To Live and Game in LA Click

OK. Let's play. This week we are punching above our weight. Driving

around the bend and dropping gunk in a bucket. Right. Let's see. Dragons.

Check. Singing pirates check. Orcs... Yes. All of which can only

mean it is time for the world 's maddest video games expo in the

heart of downtown Los Angeles. This is where new games are launched and

new hardware is lauded. It is always big, loud and bright but this year,

for the first time, it is not just open to those who work in the games

industry. 15,000 members of the public have also been allowed in,

each paying up to $250 for a ticket. You do the maths. All of which means

things have got a lot easier. Personally hasn't affected my

enjoyment of the show at all. But the question is, are this year's

crop of announcements worth the wait? How exciting a free use

depends on whether the big console manufacturers have any big

announcements or not. This year, Microsoft generated the most

excitement by announcing a new console. We got hands-on. Welcome to

ease 320 17. And with that, Phil Spencer kicked off the Xbox if free

press event. It is a big year for Xbox as it announced a brand-new

console, Gordon named Scorpio is now called... Xbox one X. Its high-end

spec includes six teraflops of graphic performance. That compares

to the appeals for's broke 4.2. It is capable of producing four K high

dynamic range visuals at 60 frames a second. As well is producing Dolby

Atmos audio. All this adds up to a whole lot of horsepower for a

console. It is being billed as the most powerful console ever but is

more computational grunt enough to shift Sony from its number one

position in the console market? In an attempt to do just that a parade

of four K resolution games assaulted the senses. Including a peek at the

latest addition to the popular Assassin's Creed series, this one

set in Egypt. The expendables Terry crews are brings the smack down to

crack down three. Open world smashed everything in sight, destructor

-fest. As well as family friendly platform super tale. These games

will warp play on the old Xbox one and will play with four K graphic

enhancement on the Xbox one X. The leading that four K charge with the

new machine, racer Ford's motorsport and anthem, and new sci-fi XO suit

game created by bio wear. And weirdly, four K enhanced mine craft.

One of the few games where high-end lighting effects do not seem

necessary. A strong line-up than for the new Xbox. But is it strong

enough? That was long and loud. But 42 new games. Very little girl in

the way of fan favourites and Franchises such as gears of War.

Some Franchises people now will be coming, Halo, gears of War. I spent

last month, I was both the studios last month looking at amazing work

they were doing. We feel this arena with great games without even

bringing in the biggest game Franchises. If more power than

important when bringing out a new machine? The tender has done quite

well with its new machine which is arguably the least powerful console

on the market. Power is poured in to the premium customer. You also want

games like mine craft, one of the biggest games on the planet,

playable across a whole lineup of consoles, connecting everyone

together. It is about content for everybody. Here it is. The most

powerful console that Microsoft has ever made. We do know what it looks

like. It is actually quite slimline. Smaller than the old machine, the

Xbox one F. And we know how much cost. ?449. And we know it is

released on November seven. We do not know what games are like when

you actually power the machine up, grab hold of the controller and play

them on it. To find that out, I have to go over there. OK, now you may

think that my driving here is a little scrappy but there is method

to my madness. By damaging the car I can see the additional level of

detail it has added. You can see individual raindrops. A smorgasbord

of different weapon affects going on here. All of them showing what this

machine is capable of. The first time I played a game on the new Xbox

one X and I just played motorsport seven. The most recognisable of all

titles will be launched with this machine when it comes out later this

year. It is fantastic. The beautiful game to look at and as you expect,

it has four K resolution. But there is more to this than just incredible

graphics. That was Mark and, interestingly, no talk of the Yarra

at Microsoft but, never fear, Mohammed is here. The cool thing

here is that this is a HTC five running without the usual cables

trailing to a PC. This has, until recently, been very, very hard to do

because there is just too much of a delay between movements and what you

see on the headset when you do not use cables. That results in much of

motion sickness. But display link has managed to cut the chords and

use its own compression technology and 60 gigahertz transmitter on the

headset to reduce latency to less than five ms. Right. Next up,

Nintendo's big announcement at E63. -- if free. Nintendo has not had the

best couple of years. Its last console, the Wii you, failed to

connect with the public. With the release of the Switch and its

success is the fastest selling console Nintendo history, crowds

flocked to the booth at a three this year. Nintendo does not do big pep

as conferences any longer, choosing to make its announcement via an

online presentation. Fun and battle, always locked together. Last year

the tender group was always about one icon. This year there are games

aplenty. And a lot of this guy. # Here we go, off the rails. Odyssey

sees that Mario travelling that low but in a -- of the globe. Murray is

able to throw his hat, just like that, pop on a rocket and accelerate

away. And it is not just rockets. His hat is a key game mechanic, used

to break bricks, collect coins, right around and even inhabit the

body of anything his head where land is on. As one of Nintendo's most

popular characters, is Mario the ace up the sleeve of Switch. Transocean

Macs certainly, that is the case. Not just with Mario but with many

other things as well. We have heard from people who have maybe not

played a Nintendo system since an 64 or super Nintendo. But they have

wonderful experiences from childhood and they sees things in Super Mario

Odyssey that will pull them back in. That is a wonderful opportunity to

bridge a lot of new experiences that we offer as well. Mario was the star

of the show again in a another game, Mario Rapids. Minty has allowed

another games company to create this game, sanctioned by the gaming

legend, Mr Mario himself. I said, whatever you do, do not make a jump

game or a platform. Make a Mario game that has never been made

before. It is not unheard of for Nintendo to work with other studios

but it is amazing to see one outside of Japan. And there was plenty more,

including Kirby, meteoroid and one that got many hearts racing, a

Pokemon RPG. But with no release date announced, we could be waiting

a while. TRANSLATION: I would like to know myself when it comes out.

With the Switch taking mainstage at this he's event it seems that this

is clearly their present and their future. And as it it has audible

capabilities, what does it mean in the long-term for Nintendo's other

hand-held devices? It welcome to the Week in Tech. It is the week that

Tim Cook revealed Apple is developing a self driving car

system. Roaming charges dropped for UK mobiles in their EU. Just make

sure you read the small print. Following scandals about sexism

within the company, to announce that he will take a leave of absence. --

Uber's CEO and ounces. An ad featuring Ryan Reynolds is banned

after it was found to be misleading by the watchdog. Sleep tracking

device Hello says goodbye, despite raising ?1.3 million in

crowdfunding, following by a staggering ?30 million investment. A

robot has been composing its own music. Researchers at Georgia

Institute of Cancer what it has been working on this robot, which uses

deep learning to create its own works, after having listened to more

than 500 tunes and millions of segments of sound from artists

including The Beatles and Beethoven. Finally, ever thought fish don't

hold enough power in this world? This artist's latest work has

created a solution. He is tracked by a webcam as he swims, a software

calculating the velocity needed to translate his moves into power in

the hammer. Apparently it empowers fish to break stuff.

Although gaming is massive, the fact that they of videogames operated by

often quite complex controllers means that if you have a disability

they are quite difficult to play. Cat has met up with one guy who's

made it his mission to improve usability and make them payable by

all. I received a challenge recently,

come and play me, at Killer Instict. It didn't say "if you dare", but it

might as well have done, because Ben is a combat expert. Now you are

punishing me. I can't do anything! Then, have mercy! This is

unbelievable -- Ben. Just unbelievable. Ben has taken me out

in about 20 seconds. I could have done it quicker than that if I

didn't screw up my inputs at one point. We are playing Killer

Instict. A big sports title with players competing for millions of

dollars each year, but it is adjust its popularity that makes the game

stand out. She has blocked low and the only reason I know that is

because I heard that some sound. Ben is relying on his hearing because he

is blind, which makes his win even more impressive. If you throw a

fireball it travels and there are other satisfying connections at

their end when it hits the opponent. When I say, do you realise you are

fighting a guy who can't see, they are like, no, I didn't realise that

at all. How does it work? And that starts conversations about how games

are or aren't accessible. You are passionate about taking that

conversation further? It needs to go further because gamers with outside

are being left in the dust. These like being able to tell your

friendly team and your enemy team apart, different footsteps. It can

be done. It isn't an impossibility. Stomach audio only games have been

around for many years and it is only now the potential of modern art card

where is being harnessed. I am now beginning to understand how crucial

sound design is to accessible gaming. I was intrigued, where do

you even begin and what if the thing you are designing for is as iconic

and scary as Alien? Iron at the BAFTA winning sound design studio

Creative Assembly, getting behind the scenes look. There's bits of the

game where the alien will be an event above the corridor and you

won't know he is there, apart from bits of slime that will drip down.

That's the sort of thing we will do for that, just a handful of it into

the bucket. We've got wallpaper paste and porridge and we are

creating the sound of an alien. Obviously the visuals are incredibly

important, but without sound they become kind of... There's no way to

them. It is incredible to see the mess and extremes that went into the

sound of the game. It's got a good Creek in it. -- creak. Despite this,

someone like Ben would still struggle to play in isolation. The

reason for that is the menus are visible to him. Episodes, clips,

judges, Spencer Kelly... On the Web, a screen reader speaks out the

options. It took years of internet before accessibility features like

this became commonplace and it is still not 100%. As for games

consoles, currently blind gamers have to memorise the menus within

games. That's what the big barrier is, the tools people use to make

gains aren't compatible with the software that can be used to operate

technology. So with that barrier could be solved then we would see a

big increase in amount of accessible games. His mission is to make gaming

more inclusive. Accessibility's job will be done when people stop

innovating the technology. There's always something new that needs to

be done. He has been working with people like Ben for years but it is

really now down to the console makers to bring about change. We

need to be sure the games and consoles we build are accessible to

any player, whether it is someone who has cited issues or hearing

issues. We announce copilot mode where people can use two controls to

play one version of the game, so if someone can't use all the buttons. I

quiz the way when it comes to accessibility for blind gamers. For

the first time, in game menus will be read out. Let's see what Ben

thinks about that news. Other developers, like Sony and Nintendo,

they want to use in game menus and spoken instructions, that's

brilliant. If I don't have to worry about how much I am paying for it

versus accessibility, that would be ideal. Games, games and more PS for

games. Sony kicked off its PlayStation press event with a bang,

and is due the latest adventure of Naughty Dogs. The crowd certainly

liked that Sony made it snow in sunny LA. And everyone's favourite

friendly neighbourhood Spiderman swanned into action in a new game

which features an innovative use of Spiderman's web slinging. And unlike

Xbox, who didn't even mention VR, PlayStation renewed its commitment

to techno welding goggles, sorry, virtual reality, I showing off a

host of VR games, like Star Child. And an utterly bonkers Final Fantasy

VR fishing game. Final Fantasy 15: Monster of the Deep. PlayStation is

riding high at the moment with its PS4 outselling its rival, the Xbox

one. But with the superpowerful Xbox 1X on the horizon, will things like

we are help Sony to maintain its lead? Over the long-term it really

is an opportunity to create a new entertainment medium, but I do

stress that it is over the long-term. I think in the last six

months to one year with a little bit of overhyping of the category out

there. Certainly not by ourselves. We saw this as the start of a very

long process of bringing VR into the mainstream. You will see lots more

technology innovation. I think content makers, game makers and

others, including folks that are making television programmes, they

are really only starting to just learned what the tools are to make

really good we are content. The Xbox 1X is an enormously powerful machine

and is in danger of being left behind in terms of producing the

most powerful console out there. I think the consumer will have to look

at both systems and make a comparison. Obviously there is a

significant price differential between the two units, which plays

it somewhat towards our advantage, and I think with PS4 Pro you get

some additional benefits if you are interested in VR. So if we are

confident where we stand now. That was Mark at Sony. Now, three

more people playing video games. Actually, two playing games and one

watching a movie, all on the same screen. But depending on where you

sit, you get a different view. The secret is actually in this special

reflective screen, which only reflects the light from this

projector straight back in this direction, that means no one else

can see this and in fact you have a load of projectors all shining

different stuff at the screen. The result is OK but I have to admit I

could see traces of the other viewers' images, so maybe there's a

bit more to do. There are a few things you can guarantee at E3 every

year. Bright lights, lots of noise and lots of sequels too. These are

the fan favourites which seemed to get a new rich region every few

months -- new iteration every few months and they are in danger of

getting repetitive, but this year some franchises were thrown up a few

surprises. Videogames publishers love a sequel.

All you have to do is take a pop at title, make a few tweaks and then

push out an annual refresh. -- popular title. But at E3 there are

couple of sequels that had to work a little bit harder than usual. A good

example is the polarising sci-fi settings from the last couple of

games that have been replaced by a period of history which originally

inspired this series, the Second World War.

Who needs railguns, robots and energy shields? Got a rifle, a

helmet and a determination to take the speech! The gameplay is chaotic,

noisy, frantic, everything you want. That's it from Click at E3. We are

back in the US next week. In the meantime, you can follow us on

Twitter and Facebook. Thanks for watching and we'll see you soon.