This week I highlight some of the gaming events that are happening online in the next couple of months, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt comes to PlayStation Now, and Horizon Forbidden West astounds with a gameplay reveal. But first, Twitter is changing the way you can ask for your account to be verified.

Twitter changes its approach to verification

Wanting to get the coveted blue check mark on your Twitter account? The company is making it easier for you to request one, but they don’t seem to be making it any easier to get one.

Dear “can you verify me” ––

Save your Tweets and DMs, there’s a new official way to apply for a blue badge, rolling out over the next few weeks.

You can now submit an application to request verification in-app, right from your account settings!

-Your verified blue badge source pic.twitter.com/2d1alYZ02M

— Twitter Verified (@verified) May 20, 2021

The new verification application process may not be available to you yet, as the service is rolling out over time.

Twitter is still being strict about who even qualifies for verification, which the company explains is to “help people distinguish the authenticity of accounts that are of high public interest.”

Accounts looking to get verified must fit into one of these six groups:

• government
• companies, brands, organizations
• news organizations and journalists
• entertainment
• sports and gaming
• activists, organizers, and other influential individuals

PAX East gaming convention cancelled, replaced with PAX Online

The PAX East gaming convention, a project of Penny Arcade and ReedPop, usually runs in the spring. Because of the ongoing concerns and restrictions resulting from the covid-19 pandemic, that event was officially cancelled,

Instead, the event will be replaced with PAX Online will run from July 15 to July 18.

The free event will include panel discussions, video streams showcasing creators and influencers, the indie showcase, which highlights Steam games developed by independent studios, and the Pax Arena.

Organizers hope that PAX West, the original show that is held over the Labour Day Weekend in Seattle, will be an in-person event starting on September 3.

Summer of video games begins with Summer Game Fest and E3

The summer of fun gets underway next week with Summer Game Fest, which is hosting and broadcasting video game events throughout the summer.

It all starts on June 10 at 11 a.m. PT, 2 p.m. ET, with a live event hosted by producer Geoff Keighley and featuring a performance by Weezer.

Other events that are part of the Summer Game Fest include events by Xbox and Bethesda (June 13), Steam’s Next Fest (June 16), and EA Play Live (July 22).

E3 2021 runs online from June 12, with four days of video streams including press conferences from developers, publishers, and vendors, including Ubisoft Forward (June 12) and Nintendo’s Nintendo Direct and Treehouse Live (June 15).

E3 has always had an awards component, with selected media contributing to the decision making. Those awards are going to be broadcast live online on June 15.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt free for PlayStation Now subscribers

The acclaimed game from CD Projekt Red was first released in 2015, and now, the game of the year edition of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is available for PlayStation Now subscribers to download and play.

PlayStation Now is Sony’s service that provides access to more than 800 games to subscribers for the cost of $13 CAD a month or $80 a year.

The game of the year edition of Wild Hunt includes all post-release content, including the expansions Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine.

Horizon Forbidden West gameplay debut showcases sequel to Zero Dawn

In a State of Play last week, Guerrilla Games showed off nearly 14 minutes of its forthcoming game, Horizon Forbidden West, a sequel to the 2017 action RPG.

Horizon Zero Dawn remains one of my favourite games of all time. It introduced us to a completely new world and the incredible character of Aloy, who lives on Earth hundreds of years after an extinction event.

This new game takes place soon after the events of Zero Dawn, and it’s going to be available for PS5 and PS4, and will be enhanced for PS4 players.

In the video we see Aloy moving about a region in the Forbidden West which is based on the geography of the San Francisco Bay area. She’s got a grappling hook and glider that she can use to traverse the landscape, and we see her take control of one the machines that resembles a raptor. She can also explore underwater.

She’s still got her spear for melee and her bow for ranged attacks, and the video shows Aloy battling groups of raptors and raiders, and taking on a “tremor tusk”, which is a massive elephant-like creature that, like most of the creatures in the Horizon games, is part biological, part machine.

The gameplay was all captured from a PS5. The graphics are incredible, and Guerrilla seems to have really expanded on the world they created. It’s more expansive, more detailed, more dense with sights and sounds.

Sony has not provided a release date for Forbidden West. The game was expected this year, but many big-budget games have been delayed in the past 18 months.