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Tag: Xbox One

  • Xbox One Gets Sling TV, Extended Free Trial

    Subscription-based live TV service Sling TV has just hit its first gaming console – and it’s the Xbox One.

    You can now grab the Sling TV app in the app store.

    All Xbox customers get a free one-month trial – which is three weeks longer than the basic free trial Sling TV currently offers. Not only that, but if you don’t yet have an Xbox One and were thinking about getting one – now’s a pretty good time. The purchase of a new Xbox One at Microsoft stores and microsoftstore.com in the US now comes with three free months of Sling TV.

    Dish’s Sling TV offers a basic package of 17 channels for $20 per month which includes ESPN, ESPN2, AMC, TNT, TBS, CNN, and Adult Swim. It also offers $5 per month add-on packages, focusing on extra sports channels (like ESPNU), kids channels, news channels, and more.

    Post by Sling.

    “We built Sling TV with millennials in mind, and that includes gamers. Xbox has been at the forefront of gaming and technology for years, so it made sense to bring Sling TV to the passionate Xbox user. For many millennials, Xbox One is already the center of their living room experience, and we want to reach these fans to show there’s a better way to get live TV that doesn’t require a long-term commitment, high programming costs, additional wires or hidden fees,” says Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch.

  • Khan Academy Just Hit A Big Milestone

    Khan Academy Just Hit A Big Milestone

    Khan Academy, which took the world by storm with its simple, free educational materials a couple years ago, announced a big milestone this week. They’ve surpassed 3 billion problems answered.

    That means three billion people have answered quiz questions after watching video materials, and learning things. For free.

    The Academy said in a blog post:

    We asked Sal what he thought of this, and he said, “Personally, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. I’m waiting for us to hit 3 141 592 653 problems solved before I get really excited.” Can you help us get to pi billion?!

    The rate at which everyone is learning on Khan Academy is astounding: it took less than a year to grow from 2 billion to 3 billion problems answered! Way to go!

    They might get to that next billion sooner rather than later. Earlier this month, the Academy released an app for the Xbox One. VentureBeat shared this:

    “We’re always looking for innovative, new experiences to share with our fans on Xbox. The addition of Khan Academy on Xbox One is an important milestone in our commitment to delivering rich and differentiated apps on the platform,” said Chris Meador, Xbox’s director of product marketing. ” The Khan Academy app covers a ton of useful topics and includes thousands of educational videos, plus the Xbox One interface makes it easy to use on your TV.”

    Khan Academy Sal Khan recently spoke at the Atlantic’s Navigate Tech Conference. The publication has a good recap of what he had to say here.

    Image via Khan Academy

  • Dying Light System Requirements, Season Pass Revealed

    Dying Light will continue the time honored zombie game tradition in 2015. Unlike other zombie games, however, Dying Light will mix some first-person parkour platforming into the mix. The game will hit PS4, Xbox One and PC, but how powerful of a PC will you need to play it.

    Techland revealed the PC system requirements for Dying Light this past week. Fortunately, the requirements aren’t that taxing especially when compared to other cross platform games released this year. Without further ado, here’s the system requirements:

    Minimum requirements:
    OS: Windows® 7 64-bit / Windows® 8 64-bit / Windows® 8.1 64-bit
    Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-2500 @3.3 GHz / AMD FX-8320 @3.5 GHz
    Memory: 4 GB RAM DDR3
    Hard Drive: 40 GB available space
    Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 / AMD Radeon™ HD 6870 (1GB VRAM)
    Direct X®: Version 11
    Sound: DirectX® compatible

    Recommended requirements:
    OS: Windows® 7 64-bit / Windows® 8 64-bit / Windows® 8.1 64-bit
    Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4670K @3.4 GHz / AMD FX-8350 @4.0 GHz
    Memory: 8 GB RAM DDR3
    Hard Drive: 40 GB available space
    Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 780 / AMD Radeon™ R9 290 (2GB VRAM)
    Direct X: Version 11
    Sound: DirectX® compatible

    If you meet the recommended requirements, you’re going to have a pretty good looking game. If you only meet the minimum requirements, you’re still going to have a great time. I played games with a GTX 560 for a few years, and games looked great even on medium settings. If you must have the ultimate in visual fidelity, you might want to check out the PS4 or Xbox One versions if the PC requirements are too steep for you.

    As for the Season Pass, Dying Light will charge the now standard $20 for a number of DLC packs that are to be offered throughout the life of the game. The first DLC pack – Cuisine and Cargo – will challenge players to sneak through buildings that were sealed off at the start of the zombie apocalypse. The second DLC pack – the Ultimate Survivor Bundle – will give players three new outfits and four weapon blueprints. The final DLC pack – the Bozak Horde – will introduce an area where players can take down hordes of zombies by themselves or with a friend.

    To top it all off, Techland shared a new trailer for Dying Light at Friday night’s Game Awards:

  • Xbox One: Is It Time To Get One?

    The Xbox One is a little over a year old this month. In that year, Microsoft’s next-gen console has gone through more changes than most consoles do in their lifetime. Does that mean the console is now worth owning?

    Like any new console, the Xbox One launched without any real must own games. It had titles like Dead Rising 3 and Ryse, but both of those titles are now on the PC. It also suffered from a perception that it was weaker than the PS4 when multiplatform games underperformed on the Xbox One compared to its rival.

    In the months since launch, those early perceptions are nearly gone. It’s objectively true that the PS4 is a more powerful console, but developers are now starting to aim for parity between the Xbox One and PS4 versions of their games. In other words, multiplatform games like Far Cry 4 and Alien Isolation are going to run just as well on the Xbox One as they do on the PS4. As for exclusive titles, the Xbox One has the PS4 beat this year with big titles like Sunset Overdrive and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

    Besides games, Microsoft has made a number of other wise decisions regarding the Xbox One. Earlier this year, the company decided to make the Kinect optional and lowered the price of the Kinect-less console SKU by $100. At $399, the Xbox One was now the same price as the PS4 and was far more tempting to gamers looking to upgrade. More recently, Microsoft lowered the price of the Xbox One to $349 for the holidays and even packed in free copies of Assassin’s Creed Unity or Sunset Overdrive to undercut Sony’s PS4. It’s seems to have worked as Black Friday sales results indicate the Xbox One was the best selling console last weekend.

    As for general system software, Microsoft has released a number of firmware updates over the last year. At launch, the Xbox One lacked many features that many assume should just ship with consoles, like a way to manage memory. Microsoft has listened to this feedback and released numerous patches that have addressed most of the complaints. There’s still work to be done, but Microsoft has made it known that it’s not going to slow down its release of new firmware updates.

    Compared to this time last year, the Xbox One is in a much stronger position. The same could be said of most consoles after their first year, but the difference is far more pronounced with the Xbox One. In comparison, the PS4 is still somewhat of a disappointment as Sony has relied on remasters of PS3 games and third-party titles to sell PS4s for most of 2013. The console won’t be getting its first big exclusive until next March with Bloodborne.

    In short, the Xbox One is the best value in next-gen gaming this holiday season. It always comes down to personal preference, but Microsoft has the exclusives and price advantage that should appeal to gamers looking for a next-gen fix.

  • HBO GO Is Finally Available on Xbox One

    HBO GO Is Finally Available on Xbox One

    Back in November of last year, Microsoft unveiled the list of streaming video apps that would grace the Xbox One. Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant, VUDU, Crackle, and Redbox Instant were on the list, but HBO GO was only given a “coming soon” designation.

    Well, today’s finally the day. Xbox One owners can now stream HBO content with HBO GO.

    According to Xbox LIVE’s Major Nelson, “the following TV providers authenticate HBO GO on Xbox One: AT&T, Bend Broadband, Blue Ridge Communications, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast’s Xfinity, Cox, DIRECTV, Dish, Grande Communications, HTC Digital Cable, Massillon Cable/Clear Picture, Mediacom, Midcontinent Communications, RCN, Suddenlink, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and Wow!

    It shouldn’t really surprise you that it’s taken this long for the app to pop up on the Xbox One, as it usually takes new streaming media devices a while to get HBO GO.

    Image via Xbox, YouTube

  • Vine App Hits Xbox One For Xbox Live Members

    Microsoft announced today that Twitter’s Vine is now available for the Xbox One. This is surely good news for anyone looking to up their Vine loop count.

    The Xbox Wire staff writes:

    Starting today, you can entertain yourself with hours of short, looping videos on the big screen with the addition of the Vine app on Xbox One. Available to Xbox Live members*, Vine on Xbox One provides a spectacular Vine viewing experience for your TV that brings you one of the world’s most used video apps alongside your favorite games and entertainment.

    This is the first Vine viewing experience built specifically for the TV, giving you access to funny, quirky, artistic, creative Vines directly in your living room. Now you can watch and explore the world of short, looping videos, and Xbox One makes them easy to enjoy using Kinect voice or gesture control to play, pause and search through the next or previous Vine. You can watch popular Vines, explore channels like Art, Music & Dance, and Comedy, view playlists, and more. In addition, the app can be snapped next to your games, TV or other entertainment apps, making it possible to watch Vines alongside your favorite games or whatever you’re watching.

    The Vine app is available in the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States.

    Vine recently added a way to repurpose existing videos. That combined with availability on the Xbox One will make for more interesting content for users, as well as new marketing opportunities for businesses.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Aaron Paul’s Xbox One Ad Is Inadvertently Turning on People’s Consoles

    The thing about have voice control systems that are always on is, well, they’re always on. If they weren’t, then saying something like “Xbox on!” wouldn’t really do anything.

    Apparently, this handy feature is causing some issues for some Xbox One owners. According to multiple reports and a boatload of Twitter confirmations, Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad fame is inadvertently powering up people’s consoles with his new ad. You know the one, right? Where he begins the ad by demonstrating the Kinect-powered voice controls?

    I guess the Xbox One is really always listening, and it’s picking up on that “Xbox on!” command. Take a look:

    As many Twitter users have pointed out, this is quite the first world problem. If the worst thing that happens to you today is your Xbox accidentally turns on, you’ve got it pretty good.

    I mean, you could be a meth addict that found himself in a situation her could no longer control, being manipulated at every turn by a man who’s basically getting more evil by the second. That would be a rough predicament.

    Image via YouTube

  • Xbox One Price Slashed to $399 Without Kinect

    In yet another huge Xbox announcement from Microsoft, the price of the Xbox One will soon be cut to just $399. This price brings Microsoft’s new console down to the same price as Sony’s PlayStation 4.

    The new $399 Xbox One will be sold in all territories where the console is currently released starting on June 9 – the day before this year’s E3 conference is scheduled to begin.

    The new package will not include the Kinect, which had been bundled in with the console since its launch. The mandatory inclusion of the Kinect with every Xbox One had been a sticking point for many gamers who see the peripheral as a gimmick.

    The price cut announcement was made by Microsoft’s new head of Xbox, Phil Spencer.

    “There’s a lot about Kinect that I really love, but we’ve also heard from people that they just like to play games with a controller in their hand and they play multiplayer through Xbox Live,” said Spencer. “What we wanted to do is for those people make sure that there’s a version of Xbox that really meets the exact needs that they have.”

    Last November Xbox One sales got off to an impressive start with Microsoft selling 2 million of its new consoles in less than one month. Since that time sales of the Xbox One have been steadily falling behind the PlayStation 4, which has been consistently selling out across the world for months.

    Sony took this early lead in the console generation largely due to mistakes Microsoft made promoting the Xbox One before its launch. At Microsoft’s big Xbox One announcement one year ago, executives heavily touted the console’s ability to display TV and revealed severe always-on DRM policies for the console’s games.

    Though Microsoft backed down from its DRM plans, the console was dealt another blow at last year’s E3 when Sony announced the PlayStation 4’s price would be $100 less than the price of the Xbox One. The pricing disparity contributed to calls for Microsoft to drop the Kinect sensor from the Xbox One package, as the peripheral was seen as a major factor in the console’s higher price.

    Back in February Microsoft announced a smaller Xbox One price cut for the U.K., dropping the price to just £400. A Titanfall bundle was also announced with no price increase, essentially giving a copy of the game away with every new Xbox One sold.

    Today’s announcement puts the Xbox One almost exactly where its critics said it should be last November. With a competitive price, no Kinect, and less emphasis on TV in Xbox One marketing, Microsoft’s console is now poised to compete with the PlayStation 4 on almost every level except for the Xbox One’s lower hardware specs.

    With this price cut, Microsoft is demonstrating yet again that its original plans for the Xbox One were not what gamers wanted. The move is almost certainly related to slowing sales of the new console and is a sign that Titanfall was not the major Xbox One-selling title that Microsoft had hoped.

    Image via Microsoft

  • Netflix on Xbox without Gold Now a Reality

    Netflix on Xbox without Gold Now a Reality

    It appears the rumors are true. Xbox head Phil Spencer has just announced that they are tearing down the Golden Paywall–at least for entertainment apps.

    In under a month, you’ll be able to stream Netflix (and all other entertainment apps) without a subscription to Xbox Live Gold.

    “Xbox 360 has been a leader in delivering entertainment experiences for years, with over 170 global entertainment apps and experiences available today. We’re constantly adding new partners and experiences to the growing catalog on Xbox One. Coming in June, anyone with an Xbox will be able to access popular entertainment experiences – whether or not you have an Xbox Live Gold membership. This includes great gaming apps like Machinima, Twitch and Upload, popular video services like Netflix, Univision Deportes, GoPro, Red Bull TV and HBO GO, sports experiences like the NFL app for Xbox One, MLB.TV, NBA Game Time, NHL Game Center and more. Microsoft experiences including Internet Explorer, Skype, OneDrive and OneGuide will also be available to all Xbox customers,” says Spencer.

    The one caveat is that some services will only be available to non-Gold members on the Xbox One–this includes Skype, OneGuide, and Twitch Broadcast.

    But for both Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners–you can now stream Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO GO, Amazon Prime Instant Video, WatchESPN, YouTube and all of your favorite streaming video apps without Xbox Live Gold (as long as you have the requisite subscription to the particular service, obviously).

    And with the addition of Internet Explorer to the non-Gold lineup, you can now do all the internetting you want on your Xbox without that pesky Gold subscription–well, everything except online multiplayer. This will all go into effect on June 9th.

    In other Xbox news, Microsoft also announced that they will be selling a Kinect-less version of the Xbox One for $399.

    Image via Xbox.com

  • Netflix May Be Leaving Xbox’s Golden Paywall

    Netflix May Be Leaving Xbox’s Golden Paywall

    UPDATE: Microsoft made it official.

    Original Article: Unlike many of its competitors, Microsoft forces Xbox users to pay for the company’s console subscription service, Xbox Live Gold, if they want to stream content from media apps like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Instant Video. Although nobody (on the consumer end) has ever really liked this, it’s been that way for so long that it’s just accepted as a reality. Wanna watch House of Cards via your Xbox 360–well, you’re going to have to pony up the $60 per year for Xbox Live Gold alongside Netflix’s monthly fee. It’s always been a bummer, especially when you consider the fact that other popular streaming video devices like the Roku and PlayStation do not have any subscription requirements to access streaming apps.

    Apparently, this could be changing. Finally.

    Ars Technica cites multiple Microsoft sources who claim that the company is planning to tear down the Golden paywall. “According to our sources, Xbox 360 and Xbox One users will soon no longer need a paid subscription to Xbox Live Gold to access Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming media apps,” says Ars.

    That’s the good news. Of course, no final decisions have been made, but this announcement could come as early as Microsoft’s June 9th E3 keynote.

    The bad, or at least tempering news is that Microsoft is considering putting other things behind the Golden paywall to compensate. It’s unknown at the time whether or not this would include apps that are currently free to use, or just new content that Microsoft is about to debut via the recently announced Xbox original entertainment studio.

    But for Xbox (360 and One) owners who don’t really play their games online and like to use the console to stream all of their video–this is pretty great news.

    Ars’ sources say that this long-time-coming move has a lot to do with the leadership shuffle at Microsoft’s Xbox division. Last July, Don Mattrick left to be the new CEO of Zynga, either due to the botched Xbox One unveiling and subsequent DRM blowback, internal strife over his position in the company, or both–depending on whom you ask.

    Image via Xbox.com

  • Xbox One Launching in China in September, a Year After Lift on Console Ban

    Fourteen years ago, China enacted a console ban as the Ministry of Culture derided both the political and violent content in many games. Sure, black market console sales skyrocketed–but it was technically illegal to sell consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3 in China.

    Last September, the country officially lifted the ban. Game consoles are now allowed to be sold in a free-trade zone in Shanghai, upon first being pre-approved by the Ministry.

    And now, we know which console will be the first of its kind to enter the trade.

    Microsoft has announced a deal with BesTV, a Shanghai Media Group subsidiary, to bring the Xbox One to China. The two companies’ joint venture, E-Home Entertainment, was the first to be approved and registered inside the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

    “Launching Xbox One in China is a significant milestone for us and for the industry, and it’s a step forward in our vision to deliver the best games and entertainment experiences to more fans around the world,” said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president, marketing and strategy, Devices and Studios, Microsoft. “BesTV has a rich history of delivering innovative entertainment content. It is the ideal partner with which to bring the Xbox business to China.”

    China has a pretty solid PC (online) and mobile gaming culture, as Microsoft says that half a billion Chinese gamers are now active. Of course, Microsoft wants to tap into that in a big way by offering their new console up to what they hope will be console-hungry gamers.

    “The launch of Xbox One here will bring distinction as the first-ever game console with OTT functionality in China,” said Dazhong Zhang, senior vice president, Shanghai Media Group, and chairman, E-Home Entertainment Development Company Ltd. “The launch of Xbox is a milestone for our company in the family entertainment market and will create profit growth opportunities. Furthermore, we will continue our investment and support into research and development for gaming content together with Microsoft. Via our cooperation with the world’s leading team, we will continue to develop video games fused with Chinese culture and provide further distribution support for locally produced Chinese video game content to the world.”

    Microsoft says that pricing and availability details are forthcoming.

    Image via Microsoft Xbox, YouTube

  • ‘Titanfall’ Tops March Game Sales; PS4 Outsells Xbox One

    March video game sales estimates for the U.S. have been released by market research firm NPD and it appears that Microsoft’s investment in the highly-marketed Titanfall has paid off – for publisher EA, that is.

    The March sales estimates show that Titanfall sales for Xbox One and PC combined to be the best-selling title of the crowded March release season. Sony’s InFAMOUS: Second Son for the PlayStation 4 was the runner-up followed by South Park: The Stick of Truth, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Dark Souls II. Titanfall, just one month from release, is now the second-highest selling Xbox One title since that console launched in November.

    Though the relentless marketing campaign for Titanfall has made the game the top-selling title for March, the game’s success may not have been the Xbox One-selling phenomenon that Microsoft had hoped. By NPD’s estimates Sony still managed to sell more PlayStation 4 consoles in the U.S. than Microsoft did Xbox One consoles in March. This is despite the release of a Titanfall Xbox One bundle that essentially gave the game away with the purchase of the console and despite the fact that many U.S. retailers have been seen discounting the price of the Xbox One.

    Just after the NPD numbers were released Microsoft announced that five million Xbox One consoles have been shipped to retailers since November. This puts Microsoft’s console two million in sales behind Sony’s PlayStation 4. Sony announced earlier today that seven million PS4s have been sold-through as of April 6.

    The widening gap in sales between Sony and Microsoft’s new platforms aside, hardware sales for the video game industry are looking up. Year-over-year U.S. hardware sales are up 78% according to NPD. Though software sales are down 28% from the same month last year, the quickly-growing install base of the Xbox One and PS4 puts the console market on solid ground for the years to come.

  • New Xbox One Update Rolling Out Now

    Over the past two months Microsoft has been quickly releasing updates for the Xbox One, bringing the new console many of the features that gamers were promised when the system was revealed. The pace of the updates was somewhat quickened by the release of Titanfall, the multiplayer shooter that Microsoft has put quite a bit of its hopse of the Xbox One into.

    The latest of these updates is now rolling out to Xbox One owners. The update brings a few essential features for specific customers, a few software upgrades for Xbox One peripherals, and even some updates that had been promised for previous software patches.

    One of the biggest features coming in the latest update is the ability for the Xbox One’s Blu-ray player to support 50Hz video output. This is key for a large portion of European Xbox One owners. The Xbox One’s Blu-ray player app will also receive an update soon to support this feature.

    Microsoft has also updated the Xbox One’s system software to include a game save progress bar, surfacing the status of game saves. The system will also now show which games or apps are currently updating.

    Another huge usability feature included in this update is the ability for the Xbox One console to automatically reboot after receiving a system update while in “Instant On” mode. Previously customers were forced to restart the console themselves when they turned on the console and discovered an update had been downloaded. The new feature can be enabled in the console’s system settings.

    In addition to these changes, Microsoft has brought several smaller software updates. The console’s friends list has been updates to surface which friends are in multiplayer sessions and notifications can now pop up when friends or favorites log in to Xbox Live. Improvements to the Xbox One’s new Kinect are also included in the update, which should improve the peripheral’s reliability and, according to Microsoft, will reduce false positive gestures that were being read from “non-hand objects.”

  • Here’s Everything You Need To Know About The New Head Of Xbox Phil Spencer

    Microsoft announced late last month that Phil Spencer would become the new head of the Xbox division. As part of the announcement, Spencer said that he would bring a new focus on games back to the division that has seemingly focused on everything but games for the past few years. Can you really trust that though? Well, see for yourself.

    Xbox shared a new video today in which Major Nelson interviews Phil Spencer about his time at Microsoft. There’s not a lot here about his plans for Xbox One and for good reason. This is all about selling games on Spencer as a person. Xbox fans have a right to be cautious as the Xbox division goes through these changes and Microsoft needs to get the message out that Spencer is just like them – a gamer.

    During the interview, we’re treated to a few interesting revelations. When asked what was his favorite game he worked on, Spencer says that Xbox exclusive Voodoo Vince is at the top. While some may not even remember the title, he says it was the first title he beat with his daughters and thus holds a special place in his heart. He also teased that we’d be seeing a new game at E3 with a unique setting that’s on par with games like Brothers and Limbo. While no specific details were shared, it’s still exciting to think that Microsoft is working on more games like that.

    We’re going to see a lot more Phil Spencer going forward so gamers should probably get used to him. That shouldn’t be too hard as he’s pretty personable and probably the best choice out of all the Xbox execs left at Microsoft. Under his leadership, Xbox may very well get back to focusing on games first.

    Image via xbox/YouTube

  • Forza Motorsport 5 Gets Free Long Beach Circuit Track

    Forza Motorsport 5 has been supported more than any other Xbox One launch game and for good reason. It’s easily one of the best of the bunch and was even included with Xbox One consoles for a time. With its latest content update, the developers at Turn 10 Studios are adding a legendary race circuit to the game.

    Turn 10 Studios announced today that the Long Beach circuit will be coming to Forza Motorsport 5 as part of a larger update scheduled to hit tomorrow. The developers note that this is the first time the circuit has been in a Forza game. They went above and beyond the call of duty with recreating the circuit by including all of its forms:

    The full eleven-turn, 1.97-mile course, home to this weekend’s 40th running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, is included, as well as two alternate ribbons: the slightly shorter East Loop and the half-mile West Loop, both of which are perfect for drifting or pushing your technical driving skills to their limits.

    The developers also note that the Long Beach circuit has been worked into every facet of the game experience:

    Like all track add-on content for Forza Motorsport 5, Long Beach has been fully integrated into every mode of the game. Once you download the content update, the Long Beach circuit becomes part of your Forza Motorsport 5 world. You’ll find brand new events in Career mode, new Rivals and multiplayer lobbies to challenge your friends, and more.

    You can check out the new Long Beach circuit in action below:

    As an added bonus, here’s IndyCar Driver Josef Newgarden taking on the virtual version of the Long Beach circuit in Forza Motorsport 5:

    The Long Beach circuit will be included with a free update hitting Forza Motorsport 5 tomorrow.

    Image via xbox/YouTube

  • Child Of Light’s Theatrics Came From Cirque Du Soleil

    Child of Light, the upcoming JRPG from Ubisoft Montreal, is like a fairy tale. All the spoken dialogue rhymes and the world looks to be ripped straight out of Celtic folklore. Part of that came from the designer’s own passion to create a game like this, but they also sought some surprising outside help with the presentation.

    In a new making of video, Ubisoft Montreal revealed that they sought help from fellow Canadian entertainers Cirque Du Soleil to help them nail the theatrical presentation of Child of Light. The group’s creative consultant, Bastien Alexandre, met with Ubisoft on multiple occasions to help craft the world found in Child of Light.

    Outside of the presentation, Ubisoft also has the talented Cœur de Pirate composing all the music for the title. She says that the game originally started out with simple piano melodies, but they soon commissioned a full orchestra to play some of the more epic tracks in the game. For example, boss fights will feature a full orchestra while exploration sections may just feature a simple melody.

    While music is an important aspect of the title, sound is also incredibly important. The sound design team talks about the lengths they went through to get the perfect sound for the fluttering of wings. After finding that even actual feathers didn’t return the results they desired, they found that flowers created a nice feathery sound that was perfect for the game’s flight sections.

    If you want to learn more, check out the trailer below:

    Child of Light will be out on April 30 for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U and PC.

    Image via Ubisoft/YouTube

  • Xbox 360 Emulation Might Show Up On The Xbox One

    The Xbox 360 has one of the best game libraries of any game console. It’s a shame then that the console’s library can’t be played on the Xbox One. For fans of the console that bought an Xbox One, they have to keep the Xbox 360 out to play some of the upcoming games for the console. What if backwards compatibility was a thing though? Is it possible? Microsoft certainly thinks so.

    Kotaku Australia reports that Microsoft’s Frank Savage was asked at last week’s BUILD Conference if the company had any plans to build an Xbox 360 emulator for the Xbox One. After all, the Xbox 360 could play select Xbox titles through software emulation. With the Xbox One, it’s not too far out of the realm of reason to assume that it could play select Xbox 360 titles. Well, Savage says it is possible, but there’s a big caveat:

    There are [plans], but we’re not done thinking them through yet, unfortunately. It turns out to be hard to emulate the PowerPC stuff on the X86 stuff. So there’s nothing to announce, but I would love to see it myself.

    In short, Microsoft is working on Xbox 360 emulation. That’s very good news. The bad news is that it might be a while before we see it. As Savage notes, the Xbox 360 was built on a completely different architecture from the Xbox One so software based emulation will be difficult. It’s not impossible, mind you, but getting it up to a point where most games run satisfactorily will take a while. It will definitely be worth the wait though if Microsoft is able to pull it off.

    Speaking of software-based emulation, what about the PS4? Surely it can play PS1, PS2 and PS3 games through software emulation, right? VG247 reported last month that Sony was indeed working on software emulation for PS1 and PS2 titles that would only require a disc. The console would also upscale these games to 1080p. That sounds awesome, but there are some problems with PS2 emulation. If Sony can work out the kinks, we may just have disc-based software emulation for thousands of titles on the PS4. As for PS3, that’s what Sony’s PlayStation Now streaming service is for as software emulation of PS3 titles, including the complex Cell architecture, is all but impossible.

    Image via IGN

  • Next Xbox One System Update Previewed

    Next Xbox One System Update Previewed

    Microsoft’s launch of the Xbox One console can be criticized for many things, but in recent months communication isn’t one of them. The company has rolled out significant software updates for the console over the past weeks and has been previewing those updates through a pool of beta testers.

    Today Microsoft previewed yet another software update for the Xbox One. The next update won’t include crucial features like those implemented in the days proceeding the launch of Titanfall, but they will bring some much-needed improvements to a few of the console’s touted features.

    The biggest improvement coming with the next update is support for 50Hz video playback through the Xbox One’s Blu-ray player. The change is important for European Xbox owners as much of the content broadcast in Europe comes in at 50Hz.

    Another big change is that the Xbox One will now be able to update while in “Instant On” mode and subsequently restart on its own. This should solve the problem of Xbox One owners needing to perform a full system reboot when they bring up their consoles from standby and see that an update has occurred. The option for this feature will be located in the console’s system settings.

    In addition to these larger software updates, the firmware for the Xbox One’s controller and headset will be getting an update as well. Microsoft promises that the updated firmware will “reduce audio static and improve wireless connectivity.”

    Microsoft has already begun rolling out these updates to Xbox One owners participating in the console’s beta preview tests. Microsoft has not announced a launch window for the official release of the new updates to all Xbox One consoles.

    In addition to the preview, Microsoft’s announcement contained a short explanation for why some of its previewed features may come later than others. The company stated that it wants “to help ensure the best experience for our fans before pushing a new feature.”

  • Wolfenstein: The New Order Shows Off Its Impressive Guns

    Until now, Wolfenstein: The New Order has really only shown that it nails the aesthetic of a world taken over by Nazis. The gameplay itself on the other hand looked like your average first person shooter. Granted, there’s nothing wrong with that, but Machine Games had yet to show us any pizzazz. With its latest trailer, we finally get to see a bit of that pizzazz.

    Besthesda Softworks shared a new trailer for Wolfenstein: The New Order today called “Nowhere to Run.” As the title implies, it’s all about the resistance movement in an alternate universe where Nazism reigns supreme and any offense to the Germans results in death. Hell, injuring a German player during the World Cup gets the offending player killed by the referee.

    While all that is pretty cool, the real standout in the trailer is the guns. After showing reload animations for most of them, the trailer gets into the meat of the game – how they fire. One gun can melt through metal boxes to create a hole for players to fire through. Another can lock on to four targets and take them all out at once. While none of these are exactly “revolutionary,” they certainly look like a lot of fun to use.

    Fun certainly seems to be the angle Machine Games is going for with the latest Wolfenstein. Too many first-person shooters take themselves way too seriously and pursue realism so persistently that all the fun is sucked out of it. With Wolfenstein, Machine Games has a chance to take shooters back to the glory days when it was just a man, his guns and waves of enemies. With this latest trailer, it certainly looks like we’re getting that.

    Wolfenstein: The New Order will be out May 20 on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and PC.

    Image via Bethesda Softworks/YouTube

  • Xbox One Gets YouTube Upload Capabilities

    Xbox One Gets YouTube Upload Capabilities

    When the latest generation of video game consoles was launched last fall it was clear that the software for both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One was half-baked. This was especially true for the Xbox One, which was missing numerous features that had been promised earlier in the year.

    Since the beginning of 2014 the Xbox One has received a handful of updates, all of them bringing crucial features to the console such as friends list updates and party chat fixes. Today yet another update to the Xbox One is rolling out, this one bringing the console closer to the world of gaming social media.

    The YouTube app for Xbox One will be updated today to integrate the Xbox One’s Game DVR and Upload software. Once the update is complete gamers will be able to upload recorded game clips directly to YouTube.

    The update also enables Snap Mode functionality for the YouTube app, allowing Xbox One owners to watch YouTube videos alongside other content. In addition, the update adds support for pinning individual YouTube videos, earning YouTube achievements, and adding YouTube channels to the OneGuide, where they will appear alongside traditional TV content.

    In addition to the YouTube updates for Xbox One, Microsoft has announced that the Xbox 360 will be getting a new GoPro app. The app will allow users to stream and preview content shot using GoPro cameras.

    “The GoPro Channel app will bring the best of GoPro originally-produced and user-generated content into the homes of millions of Xbox Live Gold customers,” said Adam Dornbusch, head of Content Distribution at GoPro. “We’re excited to launch with exclusive content for early adopters of the app and stoke out the Xbox 360 community with hours of engaging and inspiring GoPro videos through the Channel.”

    The new GoPro app is scheduled to appear on the Xbox 360 sometime this summer. GoPro will be kicking off its Xbox 360 community with two exclusive videos. One is a snowmobile jump and the other is a basketball trick shot involving a car:

    Image via Microsoft

  • Xbox One TV, SmartGlass Updates Previewed

    Last year’s Xbox One unveiling was widely ridiculed in gaming circles. The announcement focused on the Xbox One as an all-in-one entertainment platform rather than a gaming machine. The presentation focused heavily on the console’s TV capabilities, as shown in the now-infamous video that collect’s all of the presentation’s mentions of the passive medium.

    Since that time, Microsoft has listened to consumers, ditching its always-on DRM plans for the console and doubling down on the Xbox One as a video game console. As part of this effort, Microsoft has been very forthcoming about its Xbox One updates over the past few months. The company has released two large updates in the past few weeks bringing everything from friends list improvements to party chat fixes to the console just in time for Microsoft’s big Titanfall launch.

    That doesn’t mean, however, that Microsoft is abandoning the all-in-one motto that the Xbox One was designed around. The company today previewed yet another update, this one bringing more TV capabilities to the console.

    The first big feature is coming to all Xbox and Windows platforms. Consumers will soon be able to rent or buy movies via Xbox Video and watch it over any screen that can use the service. Movie playback will be synched across Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows 8, XboxVideo.com, and Windows Phone 8 platforms.

    The Xbox One platform itself will soon be getting an update that brings updates to the console’s OneGuide TV listings. The new software will also enable users to control their DVR more fully through the Xbox One interface, including the ability to set and watch recordings. Users in Europe and Canada will also soon see TV listings added to their OneGuide.

    Also coming to the Xbox One is updated support for the SmartGlass platform. The update will allow users to use a mobile device as a universal remote or to control the OneGuide through SmartGlass software.

    Some of these Xbox One features will be available today to users who signed up for Microsoft’s Xbox One software beta testing initiative announced in February. The updates will roll out to the wider Xbox One market shortly thereafter.