Sony has lots of neat ideas for its PlayStation VR headset, and some of them actually sound pretty fun.

Sony helped pioneer VR gaming so its no surprise they're exploring unique avenues to the immersive platform. VR has yet to become mainstream, though. Sony's own cheaper, more accessible console-powered headset only captured 4.6% of the PS4's huge 90 million install base. But all that could change with the right kind of killer app or experience, and the games-maker could be onto something big here.

In a 2017 patent that was published this month, Sony outlined one of the most interesting use cases for VR: multiplayer gaming en masse. The patent would essentially let gamers not only watch live events like esports tournaments or big venue-based affairs, but participate in them using PSVR headsets. The HMD would essentially act as both as a virtual ticket and a viewscreen that emulates VR Chat levels of interactivity while also maintaining gaming features like a HUD. Sony could combine both spectatorship and gaming into one immersive online experience.

Sony officially confirms its next-gen PlayStation 5 won't completely ignore the PS4's vast library of games.

Sony's big new PlayStation 5 isn't an iterative system like the PS4 Pro. It's a true leap in horsepower, leveraging a new potent CPU and GPU combo designed specially for the system: the PS5 will feature a Zen 2 CPU alongside AMD's new Navi GPU tech, all built on 7nm. Even though it's shifting generations, Sony isn't about to throw away the PS4's empire of games and flip the reset switch.

In a recent interview with Wired, PlayStation 5 designer Mark Cerny confirmed the next-gen system will play existing PlayStation 4 games. The PS5 is built partly on the PS4's architecture to allow native backward compatibility with current games. Following the launch of the PS5, new game releases will apparently be forked and new titles will have two SKUs at launch--a PS4 and PS5 version--to leverage the strengths of both consoles. This indicates the existing PlayStation will live alongside the PS5 for a while before passing the torch.

It was barely 48 hours ago that I exclusively reported that AMD would be unveiling its next-gen Navi GPU architecture at E3 2019 but now we know one thing is for sure: Navi supports ray tracing.

The news is coming directly from PlayStation architect Mark Cerny, who confirmed during an interview with Wired that the PlayStation 5 will have a custom Radeon Navi GPU inside and it will have support for ray tracing. The ray tracing side of the PS5 wouldn't just be limited to graphics either, as Sony will be doing other things with it.

Cerny said that ray tracing goes "beyond graphic implications" say Wired, with Cerny adding: "If you wanted to run tests to see if the player can hear certain audio sources or if the enemies can hear the players' footsteps, ray tracing is useful for that. It's all the same thing as taking a ray through the environment".

So we can expect some interesting things from the ray tracing side of Navi if the tease of what Sony is doing with Navi in the PS5 is anything to go by. It is, however, no surprise that Sony is talking about the PS5 and the Navi GPU architecture supporting ray tracing considering Sony worked directly with the engineers at RTG on the Navi GPU.

We are now finding out some official specs and details on Sony's next-gen PlayStation 5 console with PS5 architect Mark Cerny recently revealing some details in an interview with Wired.

Cerny says that an AMD chip is at the heart of the PS5, with Sony tapping a custom third-gen Ryzen CPU with he new 7nm Zen 2 CPU architecture, as well as a custom variant of AMD's upcoming Radeon Navi family of graphics cards.

But the big surprising thing here is that Sony is confirming that the PS5 with its Navi GPU will support ray tracing, but it goes beyond just better graphics according to Cerny. It's also good to see that my sources were indeed correct: Sony is working with AMD on the next-gen Navi GPU architecture for the PS5.

Mortal Kombat developer, NetherRealm Studios has reconfirmed the way they are going about implementing micro-transactions into Mortal Kombat 11.

Shaun Himmerick, producer of Mortal Kombat 11 has spoken out about microtransactions and has explained that MK11 will have Time Crystals as form of currency. These crystals can be spent on items such as; new intros for fighters, easy fatalities, gear and other things. Ultimately though, Himmerick says that there will be "nothing pay-to-win" available for purchase through microtransactions, everything will be strictly cosmetic.

NetherRealm Studios also developed Injustice 2, which allowed players to buy gear that drastically impacted gameplay. NetherRealm is taking the opposite approach with Mortal Kombat 11 with Himmerick saying "We don't want to have any competitive advantage for money". It should also be noted that NetherRealm's director, Ed Boon has said that they won't be including loot boxes at all within Mortal Kombat 11, stating; "There's no loot boxes. We don't want that. We've heard the community doesn't want that. We've seen the reaction to other games that have it. We don't want that reaction. There are no loot boxes in this game whatsoever".

Nintendo has issued out a hefty sized Nintendo Switch firmware update that adds many new features for users across the board of functionality, convenience and accessibility.

The new firmware update has been rolled out to all Nintendo Switch consoles and brings the version of the console up to version 8.0.0. The new update will be adding several new functionality features such as; Sorting Software option in your home menu, a 'view all news option', 15 new avatars, a transfer save data feature, a zoom feature, sleep mode features and more.

The new update also adds new regions for Hong Kong / Taiwan / South Korea. If you are interested in checking out the previous firmware updates that have come to the Nintendo Switch, a link can be found here. If you want to visit the official patch notes which give a much more detailed breakdown on each of the added features for version 8.0.0, check that out here.

Facebook has now decided to embrace the want to for a 'dark mode' on Facebook Messenger by rolling out a toggle option to both Android and iOS users.

Back in early March, we learned of a hidden feature within Facebook's Messenger that allowed users to change the theme of their Messenger app to a 'dark mode'. Users found out that if they messaged themselves or someone else a moon it unlocked the option of adopting a 'dark mode'. Now while that may have seen a very cool little hidden feature, Facebook has now decided to implement the feature into the settings of the Messenger app across iOS and Android.

Users now have the option of selecting their profile picture on Messenger to access your settings, then you will find a toggle option for dark mode on Messenger. Choosing to toggle on dark mode will change the theme of Messenger to a darker theme that will be much easier on the eyes, especially in low lit lighting. The dark mode should also be much easier on the devices battery considering that not as many pixels will require power due to them being off (only on AMOLED displays).

It has been revealed that there is a new LEGO: Star Wars in development and it is to be believed that this new game will feature content from the upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and its prequels.

In a recent interview with Matt Wood, who is one of the sound editors and voice actors for a number of Star Wars characters touched on the development of a new LEGO: Star Wars game. Wood discussed the intenseness 2019 has for Star Wars content and begun listing off the different forms of media we will be seeing across the span on the year.

Wood says; "2019 is crazy insane! - There is so many things we are doing right now, we've got Resistance going, Clone Wars going, Mandalorian happening, of course Episode 9 happening, there is a LEGO Star Wars game we are working on." Since the newer movies are yet to join the collection of the LEGO Star Wars games (Star Wars: The Last Jedi & Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), it can be assumed that this new one in development will fix that issue and add some fresh content to the LEGO series.

We now have a new tid-bid worth of news regarding Microsoft's Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. The title has received its official rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).

Visiting the ESRB website, we find a listing for Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition that has a summary, rating and platform that it is going to release on. The last time we heard about any news surrounding Age of Empires was the 'exciting announcement' planned for the Inside Xbox livestream. Fans expected Microsoft to discuss when the Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition would be released or even tease some news regarding Age of Empires IV that is currently in the works. Sadly, the Age of Empires segment was pulled from the livestream, more on that here.

Now this isn't an official announcement from Microsoft, but this does confirm that at least Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition does exist, is in development and on its way. We still don't know when Microsoft plan to release the game, but the first Age of Empires: Definitive Edition released back at the beginning of 2018, so I'd expect that we will see the Definitive Edition for the second game sometime before the end of 2019. Since the Age of Empires announcement was pulled from Inside Xbox, Microsoft could be rescheduling the announcement for this years E3, which is planned for June 11th.

The ramp up to 8K is going to really go to the next level in 2020 with Japan hosting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with Japanese broadcaster 8K being on the forefront of the future of resolutions.

NHK engineers began their journey with 8K all the way back in 1995, with the news being revealed by Senior Producer at NHK, Mika Kanaya. Kanaya talked about the journey up to, and then launching what was the world's first 8K channel. In the video she talks about some of the issues the NHK engineers had to overcome to deliver 8K and how they broke through those challenges, and why 8K is here to stay.

NHK has been blasting out 8K broadcasts since December 2018, and with the 2020 Tokyo Olympis right around the corner they will have all eyes on the company across the world with 8K broadcasts of one of the most-watched events in decades. The current 8K broadcasts are limited, with NHK only broadcasting a couple of shows in 8K, and they're shown multiple times at a single period of the day.