Micron Technology, Inc., today announced availability of the Micron 9550 NVMe SSD - the world's fastest data center SSD and industry leader in AI workload performance and power efficiency. The Micron 9550 SSD showcases Micron's deep expertise and innovation by integrating its own controller, NAND, DRAM and firmware into one world-class product. This integrated solution enables class-leading performance, power efficiency and security features for data center operators.

The Micron 9550 SSD delivers best-in-class performance with 14.0 GB/s sequential reads and 10.0 GB/s sequential writes to provide up to 67% better performance over similar competitive SSDs and enables industry-leading performance for demanding workloads such as AI. In addition, its random reads of 3,300 KIOPS are up to 35% better and random writes of 400 KIOPS are up to 33% better than competitive offerings.

Entertainment Software Association (ESA), organizers of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, announced that the show stands permanently cancelled. The annual expo of video gaming, e-sports, and all forms of interactive art, was an important landmark in the tech industry's calendar; and saw major announcements of new games, studios, platforms, and technology, with a generally mid-year (June) schedule, generally right after Computex. From the looks of it, organizing the event viably since the COVID crisis had been a problem. In an announcement on Twitter through the official E3 handle, ESA announced the end of E3 with a brief statement saying "After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye. Thanks for the memories. ggwp"

Video game events specialist ReedPop is no longer partnering with the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) to co-organize future Electronic Entertainment Expo (aka E3) trade shows. According to GamesIndustry.biz, a venue change is also in the cards—E3's familiar setting of the Los Angeles Convention Center is not on the consideration list for next year. The ESA seems to be sizing up (or down) a suitable new location for E3 2024, despite industry talk indicating that everything had been called off, well in advance. E3 2023 was cancelled around Spring time, with major publishers confirming non-attendance and a downturn in public interest—the latest reports suggest that the ESA is working on a complete format revamp for their 2025 show.

A mutual decision has been reached between the (now former) collaborators—ReedPop's multi-year deal as co-organizer is annulled. ESA president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis commented on the split: "We appreciate ReedPop's partnership over the past 14 months and support their ongoing efforts to bring industry and fans together through their various events. While the reach of E3 remains unmatched in our industry, we are continuing to explore how we can evolve it to best serve the video game industry and are evaluating every aspect of the event, from format to location. We are committed to our role as a convenor for the industry and look forward to sharing news about E3 in the coming months."

Following the exodus of many high profile companies within the gaming and entertainment industries, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has announced the cancellation of E3 2023. The event was to be held on June 13th through the 16th at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and would have been the first in-person E3 in 4 years, the last in-person event having been in 2019. In an email sent out to members the ESA stated that E3, "remains a beloved event and brand," but that the 2023 event, "simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry." The email ends with no mention of the event's future.

ESA has issued an official public statement from Kyle Marsden-Kish, Global VP of Gaming, on the cancellation:

This was a difficult decision because of all the effort we and our partners put toward making this event happen, but we had to do what's right for the industry and what's right for E3. We appreciate and understand that interested companies wouldn't have playable demos ready and that resourcing challenges made being at E3 this summer an obstacle they couldn't overcome. For those who did commit to E3 2023, we're sorry we can't put on the showcase you deserve and that you've come to expect from ReedPop's event experiences.

According to IGN, the first physical in-person E3 2023 show in four years will not be accompanied by the biggest names in the gaming industry—Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo. Historically, gaming shows like E3 have been the primary source of news and hype machines that allowed gaming publishers to showcase their latest work and partnerships with other companies/brands alike. However, as IGN's sources note, this year's E3 will lack the presence of the biggest names in the industry, like Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo. With the first physical E3 event in four years, it is only logical that companies look forward to participating and showing their upcoming work to generate interest. But, the leading console makers will not do so.

It means that the latest E3 show will be a bit different and that the rest of the gaming industry has to adapt. IGN has contacted Sony, Xbox, Nintendo, and Entertainment Software Association (ESA) representatives, with no response at the time of writing. ReedPop, E3's parent company, has issued a statement that notes that there have been some changes to E3's format, which we are yet to see in June once the Los Angeles event starts. You can read the statement for IGN below.

Solidigm—the company that Intel sold its SSD business to—held a tech day last week where the company shared some details about its future roadmaps. The company appears to be focusing on 3D QLC NAND and its 192-layer product promises both larger drives, but also enhanced endurance for QLC NAND. For example, Solidigm's 30.72 TB SSD is promising a PBW of around 32 PB (Petabyte) endurance. This is using what the company calls QLC Essential Endurance NAND.

However, its QLC Value Endurance NAND is what will enable the 61.44 TB drive, which is said to offer around 65 PB write endurance, but it should be noted that this is at 16 KB aligned data or during other types of light data writes. Neither type of NAND is destined for consumer applications as of now, as Solidigm is only targeting E1, E3 and U.2 form factors. Regardless, this appears to be a huge step forward for 3D QLC NAND and Solidigm is hoping that its upcoming drives will be able to replace mechanical drives in the enterprise market space. On top of this, Solidigm also claims to offer better throughput and latency compared to its competitors, but we're still looking at SATA type level SSD performance for the IOPS. The first drives with the new 192-layer 3D QLC NAND are expected to be available sometime early next year.

The Electronic Software Association (ESA,) the body organizing E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), is reportedly sending e-mails informing top marketing reps from the gaming industry that it has cancelled E3 2022. This includes the online/digital event that was meant to succeed last year's event. This is yet another sign that trade-shows cannot be organized in the digital format, and that merely clumping a few participants' online events across a schedule does not amount to a trade-show, a major aspect of which are the human interactions during and beyond each individual event, or the show-floor—something not possible in the digital format.

Update 20:35 UTC: We have an excerpt from the e-mail being sent out to delegates from the ESA:

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has announced that the 2022 edition of the famous Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) show will once again occur in a digital venue. The decision has been justified due to the current Omicron infection waves sweeping across most of the world, and while recent studies place Omicron as a less severe variant, its extremely high infection rates should still give decision makers pause.

Interestingly, the ESA still hasn't confirmed the date in which this digital E3 is to take place - something the association always did at the close of each edition. Reports state that the decision to hold a digital-only event for 2022 might have been taken even before the current Omicron surge, and perhaps as early as last year. Should E3 2022 occur in an online format, this will be the second time this happens since the event's first edition back in 1995. In all these years, E3 has only ever been fully canceled in 2020, the year that COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.

Valve, the company behind the Steam gaming platform, will be making an appearance at this year's E3 gaming event. The E3 is taking a form of a virtual trade event this year, which is standard for all of the previous events we had in the past, like Computex 2021. The special appearance this year will come from Valve. According to PC Gamer, Valve will have something to share, more specifically a "message regarding Steam". Usually, Valve doesn't make a lot of appearances at E3 and is not considered a regular there, so this year's E3 show will have the honor to host the company at the PC Gaming Show. This means that we are getting a possibly big announcement from Valve.

The current rumors are suggesting that the company wants to present the SteamPal, a Switch-like portable gaming console that aims to bring gaming on the go, powered by Valve. The exact details of what is to be presented will be unveiled on Sunday, June 13 at 2:30 PM PST / 5:30 PM EST and we will be sure to report about the happenings at E3, so stay tuned for more details.

It's "Game On." for E3, as The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) officially unveils plans for a reimagined, all-virtual E3 2021 that will engage video game fans everywhere. With early commitments from Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games, Koch Media, and more to come, E3 2021 will take place June 12 through June 15.

Developers will be showcasing their latest news and games directly to fans around the world. The ESA will be working with media partners globally to help amplify and make this content available to everyone for free. While maintaining E3's longstanding position as a central destination for industry networking — where new partnerships and connections between video game publishers, developers and media are made — the digital format for E3 2021 means more people than ever can participate. The ESA looks forward to coming back together to celebrate E3 2022 in person, in the meantime see you online this June!

In light of the cancellation of E3 2020 a new digital game showcase has been announced. The New Game+ Expo will feature new and upcoming releases from a coalition of developers from around the world and be streamed exclusively on Twitch June 23rd. The 16 companies from across Japan and America involved are: Acttil, Aksys Games, Arc System Works America, GungHo Online Entertainment America, Grasshopper Manufacture, Idea Factory International, Inti Creates, Koei, Tecmo America, Natsume Inc, NIS America Inc, Playism, Sega of America, Atlus West, SNK Corporation, Spike Chunsoft Inc, and WayForward

As E3 2020 has been canceled due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, game developers and publishers have been scheduling their events to announce new games and more. Ubisoft will feature "exclusive game news, reveals and more" at their upcoming all-digital event "Ubisoft Forward". The event will live-streamed on YouTube and Twitch at 8 PM BST July 12th. Some games we are expecting to see showcased at the event include; Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, Rainbow Six: Quarantine, and more.

The German Government today announced a nationwide ban on all major events until the end of August, effectively cancelling Gamescom 2020. Thankfully, this didn't come as too much of a surprise to the organizers and they had been preparing alternative options for some time. While the public in-person event won't be taking place a online digital alternative will be. Unlike E3 and GDC, Gamescom has time to prepare for proper a digital event and will announce more details shortly.

"Even though not all details are known at present, the nationwide ban on major events until the end of August will also affect the planning for #gamescom2020. Furthermore: gamescom 2020 will definitely take place digitally! We will provide further information shortly. "

When E3's organizer ESA originally cancelled E3 2020 in early March they stated they were "exploring options with our members to coordinate an online experience to showcase industry announcements and news in June 2020". However since then nothing more has been said about the online experience.

Now after announcing the dates of a reimagined E3 2021, set to be the 15th - 7th June 2021, the ESA confirmed to PC Gamer that the organization no longer has any plans to present an online experience in lieu of the E3 2020 event originally scheduled event originally scheduled for this June. This comes after several major players have announced they would instead host individual online events for their communities.

Microsoft's Xbox business head Phil Spencer announced that the company is planning to take the Xbox E3 Event online with a Digital Event. The 2020 edition of the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), the world's largest video gaming industry trade show, was cancelled for the first time since its 1995 debut, in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Microsoft Xbox is one of its latest participants with an E3 event almost every year. The 2020 edition of E3 was particularly important for Microsoft, as the company was expected to shed more light on its next-generation game console platform (or platforms, according to some rumors). Particularly since Sony had already announced absence from the show, it would be a Microsoft-focused event. "E3 has always been an important moment for Team Xbox. Given this decision, this year we'll celebrate the next generation of gaming with the @Xbox community and all who love to play via an Xbox digital event," tweeted Spencer. He added that details on the timing of the Digital Event will be put out in the coming weeks.

The world's largest gathering of video game publishers, developers, gamers, and associated artists, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, won't be held this year, according to an ArsTechnica report citing sources among members of ESA, the show's organizers. At the time of this writing, ESA made no formal announcement from the ESA about the show's fate - whether it's cancelled, delayed, or transformed into an online event like many other trade-shows this year. Most trade-shows scheduled for 2020 have suffered one of these three due to the COVID-19 outbreak that has recently gained "global pandemic" status by the World Health Organization. COVID-19 is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection that has claimed over 3,000 lives globally. This would be the first time that E3 has been cancelled since its debut edition in 1995.

Update Mar 12th: It's official, E3 2020 has been cancelled. "After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry - our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners - we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles," says organizer ESA in its statement announcing the cancellation

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (hence, E3) was, for years, one of those unmissable tech events with an unmistakable gravitas. All companies that actually meant something took attendance to woo the globe with the latest games, entertainment systems, and advances in technology. It still retains most of that glamour, even if some of its sheen is slightly rubbed off already. However, we can expect E3 2020 to the stage for a number of reveals from companies, and one of those companies is Microsoft. Phil Spencer has already confirmed that Microsoft will have a strong presence at E3, and with that being the case, you can expect new games, more information on already announced games (more Halo Infinite, please), and additional information pertaining the company's Xbox Series X games console.

But while some are still betting on E3, others have started to go their own way by organizing their own events. Sony has announced that they will be skipping E3 2020 in favor of hundreds of smaller, yet more globally seeded events, citing that the Entertainment Software Association's (ESA) vision for their 2020 show doesn't exactly align with what Sony is aiming at with its products. Still, you know 2020 will be a packed year for gaming, both in the console and PC spaces.

NVIDIA attempted to torpedo the Radeon RX 5700 "Navi" series graphics card launch with the introduction of its $499 GeForce RTX 2070 Super and $399 RTX 2060 Super. AMD claimed that its upcoming Radeon RX 5700 XT outperformed the original RTX 2070, while its smaller sibling, the RX 5700 outperforms the original RTX 2060. In its E3-2019 reveal, AMD disclosed launch prices of the RX 5700 XT and the RX 5700 to be USD $449 and $379, respectively. The RTX Super launch jeopardizes this, and so, according to VideoCardz, AMD is revising its launch prices.

The Radeon RX 5700 XT now reportedly launches at just $399, while the Radeon RX 5700 is priced at $349. The RX 5700 XT is claimed to beat the original RTX 2070, while the $399 RTX 2060 Super is slower than the RTX 2070. On the other hand, the RX 5700, which was claimed to beat the $349 original RTX 2060, is now price-matched with it, unless NVIDIA comes up with price-cuts. Older reports suggested that with the advent of the RTX Super series, NVIDIA would retire the RTX 2060 and RTX 2070, after the market digests inventories left in the channel. AMD's latest move is sure to disturb that digestion.

Update Jul 6th: This has been confirmed officially by AMD here.

It's been a very busy May-June for AMD as the company pushes out its major client-segment product lines spread across Computex 2019, and E3 2019. At Computex, the company focused on its 3rd generation Ryzen "Zen 2" desktop processors, and led its partners to show us a galaxy of new motherboards based on the AMD X570 chipset. It turns out that the company was saving a handful processor SKUs focused on gamers for E3.

The second important product launch of course is Radeon RX 5700 series, based on AMD's new "Navi 10" silicon on which its new RDNA graphics architecture debuts. With its AIB (add-in board) partners expected to be allowed to make custom-design cards, and based on what little nuggets of information AMD put out, "Navi" promises to stir up a key performance-segment price-band that's currently held by NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 2070 and RTX 2060. The AMD keynote will see the company CEO Dr. Lisa Su and her top execs take centerstage to make some big announcements. With E3 being a purely entertainment / client-segment forum, the AMD keynote promises not bore with tiresome topics such as AI, self-driving cars, etc.2:30 PM PDT: Ahead of its keynote, AMD posted a teaser video of its new RDNA graphics architecture on YouTube.

The next chapter in the smash-hit reboot of the genre-defining FPS, "DOOM Eternal," is releasing on November 22nd, 2019. Everybody's favorite run-and-gun monster-slaughter simulator will be released on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. It will also come to Google Stadia as a streamed game, just a week following the platform's launch. The premise of this game is simple, Hell has come to the Earth, and brought the Doom Slayer with it. "Eternal" also includes new multiplayer game modes, including "battlemode," where two player-controlled demons face a fully-loaded Doom Slayer. The game is up for pre-order on Steam, if you're already sold on the game by watching its E3 2019 trailer."DOOM Eternal" story trailer follows.

Tech Journalist Brad Sams, who first reported on Halo: The Master Chief Collection coming to the PC platform before its official announcement, has spilled the beans on another juicy detail regarding the Halo universe: that Microsoft will use this E3 2019 to showcase the first gameplay for the game. This isn't news, really - after last year's tease, it was expected that gameplay would be available this year to whet gamers' appetites. However, the fact that Halo Infinite will be running in the PC platform is newsworthy, since this is quite the departure from previously-known Microsoft, which seemed to relegate its PC gaming ambitions to other developers.

Now, with Microsoft vouching to treat the PC platform as the gaming juggernaut it is, and the already-known information that 343 Industries' (the current Halo developers) Slipspace engine would treat PC gamers with the latest technology in terms of graphics presentation, PC has become the defacto platform of choice to showcase Halo's next-gen visuals (whilst using an Xbox One controller, by the way). This likely only happens because Microsoft isn't ready to completely pull the wraps on the next-generation Xbox; or it could serve as a show of good faith from the company when it comes to PC gaming. Whatever the reason for Microsoft's decision, this seems like a great time to be a PC - and Halo - fan.

It looks like E3 will be a very good event for Microsoft, which will have its hands full of announcements during the show. According to the latest rumors, Gears 5, the latest release in the Gears of Wars franchise, will be launched in September this year. The supposed launch will be happening during Microsoft's E3 conference. Besides Gears 5, Microsoft will launch PC exclusive game Gears Tactics.

As rumors suggest, we will be getting new Gears of War 5 game in September of this year. The new game is launching as a sequel to the well-known Gears of War 4 game, which showed focus on story and tactics driven gameplay. We expect its sequel to be no different. With many improvements in the game's graphics, we should expect to see high-quality game gameplay given the heritage the previous release, Gears 4, left us with.

We knew this was coming, especially after Google's teaser from earlier this month. Project Stream was a proof-of-concept in collaboration with Ubisoft, to see whether AAA gaming was possible over the internet. Things were smooth most of the time in our own experience, but there remained questions over how the concept would translate over to a finished product, especially with infrastructure challenges on the client side of things. Google's keynote at GDC just wrapped up, and the main focus was Stadia- the now named cloud gaming service borne out of Project Stream.

Stadia is built with instant access in mind. An example demo came in the form of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which was used in the public test before. It is integrated with partner YouTube channels such that a trailer for a supported game would have an option to play said game, which would then launch immediately. Stadia is built with support from a wide partner network including AMD, Unity, id Software, and more, with details seen past the break.

I am an assumed, and unabashedly proud, Halo fan, so yes, I believe the fact that the games' definitive (but by no means complete) The Master Chief Collection is coming to PC is a very important matter. The Halo series' efforts on the PC have been extremely lackluster, until now, barring the excellent Halo Wars 2 (in terms of how it runs and its PC-centric features; not talking about the game per se). Now, rumors of Microsoft being hard at work with porting the game to the PC platform have gained substantial traction, as Brad Sams, a tech journalist whose track record with Microsoft leaks has been notable, said that "Microsoft's open secret is that they've been working on the Master Chief Collection for the PC, and I'm hearing that that's getting close to release."

This "getting close to release" plays well into the upcoming E3 event, starting July 11th. The Master Chief Collection's release (and for wow factor, immediate availability) during the show would be an amazing way for Microsoft to market the Halo saga's true PC vision come to life. This would pave the way for a later Halo 5: Guardians release and the already-announced-for-PC Halo infinite, which is expected only with the next generation of consoles.

Sony's announcement of the Playstation team skipping E3 2019 took everyone by surprise aside from a few on Reddit who had paid attention to a thread created the day before. Reddit user RuthenicCookie seemed to know a lot more about Sony's plans for their popular game console for the next few years, as well as game titles supporting this current console generation and the next. Amidst a lot of the tasty rumor bits that should interest console gamers, something more relevant to us directly is the mention of the Playstation 5 to continue using AMD for processing power.

This is a logical move to just about everyone familiar with the industry, and Sony needed to up the CPU horsepower in particular to compete with the XBOX One X and offer a true 4K/60 FPS solution for gaming without framerate drops galore. As such, said redditor shared information saying that the current plans involve an 8-core Ryzen-based processor and an estimated console price point of $500. Sony may well share a teaser about the console next year, with retail availability expected in the holiday season 2020 (two years from now, thus). As such, developer kits are likely already ready meaning the specs are finalized as well. This may mean we will see either the first or second gen Ryzen APUs, and not Ryzen 2 as many may have hoped. No word yet on what Microsoft is cooking in their side of the kitchen, but incremental console updates means we may see a Ryzen 2-powered console sooner than later as well.