Monthly Archives: August 2015
Forza 6’s Rain Effects “Are Unprecedented in Gaming”
The Forza Motorsport series turns 10 this year. For a large portion of that time two features have been heavily requested, perhaps more than any other: wet weather and night racing.
At E3 this year Turn 10 confirmed these long-awaited features would be making their way to the series in Forza Motorsport 6. Ahead of our next look at the game at Gamescom in Germany this week, Turn 10 creative director Dan Greenawalt spoke with IGN about the effects themselves, their implementation, and how drastically they promise to impact the game.
“I like to believe that one of the reasons that fans have been requesting
is because of the expectations of how Turn 10 and how Forza would do night and rain, in the simulator space,” says Greenawalt. “So we had a vision; we wanted to deliver rain the way that drivers experience it. The way that drivers think about it.”
Play FIFA 16 Demo First on Xbox One
Microsoft has announced Xbox One owners will be able to try out FIFA 16 first thanks to EA Access on September 17.
An upcoming demo for the game will be available first on the company's console, while the newly announced FIFA Ultimate Team Legends will also only be available on Xbox One. This feature enables you to enlist classic players including Baia, Gattuso, Litmanen, Deco, Zanetti, Giggs, Nesta and Best.
Finally, two new console bundles were also revealed. The first costs €369 and comes with a copy of FIFA 16, a 500 GB Xbox One console, 1 month of EA Access and 3 Loan Legends, while the second costs €399 / $399 but instead includes a 1 TB console and 12 months of EA Access. We're working on getting pricing for other territories.
Halo 5’s New Map, eSports Features Detailed
Halo 5's latest map, Colosseum, was revealed during Microsoft's Gamescom 2015 press conference, and was demoed alongside the shooter's new eSports feature set.
Casters Simms and Bravo guided a match between two pro teams, switching between Epsilon and Optic players along the way. An instant replay feature allows broadcasters to show what happened from different angles, and arrow markers conveniently display where each player is destined for in that recap, like American football replay routes. Players were shown juggling the flag across platforms in Colosseum, and player outlines showed where everyone was in the spectator mode at all times.
Following the demo, 343 Industries announced a $1 million Halo Championship Series coming this winter. Look for more on Colosseum, Halo 5: Guardians, and eSports on IGN soon.
Halo 5: Guardians Gets a Limited Edition Console Bundle
At Gamescom today, Microsoft announced a new Halo 5: Guardians Xbox One bundle.
The Halo-themed console includes 1TB of internal storage and will launch on October 20th.
The bundle is available for pre-order starting today.
Pre-order the #XboxOne Limited Edition #Halo5 Guardians Bundle. Arriving Oct 20th #xboxgamescom pic.twitter.com/DZoNbkCZET
— Xbox (@Xbox) August 4, 2015
ARK: Survival Evolved and We Happy Few Coming to Xbox Preview Program
During its Gamescom 2015 press conference, Microsoft announced that ARK: Survival Evolved and We Happy Few will be coming to the Xbox Preview Program in the near future.
ARK: Survival Evolved will be available to members of the Xbox Preview Program this winter (or summer if you live in the southern hemisphere). The game drops players onto a tropical island and asks them to fend for themselves against a Jurassic Park's worth of dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts.
Meanwhile, We Happy Few will be available to Preview Program members this holiday season, before it's made available to all in 2016. We Happy Few is a Kickstarter funded game from Compulsion Games, the makers of Contrast and is dubbed as being "a game of paranoia and survival".
New Character Revealed for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
During the Xbox press conference at Gamescom 2015, a brand new character was revealed for upcoming adventure game, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Revealed during a presentation from the game's whip-toting (!?) creator, Koji Igarishi, the new character appears to be a demon hunter who dual-wields two swords and uses spells.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a 2.5D sidescrolling adventure game being helmed by Igarishi-san (also known as IGA), a former member of the development team behind several Castlevania games including the critically acclaimed Symphony of the Night. The game is being developed independently, having raised over $5.5 million USD on Kickstarter to date.
Minecraft Dev’s Cobalt Release Window Announced
The latest game from Minecraft developer Mojang has a release window at long last - Cobalt will be available on Xbox One and PC in October 2015.
Co-op, competitive, sidescrolling arcade shooter was first announced way back in 2011 before making an appearance at Microsoft's Gamescom press conference two years ago, where it was announced for Xbox 360 and Xbox One. From today's news, it sounds like the Xbox 360 version has been cancelled. We've reached out for clarification.
Additionally, for anyone who doesn't want to wait for their Mojang fix, lead developer Jens Bergensten revealed the Minecraft Windows 10 beta is available now for free for anyone with a Mojang account.
City Skylines, Train Simulator 2015 and Thimbleweed Park Coming to Xbox One
During the ID@Xbox segment of Xbox's Gamescom 2015 press conference, a raft of PC titles were confirmed as being on the way for Xbox One.
Town building game Cities: Skylines, will be making its console debut on the Xbox One. The Sim City-inspired game was released for PC earlier in 2015 and was received favourably by critics, awarded an 8.5 on IGN.
Thimbleweed Park is the new point and click adventure from Ron Gilbert, creator of Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island.
Meanwhile Train Simulator is pretty much what it says on the tin, an authentic simulation of a rail network developed by Dovetail Games.
Battletoads Coming to Killer Instinct
Killer Instinct Season 3 will begin in March 2016, Microsoft has confirmed.
During today's Microsoft Press Conference, the company announced that while the next season may not be starting for some time, a new guest character would be joining the roster from today - Rash from Battletoads.
Several other notable characters have made an appearance during Killer Instinct's second season, including the vengeful Japanese ghost Hisako, fiery being Cinder, and the war golem Aganos.
New Xbox One Chatpad Announced
During the Xbox briefing at Gamescom today, Microsoft announced a new chatpad compatible with Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs.
The chatpad includes volume controls and a headset adapter, and allows users to send messages and search using a small keyboard.
The chatpad is available for pre-order today.
Chat, search, & message w/ the new #Xbox Chatpad for #XboxOne & #Windows10. Pre-order today #xboxgamescom pic.twitter.com/aLx5VpmG1Q