:00:00. > :00:00.a rowboat on a fun run on London Marathon. Now on BBC News, it's time
:00:00. > :00:00.to click. This week: The E3
:00:00. > :00:07.videogames extravaganza! We are headbanging, foot
:00:08. > :00:09.tapping, lion taming, This is E3, the biggest video game
:00:10. > :00:45.show on Earth. Every June, the Convention Centre
:00:46. > :00:48.in downtown Los Angeles fills This is where the next year's big
:00:49. > :00:54.releases are announced, with high energy, much fanfare,
:00:55. > :00:59.and gimmicks galore. You can race a car, visit a haunted
:01:00. > :01:04.house, you can come and You can pick yourself
:01:05. > :01:16.up a swag bag... For as long as I can remember,
:01:17. > :01:22.all of the big games companies have scrabbled for our attention
:01:23. > :01:23.at this But times are a changing,
:01:24. > :01:28.and not every company is happy shouting over all this noise
:01:29. > :01:34.when they could have their own event a bit later and control
:01:35. > :01:37.the message better. Now, there are a number of big names
:01:38. > :01:40.which are usually at E3 but aren't here this year,
:01:41. > :01:42.Electronic Arts, Activision, They don't have booths
:01:43. > :01:50.on the show floor. Turnout's still pretty decent,
:01:51. > :01:51.though. There are still plenty
:01:52. > :01:53.of big hitters here. So joining me on the floor
:01:54. > :01:59.are two awesome end bosses. Colossal Kate Russell,
:02:00. > :02:06.and monstrous Marc Cieslak. And I wanted to start with something
:02:07. > :02:09.I think is really innovative. Not VR in itself, but the fact that
:02:10. > :02:16.someone's finally giving you at home the opportunity to experience
:02:17. > :02:18.what I'm experience You can now see the world
:02:19. > :02:27.as I'm seeing it! Come
:02:28. > :02:33.Where you?
:02:34. > :02:37.Well, that's all very well for you at home
:02:38. > :02:41.but what we are experiencing is Spen prancing around in a green cupboard.
:02:42. > :02:45.But what this does help to demonstrate is one of the big themes
:02:46. > :02:49.That is that there is are tonnes and tonnes and tonnes of virtual
:02:50. > :02:55.Now that gamers can finally get their hands on virtual reality
:02:56. > :02:58.headsets, the games industry has revealed what you'll actually be
:02:59. > :03:06.This includes old school classics like Battle Zone,
:03:07. > :03:19.As well as recruiting Star Trek cast members,
:03:20. > :03:24.past and present, to show off Ubisoft's Star
:03:25. > :03:29.Here, four players adopt the role of different Bridge officers,
:03:30. > :03:33.Most of the gameplay mostly consists of operating controls.
:03:34. > :03:38.Perhaps not as thrilling as a real away mission.
:03:39. > :03:45.As soon as you can get us out of here I will be most grateful.
:03:46. > :03:47.Boldly going where few games designers have gone before means
:03:48. > :03:50.new ways of thinking about games and how we play them
:03:51. > :03:57.are crucial for these virtual experiences to work.
:03:58. > :03:59.Sony is going all in with virtual reality.
:04:00. > :04:03.It is a whole bunch of different experiences across different genres
:04:04. > :04:06.which are meant to show off what VR is capable of.
:04:07. > :04:09.They are the kind of games which can only be played wearing a headset
:04:10. > :04:15.Most of the games in here have been teased over the last couple
:04:16. > :04:17.of years, but there are two experiences
:04:18. > :04:35.This is Scavenger's Odyssey, a shooter.
:04:36. > :04:39.Looks like some kind of mechanised suit.
:04:40. > :04:42.The targeting is done by simply looking at where I wanna shoot.
:04:43. > :04:49.But this is where you start to get a sense that this
:04:50. > :04:54.is a game designed to work in 360 degrees.
:04:55. > :04:58.When I look around there isn't really any "up" there
:04:59. > :05:05.It is a bit how I imagine a fly must see the world,
:05:06. > :05:09.being able to jump onto any surface at any angle, which at times can be
:05:10. > :05:21.This game is Danger Ball, a futuristic sport.
:05:22. > :05:25.Now, I don't need a controller for this at all.
:05:26. > :05:33.And this allows me to move this bat around.
:05:34. > :05:36.There's more to it than that, though.
:05:37. > :05:44.You can add spin by flicking the ball when it gets close to me.
:05:45. > :05:49.You very quickly get used to using your head to hit the ball
:05:50. > :05:58.It's sort of like tennis if you had to head-butt the ball
:05:59. > :06:04.Futuristic games with balls, I'm all over it.
:06:05. > :06:08.Now it's my turn to do VR once again.
:06:09. > :06:17.Four headsets hanging from these spindles, and the idea is several
:06:18. > :06:21.people can take part in the same experience at once.
:06:22. > :06:25.And, although it can be a game, what they are actually aiming
:06:26. > :06:27.for is an interactive theatre experience, where we all take part
:06:28. > :06:31.and solve different puzzles and share an experience.
:06:32. > :06:33.For example, over here, I can pick up this ball.
:06:34. > :06:41.So I can throw this to yellow.
:06:42. > :06:54.So, obviously, it is a work in progress.
:06:55. > :07:00.But the idea is that in the future you can have actors also taking part
:07:01. > :07:02.in the experience, taking you through different rooms
:07:03. > :07:04.and helping you to solve different puzzles, for example.
:07:05. > :07:07.At the moment, I have to say it is both weird and interesting.
:07:08. > :07:12.The first big announcement came as no real surprise.
:07:13. > :07:15.With news of the slimmer, more design-centric Xbox OneS having
:07:16. > :07:22.Serving up 4K HDR gaming, and a customisable controller that
:07:23. > :07:25.can suit even the wildest of tastes, at $299, this midcycle release may
:07:26. > :07:27.leave a sour taste in the mouths of families who bought
:07:28. > :07:38.into the chunkier machine just a few years ago.
:07:39. > :07:41.The game footage started rolling with some big titles on the slate,
:07:42. > :07:46.all hoping to win Xbox back some of its edge.
:07:47. > :07:49.Pushing the cross-platform agenda is at the heart of Microsoft's drive
:07:50. > :07:52.to bring Xbox and Windows 10 players together in a slieu
:07:53. > :07:58.Forza Horizon 3 got pulses racing with a demo of its four-player
:07:59. > :08:02.campaign mode on Xbox and PC, scheduled for September release.
:08:03. > :08:08.The new IP kid on the block, we got the first proper look at Sea
:08:09. > :08:12.of Thieves's gameplay, a swashbuckling, shared-world
:08:13. > :08:15.adventure that looks like it's going to be ridiculous amounts
:08:16. > :08:23.But there was sadly no release date floated.
:08:24. > :08:30.Help me out, so more people can do the anchor thing.
:08:31. > :08:33.A run of big budget sequels, Gears of War IV...
:08:34. > :08:45...Whipped the crowd up into a frenzy, almost as predictable
:08:46. > :08:48.as these rinse-and-repeat triple A's.
:08:49. > :08:50.They're looking pretty slick, but nothing
:08:51. > :08:56.Although, Halo fans did get this playable beta demo that
:08:57. > :09:00.went live for a week, right after the briefing ended.
:09:01. > :09:03.There's been a lot of speculation about whether there would be any
:09:04. > :09:07.significant hardware upgrades announced here today.
:09:08. > :09:09.And with leaked information about the Xbox OneS coming out
:09:10. > :09:12.in the last 24 hours or so, slimmer sleeker, more design-led,
:09:13. > :09:14.you would be forgiven for thinking that was going to be it.
:09:15. > :09:17.But then, right at the end of the conference, Phil Spencer
:09:18. > :09:25.Project Scorpio will be the next edition to the Xbox family,
:09:26. > :09:28.and it is ultimately the next step in delivering our vision
:09:29. > :09:36.of the future of gaming beyond generations.
:09:37. > :09:39.Being released next autumn, this beast of a box will support
:09:40. > :09:41.high-definition 4K gaming and is VR ready, packing the most
:09:42. > :09:44.powerful graphics card ever put inside a consol.
:09:45. > :09:50.Microsoft is keeping its options open when it comes to VR headsets.
:09:51. > :09:53.Our consoles also run on Windows 10, so all of that innovation
:09:54. > :09:55.and creativity that is happening, we wanted to capture it
:09:56. > :10:00.We needed the computing capabilities of the six
:10:01. > :10:02.terraflops of Project Scorpio to make that possible.
:10:03. > :10:04.So, for us, our strategy is to continue to embrace
:10:05. > :10:08.the incredible community of VR development on Windows
:10:09. > :10:14.Microsoft calls it "choice," but are console owners really ready
:10:15. > :10:17.to upgrade their machines every year in the same way PC owners do?
:10:18. > :10:20.Fans of the platform can at least take some solace hearing that games
:10:21. > :10:25.will be playable across all three consoles and Windows 10 PCs, too,
:10:26. > :10:34.They are just going to look a lot sweeter on the new box next year.
:10:35. > :10:46.You are trying to fabricate magnetic nanowires,
:10:47. > :10:49.but you accidentally create sponge-like carbon-rich nanorods.
:10:50. > :10:52.Yes, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
:10:53. > :10:54.in the US accidentally discovered these novel structures when one
:10:55. > :10:59.of their experiments didn't go to plan.
:11:00. > :11:02.The new nanorods are unique as they are capable of absorbing
:11:03. > :11:05.water at low humidities and are capable of expelling it
:11:06. > :11:09.Most materials just keep on absorbing water.
:11:10. > :11:11.And tech titan, Microsoft, has stumped up $26 billion
:11:12. > :11:14.for professional networking website, LinkedIn.
:11:15. > :11:18.The move, which sparked some surprise from commentators,
:11:19. > :11:23.effectively values each of LinkedIn's 106 million users
:11:24. > :11:28.Microsoft boss, Sachin Nadella, said that the purchase was all part
:11:29. > :11:30.of his plan to better integrate Microsoft services in the Cloud.
:11:31. > :11:32.And commercial space company, SpaceX, broke
:11:33. > :11:36.While their latest launch succesfully got a payload
:11:37. > :11:38.into orbit, the company failed to stick the landing
:11:39. > :11:40.of its Falcon9 Rocketon rocket on its return trip.
:11:41. > :11:43.It suffered from what the SpaceX CEO called a rapid,
:11:44. > :11:46.unscheduled disassembly, or rapid explosion, to you and me.
:11:47. > :11:49.That follows three succesful landings in the past few months.
:11:50. > :11:52.And, finally, that wasn't the only machine not behaving itself.
:11:53. > :11:56.A robot in a Russian city of Perm caused moderate confusion
:11:57. > :12:02.and a minor traffic jam after escaping from its testing
:12:03. > :12:04.grounds when a researcher left the gate open.
:12:05. > :12:06.Not everyone is convinced the caper was an accident, with some
:12:07. > :12:08.suggesting it might have been a publicity stunt,
:12:09. > :12:17.rather than a desperate robotic cry for help.
:12:18. > :12:24.Traditionally, the gaming industry hasn't exactly been known
:12:25. > :12:26.for its unbiased approach to the female of the species.
:12:27. > :12:30.With diversity a hot topic across the tech sector,
:12:31. > :12:33.gaming conventions like this have done a lot to clean up their act,
:12:34. > :12:37.binning the booth babes and generally creating a better
:12:38. > :12:44.Having said that, too many games on display here still have a long
:12:45. > :12:47.way to go when it comes to treating female characters with respect.
:12:48. > :12:53.Impossible anatomies, ridiculously oversexualised
:12:54. > :12:56.clothing, and not enough strong female protagonists are still things
:12:57. > :13:03.we still see far too much in the big budget titles.
:13:04. > :13:05.But as gaming evolves into ever more immersive experiences,
:13:06. > :13:09.scientists at Stanford University's Human Virtual Reality Lab
:13:10. > :13:14.are looking at how virtual reality could be used to make people
:13:15. > :13:22.Since 2003, we have been running psychology experiments to see
:13:23. > :13:27.if a virtual reality can change how you think of yourself and others.
:13:28. > :13:31.By running through a body transfer sequence which connects the mind
:13:32. > :13:34.with the self image in the virtual mirror, subjects can walk in someone
:13:35. > :13:39.else's skin, becoming older, or a different race or gender,
:13:40. > :13:42.and even experiencing abusive and threatening behaviour.
:13:43. > :13:47.This is the type of body that is basically default
:13:48. > :13:56.Women are forced to play what is called hyper
:13:57. > :14:05.They are of a shape that is rare to find in nature and they tend
:14:06. > :14:18.What we have done in this lab is run a series of experiments that studies
:14:19. > :14:20.what happens to women's view of gender when they are in this
:14:21. > :14:23.hypersexualised body that affects how they see themselves later on.
:14:24. > :14:26.One of the goals of the team is to persuade big publishers
:14:27. > :14:27.to include empathy and diversity training experiences
:14:28. > :14:31.What if, every 30 minutes of playing, you had to do
:14:32. > :14:33.a 30-minute public service announcement where you have
:14:34. > :14:35.to experience sexual harassment as a woman,
:14:36. > :14:37.or you become a minority and experience the violence
:14:38. > :14:40.In other words, let's let the games be the games,
:14:41. > :14:43.but the game makers have such power because this medium is so pervasive.
:14:44. > :14:46.It is one of the most pervasive media on our youth.
:14:47. > :14:50.Can we also put in some pro-social messages,
:14:51. > :14:54.as we are spending all this time playing the game?
:14:55. > :14:58.Even though current demos are somewhat crude, having been
:14:59. > :15:00.coded by students on micro-fractions of the budget spent
:15:01. > :15:07.With more money, and the weight of large publishers behind it,
:15:08. > :15:11.VR experiences like this could start to change the way gamers think
:15:12. > :15:18.Chipping away at the ingrained biases and toxic attitudes that have
:15:19. > :15:21.driven so many people away from gaming communities in the past.
:15:22. > :15:25.It turns out we have been doing this games controller thing all wrong.
:15:26. > :15:28.We have been using our hands to control the mouse, keyboard,
:15:29. > :15:31.the joystick, or whatever, But all this time we should have
:15:32. > :15:42.It is slightly curved underneath, which means it can rock
:15:43. > :15:47.The idea is you put your feet on it, and that is how
:15:48. > :15:57.Now, that seems a bit silly because you still
:15:58. > :16:06.But in some environments you cannot see your hands, for example in VR.
:16:07. > :16:10.Here I am in some kind of art gallery, and I can fly around just
:16:11. > :16:12.by scooting forwards, scooting right, and scooting left,
:16:13. > :16:15.And by doing a weird combination of one heel and one toe,
:16:16. > :16:19.I can actually go up as well, and then right toe and left heel
:16:20. > :16:24.I have to be honest, this is making me feel
:16:25. > :16:28.quite queasy, and I think that is because of the
:16:29. > :16:37.Can you see I am gripping quite hard on the chair, too?
:16:38. > :16:40.I will swivel around and say hello to this whale, which
:16:41. > :16:42.bizarrely seems to have something inside.
:16:43. > :16:52.I am going to hand over to Marc Cieslak, who has been
:16:53. > :16:59.LA's historic Shrine Auditorium played host to the PlayStation
:17:00. > :17:02.event, which bombastically kicked off with an orchestra
:17:03. > :17:06.playing the theme to the new Norse-inspired
:17:07. > :17:09.The event then continued with a brief look at
:17:10. > :17:16.Quantic Dream's latest, Detroit: Become Human.
:17:17. > :17:23.Please, you've got to save my little girl.
:17:24. > :17:35.Sony beefed up its VR credentials by announcing the launch date
:17:36. > :17:38.I am happy to announce that, on 13 October, PlayStation
:17:39. > :17:41.VR will make its debut in the United States.
:17:42. > :17:45.As well as announcing 50 games to come out with the thing,
:17:46. > :17:49.including Resident Evil 7, and VR experiences for
:17:50. > :17:51.Call of Duty Infinite, and Final Fantasy 15 VR experience.
:17:52. > :17:54.The biggest applause of the show was reserved for games design
:17:55. > :18:15.Kojima showed off a cryptic trailer for a game featuring the walking
:18:16. > :18:18.dead, and lots of dead crabs and fish.
:18:19. > :18:25.What does it all mean, Kojima-san?
:18:26. > :18:28.And the hits kept on coming, from crowdpleasing fan favourites,
:18:29. > :18:33.to lots of new and original games, which the audience at
:18:34. > :18:37.the Shrine Auditorium absolutely lapped up.
:18:38. > :18:39.In contrast to the Xbox show this morning, where Microsoft
:18:40. > :18:44.teased new technology, Sony has chosen to show new games.
:18:45. > :18:46.However, there is a new, upgraded PS4 in the works.
:18:47. > :18:50.You just cannot see it at this year's E3.
:18:51. > :18:54.You have an upgraded PS4 in the works.
:18:55. > :18:58.Why are we not seeing that at E3 this year?
:18:59. > :19:04.Just as was the case with PlayStation VR,
:19:05. > :19:08.we feel that it is important to show people the new hardware,
:19:09. > :19:11.the new platform, when we have the full range of experiences that
:19:12. > :19:19.But the high end PS4, code-named Neo, that we are working on,
:19:20. > :19:23.is an addition to the existing lineup, not a replacement.
:19:24. > :19:26.And we also were looking at the way in which,
:19:27. > :19:29.perhaps, the technology and innovation cadence has
:19:30. > :19:37.And perhaps we have an opportunity to move slightly away
:19:38. > :19:39.from just a static console, that remains absolutely
:19:40. > :19:42.the same for, you know, a period of six, seven,
:19:43. > :19:47.eight years, and perhaps offer, in addition to the current
:19:48. > :19:54.Every single device will play the same content, is that the idea?
:19:55. > :19:56.Every single device will play a standard version of
:19:57. > :20:00.And then we will have the opportunity to have what we hope
:20:01. > :20:02.will be a large set of games which will also have
:20:03. > :20:07.So, as far as PlayStation and Xbox are concerned,
:20:08. > :20:10.there will be more new machines on the horizon than console
:20:11. > :20:22.So we have also heard from Microsoft.
:20:23. > :20:24.The other big hardware manufacturer, Nintendo, doesn't make much
:20:25. > :20:30.They have jiggling fruit on their stand,
:20:31. > :20:35.They also have this big, new, secret console in the works,
:20:36. > :20:38.which is still secret, so they will not show it to us.
:20:39. > :20:43.They have, however, announced a new game,
:20:44. > :20:49.The hero, Link, awakens after 100 years of hibernation
:20:50. > :20:52.to a vast landscape, all of which seems to be explorable.
:20:53. > :20:56.He can now jump, climb and steal weapons.
:20:57. > :20:59.The game will drop next year, and it will run on the Wii U,
:21:00. > :21:08.The standout is all these new consoles we are going to have.
:21:09. > :21:11.A new Xbox, another new Xbox, and a new PlayStation as well.
:21:12. > :21:19.We usually get one console from a manufacturer
:21:20. > :21:25.It is an upgraded Xbox, a slimmer model, and a different
:21:26. > :21:32.It is confusing for consumers, because over the course
:21:33. > :21:36.of a console's life, the hardware is locked.
:21:37. > :21:38.It is most sensible for developers and for consumers.
:21:39. > :21:43.This space where we have several different machines,
:21:44. > :21:47.some of them with higher specifications than others,
:21:48. > :21:50.creates a little bit of confusion in the space.
:21:51. > :21:56.And for me, I don't quite understand what the strategy is moving forward.
:21:57. > :21:58.Surely it has got to be VR, hasn't it?
:21:59. > :22:01.Surely we need a box that can cope with VR and 4K.
:22:02. > :22:03.That is the promise, that VR is going to be coming.
:22:04. > :22:06.One thing I found interesting about the announcement at the press
:22:07. > :22:09.conferences on Monday is that Microsoft has chosen,
:22:10. > :22:15.pretty much a couple of hours beforehand, to make and a now
:22:16. > :22:24.I wonder if the folks at Xbox are a bit miffed about that,
:22:25. > :22:27.or maybe it was strategic, to make sure that Sony would not get
:22:28. > :22:32.Pure speculation, that is totally allowed at the BBC.
:22:33. > :22:35.I am looking forward to the shared-world gaming content
:22:36. > :22:41.It is bringing us back to an era of gaming
:22:42. > :22:45.But unlike open world, shared world means that
:22:46. > :22:47.you don't have to play with the great unwashed masses.
:22:48. > :22:52.You can choose your gaming friends to play with,
:22:53. > :22:55.which can make it a bit more of a customised experience,
:22:56. > :23:01.And next year we now have these new consoles to play
:23:02. > :23:06.with, and we have a lot of VR content as well.
:23:07. > :23:08.Next year we should genuinely see some new machines.
:23:09. > :23:16.We haven't been able to get our hands on them or play
:23:17. > :23:19.Next year there is a new machine from Nintendo, there is Scorpio,
:23:20. > :23:22.we should be seeing next year, and of course the upgraded PS4
:23:23. > :23:27.But that will have an effect, I think, on the games
:23:28. > :23:30.Absolutely, new machines to this extent, with VR, means actually
:23:31. > :23:35.None of this sort of rinse-and-repeat triple-A sequels,
:23:36. > :23:40.It is not so easy port these new titles to the VR experience,
:23:41. > :23:43.so we will see, I hope, a whole new genre of games
:23:44. > :23:46.from the ground up, specifically for VR,
:23:47. > :23:56.How do you fancy going back to China next
:23:57. > :24:01.Most of the stuff in there is made in China.
:24:02. > :24:04.Next year we will show you how and where.
:24:05. > :24:33.Now, if you will excuse us, let's go and play.
:24:34. > :24:41.After the intense thunderstorms and heavy showers of recent days, the
:24:42. > :24:43.weekend is looking comparatively