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This is the 'Halo 5: Guardians' collector's edition statue
$250 worth of static love from Master Chief.
Microsoft: We won't skip 'Halo' betas from now on
When Halo: The Master Chief Collection launched last year, it was supposed to be ultimate fan service: four of the most renowned games in the series, all in one fancy package loaded with extras, all on Xbox One. The final product was... well, problematic. To this day it still isn't 100 percent functional all the time, with a rash of issues like game crashes still persisting. "It was our first game on a new platform, and it was essentially five engines [with] a wrapper," 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross explained to me this week. All that to say, because the game wasn't a native Xbox One game is why it had so many issues. Still that makes it incredibly difficult to get excited for this fall's Halo 5: Guardians. Will it be as heartbreaking on a technical level as MCC? I briefly spoke with Ross about how she and her teams are working to overcome and address that very valid concern.
'Halo 5' doesn't have split-screen, but 'never say never'
Halo 5: Guardians doesn't have split-screen cooperative play. This is a drastic shift for the series -- every console Halo game has featured local co-op, including the recently released Halo: Master Chief Collection, a bundle of the franchise's major titles. Plenty of longtime Halo fans have hit Twitter with messages ranging from disappointment to some that promise to cancel their Halo 5 pre-orders. Microsoft doesn't have any plans to launch the game with split-screen, but in a world of constantly updating consoles and streams of downloadable content, there's a sliver of hope for couch co-op fans, according to Microsoft General Manager of Games Publishing Shannon Loftis.
Windows 10 streams Xbox 360 games to Oculus, too
You read that headline correctly. With the Xbox 360 to Windows 10 game streaming out in the open, it stood to reason that you'd be able to play your collection of games from Microsoft's second Xbox on the Oculus Rift too. We asked the virtual reality company if that was indeed the case and a spokesperson confirmed that indeed it was. So, Mass Effect in VR? That's a definite. [Image credit: pabuk/Flickr]
'Final Fantasy VII': The challenge of remaking a classic
Almost 20 years later, Final Fantasy VII is being remade. It's no prequel, sequel, gamified Advent Children thing. It's a proper darn remake. The short trailer shown first at PlayStation's E3 2015 event was fairly obtuse -- we don't even get to see the protagonists' face, but there's still a lot of excited people. A whole lot. How do you break the mold without breaking hearts? With some translation assistance, we asked its producer, Tetsuya Nomura, all about it.
'Yoshi's Woolly World' is the video game equivalent of a hug
I am not what you would call a "hardcore gamer." I don't enjoy shooters; I don't have the time for RPGs; and my last dance with open-world gameplay was a 45-minute joyride through the faux-LA of Grand Theft Auto V. But, oh, do I love me some Yoshi's Woolly World. The upcoming, cutesy Wii U title, due out this fall, has a shared DNA. It's a hodgepodge of past Yoshi's Island games and the Wii title Kirby's Epic Yarn. That last bit of pedigree makes complete sense when you consider that the game's being developed by Good-Feel, the very same studio behind the aforementioned Kirby title.
Xbox 360 game-streaming is coming to Windows 10
As if backward compatibility for Xbox One wasn't enough, Microsoft's also going to let you stream those older games to Windows 10 PCs. In a private demo of the Xbox One's revamped interface, the company confirmed to Engadget that users will have access to its streaming functionality when the new features roll out this holiday season. (If you're a member of the Preview Program, though, you should already be able to play 360 games on a Win 10 machine.) Microsoft also revealed that Xbox 360 titles relying on the original Kinect, or any other hardware accessories, won't work with Xbox One. A company spokesperson said the team wanted to have backward compatibility from launch day, but it turned out to be a difficult task because of the different architecture between the two systems. For your sake, at least it's here now.
'Star Fox Zero' will drive you crazy, but in a good way
Last E3, Shigeru Miyamoto, the famed Mario and Zelda creator, made it known that Nintendo was well underway with a new Star Fox game for the Wii U. So when the company kicked off its bizarro Muppets-themed E3 Nintendo Direct earlier this week with the reveal of Star Fox Zero, it wasn't much of a surprise. The reimagined game, which adheres closely to the initial Wii U mantra that two screens are better than one, is quite simply overwhelming. To say this installment in the Star Fox series requires a steep learning curve would be to grossly understate the complexity of the control scheme. There's just so much to absorb; so many different controls thrown at you at once.
'Kingdom Hearts 3' promises bigger, almost seamless, worlds
Blending different fictional universes together is kind of a thing now in gaming. However, Kingdom Hearts was fusing together the Final Fantasy and Disney universes back in 2002. Before chewing director Tetsuya Nomura's ear off about a Final Fantasy VII remake, we got some insight into the still in-development Kingdom Hearts 3. With a PS4 (as well as Xbox One) powering Sora, Goofy and Donald's cartoonish battles, it's already looking damn gorgeous. But aside from grander scale, Disney ride-based attacks and a likely head-spinning storyline, what else can Nomura tell us? And is there a stage where we can hum along to "Let it Go"?
I got Holo-briefed on 'Halo 5'
Typically E3's vision of the future is pretty shortsighted. But this year when I stepped into a war room for a Halo 5: Guardians mission briefing, that's when I knew that the gaming trade show's look at what's ahead extended beyond just games that are months or sometimes years off. The space's middle was dominated by a hexagonal table roughly four feet across, and floating a scant few inches above its surface was a slowly rotating, azure hologram of a massive starship. It was familiar and I'd seen it somewhere before, but it took a moment for me to identify: It was the UNSC Infinity from the Halo universe, courtesy of Microsoft's HoloLens augmented reality headset sitting atop my skull. With the few moments I had alone in the room, I circled the dais. The hologram remained on its deliberate arc while I peered from every angle, looking for flaws that'd break the 3D illusion. Those came later, but not where I expected them. "This is ridiculous," another attendee said as I returned to my spot at the table. He was right.
E3 Streams: 'Divinity: Original Sin' and 'Cosmic Star Heroine'
We're at the halfway point of E3 2015 and the hits keep coming. We've got an awesome interview with Sony's Shuhei Yoshida covering everything from Morpheus to Shenmue 3. We even chatted with Keiji Inafune about ReCore, his new Xbox One exclusive. That's cool and all, but wouldn't you like the chance to talk to the creators at E3? JXE Streams has your back. Join us starting at at 2:30PM ET on Twitch.tv/Joystiq for a chance to chat with the developers behind Divinity: Original Sin and Cosmic Star Heroine.
All the news you need to know from Day One of E3 2015
So many games. So much Mario. So much to cram into just three official days of E3 2015. We've already seen Sony and Microsoft's opening salvos from Day Zero, but today Nintendo and big-hitting game makers like Square Enix joined the fray. What do you need to know? All this. We'll be recapping each day, short and sweet... so we can play even more games. All things E3 can found right here. Don't worry, Slippy's here.
Microsoft watched gamers at home to design the new Xbox Elite controller
By now, if you're an Xbox One gamer, you know that Microsoft has a pretty badass controller on the horizon. But what's truly interesting about the new Elite controller, announced at the company's major E3 press event this week, is that it's the product of several in-home research sessions. According to Xbox Hardware Project Manager David Prien, the company realized that today's gamers are all about "customization and personalization." And so Prien's team enlisted pro-gamers picked from leaderboards on the company's own Xbox titles to help mold this new modular controller design. But if you thought that the Elite controller was just for gaming's cream of the crop players, you'd be mistaken. Prien assured us that it's "not just for the pro-gamer. The idea here is that everyone can benefit from this." He also said that the hardware team had a "laundry list of over 100 feature sets," though, understandably, not all of that made it into the final design. We had an opportunity to get some close-up time with the new Elite controller here on the showfloor, so be sure to watch our interview with Prien below.
Robot dinos, archery and mystery in 'Horizon: Zero Dawn'
Horizon: Zero Dawn was a bright spot of Sony's E3 press conference, largely because it was so unexpected. It broke through the monotony of sequel and remake reveals, and it was surprising to see a new IP from Guerrilla Games, a studio that's been dedicated to the Killzone franchise since 2004. Horizon is a post-apocalyptic action, survival and crafting game starring Aloy, a huntress and expert archer who lives in a world where nature has overrun everything man ever built -- except for the robot dinosaurs. The violent, hulking, terrifying robot dinosaurs. During the game's reveal at Sony's conference, Aloy crouched through the brush, shot arrows through the metallic hearts of sleek silver beasts and absolutely dominated a gigantic, robotic monster. Turns out, that was only the half of it.
'Pro Evolution Soccer 2016' is worth playing over 'FIFA'
I grew up with Winning Eleven, the franchise that Konami morphed into what we now know as Pro Evolution Soccer in North America. These days, I find myself playing EA Sports' FIFA, a choice I suspect is echoed by millions of football fans worldwide. During the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 era, though, Konami's title was hands-down the far superior product, thanks to better game mechanics and, in general, being more fun. Unfortunately, Pro Evolution Soccer couldn't keep up with EA's perpetual resources, starting with the exclusive licensing deals for major leagues from across the world. But while Pro Evolution Soccer 2016, out September 15th, still won't let me play as Chelsea (it's called London FC), the refined gameplay and improved graphics could be enough to make me pick it over FIFA -- and I haven't felt that way in years.
The new 'Metroid Prime' is made for the New 3DS
It's been eight years coming, but Nintendo has a new Metroid Prime game. However, it's a little bit unusual -- at least that's what a lot of people (including us) took away from the teaser trailer revealed during E3. The controls look pretty "Metroid," but where's Samus? Why are there multiple (albeit color-coded) stocky protagonists? And what exactly is Metroid Prime: Blast Ball? Armed with questions and 20 minutes of playtime on the aforementioned sporting spin on Metroid, we talked (with some translation help) to Nintendo's Kensuke Tanabe, who heads up development on the Prime series.
An intimate chat with Sony PlayStation's Shuhei Yoshida
Sony PlayStation's Shuhei Yoshida is the best kind of corporate executive. The Worldwide Studios head is affable, open-minded and, best of all, he embraces competition from rivals. I'm speaking, of course, about Microsoft's recent move to partner up with every other company working on virtual reality that's not Sony, of which Shu (as he's commonly referred to) says is no concern. At E3 this week, I had a chance to sit down with the friendly face of PlayStation to pick his brain about making Morpheus more social, embracing crowdfunding to revive cult classics and just what is going on with The Last Guardian.
'Gears of War: Ultimate Edition' and 'Killer Instinct' will come to PC
Microsoft hasn't offered a whole lot of affection to PC gamers in recent years, but it's making some reparations for that today: the company's Phil Spencer has revealed at the PC Gaming Show that both Gears of War: Ultimate Edition and the 2013 version of Killer Instinct will come to Windows 10. He didn't have much to say about when these ports will show up, or whether or not they'll have any new tricks up their sleeves. However, Iron Galaxy Studios' Dave Lang has confirmed Spencer's hint that KI will have Fable Legends-style cross-platform play that lets you brawl with your Xbox One-toting friends.
The many Amiibo collectors can look forward to not collecting
This one goes out to all the Amiibo collectors. Here's Nintendo's delectable and drool-making spread of upcoming, sure-to-be sold out Amiibo on display at its E3 booth. There's really nothing more to say other than click through the gallery and gaze longingly at a figurine you'll likely never get your hands on.
'Deus Ex: Mankind Divided' has something new: female combatants
Among the upgraded abilities, new weapons and winding metal passageways in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, there's one important, yet subtle, change to the series: women in combat roles. There were of course women in the previous game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but they were largely removed from battles, producer Olivier Proulx tells Engadget at E3. "They had some social functions in the game world, but actually going into stealth and playing against them in combat, you didn't see that," he says. "It was just guys all the way through."
