Tag: Microsoft

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Things to look for at E3 2016

E3 2016 is coming at a time where it seems like calling the Xbox One and the PS4 the “new generation” sounds crazy at this point. Now developers are fully in the swing of this iteration of hardware and though the excitement of the first few years of the new generation is dying down, a new excitement for high quality games is building.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what the gaming giants are coming out with in the next week when E3 starts on June 12.

Microsoft

Most gamers are familiar already with the idea that Microsoft is poised to announce a new “slim” Xbox along with perhaps an Xbox One “Scorpio” — an upgraded version of Xbox with potentially 4x the power of the 2013 Xbox One. These news stories are the biggest bombshells for Microsoft at E3, but beyond this the games that they’ve got in their arsenal are just as exciting.

Gamers have long deserved a quality Pirate game and very few have even attempted to create an original game in this style for over a decade. Rare is back in action looking for redemption and this comeback tour starting with Sea of Thieves is an incredible starting point. An open-world, multiplayer-focused adventure game set on the rugged seas is well deserving of some new information that gamers will certainly be privy to during Microsoft’s conference on June 13.

ReCore is another lesser known title just starting to come to the forefront since being announced at last year’s E3. This action-adventure game comes from some incredible minds — Keiji Inafune, the designer of the first 3 Mega Man games is teaming up with Armature Studio another developer who has plenty of high quality games behind them like Metroid Prime 3 and Batman: Arkham Origins.

recore

ReCore deserves to be brought to the spotlight with such prestigious developers working on it and an incredibly unique concept powering it.

Sony

Just like Microsoft’s next version of the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4.5 is expected to be the highlight of the show with the more powerful version of the console being prepped for more extensive use with the PlayStation VR. VR is certainly the future of gaming at least in some facet. The immmersion created is incomparable to previous gaming experiences and if Sony can capitalize and market their PS4.5 as a way to bring those VR experiences closer to life they’ll find success despite the not-totally-favorable idea of releasing an upgraded console midway in it’s life cycle.

The Last Guardian looks like it will finally come out with a definitive release date as well.

An infinite number of beautifully unique worlds seems impossible. But it's the reality of No Man's Sky.

No Man’s Sky is a bit of a concern with some having expected the game would be here by now, Sony and Hello Games will have to be careful if they intend to show any footage of the game — so as to avoid any bad publicity or resentment fans may have for its late release.

Nintendo

Is Nintendo even a real giant anymore? It’s certainly incredibly successful and has the greatest characters and history in gaming behind it, but with so little excitement being centered around it today it’s tough to imagine them having an overtly “successful” E3.

The Legend of Zelda Wii U 1

Pokemon has taken center stage for the last year and The Legend of Zelda WiiU continues to be the biggest talking point for them. But is that enough to keep fans excited? Or will they actually release a more comprehensive breakdown of what the Nintendo NX is? Most signs point to no, but Nintendo always seems to have a knack for surprising people.

Check out The Platinum Achievement Podcast for a greater breakdown of E3 predictions along with a lot of other nonsense.

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Halo: Reach framerate issues being addressed by Microsoft

Halo: Reach is one of the highest regarded games of the Halo franchise; taking players through a story of multiple spartans before the start of the 2001 title, Halo: Combat Evolved. When Microsoft announced backwards compatibility Reach was seen at the forefront of their advertising for it with the game case prominently displayed as one of the first titles to be available.

While Reach wasn’t one of the first titles, Xbox One owners and Halo fans were certainly excited that the game was still to come in the subsequent set of titles released through backwards compatibility.

Unfortunately for those fans, Halo: Reach has been an abject disappointment with borderline unplayable framerate issues and buggy physics all wrapped up in a package that only matches the graphical capability of the splitscreen mode of the original Halo: Reach.

The complaints of gamers have reached Microsoft and they “are aware some users are experiencing issues.” Microsoft claims the Xbox team is working on a fix, but no timeline has been given.

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Microsoft launches “17 days of deals” for holiday season

Black Friday is long over but Microsoft isn’t done with the deals now offering more price cuts on popular games on Xbox One. Their “17 days of deals” is supposedly Microsoft’s biggest sale ever with major titles like Halo 5 getting 20% off and Rise of The Tomb Raider 35% off. Exact prices will vary by region.

The majority of the deals are arcade games that won’t exactly blow you away, but that doesn’t mean there’s plenty of good titles scattered in the nearly 100 deals that MajorNelson listed on his blog.

The Witcher 3: Wildhunt may be the best deal right now at half price. This massive open-world RPG by CD Projekt Red has restored many gamers’ faith that developers can make an incredible high quality experience without adding micro transactions or only partially working games. It’s well deserving of the Game of the Year awards it’s winning from multiple outlets.

Ori and the Blind Forest (50% off) has been a name in the mix for best art from multiple outlets — including this one.

Borderlands The Handsome Collection is on the high end of discounts with a 60% price cut. Borderlands 2 is one of the best multiplayer games even today and the Pre-Sequel looks better than ever on a new generation console.

Destiny: The Taken King (25% off) the major expansion pack to Destiny adds a huge chunk of content to the base game, expanding the story, and adding more gear and weapons.

Forza Horizons 2 Storm Island content pack is now 75% off and a must have for any current player that hasn’t made the jump for the extra off-road content as of yet.

Just Cause 3 has been out for less than month and is already 20% off. One of the most chaotic sandboxes you can play in with an absurd amount of destruction.

Dragon Age Inquisition (40% off) from Bioware is another testament to the developers strength with making great RPGs. This continuation of the Dragon Age series was in contention for Game of the Year Last year.

Other notable games:
Grand Theft Auto V (40% off)
Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (50% off)
Call of Duty Black Ops III (17% off)
Mad Max (33% off)
Need for Speed Deluxe Edition (60% off)

Check out the deals right now both on the Microsoft store and on the console’s own online store.

The deals will continue from December 22 to January 7 with offers changing weekly. Daily deals will also be available.

Full list of games available at MajorNelson.com

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Gamestop CFO predicts sales rebound for Star Wars Battlefront after Black Friday

This is one of the most saturated holiday seasons ever in gaming with major titles such as Fallout 4, Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, and many many more. Star Wars Battlefront was expected to be among the top sellers, but after its first week it’s clear that EA and other parties have to reel back their projections.

In the latest Earning Conference Call, Gamestop called out Battlefront along with Halo and Tomb Raider for underwhelming sales numbers in the build-up to this holiday season, but Gamestop’s CFO has not lost hope in a great turn-around.

“…we anticipate that this game is going to be a very strong game, when the movie launches in mid-December. Not to mention the fact that we have it prominently displayed in our Black Friday, and in fact we’re the only retailer that has it with significant discount, which is also going to guide sales.” – Tony Bartel, Gamestop CFO

Gamestop is relying on the success of every single title due to release during this Q4 with themselves and other brick-and-mortar stores continuing to combat the growing sales of digital gaming, but the exact sales numbers that Black Friday is helping make up isn’t quite available yet — it’ll be at least a few days before we get any idea. Though, it’s reasonable to predict that digital gaming will continue to widen it’s lead on physical game sales.

Still, gamers and investors should expect better of Star Wars Battlefront. EA has launched a massive advertising campaign for the game, but so far it seems their emphasis on the PS4 has in-fact hurt their sales — the PS4’s userbase of Battlefront gamers is larger than that of the Xbox One and PC installbase combined.

While Battlefront took the brunt of Gamestop’s criticism, Bartel didn’t single out the Star Wars title — Halo 5 was another game that didn’t live up to expectations. Microsoft claimed it was the best launch in Halo history, but Bartel seemed to disagree telling reporters to direct questions regarding the exact digital sales-numbers of Halo 5 to Microsoft.

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$1.7 million up for grabs in Halo World Championship 2016

Halo has long been a major icon in competitive online gaming from its early days surrounding Halo 2 to Halo 5 today with massive audiences through MLG, ESL, and other eSports organizations. Microsoft is prepared to make the 2016 Halo World Championship the biggest ever in the history of the Halo franchise by partnering with those organizations.

Though 343i and Microsoft initially intended a $1 million prize pool, the micro-transaction initiative by 343i will be yielding a 70% increase in the stakes — $1.7 million.

The REQ system has been one of the more controversial aspects of Halo 5, but the developers at 343 assured fans that this system is being put in place with only the best intentions at heart. The devs have already promised free DLC maps for the life of the game because of these cosmetic content packs.

The tournament begins with the first Online Ladders December 6, 2015 and moves all the way through to the finals ending on March 20, 2016.

This will be one of the first major tastes of competitive Halo action since the release of Halo 5. The events are expected to rely heavily on streaming through twitch.tv. Gamers across the globe who want to see how they fair in the “ultimate test” can sign up at Halo.gg.

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Microsoft reveals Xbox One backwards compatible games

Backwards compatbility may very well have been the feature that won Microsoft E3 2015, and after a long five months the promises that they made are finally coming to fruition.

Xbox Live’s Major Nelson and Head of Xbox Phil Spencer revealed exactly which Xbox 360 will be available on the Xbox One November 12.

“At Xbox, we believe that gaming is universal and should be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere. Our philosophy since launching Xbox One two years ago has been to put gamers at the center of everything we do and create the best, most seamless gaming experience possible.” – Mike Ybarra and Larry Hryb

104 games — mostly first party games — will be part of the initial launch. The majority of the games are not particularly major titles or among the top titles that gamers were clamoring for in the Xbox Live uservoice community reach-out initiative by Microsoft.

Instead the biggest name titles include Just Cause 2, Fable II, Fallout 3, Mirror’s Edge, Super Meat Boy, and all of the Gears of War games. There is an extensive collection of Xbox Live arcade games as well.

While the selection isn’t particularly bad, there are still many gamers that are reasonably disappointed that even Halo: Reach will still be a ways away. Reach, Halo Wars, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Bioshock Infinite and Skate 3 are among the big name games that are “on the way.”

Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Red Dead Redemption, and Skyrim were the top three requested titles and nothing was mentioned regarding future compatibility with these titles. It’s certainly possible that Microsoft simply has been given the go-ahead from Bethesda or Rockstar to release their games again through backwards compatibility.

Still, backwards compatibility is here, and it’s a major bonus for the console struggling to compete with the PS4 in European and Asian markets. Microsoft is continuing to re-invent it’s image and inticing previous-gen gamers with a few more games with the added media features of the Xbox One (game streaming, screenshots, game DVR) can’t hurt.

Are you happy with the games included in backwards compatibility?

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Xbox 360 to Xbox One Backwards compatibility confirmed for November 12

What most considered was the biggest deciding factor in the winner of E3, backwards compatibility of 100+ Xbox 360 games to the Xbox One is finally nearing a full release.

While preview members have been benefited to seeing it over the last few months, the amount of games has been fairly slim, but games like Mirror’s Edge, Burnout Paradise and Halo: Reach will be some of the new titles that preview members have yet to revisit through backwards compatibility.

It was revealed by Phil Spencer at the Halo 5 launch event that November 12 would be the official day that all Xbox One gamers would get access to their old Xbox 360 games.

Xbox One 360 backwards compatibility
The current top Xbox 360 games requested for backwards compatibility on Xbox Uservoice.

The exact list of which games are coming has yet to be revealed, but Microsoft has been asking fans through their Xbox Uservoice system which games they would like most. The Xbox team simply waits for the go-ahead from developers and then ports the game through an Xbox 360 emulator.

Games like Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and more are potential titles on the way. However, Microsoft will be primarily focusing on their own first party games and IPs.

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Making sense of Microsoft’s recent controversial news

As of late Microsoft and the Xbox division have had some controversial news surrounding them.

Here’s a quick recap of what’s happened and a reasonable thought process making Microsoft’s decisions seem less crazy.

First is a major change to Xbox Live’s staff —

Eric Neustadter, one of the guys who made Xbox Live awesome serving as an architect for the platform left Microsoft.

Over his 14+ year career, most notably as Xbox Live’s main architect, Neustadter was a great asset making Xbox Live what it is today, but the online service has been running generally smoothly since the Xbox 360 and the platform has been stable enough where those around him can continue to keep the service at a high quality level without Neustadter being around.

Yeah, Microsoft has had some DDoS problems and other minor issues, but the Xbox Live service is generally reliable — plus free games are always cool, eh? (Except you Pool Nation FX.)

Next issue!

For the entire life of Xbox Microsoft has always reported and measured the success of their consoles through sales numbers and the amount of consoles shipped.

Friday it was revealed that Microsoft would be taking a different approach — using Xbox Live subscribers to measure success.

Microsoft’s decision to use Xbox Live membership rather than sales is said to be done to measure “active users.” People that have turned on their consoles and signed in within the last month are the only ones included in that metric. It’s done primarily because Xbox 360 sales are declining with the new generation in full swing and showing active users makes them look better. (The only thing gripe I have is that they could still just show Xbox One sales specifically instead of packaging it in with the 360.)

What else?

A little less than a month ago, Phil Spencer commented saying that Xbox doesn’t need to catch the PS4 to be considered a success.

This is technically true considering the Xbox has objectively been a success from Microsoft’s stand point. They make a f*** ton of money from it and it’s generally viewed positively by those that play on it. From a financial perspective it kind of makes less sense though to be okay with stagnating, but Spencer is definitely correct saying they’ll be okay if they aren’t ahead of the PS4 by the end of this console generation.

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Microsoft looking at Xbox Live memberships rather than consoles sales for success metric [Poll]

For consoles today the constant battle in market share is often what most people look to when analyzing which company is doing the best. The current status is pretty clear with Sony’s Playstation 4 taking a decisive lead over the other consoles of this generation — the Xbox One and the WiiU.

But Microsoft is shying away from the physical console sales to determine whether they are successful or not. Instead, the company will look at Xbox Live memberships to decide if they’re continuing to make progress as a major player in the console gaming industry.

The decision to switch to online subscriptions probably won’t affect the general gaming consensus that the PS4 is winning the race, but it seems a tad suspicious that Microsoft is going ahead with the switch just as the overall revenue for Xbox fell at the same time the revenue from Xbox Live went up.

And the news that Xbox Live revenue is on the rise while Xbox console shipments is stagnating is not surprising — especially for a Q3 report in 2015. Xbox 360 consoles are declining as it nears its 10 year birthday and Xbox One sales stagnate for gamers electing to wait for the holiday season for buying a $400 console.

Regardless of the decision, Xbox Live should be the cash cow for Microsoft with digital gaming on the rise. It grew by 6% revenue-wise with a 28% increase in its userbase (now at 39 million). The quality of the platform is what makes the Xbox One at all stand out against the PS4’s superior hardware and measuring the active users gives a more realistic idea of who uses their consoles.

But still with Sony and Nintendo still using shipments as their major success metric it will seem a bit odd when Microsoft shows off users rather the consoles shipped every quarter. It’s unclear whether the company will continue the quarterly reporting of console sales — or how often they’ll report them.

Do you like Microsoft using Xbox Live as a metric for success?

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“The truth” gets closer with new Halo 5 launch trailer

343 Industries and Microsoft have been constructing a masterful ad campaign with “Hunt The Truth” — a collection of various hints and teasers regarding the Halo 5 story leading up to the full release of the game in late October.

Now, “the truth” feels as close as it could be with the latest Halo 5 Launch trailer showing off more of the conflict between Master Chief and the people that previously heralded him as the hero of mankind. The new co-protaganist Spartan Locke and his squad will have a massive role in subduing Chief and Blue Team.

Where most Halo trailer purely stick to the iconic theme music and style that Halo has built up over it’s 14 year long life, 343i changes things up with a song in this Halo 5 trailer. The second half of the video has Muse, Knights of Cydonia playing over an assortment of gameplay clips and other badass moments from the campaign.

Halo 5 releases in two weeks — October 27 — exclusively on Xbox One. Microsoft is also launching a limited edition Xbox One bundle shipping with a 1TB Spartan Locke stylized console, controller, and a Steel Book containing a digital download of Halo 5: Guardians along with some small in-game extras.