Niantic’s AR skating sim Skatrix Pro just got a beefy update for Apple Vision Pro that adds room-scale mixed reality gameplay, among other features. This means that the little skater boi avatar is free to roam the living room, doing gnarly tricks on your furniture.

Skatrix Pro was a day-one release for Apple Vision Pro, but the full mixed reality gameplay wasn’t ready yet. At launch, you skated in a floating cube in AR space. Now, thanks to the headset’s advanced scanning capabilities, the real world is transformed into a skatepark. This allows for interaction with “virtually any object, shape or terrain.” Who among us hasn’t wanted to grind off of a washing machine, flip and land on top of a sleeping cat? It’s the stuff dreams are made of.

Basically, the headset uses LiDar scanning to construct a detailed 3D mesh of the environment, which captures “geometry with high precision.” In other words, the skater should interact with an object as if both were in the real world.

As for controls, there’s a virtual joystick that floats in AR space, but Niantic has also implemented 3D hand input gestures. The company said this makes it “easier to control the avatar while exploring new tricks in new spaces.”

Skatrix is available for mobile devices and Niantic says it’s planning future updates that “connect the dots between headset and mobile gameplay” to deliver cross-platform play. The company will also continue to improve the physics engine to allow for greater accuracy. Skatrix Pro for the AVP costs $20, but the headset itself is still $3,500.

Microsoft has revealed the first wave of Game Pass additions for June, and they include two titles that suddenly joined the lineup today. Octopath Traveler and its sequel are now available on the service across cloud, console and PC.

When Octopath Traveler 2 debuted last year, Xbox was the only major platform it was missing from. Square Enix said last September that the HD-2D RPG would come to Xbox consoles in "early 2024." For what it's worth, the original game took nearly three years to hit Xbox after its 2018 debut on Nintendo Switch — and it only just arrived on PS4 and PS5.

Elsewhere, the Dead Space-esque The Callisto Protocol (from Dead Space co-creator Glen Schofield and his team at Striking Distance Studios) arrives on Game Pass on cloud, console and PC on June 13. Still Wakes The Deep, a narrative horror game from The Chinese Room will join the lineup in all three formats on June 18.

Other titles hitting Game Pass in the early part of June are Cthulhu-inspired tabletop RPG Depersonalization (coming to PC Game Pass) and WWI first-person shooter Isonzo (cloud, console and PC). Both will arrive on June 13.

Several games are leaving Game Pass this month as well. Bramble: The Mountain King, High on Life, Rune Factory 4 Special, Spacelines from the Far Out and The Bookwalker are all departing on June 15.

We're about to learn about several more titles that are bound for Game Pass in the coming months and years too. Microsoft will reveal more details about its upcoming slate at the Xbox Games Showcase, which takes place on June 9 as part of Summer Game Fest. We could, for instance, hear about Microsoft's plans for rolling out more Activision Blizzard games on the subscription service.

Who needs to save for college when your kids can enjoy the infinite contrast and eight million glorious points of light in Samsung's new MicroLED TVs, which now start at the low price of $110,000. Available in 89-inch, 101-inch ($130,000) and 114-inch ($150,000) sizes, MicroLED TVs offer all of the benefits of OLED — super dark blacks and bold colors — but without the reasonable price points reachable by lowly commoners. 

Envelope yourself with Samsung's 3D Arena sound, which includes Dolby Atmos, Object Tracking Sound Pro and AI powered voice amplification. Behold the MICRO AI processor, which upscales everything into 4K (never mind that every TV offers pretty decent upscaling today). When you proudly reveal the price of your MicroLED TV, remember your friends won't be laughing at you — they're just jealous. 

Unfortunately, Samsung isn't throwing in a $8,000 8K set and luxury hotel stay with these MicroLED TVs, as it did in South Korea.

Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) is back for more charity speed runs of classic and contemporary games. The 2024 edition of the marathon will stream from Minneapolis from June 30 to July 6 as turbo-gamers take on Alan Wake II, Halo 3 and the Super Mario RPG remake (among many others). The event’s first speedrunning dog will even make his triumphant return, taking on an SNES baseball game from 1994.

The festivities start with a pre-show event at 12:30 PM ET on June 30, followed by a run of the 1997 platform game Yoshi’s Story at 1 PM. The weeklong event wraps on July 6 with a quick play-through of the new Super Mario RPG remake for Switch at 11:05 PM, followed by a special finale.

The rest of the week is filled with old-school classics, recent AAA titles, oddball novelty games and excruciatingly difficult custom mods. The latter can be especially fun to watch as gamers execute well-timed jumps that would take most of us hours of practice to perform once, only they do a series of them on the first try on cue in front of a live audience.

A few runs worth eyeing include a late-night Alan Wake 2 speed-through (July 2 at 12:49 AM ET), The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (July 4 at 10:35 AM), Halo 3 (July 4 at 7 PM), Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (July 6 at 1:21 AM) and Super Mario World (July 5 at 5:50 PM). If the original SNES Mario adventure isn’t your thing, MrMightyMouse will perform a run of the game’s ROM mod Grand Poo World 3 on July 5 at 11:26 PM ET.

Games Done Quick / Wes "Fish" Chan

Peanut Butter the Shiba Inu, forever etched in the GDQ record books with his run of Gyromite at Awesome Games Done Quick 2024, will return at this summer’s event. He’ll help his human companion, JSR_, play the SNES title Ken Griffey, Jr. Presents Major League Baseball on July 4 at 8:35 PM. Who needs fireworks when you can watch the grand spectacle of a gamer dog playing a sports title from the 16-bit era for ham and cheese?

The event will raise money for Doctors Without Borders. The nonprofit offers medical and humanitarian care to people in over 72 countries affected by crises like war, disease, natural disasters, and inadequate healthcare. Last year’s SGDQ brought in over $2.2 million. The GDQ series has raised over $45 million for various charities. 

You can check out the week’s schedule here and stream SGDQ 2024 on the Games Done Quick Twitch channel, which is also embedded below. The fun kicks off on June 30 at 12:30 PM ET.

For the second time this year, Behaviour Interactive has announced a round of layoffs. The Dead by Daylight maker says it will dismiss as many as 95 employees, 70 of whom are based in its home city of Montreal. The company also has studios in Toronto, Seattle, the UK and the Netherlands. It previously shed 45 jobs in January.

Behaviour said in a press release that its ranks had grown from 575 to 1,300 over the last five years, buoyed by the success of Dead by Daylight and its service business (it works "alongside the industry’s global leaders to develop hundreds of high-quality titles"). The company says neither the service business nor DbD development will be affected by the layoffs.

It notes that the high level of competition in the gaming space has led it to narrow its focus on its core strengths, with the restructuring process leading to the layoffs. The company will concentrate on horror games and working with its development partners. It also claims it will "explore the possibilities of location-based entertainment," without detailing what that means.

This is the second blow for Montreal's gaming sector in as many days. On Monday, Just Cause creator Avalanche closed studios in the city and New York, laying off 50 people as a result. Avalanche had only opened the Montreal office in October after buying Monster Closet Games.

The gaming industry at large is in a state of turmoil. The estimated number of video game layoffs so far this year sits at 10,300, which is already nearing the 2023 total of around 10,500.

E3 might be dead and buried but there's still a ton of gaming news to look forward to in the coming days as Summer Game Fest 2024 is standing in the old expo's stead. SGF has gradually taken on more importance over the last few years as an umbrella for all the various game showcases that take place each June.

From June 7 until June 10, a string of SGF events will highlight dozens of games. The big announcements will all be livestreamed for you to watch at home but there's also an in-person component to SGF. Engadget will have boots on the ground to bring you some extra insight as well as our impressions of many of the games featured throughout the event.

For those of you who'll be enjoying the festivities from afar, here's the lowdown on how to watch Summer Game Fest 2024 and what to expect.

Summer Game Fest 2024 schedule:

How to watch Summer Game Fest Live - June 7, 5pm ET

How to watch: YouTube and Twitch

We've seen some major announcements at the two-hour tentpole SGF showcase over the last few years, but it seems the 2024 edition will be more muted. SGF organizer and host Geoff Keighley has tried to temper expectations by saying that most of what's shown this year will be new info on previously announced games.

He has confirmed that Monster Hunter Wilds, Kingdom Come 2: Deliverance and Metaphor: Refantazio (a fantasy JRPG from the team behind Persona) will get some time in the spotlight. Also on deck are the release date for free co-op shooter The First Descendant, a peek at 3D fighter Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero and a look at the Among Us animated series.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Kingdom Hearts IV, The Wolf Among Us 2 and Ken Levine's definitely-not-BioShock followup to BioShock Judas will not be featured. There will be some fresh reveals, though maybe try to keep your hype levels in check for this one. "There definitely are things that are being announced but this is not a show that has a lot of like 'coming in 2026' or '2027', or teasers for games that are years and years out," Keighley said.

Chances of a Hollow Knight: Silksong appearance: Moderate.

Day of the Devs - June 7, 7PM ET

How to watch: YouTube (the same stream as SGF Live above) and Twitch

Day of the Devs is a reliably great showcase of upcoming indie games. The team always manages to assemble a collection of diverse and intriguing titles. Last year's Game Awards edition, for instance, included peeks at Open Roads, Crow Country and Mars After Midnight, all of which we've enjoyed so far this year. I inevitably end up adding at least four or five games from Day of the Devs to my Steam wishlist, so it's a must watch.

Chances of a Hollow Knight: Silksong appearance: Team Cherry is an indie studio, but nope.

Devolver Direct - June 7, 8PM ET

How to watch: YouTube (the same stream as SGF Live above) and Twitch

Devolver Digital's annual helping of chaos is once again upon us. The publisher's reliably kooky Direct stream will include details on at least a few games. Here's hoping we get release dates for The Plucky Squire and Skate Story, the latter which has been at the top of my to-play list for a couple of years. Both titles are supposed to be arriving in 2024, so now would be a great time for an update. Keep your fingers crossed for details on man-baby walking simulator Baby Steps amid the "exciting new reveals" Devolver has planned.

Chances of a Hollow Knight: Silksong appearance: Highly unlikely.

Xbox Games Showcase - June 9, 1PM ET

How to watch: YouTube and Twitch (ASL option)

This could well be the biggest showcase of the week in terms of major game announcements. It’s the first time that Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard have all been part of one of these events.

Microsoft has quite a few games and major updates on its 2024 slate. We’ll likely get details and or release dates on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Starfield and Diablo IV expansions and the next season of Overwatch 2. Hopefully we'll get a glimpse of Arkane Lyon's Blade game too. Expect to hear about more titles that are on the way to Game Pass, and possibly additional first-party games making the leap over to PlayStation and Switch.

For many, the main event will take place after the main showcase as we’ll learn all about Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. The next installment of the series is likely set during the Gulf War. It’s the first Call of Duty title that will be available on Game Pass on its release day. It marks a major risk for Microsoft in foregoing sales of boxed copies of the game in favor of a boost in subscriber numbers.

Chances of a Hollow Knight: Silksong appearance: Medium to high. The last we heard much about the game was at this showcase in 2022.

Ubisoft Forward - June 10, 3PM ET

How to watch: YouTube (with English subtitles, audio description and American Sign Language options) and Twitch

Monday is going to be a busy ol' day for the Engadget crew as we'll be rolling straight from Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote into Ubisoft Forward. The publisher has a couple of major games lined up for the rest of the year in Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and it's promising "exclusive looks" at both.

XDefiant will get the same treatment. We'll probably hear about what's next for some of Ubisoft's other ongoing games, such as Rainbow Six: Siege and Skull and Bones, and perhaps some future plans for The Division. Ubisoft Forward will have a preshow and a postshow, so there's lots ahead from the company.

Chances of a Hollow Knight: Silksong appearance: Unless [shudders] Ubisoft suddenly buys Team Cherry, nil.

Nintendo Direct - ?

ASSOCIATED PRESS

How to watch: YouTube

The house that Mario built has assured the world that there will be a Nintendo Direct sometime in June, but it has yet to announce the particulars. One thing that will not be a factor in this showcase is the successor to the Nintendo Switch. While the company has pledged to announce its next flagship system by next March, it will not be doing so here.

Chances of a Hollow Knight: Silksong appearance: High, especially if Xbox doesn't feature it.

And that's not all, folks. There are several other showcases taking place over the coming days. Atlus is hosting a YouTube stream dedicated to Metaphor: ReFantazio on Friday at 9PM ET. Saturday in particular has a bunch to check out, including the Future of Play Direct, Wholesome Direct (both of which feature family-friendly games), the Latin American Games Showcase and a Women-Led Games stream. These will run throughout the day, starting at 11AM ET. On Sunday, the PC Gaming Show will follow the Call of Duty Direct at 4PM ET.

After getting officially announced way back at CES 2024, all of Samsung’s new 2024 gaming monitors are finally available for pre-order today. However, while the massive 49-inch Odyssey G9 (G95SD) garnered most of the attention when initial details came out in January, I recently had a chance to check out its smaller siblings in person (plus one of Samsung’s new smart monitors), which are just as impressive due to their lower prices and more-practical screen sizes.

Similar to the Alienware AW3225QF and HP Omen Transcend 32, the 2024 Odyssey G8 OLED (G80SD) and Odyssey G6 OLED (G60SD) are based on Samsung’s third-gen QD-OLED tech. That means you get rich colors and deep blacks along with support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and increased brightness compared to traditional OLED displays. But from there, the two monitors diverge slightly with the 32-inch G8 being more of an all-rounder thanks to its 4K resolution and 240Hz refresh rate. Meanwhile, the smaller G6 is better suited for competitive gaming with its 2,560 x 1,440 resolution and 360Hz refresh rate.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

My favorite of the two is the G8, as it features a flat display (not curved like the Alienware) with an anti-reflective matte coating and an extremely sleek design that lets you appreciate its super-thin 0.15-inch panel. Meanwhile, Samsung has equipped both the G8 and G6 with a dynamic cooling system that better reduces temperatures and can even preemptively control brightness if needed. And, for the first time, Samsung is offering a three-year warranty in case the monitor succumbs to burn-in.

I also appreciate that even though it’s a relatively large monitor, the G8 supports height adjustment and the ability to rotate into portrait mode. As a nod towards convenience, it comes with built-in stereo speakers and a solar remote (similar to what you get from Samsung’s flagship TVs), so you can easily connect it to gaming consoles alongside a traditional PC. And in case that’s not enough, the G8 also features Samsung’s Gaming Hub, which allows you to access streaming services like NVIDIA GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming without needing to connect to another device.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Alternatively, for more hardcore gamers, the G6 packs almost all of the same tech (including the remote and matte coating) into an even more practical 27-inch display. You still get Samsung’s CoreLighting+ module in back to supply some ambient RGB hues and a similarly sleek metal design. Samsung even redesigned the G8 and G6’s feet to give people with unusual gaming setups more flexibility and room to position their mouse and keyboard.

Finally, while it’s neither OLED nor a gaming display, Samsung’s M80D Smart Monitor is a neat take on 4K office productivity. It features a magnetic mount for a detachable webcam, so you can easily position it without the need for a tripod or quickly remove it at the end of a video call. You can also pair it over Wi-Fi with other Samsung devices, allowing you to easily move images or files from one to another. Just like the G8 and G6, it supports Samsung’s Gaming Hub and the ability to stream shows from apps like Netflix natively on the monitor.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The G9 remains the true flagship of Samsung’s gaming monitors, but the company has now made great options at smaller sizes too. The Odyssey G8 and G6 will start at $1,300 and $900, respectively, while the M80D Smart Monitor will go for $700. Pre-orders go live today and will come with a $300 discount for anyone who makes an early purchase before official sales begin later this month.

Motorola unveiled the 2024 Moto Edge on Tuesday. The $550 mid-range phone is slightly more expensive than the Pixel 8a but has different strengths and weaknesses. It will be available starting on June 20.

The 2024 Motorola Edge combines the mid-range Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor with a 6.6-inch pOLED display (much larger than the Pixel 8a’s 6.1-inch display) at 2400 x 1080 resolution (402ppi). It supports a 144Hz variable refresh rate and a 360Hz touch rate that’s only available when using the handset in Game Mode.

The 2024 Moto Edge has a big 5,000mAh battery and fast 68-watt wired “TurboPower” charging. It also has 256GB of built-in storage and 8GB of RAM.

Motorola

Its main camera is a 50MP shooter using Sony’s LY7-700C sensor. The phone’s backside includes a 13MP ultra-wide lens, while a 32MP sensor sits on the front.

As companies tend to do in 2024, Motorola pointed out the handset’s AI capabilities, in this case when using Google Photos (Magic Editor, Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur and Google Auto Enhance). Of course, that pales in comparison to the Pixel 8a’s full suite of Tensor G3-powered AI tools, also including Audio Magic Eraser, Best Take and unlimited uses of the Magic Editor.

The phone is 7.99 mm (0.31 inch) thick and weighs 174g. Its back is made of blue synthetic leather, which should provide a reasonably sophisticated look and feel without killing any cows. It has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, meaning it can withstand up to half an hour of submersion in 1.5 meters of water.

Beginning on June 20, the 2024 Moto Edge will be available unlocked for $550 on Motorola’s website, Amazon and Best Buy. The company says “subsequent availability” will roll out later at T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Spectrum, Consumer Cellular, Straight Talk, Total By Verizon and Visible.

Samsung has filed a lawsuit against Oura to try to head off intellectual property disputes as the Galaxy Ring launch draws near. The suit notes that Oura has used its patent portfolio to sue smaller wearable tech competitors and has hinted it may do the same against the much larger Samsung. Welcome to the weird modern world of mega-corporations suing startups to prevent them from filing suits of their own.

“Oura’s actions and public statements demonstrate that Oura will continue asserting patent infringement against other entrants into the U.S. smart ring market, including Samsung,” the lawsuit, first reported on by The Verge, reads. “Oura’s immediate response to the announcement of the Galaxy Ring was to point to the purported strength of its intellectual property portfolio.”

The lawsuit claims the Galaxy Ring doesn’t infringe on Oura’s patents. However, in justifying its suit, it lays out a pattern of what it frames as aggressive IP protection by the Finnish startup. It lists cases where Oura sued smaller competitors like Ultrahuman, Circular and RingConn “as soon as, or even before, they entered the U.S. market.”

The document also cites Oura embarking on a media tour immediately following the Galaxy Ring announcement, touting the company’s “over 150 patents.” It specifically calls out patent-related quotes published by TechCrunch and a CNBC interview where Oura CEO Tom Hale hinted the company may use its IP portfolio against Samsung.

Daniel Cooper for Engadget

Samsung’s legal filing essentially tries to paint Oura as a patent troll, claiming many of the Finnish company’s patent disputes have been for features common to the entire category of smart rings, like electronics, sensors, a battery and scores that weigh health metrics. That approach conjures memories of Samsung’s old patent disputes with Apple. A common theme in those decade-old courtroom battles was Samsung accusing the iPhone maker of holding bogus patents that should never have been granted because they used obvious technologies or methods shared by the entire industry. (It worked with mixed results in those cases.)

Samsung filed its new lawsuit against Oura in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division. Oura is based in Finland but has a US wing of its operations based in Delaware, including offices in San Francisco with more than 50 employees.

The lawsuit reveals extra detail about Samsung’s Galaxy Ring, which the company first showed off in a render in January before revealing physical models at the Mobile World Congress in February. The document says Samsung only finalized the Galaxy Ring’s design in “mid-May 2024” and plans to enter mass production in mid-June.

It adds that the Galaxy Ring will arrive in the US “in or around August of this year,” which aligns with expectations that the company will launch it at a summer Unpacked event.

If you've ever wanted an AI assistant to do make sure your PC is optimized for whatever game you're playing, NVIDIA may have the answer. The company is showing off a new demo called G-Assist, a GeForce-powered AI chatbot that might one day help reduce the more tedious aspects of gaming. 

G-Assist performs a couple of key functions around both setup and directly in games. In a demo running inside ARK: Survival Ascended, NVIDIA shows it answering queries like "what's the next early game weapon and where do I find the crafting materials for it." In response, it points out that the best one is a spear and describes how to gather wood, flint and fiber to make one.

Some purists might see that as cheating, but another G-Assist tool looks to be less ethically fraught. If you ask it to optimize settings for a game like Cyberpunk 2077, it can do things like directly apply the highest quality graphics settings. It can also analyze your system as a whole and recommend changes like boosting your 4K monitor refresh rate from 60Hz to 144Hz. 

NVIDIA has used the G-Assist name before for a 2017 April Fool's joke, saying the AI would play games for you in "Ghostplay" mode while you went to pay for a pizza at the door. The new G-Assist can't do that, but it could still be helpful by eliminating the busywork needed for system optimization. It's just a demonstration for now, but NVIDIA is actively signing up developers interested in learning more about the project.