be over for the time being, but it was certainly an unconventional way for Apple to start building up the hype for its big debut. Reports suggest that Apple’s streaming service has the involvement of big names like Oprah and Stephen Spielberg, and that it may have conducted talks with other big content providers like HBO and Showtime to be part of the service. Netflix is reportedly not taking part in these talks, positioning itself as a competitor for Apple. The payment model and what the service would include are still under wraps.

For more on the event, check out everything we know. You can watch the show live today, March 25, at the following times to see Apple go all Hollywood yourself.

Apple Show Time Streaming Event Times, March 25

• PDT: 10 AM
• EDT: 1 PM
• GMT: 5 PM
• AEDT: 4 AM (Tuesday, March 26)

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/apple-show-time-stream-starts-early-with-odd-tease/1100-6465816/

Sony has announced its own streaming presentation. The first such “State of Play” showcase will debut on Monday, March 25, and promises a series of game reveals, trailers, news, and more for PS4 and PSVR.

You’ll be able to watch the stream in its entirety right here on GameSpot. Sony suggested in its announcement that this will be the first of many streaming presentations that it airs throughout the year, and that new ones will be coming regularly. Nintendo and Microsoft both hold similar presentations, called Nintendo Direct and Inside Xbox, respectively.

Though Sony hasn’t detailed which games it will be showing off, it has several upcoming titles that could be part of the showcase. The Last of Us 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Dreams, Days Gone, and Death Stranding are all in the pipeline, and Sony is likely to pepper in some indies and VR exclusives as well. The company announced it will be skipping E3 this year, so a series of smaller presentations may be part of its way to fill the gap.

Microsoft is holding a similar presentation, focused strictly on indies, on March 26. Check for the State of Play showtimes, and then synchronize your watches and set your bookmarks to come back here and watch the show. You can see start times in various time zones below.

Sony PlayStation March 25 State of Play Livestream Start Time

• 2 PM PT
• 5 PM ET
• 9 PM GMT
• 8 AM AET (March 26)

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/watch-ps4s-state-of-play-stream-here-today-start-t/1100-6465789/

Season 1 of Apex Legends launched on March 20 and, alongside the first wave of cosmetic items included in the Battle Pass, developer Respawn Entertainment also introduced a new character called Octane. While most assumed Respawn was planning to release one character per season, it seems that another Legend will be made available before Season 1 is over.

That’s according to a listing for the Apex Legends Season 1 Battle Pass on the PlayStation Store, which also references a new weapon as well as the second character. “Two new characters will launch over the course of the season,” it reads. “But in the meantime, look out for a new weapon set to launch as the season progresses. Best of all, each new Legend and weapon will launch with a full set of cosmetics to unlock. Two new items will be introduced during the season that will offer something new and innovative to the strategic mix.”

The first of those two new characters is Octane, who is available now and, thus far, the only new weapon introduced is the Havoc assault rifle, which became available in February. Currently, there are no further details on what the new weapon is. Although the same can be said for the new character, dataminers may have given us some indication of who’s next. They found the names of a number of characters in Apex Legends’ code and among them was Octane.

Following the datamining leak, Respawn took to Reddit to advise the Apex community not to believe everything they see. “There’s lots of stuff that has been datamined from Apex since launch and is swirling around the Internet,” said community manager Jay Frechette. “We know this stuff is fun to dig up and speculate about, but you should not treat any of that info as a source of truth.

“There’s stuff in there that is very old, or things we’ve tried in the past and cut–remember our design process is to prototype and play lots of ideas–and some of it may be things we’re still building for Apex Legends. Finding this stuff by no means confirms that it’ll ever come out. At best you should treat any posts about this as a rumor and the real info will come from us when we’re ready to show off what’s coming next.”

With the release of Season 1: Wild Frontier and its optional battle pass, you’re no may be thinking about sinking some money into the game. However, there is a way to get the Apex Legends Battle Pass for half off, and it’s pretty easy to do.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/another-new-apex-legends-character-is-coming-in-se/1100-6465812/

The Wall Street Journal reports that Nintendo will launch not one but two new Nintendo Switch models in the coming months. One of the new systems will sport “enhanced” features, and it’s designed for “avid” gamers. However, its specs won’t match Xbox One X or PS4 Pro, WSJ said.

The other system is described as a “cheaper option for casual gamers that Nintendo sees as a successor to its aging hand-held 3DS device…”

According to WSJ, Nintendo is planning to announce the new Switch consoles at E3 in June, and then launch them ” a few months later,” in time for the holiday season. A Nintendo representative declined to comment when approached by WSJ.

A source explained to WSJ that the new consoles might not be what you expect. “You would be wrong to think the enhanced version is similar to what Sony did with PS4 Pro and the other is just a cheap alternative that looks very similar to some past hand-held machines, say, Sony’s PlayStation Vita,” the source said.

Intriguingly, the report goes on to claim that the lower-cost Switch model is doing away with things like controller vibration in an effort to cut costs. The report doesn’t include any mention of price points for either console.

And in another change, WSJ reports that Nintendo is working with Sharp on the displays for the new Switch models. The company reportedly bid to make the displays for the original Switch consoles but lost out.

As you may recall, WSJ was the first to initially report that Nintendo would release a new Switch revision in 2019. Given E3 is now just a few months away, you can expect even more reports, rumours, and speculation about new hardware to continue to ramp up.

The Switch has been a big success for Nintendo. It sold more than 32 million consoles worldwide in under two years, which is more than double the lifetime sales figure of the Wii U.

Microsoft is also expected to announce new hardware at E3 2019, while Sony’s rumored PlayStation 5 is likely set for a reveal at some point soon as well.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/two-new-nintendo-switch-models-coming-and-they-may/1100-6465809/

Square Enix’s long-running MMO Final Fantasy XIV Online is currently only available on PlayStation 4 and PC, but the title could eventually come to Xbox and Nintendo platforms.

Speaking to GameSpot from the Square Enix Japan offices today in Shinjuku, game director Naoki Yoshida said versions of the game are possible for Xbox and Nintendo systems. In fact, he said discussions with Microsoft and Nintendo, as well as Google, are currently underway.

As he’s said in previous interviews, Yoshida stressed with GameSpot that Final Fantasy XIV needs to support cross-play to have its playerbases united and offer the best experience. That’s currently possible on PS4 and PC, but not with other systems, which has presumably kept the game off Xbox and Nintendo systems so far. However, now that Sony, as well as Nintendo, is beginning to allow cross-play with competing platforms for games like Fortnite and Rocket League, it seems more likely than ever that Final Fantasy XIV comes to new platforms.

Nothing is certain at this stage, and Yoshida wouldn’t be drawn too far into a speculative conversation about where Final Fantasy XIV may be released someday.

Yoshida poses in a meeting room at Square Enix’s offices in Japan.

“Talks with platform-holders has been going on. The fundamental philosophy with Final Fantasy XIV is we want it on labels with cross-platform play with any devices, hardware possible,” Yoshida said through a translator. “So as long as the regulations with the counterpart hardware companies … we can actually pass that, then the possibility, the chance is quite high [of Final Fantasy XIV coming to Xbox and Nintendo systems].

“So we are talking with Nintendo, Microsoft, and Google, of course; we cannot say anything at the moment because we are still in negotiations, but once we have details we can make an announcement; we can bring the news to everyone. We are currently negotiating will all those platforms.”

In our nearly hour-long interview with Yoshida, he repeatedly mentioned that Square Enix wants Final Fantasy XIV Online to reach as many people as possible. It already has more than 14 million registered players, and launching the game on Xbox and Nintendo systems would only increase the game’s footprint further still. Also in the interview, I asked Yoshida if Square Enix might consider dropping the game’s monthly subscription fee in favour of a free-to-play business model in an effort to help the game reach even more players.

It’s not likely to happen. Final Fantasy XIV Online is currently free up to level 35, and that’s as “free-to-play” as the game is likely to be for the foreseeable future.

“F2P is not a bad model. F2P in general in games, players try it, and then just go. For Final Fantasy XIV, our basic game design is we want players to spend a little bit of time and because the game gets interesting [over time]. If we shift to F2P with the current game design, then either the community or the game itself would break. So it’s not going to be good. If we were to move to a F2P model, we should have to completely rehash, recreate the game design from scratch. Changing simply to FP2 now is not a good game design decision. It’s not a good direction.”

GameSpot’s wide-ranging interview with Yoshida covered a number of other topics, including the controversial new race, Hrothgar, coming in the Shadowbringers expansion, as well as the new raid boss designed by Tetsuya Nomura, and even Yoshida’s stance on battle royale. Keep checking back with GameSpot for more.

We sat down with Yoshida as part of the Final Fantasy Fan Fest. For more, check out GameSpot’s recent stories linked below.

• Final Fantasy TV Show “Dad Of Light” Is Becoming A Movie For Japan
• Final Fantasy Dissidia NT Adding Final Fantasy XIV Villain Zenos On PS4 And PC
• Final Fantasy XIV Online News From Fan Fest: FF15 Crossover Start Date And More Revealed
• Final Fantasy XIV Online Shadowbringers Expansion: New Race, Job, Raid, Trailer, Screens, And More Revealed At Fan Fest
• Final Fantasy XIV Best Cosplay From Fan Fest Gallery
• Final Fantasy XIV Online New Music Album Announced, Get All The Details

Disclosure: Square Enix paid for GameSpot’s flight to Tokyo and accomodation.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/final-fantasy-xiv-online-boss-talks-potential-xbox/1100-6465808/