#155: PlayStation not at E3, FF7 Remake Delayed…

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Sony will not exhibit at E3 2020

Like last year, Sony has announced that they will not exhibit at E3 this year, and will focus on consumer-oriented events instead. Until last year, Sony had been a regular fixture at E3 since 1995 and tended to announce their new consoles there.

“After thorough evaluation SIE has decided not to participate in E3 2020,” a Sony Interactive Entertainment representative said. “We have great respect for the ESA as an organization, but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year. We will build upon our global events strategy in 2020 by participating in hundreds of consumer events across the globe.”

Could this be the last big E3?

Following the success of Nintendo Direct and Sony’s State of Play, it appears that bespoke events and direct communication with fans is the future of videogame PR. There is speculation that Sony will reveal the PlayStation 5 at the upcoming PlayStation Experience event in New York City between February 14th and 16th.

Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?

Who was the first guest character in the Smash Bros. series?

• Mega Man
• Pac-Man
• Cloud
• Sonic

The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today’s issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.

News Bits

Grand Theft Auto IV pulled from Steam

Surprise! You can no longer buy Grand Theft Auto IV on Steam! Yes, that’s the fourth game and not the fifth. But why? Well, turns out Microsoft is finally phasing out the accursed Games for Windows Live platform that plagued videogames in the late 2000s and early 2010s – but that also means Rockstar will no longer be able to generate product keys for the game, and had to stop selling it. Fortunately, Rockstar is looking for ways to fix the problem, so the game will most likely be back on sale sooner rather than later.

Nintendo reveals details about the Super Nintendo World theme park

Nintendo is opening a theme park this summer at Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan. While most companies would send out a press release, Nintendo has made a music video that captures the spirit of their theme park.

The video shows the Power Up bands visitors will use to access the park, similar to Disney’s MagicBands, and it appears smartphones will be integral to the experience as well. Check out the music video by Galantis and Charli XCX to get a glimpse of what Nintendo is aiming for.

Daily Fact

BioShock in spaaaaaaace!

The original Bioshock is famous for a lot of things, but especially its setting: the underwater utopia Rapture. It’s a pretty integral part of Bioshock’s identity, but it was not actually part of the original design idea.

Early demos took place in a space station overrun by mutated monsters, and before that Bioshock was set on an island filled with nazi mutants. Definitive proof that your first idea is not necessarily your best idea. Or your second, for that matter.

Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today’s fact.

Daily News

Rainbow Six Siege Year 5 content leak

The latest update for Rainbow Six Siege appears to have revealed the contents of the Year 5 season pass by accident. Judging by a screenshot taken by Reddit user ignotusartifex, the season pass will feature 6 new operators – less than the usual 8.

The lower number of operators has led fans to speculate that Ubisoft could be working on a major overhaul of the game, similar to 2017’s Operation Health. Rainbow Six Siege was plagued by a number of bugs and issues after launch, but Ubisoft managed to straighten the game’s course with Operation Health.

Could Operation Health 2.0 be on the way?

In any case, parts of the community is unhappy that they are expected to pay the same $24.99 for less content. Other parts of the community hope this means that Ubisoft will overhaul the existing operators since many of them are essentially useless in the current meta. Expect Ubisoft to make some kind of announcement soon.

Square Enix delays both Final Fantasy VII Remake and Marvel’s Avengers

Square Enix has announced that both Final Fantasy VII Remake and Marvel’s Avengers have been delayed to April 10th and September 4th, respectively. That means Final Fantasy VII Remake will come out about a month later than expected, while Marvel’s Avengers will miss its release date by almost four months.

Producer Yoshinori Kitase issued a statement explaining the decision to delay Final Fantasy VII Remake: “In order to ensure we deliver a game that is in-line with our vision, and the quality that our fans who have been waiting for deserve, we have decided to move the release date to April 10, 2020,” said Kitase.

“We are making this tough decision in order to give ourselves a few extra weeks to apply final polish to the game and to deliver you with the best possible experience. I, on behalf of the whole team, want to apologize to everyone, as I know this means waiting for the game just a little bit longer.”

Both games will still be released in 2020

Scot Amos and Ron Rosenberg, co-heads of Crystal Dynamics, published a statement on the company’s website. The developers need a little more time to let Marvel’s The Avengers shine, which is not entirely unexpected considering how rough the E3 2019 demo was. As Shigeru Miyamoto once said, a delayed game will eventually be good, but a rushed game is forever bad.

News Bits

Astral Chain spirits are making their way to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Another Spirit Board event for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate starts on January 17th, introducing Astral Chain spirits to the game. Judging by the announcement on the Smash Bros Japan Twitter account, players can expect four Astral Chain spirits.

While this may sound like jolly good fun to the casual observer, some fans are upset because characters added to the Spirit Board never seem to make it into the game proper. Not that it was very likely that the Neuron officers would join the fray in the first place.

BioShock: The Collection has been rated for the Nintendo Switch

Looks like all the Bioshock games are appearing on Switch soon, because the Taiwan games rating board just listed four new games: Bioshock: The Collection, Bioshock Remastered, Bioshock 2 Remastered and Bioshock Infinite: The Complete Edition. Since all four games are listed, the individual games may be available to purchase outside the collection, but nothing is confirmed. Expect 2K to make an official announcement soon.

Quiz Answer - Did You Get It Right?

Who was the first guest character in the Smash Bros. series?

Answer: Sonic!

The Smash Bros series is famous for guest appearances ranging from Pac-Man to Bayonetta, but its sizable roster used to be made up exclusively by Nintendo characters. Brawl from 2008 was first to introduce third-party characters – and the first one was Sonic. While that was in itself a pretty seismic event, it was nothing compared to the announcement that the legendary Solid Snake would appear too. That literally broke the internet.

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