PlayStation system details, Mortal Kombat 11 launch trailer and this week's Gamegrrl news

It’s a holiday weekend, and everyone is going to picnics (or staying indoors because of a weird April blizzard). There is so much more to life than family and friends, though! (Sorry, we’re totally kidding… okay, mostly kidding.) If you need a break from the family, we have plenty of video game news from this week for you to catch up on. We have info on a new system, some Mortal Kombat 11 videos, and a visit from Persona 5’s Joker. Here is the top Gamegrrl news for the week ending April 20, 2019.

The big news this week is about the next PlayStation system. Sony spoke to Wired, telling them that the next system’s development kit is currently with game designers. We won’t be getting it this year, of course. We also don’t have a name quite yet or know what sort of dough we’ll be shelling out for this, but there are a few things we do know. The new system will have an AMD chip, and its CPU is AMD’s Ryzen line. It’s the third generation and has eight cores of 7nm Zen2 microarchitecture. The GPU is, according to lead system architect Mark Cerny, “a custom variant of Radeon’s Navi family, will support ray tracing, a technique that models the travel of light to simulate complex interactions in 3D environments. While ray tracing is a staple of Hollywood visual effects and is beginning to worm its way into $10,000 high-end processors, no game console has been able to manage it.” The chip will also let us have 3D audio. The system is backwards compatible and if you’ve got the PSVR headset, it will work with the new system. Even better? The new PlayStation will have a solid-state drive (SSD) to keep up the speed. Snazzy!

Now, there is speculation that we’ll be getting that PS system in 2020, and that there will be an Xbox system that year as well, though these are still only rumors. That said, We did get an introduction to the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition in a new commercial. 

Here is the info for you: “Go all digital with the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition and enjoy disc-free gaming. Build a library of digital games in the cloud that goes where you go, along with your saves, and pre-install upcoming games so you’re ready to play the moment they launch.” Okay, it’s not a new system announcement, but it’s still pretty cool. 

Next up we have Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, which brings the return of the game for the first time in 10 years. Switch owners will be happy to know that this is the only system where the game is available. All our favorites from Captain Marvel to Black Panther to Spider-Gwen will be there with special moves and abilities. 

“Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order brings gamers and Marvel fans together in a new action RPG exclusive to Nintendo Switch,” said Nick Chavez, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “With a huge cast of Super Heroes to choose from, assembling your ultimate team, strategically combining skills to unleash powerful attacks and preventing galactic devastation with friends has never been more fun or immersive.” The game will be available for Nintendo Switch on July 19. Here's what you get:

Marvel Dream Teams – Assemble your dream team of Super Heroes from the Marvel Universe, each with their unique superpowers

New Heroes – The Guardians of the Galaxy, Falcon, Scarlet Witch and more join the "Ultimate Alliance" for the first time

Original Story – Super Heroes and Super Villains battle Thanos and The Black Order across the Marvel Universe in this new original story

Local and Online Multiplayer – The game can be played offline or online with up to 4 players on a single screen or using multiple systems

Heroic Camera – In addition to the series' traditional perspective, players can also select a dynamic, zoomed-in view, allowing for a more immersive play style for single-player or multiplayer when using multiple systems

Multiple ways to play – Play with the Joy-Con™ controllers or the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller (sold separately)

Mortal Kombat 11 is almost here, and there are a lot of videos giving us another look at what’s coming, including a look at what the game will be like on Nintendo Switch, which you can watch here, and a Shao Kahn reveal trailer, which you can watch here. (You can get him by pre-ordering the game.) You can also watch the Mortal Kombat theme be performed by an orchestra here. 

As you can see above, we also have a launch trailer for the game. April 23 can’t come soon enough! Fight!

This week we also got a reveal of the new playable character from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Here is the info for you: "New content approaches! Joker joins the playable roster, and updates in Ver. 3.0 include additional functionality, such as a stage builder, video editing, and Smash World integration."

We’re getting Joker from Persona 5, which you can check out in the video above. You’ll also get a look at his abilities, the Mementos stage and a few tracks we’re going to hear. If you’ve got the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighters Pass, you can get this on April 17, or you can pick up the Challenger Pack 1. The same day you’ll also get a new Stage Builder Feature, video editing features and the Smash World service for the smartphone app for the system. Just download the free Version 3.0 update. 

So, what Gamegrrl news are you checking out this week? Let us know in the comments.