E3 2019: all the news from gaming’s big week – The Verge

All the games coming to Google Stadia at launch and through 2020

2019-11-11T13:39:17-05:00

Google's cloud gaming platform, Stadia, will launch on November 19th. Initially, you'll pay $130 for a hardware kit and $9.99 per month for a subscription plan called Stadia Pro, but you'll also need to purchase most of the games from a storefront. In 2020, Google will launch a free tier where you'll only need to pay for games.

Google has been announcing Stadia games throughout 2019. Its big titles include Destiny 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and Baldur's Gate III. But as Google recently revealed, the selection at launch will be more limited, with more games rolling out over the coming year. Some of these games will get Stadia-specific features: Dest …

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Google’s Stadia cloud gaming service is coming November 19th: Everything you need to know

2019-11-08T11:45:23-05:00

Google has revealed the key details that were conspicuously missing from its March announcement of the new Stadia game streaming service. Namely, what the heck we're going to be able to play, how much we'll pay, and when we can get started with the exciting new service - which beams high-end console and PC games to any Chrome web browser, Chromecast Ultra TV dongle or Pixel 3 smartphone from beefy new Google servers.

The short version: Google Stadia will launch on November 19th, in 14 different territories including the US, UK and Canada, with at least 22 games at launch, for an initial price of $130 for a hardware starter kit with three mo …

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Watch the full 26-minute Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order E3 demo

2019-06-25T11:55:31-04:00

Developer Respawn is giving Star Wars fans a deeper look at its upcoming story-driven video game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, after viewers came away from this year's E3 conference somewhat confused about the type of game the studio is making. That means you can now watch the full 26-minute E3 gameplay demo that was previously only shown behind closed doors in Los Angeles earlier this month.

The goal, according to game director Stig Asmussen, is to help alleviate concerns that Respawn is making essentially an Uncharted-inspired linear action game. Instead, Asmussen says Fallen Order will include elements from a number of different RPG and …

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Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2’s creators want the game to grow up — but stay weird

2019-06-20T09:41:19-04:00

In the cult 2004 role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, vampires love to dance. Your protagonist can show up at a nightclub and jump into the center of the action, throwing their limbs wildly with an enthusiasm that's not generally credited to the undead. And in a demo of Bloodlines' upcoming sequel from Hardsuit Labs and Paradox Interactive, dancing is one of the first things you see, courtesy of a team member who did "extensive research" into the game's original animations.

Developer Hardsuit Labs seems to be building a lot of these little, familiar details in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. But in an interview at …

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How the creators of Yakuza turned hard-boiled detective drama into a game

2019-06-20T09:30:00-04:00

Last year, the Yakuza series wrapped up with its sixth and final entry, which bid farewell to lovable hero Kazuma Kiryu. Given the strong attachment fans had to the character, the team behind the series realized they had to go in a different direction for their next game. Judgment, which launches next week on the PS4, is similar to Yakuza in a lot of ways, but it's also a hard-boiled detective story. It's something that producer Kazuki Hosokawa, who directed both Yakuza 5 and the prequel Yakuza 0, has been thinking about since 2012.

"It starts with personal preference," he told The Verge during an interview at E3 last week. "I really love t …

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Journey creator’s new game is designed ‘to battle against the human nature’

2019-06-19T12:54:24-04:00

Journey creator Jenova Chen is drawn to making positive game experiences. Thatgamecompany's latest title, Sky: Children of the Light, is an exploration into altruism and kindness, wrapped up in a beautiful mobile experience.

But just as Journey made Chen eager to create something players could share with their less video game-inclined friends, Sky has taught him an important lesson as well: people sort of suck.

"We also have to make sure the social dynamics don't become hostile," Chen says. "We want this to be a friendly experience … we designed so many things to battle against the human nature, to keep this world friendly."

Journey, rele …

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Monster Hunter: World is Capcom’s best-selling game — and it’s about to get even bigger

2019-06-19T09:28:11-04:00

In the early '90s, Street Fighter II was everywhere. It dominated arcades and became a best-seller on home consoles like the Super Nintendo. It was this overwhelming success and cultural impact that made Kaname Fujioka want to work at Capcom. He got his wish a few years after SFII launched, and during his early years at the company he witnessed yet another breakout hit with the original Resident Evil, which went on to spawn a massive entertainment franchise.

Fujioka eventually shifted his focus to the Monster Hunter franchise, which historically had been one of Japan's biggest game series, but also one that failed to garner much global atte …

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Fortnite’s second celebrity tournament was a spectacular preview of next month’s World Cup

2019-06-19T07:00:00-04:00

In many ways, Fortnite still has a lot to prove as an e-sport. But exactly one year after the game's first officially sanctioned tournament and just one month ahead of its $30 million World Cup event in New York, the battle royale hit is starting to look like it can hold its own as a competitive game. Developer Epic Games hosted its second annual Pro-Am celebrity tournament this past weekend in Los Angeles, which happened right at the tail end of E3 and capped off a weekend fan celebration it called Fortnite Summer Block Party.

It felt like a preamble to the World Cup, if only because the charity event highlighted key elements of Fortnite's …

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John Wick Hex turns you into a cold, calculated killer

2019-06-18T09:00:00-04:00

One night, game designer Mike Bithell and a friend went out to see a largely forgettable action movie, and afterward the conversation shifted to what, exactly, made John Wick so engrossing. Bithell's friend, Ben Andac, who previously worked as a producer at Sony, then asked Bithell an exciting question: what would he do with the John Wick license? After thinking about it, Bithell realized he'd want to create a strategy game as opposed to a first-person shooter, giving players a chance to occupy Wick's fast-moving analytical brain.

"I thought we were just bullshitting about cinema," says Bithell, whose previous work includes the charming pla …

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The new Blair Witch game will let you pet its dog

2019-06-17T10:57:07-04:00

During Microsoft's keynote at E3, we learned that The Blair Witch Project - which helped revolutionize horror in 1999 - will be getting a new video game tie-in. The PC and Xbox game, known simply as Blair Witch, debuts in a couple of months on August 30th. But with a short trailer that just barely revealed its connection, it left a lot of questions unanswered. So what exactly is going on with Blair Witch?

As the trailer mentions, Blair Witch is set primarily in 1996, which is a couple of years after the original film's events. You'll play a former police officer named Ellis who joins a search party for a missing boy in Maryland's Burkittsvi …

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