gamescom-2014
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'Halo Channel' digital network announced [UPDATE: Trailer added!]
Microsoft announced the Halo Channel during its Gamescom 2014 press event today. The channel is a digital network dedicated to original content centered around the first-person shooter series for Windows and Xbox One. The Halo Channel will host gameplay streams powered by Twitch, and also offers support for connected second-screen devices, such as tablets. Similar to the Xbox 360's Halo Waypoint channel, players will be able to launch games from the network, which also organizes multiplayer data, videos, player rewards and social networking tools. [Image: Microsoft]
White Xbox One Sunset Overdrive bundle hits Oct. 28 [UPDATE: Trailer added!]
The White Xbox One Sunset Overdrive bundle is definitely a thing, Insomniac head Ted Price announced at Microsoft's Gamescom press conference. The bundle is $400 (400 Euros, 350 quid) and includes a white system, white controller and a full game download of Sunset Overdrive. The bundle launches alongside Sunset Overdrive, on October 28. Pre-orders for the bundle are live today. The existence of this thing previously leaked into the wild, though the launch date is new information.
Xbox Gamescom '14 Liveblog on Joystiq
With Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2 and Halo: The Master Chief Collection en route to the Xbox One in 2014, Microsoft is set to have a packed media briefing in Germany today. A focus on AAA exclusives is to be expected, though Microsoft may also strike a balance – much like the new and old architecture of the Gürzenich Köln venue – to highlight its ID@Xbox initiative for independent craft, along with promising new games like Ori and the Blind Forest. Join us right here for all the news and announcements on Tuesday, 2PM CEST (8AM ET, 5AM PT, 1PM UK).
Ori and the Blind Forest glides onto Xbox, PC this holiday
Moon Studios' adventure game, Ori and the Blind Forest, will bring its flowing charm to Xbox and PC this holiday, game director Thomas Mahler announced during Gamescom 2014. [Image: Microsoft Studios]
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Xbox One bundle unveiled
Microsoft's second Xbox One bundle of its Gamescom conference was for another big-hitter, namely Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The limited edition bundle comes with a digital copy of the Day Zero edition of the Sledgehammer shooter, and it'll include a custom console with a 1TB hard drive, as well as a custom controller and a headset. The price is $500 stateside and £430/500 euros across the pond, and it'll be available November 3. The game's Day Zero edition will also be available at GameStop, allowing customers who pre-order to check out Call of Duty: Advance Warfare 24 hours in advance. Early birds will be able to enjoy double XP in multiplayer across November 3, as well the Day Zero in-game content including the catchily named Advanced Arsenal Bullet Brass Exoskeleton and EM1 Quantum directed energy weaponry.
Fable Legends multiplayer beta set for October [UPDATE: Trailer added!]
The multiplayer beta for Fable Legends will be available on October 16, Microsoft announced during its Gamescom 2014 press conference in Cologne, Germany. Microsoft first announced the beta phase of the game at E3. Fable Legends has players completing quests in Albion, the land featured throughout the series. Unlike past games, up to four players can team up to tackle missions, or players can split off to play as a villain, influencing quests themselves to slow the progress of the heroic group. Microsoft revealed Fable Legends at last year's Gamescom event in August 2013 as an Xbox One-exclusive game. [Image: Microsoft]
Screamride is a rollercoaster, just got to ride it on Xbox [UPDATE: Trailer added!]
Screamride is a brand new game from Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 and Thrillville studio Frontier Developments, and it's coming to Xbox One and Xbox 360 in spring 2015. While details weren't discussed at Microsoft's Gamescom conference, going by the trailer and the studio's history we think we're looking at sci-fi rollercoaster construction sim, complete with cartoonish characters in weird futuristic outfits being flung around at crazy speeds. The goal of the game? To make people scream, apparently.
Team up, hunt down Evolve's beta beasts on Xbox One [UPDATE: Trailer added!]
We can't hunt what lurks in Evolve's winding maps until February 10, but at least now Xbox One owners have a sense of when they can get some practice in: During Microsoft's Gamescom presentation, it was announced that beta access will be available in January, with DLC arriving first on Xbox One later on. [Image: Major Nelson]
Rise of the Tomb Raider is exclusive to Xbox [Update: Trailer added!]
Rise of the Tomb Raider is exclusive to Xbox platforms, Crystal Dynamics Head of Product Development Darrell Gallagher announced during the Xbox Gamescom press conference. It's due out in holiday 2015. Gallagher didn't mention whether it was scheduled for Xbox 360, Xbox One or both. Rise of the Tomb Raider is the sequel to Crystal Dynamics' 2013 reboot, Tomb Raider. The first trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider shows Lara Croft in a therapist's office, anxious and unsettled over the horrific events of the first game, before she appears in a cave, bow in hand, and says, "We become who we're meant to be." Update: Gallagher takes to Tumblr to explain the decision to make Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox exclusive, noting that PlayStation and PC players will have Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris. Read the important bits of his statement below.
An influx of Xbox One indies: Superhot, Goat Simulator [UPDATE: Many trailers added!]
Microsoft's indie development initiative, ID@Xbox, is bringing in a bunch of games to launch first on console on Xbox One, including Superhot, Goat Simulator, Dungeon of the Endless, No Time to Explain and Smite. Peek the full list of games ID@Xbox head Chris Charla announced during the Xbox Gamescom press conference below:
Xbox preview program expanding its feature set
Xbox One users in the console's early access program are first in line to test out new features, but some within the program still get to try new features before other members. Ahead of its Gamescom presentation, Xbox has announced plans to share and expand "throughout the year" on the goods that only its most elite users have been able to enjoy. For starters, the beefed-up friends section that has been available to a select few will be offered to everyone enrolled in the preview program. The new section allows users to monitor their friends' recent activity, check which games are most popular amongst their crowd, and compare their recent Gamerscore progress with others on a leaderboard spanning 30 days of activity. The Snap Center will allow users to check messages, friends, parties and achievements via a snapped app, negating the need to duck out of a game to check any of those details. The Messages app will also show threaded conversations instead of individual replies, along with offering support for embedded DVR links. Another new app will allow users to play media from a USB device or from a media server following DLNA protocols, assuming it's sharing a network with a Xbox One. Only USB devices will be supported at first, with DLNA support following. If nothing satisfies you in life like finding the perfect .gif, you're also in luck – animated gifs and "dozens of new file formats" will be supported by the end of the year, including .wav, .mpeg2 and .mov files. Europe and other markets that the Xbox One Digital TV Tuner launches in will be the first to be able to stream TV from home networks to SmartGlass-capable devices, complete with support for rewinding and changing channels without halting gameplay. If you're happier watching shows on your TV, a Boot to TV feature is also coming, which will have the Xbox One boot directly to television when awakening from standby. [Image: Major Nelson]
Europe scores another FIFA Xbox One bundle next month [UPDATE: Trailer added!]
Microsoft unveiled its second FIFA bundle for the Xbox One in as many years in today's Gamescom conference, with the new FIFA 15 bundle coming to Europe once more on September 25. It'll be priced 400 euros/£350, and it'll come with the console, a controller, and a digital copy of the soccer sim. As you'll no doubt remember, Microsoft announced at last year's Gamescom that all Xbox One pre-orders in Europe would come with FIFA 14 - it was later clarified the offer applied to pre-orders of the Day 1 edition.
Watch the Microsoft Gamescom press conference right here [Update: It's over!]
The Xbox press conference, live from Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, goes live at 2PM CEST (8AM ET, 5AM PT, 1PM UK). In other words, any minute now. Watch the livestream right here and be sure to follow along with our liveblog straight from the press conference. Update: The stream may be over, but the good times keep on rolling. We have all the announcements from the event on hand, plus an archived version of the stream embedded below.
The day after day one: Xbox, PlayStation Gamescom shows today
It's time: PlayStation and Xbox have their Gamescom press conferences in Cologne, Germany, today. Xbox is at 2PM CEST (8AM ET, 5AM PT, 1PM UK), and PlayStation is at 7PM CEST (1PM ET, 10AM PT, 6PM UK). We'll have liveblogs and all the hot news from each show right as they happen. Day one of GDC Europe wrapped up yesterday and it's already giving us plenty to talk about: In the shadow of Gamescom: Germany's game scene struggling to grow up The futuristic perks of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Dear game devs: YouTubers want your Steam codes John Romero: 'I haven't made a shooter since 2000, so ...' Super Joystiq Podcast Special: Gamescom 2014 Day 1 Day two is filled with those press conferences and a few GDC Europe panels, so stay tuned to the Gamescom 2014 news page.
Goat Simulator makes big bucks with 'almost 1 million' sales
Of all the many "simulator" games, Goat Simulator stands out as one of the silliest and craziest to catch heat. That's reflected by the game's sales to date of "almost 1 million," as announced by Coffee Stain Studio's Armin Ibrisagic at GDC Europe this morning. It's no surprise, then, that the studio's now working on bringing the game to iOS and Android. To ram those figures home, Ibrisagic said Coffee Stain made back the money it invested into Goat Simulator in "ten minutes." Perhaps crazier, the game generated more revenue in four months than the studio had made in the previous four years. Goat Simulator represents a surreal and unexpected success for the Sanctum studio, which, as Ibrisagic explained, approached the game as no more than a light-hearted change of pace after working on a far more serious tower-defense series for years. The moment Coffee Stain realized it had to make Goat Simulator into a real game was when its debut trailer racked up a million views. The studio diverted all employees to working on it and rapidly started adding content to it ahead of its - no kidding - April 1 release. That extra content included a giraffe - after all, according to Ibrisagic, all animals are goats. [Image: Coffee Stain Studios]
How to (not) make a slumber party video game
When you think of slumber parties and gaming, you might mull over slumber parties involving video games, but you're unlikely to think of the reverse. While there are examples frittered around here and there, like Sleepover Party and the much maligned We Dare on the Wii, slumber party video games represent a genre - if you can call it that - which hasn't been explored properly. At least, that's the feeling of KnapNok Games' Lau Korsgaard, one of the designers of the 2013 Wii U downloadable Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party. If you've not played it, the above trailer summarizes Bumpie's Party neatly. Two to eight players take turns to spin a virtual bottle on the Wii U Gamepad, and the players selected have to complete one of many physical challenges. Things like pushing Wiimote buttons with your noses, or holding controllers behind a friend's back while both of you try to jump in sync - you get the idea. If you're wondering what the inspirations for Bumpie's Party's unusual design are, Ubisoft's We Dare was a big influence... but not for good reasons.
Project Cars' Limited Edition parks five cars in your garage
Bandai Namco revealed a Limited Edition version of Project Cars today, which will include a copy of the game, collectible book and five drivable legendary cars. The collector's book, titled "Project Cars: By Racers 4 Racers," offers a behind-the-scenes look at the game's development and influence from its community during Slightly Mad Studios' crowdfunding process in 2011. The five cars featured in the collector's edition are: The Ford GT40 Mk IV, the BMW M1 Pro Car, the McLaren F1, the Sauber C9 and the Mercedes-Benz AMG C-Coupe DTM. Those that pre-order either the Limited Edition or standard versions of the game will also receive the Modified Cars Pack, which includes three cars: The Ruf CTR3 SMS-R, the Pagani Zonda Cinque Roadster and the Ariel Atom 3 Mugen. Project Cars will launch in November on Xbox One, PS4 and PC. The Wii U version of the racing game, which replaced the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions in November 2013, was previously delayed by the new publisher to 2015. [Image: Bandai Namco]
Gears dev: Hard data, human wisdom both vital to fine-tuning games
Data analysis is growing into a huge, more readily-available tool for game developers, but Epic Games Senior Designer Jim Brown delved into his studio's past struggles with data to warn GDC Europe attendees about misreading the swaths of information appearing on their screens. "You need to provide that context," Brown said, "which means that you need to have design skills, and in order to get the right answers, you need to ask the right questions."
Third Titanfall DLC pack to be revealed at EA Gamescom event
Titanfall players: You've taken an Expedition. You've gone to the Frontier's Edge. What scenic locales and adventurous naming scheme will define the third piece of DLC for EA and Respawn's titan-on-human shooter? We're not sure! So why don't we find out together? EA is planning to reveal the DLC during their Gamescom press conference, which will take place at 4 a.m. Eastern, 1 a.m. Pacific. Sorry for the early hours, but war waits for no mech. We'll of course be reporting the news as it happens, but if you're the sort who likes to take matters into your own hands, EA will be streaming their press conference via their Gamescom website hub. [Image: EA]
Super Joystiq Podcast Special: Gamescom 2014 Day 1
The Super Joystiq Podcast specials train is firing up again. Gamescom 2014 is about to kick-off and we have an amazing pre-show group of guests. Tune in to hear Mike Bithell talk a bit about his forthcoming game Volume and the business of indie development, Brenda Romero discusses her history of educating about gender issues and analog game development, and John Romero breaks some serious news at the end. Maybe you've already heard, it went something a little like "I haven't made a shooter since 2000, so..." We'll be back every day with a new special from Gamecom 2014, so stay tuned. (Pardon the minor audio issues on this first Gamescom special. People were fired.) Listen to the Super Joystiq Podcast: Subscribe to the Super Joystiq Podcast in iTunes Add the Super Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator Download the MP3 directly Relevant links are available after the break.
