Xbox One Console Reviews
- Thread starter Gemini
- Start date
YouTube channel Open World Games claims to have spoken with Closed Alpha testers who have played early builds of Ubisoft’s highly anticipated open-world online shooter, The Division, and who have disclosed specific gameplay details on their experiences so far.
They describe the way players enter and leave Dark Zones, which are public combative spaces in The Division, both co-operative and competitive in nature, that are filled with potentially friendly and hostile players. Allegedly, players must proceed through decontamination chambers while entering, and likely leaving, Dark Zones. Special gear or weapons that can be found in these zones must also go through a decontamination process in order to earn a permanent place in your inventory. Players’ backpacks are said to be divided into two compartments: normal items and contaminated items with higher or better stat values.
Interestingly, if these details ring true, Dark Zones can host up to or around 100 players. Other than your co-operative fire team, players aren’t entirely highlighted and are generally harder to find, but as they score kills and build what’s described as a reputation meter, they become more and more visible on the mini-map. You’ll allegedly run into other fire teams that you can also choose to co-operate with. Testers described scenarios with players hiding on roof tops or scaling up and down buildings with grappling hooks.
In the co-operative open world space, enemy AI is allegedly notoriously effective at working as a team against you. Testers described combat experiences where heavily armored enemies would throw flash bangs at the players while commanding two shielded enemies to flank around. Meanwhile, snipers would engage from a distance. AI is supposed to display a wide range of attacks and challenges, even in a single scenario.
Weapon customization may return in the same form it took in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier, including a large number of customizable weapon parts. Weapon upgrades and soldier gear can be crafted with materials that vary in rarity with some of the more rare items in the game boasting a distinctive and recognizable appearance.
In terms of performance, testers are pleased with The Division’s controls and stable online experience thus far, saying that they are confident it will make its 2015 release date, which was once again confirmed in Massive Entertainment’s debut developer podcast yesterday.
Of course, all of the above, aside from the release time frame, is unconfirmed and should be considered speculation. Ubisoft and Massive have kept rather quiet about their MMO shooter as of late, but we do expect to hear and see more next month during GDC.
For now, you can check out Open World Games’ full video right here where he recaps what he’s learned from Closed Alpha testers. You can also catch the latest official gameplay footage of The Division right here.
Keep your sights locked right here for more updates on The Division.
Many will recognize Camilla Luddington from her recurring roles on shows like Grey's Anatomy, Californication, or True Blood, but gamers know her as Lara Croft.
Luddington provided Lara's voice and motion capture performance for the 2013 reboot, and lent a new level of grounded believability to a character that had previously fought dinosaurs and skateboarders in underground caverns. As part of our ongoing Rise of the Tomb Raider coverage, we had a chance to speak with Luddington about how her and how Lara's life has changed since their experience on Yamatai.
Game Informer: This time around, Lara is a more prepared, more confident adventurer. Are you playing a much different Lara than who you played in the first game?
Camilla Luddington: I think so. One of the things I think is really interesting about her is she is wounded by her experiences in the first game. She feels as if she has gone into a secret world and that normal life is now impossible for her. Now she is consumed in a way to chase artifacts and uncover mysteries even more so than the first game. There is this drive behind her in this game to let the world know that she is not lying. She didn’t make these things up, and she doesn’t have to feel like she imagined something. That drive behind her and the place she is coming from is a little bit different and I think it makes her more than just a survivor like she was in the first game. She realizes that being a tomb raider is who she is meant to be.
Were you familiar Lara Croft and Tomb Raider prior to the 2013 reboot? Are you a fan?
She is such an iconic character that I assume everyone is familiar with the character. Also, for me when the first game came out, I was probably like 12 or 13 or something like that and my older brother actually had the game. I remember that he rarely let me play, but I would sneak on sometimes. I was familiar with the game really through him because he was a gamer. I grew up with the games being played around my household and admittedly I’m really bad at my own games, which is really depressing. I’m slowly inching towards the end even now. I’ve seen it played the entire way through. But yeah I kind of grew up around her, so I do think she iconic. I kind of assume everyone knows who she is.
If you went back in time and told that 12 year old version of you that one day you would be Lara Croft, what do you think she would say?
I think she would say, I need to play the game more because I was never allowed to play it [laughs]. I think I would use that as an excuse to grab the controls from my brother and say, "Actually I’m going to be Lara Croft, so you need to have me play the game."
How much has your role changed between the 2013 Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider?
It’s very similar. It was facial capture the last time around, except there really weren’t dots on my face. I think there might have been at one point – maybe for the trailer. Obviously they took facial capture, they just probably did it in a different way. This time around we are using something called Mova which is really exciting because it just captures so much more of what you are doing in a scene and makes it just so much more realistic.
I’ve kind of spoken about it before, but just to put it in terms for people to understand, facial capture is usually 90 points of reference on a face and what Mova is a fluorescent paint that gets airbrushed on your face and you can see it under a fluorescent light. It actually captures 7,000 points of reference. For me, like I said, it’s just constantly so exciting to see that because when I get to see a little a bit of what we captured it just looks incredible. It blows my mind; you can really feel the mass effect. More of your performance is in the game than ever. Not everything is motion captured, but Mova is just something that makes it just a little extra exciting.
Lara is a very physical character. Do you have to train to be Lara Croft?
I don’t technically have to train, but I have someone on set who will show me, kind of like I did in the first game, the way to hold certain weapons so that I’m not holding them wrong. I realized very quickly from the last game that it was a lot more physical than I thought it was going to be and so for myself, I did things like circuit training or even biking or running. Those are things that just help me maintain the endurance through an eight hour shoot of motion capture. Where things get really technical or kind of aggressive, they will have stunt people in and kind of go over that because it needs to be choreographed in a way that they feel like stunts are properly performed and better. It is taxing and exhausting, but it’s fun and I want to do as much of it as I personally can.
I’m sure you’ve been paying attention to the feedback from the first game and I’m wondering if you have a favorite reaction to the 2013 Tomb Raider.
I actually went to Comic Con in London as well as San Diego and an expo up in San Francisco. One of my favorite things is that people dress up as Lara and they get every single detail, every single scratch on her face down, so that’s probably my favorite thing. But in London I remember a girl approaching me – and this happened to me a few times with young girls around 17 or 18 – and they tell me that they see themselves in this new game as Lara and there’s something about her strength and resilience that has inspired them and they’ve told me stories of what they had to get over in life and they kind of look up to you as a female heroine like her because, sadly, it is still rare that female roles are so strong and the center of a storyline. Thank god for something like the Hunger Games because I feel like that has been proving female leads. That really strikes me as something that’s kind of touching and that’s something that I do think of when I’m making the game too.
Are you familiar with Tom Braider cosplayers – men who cosplay as and imagine Lara as a male character?
I haven’t seen any men dress as her. I have not met any of the male cosplayers. I’ve met male cosplayers of Alex, who wear the little skate t-shirt, but I haven’t met any of them dressed as Lara. That’s cool, I wanna see that now.
Has anyone ever recognized you as the voice of Lara?
Actually, it has happened a few times. Once I got on Grey’s Anatomy, I tweet a lot about both projects, so people now know that I do that also and I’ve been doing it for a long time, so I do actually get recognized for Tomb Raider, as well. The weirdest time for me was when I was out to eat with a friend of mine and I had a ball cap and sunglasses and someone came up to me and said, “You’re Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider games,” and I was like, “How did you know? My entire face is covered and we haven’t spoken.” People have started to recognize me and it’s really great, it’s really unexpected always still, but it’s really fun.
I was working on a film and there was a crew member who didn’t know I had a British accent because when I do an American accent for a role I stay with it on set, because it helps me to stay in the accent. I don’t think he even knew I was British. He was tying a mic to me, because we had to hide it sometimes, and he was tying it around the side of my leg. He said, “This is gonna' feel really weird. I call this the Lara Croft Tomb Raider way of tying things.” And I said, “Oh, you like that game?” and he was like, “Oh yeah, I’m a huge fan I love the game, it’s awesome. Do you know the game? Do you play it?” and I was like, “Well, actually, I’m Lara Croft.” So he was like, “No you’re not.” And then he tested me on certain stuff to do with the game and eventually he was convinced. Like, “What island did she shipwreck on?” And I’m like, “Yamatai.” That was really fun.
A strange contractual agreement of Daniel Craig playing James Bond is he’s not allowed to wear suits in other films. Are there any kind of weird, comparable stipulations for being Lara Croft?
I don’t know if it stands any longer, because it’s kinda something I joked about with [creative franchise director Noah Hughes], and it seemed more to happen in the first game. I know that a couple years ago I had joked or something about being in the Lara Croft outfit for Halloween, and I was told by someone that I wasn’t allowed to do that, and I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in the Lara Croft outfit, but I’m not sure if that’s banned anymore. I remember being kind of depressed because she looks so awesome that I would have loved to dress up as her.
There was even a Grey’s Anatomy episode where my character dresses up for Halloween and a joke was made about me dressing up as Lara Croft, and how we would need to get the okay. I don’t know if that would ever, ever happen, but there was a while where I was strongly advised not to be in any Tomb Raider outfits.
Some new details recently surfaced about plans for a new Tomb Raider film, but Lara has not been cast yet. Would you want to play Lara Croft in a Tomb Raider movie?
That is something that GK Films and MGM is doing based on the original game. That’s already out there in the media and it’s going ahead at some point. I believe it’s still in such an early stage of development, but yeah, absolutely I’d love to. This is a character I’ve lived with for so many years now, longer than anything else I’ve very played. To me, she actually feels like a part of me and I almost feel like I own her a little bit in a weird way. It would be hard to see someone else play her.
Are you sick of pretending to be cold?
What you don’t realize is when you’re shivering and taking in a sharp breath, you start to hyperventilate. There will be times when I have to take a few minutes between scenes because I start to get really dizzy. I don’t mind doing it, but it does make me sometimes feel like I could pass out.
Are there any reactions you’re tired of doing?
I don’t want to have to drown, ever. Capturing that is a bizarre process and it’s really difficult. Sometimes, the only way to do it, especially in a video booth, is to have a bottle of water and force yourself to choke on it. It’s really bizarre to do. I would love it if she never drowned ever again. Yelling or screaming? After a few hours I always say can we please leave it to the end? Because I will lose my voice. But yeah, probably drowning is the most difficult.
Do you have a favorite death to enact? Is it fun pretending to be eaten by wolves and have your face ripped off by a bear?
Yeah, I think the more gruesome it is the more fun it is to play in a way. Because sometimes what we come up with is just so horrifying, and it’s not like she’s just getting stabbed – she falls, then a burn, and then this and that. It’s so completely overwhelming to even think of someone dying that way, and it’s fun. It always keeps things really fresh and new, because they’re always thinking of a new way she could die. Like, “Oh I never thought of that. Let’s do that. That’s horrible.”
How does that work in the recording studio? Do they just put you on a microphone and say, "In this scene you’re flying down a river and a branch stabs you through the neck”?
That’s exactly how it happens. Sometimes they ask, “Can we redo this in motion capture?” because to physicalize it, it makes it a lot easier. But sometimes you have to get really crazy, like with drowning. Sometimes you just have to use the elements around you to help with those moments that you have never experienced before in your life. It’s hard to call on actual memory.
Are there any quotes from the game fans frequently request?
Do you know what guys make me do a lot? They say, “Hey can you reenact this scene where Alex dies?" and I always end up thinking like, “Okay, what happened in that scene?” And then I realize they just want a kiss on their cheek. That’s what happens in that scene. It’s a sneaky way for people to get a kiss. Other than that, sometimes they use what was in the trailer, which is “A famous explorer once said.” They’re likely to do those lines. But, really the sneaky kiss is what happens a lot.
The Business Decisions Behind Rise of the Tomb Raider
Leading up to the release of the Tomb Raider reboot in 2013, Crystal Dynamics pushed the theme that Lara Croft was a survivor. While the survival aspects certainly were a large part of the story, the game didn't cross the line of becoming a systems-driven "survival game." While visiting Crystal Dynamics for our March cover story on Rise of the Tomb Raider, we spoke with creative director Noah Hughes about finding that balance, which the team dubbed "survival-action." We also discuss how things are changing for Rise of the Tomb Raider, including surviving in larger hubs and the incentives for hunting.
Watch the video below to learn more about creating an "upside-design oriented" survival system for the Tomb Raider reboot and what the team learned from games like Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
^it better not have a shit-ton of bugs like AC:Unity and that wack-ass The Crew did 
^it better not have a shit-ton of bugs like AC:Unity and that wack-ass The Crew did
absolutely...just hoping they deliver on the experience they claim they will offer
Starting today, Xbox Live Gold Members who don’t have an Xbox One yet can start building their library of Xbox One games directly from Xbox 360 by taking advantage of the Games With Gold program. You have always been able to do it this via the web and my monthly Games With Gold posts. But now, on your Xbox 360 console head to the special Games With Gold section from the link on the home page of the console and you can ‘purchase’ it there.
See the video above that will show you exactly how to do it. And don’t forget to grab your copy of Rayman Legends for Xbox One (along with Tomb Raider for Xbox 360.)
Starting in early March select invitees will be able to join the Xbox 360 Preview program. This will work much like the Xbox One preview – and selected customers will be able to sign-up directly from their Xbox 360. Look for a special Xbox Live message then head to Settings, then account then under account management if you’ve been selected, you’ll see Xbox 360 Preview Registration. Sign up there and enroll your console. Nothing will happen yet, but we’ll let you know when the Preview is ready to begin through a Xbox Live message.
In our upcoming release will be addressing common customer issues including improving the ability to troubleshoot common network issues from the 360 and adding a Network Connectivity test including Download and Upload speed tests.
There will be even more changes coming later this year – so sign up to be a part of the Xbox 360 Preview Program.
Look for the message
Here are this week’s games and add-on deals on the Xbox Games Store. Discounts are valid now through 09 March 2015.
Xbox One
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; table-layout: fixed; width: 444pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="592"> <tbody> <tr class="xl666802" style="mso-height-source: userset; height: 16.5pt;"> <td class="xl696802" style="height: 16.5pt; width: 242pt;" height="22" width="323">Content Title</td> <td class="xl706802" style="border-left: none; width: 121pt;" width="161">Content Type</td> <td class="xl726802" style="border-left: none; width: 81pt;" width="108">Discount %</td> </tr> <tr class="xl666802" style="height: 16.5pt;"> <td class="xl756802" style="height: 16.5pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: blue; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; text-underline-style: single; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: #D8E4BC none;" height="22">Amazing Spider-Man 2</td> <td class="xl766802" style="border-left: none; font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: #D8E4BC none;">Xbox One Game</td> <td class="xl776802" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: #D8E4BC none;">50%</td> </tr> <tr class="xl666802" style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl746802" style="height: 15.75pt; border-top: none;" height="21">Assassin’s Creed Unity</td> <td class="xl716802" style="border-top: none; border-left: none;">Xbox One Game</td> <td class="xl736802">33%</td> </tr> <tr class="xl666802" style="height: 15.75pt;"> <td class="xl756802" style="height: 15.75pt; border-top: .5pt solid white; font-size: 11.0pt; color: blue; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; text-underline-style: single; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: #D8E4BC none;" height="21">Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut</td> <td class="xl766802" style="border-top: none; border-left: none; font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: #D8E4BC none;">Xbox One Game</td> <td class="xl786802" style="border-left: .5pt solid white; width: 81pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: none; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: #D8E4BC none;" width="108">50%</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
Please note: prices and availability are subject to change and may vary by region. Deals with Gold are valid for Xbox Live Gold members.
Xbox 360
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; table-layout: fixed; width: 444pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="592"><tbody><tr style="height: 15.0pt;"> <td class="xl6810539" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 242pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: 1.0pt solid windowtext; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: 1.5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #92D050; mso-pattern: black none;" height="20" width="323">Content Title</td> <td class="xl6810539" style="width: 121pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: 1.0pt solid windowtext; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: 1.5pt solid white; border-left: .5pt solid white; background: #92D050; mso-pattern: black none;" width="161">Content Type</td> <td class="xl6810539" style="width: 81pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: windowtext; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: 1.0pt solid windowtext; border-right: none; border-bottom: 1.5pt solid white; border-left: .5pt solid white; background: #92D050; mso-pattern: black none;" width="108">Discount %</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.0pt;"> <td class="xl7310539" style="height: 15.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: blue; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; text-underline-style: single; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: #D8E4BC none;" height="20">Bully Scholarship Edition</td> <td class="xl7010539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: black none;">Games On Demand</td> <td class="xl7110539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: none; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: black none;">75%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.0pt;"> <td class="xl7210539" style="height: 15.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: blue; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; text-underline-style: single; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;" height="20">L.A. Noire</td> <td class="xl7010539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border: .5pt solid white; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;">Games On Demand</td> <td class="xl7110539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: none; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: .5pt solid white; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;">75%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.0pt;"> <td class="xl7210539" style="height: 15.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: blue; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; text-underline-style: single; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: black none;" height="20">Midnight Club LA</td> <td class="xl7010539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: black none;">Games On Demand</td> <td class="xl7110539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: none; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: black none;">75%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.0pt;"> <td class="xl7210539" style="height: 15.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: blue; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; text-underline-style: single; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;" height="20">Max Payne 3</td> <td class="xl7010539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border: .5pt solid white; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;">Games On Demand</td> <td class="xl7110539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: none; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: .5pt solid white; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;">75%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.0pt;"> <td class="xl6910539" style="height: 15.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: blue; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; text-underline-style: single; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: #D8E4BC none;" height="20">Red Dead Redemption</td> <td class="xl7010539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: black none;">Games On Demand</td> <td class="xl7110539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: none; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: black none;">75%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.0pt;"> <td class="xl7210539" style="height: 15.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: blue; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; text-underline-style: single; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;" height="20">Max Payne 3 Rockstar Pass</td> <td class="xl7010539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border: .5pt solid white; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;">Add-On</td> <td class="xl7110539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: none; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: .5pt solid white; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;">75%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.0pt;"> <td class="xl7210539" style="height: 15.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: blue; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; text-underline-style: single; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: black none;" height="20">The Amazing Spider-Man</td> <td class="xl7010539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: black none;">Games On Demand</td> <td class="xl7110539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: none; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: .5pt solid white; background: #D8E4BC; mso-pattern: black none;">63%</td> </tr> <tr style="height: 15.0pt;"> <td class="xl7210539" style="height: 15.0pt; font-size: 11.0pt; color: blue; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; text-underline-style: single; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: .5pt solid white; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: none; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;" height="20">The Amazing Spider-Man 2</td> <td class="xl7010539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border: .5pt solid white; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;">Games On Demand</td> <td class="xl7110539" style="font-size: 11.0pt; color: black; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; text-underline-style: none; text-line-through: none; font-family: Calibri; border-top: .5pt solid white; border-right: none; border-bottom: .5pt solid white; border-left: .5pt solid white; background: #EBF1DE; mso-pattern: black none;">60%</td></tr></tbody></table>
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain will be released this September worldwide, and the game will be available alongside two special editions, publisher Konami announced today.
The announcement confirmed yesterday's leak of a Sept. 1 release date for the full-scale follow-up to 2014's Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes. Konami said today that The Phantom Pain will launch Sept. 1 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The Windows PC version of the game will arrive Sept. 15 on Steam. The Phantom Pain will sell for $59.99 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, while the last-gen versions will cost $49.99.
First-run copies will be labeled with a "Day One Edition" designation. The physical version of that edition will come with a map and some downloadable add-ons: an XP boost in Metal Gear Online, the Adam-ska Special Handgun, a silver Personal Ballistic Shield, a Cardboard Box (Wetland) and Blue Urban Snake fatigues. The same items will come with the digital PC version on Steam. Konami said it will announce the contents of the digital Day One Edition at a later date.
Konami is also producing a Collector's Edition for The Phantom Pain on PS4 and Xbox One. At $99.99, it won't cost an arm and a leg — but it will come with an arm. As you can see in the image below, the Collector's Edition contents are led by a half-scale replica of Snake's bionic arm. Also included is the map that's in the Day One Edition. The game itself comes in a Steelbook case, along with a second disc containing trailers and a behind-the-scenes documentary. Everything is packaged in a special black box with a Diamond Dogs clasp.
The Collector's Edition comes with a wealth of DLC. Here's the full list:
Weapon & Shield Pack
In yesterday's leak, series creator Hideo Kojima dropped a few details about Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, saying that in this game, Snake (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland) will be a man of few words. Regarding talk of The Phantom Pain's place in the Metal Gear canon, Kojima said, "With Metal Gear Solid 5, I'm finally closing the loop on [the Metal Gear] saga. In that sense, this will be the final Metal Gear Solid. Even if the Metal Gear franchise continues, to me, this is the last Metal Gear."- Windurger S333 Combat Special Revolver
- Adam-ska Special Handgun
- Maschinen Taktische Pistole 5 Weiss Special Handgun
- Rasp Short-Barreled Shotgun Gold
- Personal Ballistic Shield (Olive Drab)
- Personal Ballistic Shield (Silver)
- Personal Ballistic Shield (White)
- Personal Ballistic Shield (Gold)
- Cardboard Box (Rocky Terrain)
- Cardboard Box (All-Purpose Dryland)
- Cardboard Box (Wetland)
- Fatigues (Black Ocelot)
- Fatigues (Gray Urban)
- Fatigues (Blue Urban)
- Fatigues (All-Purpose Dryland)
- "Venom Snake" Emblem
- Metal Gear Online XP Boost
- Metal Gear Rex Helmet
- AM MRS-4 GOLD Assault Rifle
- WU S. PISTOL GOLD
Bethesda just unveiled Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. This game is a standalone prequel to last year's shooter, Wolfenstein: The New Order. The expansion will be available for download on May 5, 2015 for Xbox One and Windows. The title will cost $20 in the United States, £15 in the United Kingdom, €20 in Europe and $39.95 in Australia.
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood will take players back to 1946, where the Nazis are on the brink of winning World War II. In a last-ditch attempt to halt the Nazi war machine, B. J. Blazkowicz has been dispatched on a two-part mission deep within Bavaria. The first part, Rudi Jäger and the Den of Wolves, sees Blazkowicz busting back into Castle Wolfenstein and going head-to-head with the warden in order to discover the coordinates of General Deathshead’s compound. The second part, The Dark Secrets of Helga Von Schabbs, follows Blazkowicz’s journey to the city of Wulfburg where an obsessed Nazi archaeologist is exhuming mysterious artifacts that threaten to unleash a dark and ancient power.
Source: IGN
Today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox at Microsoft, shared the next step in the company’s plans for a unified vision for gaming across Windows 10 devices. And, it’s all about developers. Here at Microsoft, we share a commitment to making sure experiences across all devices are better than ever. That starts with making the development process easier by providing the tools and support our developers have asked for to reach billions of devices around the world.
As we press forward on the journey toward the launch of Windows 10, we’ll continue working hand-in-hand with our developers to ensure that together we bring the best possible gaming experiences to gamers. Let’s take a look at a handful of the details shared with game developers today at GDC:
- Xbox Live SDK Available for Windows 10: In January, we announced our commitment to bringing Xbox Live to Windows and today we announced that the Xbox Live SDK for Windows 10 is currently in the hands of managed partners to create new games. Soon it will be in the hands of a broader set of developers. This SDK will provide access to the vast majority of Xbox Live services currently available on Xbox One, under a shared set of APIs, integrated with the Windows Store. We are also committed to making Xbox Live accessible to all game developers, regardless of size, which is why we’re introducing a new tier of Xbox Live that is designed to allow any developer to engage with the Xbox Live community.
- Windows Universal App Platform: Windows 10 brings together one core operating system, one application platform, one gaming social network, one store, and one ingestion path across all Windows PCs, Tablets, Phones and Xbox One consoles – that’s more than 1.5 billion people. With the Universal App Platform, any developer can create a single project to target multiple devices. It will be easier than it has ever been to bring content to PCs, tablets, phones, Xbox consoles, and future Windows 10 devices like Microsoft HoloLens. Developers will be able to do this and more when Windows 10 is available this year.
- Windows Store: With the Windows Store, Microsoft is committed to delivering best-in-class scenarios for gamers and game developers. For developers, the promise of one store across devices means they will now have the ability and flexibility to deliver content across PCs, console, tablets, and phones, easily and quickly. Similarly, by enabling new experiences such as cross-buy, developers now have more flexibility on the features they deliver to gamers across Windows devices.
- Universal Development Center: The Universal Development Center is the developer portal to building and delivering games to the Windows Store. It provides fast, lightweight game submission and update capabilities within the developer’s direct control, as well as access to key metrics to understand their game’s performance. Improvements in platform, tools, and Xbox Live services, while reducing overhead of publishing, will foster more compelling game content and a richer, more engaged gaming community.
- DirectX 12: DirectX 12 enables PC developers to have a new level of power and control and is a single API developers can access across Windows devices. As shown with Fable Legends running on Unreal Engine 4, there has been a 20% improvement in performance. And as announced today, Epic is creating Unreal Tournament using Unreal Engine 4 running on DirectX 12, which sets a new bar for visual fidelity in PC gaming.
- Accessories: All wireless Xbox gaming accessories will be designed for and supported on both Xbox One consoles and Windows 10 PCs moving forward. Later this year, we’ll be delivering a Wireless Adapter that will let you use current Xbox controllers and future devices wirelessly on your PCs.
Elite: Dangerous is Coming to Xbox One
We’ve long had a great publishing relationship with Frontier Developments, which is why we’re so happy to announce that their epic space adventure Elite: Dangerous will be coming to Xbox One this summer. Developed by famed designer and Frontier CEO David Braben, Elite: Dangerous combines elements of space adventure, resource trading, and combat simulation to create a wholly unique experience that’s quite literally out of this world.
ID@Xbox Program Comes to Windows 10
It’s been an amazing year since we showed off the first ID@Xbox pre-release games last year at GDC. Many ID@Xbox games have shipped, hundreds of games are in development, and more than 1,000 independent studios have Xbox One development kits in hand. Today, we revealed that ID@Xbox will be expanding to help developers succeed by reaching gamers on Xbox One and Windows 10.
Gigantic Comes to Windows 10 and Xbox One
We’re devoted to bringing the best games to Windows and Xbox which includes new IP and continued commitments from gamers’ favorite studios. Today we announced a partnership with Motiga to bring its first game, Gigantic, to Windows 10 and Xbox One. Gigantic is a five-on-five third-person battle arena game with a beautiful fantasy art style where you select from an array of heroes with distinctive powers and play styles and wield your way through an areas to defeat your opposition’s Guardian – while also protecting your own. Gigantic is optimized for both keyboard and mouse, and controller. Through the power of Xbox Live, we will be enabling cross-device play, and allowing gamers to choose how they want to play.
Microsoft HoloLens
As announced on January 21, Microsoft HoloLens is the world’s first fully untethered holographic computer running Windows 10. Developers in the Windows ecosystem will be able to create games to reach the masses through a system where they can designate their game’s distribution even for future devices – devices like Microsoft HoloLens. The reaction to Microsoft HoloLens has been incredible. While there are going to be many uses and industries that take advantage of Microsoft HoloLens and everything that holographic computing has to offer, gaming is a huge opportunity. For all the game developers out there, we encourage you to join the Windows Insider Program to get the holographic APIs when available, and stay tuned for Build 2015, where we will share more details.
This is just a first look at some of the exciting updates coming that will make gaming even better on Windows 10 and Xbox. We will continue to gather feedback from the game development community on our plans to ensure the games and content on Windows 10 and Xbox is the best it can be for gamers and for developers.
Check back soon for a feature video of Phil’s talk from GDC 2015.
yea UT 2K15 looks good so far
good on Epic for allowing the modding community to contribute..my nephew and some of his friends helping out w/ lighting for some levels
good on Epic for allowing the modding community to contribute..my nephew and some of his friends helping out w/ lighting for some levels
The Rock Band series went dark in April 2013, when Don McLean’s “American Pie” was released as a farewell track. Fans continued to play the music game at parties and with friends and families, but it looked like we’d seen the last of it. In January 2015, Harmonix released new DLC songs, seemingly out of nowhere. Additional songs, coupled with a recent survey, provided strong hints that something was brewing for the series. Today, Harmonix made it official and announced Rock Band 4 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is coming in 2015.
“There was a period of fairly deep introspection, where we felt like the time was right, but we really wanted to make sure that we had a creative vision that we could rally around, that we felt would be sort of worth doing this again,” project manager Daniel Sussman told me in a pre-announcement interview. “From a creative standpoint, we didn’t just want to port Rock Band 3; that would not be the most interesting thing for us to do, as a bunch of creative developer people, but also just in terms of bringing this thing back. We felt like it needed to innovate in a couple of key ways that would change the conversation around what a music game could be.”
During the course of our conversation, he provided some tantalizing details about the project. While the team is saving a lot of content for an E3 reveal, Sussman did give me answers to some high-level questions. If you’re a Rock Band fan, you’ll definitely want to keep reading. Here’s what you need to know about Rock Band 4.
Your songs are safe
Staying current with Rock Band was a potentially costly endeavor. Over the course of the series, thousands of tracks hit the marketplace. With each one costing a buck or two, you can see how building up a library of songs could add up. Even though the series is making a technological leap, longtime fans don’t have to worry about facing a double-dipping situation.
“We’re putting a lot of effort into rebuilding that DLC library on the current-gen consoles, and that’s a pretty big initiative in and of itself,” Sussman says. “It took us five-plus years to accumulate a library that has thousands of songs in it. It’s a time-consuming process for us and the first parties; lucky for us we have great relationships there and they understand the value of that library in the context of Rock Band. If you bought songs in Rock Band 3 or Rock Band 2 or Rock Band 1, songs that you bought will carry forward to Rock Band 4. There are a lot of folks out there who have spent some significant scratch on the DLC catalog and the last thing we want to do is come back to those players and say, ‘OK, you have to buy those songs again.’ We’ll support entitlements, we’ll have the full library out.”
…And so are your instruments (fingers crossed)
The second big question players are likely to ask is whether they’ll have to buy new instruments, or if the ones from last-gen will work. “We’re working with Sony and Microsoft to make that possible, and I have to hedge a little bit because the keys to that kingdom really are held by the first parties,” Sussman says. “We’re dealing with a lot of hardware technology that has changed over the generational gap, and the security protocols and the chips in play are different on 360 and Xbox One, and to some lesser extent, between the PS3 and the PS4. But there’s still policy and some challenging technology that we’re working through. But those conversations are going very well, and I’m confident that we will have a solution, but because we don’t have it today that’s kind of the most concrete statement that I can make about it.”
New peripherals are coming
“At the same time, for the folks who have never played the game before or for whatever reason decide they want to get rid of their old guitars and drums, Mad Catz is working on a set of hardware that is native to this new generation of console, and it’ll be A-list quality, wireless controllers,” Sussman says. “We’re keeping the general form factor and function in line with what we have done before, so you will see a replica Strat and the classic drum, and that’s largely in part to our commitment to supporting legacy hardware. We don’t want to upsell the new hardware from a gameplay standpoint . That said, there are a lot of opportunities for incremental improvements at the component level and general build quality.”
Keyboards are out
You may have noticed that Mad Catz is making guitar and drum peripherals, with no mention of the keyboard, which was introduced with Rock Band 3. “We’re focusing on the core band. There’s a lot of back-to-roots Rock Band 1,” Sussman says. “From a hardware perspective, we really want to rally around the classic configuration of guitar, bass, vocals, and drums, and double down on a feature set that will appeal to that player – because that’s where the action is. Those are the peripherals that most people have.”
Harmonix is planting a stake with Rock Band 4
Don’t let that number fool you – Harmonix has a long-term plan for Rock Band 4. “There are a lot of things that I think we can do, both on the publishing side and the development side, to sustain Rock Band 4 as a product,” Sussman says. “Rock Band 4 is a sequel relative to Rock Band 3 and that 4 is really an indication of our commitment to innovation in this space and the idea that this is a bona fide evolutionary step from Rock Band 3 in a lot of ways. It does not imply that there will be a Rock Band 5, 6, 7, and 8. We think that there’s an opportunity this time around, given the technology to interact directly with our audience and also to react to the feedback that we get directly from our audience to sort of expand upon a core game of Rock Band 4. So Rock Band 4 will expand through title updates, through content updates, over the long span. We view Rock Band 4 as the Rock Band for this console generation, and it will continually evolve through a dialogue with our community. I think Rock Band is a great title to utilize that approach in the console space.”
You’re in a band, act like it
Harmonix always wanted to give players a chance to experience the joy that comes with making music. Sussman says that by taking a fresh look at their series, they realized there was work to do. “There is a certain dynamic [playing in a real band] that you feel that’s magical when you are playing with people who are in tune with what you’re doing and are paying attention to you and are reacting to you in cool ways. It’s one of the best things about playing music with people, and it’s an element of our band sim that I think is lacking.
"When you watch people play the game, you kind of have four people staring at their little track, completely oblivious to everything that’s going on around them until you get to the results screen and you go, ‘OK, I got this percentage.’ There are some dynamics in that moment that I think are entertaining, but what could we do from a game-design standpoint to allow you to pick your head up above the fray and reward you for paying attention for what other people in your band are doing. That ended up being a pretty rich trove of great ideas, a lot of which we prototyped, and some of which we’re building. It had an immediate impact on the multiplayer game. It made it instantly more fun and more social, which is what we’re all about. There are some huge wins there that we’re excited to show at E3.”
Harmonix aims to give players more freedom
“One of the other elements of playing music that is viscerally satisfying is the idea that music is this performative art, and as you play a song, whether you wrote it or not, you are given the opportunity to express yourself and put your thumbprint on this piece of music,” Sussman says. “There’s something so weird about the Rock Band experience, where every time you play it, regardless of whether you’re playing well or poorly, on easy or expert, it sounds the same every time you play. It would be wonderful – it would be real – if we could build some opportunity into the experience to be more expressive as a player. That’s a tough nut to crack, but that’s something that yielded a handful of prototypes that we’re very excited about.” The ability to shape music was pivotal in Harmonix’s game Fantasia: Music Evolved, and it’ll be interesting to see if any of that seeps into Rock Band.
Vocalists may see some changes
If you held a mic and sang in Rock Band – by choice or because someone jammed it into your hand – you may have felt that singing was a little strange. The games detected pitch, but couldn’t track what you were actually singing. I asked Sussman if Rock Band 4 will improve that experience, by including phoneme detection, for instance. He wouldn’t speak directly to that, but said he saw space to improve. “We can do better. I don’t want to get into specifics, but we are looking at vocals as another area of the game that I think was underserved. Without tipping our hand, I think we have a couple of really cool vocal features up our sleeve that I think will appeal to singing enthusiasts. Rock Band is so funny because there are a lot of different types of people who sing. There are the people who are just sort of screaming along, and then there are the people who actually like to sing and they’re good singers. We think we have a plan on the vocal front that will reward the singers without adding any additional difficulty barriers for folks who just want to sing along to their favorite songs.”
A new engine means a more authentic concert experience
Not surprisingly, Rock Band 4 uses a new engine from previous releases. Sussman says it’s allowing the team to better realize the concert experience. “You look at things like the animation system, the camera system – which was phenomenal – the lighting and atmospherics. The elements that contribute to a really immersive and compelling and fantastic stage presence are all there. At the same time, we’re rethinking some elements of our overall presentation and the player narrative in ways that I think are novel. We have a lot more firepower at our disposal that we’re taking advantage of, and it’s more than an up-rez of the experience. We’re really going deep into the dramatic dynamics that you get at a live concert. The color palette, the atmosphere – I’m really into the atmosphere, like the smoke and the way the light cuts through it and all of that sort of stuff. The relationship to the audience and the venue in general, I think we’re going to knock out of the park.”
Sussman says that, overall, taking time away from Rock Band was good for the team and ultimately will benefit the series as well. “I think a lot of the games that we’ve worked on over the past couple of years have really stretched the studio in really interesting ways. It was refreshing to apply ourselves to some very difficult problems, and then coming back to Rock Band I feel like we’re all a little wiser. We’ve learned a lot and have gained a lot of perspective on how to solve challenging creative problems. It was really refreshing to come back to a game that had a really crisp player fantasy and a strong sense of character and identity. The Rock Band brand is really powerful in a lot of ways, and it took us a long time to form it. It was really nice to come back to it.”
On April 28th, State of Decay will become available on store shelves for the very first time. While State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition will also be available digitally on the Xbox Store, Microsoft and Undead Labs wanted to do something special to mark the occasion.
In State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition, your knife is your weapon of last resort. You carry it with you everywhere, it remains in your inventory no matter which character you play, and it'll never break. As potentially the only thing standing in between you and death at the hands (and mouths) of an undead horde, a little extra attention to your knife seems in order.
For that reason, we've worked with select retailers in the U.S. to offer the following unique pre-order bonus in-game content:
- GameStop will get “The Avalonian” – A true work of art, taken off the body of a fantasy enthusiast whose excitement at having real zombies to stab with his enchanted dagger was tragically short-lived.
- Amazon will get “The Android” – A next-generation box cutter infused with the best that modern technology has to offer. Ergonomic grip, perfectly-angled blade, and an edge that never wears out.
- Best Buy will get “The Australian” – Now that's a knife! Intimidate crocodiles and street punks alike with this replica knife, straight from the wilds of Hollywood.
For pre-order details in other regions, please check with your local retailer. We're also offering a host of other State of Decay goodies for old and new fans alike.
- If you bought the original State of Decay on either Xbox 360 or PC, enjoy a 33 percent discount (that's $10 off) when you purchase State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition via the Xbox Store or Steam.
- Previous owners ALSO gain access to an exclusive new character named Gurubani Kaur. She comes equipped for the zombie apocalypse with two unique swords and a special, permanently-suppressed rifle.
- Regardless of whether you're a returning fan or a new player, early purchasers via digital or retail can grab a limited Day One edition that includes the "Prepper's Pack." This bundle of exclusive content includes an SKS Survivor firearm, a Folding Axe melee weapon, and a Prepper-friendly SUV.
Activision, EA Tried To Buy Minecraft - Report
Fascinating new report also reveals Markus "Notch" Persson's new game development company and lots more.
Fascinating new report also reveals Markus "Notch" Persson's new game development company and lots more.
An excellent new story from Forbes dives into the post-Minecraft life of the game's creator Markus "Notch" Persson and also reveals new details about how it wasn't just Microsoft that came knocking at Mojang's door to buy the hit franchise.
Forbes reports that Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts, among others, also came forward, expressing interest in pursuing a deal. Discussions with Activision "petered out," the report says. Persson wouldn't talk specifics about what happened with EA, a company he has been critical of in the past. But he did say that Mojang ruled out would-be buyers "who did gameplay in a way we didn't like."
Microsoft's 2.5 billion offer, however, proved to be the most alluring. Sale terms included Mojang's three founders getting a "clean break" from the company and the promise that there would be no layoffs at Mojang. Forbes notes that with only 47 total Mojang employees, layoffs were unlikely to happen anyway.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer orchestrated the deal on Microsoft's side. Though Mojang's business boss Carl Manneh took point on sale terms, Persson and other Mojang founder Jakob Porser spent time with Spencer "over herb-flavored Swedish liquor arguing with them about the direction of the gaming industry," according to Forbes.
The report also reveals that Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, never visited Mojang during acquisition talks for what turned out to be the largest buyout so far during his tenure. Nadella did, however, speak with Manneh on the phone multiple times to discuss the deal.
The full Forbes story is a fascinating read that reveals so much more, including how Persson and company took a "sellout trip" to Miami and St. Barts to celebrate the deal with Microsoft. It also reveals the name of Persson's new game development company, which he is calling Rubberbrain. He opened the company with Porser "in case they think of a new game idea."
The Rock Band series went dark in April 2013, when Don McLean’s “American Pie” was released as a farewell track. Fans continued to play the music game at parties and with friends and families, but it looked like we’d seen the last of it. In January 2015, Harmonix released new DLC songs, seemingly out of nowhere. Additional songs, coupled with a recent survey, provided strong hints that something was brewing for the series. Today, Harmonix made it official and announced Rock Band 4 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is coming in 2015.
“There was a period of fairly deep introspection, where we felt like the time was right, but we really wanted to make sure that we had a creative vision that we could rally around, that we felt would be sort of worth doing this again,” project manager Daniel Sussman told me in a pre-announcement interview. “From a creative standpoint, we didn’t just want to port Rock Band 3; that would not be the most interesting thing for us to do, as a bunch of creative developer people, but also just in terms of bringing this thing back. We felt like it needed to innovate in a couple of key ways that would change the conversation around what a music game could be.”
During the course of our conversation, he provided some tantalizing details about the project. While the team is saving a lot of content for an E3 reveal, Sussman did give me answers to some high-level questions. If you’re a Rock Band fan, you’ll definitely want to keep reading. Here’s what you need to know about Rock Band 4.
Your songs are safe
Staying current with Rock Band was a potentially costly endeavor. Over the course of the series, thousands of tracks hit the marketplace. With each one costing a buck or two, you can see how building up a library of songs could add up. Even though the series is making a technological leap, longtime fans don’t have to worry about facing a double-dipping situation.
“We’re putting a lot of effort into rebuilding that DLC library on the current-gen consoles, and that’s a pretty big initiative in and of itself,” Sussman says. “It took us five-plus years to accumulate a library that has thousands of songs in it. It’s a time-consuming process for us and the first parties; lucky for us we have great relationships there and they understand the value of that library in the context of Rock Band. If you bought songs in Rock Band 3 or Rock Band 2 or Rock Band 1, songs that you bought will carry forward to Rock Band 4. There are a lot of folks out there who have spent some significant scratch on the DLC catalog and the last thing we want to do is come back to those players and say, ‘OK, you have to buy those songs again.’ We’ll support entitlements, we’ll have the full library out.”
…And so are your instruments (fingers crossed)
The second big question players are likely to ask is whether they’ll have to buy new instruments, or if the ones from last-gen will work. “We’re working with Sony and Microsoft to make that possible, and I have to hedge a little bit because the keys to that kingdom really are held by the first parties,” Sussman says. “We’re dealing with a lot of hardware technology that has changed over the generational gap, and the security protocols and the chips in play are different on 360 and Xbox One, and to some lesser extent, between the PS3 and the PS4. But there’s still policy and some challenging technology that we’re working through. But those conversations are going very well, and I’m confident that we will have a solution, but because we don’t have it today that’s kind of the most concrete statement that I can make about it.”
New peripherals are coming
“At the same time, for the folks who have never played the game before or for whatever reason decide they want to get rid of their old guitars and drums, Mad Catz is working on a set of hardware that is native to this new generation of console, and it’ll be A-list quality, wireless controllers,” Sussman says. “We’re keeping the general form factor and function in line with what we have done before, so you will see a replica Strat and the classic drum, and that’s largely in part to our commitment to supporting legacy hardware. We don’t want to upsell the new hardware from a gameplay standpoint . That said, there are a lot of opportunities for incremental improvements at the component level and general build quality.”
Keyboards are out
You may have noticed that Mad Catz is making guitar and drum peripherals, with no mention of the keyboard, which was introduced with Rock Band 3. “We’re focusing on the core band. There’s a lot of back-to-roots Rock Band 1,” Sussman says. “From a hardware perspective, we really want to rally around the classic configuration of guitar, bass, vocals, and drums, and double down on a feature set that will appeal to that player – because that’s where the action is. Those are the peripherals that most people have.”
Harmonix is planting a stake with Rock Band 4
Don’t let that number fool you – Harmonix has a long-term plan for Rock Band 4. “There are a lot of things that I think we can do, both on the publishing side and the development side, to sustain Rock Band 4 as a product,” Sussman says. “Rock Band 4 is a sequel relative to Rock Band 3 and that 4 is really an indication of our commitment to innovation in this space and the idea that this is a bona fide evolutionary step from Rock Band 3 in a lot of ways. It does not imply that there will be a Rock Band 5, 6, 7, and 8. We think that there’s an opportunity this time around, given the technology to interact directly with our audience and also to react to the feedback that we get directly from our audience to sort of expand upon a core game of Rock Band 4. So Rock Band 4 will expand through title updates, through content updates, over the long span. We view Rock Band 4 as the Rock Band for this console generation, and it will continually evolve through a dialogue with our community. I think Rock Band is a great title to utilize that approach in the console space.”
You’re in a band, act like it
Harmonix always wanted to give players a chance to experience the joy that comes with making music. Sussman says that by taking a fresh look at their series, they realized there was work to do. “There is a certain dynamic [playing in a real band] that you feel that’s magical when you are playing with people who are in tune with what you’re doing and are paying attention to you and are reacting to you in cool ways. It’s one of the best things about playing music with people, and it’s an element of our band sim that I think is lacking.
"When you watch people play the game, you kind of have four people staring at their little track, completely oblivious to everything that’s going on around them until you get to the results screen and you go, ‘OK, I got this percentage.’ There are some dynamics in that moment that I think are entertaining, but what could we do from a game-design standpoint to allow you to pick your head up above the fray and reward you for paying attention for what other people in your band are doing. That ended up being a pretty rich trove of great ideas, a lot of which we prototyped, and some of which we’re building. It had an immediate impact on the multiplayer game. It made it instantly more fun and more social, which is what we’re all about. There are some huge wins there that we’re excited to show at E3.”
Harmonix aims to give players more freedom
“One of the other elements of playing music that is viscerally satisfying is the idea that music is this performative art, and as you play a song, whether you wrote it or not, you are given the opportunity to express yourself and put your thumbprint on this piece of music,” Sussman says. “There’s something so weird about the Rock Band experience, where every time you play it, regardless of whether you’re playing well or poorly, on easy or expert, it sounds the same every time you play. It would be wonderful – it would be real – if we could build some opportunity into the experience to be more expressive as a player. That’s a tough nut to crack, but that’s something that yielded a handful of prototypes that we’re very excited about.” The ability to shape music was pivotal in Harmonix’s game Fantasia: Music Evolved, and it’ll be interesting to see if any of that seeps into Rock Band.
Vocalists may see some changes
If you held a mic and sang in Rock Band – by choice or because someone jammed it into your hand – you may have felt that singing was a little strange. The games detected pitch, but couldn’t track what you were actually singing. I asked Sussman if Rock Band 4 will improve that experience, by including phoneme detection, for instance. He wouldn’t speak directly to that, but said he saw space to improve. “We can do better. I don’t want to get into specifics, but we are looking at vocals as another area of the game that I think was underserved. Without tipping our hand, I think we have a couple of really cool vocal features up our sleeve that I think will appeal to singing enthusiasts. Rock Band is so funny because there are a lot of different types of people who sing. There are the people who are just sort of screaming along, and then there are the people who actually like to sing and they’re good singers. We think we have a plan on the vocal front that will reward the singers without adding any additional difficulty barriers for folks who just want to sing along to their favorite songs.”
A new engine means a more authentic concert experience
Not surprisingly, Rock Band 4 uses a new engine from previous releases. Sussman says it’s allowing the team to better realize the concert experience. “You look at things like the animation system, the camera system – which was phenomenal – the lighting and atmospherics. The elements that contribute to a really immersive and compelling and fantastic stage presence are all there. At the same time, we’re rethinking some elements of our overall presentation and the player narrative in ways that I think are novel. We have a lot more firepower at our disposal that we’re taking advantage of, and it’s more than an up-rez of the experience. We’re really going deep into the dramatic dynamics that you get at a live concert. The color palette, the atmosphere – I’m really into the atmosphere, like the smoke and the way the light cuts through it and all of that sort of stuff. The relationship to the audience and the venue in general, I think we’re going to knock out of the park.”
Sussman says that, overall, taking time away from Rock Band was good for the team and ultimately will benefit the series as well. “I think a lot of the games that we’ve worked on over the past couple of years have really stretched the studio in really interesting ways. It was refreshing to apply ourselves to some very difficult problems, and then coming back to Rock Band I feel like we’re all a little wiser. We’ve learned a lot and have gained a lot of perspective on how to solve challenging creative problems. It was really refreshing to come back to a game that had a really crisp player fantasy and a strong sense of character and identity. The Rock Band brand is really powerful in a lot of ways, and it took us a long time to form it. It was really nice to come back to it.”
I'm excited about this.....loved playing rock band with a gang of people around. Everybody played and everybody found at least 3 songs they knew either the lyrics to the hook or entire song.
Hopefully they can integrate the old peripherals into using this next gen game. I have the drums, 2 guitars, a mic, and keyboard in my closet right now.
I'm just here so I don't get fined
After being mad about it being this month's game I am right fuckin ashamed of how much fun I had playing the "Castle Rock" level.
I just played that lvl. That lvl goes hard.
I just played that lvl. That lvl goes hard.
Yes!
Its a coincidence that Rock Band 4 has been announced because this level reminded me of it.my game art/design class im taking in the fall will start using UE4..
wonder how long itll be before Crytek announces that the new CryEngine will be free for everyone
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