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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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September 23rd, 2013, 23:07 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft's Phil Harrison discusses why there will be no indie games at the Xbox One launch, digital price parity and the cost of next-gen development
It's been a turbulent three months for the Xbox business. The unveiling of a new games console was fumbled badly with unpopular announcements and assumptions about consumer behaviour - a situation that benefited rival Sony as much as it harmed Microsoft. Since then, the company has u-turned on its original digital vision, shelving always-on requirements, cutting back Kinect functionality and opening up to used games. And it was slow to talk about its support for independent publishing on Xbox One, only revealing detailed plans last month at Gamescom while rival Sony had spent months publicly shaking hands and kissing the babies of indie game development.
But those reveals already seem a long way off when the launch of two new home systems is only two months away. Microsoft now appears to have a more coherent message about the Xbox One and has gradually answered the awkward questions, and as the campaign to put the system at the forefront of consumer and developer minds hots up, the business is developing a stronger public presence.
GamesIndustry International sat down at Microsoft's London office last week with Phil Harrison, corporate vice president of the interactive entertainment business in Europe, for a wide-reaching interview to discuss the build up to the impending launch of Xbox One, the current state and cost of games development, Microsoft's vision of digital pricing and delivery, and the changes in publisher, developer and consumer relationships.
Q: We should catch up on the independent publishing plans. It's been four weeks since you first publicly revealed the indie publishing initiatives for Xbox One - what's been happening since then?
Phil Harrison: We've had an avalanche of interest from all corners of the globe. It's what we expected but it's great to see. Now we're working through applications and creating that dialogue with developers. As we said at the time, we have phase one where we give away development kits and loan them to the teams that inevitably will have to pass some kind of a qualification to justify a limited number of dev kits being given to them. That process is ongoing. Eventually our goal is that every retail Xbox One console becomes a dev kit. And then we open up to the widest possible audience.
"We haven't diluted our long term vision, which is all of the benefits of a connected ecosystem and what that means for all of the stakeholders - us, developer, publisher and player"
Q: How many applications have you had for the programme?
Phil Harrison: Within hours it was hundreds. I actually don't know the number now but I'm assuming it's in the thousands.
Q: How do you streamline that process. That's a lot of applications to go through and developers needs to know if they're in the queue, if they're rejected, whether they should come back in 6-12 months time...
Phil Harrison: The team with Chris Charla are the guys who have that enviable task of managing that process. That's the exact process Chris is going through now.
Q: You've announced your indie programme but to show it really works we're going to need to see the games, the way they are integrated into the Xbox One retail environment, how they are promoted and supported through digital channels. When are we going to see the first releases?
Phil Harrison: There's been a lot of debate about what is an independent developer? Is it Capy with two people, or is it Crytek with 200 people? I think it's both and it's everybody in between. There's been too much focus on the financial structure as to whether they qualify for being an indie. For me, it means they are independent of their own design decisions, they're independent in thought, they're independent in motivation and creative direction. The current structure of retailer and publisher and financial investor in a studio inevitably means there are a load of executive producers. Executive producers are a good thing, they add value, but they can also mean that certain kinds of games get built over and over again because they are more predictable in nature. They're more easy to forecast, easier to sell to a retailer and easier to pigeon hole.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...changed-at-all
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September 23rd, 2013, 23:03 Posted By: wraggster
Owners of older Xbox 360 consoles manufactured between 2006-2008 are complaining of freezing problems with Grand Theft Auto V.
Kotaku reports that the game is reportedly locking up soon after the first mission for many users, and that attempts to reinstall the game or shift the installation are not alleviating the issue.
A Rockstar rep reportedly told one user that the company is still trying to gather info about the problem. In the meantime it has recommended clearing the console’s cache and reinstalling.
There’s a caveat that should be kept in mind when considering these reports, of course – with more or less everyone on the planet playing GTA V, an upsurge in console technical difficulties is only to be expected.
The same thing happens whenever a big game is released.
PS3 owners will no doubt be aware that reports of problems with the digital PSN version of the game remain, with Rockstar remaining doggedly silent on the issue. The publisher has yet to even acknowledge the problem, let alone make any noises about addressing it.
What Rockstar has acknowledged, however, is an issue with vehicles and upgrades that can see personalised motors vanish from the game. It has recommended that players avoid either parking cars in garages or using vehicles that have been until a fix is issued.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/now-g...x-360s/0121477
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September 23rd, 2013, 21:30 Posted By: wraggster
Female gamers still a minority on console, but the gap is closing
Women now make up 40 per cent of Xbox Live users, said Microsoft COO Kevin Turner during a meeting with financial analysts.
The Bellevue Washington event was reported by All Things D, which noted that much of the company's message was about its transition to a devices and services model.
Microsoft is certainly offering a greater diversity of services, and at least one of those services is enjoying a jump in diversity, suggest Turner's comments.
"That's a giant change from when we launched our platform," said Turner.
While women have been the majoritiy audience in many markets like mobile and PC casual games for years, it's a sign of changing times that more females are making their way to a platform dominated by 'core' gamers.
Gaming took something of a back seat during the event, as the company noted that Xbox isn't strictly a gaming brand anymore; 42 per cent of Xbox Live subscribers use the service to watch at least 30 hours of movie or TV content each month.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...0-of-Xbox-Live
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September 23rd, 2013, 21:29 Posted By: wraggster
Call of Duty exec Mark Rubin on the effect rising development costs are having on big and small studios
Games are becoming increasingly more difficult and expensive to make, says the executive producer of Call of Duty: Ghosts.
Speaking to Game Informer, Mark Rubin said rising development costs were making it more difficult for Infinity Ward to develop its blockbuster Call of Duty games, and the price of triple-A development was likely causing trouble for smaller developers.
Rubin said while big studios backed by large publishers such as Infinity and Activision could manage the costs, other developers may not be able to cope.
“It’s a scary thing,” he said.
“I’ll take off my Call of Duty hat for a second here, but games are becoming harder to make, and more expensive to make. And I feel like smaller studios are having trouble making big games that hit the big triple-A market because they’re harder to do. It’s kind of a bummer that games are getting so hard and difficult to make.
“People want better and better graphics, they want more realistic art assets and that comes at a cost, and that’s a hard thing to have to deal with.”
He added: “It makes it more difficult for us, so I know it’s more difficult for other people as well. The big companies can manage that; we can cover our costs if the costs go up. Other studios may not be able to.”
Rubin also said he hoped that other developers were not trying to copy the success of the Call of Duty series by creating clones of the franchise, but rather creating titles they wanted to make.
“Companies, big publishers want to enjoy that kind of Call of Duty success,” he said.
“From a purely artistic standpoint that bothers me a little bit, because I want games to do what they want to do. Developers should be able to do what they want to do, and do what they feel they do well. I love MMOs but I wouldn’t take my team here and go out and necessarily try and make a World of Warcraft competitor.
“Make games because you love making games.”
It was recently suggested that another big triple-A release, Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V, is the most expensive game ever made, at a combined development and marketing budget of £170 million.
If true, that would eclipse the development budget of its predecessor GTA IV, which cost around £63m to make.
Other titles such as EA's Star Wars: The Old Republic are also thought to have taken blockbuster movie-like budgets to develop them, with the MMO thought to have cost between £95m-to-£130m to make. The publisher has never revealed the cost of the title however.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...harder-to-make
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September 22nd, 2013, 21:20 Posted By: wraggster
While, the Xbox Day One Edition Console has sold out, the standard edition is still in-stock at several retailers... We are already seeing it sold out in local GameStop stores and at several on-line retailers...Thx Xbox One has a scheduled release date of November 22, 2013.Below is a list of the various options available:Consoles:Bundles:
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September 22nd, 2013, 21:12 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft's Albert Penello confirmed to Gamespot at the Tokyo Game Show that theXbox One's HDMI input would work with any device, including its rival the PlayStation 4, but that's not the whole story. In a forum post on NeoGAF, Penello expands on the quote by mentioning it "won't be a great experience", citing HDMI latency affecting interactive content, and adds that he indicated as much in his original response to the question. He's still traveling and promised more details later, but it's easy to fill in the blanks on how the console is intended to be used. While it can work as an HDMI passthrough for any device, the process introduces some additional lag. That's fine for audio/video because it will still be in sync, but not so great if you're playing games and need to be as responsive as possible.
The Xbox One is designed for placement between the cable / satellite TV box (assuming owners want to use the overlay features or control with Kinect, and have pay-TV service) and wherever it's going, whether into a receiver or directly into the TV. You can plug anything else into it, like a PS4 or even an Xbox 360, but just because you can doesn't always mean you should.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/22/p...into-xbox-one/
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September 22nd, 2013, 02:33 Posted By: wraggster
Ahead of the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2's next DLC pack on PC and PS3this coming week, Treyarch is offering double XP in online matches this weekend on all consoles. What's more, Xbox 360 players will have access to a free trial of the game's Uprising DLC for the weekend.
Uprising offers players four maps: Magma, Encore, Vertigo and Studio, as well as the Mob of the Dead zombies map set in Alcatraz. The DLC first launched in April for Xbox 360, later arriving in May for PS3 and PC, and is normally priced at $14.99.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/09/20/bl...-xp-for-all-t/
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September 22nd, 2013, 00:17 Posted By: wraggster
Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, the open world prologue to Metal Gear Solid 5 that's headed to both current generation machinery and the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, is shooting for 60 frames per second on next-gen."For current gen we're aiming at 30 fps and for next-gen it's 60 fps," Hideo Kojima told Eurogamer at the Tokyo Game Show.Kojima's using the show to debut the next-gen version of Ground Zeroes via presentations on Sony's stage, with the demo he showed two weeks ago running on hardware equivalent to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.Kojima expressed some caution about the next-gen versions, though. "This game was originally developed for multiple platforms, multiple devices and multiple generations," he said."Fox Engine was created with the current generation in mind. Maybe with other games that are being created exclusively for next-gen it might look a little behind."The next-gen versions of Ground Zeroes will provide noticeable improvements, though."Of course for the next generation the resolution and the lighting will look much better," Kojima said. "Gameplay wise it will be the same - we're trying to make it as close as possible. The gameplay experience won't be affected whether it's next gen or current gen."
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...4-and-xbox-one
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September 22nd, 2013, 00:11 Posted By: wraggster
It's Grand Theft Auto 5 week, which means that's what everyone is talking about. The game's most disturbing scene, critiqued comprehensively here on Eurogamer, has been one of the big talking points. It's strong stuff, even for a series all but defined by its tabloid-baiting content. In the video below, we look back at Grand Theft Auto history to see how this shocking mission measures up to GTA outrages of days past.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...of-controversy
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September 21st, 2013, 23:42 Posted By: wraggster
The Xbox One is not a machine that should be stood vertically, according to Microsoft.
This, according to Microsoft’s senior director of product management and planning at Xbox Albert Panello, is due to its use of a slot-loading disc drive.
"We don't support vertical orientation; do it at your own risk," he told GameSpot. "It wouldn't be a cooling problem, we just didn't design the drive for vertical. Because it's a slot loading drive, we just didn't design it for both."
He added: "We found, interestingly enough, that 80 per cent of people, believe it or not, have their Xbox [360] horizontally."
The site notes that both the original ‘fat’ PS3 and its first ‘slim’ redesign used slot-loading trays and were able to be used while standing vertically.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/micro...ically/0121405
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September 20th, 2013, 23:42 Posted By: wraggster
[h=1]The US arm of Toys R Us has this year introduced a ‘Fabulous 15’ festive shopping list, but only one next-gen console made the cut.
Kotaku reports that while a total of 36 products are included in the Toys R Us Hot Holiday Toys list, only 15 are selected for bells-and-whistles Fabulous 15 billing.Xbox One (and Skylanders) is included in this select group whereas PS4 has to settle for a spot lower down.
"The 36 products featured on the Toys R Us Holiday Hot Toy List are carefully selected after year-long consultations with our global merchants and their thorough review of all the new toy introductions for the year,” PR rep Nicole Hayes stated.
“We start the selection process with thousands of hot toy contenders, which we narrow down to 36 items – each of which is designated with that honour because they are truly HOT.
“The two new videogame platform introductions for fall made the prestigious list, with Xbox One on the Fabulous 15 and PlayStation4 on the expanded list of 36 products named to this year’s Toys'R'Us Hot Toy List. We anticipate that both items will be at the top of kids’ wish lists this year."
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/xbox-...es-out/0121411
[/h]
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September 20th, 2013, 23:36 Posted By: wraggster
Famed developer Hideo Kojima has warned Metal Gear Solid V fans to keep their graphical expectations in check for the upcoming game.
Chiefly, the MGS creator told Eurogamer that the Fox Engine on which the game was built was designed for current-gen machines, meaning the Xbox One and PS4 versions may not be able to stand toe-to-toe with other titles when it comes to raw visual grunt.
"Fox Engine was created with the current generation in mind,” he cautioned. “This game was originally developed for multiple platforms, multiple devices and multiple generations. Maybe with other games that are being created exclusively for next-gen it might look a little behind.
"Of course for the next generation the resolution and the lighting will look much better. Gameplay wise it will be the same – we're trying to make it as close as possible. The gameplay experience won't be affected whether it's next gen or current gen."
Kojima also confirmed that his studio is “aiming” to hit 60 frames per second on next-gen but will be sticking to 30fps on Xbox 360 and PS3.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/kojim...arning/0121445
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September 20th, 2013, 20:28 Posted By: wraggster
Rockstar's latest smashes records set by The Avengers and Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Grand Theft Auto V has broken past $1 billion from sales in its first three days.
Rockstar's open-world title had made $800 million on day one.
GTA V has reached the milestone faster than any other entertainment launch in history, beating the likes of Box Office smash hit The Avengers, which took 19 days to make $1 billion.
The previous record holder in games, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, took 15 days to reach the milestone.
“Grand Theft Auto is a cultural phenomenon and Rockstar Games continues to redefine what can be achieved in interactive entertainment," said Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick.
“We are incredibly proud of the extraordinary critical and commercial response to Grand Theft Auto V.”
http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...-in-three-days
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September 20th, 2013, 00:00 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has reclaimed its crown as the UK’s No.1 platform holder.
Xbox has shared a number of statistics with MCV to remind us all who’s the boss in the current console cycle.
It follows an impressive run from PS3. Sony’s consoletrended ahead of 360 during June and July, thanks to The Last of Us and momentum after E3. But in August Xbox reclaimed its crown. Microsoft says more 360s have been sold this year than any other console.
Xbox games have accounted for 38.2 per cent of all games sold in 2013 so far – PS3 accounted for 25.5 per cent.
And to rub salt in the wound the platform holder released stats that say 66 per cent of Saints Row IV sales were on 360 (versus 34 per cent for PS3) and 61 per cent of Splinter Cell sales were on 360 (versus 36 per cent for PS3).
The gloves really are off.
All stats are from GfK Chart-Track reports.
“Xbox 360 continues to be the most popular place to play games in the UK,” Xbox UK marketing head Harvey Eagle told MCV. “Not only is Xbox 360 back as the No.1 console in the UK, software sales are strong across all titles with Xbox enjoying a majority share of some of the biggest games in the UK charts at the moment.
“We see this demand continuing over the coming months, as well as extremely strong pre-orders for Xbox One with Day One Editions sold out at many retailers.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/xbox-...august/0121324
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September 19th, 2013, 14:39 Posted By: wraggster
GTA V is now on store shelves, no doubt lighting up the cash registers across the world. Grand Theft Auto as a franchise has evolved quite a bit over the years, but the most important thing to Rockstar Games' VP of creative Dan Houser is that his team has stayed true to itself the whole time. In a new interview with the [a]list daily, Houser discussed the impact of the Grand Theft Auto series on games and culture in general.
Houser stressed that Rockstar was operating on instinct rather than careful market testing when it brought out GTA 3. "Focus testing in 1999/2000 would never have predicted that a 3D gangster game was going to blow up," he noted. "Then having done that, no amount of focus testing would say do it in the '80s. So doing stuff that is true to yourself, as opposed to what the market thinks it wants, that's definitely something that we've always done and hopefully other people have followed suit."
One of the key elements of the GTA series for Houser has always been the music. "We always thought music should be more than just badly written theme music," he said. "You began to see that with the birth of Playstation 1 with Wipeout, which was the first game that really pushed top quality pop music in the UK. That was huge. We wanted music that was to our own tastes and to our own style."
"The games are hopefully getting good enough as pure adventures, and they're interesting enough to play, that it's not just about shooting anymore"
Dan Houser
The obsession with music can be traced to Sam Houser and Craig Conner, according to Houser. "Sam [is] obsessed with music and lovingly works on every single track that goes in there," Houser said. "He and Craig Conner, who's been the GTA music guy since '97, will bicker about individual tracks on radio stations constantly. They're both obsessed with it. It's an enormous labor of love for us to do it. Music helps create this world that people are immersed in."
While the game industry is continually changing, Houser feels Rockstar is growing with the audience as well. "The audience has been gradually expanding," Houser commented. "One of the things we wanted to try and do -- and we did to some extent - is reach out to some older audience with LA Noire and go, 'Hey, this game is a little bit slower. It's definitely historically interesting. It's more like interactive TV shows. It's not twitch-based like some of those games. You might have a go with it and see what you think.' With content like that, you're always trying to find a way of reaching different audiences."
He continued, "Even with the action games, we're trying to constantly make them easier to play, and put different difficulty levels in them so the barely-skilled 18-year-old with very short nerve endings can play at the hardest level possible. And those of us who are more afraid or whatever to begin with can play on the easiest level. The games are hopefully getting good enough as pure adventures, and they're interesting enough to play, that it's not just about shooting anymore."
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ooting-anymore
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September 19th, 2013, 14:38 Posted By: wraggster
Speaking at TGS head of Microsoft Studios Phil Spencer has revealed the company has more than just a Halo spin-off up its sleeve when it comes to television on Xbox One.
"They have literally hundreds of ideas that they are incubating right now," he said of the LA studio in an interview with Bloomberg.
"We will have some new announcement for TV shows coming pretty soon."
He also promised more international sports would get the Xbox One interactive treatment.
"We believe sports is a very interesting category globally."
Microsoft announced the Steven Spielberg Halo series back in May, while Microsoft's president of entertainment and digital media Nancy Tellem was rumoured to be taking meetings with big name entertainment executives like CBS chief Les Moonves, Sony TV boss Steve Mosko, and WME co-CEOS Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...of-tv-concepts
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September 19th, 2013, 12:30 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft hopes that it can one day bring its incredibly successful Xbox 360 franchise Gears of War to Xbox One.
There’s bad news, though – it doesn’t sound like there are any plans in place at the moment.
“Gears of War is developed by Epic Games, and they’ve been our partners for a long time on Xbox 360,” Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer told Famitsu, as reported byDualShockers. “You should ask Epic Games about what they want to do.
“We haven’t announced anything yet about Gears of War, but we hope to bring it to Xbox One in some form. However, there’s nothing more I can tell you at this time.”
The news shouldn’t come as a surprise, of course – 2011’s Gears of War 3 sold three million copies in its opening week alone.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gears...opeful/0121275
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September 18th, 2013, 02:20 Posted By: wraggster
A new bundle featuring Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City is coming to Xbox 360 and PS3 on September 23, GameStop has revealed. The bundle, available for $50, packs in Game of the Year versions for each game.
The Game of the Year version of Arkham Asylum includes a Trioviz 3D mode (a post-processed 3D presentation compatible with any television) and some extra challenge maps. The Game of the Year version of Arkham City tosses in a smattering of DLC packs: Harley Quinn's Revenge, Catwoman Pack, Nightwing Bundle pack, Robin Bundle Pack, Challenge Map Pack and Arkham City Skins Pack. In total, this equates to an additional seven maps, three more playable characters, 12 skins and more.
The next installment in the Batman Arkham series, Batman: Arkham Origins, is due October 25 on PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U. The prequel is currently in development at WB Games Montreal and, for the first time, adds a multiplayer component to the series.
http://www.gamestop.com/browse?nav=1...m+Bundle,28zu0
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