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E3 2018 has a full games schedule, even if there's no new Xbox or PlayStation
The Apple Watch will soon ditch its mechanical buttons, report says
What's the Best Chat App of All Time?

E3 2018 has a full games schedule, even if there's no new Xbox or PlayStation

Posted: 09 Jun 2018 05:00 AM PDT

I'm not expecting to see any new Xboxes or PlayStations. But I'm counting on E3 to showcase enough new video games and gadgets arriving in the next year to keep avid gamers, including me, excited about what's coming next.

Over 65,000 people are expected to attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles this week, a convention that plays host to the biggest announcements coming out of the $108 billion-a-year video game industry.

Many of the 2.6 billion gamers around the world will be watching, as will the 15,000 excited fans who paid $249 each to attend the show. It's the second year in a row E3 is open to the public (before then, only industry insiders and press could attend). And while having so many fans in the Los Angeles Convention Center means there will probably be plenty of long lines to play new game demos -- and lots of people dressing up as their favorite game characters -- that's far from the main event.

The real action happens before the "expo" floor opens, during the press-only media days. This year, everything starts Saturday, as Electronic Arts kicks off three days of nonstop announcements, with news from game makers Bethesda and Ubisoft, and console makers Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

Microsoft Adaptive Controller — Microsoft's Xbox Adaptive Controller was one of the more surprising pre-E3 announcements this year.
James Martin/CNET

On the console front, Microsoft's long-rumored Xbox VR headset is unlikely to make a showing, and the company already announced its Xbox Adaptive Controller for disabled gamers, in May. Meanwhile, Sony said it's holding off on a new PlayStation console for a few more years to "prepare the next step." And Nintendo's hit Switch console just came out last year.

So what does that mean for E3 2018?

Fans are especially looking forward to details on Kingdom Hearts 3, the latest in the Disney character adventure series starring beloved characters like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Another crowd-pleaser will likely be Sony's The Last of Us: Part 2, a sequel to the hit 2013 postapocalyptic zombie survival game. Bethesda Softworks, meanwhile, has already teased Fallout 76, the latest in its postapocalyptic shooting series.

This year, I'm expecting to get my first glimpse of gameplay from Red Dead Redemption 2, the sequel to Rockstar Games' hit 2010 western drama. I'll be watching to see if Spider-Man from Insomnia Games can be the next character to break the curse of bad superhero video games. And I can't wait to see what Nintendo is going to do next with its hit Super Smash Bros. fighting game series.

And those are just the games we know about. Rumors are swirling around a new Halo space shooting epic from Microsoft, and that the hit battle royale game Fortnite will be coming to Nintendo's Switch.

Now Playing: Watch this: E3 2018 preview

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After the media days, the convention center opens. The expo and its surrounding theaters and event halls promise 3,250 games, gadgets and toys spread across 410,000 square feet of exhibit space, with multimillion-dollar booths filled with props and life-size re-creations of game worlds -- like when Electronic Arts brought in a bunch of re-created Star Wars props, or when you could walk through Nintendo's Metro Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey.

There are also going to be two e-sports pavilions, hosting some of the world's best gamers playing against one another, plus celebrity sightings (it's always hush-hush, but Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood is scheduled to show off a VR horror game called Transference that he helped make).

We're also being promised a blimp flying over the convention center, displaying selfies that people take on the ground below. Because, why not?

"It's the largest stage in the world for video games," said Mike Gallagher, the head of the Entertainment Software Association trade group that puts on E3.

Entertaining entertainment

With this many excited fans tuning in for nearly a week of nonstop gaming news, there tends to be some drama, too.

The most common issue to pop up is GamerGate, a backlash against feminist media critics and game reviewers that was ostensibly about media ethics but turned into an internet movement that attacked women, game developers and journalists perceived as threatening game culture. Though it largely fizzled out a few years ago, flare-ups still happen.

Electronic Arts got caught up in the drama in May when it announced its Battlefield 5 wartime shooting game. The latest installment in the 16-year old series is set in World War II and prominently features women soldiers in its marketing -- a move some fans complained was inaccurate despite the fact that many women fought and died in the war.

Even so, cultural battles likely won't steal too much attention away from the larger show, which in the past two years shifted from being an industry-only event to a fan event.

There will be e-sports competitions and a festival devoted to Fortnite. There'll be T-shirts, toys and tchotchkes celebrating games, too.

E3 organizers are also trying to make the famously long lines to play new games more appealing by offering us things to do while we wait -- like more game stations and food options. The show will also stay open later in the day to help accommodate everyone attending.

"It shows we're listening," Gallagher said. "It's going to be exciting for everyone."

I'll be ready.

The E3 press conference schedule

Saturday, June 9

Sunday, June 10

Monday, June 11

Tuesday, June 12

First published June 7, 5 a.m. PT.
Update, June 9 at 5 a.m.: Adds info on upcoming announcements and press conference schedule.

E3 2018: CNET's coverage of the biggest video game event of the year.

E3 at GameSpot: Everything you could want from CNET's game-focused sister site.

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The Apple Watch will soon ditch its mechanical buttons, report says

Posted: 09 Jun 2018 07:32 AM PDT

Enlarge / Buttons on the side of an Apple Watch Series 3.
Valentina Palladino

FastCompany published a report today citing "a source with direct knowledge" of Apple's plans for a future Apple Watch that will feature solid-state, touch-sensitive buttons instead of the clickable ones that are currently part of the device.

This will apply to both the crown and the single traditional button that brings up a view of currently opened apps. But the button configuration—which buttons exist, and where they're located—will not change, the report says. The user will be able to touch each button to register it, but instead of the buttons moving up and down, the device will give the user haptic feedback using Apple's taptic engine.

Apple made a similar change to the home button on the iPhone starting with the iPhone 7. Reactions were mixed, from critics who found it to be just fine to critics who found it to be undesirable. Even before that, the company did the same with MacBook trackpads, though that implementation offered better, localized feedback.

The trackpads are surprisingly good at emulating the feeling of a physical button. The Watch already has the taptic engine feature; it's used for giving feedback with touchscreen interactions. According to this report, taptic would just be extended to the buttons as well.

The source told FastCompany that the change will be made to free up more space in the device for other components. It would help with water resistance, too. Apple is also reportedly working on adding new biometric sensors to the buttons.

Apple famously (or infamously, to some) has a long history of minimizing or ditching physical buttons whenever possible. The company has been steadfast in its commitment to having just one button on its mouse for the Mac. The current Apple-made mouse is touch sensitive, but it does press down like a button. Either side can be tapped for a right or left click, but both sides can't be activated at once. It's really still just one button.

The change could come in either a new Apple Watch released this year (likely in September) or in one released next year.

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What's the Best Chat App of All Time?

Posted: 09 Jun 2018 06:00 AM PDT

In case you haven’t heard, your once-favorite chat apps are going the way of the dinosaur. Yes, following the recent demise of AIM, Yahoo Messenger is saying goodbye next month, the company announced today. It’s got me thinking about my relationship with the concept of chats, especially chats in apps so intertwined in our lives.

Chat apps are not easily replaced, at least not like some random email app, operating flawlessly regardless of how often you chat with your college roommate. They’re personal, yet they require social buy-in from more than just you, be it your friends or a thousand nameless people looking for someone to talk to. They can be the interface through which you experience moments of happiness, insight, embarrassment, and rage. I dealt with more than a few pubescent feelings through my old IBM ThinkPad, complete with a gigantic (and translucent, for some reason) webcam attachment. A combination of AIM and Yahoo Messenger, with a little sprinkle of Windows Live Messenger for “talking to my Canadian* girlfriend,” made up my first chat app utility belt.

But we grew, and the apps grew with us. Chat rooms were no longer necessary for social development; you had enough friends, both in real life and online, to chat with. So we moved on from weeding the garden to cultivating the plants that mattered. Now chats occur in browser windows next to Facebook pages and important emails. They happen where everyone is, in the silos that pipe your happy birthday missives to your grandmother. They happen where people aren’t, in messaging apps that shield your identity from everyone curious about what words you’re exchanging.

You’ve got to have a favorite one. I know I do, and I think about the wavy aquatic colors of Windows Live Messenger every so often when I stumble on some old Windows 2000 screenshot during the start of some Google search hole. So what’s your all-time favorite chat app? Did you roll ICQ? Was Pidgin truly the neutral ground you sought? I’m curious, and so is Yahoo, I imagine.

* She was from New Jersey.

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