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Tag: Xbox

  • The Game Awards 2019 brings a shock announcement

    The Game Awards 2019 brings a shock announcement

    Every year, Geoff Keighley hosts a yearly awards show. Geoff founded The Game Awards in 2014, and has been a yearly celebration where gamers, game companies, and the media meet. That’s not all, actors, celebrities, and other stars attend the event to celebrate gaming. The community votes for each category is their favorite for the year, and the judges tallies the votes, then finalizes the winners on-stage at the awards ceremony.

    The biggest announcement wasn’t even a game reveal. It was a console without a name. Previously codenamed “Project Scarlett.” Microsoft kicked off The Game Awards with the reveal of their next console – Xbox Series X. They didn’t just reveal the name of the console, they showed off the console design, branding, and a game reveal.

    Ladies and gentlemen, the Xbox Series X…

    Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is the second Xbox Series X title announced after Microsoft unveiled Project Scarlett and Halo Infinite. The second biggest announcement was the reveal of Godfall for PlayStation 5, and PC. This is the first known PlayStation 5 title.

    The following updates and/or announcements are as follows…

    • New Final Fantasy 7 Remake trailer
    • New Mortal Kombat 11 trailer shows off new DLC: Joker
    • New Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 trailer shows off new DLC: Xmen
    • New Salaam trailer showing off gameplay
    • Maneater revealed
    • New Humankind trailer showing off gameplay
    • New No More Heroes 3 trailer
    • Bravely Default 2 revealed
    • Theros Beyond Death revealed (New Magic: The Gathering game)
    • Prologue revealed
    • Sons of the Forest revealed
    • Ruined King: A League of Legends Story revealed
    • Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance revealed
    • New Ori and the Will of the Wisps trailer
    • Weird West revealed
    • Magic: Legends revealed
    • Path of the Warrior revealed
    • New Gears Tactics trailer
    • Naraka Bladepoint rvealed
    • Nine to Five revealed
    • New World revealed
    • Convergence: A League of Legends Story revealed
    • Surgeon Simulator 2 revealed
    • New The Wolf Among Us 2 trailer
    • Fast and the Furious Crossroads revealed
    • New Apex Legends trailer show off new DLC: Mirage’s Holo-Day Bash Event
    • Behind-the-Scenes with Cyberpunk 2077’s music

    The winners from tonight’s awards event are as follows…

    Game of The Year

    • Control (Remedy/505 Games)
    • Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
    • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai-Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
    • Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
    • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
    • The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

    Best Game Direction

    • Control (Remedy/505 Games)
    • Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
    • Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Capcom)
    • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
    • Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)

    Best Narrative

    • A Plague Tale: Innocence (Asobo/Focus Home)
    • Control (Remedy/505)
    • Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
    • Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
    • The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

    Best Art Direction

    • Control (Remedy/505)
    • Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
    • Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
    • Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
    • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)
    • The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)

    Best Score/Music

    • Cadence of Hyrule (Brace Yourself Games/Nintendo)
    • Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
    • Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom)
    • Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
    • Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)

    Best Audio Design

    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
    • Control (Remedy/505)
    • Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
    • Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
    • Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
    • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)

    Best Performance

    • Ashly Burch as Parvati Holcomb, The Outer Worlds
    • Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden, Control
    • Laura Bailey as Kait Diaz, Gears 5
    • Mads Mikkelsen as Cliff, Death Stranding
    • Matthew Porretta as Dr. Casper Darling, Control
    • Norman Reedus as Sam Porter Bridges, Death Stranding

    Games for Impact

    • Concrete Genie (Pixelopus/SIE)
    • Gris (Nomada Studio/Devolver)
    • Kind Words (Popcannibal)
    • Life is Strange 2 (Dontnod/Square Enix)
    • Sea of Solitude (Jo-Mei Games/EA)

    Best Ongoing Game

    • Apex Legends (Respawn)
    • Destiny 2 (Bungie)
    • Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
    • Fortnite (Epic Games)
    • Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

    Best Independent Game

    • Baba Is You (Hempuli)
    • Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
    • Katana ZERO (Askiisoft/Devoler Digital)
    • Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital/Annapurna)
    • Untitled Goose Game (House House/Panic)

    Best Mobile Game

    • Call of Duty: Mobile (TiMi Studios/Activision)
    • GRINDSTONE (Capybara Games)
    • Sayonara Wild Hearts (Simogo/Annapurna)
    • Sky: Children of Light (Thatgamecompany)
    • What the Golf? (Tribland)

    Best Community Support

    • Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
    • Destiny 2 (Bungie)
    • Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
    • Fortnite (Epic Games)
    • Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

    Best VR/AR Game

    • Asgard’s Wrath (Sanzaru Games/Oculus Studios)
    • Blood & Truth (SIE London Studio/SIE)
    • Beat Saber (Beat Games)
    • No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
    • Trover Saves the Universe (Squanch Games)

    Best Action Game

    • Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
    • Astral Chain (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
    • Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom/Capcom)
    • Gears 5 (The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios)
    • Metro Exodus (4A Games/Deep Silver)

    Best Action/Adventure Game

    • Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
    • Control (Remedy/505 Games)
    • Death Stranding (Kojima Productions/SIE)
    • Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
    • The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Grezzo/Nintendo)
    • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software/Activision)

    Best RPG

    • Disco Elysium (ZA/UM)
    • Final Fantasy XIV (Square Enix)
    • Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix)
    • Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (Capcom)
    • The Outer Worlds (Obsidian/Private Division)

    Best Fighting Game

    • Dead or Alive 6 (Team Ninja/Koei Tecmo)
    • Jump Force (Spike Chunsoft/Bandai Namco)
    • Mortal Kombat 11 (NetherRealm/WBIE)
    • Samurai Showdown (SNK/Athlon)
    • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)

    Best Family Game

    • Luigi’s Mansion 3 (Next Level Games/Nintendo)
    • Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
    • Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
    • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco/Sora/Nintendo)
    • Yoshi’s Crafted World (Good-Feel/Nintendo)

    Best Strategy Game

    • Age of Wonders: Planetfall (Triumph Studios/Paradox)
    • Anno 1800 (Blue Byte/Ubisoft)
    • Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Intelligent Systems/Koei Tecmo/Nintendo)
    • Total War: Three Kingdoms (Creative Assembly/Sega)
    • Tropico 6 (Limbic Entertainment/Kalypso Media)
    • Wargroove (Chucklefish)

    Best Sports/Racing Game

    • Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Beenox/Activision)
    • DiRT Rally 2.0 (Codemasters)
    • eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (PES Productions/Konami)
    • F1 2019 (Codemasters)
    • FIFA 20 (EA Sports)

    Best Multiplayer Game

    • Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
    • Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
    • Tetris 99 (Arika/Nintendo)
    • Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)

    Fresh Indie Game

    • ZA/UM for Disco Elysium
    • Nomada Studio for Gris
    • DeadToast Entertainment for My Friend Pedro
    • Mobius Digital for Outer Wilds
    • Mega Crit for Slay the Spire
    • House House for Untitled Goose Game

    Content Creator of the Year

    • Jack “Courage” Dunlop
    • Benjamin “Dr. Lupo” Lupo
    • Soleil “Ewok” Wheeler
    • David “Grefg” Martínez
    • Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek

    Best Esports Game

    • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
    • DOTA2 (Valve)
    • Fortnite (Epic Games)
    • League of Legends (Riot Games)
    • Overwatch (Blizzard)

    Best Esports Player

    • Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf (Immortals, Fortnite)
    • Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (SK Telecom, League of Legends)
    • Luka “Perkz” Perkovic (G2 Esports, League of Legends)
    • Oleksandr “S1mple” Kostyliev (Natus Vincere, CSGO)
    • Jay “Sinatraa” Won (SF Shock, Overwatch)

    Best Esports Team

    • Astralis (CS:GO)
    • G2 Esports (LOL)
    • OG (DOTA2)
    • San Francisco Shock (OWL)
    • Team Liquid (CS:GO)

    Best Esports Event

    • 2019 Overwatch League Grand Finals
    • EVO 2019
    • Fortnite World Cup
    • IEM Katowice 2019
    • League of Legends World Championship 2019
    • The International 2019

    Best Esports Coach

    • Eric ‘adreN’ Hoag (Team Liquid, CS:GO)
    • Nu-ri ‘Cain’ Jang (Team Liquid, LOL)
    • Fabian ‘GrabbZ’ Lohmann (G2 Esports, LOL)
    • Kim ‘Kkoma’ Jeong-gyun (SK Telecom T1, LOL)
    • Titouan ‘Sockshka’ Merloz (OG, DOTA2)
    • Danny ‘Zonic’ Sørensen (Astralis, CSGO)

    Best Esports Host

    • Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere
    • Alex “Machine” Richardson
    • Paul “Redeye” Chaloner
    • Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez
    • Duan “Candice” Yu-Shuang
  • New Inside Xbox reveals new games and updates

    New Inside Xbox reveals new games and updates

    Microsoft has been on a roll with a teaser of their next game console known as Project Scarlett. Once in a while, Microsoft holds livestreams to announce games, updates, and other Xbox news. In the new Inside Xbox livestream, Microsoft hyped up a few exclusive announcements, followed up by announcements surrounding Project xCloud, and Xbox Game Pass…

    Some of the announcements are as follows…

    • Atlas reveal
    • Children of Morta reveal
    • Project xCloud details revealed
    • Xbox Game Pass Highlight Reel
    • Code Vein Update
    • The Outer Worlds Update
    • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint Update
    • Hitman 2 Update
    • Felix the Reaper reveal
    • After Party Update
    • DayZ Update

    The biggest announcements are the first 3 reveals. Project xCloud is being hyped up by Microsoft for the better half of 2018 through 2019. Microsoft is competing with Google and its Stadia cloud service, and Project xCloud is launching in October as a beta, but it’s to undercut Google’s Stadia. Microsoft wants to get ahead of Stadia.

  • PlayStation 4 Ships 100 Million units worldwide

    PlayStation 4 Ships 100 Million units worldwide

    Sony has been on a roll this generation with PlayStation 4 selling through 96.8 Million units as last reported in April 2019 via the Sony Business Relations site. This morning, Sony not only updated that same Business Relations site, they’ve also released their financial reports for the first quarter ending June 2019.

    As you can see, the total amount of PS4 Hardware shipped to retailers has reached 100 Million units. Also, of note is the amount of software sales has reached close to a billion discs and downloads. Here is the breakdown of software sales…

    As last reported, sales of PlayStation 4 have slowed down quite a bit. According to Sony, the PS4 sold 17.8 Million consoles for the financial 2018 year, of that is 2.9 Million is between January and March 2019. That is 1.2 Million down from the previous financial year (2017). However, the good news is that not only did Sony meet their projections, they exceeded it by .03 Million. This is possibly because of the software output they’ve done over the financial year 2018. This is being reflected in their games division making the best profit in PlayStation history.

    As for the first quarter of 2019, Sony said that it shipped 3.2 million PS4 consoles in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2019. Daniel Ahmed, a Video Game analyst said that PS4 became the fastest selling console to hit 100 Million units. He took to Twitter to show where PS4 is placed among the top selling consoles of all time…

    That’s impressive, seeing as PlayStation 5 speculation continues to mount, and people are excited about the possibility of the Next Generation consoles. We still don’t know much about the new PlayStation 5, but Microsoft threw down the gauntlet at E3 2019 with a release window: Holiday 2020.

  • What we know about Project Scarlett so far

    What we know about Project Scarlett so far

    At E3 2018, Microsoft teased that they were working on the next family of consoles. Since then, we’ve been getting conflicting reports about this “family of Xbox consoles.” As E32018 closed, and the year progressed, we’ve been getting a lot of reports about the new family of Xbox consoles, along with their codenames: Scarlett, Lockheart, Anaconda, and Maverick. In April, it was revealed that Xbox One S All Digital Edition was released, so that eliminates the “Maverick” codename. That leaves Scarlett, Lockheart, and Anaconda.

    As the year weared on, Lockheart was reportedly touted as the “entry-level” console like the Xbox One’s All Digital Edition where it would be the weaker console of the 3 SKU’s. Scarlett was reportedly the base Next Gen Xbox console. Anaconda on the other hand, was reportedly the “premium” console like Xbox One X.

    At E3 2019, Microsoft had a conference that had its highs, and their lows. The biggest announcement from their E3 briefing was Keanu Reeves’ appearance for his role in Cyberpunk 2077. However, Microsoft talked about their next console – yes, singular – Project Scarlett. It’s been confirmed that Microsoft canceled Lockheart, and Anaconda.

    Microsoft touts Project Scarlett as the “future of gaming.” The next Xbox console is four times more powerful than the Xbox One X. Both Microsoft and Sony are developing technologies that would make load times non-existent. Microsoft says that Xbox Project Scarlett has four times better performance load times.

    Xbox Project Scarlet is built around AMD’s new Navi/Radeon RDNA graphics architecture, and a Ryzen Zen 2 CPU. In Microsoft’s sizzle reel for Project Scarlett, they touted the system will have some future proofing by supporting 8K resolution, and blazing fast framerates including 120 frames per second or beyond. They made it a point to say that Scarlett can run at “frame rates we’ve never seen before.” The original Xbox One was using DDR3, and Xbox One X was running GDDR5. PlayStation 4 was using both GDDR5, and DDR3 for different tasks. PS4 Pro was using the same memory specs, but added more memory to DDR3 (1GB) for better performance. Well, Xbox Project Scarlett is touted to be using GDDR6.

    I’m going to come back to the load times aspect of Xbox Project Scarlett: Microsoft took the time during the sizzle reel to talk about how they’re using SSD as a virtual RAM. SSD stands for Solid State Drive, and RAM stands for Readable Access Memory. When you combine the two ideas, you’re pushing eggs via a conveyor belt, practically.

    Xbox Project Scarlett will also support real-time Ray Tracing. In fact, in the sizzle reel, they not only show off Ray Tracing with the “Project Scarlett” logo, they also announced that Ray Tracing is hardware-based, rather than software-based.

    On the backward compatibility front, Microsoft said that most Xbox One peripherals will be compatible with Project Scarlett. That ranges from official controllers to official accessories and third party peripherals. Microsoft also touts that Project Scarlett will also be backwards compatible with 4 generations of Xbox: The original Xbox, the Xbox 360 family, the Xbox One family, and the new Project Scarlett. The current backwards compatibility program on Xbox One has been stopped to focus entirely on the Scarlett backwards compatibility – however they plan to approach it.

    It’s worth noting, that Microsoft is working on a cloud solution into their Xbox brand. This cloud service is called “xCloud.” How Microsoft will tie xCloud into their Scarlett remains to be seen, but Microsoft has been beta testing it in small, controlled environments to see how well it works, and getting feedback.

    Xbox Project Scarlett’s first announced title is none other than Halo Infinite. Originally planned to be an Xbox One game, Microsoft made an executive decision: To launch Halo Infinite on both Xbox One, and the new Project Scarlett.

    Xbox Project Scarlett currently does not have all the specs revealed, does not have a design, and does not currently have pricing model(s) available, but it does have a release window… Holiday 2020.

  • Microsoft unveils Project Scorpio and Xbox One S at E32016

    Microsoft unveils Project Scorpio and Xbox One S at E32016

    Microsoft had a busy week during E3 2016. Fresh out of the gate, Microsoft reveals that they’ve acquired LinkedIn for a combined $26.2 Billion…

    This has nothing to do with gaming, but still relevant. The fact that Microsoft has acquired LinkedIn is huge; It provides many opportunities for integration across Office 365, Skype, and Bing. A video on YouTube provides insight to the reason why Microsoft wanted to buy LinkedIn and one of those ideas was that Microsoft can integrate LinkedIn into Xbox Live to connect you to the power-players of gaming.

    At Microsoft’s annual E3 Media Briefing, Microsoft announced that they’re working on “Project Scorpio,” rumored to be a much powerful Xbox One model. So far, the specs are: 8 Cores, 6 teraflops, 320GB/s memory bandwidth, 4K Gaming, VR Gaming, 60 Hz rendering, will be Backward and Forward compatible…

    Microsoft also unveiled Xbox One S, a slimmer Xbox One. Microsoft says that the “S” model is more powerful than the original Xbox One. The new model has a 2TB Hard Drive, an internal Power Supply, will be HDR enabled, will have IR Blaster, and is 4k Ultra HD. To go along with the remodel of Xbox One, it has a new Xbox One controller, it will be wireless, bluetooth-powered, and have an increased range.

    The new Xbox One S will ship in August, and will cost $299. Nope. Not kidding. In fact, you can buy the old model at $279 today. Again, I’m not kidding.

  • Eclipse DLC Gets Release Date for Xbox One – Black Ops 3 DLC #2

    Eclipse DLC Gets Release Date for Xbox One – Black Ops 3 DLC #2

    DLC 2 finally has a release date for the Xbox One. Xbox have confirmed that Eclipse will be available on Thursday, May 19th.

    DLC Trailer

    Multiplayer Maps:

    • Spire: Spire takes Multiplayer combat to a futuristic sub-orbital airport terminal set high in the clouds. Multiple levels and open areas promote intense, mid-range combat around a clean, high-tech civilian environment. Watch your step, because one wrong move could send you plummeting back through the stratosphere.
    • Rift: Head to the core of a harsh futuristic military complex, set high above an active caldera. Rift funnels and forces tight, intense engagements, where the only way through is forward. Utilize the unique core movement opportunities to outsmart and outplay enemies as you traverse the suspended rail system.
    • Knockout: Housed in a traditional Shaolin Temple with a retro twist, Knockout sets the stage for a bloody Kung Fu tournament. This mid-sized map showcases a sharp contrast between the mid-range engagements of the traditional exterior architecture and the tight close-quarters of an eclectic 1970’s styled interior.
    • Verge: In this re-imagination of the classic Call of Duty: World at War map, Banzai, Verge drops Multiplayer combat into the center of a distant post-apocalyptic future, where two warring factions are entrenched in constant battle. Take control of the key bridge, fortresses, tunnel systems and waterfalls as you engage in high-speed action through this medium-sized map.

    Zombies:

    • Zetsubou No Shima: the highly-anticipated, all-new entry in the Call of Duty: Black Ops III Zombies storyline that spans the four DLC Map Packs for Black Ops III this year. The Origins characters continue on their mission to stop the zombie apocalypse not only in this universe but in all universes. Our heroes find themselves stranded on a remote Pacific island which is home to the Division 9 facility: a secret biological research lab whose experiments with Element 115 and its effects on human, animal, and plant biology has created horrors beyond belief. Zetsubou No Shima features a foliage rich island map including new terrifying zombie enemies, a variety of innovative transport mechanics, more devastating traps and classic Zombies side quests. Watch the prologue trailer now here.
  • Xbox One – Awakening DLC Date Confirmed

    Xbox One – Awakening DLC Date Confirmed

    The Xbox One store has been updated by Microsoft and reveals the release date for the first Black Ops 3 DLC, Awakening. Awakening will be released on Xbox One on 3rd March.

    The season begins with DLC 1 Awakening, releasing on 3/3. Get 4 all-new MP maps: Skyjacked, Splash, Rise and Gauntlet, taking players from the snowy outskirts of Zurich to a colorful abandoned water theme park, as well as the next chapter in Zombies. Set in an eerie medieval castle, the Origins cast of Richtofen, Nicolai, Takeo, and Dempsey, picks up where The Giant left off and head to ‘Der Eisendrache’ on a mission to stop the Zombie Apocalypse.

    The Awakening DLC Includes:

    Multiplayer Maps: 

    • Gauntlet: Grounded in a military training facility, Gauntlet plays up the core philosophy of Treyarch’s classic three lane map structure with distinct variety in visuals and gameplay. Each of the three primary lanes has a unique environment as players battle through a sprawling jungle, sub-zero artic zone and rainy urban cityscape.
    • Splash: Set in an abandoned water theme park, this vibrant and playful map delivers an imaginative environment complete with waterslides, a wrecked pirate ship, and a lazy river ride that winds through a fantastical forgotten city. Splash is designed to drive an open flow of combat, including plenty of opportunities for underwater gameplay.
    • Rise: Set in the snowy outskirts of Zurich, Rise is a Coalescence Corporation construction project for a massive subterranean research campus. The design of the map caters to a mix of classic Call of Duty cover combat alongside strategic core movement opportunities, with each section of the map offering distinctly different styles of gameplay.
    • Skyjacked: Set on a security VTOL in the clouds over urban Zurich, Skyjacked is a reimagined version of the popular Call of Duty®: Black Ops II multiplayer map Hijacked, and retains the same fast and frenetic gameplay from one of the most popular maps in Call of Duty® history, but with a twist. Skyjacked gives players the opportunity to explore the map in a variety of new ways thanks to the all-new core movement system in Black Ops III.

    Zombies: 

    • Der Eisendrache, the first chapter of Call of Duty: Black Ops III‘s Zombies DLC adventure will take players on an epic journey with the Origin characters Richtofen, Nicolai, Takeo, and Dempsey. Set in an eerie medieval castle built upon an ancient site of unspeakable horror, massive deposits of Element 115 have recently been discovered, delivering inspired new gameplay and – in Zombies tradition – a variety of exciting plot twists and surprises that fans will have the opportunity to discover for themselves.

    Source: XB1 Store

  • I don’t think Microsoft can get away with the $499 tag

    I don’t think Microsoft can get away with the $499 tag

    Both Microsoft, and Sony showed their cards by unveiling Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 respectively. Just over the last few days, both companies revealed the prices of their consoles: $499 and $399, respectively. Ever since the Xbox One reveal, Microsoft has been shooting themselves in the foot with respect to the “Always On” controversy. However, it didn’t start at the Xbox reveal. It started with an employee, and then it spread like a wildfire in the months before the Xbox Reveal.

    Microsoft made a concisous decision to deliberately “lose” the console war. I think that’s a bad idea, and I also think that they can’t get away with the $499 price tag. But before we get to the why’s and whatnot. Let’s take a look at the history of gaming’s astromical console prices.

    Neo Geo: Most people don’t realize those Neo Geo arcade units you find at your local movie theaters, local pizza parlors, a local Chuck E’ Cheese, or those integrated amusement parks with [Neo Geo] arcades are actually game consoles. These consoles would cost you a staggering $400 and $650 respectively. And the cartridges themselves sold for an astromical price of $200 and up. [According to a Wikipedia entry]

    These consoles were never really available to the “mainstream,” even though there are people that would pay $650 for a console. The problem is that most people wouldn’t be able to afford a console like Neo Geo. So, SNK, the manufacturer of the Neo Geo AES/MVS consoles provided the console(s) to arcade operators, restaurants, bars, and hotel chains – mostly the niche market.

    The question you might be asking yourself is: “Was the price justifiable?” The answer is, yes. If you want a perfect arcade port of legendary fighting games such as Fatal Fury, the King of Fighters, and most famously, Samurai Showdown, then you pluck $650. There is absolutely no way to have faithful ports or conversions of these Neo Geo games, even 10-20 years later. Not on a home console, no.


    Want this on your home console? Sorry, no can do.

    3DO: I thought $400 and $650 was expensive, but 3DO one-upped those prices by selling them for a whooping $700. The company and the console was founded by the very same man who founded Electronic Arts – the largest video game publisher in the world.

    Forget the price, the console did not take off due to various reasons. The marketing strategy for the console was lukewarm against the console war that is Nintendo’s and Sega’s “Great Console War” that defined that generation. And then, what puts a proverbial nail into 3DO’s coffin, new consoles were arriving late in 3DO’s life; the 64-bit Atari Jaguar, the 32-bit Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Sony’s PlayStation was the breakout winner between the 4 new entrants.

    The launch library was lukewarm, and did not have a single breakout “killer app” for 3DO. In fact, the only saving grace for 3DO was a [almost] perfect, straight port of Super Street Fighter II. Not even Super NES could capture the quality of the conversion. In conclusion, that’s why the console failed.

    If I was Trip Hawkins, I’d take the path that SNK took with Neo Geo’s home/arcade consoles. This way, you could start out small (from a marketing standpoint) with the arcade scene, which at the time was at it’s peak, it’s apex. Hell, even Nintendo could’ve benefitted from that path with Ultra 64. But no, Nintendo 64 was the final name.

    PlayStation 3: Many people flipped when Sony uttered “$599.” Nope, that price isn’t a typo. For $600, this console was yours. Keep in mind, that’s with one controller. In Neo Geo’s case, there were two arcade sticks packed in with the console, along with a game which (once again) is $200 and up. 3DO’s pack in was similar; one controller.

    Much like 3DO before it, the game library was lukewarm. The PlayStation 3 benefitted from the “PlayStation” brand itself; with 250 million PlayStation owners (102m for PSX, 150m for PS2), so it makes sense to keep the price up. Sony dropped the price a year later, in preparation of Metal Gear Solid 4’s impending release. Therafter, the game library strengthened by the year’s end.

    Was it justified? PS3 was designed for future growth, since Sony set up their “10 year lifecycle” initiative. Under the hood, the PlayStation 3’s specs was aligned with Xbox 360’s on paper, but is arguably more powerful than Microsoft’s console.

    Now that you’ve got the background, it’s time to talk about why Microsoft shouldn’t expect to, can’t, won’t, and ultimately will not get away with their $499 price tag. 104 Million Xbox owners (24m for Xbox, around 80m for Xbox 360) isn’t enough to sustain the $500 price point for a year or two.

    Let me put it this way, Sony can get away with “not showing all the major games.” Just show a little bit here, and there. Microsoft has to show off some heavy hitters for Xbox One, because there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of momentum left for Microsoft to gain back.

    It was bad enough all of these Xbox One policies that block used games sales in the real world economy – ya know, second-hand sales between two human beings? That. You can sell or trade games online, according to Microsoft, but other than that – used games go bye bye. If you’re not the owner of that particular disc – that means you gotta pay. Xbox One has to make sure that you’re using your Xbox One online. Thing is, this is part of the “Always On” DRM controversy. There’s more, but I’m just going to leave it at that. Let’s just say the problems are endless.

    Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse. Microsoft shot themselves in the foot by telling the world, the E32013 capacity crowd, that Xbox One costs.. $499. That’s $500 after taxes. So, let me get this straight…

    Microsoft wants you to buy a console that has low specs. If you read the Xbox One reveal article, you would know that while the console has 8GB of memory, it’s based on an old generation GDDR3. The PS4 has 8GB GDDR5. This difference while it looks like there’s little difference on paper, but that could not be further from the truth. In fact, it’s a huge difference. It gives developers more breathing room to work with. With PS3, developers had to be contended with restrictions with regards to system RAM – 512MB combined memory – which is split; 256MB system memory, 256MB graphics memory. Xbox 360 had 512MB of unified memory, Xbox One and PS4 both has 8GB of unified memory. Except, of course, one is GDDR3, and the other is GDDR5.

    Sony is offering you to buy PS4 at an ‘affordable’ price. They are offering you a console that will be used for 10 years in a row. Both companies will be tapping AMD for graphics. No one knows which graphics chip will be more ‘powerful,’ just that each chip will be custom made for each one.

    What makes Microsoft thinks they can get away with the $499 price point? I understand that Kinect may $100 – $150 or higher to design, manufacture. I understand that the Xbox One controller might be around $40 to $60 a controller. A low-end headset can go for $20 and the highest can be around $60. (Going by console pattern here!) 100 Million owners isn’t enough, and about half of them will be converting to PS4 after they see the policies. Sony won E32013 only because Microsoft wasn’t trying when they actually need to try. Sony won E32013 because Nintendo gave up trying to steal the E3 spotlight.

    Nintendo doesn’t know how to please the E3 crowd anymore after the release of Wii U. They’ve opted for setting up announcements through Wii U’s Nintendo Direct service.

    In conclusion: Sony is onto a winner with PlayStation 4. They’ve applied all the right moves over the last 6 months alone. Sony is slowly eating away more and more marketshare away from Microsoft through well-calculated marketing, and business moves. Hell, even some Xbox loyalists are already converting to PlayStation 4. This says a lot about people’s tolerance towards Microsoft’s ‘bull$#!^” and therefore, Microsoft can’t get away with the $499 price point with Xbox One.

  • Xbox One revealed and detailed

    Xbox One revealed and detailed

    Ever since the PlayStation Meeting in February, Sony’s PS4 has been taking over the internet. First whispers of a reveal for the next generation Xbox would start around late March, into April, then into early May, when Activision let it slip that they’d reveal Call of Duty Ghosts on May 21st, at Microsoft’s Xbox Reveal. That time had come, and gone. Microsoft revealed their next generation Xbox console as… Xbox One.

    The basic Xbox One specs are:

    – 8-core CPU
    – AMD x86 architecture
    – 5 Billion Transistors
    – 8GB of System Memory (DDR3)
    – Blu-Ray drive
    – 500GB HDD
    – Three USB 3.0 ports
    – HDMI In/Out portsW
    – Built-in Wi-Fi (802.11n Wireless with Wi-Fi Direct)

    The basic Kinect 2.0 features are:

    – 30 FPS color
    – 1080P HD RGB camera
    – Microphone Arrays
    – Time of Flight (TOF) Technology
    – Compatible with Skype calling and video conference.

    A lot of the features in Kinect 2.0 can be done in the original Kinect for Xbox 360, however, most of the features have been improved. In fact, from the outset, from the ground up, Kinect 2.0 was designed with Xbox One in mind. The user interface was designed around the “all in one” entertainment mentality. Why? Because if you saw the actual reveal itself, you’d know. I digress, I’ll lay out the features…

    – You can turn on your Xbox One with a single voice command: “Xbox On.”
    – Xbox Home shows your most recent games, films, actions like skype calling, using apps such as Netflix and more.
    – Xbox One has a guide area for networks much like channels on your cable provider’s DVR, cable box, or set-top box. You can also see what TV shows or films are trending from this guide, too.
    – Taking advantage of Xbox One’s Kinect 2.0, you can “snap” two things at once; you can check the scores for your favorite sports team, or fantasy team, you can use skype at the same time you watch a film or TV show, you can jump from a game, then into a movie, or vice versa.

    Some of the Xbox Live features are:

    – Some sort of Game DVR. Xbox One will record some, most, or all of your magic gaming moments. This allows for bragging rights on Xbox Live.
    – Better Xbox Live matchmaking, dubbed “Smart Match.” Microsoft says that developers can use this algorithm for player matchmaking. The way they worded it; the use of this Smart Match is up to the developers. They do not have to adhere to the Smart Match system.
    – Achievements has been expanded much further. Xbox One records your most epic achievements, and will reward you in many ways.
    – Your Xbox Live gamertag can and will be transferred from either Xbox, or Xbox 360. All of your achievements and gamerscore will be transferred over to Xbox One.

    Xbox One is highly compatible with Xbox SmartGlass. In fact, SmartGlass was built from the ground up to work with Xbox One. Everyrthing you do on SmartGlass can be seamlessly done on Xbox One. It’s that native.

    The Xbox One will not:

    – run without a Kinect 2.0 device.
    – be backward compatible with Xbox 360 titles.
    – allow for removable hard drives.
    – require “always on” connection. In other words, you do not need to have a constant internet connection. However, Xbox One does require an internet connection. And you will have benefits if you are synced up.
    – allow used games, or pre-owned games. Right now, there’s a lot of mixed messages straight from Microsoft on this aspect. Microsoft says you can trade in or resell your games, but when you go to a friend’s house with your disc, the system itself will ask for a fee to play the game, thus eliminating second-hand sales of your actual disc.

    Microsoft says that they designed Xbox One to require you to install the game before playing the game. Microsoft’s Larry Hyrb clarified with his own blog, that if you do indeed go to your friend’s house, you’d need to log into your Xbox Live profile to “bypass” the fee.

    Microsoft went on the record to say that they have more in-house exclusives being developed for Xbox One than any console in [Team] Xbox’s history. Microsoft touts 15 exclusives being developed for Xbox One right now at Microsoft. 8 of those titles are new intellectual properties (IP’s). Microsoft took this opportunity to unveil the newest entry in the Forza franchise…

    Other Xbox One titles are:

    – Quantum Break
    – FIFA Soccer 14
    – Madden NFL 25
    – NBA Live 14
    – EA Sports UFC
    – Destiny
    – Assassin’s Creed 4
    – Watch Dogs
    – Theif [4]
    – Battlefield 4
    – Call of Duty Ghosts [CODNet article]

    Xbox One will go on sale worldwide later this year. No date, no price, and no plans has been revealed thus far. More info should arrive at E32013 starting on June 11 through June 13th, 2013.

  • New Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 patch goes live on Xbox 360 – what’s fixed?

    New Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 patch goes live on Xbox 360 – what’s fixed?

    Weighing in at 48MB on Xbox 360, a brand new patch has today been released for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 players, but what exactly does it do?Treyarch has just released the full patch notes for the update – let’s dig in and see what new, fixed, improved and changed:

     

    Feature Improvements

    • Added Prestige Level Calling Cards for each Prestige Level.
    • Players will now control the last Scorestreak called when calling in multiple remote controllable Scorestreaks.
    • Updated the League Lobbies to display Team Rank next to each Team Member’s name.
    • Added Suicide and Team Killed Penalties to the Game Rules/Spawn Settings Menu for Custom Games.
    • Added a feature to kick players if they suicide too often in a game.

    Multiplayer Issues Addressed

    • Fixed an issue reported by the community where the Lodestar view remains on screen if the VTOL Warship is destroyed after being previously kicked from the VTOL due to friendly fire.
    • Updated Menus to combat exploits reported by the community.
    • Addressed a persistent Counter UAV issue that occurred during host migrations.
    • Fixed an issue reported by the community where the player was not earning any progress for the Chopper Hunter Field Specialist challenge.
    • Fixed an issue reported by the community where C4 was doing no damage to enemies if blown up the moment it attaches to a surface.
    • Addressed an issue reported by the community with activating Prestige on a weapon not removing attachments from that weapon in other class sets.
    • Prestige Master icon can now be seen as the ‘next Prestige’ when players reach the max Prestige Level.
    • Resolved an issue with the Orbital VSAT Scorestreak losing time during the host migration count down.
    • Resolved a collision issue on Grind which caused the player to become stuck on the vert ramp.
    • Fixed an issue where players were able to place a turret while under the big rig in Aftermath.
    • Addressed a couple issues with the Sentry Gun and AGR Scorestreak tablets remaining open when the player transitions to the Scorestreak while it is being destroyed.
    • The Attachments menu in the After Action Report now indicates the XP a player earns from leveling up a weapon.
    • Resolved an issue where players would lose control of Sentry Guns if they take control of it while it is being destroyed.
    • Fixed an issue with Turret and Guardian placement within certain objects in Aftermath.
    • Improved performance in Theater when a player Previews a Clip over and over again while their Clips in the Timeline Editor are maxed out.
    • Fixed an issue with the environment disappearing when dying and spectating the water in Carrier.
    • The music now plays for everyone during the Final Killcam.
    • Addressed an issue on PlayStation 3 where the Listen In toggle, while CODcasting, was listening to all whether it was toggled on or not.
    • Fixed an issue in Theater where the camera viewed under the map while watching players that had not spawned in.
    • Resolved an issue with the AGR icon only appearing on the mini-map when it was firing both the machine gun and rockets at the same time.
    • Resolved an issue with the Victory/Defeat screen not accurately displaying the amount of XP a player had earned in Objective based game modes on Combat Training.
    • Addressed multiple issues with reloading the War Machine Scorestreak.
    • Adjusted the Scoreboard columns when CODcasting Free For All to display points in the first column instead of player score.
    • Fixed an issue with the HUD pushing off the screen when CODcasting in Theater during a round transition.
    • Resolved an issue in Theater where Party Leaders could not render videos while players joined the lobby.
    • Addressed an issue with the Chat Notification not appearing on the in game screen for players who were speaking in Party Chat.
    • Fixed an animation issue for the Combat Knife when holding aim down sight and pressing the melee attack button.
    • Resolved an inconsistency in the Emblem Editor with the way emblems were being displayed between profiles.
    • Resolved an issue in the Player Channel where deleted screenshots and edited films were appearing as an error when viewed by another player.
    • Addressed an issue in the League Play slide menu where the Career Wins stat was not updating for previous seasons when the player had not yet been placed.
    • Fixed an issue with the Game Settings Update prompt getting cut off when choosing to update after the idle screen fade out.
    • Resolved an issue with the gondolas on Downhill continuing to move during a host migration.
    • Fixed an issue with the Emblems on Playercards viewed from the in-game Scoreboard showing corruption.
    • Addressed an issue in Search and Destroy where players would sometimes spawn into the next round with their secondary weapon.
    • Resolved an endless loading prompt to connect to Twitch when attempting to unlink and re-link accounts with no login information.
    • Fixed a Twitch/Twitter menu issue where some fields were still accessible while connecting to Twitch/Twitter.
    • Resolved a UI issue with rapidly using Like and Dislike on user generated content.
    • Fixed an issue with the equipped DLC reticle displaying the wrong preview reticle when going from a DLC reticle to any other reticle equipped on another weapon.
    • Addressed the Hellstorm Missile boost button prompt not updating correctly for some controller button layouts.
    • Addressed multiple menu layering issues.
    • Fixed an issue with the laser effect not appearing in game on a Laser Sight if the player spams the Switch Weapons button.
    • Addressed an issue with the mini-map overlapping the objective text when a CODcaster has the control panel open.
    • Resolved an issue with the Bacon and Dia De Muertos DLC camos not appearing on enemy weapons when the player is using a weapon that has the Millimeter Scanner attachment equipped.
    • Fix for League Season History and League Leaderboard UI errors.
    • Fixed an issue in CODtv paging logic where we were losing one item every time we page back from page 3 to 2.

    Gameplay Balancing

    • Adjusted Hijacked engine room Hardpoint zone to extend to ladders.
    • Lightning Strike Radar will not reactivate after round change if it has been used in a previous round.
    • Global enemy spawn influencers adjusted.
    • Adjusted objective spawn influencers in Capture the Flag.

    Zombies Issues Addressed

    • Fixed a UI Error that occurred on Turned.
    • Resolved various bugs around the Die Rise map.

    Anything you were expecting to be adjusted or changed? Any changes that affect your game? What else do you want fixed in Black Ops 2 in the future?

    Source Article from http://www.el33tonline.com/past/2013/4/10/new_call_of_duty_black_ops_2/