Scope out a few of the game industry news stories from the last week below, hand-picked from across the world of games. Check out news about a mixed reality-focused conference scheduled in late 2021, online games hosting live music, news around the red-hot, freshly-launched next-gen Xboxes and PlayStations, and more!
Index:
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- AWE 2021 Scheduled for Late Next Year
- Video Games as Both the Venue and Audience for Live Musical Events
- New Xboxes and PS5s Sell Out, Many for Resale at Huge Markup
- How Much to Build a PC Equal to PS5 and Xbox Series X Power?
- College Esports Thrives Despite Pandemic
- Nintendo’s Game & Watch Revives More 80’s Gaming Nostalgia
AWE 2021 Scheduled for Late Next Year
Source: 8bit/Digi
In 2021, many events have been bumped back several months from their traditional time slots, such as GDC 2021, which has been moved from the usual February/March timeframe to July 2021. These changes in scheduling is so they can be safely and successfully hosted as either hybrid (physical/virtual) or live events. One of the latest 2021 schedule changes has been made for AWE 2021 — from its usual May timeframe — by its organizers, as 8bit/Digi reports:
“With the hopes that the pandemic has been mitigated, it has been announced that the Augmented World Expo 2021 is scheduled for November.Augmented World Expo 2021 (AWE 2021) will be hosted at the Santa Clara Convention Center from November 9th to the 11th. Calls for speakers has opened along with sponsors and exhibitors.”
To learn more and keep up with updates, check out AWE 2021 on our events calendar.
Today is the day!
Come hangout in Party Royale for our Premiere live show with @DillonFrancis, @SteveAoki, and @deadmau5 tonight at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT.
Login starting May 8 at 6 PM ET to Monday, May 11 at 10 AM ET to get your free music reactive Neon Wings Back Bling. pic.twitter.com/49yCeRpObB
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) May 8, 2020
Online games, especially those with persistent audiences, have (especially in 2020) become a logical venues for bigger name music artists to host remote events and shows. CBR.com digs into the details how these online gaming worlds are becoming more than just games:
“With large gatherings still on hold as the world deals with COVID-19, musicians have turned to staging performances in the virtual world. From “concerts” streamed from personal spaces to collaborative individual live performances pieced together via teleconference apps, another platform is making its way into the limelight for musicians to connect with droves of audience at the time: video games like Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox.”
New Xboxes and PS5s Sell Out, Many for Resale at Huge Markup
Source: CBS News
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (which 2020 for many of us has been like, come to think of it), you know that both Xbox and PlayStation consoles have launched this week. Unsurprisingly, these consoles are in high demand and hard to come by. To what extent? Check out this CBS News story to plug into this story.
“Two of the holiday season’s most anticipated gifts went on sale this week, with Microsoft rolling out its Xbox Series X|S and Sony debuting the PlayStation 5. The only problem: actually finding one of the $499 consoles in stock.”
How Much to Build a PC Equal to PS5 and Xbox Series X Power?
Source: PC World
Not everyone’s buying into the new console hype. There’s a large chunk of gamers who are committed to the PC as their platform of choice. If these consoles offer a cheaper, less expensive alternative to gaming PCs, how much might it cost to build a PC with PS5/Xbox Series X-comparable specs? PC World explores that question in this story:
“Ray tracing. Zen 2. Variable refresh rate. 4K/60fps gaming. RDNA 2. 120Hz refresh rate.
The tech specs for the Microsoft Xbox Series X and Sony PlayStation 5, which hit shelves this Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, contain a familiar list of elements for PC gamers. In fact, outside of RDNA 2, they’re all old news at this point. Looking at the next-generation consoles, you could easily think, “Why not just build a PC? It’ll only be a little more expensive.”
College Esports Thrives Despite Pandemic
Source: Education Dive
Gaming in general has never been a bigger and more robust business, but esports in 2020, even while largely held remotely, is growing at every level, including high school and colleges. Education Dive shares the story behind this growth.
“The idea a college would bestow a scholarship worth thousands of dollars to a student to play video games might, at one point, have been written off as a Mountain Dew and Dorito-fueled pipe dream.
Not so in 2020, when competitive online gaming, known as esports, is expected to be worth around $1.4 billion globally and has made significant inroads into higher education in a short period. The National Association of Collegiate eSports, which has begun resembling the industry’s counterpart to the NCAA, started with six member institutions in 2016 and has since blossomed to more than 170, its founder and executive director Michael Brooks said.”
Nintendo’s Game & Watch Revives More 80’s Gaming Nostalgia
Source: CNN
Nintendo has found another way to make the most of retrogaming nostalgia, by releasing a revised version of its decades-old Game & Watch. Find out more in this CNN story:
“Nintendo is feeling nostalgic lately, and it’s reviving a yet another ’80s relic.
The Game & Watch portable console, first introduced in 1980 and produced until 1991, was responsible for putting Nintendo on the map. It was a far cry from the Nintendo of today, which regularly puts out best-selling games, connects people online and uses augmented reality with toy cars.
Game & Watch was a series of handheld games that Nintendo sold before the world fell in love with the Game Boy. Back then, the black-and-white Game & Watch only played a single game each.”
Do you have interesting news to share, or something coming up that would also fit into this regular feature? Let us know!
