Assassin’s Creed Origins finally revealed during Microsoft’s E3 2017 show

Microsoft threw its weight behind Ubisoft during its E3 2017 presentation this year, giving a few minutes to the latest game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise. After leaking all week, Assassin’s Creed Origins is finally official, and as expected, it is taking us way back to ancient Egypt.

The series took a much-needed break over the last few years, but this latest game promises to bring the series back to the forefront of the video game world. Expect to see more at Ubisoft’s press conference later this week.

Activision promises “a special Crash announcement” during E3 2017

As we pointed out a few hours ago, Activision has recently revealed the full line-up of games that will be present at E3 2017. In a statement posted on the official blog, however, there is another interesting information.

Activision during today shared an interesting statement, dedicated to the franchises of Crash Bandicoot. From what has been communicated by the company it shows that, despite Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is available for pre-order, they will have a special announcement on Crash during the upcoming E3 2017.

The publisher clearly alerts gamers to keep their eyes open during the event at Los Angeles as there will be a “special announcement” on Crash. Note how the phrase refers specifically to the character, and not to the whole title of Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.

Recall that recently Vicarious Visions has not ruled out the possibility of developing an entirely new title dedicated to the crazy marsupial. What will Activision have in store for us? Will it be a very important announcement? To find out, we still have to wait a few days.

Sony confirms some E3 2017 PlayStation announcements; Spider-Man, God of War, Uncharted and more

It looks like Sony will once again be having a game heavy E3 2017 press conference - at least according to one of the PlayStation executives. 

"The crowd will only have to suffer I think in aggregate 90 seconds of me," joked Sony global sales chief Jim Ryan to Time. "And in the middle will be all the games."

As for what games will be making an appearance during the game heavy PlayStation conference, Ryan detailed that Sony was fostering quite a few partnerships:

"We have a Call of Duty partnership, a Destiny 2 partnership, Red Dead partnership with Take-Two and Star Wars with EA."

Going by this and what we already know, we will definitely be seeing Call of Duty: WWII and Destiny 2 at E3, with a possible tease for Red Dead Redemption. In addition to that, Sony made it clear that the following games would be on display at the event:

• God of War
• Spider-Man
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Days Gone
• Gran Turismo Sport

Sony will be taking the stage on Monday, June 12th.

Amazon to dominate Indian e-commerce market in the long run: KPCB report

Though Flipkart continues to lead Indian e-commerce, the pace of Amazon’s expansion in India and investments will help it emerge as the dominant player. 

Flipkart and Amazon are now neck-and-neck but for most of last year, it looked like the US online retail firm would supplant Flipkart at the top of Indian e-commerce market. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint. 

Bengaluru: Amazon India is likely to emerge as the dominant e-commerce company in the country in the long run, while the overall number of Internet users in the country continues to grow rapidly, according to the latest Internet Trends report by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers.

According to the KPCB report, the number of internet users has grown 40% over the past year to about 355 million. The report also indicated that Amazon India is most likely to dominate the country’s online retail market in the long run.

The report pointed to Amazon’s rate of growth and investments in the country over the past three-and-a-half years. The company has pledged to invest at least $5 billion in India and grown rapidly to challenge local e-commerce poster boy Flipkart’s leadership position.

In April, Amazon said it posted an 85% increase in gross sales volumes in the three months to March from the same period a year earlier, growing much faster than the overall market.

So far, Amazon’s strategy of offering the widest product selection, backed by aggressive marketing and advertising, is working well in India. Moreover, its subscription programme Prime, which was launched in July 2016, is proving to be a key differentiator and is helping the firm retain many existing customers and getting them to spend more.

And even though the overall online retail market continues to grow at a sluggish pace, experts pointed out that Amazon has “patient capital” at its disposal and can afford to wait 10-20 years for the number of regular, purchasing users to touch critical mass.

“Amazon has done a great job in India so far—they’ve adapted to the local market very well. Some of their solutions from there (in the US), they are customizing those for what makes sense here. And they’re leveraging their great knowledge and capital,” said Sandeep Murthy, partner at venture capital firm Lightbox Ventures Management Ltd.

Even though Flipkart continues to be the leading e-commerce company, the report pointed to the pace of Amazon’s expansion in India and indicated that it was likely to emerge as the dominant player in the market.

Flipkart and Amazon are now neck-and-neck and the battle between the two will be much more closely fought this year compared with most of last year, when it looked like the American retailer would supplant Flipkart at the top of India’s e-commerce market. In fact, for two months last year—July and August—Amazon briefly overtook Flipkart, before the latter struck back during the Diwali season sale and wrestled back its position at the top.

Experts also pointed out that while Amazon has the luxury of pools of capital at its disposal, rivals such as Flipkart and Paytm also have significant firepower from deep-pocketed investors such as Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd, Tiger Global Management and SoftBank Group Corp.

“The challenging thing about e-commerce though is that if you look globally, there are only 12 companies that have over a billion (dollars) in revenue, over a billion in market value and are public. In India, you have at least four (companies) fighting for that position,” said Murthy.

The problem with the Indian market is that while the number of Internet users is growing rapidly, the number of online shoppers is not growing proportionately—and while the large Internet base in India looks attractive, making money from users remains a significant challenge for all leading e-commerce firms.

“We are also in a market and business today where we don’t have the consumption capacity yet to merit the level of spend that has gone in. We need to have consumption growth first—until then it’s a bit of a waiting game,” said Murthy.

“And during that waiting game, it’s a question of who has the staying power. The fortunate thing for Flipkart is that they have Tencent in their backyard, Paytm has Alibaba and Amazon being Amazon is a good thing. So, we now have some staying power. Now it’s about waiting and watching,” added Murthy.

On 27 December, Mint reported that the online retail market is set to show little or no growth in 2017, raising worrying questions about the potential of the e-commerce market relative to the rosy projections of investors who have pumped billions of dollars into Flipkart, Snapdeal and other Internet start-ups.

Nintendo announces Pokemon themed Direct for tomorrow

Back in November, it was rumored that Nintendo and Game Freak was hard at work on a Pokemon game for the Nintendo Switch. The rumor came shortly after Pokemon producer Junichi Masuda coyly hinted that a Pokemon game might be headed to the Nintendo Switch.

At the time, the game was detailed to be named Pokemon Stars and would be a combination of Pokemon Sun and Moon. A release window was even rumored - sometime in 2017. Now, Nintendo has officially announced a Pokémon Direct for June 6th at 7:00 a.m. PT/10:00 a.m.. The Direct will only last about 8-minutes, but hyper has reached an all-time high. 

The announcement of the Pokemon themed Direct was even retweeted by the Composer, Director, and Producer of Pokemon, Junichi Masuda, which brings even more speculation as to what will be announced (it has to be big if he's bothering to be involved).

Will it be for Pokemon mobile games? Pokemon Stars? Another remake for the 3DS? What do you think?

Niantic claims that Pokémon GO’s one-year anniversary is going to “be legendary”

Pokémon GO’s one year anniversary will be here in July, and Niantic Global Product Marketing Lead Archit Bhargava has dropped a hint at how the company plans to celebrate.

Speaking at the 21st Annual Webby Awards, Bhargava gave a speech assuring fans and players that this summer was going to “be legendary.”

Could mean nothing, could mean everything

My guess is that the people at Niantic have learned how to control the beast of their fame at this point, and using words like “legendary” when talking about Pokémon is only going to lead to assumptions and speculations. If they haven’t learned this at this point, then my goodness, will they ever?!

No, the hint was very specific in what it was trying to say. Legendary Pokémon will be available this coming July in Pokémon GO, meaning you’ll finally be able to catch the three birds and possibly even Mewtwo.

We’ll let you know when Niantic has a confirmation.

Microsoft has renewed the trademark for Scalebound

On May 3, 2017, as spotted by a gaming site by the name of SomosXbox, Microsoft was granted an extension on their trademark for Scalebound.

Scalebound was canceled not too long ago. This Xbox One title was being developed by Platinum Games, the house of Bayonetta and Vanquish. It saw the light of day at some conventions, presented with some frame rate issues. We saw a multiplayer demo after that.

Then? Nothing for a while until we all got word of its cancellation. Many fans of all things dragons and anime were depressed by the news.

Is it back!? Probably not…

Don’t get your hopes up about this trademark extension, friends. While it’d be nice to see a Scalebound revival just in time for Project Scorpio, the next, beastly iteration of the Xbox, I doubt this means anything.

The extension of Scalebound‘s trademark is likely Microsoft protecting its intellectual property. If that changes, we’ll let you know.

Magikarp’s theme song dubbed into English by The Pokémon Company

Back in July of 2016, the Japanese arm of The Pokémon Company released a music video about Magikarp. More specifically, the clip and song were about how weak and terrible Magikarp was. In spite of that terrible weakness, the singers still loved him.

That video was spread online to folks (like me) who have a soft spot for the Splash-using fish that eventually evolves into greatness. I love Magikarp, too, no matter how useless he is.

Now that clip has been dubbed into English by The Pokémon Company. Magikarp is still terrible, but at least this music video is awesome. Enjoy.

Call Of Duty: WW2 Release Date, First Details, And Beta Revealed

Call of Duty: WWII is launching on November 3 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

The release date was revealed alongside a full trailer during a worldwide reveal livestream. This confirms details that leaked earlier this week.This year's entry in the shooter franchise follows the US 1st Infantry Division as they fight their way through the European theater of the war. Missions include the D-Day invasion of Normandy and Battle of the Bulge.

Although you primarily play as the young, inexperienced Private Daniels in the single-player, there will also be a mission that casts you as a woman fighting in the French resistance.

A full multiplayer reveal is slated for E3 in June, but for now we know just a few details. As for co-op, little was shared, but it will apparently take the form of "a new and original story" featuring zombies.

Also from the leaks, Activision confirmed that a beta will be available ahead of launch, but there isn't a date yet. Finally, Transformers actor Josh Duhamel is confirmed to appear in Call of Duty: WWII as Technical Sergeant William Pierson, a 34-year-old from Oklahoma.

The Pro Edition that surfaced in leaks will be exclusive to GameStop, at least in the US, and will cost $100. It comes with the game, a steelbook case, the season pass, and "additional bonus content."

A marriage proposal went down in Overwatch

Wedding bells rain from above? Maybe. YouTuber and gamer Cleverdingbat shared a video of his proposal with the world that he titled “An Overwatch Marriage Proposal.” He tricks, now fiancee, into joining a private match, has some friends arrange Symmetra’s turrets into a heart, steps through a teleporter and pops the question.

Here’s the video. It’s, man, it’s something.

I always dig video game proposals like these. I mean, it’s absolutely not the way I’d do it, but my wife isn’t much of a gamer. I imagine folks who do this and see success made a great choice. Their brides and grooms-to-be are probably super pumped.

I just, yeah. I don’t think I could do it. Maybe I’m not brave enough. Maybe it’s too cheesy. I don’t know.

Would you ever propose in a game? Have you? How’d that go?

Insomniac’s Spider-Man game hitting this year on PS4, Marvel exec slips up

Until now, Insomniac’s take on Spider-Man for the PlayStation 4 had a completely to-be-announced release date. We didn’t know anything about its launch window, including the year it’s set to drop.

Thanks to Marvel Vice President and Executive Editor Ryan Penagos, we might have a good idea. The game will, according to him, launch before 2017 is up.

He let this slip during a recent video as he spouted off the coming of a few Marvel gaming properties.

While this isn’t a movie tie-in…

The Spider-Man from Insomniac is not a tie-in title with the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming. The old model of releasing games based on films isn’t one that works too well, and major studios and publishers seem keen on distancing themselves from releasing banner titles done in that style.

With that said, Spider-Man will be a hot topic this year with the release of Homecoming. Sony, Insomniac and Marvel simply can’t ignore the fact that Spidey will be rather loud in pop culture once the flick hits on July 7.

That, to me, is reason enough to push Insomniac to have Spider-Man ready for 2017. The window just makes good sense, regardless of the non-tie-in nature.