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You can stream 'Forza' or 'Halo' from Xbox One to Windows 10
Microsoft's new "Windows as a service" approach means more than just free Windows 10 upgrades; it's also bringing game streaming from the Xbox One to PCs and tablets. Xbox lead Phil Spencer just announced the feature at today's Windows 10 event, which will bring a feature similar to what we've seen on Wii U, PlayStation and Steam, with streaming to other devices in the home. That's in addition to all the other new gaming features coming to Windows 10, of course, and we expect to hear more about the feature at the Game Developers Conference in March before it launches later this year.
Report: Microsoft building game-streaming tech, 'Arcadia'
Microsoft has job openings within a new cloud-based Operating Systems Group, and one of the listings says the project is called "Arcadia." ZDNet reports that Arcadia is a new streaming system built on the Azure cloud and is poised to replace Microsoft's Rio game-streaming tech. Arcadia will stream games and apps to Microsoft devices, the site says. Halo 5 on your Windows Phone, anyone? One of Microsoft's job listings reads, in part, as follows: "The new Operating Systems Group (OSG) Streaming team is leveraging the cloud to bring premium and unique experiences to Microsoft's core platforms. These experiences take advantage of a new geo-distributed massively scaling service to redefine what is possible on today's devices. The client team is building the user facing application(s), bridging the service and devices together seamlessly. Our team is a small but growing and dedicated to solving one of Microsoft's biggest business challenges in a creative fashion." Both job listings note that experience with iOS and Android app development is "a plus." As Engadget points out, this technology is most likely a long way off, since the development team isn't even finalized yet. Sony has its own game-streaming system, PlayStation Now, and that's in beta on PS4, Vita and PS TV, well, now. [Image: Microsoft]
Microsoft wants you to stream apps and games
Microsoft has explored software streaming before, but it looks like the company is about to give it a second shot. The company is hiring people to work on "Arcadia," a technology that ZDNet understands will let you stream "certain apps" and games on Microsoft's platforms. It's not clear just what the Redmond crew is building, and it's not necessarily a dedicated service like PlayStation Now. It could just as easily be used for special streaming versions of key apps, or letting users fire up an app before it finishes downloading. You shouldn't expect Arcadia any time soon, whatever it is -- given that the project still has holes in its development team, it could be a while (if ever) before you're streaming the next Halo game on your Windows tablet.
TERA shows off Centaur lore and tactics
The official TERA website has updated with a look at one of the mobs players will likely encounter in their journeys around Arborea. Centaurs are found primarily in the Fey Forest region and look to challenge adventurers with spear attacks, hoof attacks, and their ability to sidestep player combos. The new entry also reveals a bit of centaur lore, noting that the legendary creatures are "presently allied with the fey creatures of northwestern Arcadia province in an uprising against woodcutters, whose drastic logging practices are in danger of denuding the forest in order to fulfill lumber orders from Velika." Tactically, centaurs are prone to rapidly closing the distance to a target as well as coming to the aid of nearby faeries and other centaurs. Check out all the details, as well as a couple of new screens, at the TERA website.
'Bourne Ascendancy' was canceled Starbreeze game, corroborates ex-dev
According to one-time Starbreeze Studios game director Mikael Lindgren, a Jason Bourne game was indeed the studio's reported cancellation a year ago. Posting on his freelance game designer company site, Zoetropa, Lindgren lists "The Bourne Ascendancy (Cancelled)" on his resume, referring to himself as Starbreeze game director for the apparent EA-published project. (On his LinkedIn page, Lindgren dates his most recent stint at Starbreeze from August 2009 through April 2010 -- right about when Starbreeze confirmed the unnamed game cancellation.) Lindgren's claim of The Bourne Ascendancy cancellation is further evidence that Starbreeze's surviving EA collaboration -- codenamed "Project RedLime" -- is the rumored Syndicate reboot. A series of trademarks and a US Copyright Office document previously linked the two companies to a possible Syndicate game. Last month, Starbreeze licensed Unreal Engine 3 for long-term use, presumably replacing its heralded proprietary game engine -- which powered its Chronicles of Riddick series and The Darkness -- for current and future projects. Lindgren's resume also reveals a canned Avalanche Studios' game under the working title "Arcadia" that was to be published by THQ. He credits himself as a senior designer for the game and notes his Avalanche tenure as November 2007 – March 2008 on LinkedIn. It's likely that Arcadia was one of two reported publishing contracts lost by Avalanche that led to the studio's significant downsizing in late 2008. [Pictured: Partial screencap of Mikael Lindgren's "Resume" page on Zoetropa.com]
Hey, you got your BioShock in my Doom 2!
Professional level designer J.P. LeBreton's creativity can't just be contained by the BioShock franchise which his work has appeared in for the last three years. So, he recently exercised his craft in a fairly peculiar way -- by designing a Doom 2 map modeled after the two areas on which he served as lead designer for 2K's underseas adventure: Arcadia and the Farmer's Market. You can download the map directly from LeBreton's site. It comes bundled in a handy little .ZIP file which includes instructions on how to get it up and running on your modern gaming rig. If you're having trouble, just put the original BioShock in, and smear a thick sheen of petroleum jelly on your monitor. [Via Big Download]
L337Lauren tops other gals on road to Miss Video Game crown
We know what you're thinking, because we're thinking the same thing. There's a Miss Video Game competition? How did such a thing fly under our collective radar? The event, part of the larger 2007 Arcadia Festival in Montreal, aims to find and award one female as this year's most accomplished gamer without a Y chromosome, and who better suited for this task than our neighbors to the north? After the first day of events, the pack is currently led by EB Games assistant manager Lauren Berggren, aka L337Lauren, as she bested the other girls in both Mario Kart 64 and a series of 1-on-1 matches in CounterStrike. Now she and four others move on to fight for the crown while rocking out to Guitar Hero and testing their noodles in Brain Age 2.Impressive, sure, but like female-only gaming clans, this sort of thing strikes us as odd, especially since video games, unlike sporting events or beauty pageants, don't favor skills unique to either sex. Still, playing games is seen by some as a bit of a boy's club, and something like this could possibly help break down a few stereotypes, which is a positive, though being the lecherous types we are we can't help but hope for a swimsuit or evening gown competition to follow.
MIGS06/Arcadia: No PS3 love for Montreal
Last week, Montreal was the place to be for video games, between the industry-oriented Montreal International Game Summit, and the consumer-oriented Arcadia Festival. Both events featured show floors, allowing attendees to try out all the latest consoles and games ... except for the PS3, that is.Despite the strong presences of both the Wii and the Xbox 360, Sony failed to make the Playstation 3 available to play at either of the major Montreal events this past week, raising some interesting questions about Sony's dedication to the Canadian market.François Décarie, event promoter for the Arcadia Festival, cites delays of the console in the European market as reason for Sony failing to commit PS3s to the events, as well as the company's general shortage of launch units. In a brief interview with Joystiq last week, he remarked "You know, in Europe it's been delayed until March or something like that. We've talked with [Sony], but with the uncertainty of when they're coming out in the market, it was difficult for them to commit ... Not only that, they were talking about 2 million units, now apparently they're not getting the 2 million units for Japan and North America, meaning that you would have how many for North America? A million? And you make the equation, and you come down to say, well, how many available in Canada for them? And it was a bit of a risk for them to come here. And we understand, and we respect this."M. Décarie remains optimistic that Sony will be present at the 2007 Arcadia Festival: "Next year, we're pretty sure that once they get everything together they'll come back to the festival. They were here last year. So, I guess this year for them it was a difficult year to commit."
Joystiq visits the Arcadia Festival in Montreal
This past Friday, after a long day of studio tours, we found ourselves at the 2006 Arcadia Festival in Montreal. The gigantic Uniprix Stadium was completely decked out with a wide variety of kiosks, consoles, and computers. And though the space was huge, it was filled with smoke, lasers, and plenty of noise. Promoter François Décarie proudly announced that they would be expecting around 20,000 attendants by the end of the three-day festival. To avoid sensory overload, he offered to lead us around the stadium on a one-hour tour, and we gladly obliged. If not for our guide, I doubt we would have had a chance to see everything the event had to offer in so little time.
Arcadia gaming festival Montreal
Next Friday through Sunday the Arcadia gaming festival wil be held at the Stade Uniprix, Montreal. We previously reported we had some basic details about the Canandian gaming event, which has Nintendo, Microsoft and Ubisoft as sponsors. We've now spoken with "conceptrice d'atmosphere" and festival organizer Marie-Annick Boisvert.The second annual Arcadia festival's big news is that 10 Wii units will be available to play, which Boisvert says is a "miracle." Considering it's a three day event, that's a lot more Wii time than you'll get at your local games merchant before they tell you to buy or get out. If you couldn't make it to PAX this year, the Minibosses will also be performing at Arcadia. Boisvert says that Burger King just contacted them and will be showing off their three new titles going on sale November 19 -- like the pseudo-scary Sneak King.There will be an academic area, serious games area and "Lan Arcadia," which will allow 250 players to compete in Counter Strike 1.6, UT2004, and Warcraft III: Frozen Throne. Registration is required and the cost is $55 for pre-registration, $65 at the door (if space is available). Cash prizes will be awarded and the competition lasts two days. There will also be DDR and Guitar Hero competitions with prize awards (no registration required). Oh, and TAG body spray booth babes, which Boisvert says, "You can take pictures with." Ahh, booth babes, what would a video game festival be without them?
