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Microsoft looks to preparing for the announcement of its next-gen HoloLens headset, something the Redmond-based giant teased in a new trailer simply titled '2.24.19 #MWC19' on YouTube.

The new HoloLens is reportedly codenamed Sydney, and should be lighter, more comfortable, feature a better display and more powerful internals over the original HoloLens. Microsoft will most likely update the built-in sensors of the new HoloLens, and an updated Holographic Processing Unit (HPU) which will reportedly have AI acceleration features.

We are expecting Microsoft to use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 850 inside of the next-gen HoloLens, replacing the Intel Atom that powered the original HoloLens. Microsoft will most likely unveil its new HoloLens headset during Mobile World Congress 2019, on February 24 specifically. Until then.

RAGE 2 is only a couple of months away and while we have Metro Exodus right around the corner, Bethesda thought it was a good time to show off its upcoming RAGE 2 pre-beta gameplay and it looks good, really good.

Bethesda is working directly with Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios on RAGE 2, with the game being built on Avalanche's in-house Apex Engine, changing off of the id Tech engine that the first RAGE was made on. RAGE 2 is an open-world game with a bunch of driving and insane action, so the Apex Engine feels - and looks like it's a better fit for RAGE 2.

Avalanche might be working on RAGE 2 but that doesn't mean id Software is sitting on its hands with its baby, with Bethesda getting the developers at id Software to help out making the game by providing their expertise in tight gunplay and how the game is connected to the franchise.

Epic made quite the splash with its own Epic Game Store in the last couple of weeks pulling Metro Exodus away from the Steam Store, but the problem is that Epic's own Game Store is lacking in features to its competitors.

One of those problems has been fixed with the Epic Games Store now rocking an offline mode, something the developer lets gamers "skip sign in" when their internet connection is down. This means you can still play games instead of requiring an internet connection that could be down for multiple hours, leaving your gaming in a stand still, all while your games are locked away. It's not perfect as you can toggle it on or off, you simply get the option for skipping sign in if your internet is down.

It's good to see Epic making these changes, but I hope they continue to flow into the Games Store. We can't just let all of these other companies releasing their own game launcher without the features we know and love from platforms like Steam. This is a good move for Epic as offline gaming is an important part of not wanting to piss off your customers.

Activision-Blizzard announced today that it is culling 800 of its workforce, representing roughly 8% of all employees, and now we find out that developer Blizzard won't have any 'frontline releases' the 2019 fiscal year.

Collister "Coddy" Johnson, president of Activision-Blizzard explained: "We expect materially lower financial performance this year. 2018 benefited from the release of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, whereas we are not planning a major frontline release for 2019".

While we might not see full fledged AAA games in the form of Diablo 4, Overwatch 2 or a major expansion for World of Warcraft - it does means we could see a smaller release. This would be something that's not a "frontline release" and could end up as Diablo: Immortal, the controversial mobile-focused title in the franchise, or World of Warcraft Classic.

Following today's unfortunate news of nearly 800 employees being fired, Activision teases this year's big Call of Duty shooter.

Infinity Ward is developing 2019's Call of Duty game. Many fans speculate it'll be Modern Warfare 4 and return to a more grounded, story-focused experience after Black Ops 4's departure from singleplayer. Now Activision reveals a few snippets of info in its latest CYQ4'18 earnings call, including a confirmation of an actual campaign mode.

"This Fall's launch is going to resonate very powerfully with our community. It is an amazing game, it'll feature an entirely new campaign, a huge and expansive multiplayer world, and fun co-op gameplay," Activision COO Coddy Johnson said in the call.

Activision-Blizzard plans to eliminate 8% of its staff, or roughly 800 employees so it can reserve more money for games development.

The publisher duo behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft is trading jobs for more R&D cash so it can re-invest heavily in wholly-owned franchises. The company aims to become more lean by trimming away non-game development positions across all segments. Everything from customer service, PR, publishing and Q&A will be affected by the re-organization. Company CEO Bobby Kotick also confirms that certain games that "don't meet our expectations" will be de-prioritized over time (games like Heroes of the Storm have already been affected). Destiny was likely see as an underperforming title, too.

This new strategy is timely and not coincidental to major development plans that are underway. Blizzard is currently developing a bunch of new games like a new Diablo IV mainline sequel, a new Diablo mobile game, and perhaps even Overwatch 2. This game slate, which multiple Blizzard execs say is the biggest in its entire history, will also include fresh new IPs.

Sony telegraphs its next moves in recent earnings reports and interviews, sending signals that a PlayStation 5 reveal may not happen in 2019.

Sony is indeed working on its next-generation PlayStation 5 console. The system should be a powerhouse (key sources tell TweakTown it'll be powered by a discrete GPU) that leverages AMD's new Navi graphics architecture and Zen 2 CPU technology, and there's even evidence it'll support and play existing PS4 games. Devkits are out, and first-party teams are leveraging them to make their games. But when will the PS5 be out? When will it be revealed? No one knows for sure, but the Japanese titan hints a 2019 announcement isn't in the cards.

First let's look at SIE Worldwide Chairman Shawn Layden's recent comments about E3 2019, and why Sony is skipping the show. In an interview with CNET, Layden said Sony's June event will now be focused on celebrating gaming rather than "dropping the next bomb." The exec further said the company wouldn't really have anything new to show off by June, so they're skipping E3 in favor of a more centralized showcase that Sony has more control over.

Neill Blomkamp's surprise Anthem project is a short live-action film based around the IP, complete with his own visual style and themes.

Remember yesterday when we predicted Neill Blomkamp's mystery project was a short film? Turns out he's making just that, and it should do for Anthem what Halo: Landfall did for Halo. Today EA announced Anthem: Conviction, a prequel live-action short set decades before Anthem that chronicles the war between the Freelancers and the Dominion.

"I was really blown away by this incredible world BioWare created the very first time I saw Anthem," said the director. "Conviction sets the stage with a narrative that touches on Anthem's beautiful and immersive world, which is ripe for exploration by these powerful Javelins. A world where danger is lurking on every ledge and in each valley."

Team Cherry Games has announced that they will be getting into the Valentines Day's spirit by releasing their first paid DLC package for Hollow Knight.

Hollow Knight developers have teased the release of a new DLC for their hit indie title Hollow Knight. The developers will be releasing the DLC in celebration of Valentines Day and it will be titled 'Hornet'. Very little is known about the DLC for the moment, besides a few teases here and there from the developers.

According to their blog post, The Hornet update will come with the playable character Hornet and also a brand new enemy titled 'Steel Assassin Sharpe' which I have provided an image below. A short description for the DLC has also been provided; "Sharpe is a hunter from a distant land. He's tasked with eliminating Hornet and he's not come alone. Sharpe brings companions on his deadly quest. Who are they? And why are they pursuing Hornet? We'll leave you to guess at their full nature. Just know, Hornet's gonna be fighting for her life against this highly trained trio." The Hornet DLC will be releasing on February 14th, or better known as Valentines Day. Hollow Knight is available for the Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.

The upcoming prequel TV show for Lord of The Rings has certainly been all the talk since its Amazon confirmed they would be at the helm. Now, news has surfaced regarding the location the company will be choosing for filming, reportedly Scotland might be choice.

According to The Daily Record, an "insider" claims that there was Amazon location scouts spotted around Dunskey Castle, Portpatrick, Callander in Perthshire and Balloch Castle Country Park near Loch Lomond. The newspaper said that these scouts didn't make themselves known and were secretive to what their motives were; "When Amazon people scouted locations, they didn't make themselves known, acted as tourists and connected straight away with local communities."

It might seem like a stretch and it very well could be, but Scotland would seem like a very good choice for Amazon's studios to begin filming as the scenery there is quite incredible. The Lord of the Rings movies Directed by Peter Jackson were filmed in New Zealand, so if this news is true it is interesting that Amazon has chosen a completely different location. It should also be noted that confidentiality agreements prevented the Scottish newspaper from confirming any of this news with Amazon. The Lord of The Rings TV show is expected to start filming this year and plans on releasing the series by 2021.

'The Front Page of the Internet', or better known as Reddit has done quite well this investment round as Reddit.inc has said they are pleased to announced that they have managed to raise an additional $300 million in funding.

The funding comes from what is called a 'series D funding round' and sees China's Tencent adding a considerable amount of fortune to the $300 million, infact the Chinese conglomerate threw in $150 million. Other investments came from Sequoia, Fidelity, Tacit, and Snoop Dogg. While Reddit currently has $330+ million active users each month it only generates $0.30 per user per year. This is considerably lower than other massive platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. Twitter managed to bring in over $3 billion in 2018 and finds there annual revenue per user to sit around the $9.48.

Tencent and other investors are looking to help Reddit better monetize its already large user-base, but many people have claimed that this is a massive conflict of interest for the Chinese conglomerate. Tencent own 40% of Epic Games who are the Fortnite developer, and they also wholly own Riot Games, League of Legends developer. Tencent has been reported to earn a staggering $900 million USD per quarter just from their gaming companies, giving them quite a considerable amount of pull in the gaming market. Tencent has also has very close ties with the Chinese government which could make some people anxious when they are investing into Reddit as there could be hidden motives we are not aware of.

Last week we heard about Ubisoft officially announcing a remastered edition of Assassin's Creed III, it's scheduled to release next month. To everyones surprise we did not see an announcement for a Nintendo Switch version, but according to Ubisoft's website there is one coming.

At the end of last month I reported on multiple European websites listing 'Assassin's Creed III Remastered' for the Nintendo Switch. Most of those listings dated that the Switch version of the game would release alongside the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. The scheduled date for that release is March 29th, which coincides with the listing on Ubisofts own website.

The above image which was spotted by Twitter user @CrocOclock, showcases Assassin's Creed III Remastered for the PC, Xbox, PS4 and Switch. CrocOclock discovered this listing when logging into his Ubisoft Club account and visiting the Assassin's Creed III Remastered listing. It is unclear why Ubisoft would hold back from announcing the Switch version yet list it on their own website. Perhaps the company needs more time to bring it over to the Nintendo Switch, or maybe they are waiting for a possible Nintendo Direct that should be happening sometime in the not-so-distant future.

A new listing coming under the umbrella of Ubisoft has revealed that Watch Dogs 3 exists and is currently planned for next-gen consoles.

The news comes from Skullzi TV who found the listing last week after staying on top of new patents from Ubisoft. The listing says that a brand new trademark has been filled under the Watch Dogs IP which could suggest an entirely new spin for the franchise. The listing could also suggest that the coming Watch Dogs would be planned for next-gen consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and Next-Xbox X.

Some other information has surfaced that contributes to the existence of Watch Dogs 3. According to NerdMag, when asking the official Ubisoft "Sam" app about Watch Dogs 3 the following response is given; "Is there gonna be a Watch Dogs 3?" the app answers "Watch Dogs 3 is not finished yet, but from the last early build I tried it's very solid. The dev team works wonders! Can't wait for you to try it!" it is unclear when we will see an announcement for Watch Dogs 3, but I was to take a guess I'd say E3 this year would be our best bet.

SuperMicro has made a surprising move that we might not feel for another 6+ months or so, but the company has announced plans of returning to the gaming and high-end motherboard business this year.

The company has found success over the last couple of decades making some of the highest quality motherboards on the market, filling some of the most important systems in the world. Governments and companies that require 24/7 stability and 100% uptime will look to SuperMicro's various products and technologies, and while over the last few years the company has dipped its toes into the consumer/gaming motherboard market, it hasn't made a huge splash.

That is all about to change as a journey that started in 2016 and has already provided some fruit from the seed with a few gaming-focused motherboards, but nothing to compete against ASUS and GIGABYTE. SuperMicro VP Vik Malyala recently talked with KitGuru during a recent visit to their Silicon Valley-based HQ, where Malyala said the company is focused on making gaming-class motherboards that will compete with ASUS Maximus and GIGABYTE AORUS gaming motherboards, with expansions being made to SuperMicro's engineering division so they can tackle the new market they're pushing into.

Apex Legends has just passed another huge milestone with over 25 million registered players now enjoying the free-to-play battle royale game in its first week on the market.

Epic Games racked up over 10 million registered players in the first 72 hours of Apex Legends' release, with Respawn boss Vince Zampella saying the game had "well over" 2 million concurrent players over the weekend. The official Twitter account for Apex Legends tweeted out to some of the 'amazing creators' out there in Shroud, Dr Disrespect, and others that started the pre-hype, stream hype, and post-launch hype for the game.

Zampella wrote in a blog post celebrating the milestone: "Since we launched Apex Legends last week on Monday we've seen the creation of an Apex Legends community that is excited, thriving, and full of great feedback and ideas. Our goal is to build this game with you, our community, so keep giving us your feedback because we really are listening".

Crackdown 3 is one of the biggest releases of 2019 on the Xbox and now that more and more people are getting their mits on the game, including influencers and reviewers, we're finding out how bad the shape of the game is.

One of the largest problems is the watering down of the destruction in the game between the tease at E3 2015, which is now four years ago, versus the destruction that Crackdown 3 launches with. The destruction in Crackdown 3 is powered by Microsoft's cloud-based technology, and in 2015 it looked absolutely incredible. Finally, some true environmental destruction that betters what PC gamers enjoyed in the 90s with Red Faction.

Yeah well, just like the massive gimping that Ubisoft performed on Watch Dogs, yet another Microsoft Studios game looks to be a huge disappointment. I don't understand how Microsoft is okay with openly selling watered down games, especially when they're shown off as something that actually looks great for its time in 2015, to something that isn't just watered down with destruction but the graphics are pretty lackluster for a game that has been delayed so much, right into 2019.

NVIDIA is all but expected to launch its GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics card on February 22, with another AIB having its packaging leaked. This time we have GALAX and its upcoming GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, with no fancy 'OC' or other branding on the end. Plain and simple.

We can see here that NVIDIA is making AIB partners replace the word 'ray tracing' with 'Turing shaders', as the GTX 1660 and GTX 1660 Ti will not be capable of real-time ray tracing, but still feature a Turing GPU. The Turing GPU in question is the TU116 which will feature 1536 CUDA cores and is joined by 6GB of super-fast GDDR6 memory that should see the GTX 1660 Ti becoming a GTX 1060 successor.

The back of the GALAX GeForce GTX 1660 Ti doesn't really tell us much, but there's not much here that we need to know.

Sony gives more visibility into its decision to skip E3 2019 as it plans to focus more on celebrating gaming rather than "dropping bombs."

By opting out of E3, the games-maker publicly says it wants to "experiment, innovate, and think differently about new ways to excite gamers." But looking between the lines sees Sony pushing for its own event where the PlayStation platform is front and center. This move isn't just about showcasing games or celebrating PlayStation culture, though, but a tactical business move that sets up Sony's entire year.

In a recent interview with CNET, Sony Interactive Entertainment Chairman Shawn Layden revealed the big motivator behind Sony's E3 2019 skip: setting up deals with retailers and partners earlier in the year. "Now we have an event in February called Destination PlayStation, where we bring all retailers and third-party partners to come hear the story for the year," Layden said in the interview. "They're making purchasing discussions in February. June, now, is just too late to have a Christmas holiday discussion with retailers."

District 9 director Neill Blomkamp is making something in BioWare's new Anthem universe, and it could be a short film of sorts.

Anthem already looks like something Neill Blomkamp dreamed up. The game has fantastic mechs and this kind of high-tech mixed with a gritty low-tech Star Wars-like feel to it, and resembles a cross between a Blomkamp movie and Dragon Age's colorful mystical fantasy. So when the sci-fi director teases a new project that's clearly based around Anthem, it feels like a natural fit.

The tease was quite nebulous and we have no idea what exactly he's working on. It should be some sort of cinematic project, but probably not a big-budget theatrical release. It could simply be a collaboration between EA and Blomkamp's independent film studio Oats Studios on Anthem's mech or world designs. The publisher didn't say anything about the project in its recent Fiscal Q3'19 earnings results, and a big film adaptation is something it'd want to announce to take eyes away from its revenue miss.

Respawn's new 60-player battle royale shooter is expanding rapidly, and big plans for its future are underway.

Apex Legends is exploding right now. Not only did it amass 10 million players in 3 days, but game's strong engagement and influence helped EA stock bounce back from a recent nosedive. Thanks to its free-to-play accessibility, everyone's playing Apex Legends and EA and Respawn have outlined some ambitious plans to further capitalize on the BR game's success. Not only will the game expand with more characters, modes, maps and weapons, but it could cross-over to smartphones and even get its own esports league. There's even talk about launching it overseas to tap the $71.4 billion Asian market.

"There are going to be opportunities to take the game in different directions over time. Esports will almost certainly be part of that. Additional game modes, the impact of additional legends over time, great new content will have an impact," EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in the company's recent Fiscal Q3'19 earnings call.