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'Halo 2: Anniversary' edition shows some games get better with age
Halo: The Master Chief Collection promises to be the ultimate compilation for fans of John-117's adventures and online competitors alike, featuring remastered versions of all four numbered Halo titles (and access to the Halo 5: Guardians beta when it's live). Undoubtedly the most exciting part of the package is Halo 2: Anniversary, a fully remastered version of the 2004 title that set the bar for online multiplayer gaming on consoles. With attentive level design, balanced gameplay and a strong online ranking and matchmaking system, the game spawned a pro scene that's persisted from sequel to sequel, console to console. Halo: Combat Evolved may have introduced us to Master Chief's world, but it was Halo 2 that assured the franchise's legendary status, and it's coming back for more.
The future of Xbox One: early access gaming, Cortana and more
Since the Xbox One launched last November, Microsoft's latest game console has changed pretty dramatically. From "going all-in" on Kinect to offering a camera-less $400 model; from focused on TV and home entertainment to appealing directly to "core" gamers. The last year for Microsoft's Xbox division has been one massive pivot. The future sounds brighter. You've already read about the updates coming to Xbox One this fall. What about beyond that? Head of Xbox Phil Spencer offered us some possibilities in an interview this week at Gamescom 2014. What about, say, a version of Steam's massively popular Early Access program, which enables developers to release games still in development and gamers to participate in the development process? "I think it does make sense. I think we have to land it the right way on console," Spencer told us. That's certainly a start!
New Xbox One features now rolling out to preview members, all owners in coming months
Remember those new Xbox One features Microsoft announced at Gamescom this week? They're available right now -- at least to members who are part of the company's preview program. Major Nelson just announced that Xbox Live users that have access to preview updates will be able to download the new features today. This includes the updated Friends section announced earlier this week as well as SmartGlass TV streaming, the system's new boot to TV mode and the long awaited Media Player app. The announcement also revealed a host of previously unannounced updates, including tweaks to the Party app and Xbox One's GameDVR.
Activision's dipping its toe into indie gaming with 'Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions'
Activision creates and publishes a small group of blockbuster video games aimed at mainstream consumers. The world's largest game publishing company handles some of gaming's most culturally impactful titles: the Call of Duty franchise, this year's Destiny, and the entire Blizzard catalog. This week at Gamescom 2014, Activision announced its first smaller effort in many years with Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions. As the name implies, Dimensions is the third entry in the Geometry Wars franchise -- a beloved series that debuted as a minigame within the first Xbox console's Project Gotham Racing 2. People like it so much in that completely unrelated game that it spawned into its own series. Sadly, the studio behind the originals (Bizarre Creations) was shuttered after a commercial flop with the critically-lauded racer Blur. Some of the folks from Bizarre are back on Dimensions, now part of a new studio named Lucid. But this isn't the return of Activision's expanded portfolio, says Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg.
PlayStation's push for indie games is epitomized by 'The Tomorrow Children'
"It's important to me to be able to express what I want to express." These words come from Dylan Cuthbert, "Game Designer/Programmer/Anything" at Q Games, as he explains how his team came up with the back story for The Tomorrow Children. The forthcoming title is -- by Cuthbert's own admission -- a little bit "out there;" a mix of Minecraft-esque collaborative building, social economics and a Soviet Union-themed post-apocalyptic dystopia. It's definitely a little on the fringe. Multiplayer shooters and herculean protagonists have their place, but, as Cutbert alludes to in his gambit above, it's probably not here. Indie doesn't mean small though, and The Tomorrow Children, I learn, is an example of how companies like Q Games can keep to their own script (or lack of), and still benefit from the considerable support afforded by a partnership with Sony.
Guillermo Del Toro and 'Metal Gear' creator join forces for next 'Silent Hill' game
With the sad state that the Resident Evil and Dead Space franchises are in, word of a new high-profile horror game is incredibly tantalizing. Downright exciting, even. Earlier today at Sony's Gamescom media briefing, the next Silent Hill was teased in a rather convoluted way on stage -- of course, when Hideo Kojima is involved, convolution is to be expected. A title called P.T. was was briefly shown after a video for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain's in-game box (seriously), and the audience was told that an interactive trailer for the former would be available on the PlayStation Store relatively soon. NeoGAF spotted that a gamer on Twitch started broadcasting her gameplay after downloading, and that's when something peculiar happened. Toward the end of her terrifying stream, she unlocked a cutscene with a mysterious town and title cards bearing the names of the Metal Gear head honcho, filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro (Pacific Rim, Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy) and the name "Silent Hills."
'Shadow Realms' is the next original game from the creators of 'Mass Effect'
EA subsidiary studio BioWare has made some pretty popular games, and is known most recently for its Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. Today at Gamescom, the developer gave us an insight into its first original title in some time -- Shadow Realms. The "online action RPG" pits a team of four "Heroes" against the ghouls and demons of the "Shadow Legions," including one player-controlled "Shadowlord." The evil, lone player is able to manipulate the environment, place traps and control ghastly minions in an effort to thwart the Heroes' progress.
Sony's Share Play turns your PS4 into a 'virtual couch' for online co-op
We just got a closer look at some of the big-name titles coming to the PS4 from Gamescom, but Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan just took a moment to talk about SharePlay. It's slated to come as part of the PS4's 2.00 update in the fall, and it's perhaps not quite what you'd expect -- the feature essentially lets you "share" your copy of a game (any game!) with online friends who also have PlayStation Plus. Sony refers to the resulting co-op experience as a "virtual couch," from which you can jointly tackle challenges in games, and yield control of your avatar to remotely situated pals who are better equipped to beat a game than you are. Sure, that'll require acknowledging someone else's gaming superiority, but at least you won't have to deal with their gloating in person.
Sony reveals 2.0 upgrade coming to PS4 with Share Play and YouTube uploads
At its Gamescom press conference, Sony has just announced its big upcoming software update for the PS4. System update 2.0 will bring the PlayStation Now-powered "Share Play" feature that lets your friends join in from anywhere to play together or take over the controls -- even if they don't own the game you're playing -- and video uploads directly to YouTube along with a native app for the service. It's due this fall and will add more features including "friend-of-friend" activity in the What's New section, instant access to friends and recently played broadcasts plus the ability to search by real names. Sony says it has more to announce in the coming months, so let us know, what do you want to see in the next big update for the 10 million+ selling PlayStation 4?
Sony's PlayStation TV is coming to Europe on November 14th
Microsoft's already taken the stage at Gamescom to show us what's next for Xbox, and now it is Sony's turn to do the same with PlayStation. Today, in Cologne, Germany, the Japanese outfit announced that its micro-console, the PlayStation TV, will be available in Europe starting November 14th. SCEE worldwide studios SVP Michael Denny said PlayStation TV, also known as PS Vita TV, is set to hit European shelves bundled with three digital games, priced at 99 euros. According to Sony's teaser video, which you can watch after the break, the titles included are OlliOlli, Velocity Ultra and Worms Revolution Extreme. The tiny streaming box was released in Japan on November 14th of last year, so it has taken Sony quite a while to bring it to The Old Continent. Earlier, Sony revealed it has now sold over 10 million PS4s to date, making it obvious that demand for the console hasn't slowed down a bit since its debut.
'Day Z' is coming to PlayStation 4
As a narrative subject, zombies have become a bit cliche -- but there's still one game keeping the genre undead: Day Z. The multiplayer survival game started out as a mod for ARMA II, drawing in players by mixing hordes of zombies with the threat of other players, their lies and the general risk of the human element. It's a game that can give you trust issues, and now it's coming to the PlayStation 4.
Sony has sold over 10 million PlayStation 4 consoles
Sony just hit another big milestone in the console wars. The company has officially sold over 10 million PlayStation 4s since the gaming system launched back in November -- and those are units in the hands of real players, not on store shelves. For those keeping track, this means that Sony has delivered about three million PS4s in the past three months. The enthusiasm for the device isn't slowing down any time soon, then. It's not clear how close Microsoft is to hitting that largely symbolic mark, although its recently launched Kinect-free Xbox One may help it close the gap.
Live from Sony's PlayStation event at Gamescom 2014!
At the game industry's annual United States trade show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the big three console makers battle it out for your attention. At Gamescom -- the world's largest gaming trade show which draws around 350K people -- it's kind of Sony's show. Sure, Microsoft has an event. And hey, this year there were some pretty big announcements at Microsoft's event. But Europe is Sony territory, and this is the show where PlayStation is wont to make some big waves. Join us right here at 1PM ET for the whole event as it unfolds, live from Cologne, Germany.
Here's a closer look at the white Xbox One and its Call of Duty-themed brother
Want to get really intimate with the two new Xbox Ones announced at Microsoft's Gamescom 2014 press conference? Well, unless you're here in Cologne, you probably can't get that close quite yet, but we did find said consoles hanging out behind glass. Good news: the white Xbox One completely delivers on its promise. It's got white plastic! As for the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare-themed Xbox One, well, it's absolutely what it promises: Call of Duty symbols are plastered all over the outside. Of course, that COD-themed box also has a 1TB internal hard drive while the white Xbox One is simply bundled with Sunset Overdrive. Neither box was paired with a similarly-themed Kinect, which tells us not to expect a Kinect in the box when both arrive later this year. Head into the gallery below for a closer look, and we've dropped a couple of Vines of both consoles after the break.
Alienware's 'Alpha' is a half-step toward Steam Machines
When PC gaming juggernaut Valve announced its Steam Machines initiative in Fall 2013, it was unveiled as such: "Entertainment is not a one-size-fits-all world. We want you to be able to choose the hardware that makes sense for you, so we are working with multiple partners to bring a variety of Steam gaming machines to market during 2014, all of them running SteamOS."
'Forza 5' will be the first racing game with a Formula E electric racer
Turn 10 has just revealed that it'll bring the hum of electric power to Forza 5 with the Spark-Renault SRT-01E racing car. That'd mark the first EV from the fledgeling Formula E racing series in any game -- in fact, the actual series itself won't launch until September 13th in Beijing. The Spark-Renault SRT-01E was the first car to be homologated by the FIA for Formula E, and features a 200kW (270 bhp) motor and 888 kg (2,000 pound) curb weight. As you were likely wondering, it also produces about 80 decibels at full power -- that's a bit more than your car, but far, far less than the 140 screeching decibels of a pedal-to-the-metal Formula 1 racer. There's no word on when it'll arrive to Forza 5, but it would make sense to co-launch it with the Formula E series in Beijing next month.
Xbox One gets game pre-loading starting with 'Forza Horizon 2' in September
Folks playing games on PC have enjoyed the ability to pre-pay and download games ahead of launch for years now. This console generation, the feature is finally arriving in the living room: Xbox One gets game pre-loading and pre-payments starting with Forza Horizon 2 this September. The news comes from Microsoft's Gamescom 2014 press conference, and apparently the feature is simply starting with Forza Horizon 2 before expanding to FIFA 15 and other games going forward. Of course, PlayStation 4 fans have enjoyed this feature for some time now. But hey, maybe you went for Xbox One? Now you've got the feature too! Well, soon anyway.
Xbox One gets new Halo Channel in November
As if Halo: The Master Chief Collection wasn't a juicy enough feast of your favorite Xbox sci-fi military franchise. Today at Gamescom Bonnie Ross, GM at 343 Industries, revealed an new hub for fans of the game on Xbox One -- The Halo Channel. It'll coincide with the launch of the The Master Chief Collection in November, and you'll be able to chat, catch news and, of course, dive right into your preferred edition of the game (we're fans of the original if you're asking). As you might expect, the channel also comes with the obligatory exclusive content and Twitch integration too.
There is a white Xbox One console and gamepad coming this October
The rumors are true: there is a white Xbox One game console on the way, and it's arriving alongside Xbox One-exclusive Sunset Overdrive. And the console isn't the only white bit, as there's a white gamepad coming too. It'll cost $400 when it arrives this October, and it comes with the standard 500GB of storage and the aforementioned gamepad. The bundle appears to come without Kinect, though we'll be sure to ask Microsoft as soon as this Gamescom 2014 press conference is over.
The Xbox One is getting major media updates: here's a breakdown
Microsoft has just kicked off Gamescom 2014 by announcing a plethora of new features coming to the Xbox One -- some you may have known about, and some not. First up is a much anticipated feature: a new app will soon turn the Xbox One into a media player, letting you stream movie and audio files from a USB key or DLNA network. Microsoft's Major Nelson has promised that the console will support many more media formats than the Xbox 360 did, including new file types like MPEG2 TS, animated GIF and MKV. A preview version of the app will arrive first with USB support, while DLNA and certain file formats like MKV won't come until later. (For a list of compatible file formats, check the source, and look after the break for a demo of the new features.)
