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A new trailer for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was shown at Microsoft's E3 press conference today.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you play as Geralt of Rivia, one of a dying caste of monster hunters, and embark on an epic journey in a war-ravaged world that will inevitably lead you to confront a foe darker than anything humanity has faced so far--the Wild Hunt.

The next-generation open world role-playing game is one of the most anticipated titles of next-gen so far. It won't be launched until next year, but this trailer is definitely worth a watch if this is your kind of thing.

Check it out...

Microsoft revealed a teaser trailer for a new Phantom Dust for Xbox One, bringing back an original Xbox cult classic.

Phil Spencer had spoken recently about possibly bringing back Phantom Dust due to the original following, and Microsoft also reportedly files a trademark application recently that also hinted at it.

At Microsoft's E3 conference today, a teaser trailer for Phantom Dust was shown, and it was pretty awesome. Of course, there's not much detail outside of what we get in the trailer at this point.

Check it out..

Watch gameplay footage from the upcoming Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, set to be released on November 4 this year for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows PCs.

In this gameplay demo video, shown off at Microsoft's E3 conference today, we can witness the "Induction" campaign level, in which a group of Marines drop into battle in Seoul, South Korea.

Kevin Spacey lends his voice and likeness to Jonathan Irons, founder of private military company Atlas, which is at war with America in an attempt to shift the global balance of power.

The video looks pretty neat. You get the immediate impression that it will at least be better than Ghosts was...

Check it out..

Watch this commented co-op demo for Assassin's Creed: Unity showing how you can play with up to three of your friends.

Ubisoft's Vincent Pontbriand showed off Assassin's Creed: Unity at Microsoft's E3 conference, showcasing the game's four-player co-op abilities.

Unity is set in France at the start of the French Revolution, and it looks absolutely beautiful.

In this demo we follow a brotherhood of assassins as they take on French soldiers, but it is easy to be distacted by the extraordinary detail we're seeing on screen. And of course.. the violence, oh the violence. Nothing beats heads on pikes!

Give it a peak..

Tom Clancy's The Division is one of the most anticipated games at the moment, and this gameplay demo is only going to make the wait more frustrating.

In The Division, gamers will work to restore order after a pandemic destroyed society. You will make your way through the streets of New York to combat opposing factions, armed with advanced gadgets and intent tactical gunplay.

It puts a lot of emphasis on team work and cover, and looks like it will be a very good co-op experience.

The Division really turned some heads last year, and it hasn't lost any of its appeal, even though we do have to wait until next year to get hands on it.

Check out this E3 gameplay demo...

Here is a trailer showing off Forza Horizon 2 shown at E3, and details on the Nürburgring free track update for Forza Motorsport 5.

Forza Horizon 2 will launch on Xbox One on September 30, 2014. Playground Games' Ralph Fulton promised that Horizon 2 will run in 1080p, and feature more cars than ever before.

For fans of the Forza Motorsport, you will be happy to know that the Nürburgring is being added today, and it is available for free.

Check out the pretty cars...

Crackdown is coming back on Xbox One, as Microsoft showed off a trailer packed with destruction at E3.

If you enjoyed the original Crackdown then you'll be delighted to see it back. Phil Spencer said that gamers had been requesting its return for some time, but they wanted to make sure it was done right. To ensure that, the creator of the original Crackdown, David Jones, was tapped to head up development.

The trailer shows a whole new city with apparently destructible environments, including destroying buildings with explosives from the air.

Of course, the trailer is way over the top, but it wouldn't be Crackdown otherwise..

Lara Croft will continue her story into the next generation of gaming in 'Rise of the Tomb Raider'.

The announce trailer shown today at Microsoft's pre-E3 press conference shows Croft in a therapy session, while showing flashbacks of her adventures.

In Rise of the Tomb Raider, Croft is being pursued by a shadow organization intent on killing her for what she knows. "She is pushed to her physical and mental limits as she seeks the truth buried deep within the tombs of an ancient world."

"To unravel the mystery of a Lost City, Lara must use her survival skills and wits, learn to trust new friends, and ultimately accept her destiny as the Tomb Raider."

Check out the trailer...

Master Collection includes Halo: Combat Evolved, a re-mastered Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 4 and new digital series Halo: Nightfall.

Additionally, it also will provide access to the Halo 5: Guardians Beta later this year. It was announced today at Microsoft's pre-E3 conference.

The Master Chief Collection at E3, Xbox and developer 343 Industries recreated one of the most iconic moments in the newly re-mastered Halo 2, with a twist by revealing that what the audience is seeing is a holographic projection that is being watched by a new and pivotal character in the Halo universe: Agent Locke.

The more Locke studies Master Chief, the more the audience gets glimpses of Locke, and the dynamic between the characters is gradually revealed, a dynamic that will play out in the soon to be released Halo 5: Guardians.

Despite being a majorly fragmented operating system (at least compared to major rival iOS) Google's latest version of Android, KitKat, has seen its percentage rise relatively quickly.

For the period ended June 4th, 2014, KitKat (versions 4.4.x) controls 13.6 percent share, behind Jelly Bean (4.1x-4.3.x) with the lion's share at 58.4 percent.

Almost inexcusably, Froyo, Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 2.2-4.0.4) still have 27 percent, despite being severely outdated. Many of Google's latest features do not even work on devices with anything older than 4.0.

Google has significantly streamlined the process of updating their operating systems, with many new features coming directly through app updates in the Google Play Store rather than through broader OS updates.

Just a week after its use was banned on Chinese government computers, Windows 8 has now been branded as a threat to national security.

China's national CCTV broadcasted a highly critical story, citing experts who claimed Windows 8 has and will be used to grab personal data about Chinese citizens.

"Microsoft would no longer open its Windows 8 source code to the Chinese government," said Professor Yang Min of Fudan University. "However the security scheme of the Windows 8 operating system is designed to provide better access for Microsoft to users' database." This poses a huge challenge to the nation's security.

Additionally, the report claims Windows 8 was being used by the NSA to collect data from citizens around the globe. "Your identity, account, contact book, phone numbers, all this data can be put together for big data analysis," added Ni Guangnan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. "The data might be a good way for the US to monitor other countries."

As of writing, Google is continuing their rollout of the latest version of Android, 4.4.3 KitKat.

The OTA update is available for the Nexus 5, Nexus 7, and Google Play versions of the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One M7, HTC One M8, and Sony's Z Ultra. Motorola also announced it is available for the T-Mobile Moto X, the unlocked Moto G and the Moto E.

While the update does not offer any truly game changing features, it does improve the dialer significantly, and overhauls the interface of the dialer, as well, with new colors and usability that should make it user friendly. As a Nexus 5 owner, I can attest the update was mainly useless, but the dialer is more usable now.

Popular comedian Louis CK has been quoted that everyone in Australia pirates, which is what explains how people he has talked to in the nation have all seen his show "Louie" despite it not being available in the country legally.

Speaking on the Opie and Anthony radio show last year, the comedian said that even compared to the U.S., the piracy rate in Australia is much higher. CK said, as part of his rant, that "in the U.S., only weirdos pirate, but in Australia, the whole country pirates, even moms and pops."

Australia is well known to have less licensed content available via legal channels, despite being a developed nation. CK agrees with this, noting that it is in many cases easier to pirate.

Here is Louis CK's full (1 minute) rant about the subject:

It appears Nintendo is targeting gameplay footage of Mario Kart 8 on YouTube to have ads placed on them, generating revenue for the Japanese firm.

Nintendo has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism for using YouTube's built-in content ID systems to identify videos containing footage of its games, and then having advertisements placed on them in order to generate revenue.

At first, YouTube uploaders had any revenue generating potential completely removed for these videos, but Nintendo has responded to criticism by promising an affiliate program that will share revenue.

Still, even with shared revenue, YouTubers can expect a significant difference in any revenue generated for gameplay footage (walkthroughs, tips, tricks, reviews etc.) of Nintendo games compared to what they might expect for titles not developed by the firm.

Of course, Nintendo has a right to monetize the use of its content, as does any developer, but given how valuable a resource videomaking gamers can be these days, it seems foolish to hinder their efforts in any way.

What do you think?


Sources and Recommended Reading:
Nintendo begins Mario Kart 8 YouTube video claims: www.gamernode.com

Nintendo dominated in combined global hardware sales for video games consoles for eight years, but now Nintendo's decline and the early success of the PS4 has pushed Sony ahead.

Nintendo is continuing to feel the pain of consumers' less-then-lukewarm reaction to the Wii U console and the decline of its handhelds. The iconic Japanese gamesmaker witnessed its hardware sales slump 31 percent last year, pushing it into second place. Combining the sales of Wii, Wii U and the 3DS console, Nintendo topped 16.3 million hardware unit sales last year.

By comparison, Sony sold almost 19 million hardware units when you combine the PS4, PS3 and PS Vita tally. In its first day, Sony's PlayStation 4 sold over a million units. That figure swelled to 2.1 million within the first week of December, and before the end of the year sales had reached 4.2 million, far more than enough to dethrone Nintendo.

This is the first time in eight consecutive years - since 2006 - that Nintendo didn't top the charts. The incredible success of Nintendo's DS handhelds combined with its dominance (in terms of units) with the Wii compared to Xbox 360 and PS3 in the year days of the generation, helped the Japanese firm to keep its seat at the top of the table.