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Sony sheds 300,000 PS Plus subscribers in its first quarter, but network services are up.

Sony just kicked off its Fiscal Year 2018 timeline with strong Q1 game segment earnings: its Games and Network Services branch raked in 472.1 billion yen, up about 36% from last year, and operating income was up a staggering 331% year-over-year to 65.7 billion yen. Game sales were up a mighty 70% YoY, pulling in 268 billion yen, and software made up 57% of the segment's total earnings. However, punctuating this good news is a slight dip in PS Plus subscribers.

PlayStation Plus is a big part of Sony's Network Services branch. The premium sub neatly folds into the company's biggest cash crop (gaming) and powers a strong, ever-churning engagement wheel that sees millions interacting on the network and buying from the PS Store. One of Sony's biggest challenges isn't just to get new PS Plus subscribers, but to retain them, and ultimately this hasn't been a problem. Even when numbers drop they typically don't do so dramatically, and in Q1 Sony only lost about 300,00 subscribers.

God of War made quite an earnings splash when it released in April, according to findings from analyst firm SuperData.

More and more publishers and games-makers are pushing into digital storefronts to sell their games. Not only is direct download cheaper for companies, but platform-holders like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo get to keep 100% of every first-party game sold on their wholly-owned marketplaces. Even though physical games still make up the industry-wide bulk of sales, more and more gamers are embracing digital. Sony's latest God of War game is a case in point.

In a single month, Sony Santa Monica's massively acclaimed story-driven Norse adventure raked in $131 million from digital sales on the PlayStation Network. These launch month figures eclipse major games like Uncharted 4, and as SuperData reminds us, shows a strong hunger for strong narrative games.

Sony's software sales are up in its first quarter earnings, indicating its first-party strategy is paying off.

Like other platform holders such as Nintendo and Microsoft, Sony typically makes most of its gaming revenue from software sales on its online storefront. The Japanese tech giant's gaming segment is its strongest asset and software is a boon for quarterly earnings: in Q1 Sony saw a strong 70% year-over-year earnings spike from both digital and game sales, raising sales to about ¥268 billion.

What's interesting is just how big a piece software is to Sony's gaming pie. Software sales (both PS Store and physical) made about 57% of total segment sales revenue in Fiscal Q1'18, with total game sales sitting at 40.6 million units. These numbers were driven by both strong first-party games like God of War as well as third-party titles.

Sony's PlayStation 4 family of consoles have now shipped more than 80 million units globally, the company recently announced.

Japanese tech titan Sony recently announced its Q1 earnings for the Fiscal Year 2018 timeline, reporting strong growth in its games segment driven by game and hardware sales. In the three-month period ended June 30, Sony sold 3.2 million PS4 consoles, effectively bringing the system's global cumulative sell-in figures (shipments, not sell-through or actual sales) to 82.2 million.

While Sony is putting emphasis on network services with subscriptions like PS Now, PS Vue, and PS Plus, the company is taking a different tact than Microsoft. Rather than doubling-down on engagement strategies like Microsoft, Sony is putting strong effort into robust first-party games like God of War, Insomniac's Spider-Man, Death Stranding and The Last of Us II in an effort to both sell consoles and software.

Nintendo have just released their results for the first quarter of the 2018 fiscal year, it appears that the Nintendo Switch is closing in on the 20 million unit sales margin.

From the released results it is reported that Nintendo Switch sales for the first quarter of the 2018 fiscal year come in at 19.67 million units, just pushing on the verge of the 20 million mark. This means that the Nintendo Switch is closing in on the total sales for the Nintendo GameCube which only sold 21.74 million units.

With titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the numerous other games planned for release at the end of the year, we should see another spike in Nintendo Switch sales. It should be noted that after 16 months the PlayStation 4 sold 20.2 million units worldwide, the Nintendo Switch on the other hand managed to sell 19.67 units in just 15 months. Another factor to calculate in, is that the PlayStation 4 experienced 2 holiday seasons while the Nintendo Switch has only gone through one. Nintendo could have on their hands a console that has a very healthy life-span. For further information the fiscal results, visit Nintendo's statistics website here.

Team 17 are gearing up for the release of their sequel to Overcooked, and in celebration of only being a week out from release they have announced that for anyone that pre-orders now on the Nintendo Switch will receive bonus content.

Overcooked 2 will be adding a bunch of more content to the kitchen nightmare. Players will now have the ability to throw their food across the room or to another players, this will make overcoming or managing obstacles much easier. At the same time though, Overcooked 2 will have dynamic levels which means new obstacles and environments will periodically happen around players making things much more difficult.

Other features included within Overcooked 2 are: online multiplayer, more level mechanics, interactive world map, more recipes and chefs. Players that pre-order the title now on the Nintendo Switch will receive the 5 extra chefs and an exclusive Platypus Chef when the game releases. Overcooked 2 will be released on August 8th and will be coming to the Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. For further information about the title visit the Overcooked website here.

South Park fans will be glad to know that Ubisoft have released the 'Bring the Crunch' DLC to South Park: The Fractured But Whole. A brand new launch trailer has also been released, it showcases the new content that the DLC will be bringing players.

The 'Bring the Crunch' DLC will add a brand new storyline that will introduce to players new enemies, old friends and new powers. Bring the Crunch will be focussed around players saving the Lake Tardicaca summer camp which all of the counsellors have mysteriously gone missing. Players will also be able to enjoy the additional new class that will be added, and with it a brand new set of powers and abilities.

South Park: Fractured But Whole 'Bring the Crunch' DLC released on July 31st and will cost $11.99, for players that have already purchased the season pass the DLC will be completely free. South Park: Fractured But Whole is available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. Fore more information about the title, check out the official website here.

Rare has released the latest update to their working-progress of a title Sea of Thieves. The update will now be pushing players to feel a lot more in danger on the high seas than they once did.

Players will now have to worry about skeleton crews that will be present in each of the zones, the crews have no mercy and prey on any ship that happens to enter their zone. This means that players will have the option of choosing whether to go out and find the ships to battle, or be unluckily enough to encounter the cut-throats while they are simply exploring.

The skeleton crew will emerge from the depths below and engage players immediately, they will be operating cannons and some crews will even have magic cannon balls or other bounses based on their respective location. Kotaku reports that they encountered a skeleton ship in 'Foul Grog' which had special cannon balls that caused players to be drunk if they connected with the ship. If you are interested in the other content that has been added through the 'Cursed Sails' update visit the official release notes here.

A stroke of comedic genius has brought us to a combination of the Fortnite default dance and a wondering of what Nintendo characters would look like performing it. Look no further, your curiosity can be subsided as it has already been done, the entirety of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate line-up is now grooving.

Ishmael205, an animator with the exact same curiosity has taken the idea to the next level, bringing to reality all of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters performing the default Fortnite dance. Some could say the results are quite varied, as its really odd to see characters that are usually small be stretched out and doing the very iconic dance.

Most of the animations are very well done, even if you find the video somewhat disturbing. Ishmael205 has done a fantastic job with injecting majority of the characters into the dance routine, keeping the proportion of most of the characters but some copping a worser job than others (Lucas). The developer has promised his fans that if the video reaches a certain amount of views he will release each of the individual character dances with transparent backgrounds, allowing for future developers or other comedic geniuses to express their creativity.

Turing Space Industries has teased its new concept smartphone dubbed the HubblePhone, which if it ever makes it to market would be the most elaborate smartphone ever made. We're talking dual CPUs, quad LCDs, and 5G connectivity... just for starters.

HubblePhone will pack four screens (three screens really, as the "main" display wraps aaround the back of the device) but at the end of the day you can only use two of the displays at once. Inside, there's not one but two Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chips, a huge 60-megapixel rear-facing camera with 15x optical zoom. Connectivity wise, TSI is promising 5G.

Furthermore, HubblePhone will rock a dual OS with Android 9.9 and Sailfish 3, while there'll be dual batteries keeping everything up and working with a 2800mAh main battery in the upper deck, while the main 3300mAh battery takes care of the rest.

I'd like to say that I'm surprised to hear parents are paying people to train their kids at Fortnite, but it really doesn't surprise me at all. Fortnite has become one of the biggest games of all time, and now it has become a "social proving ground" at schools all across the planet.

Now we have The Wall Street Journal reporting that some parents are paying Fortnite coaches to train their kids on how to win at Fortnite, with one mother in England paying $20 an hour to train her 10-year-old son on how to win at Fortnite. Ally Hicks explains: "There's pressure, not to just play it, but to be really good at it. You can imagine what that was like for him at school". Ally's son Rob added: "They'll probably think I'm cheating or something. That's how 10-year-old kids work".

Texas-based Nick Mennen is paying $20 an hour for Fortnite training for his son, Noble. Mennen wants more from Noble, as the return on his investment aims to see Noble get good enough at Fortnite that he scores a scholarship or wins tournament money. Noble trains six hours a month and has gotten better, where Nick says he has gone from winning "infrequently" to getting "10 to 20 wins" daily.

We just reported that AMD will be naming their upcoming multi-threaded beast the Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX, offering 32C/64T for what we're hoping is less than $2000, but what clock speeds can we expect out of the box?

According to the latest leaks from WCCFTech (so prepare your salt) the second-gen Threadripper 2990WX will offer all 32C/64T of CPU power at 4GHz on air cooling with AMD's new XFR2 and the new Wraith Ripper CPU cooler that was co-designed with Cooler Master. AMD's new XFR2 (Extended Frequency Range) technology will help dynamically overclock the CPU based on a bunch of variables, something that will help drive the 64-threaded chip to 4GHz on air cooling.

Not only that, but AMD is tapping the new 12nm Zen+ process with the new Wraith Ripper CPU cooler can handle up to 250W of thermal load. This is an impressive feat given it's just an air cooler and not a fancier AIO liquid cooler. Expect more details on the Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX when it lands, with a full review on it coming soon from our CPU God, Steven Bassiri.

AMD stock is performing well, Ryzen 2000 series CPUs are very popular, Intel is scurring from the mess of 10nm and re-releasing and continuously tweaking its 14nm++++++++ processors (I might have held my finger down on the + key a little long there, but not really)... all while AMD is making inroads into CPU sales against Chipzilla in 2018.

According to the latest data Mindfactory, AMD sold more CPUs than Intel in July 2018 - the first time since November 2017. As you can see things kicked off with the Ryzen 7 2700X and Ryzen 5 2600X in April, and then continued with the same sale strength through to July. Intel still sells boat loads of Core i7-8700K processors, but it's not enough to stop the Ryzen train.

The mid-range Ryzen 5 1600 sells incredibly well for AMD as well, the same goes for Intel's mid-range Core i5-8400. Both great mid-range options for tens of millions of gamers who are playing titles like Fortnite, PUBG, Overwatch, CS:GO, and plenty of other games at 1080p/1440p.

AMD is not far away from releasing its new 32C/64T flagship Ryzen Threadripper CPU, with sources of TweakTown (and other sites are now cottoning on) that the flagship chip will be called the Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX.

We have seen WX branding on other AMD products before, with the company using the WX branding on workstation level graphics cards like the Radeon Pro WX series of graphics cards. Well, the new Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX will arrive as a beast: 32C/64T at up to 4GHz using the new Wraith cooler. This is an incredible feat, considering Intel can't touch AMD on core count right now and while they might beat AMD in sheer frequency, that's not everything to professionals who need CPU cores over frequency.

What we are to expect from AMD with the second-gen Ryzen Threadripper CPUs is the following:

As we move closer to the release of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have revealed a further 35 seconds of gameplay footage. This time they are showcasing the titles numerous gorgeous locations and environments.

Just last week, Square Enix decided to release 10 minutes of gameplay footage of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to their YouTube Channel. The footage revealed the immersion players will be in control of and also the largest hub world ever created for a Tomb Raider game, the city of Paititi. This new gameplay footage that was released yesterday showcases to players the many different environments Lara will have to tackle, we can see thick jungles, mountains, cliffs, waterfalls, temples and small towns.

According to the description of the video, the world will be absolutely stunning but will also be equally as dangerous. Main story line wise, the title is reported to be coming in at a length of 13 - 15 hours, which isn't including side missions. So it is completely up to players whether they want to stick it out in harsh environments and explore, or just rush to the end to stop the Maya apocalypse. Shadow of the Tomb Raider recently just went 'gold' for development and is ready for manufacturing, if you missed out on that story catch up on it here. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is set for release on September 4th on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Capcom has revealed through a live stage event at the Ani-Com & Games convention in Hong Kong, 16 minutes of gameplay footage from their Resident Evil 2 Remake title. The gameplay showcases gore, zombies, guns and just everything you want from Resident Evil 2 but now in HD.

We last heard about the Resident Evil 2 Remake back at the end of June throughout E3 2018, Capcom Brand Manager Mike Lunn discussed whether the title had any plans on coming to the Nintendo Switch. Sadly, that isn't the case at the moment as the developers are concentrating on the PS4, Xbox One and PC launch.

During the Ani-Com & Games event, we get to see the producer of the title, Tsuyoshi Kanda sit down in front of a live audience play through some of the game. What we have displayed to us are numerous different environments, blood, gore, guns, zombies taking damage to specific gun shot locations and much more. Resident Evil 2 Remake is planned for launch on the 25th of January, 2019 for the Xbox One, PS4 and PC. For further information regarding the title visit the official Resident Evil website here.

Spider-Man fans will be glad to know that a video has been leaked of the opening cinematic of Marvel and Insomniac Games' upcoming title. The video showcases the entirety of the opening cinematic all the way through to the first gameplay experience.

The video has been uploaded to the YouTube Channel 'Egorgian Beast' and originates from the VK Fest in St. Petersburg, Russia. Insomniac Games arrived at the event and had on display the latest preview of Spider-Man, Egorgian Beast was lucky enough to capture a very decent video of the preview and post it online. From the video we can see Peter Parkers apartment which looks like one of those mystery solving pin boards with string, combined with sci-fi level technology experimentation. Exactly what you would expect from a slightly older Spider-Man.

Eventually, we see Parker arise and get ready for his day, he leaves his urgent rent notice on the floor and swings out into the world. The cinematic seamlessly transfers to gameplay, and at this moment this is where the game will begin for all players. It should be noted, that if you take your time watching the video and notice Parker's post-it notes, there is a note that says "Call T.S back re job offer." Could this be a reference to Tony Stark? Could he be included within the game or is this just a wink towards the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Marvel's Insomniac Games and Marvel's Spider-Man will be releasing exclusively on the PlayStation 4 September 7th.

A brand new gameplay trailer has been released by Bandai Namco, it has revealed that Bleach characters will be included within the new upcoming Jump Force title.

For those that don't know what Jump Force is, the title was originally revealed back at E3 2018 through an announcement trailer that showcased an epic crossover between Dragon Balls Goku/Frieza, One Pieces' Monkey D. Luffy and Naruto. Jump Force will be featuring the most popular anime/manga characters as playable fighters and now that a new trailer has been released we can add Bleach characters: Ichigo, Rukia and Aizen to that list as well.

Bandai Namco has a goal of adding everyones favorite Japanese characters to one game, allowing for players to battle it out across numerous famous locations such as New York City in customizable teams of three. Jump Force is being developed in the Unreal Engine 4 and is planned for release sometime in 2019. For further information regarding the title visit the official Jump Force website here.

In celebration of the 20th year of Digimon, Bandai Namco has decided that they are going to bring players a brand new game. Introducing Digimon Survive, an adventure/tactical RPG that will be arriving sometime in 2019.

Players will begin their journey as Takuma, who is young boy that happens to become stranded and lost after exploring into the wild forests. Takuma is accompanied by Agumon, a reptile Digimon that has many similarities to that of a dinosaur. Both Takuma and Agumon are required to fight for their lives as they attempt to break free from the alternate dimension.

Bandai Namco has deemed Digimon Survive a "survival simulation", players will have to fight their way back home but will be able to craft their own story along the way. Digimon Survive is planned for release on PS4, Xbox One and PC sometime throughout 2019.

We knew it was right around the corner and Derek caught it right before it went live, but EA has now made its Origin Access Premier subscription service live, and active ready for gamers to dive in... if they want.

EA details its new Origin Access Premier service as: "Origin Access Premier offers players a wealth of content, including all of EA's PC games and numerous titles from other publishers in a single membership. As our first-ever subscription service with full access to newly-released EA games, we're offering players more freedom to play the games they want, anytime they want".

For $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year you'll get access to a bunch of games from EA: