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Xbox News is a site that brings you the very latest Original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One news, the latest games and releases, Part of the
DCEmu Homebrew & Gaming Network.
THE LATEST NEWS BELOW
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November 26th, 2012, 14:02 Posted By: wraggster
Reecelol today released the first version of its application pc, allowing the screenshot from your Xbox JTAG / RGH.
Installation:
The archive contains the plugin XBM Nate (without Microsoft SDK) and a readme. Placing the plug-in on your JTAG hdd. Configure dashlaunch, indicating the path to the plug-in that launches the at the start of the XBOX.
Save the new configuration dashlaunch. X360Screen Capture v1 Now run on your PC and you can capture everything happening on your JTAG / RGH. Dash, FSD, Configuration, Video and even screen your games.
or other .... X360 Screen Capture V1
http://x360.gx-mod.com/modules/news/...p?storyid=4088
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November 25th, 2012, 22:43 Posted By: wraggster
Capcom will port 3DS game Resident Evil: Revelations to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, a ratings board listing suggests.PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game have appeared on the Korean Ratings Board (viaNeoGAF).Revelations originally launched for 3DS in January of this year to positive reviews. It marked a return to Resident Evil 4's slower-paced survival horror, with less of Resident 5 (and 6's) shooty shooty bang bang bits.The next fully-fledged Resident Evil game is likely some years away (and not for this console generation). A quick port of Revelations seems a logical step.Presumably the game will be released as a downloadable title, as previous re-releases from the series have been sold.Capcom refused to comment when contacted by Eurogamer.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ox-360-release
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November 25th, 2012, 22:36 Posted By: wraggster
Time flies. It's been a full 12 months since the Metro Dashboard arrived on Xbox 360. There was an update this October, but it didn't fix the same problems many CVG readers, Redditors and Xbox.com forumites have had with Microsoft's next-generation user interface. One year since its release, and the Metro experiment is regarded by many as a failure.
Xbox 360 originally launched with the famous 'blades' Dashboard with individual pages for System, Media, Games, Xbox Live and, later, the Marketplace. It was neat on the surface but did a pretty lousy job of presenting the information players needed, and buried DLC and Live Arcade stuff beneath layer after layer of obfuscating menus.
 Microsoft's New Xbox Experience Dashboard fixed all those problems in 2008 with an interface styled after Windows Media Center, but fixed yet another 'problem' by freeing up space for advertising and promotion. When people fondly recall the old blades it's usually because it was so free of advertising.They forget that downloadable content was ordered alongside everything else in one giant alphabetised list and that the 360 had no support for Kinect, streaming TV or any of the 360's modern media functions. NXE fixed that, then fixed it again with Kinect support which never quite worked, but all of it was merely a stop-gap for Metro, which everybody hoped would provide the ultimate home media centre for Xbox owners.
Officially, it's not 'Metro' any more. Microsoft has been advising developers against using the Metro name since July with rumours of a trademark dispute with German wholesalers Metro AG. It's now 'Microsoft Design Language', and is used on Windows Phone, Windows 8, Surface and 360.
[h=3]METRO-FLEXIBLE[/h]MDL works well on Windows-powered phones and on Microsoft's new Surface tablet where the bold panels display information simply and can be activated with a touch. Windows 8 users have their own problems with the interface, mostly tied to the accessibility of the classic Windows desktop and how it's designed more for fingers than a mouse, but those problems pale in comparison to 360's.
 On Windows Phone, Surface or Windows 8 you can build your own homepage with the apps you most commonly use. On 360, the Dashboard is laid out by Microsoft. It's not your UI; it's theirs - how else could it turn Xbox into an ad delivery machine? The latest version of MDL adds a search panel to every page but misuses a colossal amount of screen space.The three left-hand squares are the only practical panels on each page. Less than 15% of the screen is available for things you use regularly; the rest is reserved for advertising. It's a fundamental component of Microsoft's modern business strategy. Even Windows 8's default apps are ad-supported. Delta Airlines appear in the News app and Pantene intrudes on the Weather app, but on PC you can dump Microsoft's apps for third-party equivalents.
The same isn't true on 360's closed system where you're stuck with what Microsoft gives you. In a Facebook poll, 70% of Xbox World magazine readers said they 'hate' the modern 360 Dashboard. "It's good on touch screens, mediocre at best for Kinect, and useless for mouse or controller," says XBW reader Steve Abramo. Ryan Clayton agrees: "It looks cool but it's a pain to navigate with a pad.
"Games are buried under menus too, but the thing I hate most is the advertising for Nike trainers over the thing people use their console for most: games." So how can it be fixed? "Get rid of the ads," says Chris Wells. "On every other online service, Premium = no ads. Reduce the number of pages and leave it at Home - Profile - Apps - Settings. Has anyone ever used the Bing bar?"
Phillip McLean agrees: "I'd remove all the freaking ads for paid users, first off, then I'd make everything on the one home hub: games, music, movies, apps etc." MDL isn't bad in its concept, the problem is Microsoft's handling of the user interface and their insistence on making Xbox an advertising platform.
"Anyone who owns a Windows Phone knows how customisable the tiles are," says Jamie Jones. "Just give us a 'my page' option where you can place game shortcuts, apps, even a direct link to a friend's Gamertag."
"The interface itself is nice," says Mark Marling from the XBW Facebook group. "The problem on Xbox lies in how it's been implemented. There are too many layers and ads cluttering the dash, but dismissing Metro as a UI is throwing the baby out with the bath water."
[h=3]SQUARE-PUSHER[/h]The perfect 360 Dashboard? A simple homepage with nine bold panels, easily 'touchable' with Kinect or controller - we've mocked up our own version, stripping the 360's UI down to bare essentials and making everything accessible on one page. Games, video, music, friends, apps and system settings are instantly available, and online friends are visible from the minute you boot up.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...tro-dashboard/
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November 23rd, 2012, 23:45 Posted By: wraggster
The Verge has reported that Microsoft is building an inexpensive Windows 8-based set-top box.
According to multiple sources ’familiar with Redmond’s plans’ the ‘Xbox TV’ will offer the entertainment functions of the 360 console, focusing on media and TV streaming services, which would make it a direct competitor to the Apple TV as well as devices such as the Roku.
Allegedly set for release in 2013, the set-top box will not have the ability to play AAA titles such as Dishonored or Assassin’s Creed, but it will be able to run casual indie games. This seems to be an attempt to prove the Xbox brand can offer more than just games and can provide a product ideal for the livingroom and the whole family.
The rumours suggest that the box will be an ‘always-on’ device, featuring an option for a quick-boot up.
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...in-2013/029677
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November 23rd, 2012, 00:47 Posted By: wraggster
Time to be thankful for the Microsoft Store, which is now offering Forza Horizonfor a measly $14.99. Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios' racer released just under a month ago, so 75 percent off its regular price is brimming with Black Friday goodness.
Jordan got revved up for Forza Horizon in his review, speeding all the way to four out of five stars. He said that, while there are a lot of "little, annoying things" about it, Forza Horizon is "a massive toy chest full of hyper-accurate hot wheels."
Update: As commenter JoshHandrich notes, Microsoft Store has a few other handsome Black Friday offers, the lot neatly collected here. Standouts includeDance Central 3 ($14.99), Borderlands 2 ($24.99), NFS: Most Wanted ($24.99), and Dishonored ($24.99).
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...00/search.true
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November 23rd, 2012, 00:30 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft Studios is now multiformat, according to Phil Harrison, the vice president of Interactive Entertainment at the company.Microsoft believes it no longer competes with just console companies such as Sony and Nintendo, Harrison said during a keynote speech at the London Games Conference last night, attended by Eurogamer sister site Gamesindustry International. Instead, Google and Apple are the target. Microsoft's Phil Harrison.
"We are now really a multiplatform studio," he said. "We are not just building games for Xbox 360, we're building experiences for Smartglass, we're building dedicated games for Windows Phone 8 and for Windows 8."Harrison's comments come hot on the heels of the launch of new operating system Windows 8, which came out with around 30 titles developed in-house at Microsoft Studios, Harrison revealed.He said: “We think this expands our competitive map. We're no longer just competing with the traditional console companies, but our competitive landscape includes the likes of Google, the likes of Amazon, it includes obviously the likes of Apple."We think that's great. We think it's good for us, we think it's good for the industry and we think it also moves us into this network generation more aggressively and with more determination. And this is in turn powered by the cloud, and this is another corporate investment that Microsoft is making the future of how technology and devices interact. We think of Microsoft as now being a devices and services company."There isn't an organisation that embodies that strategy more precisely and concisely as Microsoft Studios inside the interactive entertainment business."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-says-harrison
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November 23rd, 2012, 00:08 Posted By: wraggster
Rumours of a low-spec TV set-top box style Xbox have returned.
The Verge reckons that “multiple sources familiar with Redmond's plans” have revealed that Microsoft is indeed intent on launching two versions of the Xbox 720.
One is the fully-fledged meat and two veg console powerhouse that you’d expect while the other is a cheaper unit that is designed as a living-room access point for the wider casual market into the Xbox world.
It will be based on Windows 8 and won’t run large-scale triple-A titles but will instead focus on downloadable content. From a broader perspective the new box is yet another example of Microsoft attempting to make its new software environments easily scalable and easily embedded into a broad range of devices.
More speculative rumouring adds that “the company could opt to combine its core system for the next Xbox with a phone stack to deliver a phone capable of running a full version of Microsoft's Xbox Live services”.
Both machines will apparently be revealed in 2013 and arrive before Christmas next year.
Talk of a twin-SKU Xbox 720 strategy has been around for over a year, with November 2011 bringing word of a disc-less digital-only console. This was backed up in March of this year when MCV revealed that Microsoft is hatching a disc-less strategy of sorts for Xbox 720.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/talk-...merges/0106852
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November 23rd, 2012, 00:05 Posted By: wraggster
We’ve all woken up bleary eyed in the morning after a longer then expected game sessions the night before. But this takes it to a whole new level.
Australian retail worker Okan Kaya has set a new Guinness World Record for the longest video game marathon ever by playing Activision’s Black Ops II for a staggering 135 hours and 50 minutes, beating the previous record of 120 hours and seven minutes.
He didn’t play it without break, though, Guinness rules allow for ten minutes respite every hour, and that can be accrued meaning Kaya was in fact able to grab a brief nap or two by skipping his regular breaks.
By the end of the marathon Kaya was ranked 37th in the world at the game.
Be warned, though – prolonged gaming sessions can be bad for your health and are not for the feint-hearted.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/man-p...record/0106857
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November 23rd, 2012, 00:04 Posted By: wraggster
This week's MCV is now available to view online – and it features a detailed analysis of Call of Duty's launch sales performance.
We also go behind the scenes at the game's midnight launch at HMV. And there's a full interview with the president of 2K Games, Christoph Hartmann.
We've listed the contents in full below.
Download our iPad app now, which includes access to the last two years of MCV back issues.
You can also read the magazine in your browser. Click here to subscribe or click here to access this week's individual issue.
Individual issues usually cost £1.99. You can subscribe for three months (iPad only - £19.99), six months (£34.99) or 1 year (£64.99).
The issue's key content includes:
• Was Call of Duty a failure or disaster? We analyse the figures
• INTERVIEW: 2K Games boss Christoph Hartmann
• The biggest news stories: The Hobbit boost for Lego, Excalibur enters US, HMV wants more concessions
• Ubisoft discusses its bold plans for Wii U
• We go behind the scenes at HMV for the midnight launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• Want to win an MCV Awards? The full criteria detailed
• We run through all the Wii U third-party launch games and accessories
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/was-b...-s-mcv/0106864
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November 22nd, 2012, 01:40 Posted By: wraggster
Halloween may be over, but the most terrifying season of all has truly just begun – holiday shopping season. The horror. Black Friday deals are already popping up for a few retailers, but most notably for Best Buy.
Best Buy's doors open at midnight on Black Friday. Doorbuster sales start right then and there, and there is no end time listed on the site as to when those may end. Available as a doorbuster for $30 each is Disney Epic Mickey 2, Darksiders 2, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Battlefield 3 Premium Edition, The Amazing Spider-Man and Need for Speed Most Wanted.
Outside of the doorbusters, Best Buy has a Vita (wi-fi system) and Black Ops Declassifiedbundle for $200, Xbox 360 250GB bundle with Forza Motorsport 4 and Skyrim for $200, and the Flame Red Nintendo 3DS with Super Mario Land 3D for $150. For $35 grab Assassin's Creed 3, Borderlands 2, Diablo 3, Madden NFL 13, Forza Horizon and FIFA 13; a smattering of Kinect games are $25 each, including Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth and Just Dance 4. For $15 is Grand Theft Auto 4: The Complete Edition, Halo Reach and Mortal Kombat Vita, among others; for $8 is Dead Island Game of the Year, Assassin's Creed: Revelations for Xbox 360 and The Sims 3.
https://blackfriday.bestbuy.com/vide...#!/video+games
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November 22nd, 2012, 01:32 Posted By: wraggster
 For those brave enough, and cheap enough, to venture into Walmart after 8pm on November 22, some Black Friday deals await, including a 4GB Xbox 360 with a Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure starter pack for $149, a Wii for $89, and a 250GB PS3 with the Uncharted Dual Pack and the Infamous Collection for $199.
The retailer is also discounting some games, including Epic Mickey 2, Modern Warfare 3, FIFA Soccer 13, NBA 2K13, Borderlands 2, Medal of Honor Warfighter, and Just Dance 4, to $25 each. $15 games include Dance Central 3, Max Payne 3, Black Ops, and Spec Ops: The Line. Dead Island, Gran Turismo 5, and more are $10.
Finally, in the offer that is most likely to confuse and irritate people, Walmart is advertising "Wii U-Draw" for $10. That's actually the uDraw Game Tablet for Wii, and not the Wii U, which also includes a tablet. Some kind of fight is going to break out over this confusion, we're afraid.
http://localad.walmart.com/Walmart/E...Walmart-121123
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November 22nd, 2012, 01:26 Posted By: wraggster
The Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has received an update, and while the full patch notes won't be available until tomorrow, we do know some details thanks to Treyarch design director David Vonderhaar's Twitter account.
Specifically, we know that an issue preventing Dragonfire drones from deploying correctly has been corrected, in addition to an error that caused Escort Drones to attack their owners and Theater Mode UI Error #226117, whatever that is. The bouncing care package glitch, which supposedly causes care packages to bounce wildly away from their drop location, is still being investigated and will not be corrected with this patch.
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/21/bl...-get-stitches/
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November 22nd, 2012, 01:24 Posted By: wraggster
In case you've not noticed it dozing on retail shelves, Sleeping Dogs is now grabbing 40 winks on Xbox Live's Games on Demand, and (Square Enix hopes) $44.99 from your wallet.
Back when Xav dissected it in August, the action-adventure's seedy underbelly didn't exactly strike him as brimming with originality. He doled out three and a half stars in his review, saying that while it's a good game, "Sleeping Dogsmostly leaves you remembering the media that inspired it and probably won't remain in your thoughts over time."
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/21/sl...mes-on-demand/
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November 22nd, 2012, 01:10 Posted By: wraggster
Treyarch has released a title update for the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
 While there are no patch notes, the update will address a number of issues outlined earlier this week including a Theater Mode UI error, a Dragonfire glitch which stops the Scorestreak from deploying, and an Escort Drone glitch which sees the Scorestreak attacking the owner while under the map (see video below).While some players will be able to download the update now, others may have to wait a short while. Game design director David Vonderhaar said on Twitter: "Deployments like these are usually staggered over the course of a few hours. So hang tight. You'll get it eventually."
Treyarch is also researching a Care Package glitch following reports from some players that the Scorestreak bounces out of the map after falling to the ground.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...date-released/
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November 22nd, 2012, 00:55 Posted By: wraggster
Activision release the 'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 HD Revert Pack' for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD on December 4.
 That's the global release date for Steam, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, putting an end to a string of delays. It'll cost $4.99.The Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 HD Revert Pack contains three levels from the original THPS 3 (Airport, Los Angeles, and Canada). It also adds the 'Revert' move which allows for huge combo potential.
Skateboarding icons Steve Caballero and Geoff Rowley make their return, while James Hetfield and Robert Trujillo from Metallica are added as playable characters.
The Metallica track 'All Nightmare Long' is also added.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com...ate-confirmed/
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November 22nd, 2012, 00:41 Posted By: wraggster
If you just bought a Windows Phone 8 device like the Nokia Lumia 920 or the HTC 8x and were hoping to load it with Xbox content for the holidays -- after all, they're both from Microsoft, right? -- it seems that you may be in for some disappointment. As of right now, purchases or rentals from thenewly-branded Xbox Video will not sync to Windows Phone 8. Microsoft has even officially acknowledged the issue in its support page, stating: "Windows Phone 8 does not currently support playback of rented or purchased content from the Xbox Video Store." The article goes on to say that you can go to the Windows Phone Feature Suggestions page to recommend it for future releases. Gee, thanks, Microsoft; that's so helpful. Now we'll actually have to talk to our families. The horror.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/20/w...th-xbox-video/
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November 22nd, 2012, 00:27 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft may be preparing a lite version of its next-generation console specifically made for set-top box purposes. The Vergesays the device -- dubbed "Xbox TV" -- will be part of Microsoft's next-gen console strategy, offering a low-cost alternative to the still unannounced, "Durango" with "access to core entertainment services;" it's also said to be an "always on" device. The report also posits that both Microsoft's next system and this alternate device will be revealed and released ahead of holiday 2013.
It's unclear exactly what the rumored set-top box's "core entertainment services" might be, but it's not hard to imagine it comprising the recently revamped Xbox Video / Music services, as well as the myriad other multimedia services available through the current-gen Xbox 360. The company is also allegedly exploring Xbox TV as a service, licensed out to various television manufacturers and integrated on a software level -- none of this sounds especially far-fetched considering Microsoft's new strategy of marketing the Xbox brand as its entertainment wing, as well as pitching its latest version of Windows as a scalable, multi-device OS.
For Redmond's part, the company's only issuing the following boilerplate statement: "Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend the console lifecycle by introducing controller-free experiences with Kinect and re-inventing the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships. We are always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the lifecycle convention." We expect to hear many more rumblings on the next-gen front after the coming holiday season.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/21/rumor-xbox-tv/
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November 22nd, 2012, 00:23 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft's VP of the Interactive Entertainment Business, Phil Harrison, has acknowledged that the company's internal development studios are no longer competing with just traditional console manufacturers, but web and tech companies including Google and Apple.
Speaking at the London Games Conference this evening, Harrison said that his game development teams are now multiformat studios, working not only across Xbox but Windows 8, Surface and mobile devices.
"Our competitive landscape includes the likes of Google, the likes of Amazon, it includes obviously the likes of Apple"
"We are now really a multiplatform studio," he told the audience. "We are not just building games for Xbox 360, we're building experiences for smart glass, we're building dedicated games for Windows Phone 8 and for Windows 8."
Around 30 titles released for the Windows 8 launch period were developed in-house at Microsoft Studios, according to Harrison. Thinking multiformat at Microsoft is part of a wider remit at the corporation, he said, pulling other developments such as cloud computing into the entertainment business.
"We think this expands our competitive map," he said. "We're no longer just competing with the traditional console companies, but our competitive landscape includes the likes of Google, the likes of Amazon, it includes obviously the likes of Apple."
"We think that's great. We think it's good for us, we think it's good for the industry and we think it also moves us into this network generation more aggressively and with more determination. And this is in turn powered by the cloud, and this is another corporate investment that Microsoft is making the future of how technology and devices interact. We think of Microsoft as now being a devices and services company.
"There isn't an organisation that embodies that strategy more precisely and concisely as Microsoft Studios inside the interactive entertainment business."
He also went on to shed some light on the recently announced tablet and mobile phone studio in London, headed up by former Rare developer Lee Schuneman.
"We are trying to build a new kind of studio," he said. "We describe it as being a 21st Century studio.
"It will not make retail products. It will be making products largely based on the Windows 8 platform and technologies. And it's more about exploring new business models and pioneering new ways to play on devices that we think are going to be powering the future of our industry over the next five or ten years. We're hiring from the console industry, the web 2.0 industry and from the online gaming industry."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...sole-companies
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November 22nd, 2012, 00:15 Posted By: wraggster
November 16th, 2007: Ubisoft releases risky but ambitious new IP Assassin’s Creed. It debuts at No.1 in the UK charts, dethroning little-known shooter Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
In week two, Assassin’s Creed prevents the latest Need for Speed from topping the charts – the first time in three years the racer did not make No.1. That was a pretty clear sign Ubi had something special on its hands.
October 31st, 2012: Assassin’s Creed III shatters the publisher’s previous day one and week one sales records. It shifts 3.5m copies worldwide in its first week.
It has become one of the defining series of this generation, but why has Assassin’s Creed not hit its limit yet?
TARGETING GAMERS
For Ubisoft’s EMEA marketing and sales director Geoffroy Sardin, it’s about keeping the fans informed.
Most Creed titles were announced at E3 and released the following Christmas, but barely four months after last year’s AC: Revelations, Ubisoft unveiled the next chapter in the series.
“We have to involve fans very early in the setting and the new experience,” Sardin told MCV. “We announced Assassin’s Creed III much earlier than the previous games, releasing the first details in March instead of taking advantage of E3 as we did with the others.
“Anitcipation is key to involving gamers in a title’s release. It gives us time to be sure fans are interested in what we’re creating.”
Social media has become integral to this, and Ubisoft experimented this year with how it can engage gamers. The first gameplay trailer wasn’t released at E3 or a Ubisoft press event – it went live on Facebook once the game’s page reached a certain number of Likes.
“Nowadays, 93 per cent of 15 to 35-year-olds in Western countries are on Facebook, so it is makes sense for us to communicate with them that way,” said Sardin. “All forms of social media are important to us because they give us direct feedback from the community.
“We’re planning to develop direct contact between the development team and the consumers through social media, to gather feedback. It’s super important for us to have this kind of relationship now.”
THE NEXT KILL
Now that the game is out, Ubisoft is intent on catering to attracting even more gamers with fresh content.
The publishing giant has plenty of experience in this manner, having delivered several DLC add-ons for the past three releases. And with AC III, Ubisoft wants to push this further.
“We want to increase the lifecycle of this current game through DLC,” Sardin explained. “We’ve already announced that we’re doing a Season Pass for the first time, and we gave details of our first DLC with George Washington.”
And that’s just the plans tied in directly to the console game. Ubisoft has invested heavily in the creation of new assassin Connor and the fiction of his era, and is keen to make the most of this on other formats.
AC III launched alongside a Vita tie-in, Liberation, and Ubisoft is still collaborating with mobile market leader GREE on Assassin’s Creed: Utopia, a tablet and smartphone game that tells the backstory of the assassins from Connor’s time.
Then there’s the possibility of annual follow-ups, which Ubisoft used to expand the world of Ezio and Assassin’s Creed II.
While Sardin wouldn’t comment on new console adventures for Connor, he did say that the release of Brotherhood and Revelations show the level of resources Ubisoft has dedicated to evolving the AC brand.
“What we understand and what we know by heart now is launching yearly triple-A products is the result of huge expertise,” he said. “Very few companies in the industry are able to deliver this level of execution and on such a regular basis. It’s the combination of expertise from a lot of studios in the company.
“We have six studios around the world involved in Assassin’s Creed, taking the best expertise everywhere.
“For example, to do the naval battle in Assassin’s Creed III, we involved the Singapore studio because they are experts on this type of gaming experience. We also involved the Annecy studio from the south of France for the multiplayer mode, as well as a lot of other studios.
“To create this kind of experience, we have to involve all the expertise from around the world. This is key. You couldn’t do this with one team from one studio.”
THE NEW WORLD
Ubisoft has already started harnessing the next generation of gaming, with a Wii U version of Assassin’s Creed III due by the end of the year. With whispers of the next Xbox and PlayStation growing louder, you can be sure Ubi won’t miss the chance to see where new technology can take the series.
Said Sardin: “We will explore the opportunities of future formats we could develop on – tablet, console, PC, – to develop our best brand, Assassin’s Creed.”
As proud as Ubisoft is of Assassin’s Creed III’s success at retail, the publisher’s ambitions lie beyond the next game release. Instead, it wants more. A lot more.
Already the publisher has produced million-selling novels, graphic novels, short films made for broadcast online, collectible figurines and other merchandise – that risky game IP from 2007 has gone far beyond what even Ubisoft could have hoped for.
“It’s not all about games, it’s about brand,” said Sardin. “We announced two weeks ago that we’re going to produce a movie with Michael Fassbender as the star and co-producer. And these plans are becoming more concrete as we work with New Regency.
“And it’s not just the movie. We are constantly expanding the brand with figurines, comics and so on – basically, in every cultural format you could have interest to go deeper into detail on our brand.
“We want to do everything. We even want to get into clothes. We’ve got a lot of ideas, but we still need to focus on quality. That’s why we will go little by little into each new field. The comics, the novels and so forth are very important for us, because they create more detail for the player, and give them a better way to understand the games. We want to create a global experience.”
Like Connor trying to carve his way through the New World, Ubisoft is investing in its future.
This year’s success won’t just fund the next Assassin’s Creed game, but the ongoing expansion of a franchise that has captured imaginations in a way few gaming properties have.
And for Sardin it comes back to those all-important fans: “It’s all about entertainment, and it’s what consumers want. It’s something that’s very important to Ubisoft – we want to involve the consumers in everything we create.”
There is one last feather in Assassin’s Creed’s multi-million selling cap: the nature of the franchise itself. The series lends itself to as wide a range of possibilities as other best-sellers such as FIFA?or Call of Duty do. As Ubisoft has already proved, Creed can use new heroes, new eras, new settings to constantly keep things fresh for its growing fanbase.
“It’s a huge challenge for us – to reinvent ourselves within the same brand,” said Sardin. “But for Assassin’s Creed, there is no limit because there’s no set timeline. We can go to the past, the future, wherever we want. That’s why we want to improve and develop this brand everywhere.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/analy...-creed/0106781
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November 22nd, 2012, 00:05 Posted By: wraggster
Popular games exec Phil Harrison delivered his first public address as a Microsoft VP at London Games Conference this evening, and gave the room a rapid tour around the new Xbox business strategy.
After admitting that the latest games industry headlines ‘have not been great to read’ he said: “I am more positive about the future of our industry than I have been in the 25 years I’ve been in games. There are more people playing than ever before, and paying more than ever before. We have much to be proud of and much to celebrate as we move forward into the new generation of our industry.”
POWER OF THE CONSOLE
He began his speech by delivering a defence of the games console, telling the attendees that despite the growth of mobile and browser games, the games console is still the most profitable platform to develop games for.
“Consoles are still very relevant in our industry,” he added.
“The highest generator of average revenue per user comes from the console market. The seventh generation of consoles currently sit in over 200m homes worldwide. This generation is bigger than any other generation by some margin.”
However, Harrison believes that the movement from retail to digital is now a formality. He brought up a slide that he used at this even three years ago which suggested that 2012 would be the tipping point where more money is generated via retail than digital. And said ‘although it is too early to tell if that prediction is right. That movement is happening.”
“As an industry we can either be victims of that transition, or we could help lead and drive that transition. And that’s the approach we at Microsoft are taking,” he said.
Harrison then ran through a few big numbers for Microsoft. He revealed that 70m Xbox consoles are now in gamers homes around the world, perhaps a comment against PlayStation, which recently stated that it has ‘shipped’ 70m PS3s worldwide.
He said that Xbox 360 has had the No.1 console market share for the last 22 months straight and is enjoying ‘similar success’ in the UK.
“We are the only console to grow year-over-yea," he boasted. "We are also innovating, new business models, new types of content and new ways to play. gives us the scale to invest in content for that audience.”
Xbox Live is critical to this, says Harrison. Before revealing that the Xbox Live users consumer 442 million hours of entertainment every week.
“Over the past 10 years I have been very envious of Xbox Live,” he continued. “It’s a fantastic achievement at Microsoft that it has invested in and pioneered.” It’s a ‘great compliment’ that people liken similar services to being ‘like Xbox Live’.
ENTERTAINMENT AMBITIONS
Harrison then discussed Xbox Music, Video and Television. Xbox Music is now ‘the second biggest download-to-own music service in the world” behind iTunes.
Xbox in general is now the brand that represents all of Microsoft’s entertainment, says Harrison.” Is it the concerted cross-company initiative that brings games, TV, music and film to their Microsoft devices.” It is no-longer all about the games.
But Harrison was keen to remind the attendees that core gamers is still the hear of the Xbox business. He revealed that by combining sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops II on Xbox 360 with Halo 4, then the platform has generated roughly $500m worldwide. ‘No other platform has generated that sort of entertainment revenue in such a short period of time,” he said.
He then discussed the company’s ambitious Halo marketing campaign, which included a free ‘multi-millon dollar’ live-action TV production called Forward Unto Dawn, the big glyph PR stunt above the Thames and then Microsoft ‘took over a country’ joked Harrison, in reference to its live event in Liechtenstein.
“But this is just the start of the relationship with the audience with Halo,” added Harrison.
“You then get access to a number of free episodes that are delivered to you to enhance the multiplayer. You will get maps that are introduced by a series of animated introductions.”
DEVELOPMENT TALENT
Finally, Harrison ended his talk but discussing Microsoft Studios. He described the development outfit as ‘multi-platform’ studios, that are creating games for mobile, PC, browsers and more.
“We are no longer competing with the basic console companies, we are competing with the likes of Apple and Google.
“All of which is powered by the Cloud. Microsoft is now a devices and services company, and there isn’t an organisation that does that more concisely than Microsoft Studios.”
He then ran through the firm’s big UK studios – Press Play, Rare, Lionhead Studios, Soho Productions and the yet untitled ‘New London Studio.
The New London Studio “is a new kind of studio,” said Harrison.
“It is a 21st century studio. It will not make retail products. It will make products largely based on Windows 8. We are hiring some incredibly smart people from the console industry, the Web 2.0 industry and the mobile industry. And it is interesting to see those three skillsets smashed together.
“I’m a firm believer in UK and European talent.
“We don’t always have to be based in Silicon Valley to be successful.”
And then came Harrison’s final pledge that the firm will hire 100 new developers in the UK and is currently hiring and seeking new development partners to grow content across Windows 8, Windows Mobile and Xbox 360.
Finally, in a Q/A session Phil Harrison addressed the discoverability issue on digital, and pointed to an improvement in showcasing games and the use of voice with Kinect as a good way to find content online.
And free-to-play evangelist Nicholas Lovell asked Harrison how important free games will be to the future of Xbox and the industry.
“We think that free-to-play is a great way to expose people to your product,” answered Harrison.
“But we also think that advertising is a great business model. We have a great advertising department within Microsoft. And we think that will be a valuable way to monetise users.
“We had a great experience with our first Xbox 360 free-to-play game Happy Wars, so we are making strides, but they are measured strides. But we know that is a viable business model for the future.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/halo-...oft-vp/0106787
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