The 5 most memorable moments of E3 2018

16/06/2018 - 14:59:26Back to Heathrow Tech Home

The consoles have been powered down and the doors of the convention centre have closed to the more than 69,000 attendees – E3 2018 is now consigned to the history books.

From Call Of Duty to Fifa 19 and The Last Of Us Part II, some of the industry’s biggest names were on show during the three-day trade show.

Here’s a look at some of the show’s biggest moments.

1. Cyberpunk 2077 revealed at Xbox

Ahead of E3 there had been lots of rumours about CD Project Red – the studio behind the critically acclaimed The Witcher series – and its next game.

Talk of a game based on the classic tabletop game Cyberpunk 2020 had caught the imagination, but as Xbox boss Phil Spencer started giving his closing remarks it seemed as if it wasn’t to be this year.

But then the Xbox stage appeared to be hacked – thoughts for a moment turned to a possible new Watch Dogs game – before it suddenly appeared in front of us. Night City, the setting of Cyberpunk 2077.

The first trailer showed a dystopian future world full of gangsters, neon and opportunity.

2. Andrew W.K. opens Bethesda’s showcase

Bethesda has a reputation for being big, bold and loud when it comes its E3 event, and in 2018 it decided to push that even further when showing gameplay from Rage 2 for the first time.

To provide a live soundtrack to the footage for those in the crowd was singer Andrew WK, whose wild rock performance was the perfect accompaniment for the frenetic post-apocalyptic shooter.

As a way of grabbing the attention at the start of a video game reveal, it also worked a treat.

Check out the opening few minutes of the video above and you’ll get the idea.

3. Sony goes immersive for The Last Of Us Part 2

Anticipation for Sony’s E3 announcements was understandably high – triple AAA adventures Ghost Of Tsushima and The Last Of Us Part 2 were both expected to be part of the announcements.

What unfolded at the event was much more unexpected however, as PlayStation opted for an immersive theatre approach, making attendees stand in a replica of the church that appears at the beginning of The Last Of Us trailer.

Standing room only at the mysterious PlayStation E3 press conference pic.twitter.com/O8gfxLmict

— Martyn Landi (@MartynLandi) June 12, 2018

Sony are taking us on something of a journey - from the church that featured in the Last of Us trailer now through a garden and into another tent for the next preview... pic.twitter.com/urvInYCY0d

— Martyn Landi (@MartynLandi) June 12, 2018

As a way of immersing viewers in the room into a game’s universe it was a potent few moments, until the waves of cameras and smartphones appeared above heads, blocking the view for anyone not at the very front of the room.

4. Fortnite on the Switch

For all that is happening in the world of gaming, few titles are grabbing more headlines or expanding its fanbase in the way that Fortnite is.

The now infamous Walmart Canada leak earlier this year suggested the battle royale game would make the jump to the Nintendo Switch this year, and at E3 the Japanese gaming giant confirmed the news.

What followed was a rush of downloads – two million people downloaded the game on the Switch in its first 24 hours of availability.

But there was also some controversy as Sony were criticised for not supporting cross-play capabilities between the PS4 and Nintendo Switch – meaning gamers on PS4 currently aren’t able to carry their progress between the two platforms, something which is possible between the Xbox and Switch systems.

5. Ubisoft’s Just Dance flashmob

Another way to grab the attention when you’re opening a press conference is to use a fancy dress flashmob.

That’s exactly what Ubisoft did to reveal Just Dance 2019 – with a vibrant marching band led by a panda dancing their way to the stage to confirm the upcoming game.

There was no gameplay shown – but that’s arguably beside the point when it comes to Just Dance – instead, everyone just had a good time.

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You can now dissect an adorable tabby cat in VR

Motion gesture software firm Leap Motion has debuted its latest augmented reality developments with a feature involving a cat and its hand-tracking technology.

The company says the fourth generation of its Orion VR tracking software is much improved, including more accurate shape and size for hands, better finger dexterity and smoother tracking.

To show off the improvements, it has released a range of downloadable demonstrations, including the Cat Explorer.

The explorer is designed to show how VR and motion tracking could work in an educational context, by allowing the user to investigate the cat’s body through hand movements.

Users can swipe over the body to see organs, move the cat around and select which layer of its body they wish to see.

“Instead of learning how to use a controller, Cat Explorer encourages you to learn through play and experimentation,” Leap Motion’s website says.

“With no instructions, previous experience or training, people can dive into the space and quickly understand what to do.”

Other demonstrations include Particles, which lets the user play with tiny balls to explore key rules of physics like attraction, and Paint, which does what it says on the tin.

Owners of an HTC Vive or Oculus Rift can try out the demonstrations by downloading the Leap Motion Orion software.

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Wagamama launches bill-free payment app

Restaurant chain Wagamama has launched a payment app allowing diners to order, eat and walk out without waiting for the bill.

The chain said the wagamamago app will save diners an average of 12 minutes at every meal by not having to wait for the bill to arrive and then go through the process of paying.

Diners open the app on entering the restaurant, which supplies a four digit code to be given to the waiter to pair with the till.

The technology, run by Mastercard, stores card details and takes payment automatically, with the receipt emailed to the bill-payer.

The free app is available on iOS and Android (Wagamama/PA)

Wagamama customer director Emma Woods said: “We wanted to bring truly frictionless payment to restaurants as we know waiting for the bill is frustrating.

“No more waving your hand in the air, trying to catch the waiter’s eye, once you’re ready you just go, and customers are automatically charged with the receipt emailed directly.

“Customers are accustomed to one-click payments for online retailers and walk-out payments from Uber, but there hasn’t been an app offering all of these functions for restaurants, which is what we have now created.”

Wagamama chief information officer Richard Tallboy said he thought of the idea while at the chain’s busiest restaurant at Heathrow Terminal 5, where diners wanted to leave quickly after meals to get to the departure lounge in time.

He said: “We wanted to make the dining experience easier and still retain the interaction of the waiter because we didn’t want a restaurant full of people ordering food on their mobile devices and not enjoying the experience.

“Getting the bill is the last thing a customer experiences and it was important that this be quick and stress-free for our customers.”

The free app, available on iOS and Android, also allows customers to order more items from their phone, split the bill and pre-order takeaway.

Jennifer Macrae, vice president of product innovation at Mastercard, said: “We are bringing our digital ordering and payment technology – Qkr – into an app tailor-made for Wagamama’s loyal customers.

“We can adapt this technology to any kind of restaurant and Wagamama is the first to use it in this way, allowing customers to order from phones, and simply walk away.”

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Fingerprint authentication added to Amazon’s in-home delivery service app

Amazon Key has added another layer of security by updating its app to include fingerprint authentication.

The Amazon Key service, made available in the United States last November, allows customers to have their packages securely delivered inside their home without having to be there.

The app works with a smart lock and an Amazon Cloud Cam, which allows users to grant delivery access to their house and monitor everything through a security camera.

The app has now been updated to include fingerprint authentication, meaning that access to remotely lock and unlock their doors is more protected.

(kasinv/Getty Images)

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to Press Association that fingerprint authentication is now available on Android, but the company has not yet released details as to when the update will be coming to iOS.

Users can grant guests – for example cleaners or dog walkers – a code to enter their home. Amazon couriers do not use a code, but are granted access via the cloud once an encrypted authentication process has been passed and the camera has begun recording.

When Amazon Key was first announced, Peter Larsen, vice president of delivery technology, said: “Amazon Key gives customers peace of mind knowing their orders have been safely delivered to their homes and are waiting for them when they walk through their doors.

“Prime members can select in-home delivery and conveniently see their packages being delivered right from their mobile phones.”

Amazon Key is currently available in 37 cities and surrounding areas across the United States.

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Snapchat introduces create your own Lens tool

Snapchat is to allow users in the UK to buy and create their own personalised in-app Lenses for the first time.

The Snapchat Lens is the popular face and voice-changing tool found in the app’s front-facing camera and is used by more than 70 million people every day, according to the photo sharing app.

The new personalisation feature will enable users to choose from more than 150 face-editing templates and customise them with text and emoji before sharing them on the platform, with prices starting at £5.99, Snapchat confirmed.

It’s ideal for use on special occasions like birthdays (Snapchat/PA)

Users can set time and location restrictions on the Lens filters, with the social app calling them ideal for use at special occasions such as weddings or birthdays.

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It can be found online at snapchat.com/create or through the Settings section of the app.

The new Lens tool will be available to Snapchat users on Apple’s iOS and on the web (Snapchat/PA)

Snapchat users are already able to create their own Geofilters – location-based frames for photos and videos.

The social app confirmed the new Lens tool will be available to Snapchat users on Apple’s iOS and on the web, with the feature reaching Android users “very soon”.

Snapchat is engaged in an ongoing battle for users with Facebook’s family of apps – most notably Instagram. Facebook’s apps have adopted a series of features similar to those of Snapchat over the last two years, in an attempt to eat away at the app’s popularity among younger social media users.

In response, Snapchat has rolled out a range of updates of its own with mixed results. A major redesign of the app was met with a negative response in some quarters – and even a Change.org petition to revert to the old version.

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How Google is trying to change the way you see technology

From “OK Google”, to “Alexa”, or “Hey Siri”… there’s a revolution under way in how we use our computers, and even what we consider to be a computer. For technology giant Google, it’s about building the most natural conversation possible. How does the man charged with directing that conversation think the world of human-computer interaction is changing?

In the morning, just before I leave the house I ask: “OK Google, how’s my journey to work looking?”

Sat in a corner of my living room, my Google Home smart speaker chirps up and gives me an update on road conditions, throwing the directions and latest traffic details to my Google Pixel phone.

It’s a simple, frictionless interaction which masks a staggering amount of complexity.

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“We started with wanting to build an interface that allowed you to have a conversation with Google,” explains Gummi Hafsteinsson, the man charged with leading Google Assistant.

Mr Hafsteinsson is one of the pioneers of the technology. He worked at Siri, the company bought by Apple to bring intelligence to its devices, later joining the Cupertino firm.

He’s now product management director for Google Assistant – his second stint at the firm. Launched 18 months ago, he says the technology has reached a tipping point.

“Once we started to look into what did it mean to have a conversation with technology, it opened up a lot of opportunities,” he said.

“(With Assistant), you can have a conversation with technology and you shouldn’t have to learn how to use it.”

He describes Google Assistant as the interface that adapts to us as people, rather than requiring us to adapt to the technology.

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Thirty years ago, if you wanted to use a computer it’s likely you sat at a fixed position in either your home or an office and typed on a keyboard, and used a mouse to control a graphical user interface.

A decade later and you could shift the same experience to a laptop – the interface was the same, it’s just the location could change. Ten years ago the birth of the first modern smartphone fundamentally altered our relationship with computers, and while it helped remove barriers, our relationship still felt like one between user and tool.

Today we are on the brink of a shift from computing power being something held in a device connected to the net that we touch, to something far more ambient, and with a resultant shift in how we interface with that technology.

Is the technology becoming invisible?

Mr Hafsteinsson says: “To a point, yes. Invisible, ephemeral – it should be seamless. It should be there for you. But it shouldn’t feel like you are having to think about how to do something. It should be natural.”

(Dominic Lipinski/PA)

What’s remarkable about the technology is there are times when it does feel almost organic – where the artificial nature of using a computer is almost removed.

Mr Hafsteinsson says this is a golden age of innovation for such technology.

“We don’t want the consumer to think about the complexity,” he says.

“There’s been a lot of progress. We’ve got really good at speech recognition, industry wide. At Google we have a really good technology stack. We are making really good progress. But we are not done.”

From playing music, starting video to setting timers and controlling your lights or your heating, Google Assistant is well named – it’s a helpful companion that removes some of the manual steps of many perfunctory tasks.

It’s easy to mistake it for a different kind of remote control, but where the technology is becoming genuinely transformative is in its ability to answer questions to a surprisingly diverse range of queries.

(Yui Mok/PA)

“The other day I spilled some red wine and I asked Assistant what to do and it was very helpful,” said Mr Hafsteinsson.

“We didn’t program it (to respond to that question) – it found information on the web. It was a paragraph that made sense when read out.”

Despite being the architect of Google Assistant, Mr Hafsteinsson laughs when asked if it still surprises him.

“I asked Assistant how I could become a ninja, and it had an answer,” he chuckles.

He says the next step is a fully natural conversation with the technology.

In the coming year Assistant will start to inhabit a greater array of devices – from televisions to car systems to wearables and more Android phones.

Google’s approach is to take Assistant into many more contexts than Amazon’s Alexa, which seems confined to the living room, while Apple’s HomePod is being marketed as a speaker first and an smart speaker second.

(Getty Images/Customdesigner)

Mr Hafsteinsson says there will be a multiplying effect as Assistant starts to exist in more devices and more social contexts.

He says: “Because it is so natural, it scales across so many different devices – today on speakers and phones and its coming to display (dedicated consumer electronic devices with screens). It’s available on TV, in your car, on your watch; it’s the same concept to have a conversation but it scales very naturally.

“We are getting to the point where I shouldn’t have to think about the device – it’s there when I need it and doesn’t get in the way.

“Once you have all these points working together, it is a tremendous amount of delight through sheer ease of use.”

For Mr Hafsteinsson, the technology’s rapid development fulfils a goal that sparked his interest in such human computer interactions many years ago.

“When I was studying engineering way, way back, I was fascinated by the idea of the technology becoming more like us than the other way around.

“I was a huge techie and always trying to get my family to use technology. And my dad would say, ‘I will use it when I can talk to it’.”

That day is certainly upon us.

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