How to get every K.K. Slider song in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

The E3-shaped hole in the 2020 video game calendar has been filled by multiple digital events, live streams, and festivals  Here’s our guide to every confirmed E3 2020 replacement taking place this summer.

In the absence of E3 2020, publishers, media groups, and, erm, entrepreneurs, have stepped in to ensure that there’s a steady stream of information on this year’s new video games and next-gen consoles.

However, keeping track of every event is increasingly difficult. Many publishers are showing games on multiple channels, as well as holding their own live streams. To help you make sense of it all, here’s our guide to every confirmed event.

We’ll keep this page updated over the summer, so why not treat your web browser to a new bookmark.

Updated: June 1, 2020 with new details from IGN, Sony, BitSummit, and New Game+ Expo

Replacement E3 2020 events

Summer Game Fest

Dates: May – August, 2020

Geoff Keighley and iam8bit wasted no time in pitching up the Summer Game Fest tent on the grave of E3 2020. The festival is a four-month-long series of live streams and announcements from publishers and platform holders including 2K, Activision, Bungie, PlayStation, and EA. The festival concludes with Gamescom Opening Night Live in August.

In addition to individual game reveals, other events are also being held under the Summer Game Fest banner. We’ll list these separately below.

Visit: Summer Game Fest

BitSummit Gaiden

Dates: June 27-28, 2020

BitSummit Gaiden will highlight more than 75 games from Japan and around the world on Discord and Twitch. Dev chats, Let’s Plays, and giveaways are promised, and streamable demos will be available via Utomik.

Visit: BitSummit

Guerrilla Collective Live

Dates: June 6- 8, 2020

The Guerrilla Collective Live is a three-day indie focused event from The MIX, who run one of the most reliably excellent ancillary E3 events. It’s produced with help from the Kinda Funny team and hosted by Greg Miller. Confirmed exhibitors include 11 Bit Studios, Thunderful, Paradox Interactive, Raw Fury, and Coffee Stain Studios. The event promises game announcements for every platform.

Watch here: Twitch

IGN Summer of Gaming

Dates: June 2020

IGN’s Summer of Gaming will feature announcements from a host of big-name publishers and indies. The main event is the IGN Expo, which runs on June 5, 8 and 9. It includes announcements from CD Projekt Red, Deep Silver, Devolver Digital, Sega, Ubisoft, Blizzard, and Xbox, to name a few. The PC Gaming Show is also part of IGN’s lineup.

Watch here: IGN

Future Games Show

Dates: June 6, 2020

GamesRadar is fronting the Future Games Show, an hour-long show which promises “exclusive trailers, announcements, and deep dives on existing AAA and indie games.” All that in one hour. Impressive.

Watch here: Twitch

Gamescom Opening Night Live

Dates: August 24, 2020

Gamescom Opening Night Live returns for its second year and is once again hosted by the ever-present Geoff Keighly. We’re not sure if there will be any games left to announce by August, but the event acts as a lead-in to this year’s digital-only Gamescom expo.

Watch here: Gamescom

GameSpot’s Play for All

Dates: June, 2020

Gamespot’s Play for All features a familiar lineup of companies with Bethesda, Larian Studios, Bandai Namco, and Square Enix all promising content. The event runs across all of CBS Interactive’s gaming channels, including GameSpot, Giant Bomb, and Metacritic. Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller and NoClip’s Danny O’Dwyer will also be on hand to flesh out over 100 hours of content.

Watch here: YouTube

Indie Live Expo 2020

Dates: June 6, 2020

Indie Live Expo 2020 will deliver an “information-based live stream for indie games, developers, and gamers.” Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida is among the industry figureheads delivering personal messages.

Watch here: Indie Live Expo

Kinda Funny Games Showcase

Dates: June, 2020

The Kinda Funny Games team are continuing their daily video games coverage throughout the summer. They are also producing the three-day Guerrilla Collective Live event in collaboration with The MIX, and will host another Kinda Funny Games Showcase in June.

Watch here: YouTube

The MIX

The MIX is one of our favourite indie game shows. The organisers always curate an eclectic collection of games, many of which become hits and GOTY contenders. This year, The MIX is behind Guerrilla Collective Live.

New Game+ Expo

Dates: June 23, 2020

NGPX is an online showcase of new and upcoming releases from a range of developers, including many from Japan. You can look forward to hearing from Atlus, Arc System Works, Aksys, SNK, NIS America, Spike Chunsoft, and Natsume.

Visit: NGPX

PC Gaming Show

Dates: June 6, 2020

The annual PC Gaming Show is sometimes overlong, but it usually contains a few gems that would be otherwise overlooked in the E3 hubbub. (Say hello, Maneater.) This year’s show is also included as part of Guerrilla Collective Live and the IGN Summer of Gaming schedule.

Watch here: Twitch

Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition

Dates: June 9 – 14, 2020

Valve’s Steam Game Festival highlights PC games due for release within the next year. Free limited-time demos and short playable experiences are planned, alongside some exclusive developer interviews. Naturally, every game can be added to your Steam wish list.

Visit: Steam

Publisher Press Conferences

2K

Dates: May 19 / TBC

The Mafia Trilogy has already been announced and two-thirds released. 2K is also participating with IGN Summer of Gaming, Summer Game Fest, and Gamespot’s Play For All.

Activision

Dates: TBC

On a recent earnings call, Activision promised “several remastered and reimagined experiences” for release in 2020. We can also expect news on the next Call of Duty and a brand new Crash Bandicoot game. Keep an eye on the Summer Game Fest for more details.

Bandai Namco

Dates: TBC

Bandai Namco is showing new products via IGN’s Summer of Gaming and Summer Game Fest.

Bethesda At Home

Dates: Ongoing

Bethesda is broadcasting  Bethesda At Home live streams weekly throughout the season. Additional announcements will also be released via Summer Game Fest.

Watch here: Twitch

Capcom

Dates: TBC

At the time of writing, we have no news on Capcom’s plans. Watch this space.

Devolver Direct

Dates: June, 2020

We’re hopeful that Nina Struthers will once again front Devolver Digital’s annual presser. A recent tweet from the company said: “Devolver Direct 2020 is happening but we’re not sure when due to THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES. Should be a good one though.” Devolver’s output also forms part of IGN’s summer offering.

Watch here: Twitch

EA Play Live

Dates: June 11, 2020

Will FIFA 21 and Madden NFL 21 feature a “behind closed doors” mode? Discover that – and much more – at EA Play Live. It’s rumoured that we’ll get our first look at the next Dragon Age game and Anthem‘s big revamp.

Watch here: EA Play

Epic Games

Dates: Ongoing

Epic Games has already confirmed that Fortnite is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X at launch. The company also unveiled Unreal Engine 5 with an impressive real-time PS5 demo. More announcements will come via Summer Game Fest and IGN throughout the summer.

Watch here: Twitch

CD Projekt Red (Night City Wire)

Dates: June 11, 2020

Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red will broadcast a Night City Wire live stream on June 11. Expect new gameplay footage from one of the year’s most anticipated games.

Watch here: Twitch

Paradox Insider

Dates: June 6, 2020

Paradox Insider will be broadcast as part of Guerrilla Collective Live. Look forward to more information on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.

Watch here: Twitch

PlayStation State of Play

Dates: Ongoing

Sony’s first PlayStation State of Play streams of the season focused on the upcoming PS4 releases The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima. We expect more editions over the summer, continuing this week with our first look at games running on PlayStation 5. Tune in on Thursday, June 4, at 1:00 pm PT.

Watch here: YouTube

Nintendo

Dates: TBC

It’s rumoured that the Nintendo Direct for planned June has been delayed due to the impact of Covid-19. Nonetheless, we should get regular updates from the House of Mario over the summer. Paper Mario: The Oragami King was recently announced out of nowhere, and a collection HD remasters on Switch is rumoured to celebrate Super Mario’s 35th Anniversary.

Sega

Dates: TBC

Sega of America and Sega of Europe are confirmed to be participating in IGN’s and Gamespot’s events.

Square Enix

Dates: TBC

Square Enix has reportedly abandoned plans for replacement E3 press conference. Instead, the company is focussing on individual game reveals via Summer Game Fest, IGN’s Summer of Gaming, and Gamespot’s Play For All.

Stadia

Although there’s no confirmation of a summer Stadia Connect broadcast, we wouldn’t spill our porridge if Google tries to give its game streaming platform a bit of a relaunch. The Stadia Pro giveaway in April was a good start.

Tennocon 2020

Dates: July 11, 2020

Digital Extreme’s dedicated Warframe conference is going all-digital and included as part of the Summer Game Fest programme. Paid conference packs are available, each including in-game cosmetics or physical gear. A portion of all ticket proceeds will support Autism Ontario London and The Alzheimer Society London.

Visit: Tennocon

Ubisoft Forward

Dates: July 12, 2020

Expect Ubisoft’s summer presentation to have a familiar feel with more details expected on Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Gods & Monsters, Rainbow Six: Quarantine, and Watch Dogs: Legion. We might even see Skull & Bones again. A brand new game is also promised.

Watch here: YouTube

Xbox 20/20 (Inside Xbox)

Dates: Monthly from May

Although the first look at Xbox Series X ‘gameplay’ went over like a lead balloon, there’s still plenty to get excited about. July’s Xbox 20/20 promises more on titles in development at Xbox Game Studios such as Halo: Infinite, Hellblade 2, and – dare we speculate – a new Fable? Xbox content is also included as part of Summer Game Fest, IGN’s Summer of Gaming, and GameSpot’s Play for All.

Watch here: Mixer

WB Games

Dates: TBC

Will WB Games ever reveal the Batman game they’ve been teasing? We hope to see that, and more from Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. WB Games is participating in Summer Game Fest.

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As you can see, it’s a busy summer with multiple events all vying for attention of gamers. We’ll endeavour to keep this page as up to date as possible, but let us know via Facebook or Twitter if we’ve missed something.

E3 is dead. Long live E3. We didn’t think we’d miss it.

You’ll fight Rude and Reno at several points in the Final Fantasy VII Remake, both individually and as a pair. Here’s how you defeat them.

Rude and Reno are two members of the Turks, the shady secret police employed by the Shinra Corporation in the world of Final Fantasy VII. They’re responsible for recruiting new members of Solider, but they also get their hands dirty. Very dirty. You’re far more likely to find them involved in espionage, sabotage, and assassinations at the behest of President Shinra.

As Cloud and the crew run into the Turks throughout the Final Fantasy VII Remake, you’ll find them engaging in all of those things. They’re not bad people, but sometimes they have to do bad things, according to Rude. (Reno, meanwhile, is more anarchic and seems to enjoy the work. Also, the dude needs to fasten a couple more buttons on his shirt. Just saying.)

Given that you cross paths with them at several points, that means you’ll also need to fight them. Sometimes you’ll fight them singly. Other times, they’ll come as a pair. Here’s how you defeat Rude and Reno in the Final Fantasy VII Remake.

How to defeat Reno in the Final Fantasy VII Remake

When you use the Assess Materia on Reno, it won’t show up any specific weaknesses. There’s no one spell you can use to stagger him, no one element that he’s susceptible to. That might make it seem like he’s tough to beat, especially as he’s lightning-fast and, as it happens, is mostly immune to lighting magic. (The only spell that’s guaranteed to hit a moving target.)

There is a technique to beat Reno, however, and it’s simpler than you’d think: block his attacks.

Up until your first fight with Reno in the Final Fantasy VII Remake, it’s possible to have survived that far without using the block button one. You can dodge-roll out of the way of big attacks and, if you’re generous with potions and curative magic, defending is mostly optional. For those of us who are used to the original Final Fantasy VII, where defending is something you only do while you’re waiting for something, then it feels weird.

But blocking in the Final Fantasy VII Remake not only reduces damage incurred from incoming attacks; it also increases your ATB charges. And in Reno’s case, it will also increase your chance to stagger him. Block his attacks, hit him when you’ve got an opening, and make sure you avoid – or destroy – his electro-shock mines or they’ll immobilise you.

How to defeat Rude in the Final Fantasy VII Remake

Unlike Reno, Rude does have a specific weakness: wind magic and elemental attacks.

Your best bet is to attach Wind Materia to your weapon – in a linked slot, along with the blue Elemental Materia – and hit him with both physical attacks, augmented with that wind element, and with powerful Aero/Aerora/Aeroga spells. If you’ve got the Chocobo and Moogle summon Materia, the wind element of that attack will also help.

Co-ordinate that with your team and you’ll quickly stagger Rude. This will allow you to deal massive damage while he’s stumbling around. (And if you hit him enough, you break his sunglasses, which is fun.)

Watch out for his wrestling moves, though. If you’re blocking he can still grab you and throw you around the arena, including into other party members for additional damage. Bit of a cheese move from fighting games if you ask us.

What about both of them together?

When you’re fighting Rude and Reno together, their individual strategies and weaknesses still apply, with a couple of specific extras.

Reno’s new weapon is Pyramid, a manifested magical pyramid that traps one of your party members. It’ll stop them from moving and continually damage them until you free them. The way to do that? Target the Pyramid directly. It’ll appear as an “additional” enemy on the field for you to murder.

Rude, meanwhile, spends some time up in a helicopter, supporting Reno from the air and firing down with a cannon. This means that only ranged party members (like Barret) can deal him physical damage, but a good lightning spell will upset the helicopter’s mechanics.

Once Rude’s on the ground, like Reno, the tactics revert back to their original, solo strategies.

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There’s a piece of yellow materia that’s tantalisingly unreachable in the Sector 5 church in the Final Fantasy VII Remake. Here’s how you get to it.

Warning: This post contains minor spoilers for the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but nothing too serious if you’ve played the original.

While the game fills in a lot of the gaps and fleshes out in-between moments from the 1997 original, the Final Fantasy VII Remake (mostly) retreads the same path.

That means that, after the bombing raid on the Sector 5 Mako reactor, Cloud will be separated from Barrett and Tifa, just as he was in the original. The Air Buster explodes and Cloud falls (apparently) to his death into the slums below the plate, as Barrett drags a distressed Tifa to safety.

But Cloud doesn’t die. He crashes through the roof of a church in Sector 5 and is reunited with Aerith, the flower seller he met earlier. But this charming and iconic moment is, just like before, spoiled by the arrival of Reno, the open-shirted jackass from the Turks, Shinra’s secret police.

After a battle against Reno, Aerith and her new bodyguard, Cloud, escape through the rear of the church. They’re seemingly assisted in their escape by some of the hooded spectres that are so prominent in the Final Fantasy VII Remake.

As you head for the stairs in the rear of the church, you’ll see an orb of yellow materia through a doorway, but it’s shielded by a flying wall of spectres. You may as well give up. There’s no way to get to it. At least, not at this time.

How to get the yellow materia from the Sector 5 church

After the rooftop escape scene – which is just lovely, by the way – Cloud and Aerith find themselves in Sector 5. You’ll have to take a detour from the station to the centre of the slum, but once you’re there, it opens up into a hub world, just like Sector 7.

With Aerith playing agent for Cloud, just like Tifa before her, you can undertake mercenary missions to help the people of Sector 5. Once you’ve done the requisite main quests and have the run of the place to complete side quests, you’ll be able to head back out to the Sector 5 station.

Follow the path from there, retreading the path from the station – which is a lot quicker when you do it all at ground level – and you’ll find yourself back at the Sector 5 church. Head inside, being careful not to step on the flowers, and go through the doors into the back of the church.

You’ll find that the swirling wall of spectres has dissipated, and you can now grab that yellow materia.

What is the yellow materia in the Sector 5 church?

It’s Chakra. Materia you’ve already got at this stage.

That’s not very exciting, after all that frustration and backtracking, is it?

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He’s deceptively quick for a big lad, but can you kill Nemesis in Resident Evil 3?

Nemesis is ever-present in the Resident Evil 3 Remake. Much like Mr X in last year’s Resident Evil 2 Remake – and, of course, the original Nemesis from 1999 – he’s a relentless killing machine who stalks Jill Valentine through Raccoon City.

Unlike Mr X, though, who is fairly slow and predictable, Nemesis is much more dangerous. While Mr X has that “I don’t need to run after you, I’ll catch you eventually” horror movie villain thing going on, Nemesis is surprisingly fast.

He runs, jumps, and has massive reach. He lurks outside and pops up from unexpected places, like a giant, mutated Cato from Pink Panther. He can even spawn other enemies and is practically impervious to anything you can throw at him.

Question is: Can you kill Nemesis in the Resident Evil 3 Remake?

Can you kill Nemesis in Resident Evil 3?

The short answer is: no, you can’t.

The best you can hope for is stunning or knocking down Nemesis, affording you a few moments to run away and regroup. If you catch him off guard and hit him with something heavy, like the grenade launcher or magnum, then you might knock him down.

If you do stagger him, don’t waste any more time – or more importantly, ammunition – on trying to finish him off. You can’t kill Nemesis in the Resident Evil 3 Remake… at least, not until you’re meant to. (But we won’t get into that, because spoilers.)

The longer answer is that, in open play, he’s totally indestructible. (He wouldn’t be that scary an omnipresent beast if he weren’t.) But once you get to a certain point later on in the game, Nemesis switches from the ever-present stalker to a more standard boss to fight. And it’s then, when he becomes a boss monster, that you’ll get an opportunity to take him down.

But before then? Don’t waste your ammo trying to kill Nemesis. Just run.

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Want to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons online? Here’s how to visit and host friends using the game’s online multiplayer features.

Starting a new life on a deserted island is fun, but wouldn’t it be nice to visit some friends occasionally? And how about inviting some mates over for a beach party? Fortunately, Animal Crossing: New Horizons supports online and local multiplayer for up to eight players.

Multiplayer isn’t available at the start of the game, but once Dodo Airlines fully opens on day two, you can visit a friend’s island and have up to seven guests visit yours.

Before you start, make sure you have some buddies on your Nintendo Switch Friends List and – for online multiplayer – a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online.

How to invite online friends to your Animal Crossing island

1. Visit the Dodo Airlines terminal located on the south beach of your island.
2. Got to the front desk and speak to Orville, the ever-helpful attendant.
3. Select “I want visitors.”
4. Select “Via online play” and then “Roger!”
5. This being Nintendo, the game connects to the internet in a very 00s way. Beep beep beep, etc.
6. Once connected, choose from the following options, depending on who you want to visit.
   • All my friends! – Anyone on your Nintendo Switch Friends List
   • Only my Best Friends! – Any friends you have assigned Best Friends Status in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
   • Invite via Dodo Code – Generates a one-time code that can be shared with multiple friends, best friends, and random Switch users.
7. Orville will then open the gate and players can visit your island. (See below)
8. Press the minus (-) symbol whenever you want to end the online session. You can also ask Orville to close the gate and prevent new players arriving without kicking off players who are already there.

How to visit a friend’s Animal Crossing island online

1. Visit the Dodo Airlines terminal located on the south beach of your island
2. Speak to Orville on the front desk.
3. Select “I wanna fly!”
4. Select “I wanna visit someone.”
5. Select “Via online play” and then “Roger!”
6. Once the game connects to the internet, you have two options:
   • Search for a friend – Players on your Nintendo Switch Friends List
   • Search via Dodo code – A player that has shared a code, either directly or publicly
7. If you select Dodo Code, tap in the five-digit code and press Confirm.
8. Orville will open the gate and you can embark on your journey.

How to add Best Friends

Once you have played online with players from your Nintendo Switch Friends list once, you unlock the option to assign them Best Friend status within the NookPhone app. Once the request is accepted, you become BFFs. The main difference is that Best Friends are allowed to use their Shovels and Axes on other player’s islands.

Local WiFi Multiplayer

Local multiplayer on the same WiFi network works in much the same way, just select Local Play when speaking to Orville.

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More Animal Crossing from Thumbsticks

• 5 really useful Animal Crossing: New Horizons websites
• How to find and catch the buzzing mole cricket insect
• How to transfer patterns using NookLink and QR codes

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