It's expected that some of the announcements coming at E3 are going to leak, but E3 2019 is looking to set a new record. Much of what's to come at the various E3 press conferences over the next few days has already been spoiled, though today's EA Play has remained notably leak-free (which could have more to say about a lack of surprises than anything else). But Friday night saw a flurry of big upcoming announcements revealed ahead of time.
This particular batch concerned published Bandai Namco's E3 lineup. The most significant of the bunch is undoubtedly the new game from From Software, reportedly called Elden Ring. A new From game would be big news under any circumstances, but this one is a collaboration with George RR Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire--the basis for Game of Thrones. The Elden Ring name and accompanying art are new, but even this leak concerns something that had previously surfaced online; previous reports already stated that Martin and From were working together on a new game.
Bandai's other leaks concerned a Ni no Kuni remaster and a new RPG in its Tales of series called Tales of Arise. It's unclear how this occurred--the three leaks were in such rapid-fire succession that it seems as if the publisher had some kind of security issue. Whatever the particulars, Bandai Namco's Katsuhiro Harada summed things up nicely:
All of this follows the very credible-looking leak of a video from Bleeding Edge, the new game from DMC: Devil May Cry and Hellblade developer Ninja Theory. And the retailer listing for Watch Dogs Legion, prompting Ubisoft to confirm the game ahead of its press conference. And Destiny 2 dataminers discovering cross-save support and a new Shadowkeep expansion that takes players back to the moon. And Baldur's Gate III, the existence of which was buried in markup code on Larian Studio's teaser website. And Death Stranding's release date, published on PlayStation Taiwan's Facebook account. And Call of Duty 2019 being a new Modern Warfare.
And so on.
This is to say nothing of other leaks that we're still waiting for clearer confirmation of, such as the next-gen Xbox console, Fable 4, Ubisoft Play, and Ubisoft's roller derby game. With more than a day to go before most of the press conferences get underway, there's still time for even more to leak.
At this rate, don't be surprised if there's nothing left to be surprised by.
And it's confirmed! FIFA 20 is getting a street football mode called Volta Football. A fully-featured, less serious 'jumpers for goalposts' mode, it'll offer up 3v3 Rush (no goalkeepers), 4v4, 4v4 Rush, 5v5 and Professional Futsal play types.
Arenas with and without walls from across the world will be included, with customisable player avatars, a story mode, online leagues and more. It'll only be available in the PS5, Xbox One and PC versions of the game though, skipping out on the Nintendo Switch, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.
Here's the trailer:
The original story follows below...
We're just hours away from the EA Play live-stream at E3 2019 kicking off, where we're expecting to get all the official details on FIFA 20. But has one of its biggest, most-wanted features already been teased?
Yes football fans, FIFA 20 could be getting a five-a-side indoor football mode.
The rumor comes from the below teaser trailer shared by EA, which we've embedded below:
8.6.19 #FIFA20 #EAPLAY 👀 https://t.co/aHA9Vq8fg6 pic.twitter.com/TEKuEU7ACW6 June 2019
It features a 'V' symbol, which many fans online believe refers to The Vault, a new mode that will include indoor five-a-side football modes. The trailer also includes an outline image which seems to represent a five-a-side pitch, as well as the previous tagline "the stadium is anywhere". An eagle-eyed drone also saw that EA has built a five-a-side pitch where it is broadcasting its EA Play event.
FIFA back on the streets?
FIFA Street was the last time we had a full game about street and indoor football, which came out back in 2012, but we haven't seen it included as a mode for a mainline title since FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 back on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64.
There was a tease of what could be achieved by a current-gen mini-match and indoor set up back in FIFA 19 however, where its The Journey Story mode saw star player Alex Hunter compete in a three-a-side match in Venice Beach, California. Could we see multiple different pitch surface types, and the different ball physics that would be associated with that?
If you're wondering what it used to look like, check it out in action back in the glory days of FIFA: Road to World Cup 98, the same year when you could turn off the referee, and it had a dirty tackle button. It was like playing football in Mad Max's Thunderdome...
E3 2019 is the biggest gaming event of the year. TechRadar is reporting live from LA, telling you all about the biggest announcements of the week, from epic game trailers to shocking release date reveals. Follow our expert analysis of the keynotes and what we see on the E3 show floor.
Google has been busy updating Google Maps in the past month, first rolling out speed limit indicators and then speed camera alerts. The latest feature to join Google's mapping app is a speedometer that shows up while you're driving. While yes, of course your car already has one, the idea is to be able to see your speed in a glance if you're already looking at the app to check on directions -- and keep your eyes on the road rather than darting back and forth between the app and your dashboard speedometer.
Google is currently rolling this out, so you might need to be patient if you don't have it yet. You can check the Maps app settings to see if you have it.
Here's how to turn on the latest features.
Screenshot by Katie Conner/CNET
Turn on the speedometer
1. Open your Google Maps app.
2. Tap on the three stacked lines and scroll down to the bottom of your screen.
3. Select Settings.
4. Tap Navigation Settings.
5. Scroll down to the Driving Options menu and slide the toggle on for Speedometer. If you don't see this option, you probably don't have this new feature yet.
Report a speed camera trap
1. Open your Google Maps app.
2. Type in your destination to start navigating -- you can only report the speed cameras if you're in navigation mode.
3. Tap the speech bubble icon with the plus sign.
4. Select Mobile speed camera.
5. A popup message will appear that says "Adding mobile speed camera to the map."
6. If you didn't mean to report anything, you have a few seconds to cancel by tapping the circle that says Undo.
Now playing:Watch this:
Incognito mode comes to Google Maps
2:58
Report an incident, like a car crash or a traffic jam
1. Open your Google Maps app.
2. Type in your destination to start navigating -- you can only report incidents if you're in navigation mode.
3. When you're on the road and you see a wreck or a slowdown, tap the speech bubble icon with the plus sign.
4. Tap Add a report.
5. Select crash or slowdown. A message will appear that says "Adding [crash, slowdown] to the map." You can click Undo if you don't want to send it.
When engineers train AI agents to play video games, they often do so at an accelerated rate, having the bot go through hours of human-speed gameplay in a matter of minutes to stress-test its capabilities. Unfortunately, no such shortcut exists when developing AI that controls machines in the real world. You can’t fast-forward reality.
Well, you can if you simulate it, which is what Amazon is doing to test its new Scout delivery robot. Speaking to The Verge, Scout VP Sean Scott explains that the company has created detailed virtual maps of American suburbia to accelerate development of the bot. It’s collected 3D data, real-life textures, and modeled the sidewalk down to the storm drains.
“We can run thousands of deliveries in simulation overnight versus taking a bot outside in the real world,” Scott says. “The bot doesn’t actually know it’s in a simulation. It thinks it’s in the real world, which is pretty cool.”
Think of it like The Matrix butfor delivery robots.
Scott adds that he doesn’t know of any other company “talking about this level of fidelity at this scale for this type of training,” and that Amazon’s other training apparatus include an indoor robot park, and special rigs to test the resilience of the bot’s wheels.
Being able to speed up development is important for Amazon, not least of all because it’s a relatively late entrant in the delivery robot game. The company only unveiled its six-wheeled, cooler-sized robot back in January, but a huge range of startups have been building robots in this space for years, testing them in small neighborhoods and closed environments likes offices and campuses.
Of course, if any company is going to make this tech a reality, it’s probably Amazon. Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos boasts of his company’s ability to pour huge financial resources into projects like this, and Amazon loves to experiment with weird delivery options, from drivers that leave packages inside your home to transforming delivery drones.
Scott says the focus in Scout’s development is just the opposite: making sure the robots don’t come across as unusual but as a natural part of the environment. That’s accomplished partly through industrial design, he says, with Scout’s friendly curves, toy-like rubber tires, and chirpy blue paint job giving it a distinctly nonthreatening vibe. “We want the robot to fade into the background,” he says. “We call it ‘design for boring.’”
It also means modeling Scout’s physical behavior. Like all delivery robots, this is a machine that has to work alongside humans, navigating in a way that doesn’t irritate or endanger pedestrians. That means making way for children, pets, prams, and the elderly, but not letting this deference turn into indecisiveness.
It’s a tricky balance to strike, as self-driving cars have demonstrated. Studies show that pedestrians, drivers, and cyclists are likely to take advantage of any overly cautious software design, bullying the autonomous vehicles off the road.
Amazon is confident that it’s on the right path. As an example, Scott proudly shows off two videos of Scout encountering the same neighborhood dog. In the first, the dog is alert and inquisitive, wary of this new arrival in its territory. In the second, it barely pays attention to the bot. “What better way to gauge response than from a pet like this,” he says.
Right now, Amazon’s operations are very limited compared to its rivals. It has just a handful of delivery robots operating in Snohomish County in Washington, and each has to be accompanied by human overseers to make sure the robot doesn’t get into trouble.
The company won’t say where or when it plans to expand these tests, but Scott says its simulations will help it move into new territories, allowing engineers to test the bot’s autonomous driving skills in the virtual world before the rubber hits unfamiliar roads. “The next step is to capture other geographies [and] start testing in simulation. And then, eventually, we’ll be delivering around the world.”
This is big talk, but it’s clear that Amazon — like other companies in this area — still has to work out a lot of kinks before delivery robots become commonplace. Beyond issues of reliability and safety, there are practical matters, like simply getting the package to the customer.
Amazon’s Scout robot can’t climb steps, so for the moment the company’s helpers have to take deliveries out of the robot and hand them over on the doorstep. (Some companies are considering legged robots to make this process easier.) There are also possible regulatory challenges, with some cities like San Francisco branding delivery robots a nuisance and banning them from the sidewalk completely.
Scott says the best way to prove that delivery robots can work is to just make delivery robots that work — starting with the virtual world and then the sidewalk. “We have a ladder to the Moon ... but we’ve only made it to the first rung of the ladder,” he says. “We’re learning lots, and we’re just getting started.”
E3 2019 officially kicks off next week, but the true highlights of the show--the press conferences that directly precede it--have already begun. We've seen a Pokemon Sword / Shield Direct and Google's Stadia Connect, but there are still plenty to come from the likes of Xbox, Nintendo, Bethesda, Ubisoft, and Square Enix, among others. Below, you'll find a schedule of each press conference taking place along with details on how to watch them live. Afterward, come back here to find our news recaps and other essential information. Oh, and if you're looking for an E3 press conference schedule with UK times, we've got you covered.
Numerous announcements continue to leak, and some of the latest include what might be Bandai Namco's entire E3 lineup. Most notable of those is Elden Ring, a new game from From Software (of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro fame) and George RR Martin (author of A Song of Ice and Fire, the novels Game of Thrones is based on). That was leaked at roughly the same time as Ni no Kuni Remastered and Tales of Arise.
E3 2019 Schedule Overview
June 6, 9 AM PT -- Google Stadia Connect
June 8, 9:15 AM PT -- EA Play Livestreams
June 8, 11 AM PT -- Nintendo Invitational Tournaments
June 9, 1 PM PT -- Microsoft Press Conference
June 9, 5:30 PM PT -- Bethesda Press Conference
June 9, 7 PM PT -- Devolver Press Conference
June 10, 10 AM PT -- PC Gaming Show
June 10, 12 PM PT -- Limited Run Games Press Conference
June 10, 1 PM PT -- Ubisoft Press Conference
June 10, 4:30 PM PT -- Kinda Funny Showcase
June 10, 6 PM PT -- Square Enix Press Conference
June 11, 9 AM PT -- Nintendo Direct Showcase
The next big event is Electronic Arts' EA Play. While EA isn't holding a formal press conference, it is hosting a series of streams focusing on its game library for the year. Those will begin on Saturday morning, June 8, and detail games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Madden and FIFA 20, and future plans for Apex Legends and Battlefield V.
E3 itself will once again be held in Los Angeles, California at the Los Angeles Convention Center, but this year's E3 will be a bit different, as it continues to move in somewhat of a new direction. Sony will not attend the show or host its usual press conference. E3 proper is still hosting many big-name developers and publishers, including Microsoft, Nintendo, Bethesda, and Square Enix, which will surely deliver announcements on new games, new trailers, and more news.
One thing is clear: Even if we now know every event that's happening over the next two weeks, we won't be lacking a surplus of game news over the next week and a half. Expect plenty more rumors and leaks, too--one of the latest, Ninja Theory's new game, is sure to pop up during the Xbox press conference.
Below, you'll find an in-depth breakdown of what to expect, how to watch each briefing live, and where to find our liveblogs.
E3 2019 Press Conference Schedule
Thursday, June 6
Google - 9 AM PT
Google held its Stadia Connect event on June 6, revealing both new games and a ton of core details about the service. Baldur's Gate III was shown to be real, Destiny 2's Shadowkeep DLC was unveiled and we heard the first confirmation about cross-save support, and we got a price, release date, and more for the Stadia cloud streaming service itself. Stadia Pro will launch later this year as a part of the Founder's Edition, with a freely accessible version of Stadia, Stadia Base, coming next year.
Saturday, June 8
Electronic Arts - 9:15 AM PT
The EA Play event runs from June 8-9 and takes place at the Hollywood Palladium. Attendees can play unreleased EA games, but there will not be a traditional press conference. Instead, EA will host a series of livestreams on Saturday to showcase a variety of games. We know that Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order will be there, as will Apex Legends (specifically, the reveal of Season 2), Battlefield V, the upcoming slate of EA Sports games, and "more."
The company has now also provided an EA Play schedule for when each game will be featured during the stream; you can see that below in Pacific Time. Everything gets underway on June 8 at 9:15 AM PT / 12:15 PM ET / 5:15 PM BST (2:15 AM AET on June 9).
9:15 AM: Countdown to EA Play
9:30 AM: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (Hosted by Greg Miller and Andrea Rene)
10:00 AM: Apex Legends (Hosted by Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez)
10:30 AM: Battlefield (Hosted by Julia Hardy and Adam Freeman)
11:00 AM: FIFA 20 (Hosted by Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez)
11:30 AM: Madden NFL 20 (Hosted by Adam Rank)
12:00 PM: The Sims 4 (Hosted by Andrea Rene)
Nintendo Esports - 11 AM PT
The Mario company is holding an esports tournament in Los Angeles just prior to the start of E3. The Super Mario Maker 2 Invitational 2019, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate World Championship 2019 3v3 tournament, and the Splatoon 2 World Championship 2019 tournament will be held on June 8. All of this starts at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET / 7 PM BST (4 AM AET on June 9)
Sunday, June 9
Microsoft - 1 PM PT
Microsoft has scheduled its traditional Xbox-focused conference for June 9 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AET on June 10). The company plans to "go big," according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer. Microsoft is expected to potentially announce its new console(s) and share more details about Halo Infinite during its press conference, but nothing has been specifically confirmed. Phil Spencer has, however, teased that 14 first-party games will be on display during the event, including those from some of the studios that Microsoft acquired last year. Most recently, Xbox teased it's bringing "something new" to the show, the curious wording of which might point to some kind of exciting reveal.
Bethesda - 5:30 PM PT
Bethesda's traditional press conference is held on June 9 at 5:30 PM PT / 8:30 PM ET (1:30 AM BST / 10 AM AET on June 10). The company is not expected to talk about The Elder Scrolls 6 or Starfield, but bear in mind Bethesda as a publisher is involved with games like Doom Eternal, Rage 2, and much more than just the output of Bethesda Game Studios.
Devolver Digital - 7 PM PT
The indie publisher is back once again this year with a press conference scheduled for 7 PM PT / 10 PM ET (3 AM BST / 12 PM AET on June 10). There's little indication of what to expect, but the company has a history of unorthodox press conferences and a quality slate of games.
Monday, June 10
PC Gaming Show - 10 AM PT
The PC-focused briefing takes place on June 10 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST (3 AM AET on June 11). This year, the PC Gamer-run show has partnered with the Epic Games Store and should bring more news and announcements regarding computer games. Among those confirmed for the show are Evil Genius 2 and a "major" unannounced title from Rebellion.
Limited Run Games - 12 PM PT
The company responsible for releasing physical versions of digital-only Switch, PS4, and PS Vita titles is holding a conference on June 10 at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET / 8 PM BST (5 AM AET on June 11). No exact announcements have been revealed, but Limited Run plans on showcasing "several upcoming releases" as well as the entire schedule for remaining Vita titles.
Ubisoft - 1 PM PT
The Assassin's Creed company will hold its briefing on June 10 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AET on June 11). Little is known about what Ubisoft will talk about, but Watch Dogs Legion is now confirmed for the conference following its leak. There's also recently been talk of a new Splinter Cell, but nothing has been confirmed yet on that front. We're sure to hear more about Ghost Recon Breakpoint, the Wildlands sequel that releases later this year. A Ubisoft rollerblading game has leaked and, if real, will presumably show up during this press conference too.
Kinda Funny - 4:30 PM PT
Media company Kinda Funny Games will be hosting an event of its own, not unlike what it did this past December. It's set to take place at on June 10 at 4:30 PM PT / 7:30 PM ET (12:30 AM BST / 9:30 AM AET on June 11). No specific announcements have been teased, although December's event did bring some news and extended looks at a variety of games.
Square Enix - 6 PM ET
For the second year in a row, the RPG giant is holding its own live E3 presentation. This year, the broadcast will take place on June 10 at 6 PM ET / 9 PM PT (2 AM BST / 11 AM AET on June 11)--the time slot that Sony's PlayStation briefing traditionally occupies. Square Enix teases that this year's presentation will showcase "another exciting line up of titles," one of which is likely to be Final Fantasy VII Remake. Besides that, Square Enix will officially reveal Marvel's Avengers.
Tuesday, June 11
Nintendo - 9 AM PT
As the company typically does, Nintendo is airing a pre-recorded Nintendo Direct presentation on the Tuesday morning of E3 week. The broadcast begins on June 11 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 5 PM BST (2 AM AET on June 12) and will offer viewers a look at "Nintendo Switch games coming in 2019." Afterward, the company will air its annual Treehouse livestream, which will continue throughout the rest of E3 week. This all follows the June 5 Pokemon Direct that further detailed Nintendo Switch's Pokemon Sword and Shield.
June 11-13
E3 2019's show floor is open June 11-13. Like the two previous years, tickets to the event were sold publicly.
Apple's WWDC 2019 conference in San Jose, California
Stephen Shankland/CNET
"Apple builds things that people want to buy." Seems like an obvious sentiment, coming from the executive who leads software development at one of the world's most successful tech companies. But that comment underscores why Craig Federighi spent so much time highlighting new privacy features in the operating systems that power the iPhone, iPad and Mac at the start of Apple's developers conference on Monday.
"Our business model is one that doesn't require exploiting customers personal information in order to fund our operations," Federighi said in an interview on opening day of Apple's WWDC. "If fundamentally you're depending...on building massive centralized hordes of personal data that you find ways to monetize, that's intrinsically hostile to privacy. That's just fundamentally not how we work in anything we do."
It's an important selling point for Apple, as Federighi, Apple CEO Tim Cook and privacy chief Bud Tribble have emphasized in interviews this week. And it comes at a time when consumers, reeling from privacy blunders at Facebook and Google in the last year, are asking more questions about how -- and why -- their personal information is being co-opted by tech companies.
For Apple, talking about privacy translated into a new single sign-in service -- called Sign In with Apple -- to replace the sign-in option commonly used by social media networks to help you navigate access to apps and online services. It will also mean having developers ask for your permission every time they want personal information, like your location, and spell out how that data is being used.
Here are edited highlights of what Federighi had to say in our conversation.
On privacy: Privacy is foundational to Apple. You could go back to the very beginnings of the company. I saw an interview with Steve [Jobs] in the late '70s where he was talking about how, in time-shared computers, they weren't really personal. All of your data was on someone else's thing, and then an Apple II was a very personal device because it's yours. You own it, you have your discs, that's your data. This has been foundational to how we think about computers. And of course our business model is one that doesn't require exploiting customers personal information in order to fund our operations. We build things that people want to buy and we sell them to them. That's a really pure arrangement.
Many other companies are now adopting this rhetoric of privacy. And honestly I think it's just watering down the word. We're going to end up needing to have come up with a new word for what privacy is... I don't think saying that, "Hey, we've got a switch that you can go into incognito mode or privacy mode every once in a while is great, we're a privacy company, we gave you control." No, if fundamentally you're depending on most people not throwing that switch and on building massive centralized hoards of personal data that you find ways to monetize, that's intrinsically hostile to privacy. That's just fundamentally not how we work in anything we do.
Craig Federighi talks iOS 13 at WWDC 2019.
Jason Hiner/CNET
On the evolution of the iPad: We had a consistent point of view about iPad and where it's been going all along. Other companies may have entered the tablet space opportunistically or with some kind of very narrow goals around maybe just entertainment. But from the outset, we saw a place for iPad that was better for many things than either of the alternatives -- of a device in your pocket or a laptop. And we've continued -- whether you look at our hardware or software and those of course evolve in tandem -- to push that experience further and further. So what you saw today is just a continuing result of what we've been doing since the beginning of iPad.
There's a symbiosis between the continuing, amazing hardware innovations that have come to iPad and the software things we can accomplish with that power. You look at today's iPad Pro and it is more powerful than ... the vast majority of PCs out there in terms of its microprocessor [and] in terms of its graphics.
It is in every respect a powerhouse system, but with a unique form factor.
Compare that to where iPad started. It wasn't a capable PC replacement or anything like that at the time. Technology now is sort of the sky's the limit. We continue to evolve what, what we can make of what we can enable with iPad as that hardware evolves. And we've really just gotten to a place where I think it's incredible.
On creating the iPadOS: The fact that we decided today to really recognize where we are with the new name of iPadOS was because we felt like when you take collectively where iPad has gone, over this now many, many years of major improvements and the role that iPad is now playing in many people's lives, we think it's a distinct experience.
Our names around our operating systems are ultimately about reflecting unique experiences.
There's an experience with TVOS. It's a different experience than you have when you use WatchOS, which is a different experience than you have when you use iOS on your iPhone. Underlying those platforms is a ton of common technology.
But when we started to look at the totality of the distinct experiences that constitute iPad, things like we talked about this morning, whether it's a slideover or split-view multiwindow multitasking -- on an iPhone, you just don't have two documents open simultaneously for a given application. Now on iPad, you can have as many as you want, spread across as many spaces as you want, preconfigured.
When you talk about Apple Pencil and everything that affords, or the power of now dragging and dropping in a multitasking environment, it just has become a truly distinct experience.
And it's not an iPhone experience. It's not a Mac experience. It's an iPad experience.
The name is ultimately a recognition of where we've gotten to over the entire lifetime of the iPad. And so we just keep our foot on the gas in this regard.
Now playing:Watch this:
WWDC 2019: Mac Pro, iOS 13, MacOS and more...
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On the iPad being a replacement for your PC -- sort of: It totally depends on how you use your PC. So for instance, for me ... iPad has come to consume the majority of my time using a digital device. I am a software engineer by training and by passion. But iPad does so much for me that I'm naturally reaching for it more than any other device -- honestly, more than my phone, more than my Mac. Now that's me and the things I do.
Many people at Apple, they want multiple monitors, they want everything else that the Mac contains. And we keep pushing the limits as you saw this morning on what a Mac can do.
So I do think depending on who you are, we've continued to expand the domain where one would say iPad is the best solution for many, many people.
If you look at some of the things we announced this morning -- desktop browsing. This had been a situation where for many people -- "OK, iPad's great for me, but boy I go to some websites and suddenly I'm getting this watered-down experience. I can't take advantage of the full power of [what] these websites are, especially these web apps." Now that's gone. If that is your important use case, this device is suddenly fantastic.
File management -- we have incrementally made progress on file management, but this year you talk about connecting to remote file servers, connecting to external storage, being able to manipulate files in the file system, zipping them and unzipping them ... Things that in many people's workflow are just so central to what they do. In the past, that's been a barrier. That barrier is gone.
So depending on who you are and what you do, iPad is becoming the best device for many, many people. And we're not forcing that. If they want to buy a Mac, we're totally good with that as well.
Federighi introduced iPadOS at WWDC 2019.
Jason Hiner/CNET
On the iPad and Mac remaining separate: We're not trying to drive a convergence of the user experience because that would suppose that the right user experience was actually the same for a device you're going to hold in your hand and mostly manipulate with your fingers to a device that's on a table to a device that's in your pocket.
And so we're trying to allow each of these devices to have an experience that best expresses that form factor and that use case. And that's partly what we're recognizing with the distinct name.
We haven't erected some new technology boundary between iOS and iPadOS. In that respect it will be the same as always in terms of the kind of compatibility you see, in terms of release schedules for improvements, in terms of developers ability to produce universal apps that run a single code base that run across both.
But what we are signaling and continuing to signal is if you're a developer who's building an app for iPad, we love the apps that take advantage of what makes a great iPad app -- and we keep extending what that means.
If you really consider where you can spend money on tools to make your life better, these devices are central to how most of us get our work done, how we entertain ourselves. And so, certainly for many people you're going to have all the tools, and you're going to use each of them in the role that makes most sense for you.
That's why we engineered experiences like continuity and iCloud to make sure that you can move across them without thinking about it. And that's how I work. I don't think about, "Oh, well, that thing is on my iPad. I guess I better go over there." I just work across all my devices. And so I don't see it as necessarily for the vast majority people pushing the Mac out. It may be that the kinds of things they choose to do on their Mac, some of that is now the hours they spend on their iPad instead of on their Mac.
On how the Mac still has plenty of big proponents: Having a big screen, having multiple monitors, is really great with the Mac. The Mac is a great hobbyist environment in terms of being able to get custom tools, work at the terminal level. It's a Swiss Army knife in terms of its capabilities to do so many things.
On Sign In with Apple: These set of capabilities that we talked about today are just one in a list that we've established over, honestly, decades of working on this. If you look at iOS from the outset, we were building protections into the way apps are firewalled off from just reaching into your personal information and making sure we put you in control of those things. As the way people use apps and as the internet ecosystem evolves, it's an ongoing race for us to make sure that we're providing the most important capabilities to protect privacy.
These social logins, having credentials that become well known and are shared across sites tied to your identity and used to correlate information from many sources, as well as just the absolutely nearly direct sharing of information -- let's learn all this stuff about this user -- has become we think of significant concern…
We wanted to take the next logical step in this and provide an account that in its very nature doesn't expose your identity to the third party. And what's interesting is for most developers actually they just want a really low-friction way for you to start using their app. They want to say, "OK, download the app. I want the person to be in and enjoying my app, not be sort of repelled at the gates." They want to get them in and get them experiencing their application.
And one of the easiest ways to do that has been to make this bargain around these social logins. And now we're giving them an alternative.
Federighi talks about the iPad becoming becoming more capable for more scenarios.
Jason Hiner/CNET
On not having concerns about using the number 13 for iOS: 13 is not unlucky and we're not superstitious people. So we're cool. We're happy to blaze ahead with the number 13.
On dark mode in iOS 13:Dark mode is honestly something that has just massive appeal. When we released it last year for Mojave on the Mac, I mean we've been blown by the fraction of Mojave users that are running in dark mode all the time. And on the phone, you tend to use that device in low-light environments and on OLED, you even get some battery savings. So we expect it to be just hugely popular and honestly, it just looks really cool. Those of us who run it, it feels new.
On Catalyst bringing iOS apps to the Mac. We think making it possible for a developer who's already invested in building that great iPad experience to be able to bring it to the Mac and make it super easy for them. With relatively little investment in tuning the experience for the Mac, they can end up with a really great app. And that's what we're seeing in our own internal efforts on this front in terms of our own adoption as well as the third parties we brought in … We think it's just gonna mean a much bigger market for apps.
If you can now have a single team that's going to work across all these technologies, [then it's a win]. When you talk to developers, this is a central theme we hear. They say, "I've got a group of people who understand a certain set of technologies and frameworks. They've got the skills to build an iOS app. They have one code base they're working on. If you want me to move to a new platform then I have to hire some different people with different skills and I now have to maintain another code base. Wow, that's a heavy decision for me to make. [But] if you let me take that same team -- not the same code base, [but only have to] do a little bit of extra work and now reach a much larger market, then I'm in."
Google has finally shared the release details for Stadia, the cloud-based game streaming platform it revealed back in March. During the Google Stadia Connect event right before E3 2019, the company announced that Stadia will first launch in November 2019 as part of a special Founder's Edition for early adopters, with the free Stadia Base for everyone else following in 2020. You can pre-order the Stadia Founder's Edition right now.
Unlike conventional platforms, Stadia is a cloud-based gaming service, with games running remotely on dedicated servers while seamlessly streaming to nearly any device that can support Google's Chrome browser. This theoretically enables players to access cutting edge games without investing in cutting edge hardware, along with a host of other interesting perks, such as the ability to jump directly from watching a streamer play something into trying and then buying the game. We got our hands on Stadia at an event earlier, and were broadly impressed, if a little skeptical about the effect of variable connection speed and input lag on twitchy games like Doom (2016), despite Google's assurances that it will not be an issue.
The only physical hardware included in Stadia is its controller, which uses Wi-Fi to connect directly to the remote data center running the game. Selling for $69, it's largely a standard gamepad, with the addition of buttons for easily capturing footage and for calling up Google Assistant to ask for in-game help.
Some big games and content was announced during the Stadia Connect event, including Baldur's Gate III and Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. You can check out our news recap for more details on all of that; below you'll get the rundown on the core details on what we learned about Stadia.
Stadia Founder's Edition
Available for pre-order now, the Founder's Edition is the only way to access Stadia at launch in November 2019. Selling for $130 from Google, the Stadia Founder's Edition includes:
A limited-edition night blue controller
A Chromecast Ultra
A three-month subscription to the Stadia Pro service
First dibs on your Stadia Name
A three-month Buddy Pass to Stadia Pro for a friend
Starting in 2020, Stadia will be available to anyone with a controller and a compatible device--at first that will include any computer with a Chrome browser and a Pixel 3 or 3a phone. Users will be able to buy and keep games, granting unlimited access to their library from anywhere at up to 1080p/60fps with stereo sound. This is known as Stadia Base.
Stadia Pro
To get the complete Stadia experience, you'll need to pay $10 per month for access to Stadia Pro, the accompanying subscription service, which includes everything from the Base experience with the addition of:
Streaming up to 4K/60fps/HDR in 5.1 surround sound
Access to a library of free games for the duration of your subscription (like Xbox Game Pass)
Exclusive discounts on purchasing games (for full access even with a lapsed subscription)
For a limited time, access to the complete Destiny 2 experience, including all previous and upcoming add-ons
Stadia Launch Countries
Stadia will launch in November in 14 countries, with more regions following in 2020: US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland.
Stadia Launch Titles
Stadia will launch with more than 30 titles, including some brand new, hotly-anticipated releases, such as Doom Eternal and Borderlands 3.
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