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Xbox News is a site that brings you the very latest Original Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One news, the latest games and releases, Part of the
DCEmu Homebrew & Gaming Network.
THE LATEST NEWS BELOW
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December 7th, 2015, 21:24 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has said, without revealing any sales numbers, that Black Friday week was a record one for Xbox.
VentureBeat reports that Xbox Store revenues were up 57 per cent year-on-year across Xbox One and Xbox 360 with total paid unique users up 55 per cent. On Xbox One that growth hit 88 per cent. Global Xbox Live Gold subscriptions grew by over 40 per cent.
US Xbox console sales climbed 22 per cent, with the Xbox One 500GB Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Bundle merging as the best hardware seller.
In all it was second biggest Black Friday in Xbox history.
MCV revealed yesterday that 134k Xbox Ones were sold in the UK during Black Friday week. By comparison, PS4 sold 139k. Xbox One was the better Black Friday seller of the pair in 2014.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/black...ecords/0159980
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December 3rd, 2015, 22:35 Posted By: wraggster
A team of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, has adapted a gaming system to help radiographers improve the quality of X-rays. The technology, originally developed for Microsoft Kinect, has been amended to provide a useful tool for measuring the thickness of body parts and monitor movement and positioning in the X-ray field of vision before imaging. The goal of the technology is to aid in the production of high-quality X-rays at low radiation, without the need to repeat the image. Although the technology is expected to benefit all patients, the researchers believe it could be particularly practical for use in children – who are much more sensitive to radiation and vary in body size, from premature babies through to teens.
http://science.slashdot.org/story/15...quality-x-rays
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November 30th, 2015, 21:17 Posted By: wraggster
The Xbox 360 turned 10 this week, and we've been reminiscing about the wonderful console each day with articles about its influence, its best games and even its dashboard. Now though, it's time for something a little different. It's time to go behind the scenes.
We here at Eurogamer have been covering video games for years (some longer than others), and most of us have reported on the Xbox 360 at some point. I was a little late to the party: I didn't get into this video game journalism lark until September 2007 - coincidentally, when Halo 3 launched. (More on that later.)
So I thought it would be fun to collect a few of our favourite stories from our time on the Xbox 360 patch. It's a gathering of anecdotes about Halo and Forza and E3 and launch events and studio visits and all the rest; tales from the front line, if you will, a glimpse into our world - during gaming's golden age.
Enjoy!
[h=2]Oli Welsh - Editor[/h]I remember going to the review event for Halo 3, which I was reviewing for a magazine. It was held at a swish West End hotel, and we had Xbox 360s set up in our own, comfortable rooms to play through the campaign on the first day, before assembling for multiplayer on day two. Sounds like an ethically dubious kind of heaven, right? Well, no - I could only get started in the afternoon, and I knew there'd be no time for campaign the next day, so I just had to stay up until I finished the game. What with dinner - and, like a surprisingly large number of games journalists, being a bit rubbish at games - I think I hit the second-to-last mission, Cortana, at about 3am.
Now if you remember this mission, you'll remember that it mostly takes place on a Flood-infested ship that's just a mess of indistinguishable, gloopy, purple, pulsating organic spaces, which are regularly flooded with highly aggressive, well, Flood. It's hard, it's confusing, it's not especially fun, and even by Halo's standards it's really, really purple. And there's one large circular chamber in it, split over two levels, which I swear I spent a whole sleep-deprived hour, either side of 4am, simply running around in endless circles, trying to find the exit and somehow, every time, picking the entrance. And getting killed a lot. I was screaming into my expensive pillow. I thought I was going mad. I desperately wanted to give up and go to sleep. It was a pampered kind of mental torture.
So yeah, review events. I can see why they look like a subtle shade of bribery, but that's not the only reason we no longer do final reviews from them here at Eurogamer. It's because that's no way to play a video game.
 Unlike Oli, I've got mad Halo skillz.
[h=2]Wesley Yin-Poole - Deputy Editor[/h]My first full-time video game journalism gig was for a website called VideoGamer.com (back then it was called Pro-G). I started 17th September 2007. I remember the date because two days later I tried to break the Halo 3 street date for a story.
I'd seen reports online that people were able to get a copy of Halo 3 a week before it was due out by ordering online at Argos, then popping down to the shop and simply picking it up. I thought I'd give it a go. The online ordering bit was fine. I saw a message saying the game was in-store and ready to be picked up. So far so good. I ran down to Pro-G's local Argos in Eltham, popped my card in the in-store machine, and paid for Halo 3. I had an order number and a collection point on a piece of paper. My order number was called. I handed in my slip of paper to a very friendly woman, who disappeared into the back of the shop.
Some time passed.
I noticed the woman having some kind of debate with her colleagues about my order. Next to her were boxes, marked with a message: DO NOT SELL UNTIL WEDNESDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER.
Eventually, the woman returned, and said that, unfortunately, she could not sell me Halo 3 because it wasn't on sale yet. I said I'd travelled a long way (I hadn't), I'd ordered it as a present (I hadn't) and I'd already paid for it (that one was true). She sighed. "Okay, we'll make an exception this time. But we're not supposed to do this."
Buoyed by my success, I sprinted back to the office. The street date BROKEN rumour was verified. We called Microsoft's Xbox PR to request a comment on Argos' shenanigans (the shop later blamed this on an "administration error"), and the suggestion that those who were playing early would face a ban from Xbox Live (they wouldn't). That done, I put together my first scoop.
It's all been downhill from there.
 HOT SCOOP!
[h=2]Martin Robinson - Features and Reviews Editor[/h]People talk about the space ponchos, they talk about the animatronic elephant and they talk about how Tomonobu Itagaki walked in, surveyed what he saw and wisely turned around and left Los Angeles' Galen Center during Microsoft's infamous Kinect unveiling at E3 2010. No-one talks about the family, though, suspended some 65 feet in air on a beaten-up sofa precariously dangling by wire.
The family that sat through the entire horror show, that saw the succession of clearly staged demos, that saw members of Cirque du Soleil stalk up towards bemused members of the industry and babble incoherently, that saw a night imbued with a cultish atmosphere - the kind that made you wonder whether everyone was about to either start making out or start necking cyanide pills.
It all reached a nadir when a young boy ascended a mountain and threw away his controller: you half expected a 30-foot effigy of Major Nelson to come and swallow him whole, another sacrifice to the greater gods of Redmond. All the while the family sat there and watched, applauding and gasping in forced amazement.
We go back to the Galen Center every year for Microsoft's E3 shows, though the tone has calmed since. Still, I often find myself looking to the rafters whenever we're assembled for another Xbox press conference, straining to see if that family is still there; gazing on in the same feigned delight that's now dimmed to something approaching despair, a faint reminder of when video games completely lost the plot.
[h=2]Christian Donlan - Associate Editor[/h]A few years back I attended a Microsoft E3 briefing where a new Forza game was unveiled. Nothing surprising there. Sadly, however, the way that Microsoft chose to unveil it was by opening concealed garage doors at the back of the stage to reveal Dan Greenawalt or somesuch hanging out with a fancy motor.
Because of the dry ice involved - presumably to simulate exhaust fumes - when the doors came open this billowing cloud of smoke erupted. It very briefly looked like Dan Greenawalt had been cooking meth behind the scenes. Still wasn't as weird as a Ubisoft conference, of course.
(To see the moment Christian is talking about, skip to the six minute 30 seconds mark in the video, below.)
[h=2]Jon Hicks - Ex-Editor-in-Chief of Official Xbox Magazine, current Gamer Network Head of Audience Development[/h]GEARS OF WAR 2 SPOILERS AHEAD!
Early in 2008 I was one of a handful of media who went to Epic for the advance reveal of Gears of War 2. Microsoft was taking it very seriously and had rolled out an impressive selection of talking heads: as well as Mark Rein, Cliff Bleszinski and Rod Fergusson, we spoke to Tim Sweeney, John DiMaggio and Carlos Ferro - voices of Marcus and Dom - and Josh Ortega, a sci-fi author who'd been brought in to do the script.
It became apparent that Ortega's involvement was extremely important. The first Gears had been mocked for its narrative, and a chunk of the day was dedicated to emphasising how this was going to be fixed in the sequel. The characters were going to be properly developed, there would be backstory and twists - this was shortly after Bioshock had come out - and it was going to move you, in between the bits where you were chainsawing alien heads open. There was concept art of Dom's home and wife, Maria.
Epic were, as they always are, extremely friendly and when we broke for lunch Mark Rein gave me a lift to the restaurant down the road. I ended up on a table with DiMaggio, Ferro and Epic's in-house PR. I asked Ferro what they'd been up to before we showed up, and he assumed I was an Epic employee. "Oh, we just recorded Maria's death scene." The PR made a small noise. I looked over and saw the face of a woman watching eighteen months' worth of PR strategy unravelling two months before the game was even announced.
After lunch I got pulled into a meeting room by a couple of Microsoft reps for a hastily-prepared speech about how revealing this would spoil the experience for players. Which wasn't necessary, really, because I wouldn't have printed it anyway and ultimately nobody paid much attention to the story of Gears 2. But it was quite a cute moment, and it was a great event. I just wish I'd filmed John DiMaggio single-handedly conducting a conversation between Marcus and Bender from Futurama.
GEARS OF WAR 2 SPOILERS END!
 All the feels.
[h=2]Ellie Gibson - Ex-Deputy Editor. Scummymummies.com (next podcast out on Tues, features Sandi Toksvig and David Baddiel)[/h]I can still remember the Xbox 360 launch party. I had only been a games journalist for about a year, so I was very green, and so was everything at the party - even the drinks. I think you could choose from a horrible green cocktail with vodka in it, or a horrible green cocktail with gin in it.
The decision to offer only these drinks was a massive error on Microsoft's part, because games journalists only really want beer, being an unsophisticated lot whose idea of adventurous drinking stops at pushing the lime into the Corona bottle. Eventually the bar staff got tired of arguing and started handing out lager, but then - horror of horrors - THEY RAN OUT.
Running out of beer spells absolute disaster for any video games press event (cf. Ubidays, 2007), and this was no exception. The Xbox 360 midnight countdown rang out on the big screen to a room full of disgruntled sober people, muttering the words "pissup" and "brewery", and trying to convince themselves Midori is drinkable.
Fast forward to a few years later, and the celebrity launch party for a Halo game - I forget which. The one with the big spaceman with the helmet who goes round shooting everyone. Anyway, I digress.
This was a star-studded event, attended by top level celebs like Sarah out of Girls Aloud, a rapper whose name escapes me, and Richard Branson's son. Someone pointed out the latter to me, and I immediately went to the toilet to apply more make-up.
Imagine my surprise when, standing at the bar ten minutes later, I saw Richard Branson's son striding across the dancefloor towards me. This is it, I thought. Richard Branson's son is going to chat me up, and we will fall in love, because I am from Lewisham, and much realer than all the girls he meets in Boujis.
"Hello," said Richard Branson's son. HERE WE GO, I thought. We will get married on Necker Island, and Kate Winslet will save us from dying in a fire.
"You've got toilet paper stuck to your shoe," said Richard Branson's son, before turning round to continue talking to Sarah from Girls Aloud.
At the time, my world was shattered, but looking back, what a kind thing that was to do. Thank you, Richard Branson's son.
Anyway, I decided to get over my disappointment at our cancelled engagement by nipping outside to have a *** with some other journalists. We got chatting to a passing homeless person, who was very nice and friendly and wanted to know what the event was all about.
We explained it was a huge party for the launch of the latest instalment in a multi-million dollar video game franchise, complete with celebrities and free drinks all night. "Oh right," said the homeless person, and it all felt a bit weird.
"Why don't you come back in with us?" said someone, and that's what he did. We hid him in the middle of our group and walked him up to the bar, where he promptly ordered champagne. As far as I know, he was never found out. I hope he had a good night.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...ind-the-scenes
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November 30th, 2015, 20:44 Posted By: wraggster
The last few years have been great for indie developers.
They have gone from being bedroom coders hidden at the back of the big games expos to being placed front and centre in Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo’s press conferences.
Yet indie development hasn’t been without its challenges. Recently, the notion of the ‘indie apocalypse’ has arisen. This is the idea that it’s become increasingly difficult for indie developers to get their games out there. The sheer number of titles that are launching is making it difficult for smaller games to find an audience.
But ID@Xbox European boss Agostino Simonetta disagrees.
“There’s never been a better time to be making games,” he tells MCV.
“The other day, I found a picture from 1999 when I was running a small development team. When I look back and remember those challenges in those days, there’s never been a better time to try and work on your ideas.
“Now even people who are not super ninja engineers or technical people can try and express their creativity in an interactive fashion. The platforms are more open than ever and digital distribution allows anyone to reach billions of people. That doesn’t mean that it’s easy. It’s just what is difficult has changed from the difficulties we had in 1999 when I was trying to have a great success with my first title.”
So if now is the best time to be making games, then why are so many developers saying proclaiming the death of indie games development?
“There might have been an expectation that everybody would be successful,” Simonetta says.
“During the previous console generation, we went through a phase where developing games was really hard.
“There might have been a time when only a few studios were actually able to deliver indie games on PC or console. Maybe the ratio of commercial success was higher, but that was just the embryonic phase of this indie revolution.
“Ultimately, it’s a creative endeavour, same as music, same as writing books. And in every other industry, not everyone will be successful. That’s where the indie apocalypse is coming from. There is an element of that. We should be careful how we measure success.
“I was with a studio recently whose definition of success was the ability to be creative. They don’t need an enormous number of downloads to be successful as far as they’re concerned. We need to be much more mature and look at what’s happening in a very positive way. Sure, in any other business not everyone can be a winner. But saying there’s an apocalypse is looking at the wrong angle.
“I’m a glass half full kind of guy. It excites me that my daughter at six-and-a-half years old is able to use Game Maker or one of those tools to create her first game. It’s much faster and less frustrating, with less of a learning curve than I went through.”
"Not everybody will make millions of dollars
in games development. No-one ever promised that." Agostino Simonetta, ID@Xbox
If nothing else, the indie apocalypse argument proves that indie games development is no different to any business, and subject to the same cycles. A small number of companies have massive success; more firms want to get in on the action and after a while, we reach a saturation point and visibility of newer ideas becomes harder.
“Developing games is a business, and in business there are companies that will succeed and ones that will fail,” Simonetta says.
“What excites me is that there are more people looking at making games. Some people go travelling before university; some spend their gap year developing a game. It’s a commercial endeavour, but also it’s a creative effort, and a lot of people don’t measure success the same way a commercial team will. That’s the exciting thing. That’s where new ideas can be tackled.
“We keep seeing new ideas that have never been tackled before from a game design and experience point of view. For some of the teams, the commercial success doesn’t need to be the same that bigger companies, or more established studios, need to have. It’s only positive, surely. Not everybody will make millions of dollars. I don’t think anyone ever promised that. Going into this business thinking you’ll do a game and know you are going to be rich – that doesn’t happen anywhere.”
"The fact we are talking about failure at the moment might help people understand that development is not easy." Agostino Simonetta, ID@Xbox Of course, it is still possible to have a hit. But developers need to consider more than just the actual development of the game to help make them a success.
“The difficulty now is in visibility and marketing your product and getting the consumers to notice it,” Simonetta explains.
“Every time I have a meeting with indie developers, I always say: ‘finishing your game and getting it approved for console and ready to launch is only 50 per cent of your job, if that’. The mindset needs to be there from day one.
“If today I had to go out and set up my own studio, on day one I would not only focus on planning for finishing the product, but planning the six months before and after launch from a marketing and PR perspective.
“It really affects the way you approach development. It’s important that indie devs that want to self-publish, or even if they are working with the publishers, know that there’s always something that creates new challenges.
“There are constantly new issues that people have had no experience of in the past. Every time people ask: ‘what’s the next big trend?’, my answer is always that I wish I knew. Our industry is changing at such a fast pace and the trends come from nowhere. It’s very hard, even impossible, to predict what the next big thing is.”
He continues: “Anybody going into this business needs to have a 360-degree understanding of what the industry is.
“When I was in development, we had a publisher and they took care of everything. Now if you are independent, whether you are with a publisher or not, people now need to understand all aspects of the industry. We need to be realistic. It’s a business, and as such there are going to be winners and losers, but hopefully more of the former than the latter. We need to treat it as such.
“Maybe we went through a phase where it was so difficult to launch an indie title that one having success was a big deal. As an industry we like to focus on success rather than failure.”
He concludes: “Maybe the fact we are talking about failure at the moment will help people understand that it’s not easy.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/why-t...alypse/0159663
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November 23rd, 2015, 22:03 Posted By: wraggster
A decade ago today thousands of people stood outside electronics retailers in the bitter cold, waiting for their chance to sell an Xbox 360 on eBay. I blame those killer faceplates.
I remember the Xbox 360 launch like it was yesterday, because in the grand scheme of things it was. I wasn’t going to get one, and then at the very last minute I scraped together the cash to add Microsoft’s curvy white box to my video game collection. I bought an HDTV specifically to showcase its higher resolution. Not a flat-screen HDTV mind you, but a massive 100 pound box that could display 720P but was still standard 4:3 ratio, so everything was severely letterboxed.
Why did I need an Xbox 360? Obviously it was for the games. I mean check out this launch lineup:
- Amped 3
- Call of Duty 2
- Condemned: Criminal Origins
- FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup
- GUN
- Kameo: Elements of Power
- Madden NFL 06
- NBA 2K6
- NBA Live 06
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted
- NHL 2K6
- Perfect Dark Zero
- Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
- Project Gotham Racing 3
- Quake 4
- Ridge Racer 6
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06
- Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland
Okay, maybe it wasn’t the launch line-up. Most of those were upscaled ports, and those that weren’t seemed determined to prove just how plastic-y 3D graphics could be.
No, I’d say it was the promise of Xbox Live Arcade. I’m pretty sure I purchased the Xbox 360 for Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
As for those interchangeable faceplates, don’t knock them. One of the things that got me on then Kotaku-boss Brian Crecente’s radar was an entry in a Best Comment contest that scored me a limited edition Xbox 360 launch faceplate.
I’d say share your favourite Xbox 360 memory below, but many of you are still playing it. Maybe share your favourite memory up to this point?.
http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2015/11/22/t...ears-old-today
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November 23rd, 2015, 22:02 Posted By: wraggster
Last week there was a great deal for the PlayStation 4, bundling remastered versions of God of War 3, The Last of Us, and the Uncharted games with a new console. The whole thing was going for less than £300, too. Very much a good deal. Though, one of the criticisms I had of it was, while all good games, every game bundled with the machine was originally released for the last generation.
This Xbox One deal, while providing fewer games, does at least show what this generation is capable of, packaging an Xbox One with Black Ops 3 and Halo 5. All for £309.
You can check it out in detail over on http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0184CL6IU
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November 15th, 2015, 21:16 Posted By: wraggster
The long-awaited arrival of the Master Chief on Xbox One has helped the console achieve a rare monthly win in the US.
November has become the second month of 2015 (the other being April) that Xbox One has outsold PS4 in the region. It did so thanks to an 81 per cent year-on-year increase in sales.
While PS4 still leads the US market, last year Xbox One managed to win both November and December – a trend Microsoft will be confident it can maintain.
“We saw amazing fan excitement, commercial success and critical acclaim in October for Halo 5: Guardians, which was the best-selling game in the US,” Xbox marketing boss Mike Nichols said.
“We also saw incredible reception for the new Xbox Elite Wireless Controller in October, which is now sold out at most retailers and we are working quickly to replenish stock. And October was just the start. Earlier this week Rise of the Tomb Raider and Fallout 4 launched, today the New Xbox One Experience including backward compatibility launched and many are looking forward to Star Wars Battlefront on November 17th – available today exclusively on Xbox One to EA Access members.
“It’s going to be an amazing holiday for Xbox fans.”
Nintendo did not share any hardware data, but did say that Wii U software sales were up 40 per cent year-on-year for the month and are up 20 per cent for the year-to-date. 800k Amiibo figures and cards were also sold in the period, bringing total US sales to 9m.
The overall console market was flat at $270m, with declines in portables offsetting the 12 per cent rise in next-gen console sales. The overall US October video games market was worth $806m, up two per cent year-on-year, but down on September’s $1bn+.
PS4 and Xbox One posted 62 per cent year-on-year growth while last-gen machines plummeted by 63 per cent.
Here’s the October NPD Top Ten:
- Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox One)
- NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
- Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (PS4, Xbox One)
- Madden NFL 16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
- WWE 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
- FIFA 16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
- Destiny: The Taken King (PS4, Xbox ONe, 360, PS3)
- Yoshi’s Wooly World (Wii U)
- Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection (PS4)
- Rock Band 4 (Xbox One, PS4)
Guitar Hero, which came out far later in the month, finished just outside the Top Ten at no.11. Super Mario Maker missed out on a chart spot.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/halo-...on-top/0159052
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November 15th, 2015, 21:14 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft’s first-party controller revenue has shot up by two-thirds during 2015, according to GfK Chart-Track.
The news follows the release of the premium Xbox One Elite Controller, which launched in late October for £120 and quickly sold out across the US and UK. Microsoft has said stock will remain in short supply until next month.
GfK Chart-Track says Xbox One controller revenue has risen 65.5 per cent year-to-date. Sony has also enjoyed a sales upturn, with DualShock 4 revenue up 23.2 per cent.
Up until June 2015, the DualShock 4’s average selling price was £9.82 higher than Microsoft’s pad. But that has now changed.
“The recent launch of the new Xbox One Elite Controller sees Microsoft turn the tables to become the more expensive first-party controller,” said Chart-Track’s Chris Poole.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/micro...n-2015/0159057
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November 15th, 2015, 21:10 Posted By: wraggster
For all the criticism the Xbox One has received, it is evident that Microsoft is willing to listen to the fans and change its hardware to reflect what players want.
From ditching its digital-only strategy to removing Kinect from the package, Xbox has responded to the demands of its fans.
It’s still listening, too. This month, Microsoft is introducing a new UI to the Xbox One. It’s bringing in cross platform play with Windows 10. It’s even targeting pro-gaming with its premium and customisable Elite Controller.
That’s not all, either. Perhaps its most intriguing change is adding backwards compatibility functionality, allowing gamers to play 360 titles on their Xbox One.
Within weeks, the Xbox One will almost feel like a completely new console.
“We are on an on-going journey to listen to what fans want on how to make Xbox the very best place to play,” UK marketing director Harvey Eagle says.
“From Day One we’ve been on that path, making improvements all along the way. This is the next part of that evolution of the console. It’s something we were committed to throughout the life of Xbox 360 as well. We’re just carrying on that ethos of listening to what fans want and bringing it to them as quickly as possible.”
Backwards compatibility was revealed at E3 this year, and was arguably the most surprising announcement to come out of Microsoft’s media briefing. Gamers will be able to play around 100 360 titles on their Xbox One on launch. Suddenly, that console is looking more enticing for the many 360 gamers who are yet to upgrade to the new machines.
“There’s a lot of people who actively use their Xbox 360s in the UK that haven’t yet moved to the newer machines,” Eagle says.
“Backwards compatibility is one of several reasons why Xbox One is an incredibly appealing console for this Christmas. For a 360 owner, it is an especially appealing feature because it enables them to play the games they already own at no additional cost. This Christmas is really the time for them to make that move.”
The firm’s announcement of backwards compatibility was met with screaming crowds in the room, and received plaudits from the media. But there were some naysayers – including PlayStation’s European boss Jim Ryan, who said that though backwards compatibility is a much-requested feature, it’s not actually greatly used.
“It’s what the fans have told us that they want most,” Eagle insists.
“It really has ranked top in all of that list. If you were in the room at E3 when we announced it and saw the genuine response and surprise from the audience. It will prove popular, it’s a great value message for a 360 owner who is considering making a move to the new consoles.
Backwards compatability wasn’t the only big Xbox announcement this year. The platform holder also revealed the highly customisable Elite Controller (above).
“The Elite range is really designed for what we’d call the competitive-level gamer,” Eagle explains.
“It’s for a serious player who wants to have full customisation of a controller, who wants to have the flexibility to set up and configure their controller for their style of game play.”
The gamepad is pricey – coming in at a hefty £130 – but it has been very popular since its launch.
“It’s always hard to know when you’re launching a new product exactly what the demand is going to be,” Eagle says.
“We were very confident that the team had built an incredible product, of that we were in no doubt. But it’s a premium price product, it’s a new market for us and the demand has been overwhelming. So we are in the process of trying to keep up with that demand, get as much product into the market as we can, as quickly as we can.”
The Elite Controller is another effort by Microsoft to tap into the burgeoning eSports market. At Gamescom, the platform holder announced the first Halo World Championship, with a $1m prize pool that has since grown to $1.5m. But what exactly is Xbox’s ambition within the eSports space?
“The team under Phil Spencer has made a commitment to make Xbox the best place for gamers to play,” Eagle says.
“And that’s for all types of games, whether you are interested in family-style games and want to play games like FIFA, Minecraft or LEGO – we want to make sure that Xbox delivers that. Likewise if you are more serious or pro gamer, we want to make sure Xbox can deliver on that, too. We’re interested in delivering across the whole broad range of what gamers want. And that includes eSports.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/the-x...s-back/0159056
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November 15th, 2015, 21:08 Posted By: wraggster
Xbox One is now backwardly compatible with some Xbox 360 titles, and Microsoft is doing all it can to make the most of the positive PR.
As spotted by VG247, a new video from Microsoft explaining how to play Xbox 360 games on the new console seems very much to take a shot at Sony’s famous 2013 video about game sharing.
Back then Sony was riding on a groundswell of support after Microsoft’s unpopular Xbox One E3 briefing in which it was said its machine would require an always-on internet connection for game authentication (plans that were subsequently abandoned).
Now Microsoft has released its own video, complete with its own comedy instructions:
It even tweeted about it so as to hammer home the point:
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/micro...-video/0159062
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November 15th, 2015, 20:53 Posted By: wraggster
After months of teasing, beta testing and announcements, the Xbox One's big update for Windows 10, an all-new UI and backwards compatibility with some Xbox 360 games will arrive tomorrow. According to Major Nelson, the new software will start rolling out at 3AM ET, although we wouldn't advise waiting up for it for a couple of reasons. First, it's a staged rollout, so you may not get it right away. Second, the ability to play Xbox 360 games (here's the list) won't switch on until 3PM ET, so you've got some time to get ready. Finally, assuming your Xbox is setup for "Instant-on" it should automatically grab the update and install it without you needing to do anything at all. The new Xbox One dashboard has a completely refreshed layout, but there's a lot of info availableto help you get used to it.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/11/x...0-back-compat/
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November 11th, 2015, 21:17 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has confirmed that it has cut the ability for users to control their Xbox Ones via gestures in its New Xbox One Experience update for the console.
“When we looked at the New Xbox One Experience we wanted to prioritize features that customers were asking for, plus areas of improvement from the existing Xbox One UI,” Xbox and Windows engineer Mike Ybarra told Windows Central.
“Then, we wanted to look at the use-case model of features that take a lot of investment and say, ‘is it worth continuing to invest in that area?’. With gestures, the reality was the usage was very, very low. So for now, we've cut that from the New Xbox One Experience.
“So when we launch [on November 12th] they won't be in the product. We'll continue to monitor and listen to feedback to see if people want them in.”
Ybarra also confirmed that while mouse support is on the way to the console – as has previously been confirmed by Xbox boss Phil Spencer – there are other projects that have been given priority.
“We actually have keyboard support right now, not for games, but you can attach it and do input,” the exec added. “It's on our list, we look at user feedback, some things pop and some things don't. I would say that one's kind of lower on the list relative to things like background music, and the list goes on.
“It's certainly in the backlog of things we're looking at and if more and more fans are asking for it, it'll get more interest. Would people want an Xbox One Windows desktop in the living room? It's interesting to think about.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/kinec...update/0158918
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November 11th, 2015, 21:03 Posted By: wraggster
Live-streaming platform Twitch is handing out in-game points to people who watch Rise of the Tomb Raider via the Xbox One app. Plus, viewers on any platform have the ability to mess with their favorite Tomb Raider streams when the game is in Expedition Mode: Once prompted, people in chat can vote to activate one of two cards, which alter gameplay in specific ways. Some cards remove health regeneration, add armor to enemies, grant players more melee damage or enable "Big Head Mode," for example. Voting rounds appear every six minutes or so, and this only works if the streamer uses the Xbox One Twitch app to broadcast the game. Now, let's talk about those rewards.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/10/t...ting-xbox-one/
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November 11th, 2015, 21:00 Posted By: wraggster
When the New Xbox One Experience hits consoles on November 12th, it will remove Kinect gestures from the dashboard entirely, platform head Mike Ybarra confirmed to Windows Central. The update is poised to be massive, overhauling most of the Xbox One interface in part to work better withWindows 10. Kinect isn't mentioned at all on the Xbox One update page, though voice controls get one shoutout. "With gestures, the reality was the usage was very, very low," Ybarra told the site. "So for now, we've cut that from the New Xbox One Experience."
http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/10/x...inect-removed/
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November 9th, 2015, 20:51 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has named the 104 Xbox 360 games that will be available via Xbox One’s backwards compatibility patch later this week.
Missing from the list are the likes of Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto IV, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and assorted Call of Duties, all of which have featured highly in user requests for titles to feature on the service.
A number of additional titles have been confirmed as being in the works including Halo: Reach, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Burnout: Paradise and BioShock Infinite.
Nearly three quarters of the titles included on the list are XBLA games.
Backwards compatibility will be added to Xbox One as a free update as part of the New Xbox One Experience UI update on November 12th.
Here’s the full list of games:
A Kingdom for Keflings
A World of Keflings
Alien Hominid HD
Assassin’s Creed II
Asteroids & Deluxe
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
BattleBlock Theater
Bejeweled 2
Bellator: MMA Onslaught
Beyond Good & Evil HD
Blood of the Werewolf
BloodRayne: Betrayal
Borderlands
Call of Juarez Gunslinger
Castle Crashers
CastleStorm
Centipede & Millipede
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Crazy Taxi
Deadliest Warrior: Legends
Defense Grid: The Awakening
DiRT 3
DiRT Showdown
Discs of Tron
Doom
Doom II
Dungeon Siege III
Earthworm Jim HD
Fable II
Fallout 3
Feeding Frenzy
Feeding Frenzy 2: Shipwreck Showdown
Gears of War
Gears of War 2
Gears of War 3
Gears of War: Judgment
Golden Axe
Halo: Spartan Assault
Hardwood Backgammon
Hardwood Hearts
Hardwood Spades
Heavy Weapon
Hexic HD
Ikaruga Toy Soldiers: Cold War
Jetpac Refuelled
Joy Ride Turbo
Just Cause 2
Kameo: Elements of Power
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Lode Runner
LUMINES LIVE!
Mass Effect
Metal Slug 3
Metal Slug XX
Might & Magic Clash of Heroes
Mirror’s Edge
Missile Command
Monday Night Combat
Monkey Island: Special Edition
Monkey Island 2: Special Edition
Ms. Splosion Man
Mutant Blobs Attack!!!
N+
NBA JAM: On Fire Edition
NiGHTS into dreams
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
Pac-Man: Championship Edition
Pac-Man: Championship Edition DX+
Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark Zero
Phantom Breaker:Battle Grounds
Pinball FX
Plants vs. Zombies
Prince of Persia
Putty Squad
Rayman 3 HD
R-Type Dimensions
Sacred Citadel
Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co.
Sega Vintage Collection: Golden Axe
Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World
Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage
Shadow Complex
Sonic CD
Sonic The Hedgehog
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Sonic The Hedgehog 3
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Super Meat Boy
Supreme Commander 2
Tom Clancy’s RainbowSix Vegas
Tom Clancy’s RainbowSix Vegas 2
Torchlight
Toy Soldiers
Tron: Evolution
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon
Viva Piñata
Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise
Wolfenstein 3D
Zuma
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/104-b...ox-one/0158813
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November 9th, 2015, 20:41 Posted By: wraggster
 Microsoft's Xbox One is getting its big "New Experience" update on November 12, which also includes the long-awaited backwards compatibility feature for playing Xbox 360 games. Now, we've finally got the full list of 104 Xbox 360titles that'll work on the system. That includes some games we've previously known about, like Borderlands, along with fan favorites like Just Cause 3 andMirror's Edge. There are also plenty of Xbox Live Arcade titles included, though many popular titles still aren't supported, including Rockstar titles like Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption. Microsoft says it'll start announcing new titles in December, including Halo Reach and Bioshock Infinite, and you can vote for future titles to be included on the Xbox Feedback site. Check out the full list of backwards compatible Xbox 360 titles below.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/09/x...box-360-games/
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November 9th, 2015, 20:41 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft's Xbox One is getting its big "New Experience" update on November 12, which also includes the long-awaited backwards compatibility feature for playing Xbox 360 games. Now, we've finally got the full list of 104 Xbox 360titles that'll work on the system. That includes some games we've previously known about, like Borderlands, along with fan favorites like Just Cause 3 andMirror's Edge. There are also plenty of Xbox Live Arcade titles included, though many popular titles still aren't supported, including Rockstar titles like Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption. Microsoft says it'll start announcing new titles in December, including Halo Reach and Bioshock Infinite, and you can vote for future titles to be included on the Xbox Feedback site. Check out the full list of backwards compatible Xbox 360 titles below.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/11/09/x...box-360-games/
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November 6th, 2015, 23:50 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft’s premium game pad for the Xbox One has almost sold out at retail.
The Xbox Elite Wireless Controller was released last week, costing £120, and includes a range of customisation options and additional features for gamers looking to tweak their playing experience.
At over double the standard Xbox One pad’s RRP (£49.99), it might seem that the Elite would be more of a hard sell for most consumers.
But that appears to be not the case as, just over one week after launch, Microsoft has told GamesBeat that the peripheral has almost sold out completely in the US, with shelves at Microsoft’s own store, Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and GameStop all bare.
The platform holder confirmed to Polygon that the case was similar around the world.
Extra stock will arrive at retailers over the coming weeks, but the spokesperson added that supply will likely run short until the start of December.
The Elite controller will be available from November 3rd as part of the new Xbox One Elite Bundle, however. The £400 SKU includes a 1TB Xbox One machine, plus the titular pad.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/xbox-...cember/0158521
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November 6th, 2015, 23:47 Posted By: wraggster
Microsoft has said that the launch of Halo 5: Guardians is the biggest in the franchise’s history.
Seeing as the game has the smallest UK launch sales for any main numbered entry in the series to date, however, how has the game achieved this?
“One week after launching worldwide, Halo 5: Guardians has made history as the biggest Halo launch with more than $400m in global sales of Halo 5: Guardians games and hardware, pushing the franchise to over $5bn lifetime,” it said.
Presumably the inclusion of hardware (through bundles?) is the key factor here. No actual sales numbers for the game have been revealed.
It does add however that Halo 5 is the fastest-selling Xbox One exclusive game to-date. It was also the most played game on Xbox Live at launch with players so far logging 21m hours of gameplay, 12m of which were in the campaign mode.
Its launch broadcast has also grabbed the Guinness World Record for the most watched ever, with 330k unique viewers and 5.5m total views.
“The success of Halo 5: Guardians is a testament to the innovative work from the entire team at 343 Industries to bring this instalment to Xbox One and the incredible community of fans who have come to love the story, characters and gameplay central to the franchise,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer said.
“The game represents all the possibilities of Xbox One and has earned its place as the anchor title in the greatest holiday games line-up in Xbox history.”
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/halo-...rosoft/0158532
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November 6th, 2015, 23:43 Posted By: wraggster
The full list of backwards compatible Xbox 360 titles for Xbox One is set to arrive next Monday.
In a response to a question on Twitter, Microsoft's Phil Spencer stated the backwards compatibility games list would be revealed in full on November 9th – three days ahead of the firmware update's arrival.
Back in June, Microsoft revealed 22 games – including the likes of Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, and Geometry Wars Evolved – as the initial batch for Xbox One Preview members to test. A few other titles have been added to the preview program since, including the original Borderlands, and the full list has grown to over 100 games.
We'll know which major 360 releases were and weren't made available in the program come next week, though it's not out of the realm of possibility that at least some of the glaring omissions will be addressed at some point in the future.
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/xbox-...update/0158568
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