"We did not lower the specs for Assassin's Creed Unity to account for any one system.".
The evolution of language is a fascinating process. Once upon a time, for example, a "gate" was just a piece of ironwork or some hammered-together planks, designed to stop sheep eating the contents of your kitchen garden. Nowadays, it's somehow become a word we use to start or intensify fights on the internet.
Oh yes, and Master Chief may in fact be dead.
Halo Nightfall's Agent Locke isn't just a playable character in Halo 5: Guardians - according to actor Mike Colter, he's the star and, potentially, Master Chief's enemy.
"Dealing with tragedy is about humour for a lot of people," says Gearbox.
2K Australia's Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is out this month, and on the basis of hands-on time, it's as mad of cap and slap of stick as its Gearbox-developed predecessors. And every bit as "dark", once you pierce that protective layer of gags. This is the game that details Handsome Jack's rise from the status of well-intentioned coder to arch-villainy, after all.
"Do what I do. Hold tight and pretend it's a plan!".
One day, Minecraft will enclose everything. It will be our default plane of existence, much as Twitter has become the default plane of existence for writers who should be working. That said, my latest bout of turfing up and down on social media has proven uncommonly productive - it has led me to the below video of a Minecraft rollercoaster, created to celebrate the launch of Dr Who-themed skins for the game.
Still too expensive for consumer use.
Microsoft has unveiled a proof-of-concept video for RoomAlive, a prototype technology that "transforms any room into an immersive, augmented entertainment experience". It appears to be a new version of Xbox IllumiRoom - revealed to the public last year, but supposedly too expensive for consumer release.
"As opposed to the times of the original Crysis", at least.
Little old Crytek - creator of the world's most advanced Roman loincloth simulator and history's flashiest set of robot overalls - has conceded that it's "increasingly more difficult" to knock people's socks off with high-end visuals. In related news, King Kong has told reporters that "nobody gives a damn about size anymore".
Xbox Live friendships may ultimately not be required for "more challenging" missions.
Have you yet to sample Destiny's Vault of Glass raid, for want of an appropriately loyal and levelled-up Fireteam? Bungie is cognisant of your distress, Guardian. According to a new blog post, the developer is thinking about introducing matchmaking support for the game's "more challenging activities".
"You made this happen," says Undead Labs.
Here's a feel-good story to play us out for the week - zombie survival sim State of Decay has now shifted a whopping two million units over Xbox Live Arcade and Steam, despite being dependent on word of mouth for sales. This bodes rather well, obviously, for the franchise's debut on Xbox One.
"It's going to be very exciting to see where it goes.".
In what could be a hint at either post-release support or a sequel (or both), Tom Clancy's The Division art director Rodrigo Cortes has declared that the much-anticipated always-online shooter is only "the first chapter in the story" for Ubisoft Massive.
Plus, a couple of new screenshots from Classic Mode.
Nobody could deny that the first-person shooter has come along tremendously since gestation - but sometimes, I hanker for the austere simplicity only an ageing classic can provide, before the feature creep set in. So I'm pleased as punch to hear that the Xbox One remaster of Halo: Combat Evolved will support no-radar playlists in multiplayer. Ah, the timeless thrill of not having the faintest idea where all your enemies are.
The endgame isn't the end of the game.
Post-apocalyptic survivalist MMO Tom Clancy's The Division is designed to sustain player interest indefinitely, game director Ryan Bernard has told Gamespot, as new and better varieties of weapon or item become available after you've polished off the story. Hmm, where have I heard this before? Oh, that's right - it's the same tactic Bungie has taken with Destiny, somewhat to the game's disadvantage.
Plus, sights on Supply Drops.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will ship with 13 multiplayer maps at launch, plus a map that's exclusive to the game's Limited or Atlas editions and Season Pass holders - Atlas Gorge, a remake of classic Call of Duty map Pipeline. Sledgehammer's Michael Condrey confirmed the figure as part of a gentle dusting of details via Twitter, kindly passed on by MP1st.
Also rather fond of smashing skulls with other skulls.
What better way to polish off the day than with an outburst of violence so horrific, it may cause nearby office furnishings to weep blood? Yes, it's another Mortal Kombat X trailer from NetherRealm. Poor old Kano. He shouldn't have stuck his neck out, I guess.
Mortars! Machine guns! Endangered species!.
This may come as something of a shock, dear reader, but in Far Cry 4, people will occasionally try to hurt you. When this happens, your options are twofold: you can sit back and laugh at them contemptuously, secure in the knowledge that you're real and they're not, or, you can seize the nearest gunpowder-filled L-shape and deploy it to terrible effect.
Horses! Hardened clay! Fixes for bugs!.
That clanking, rattling noise you can hear is the diminutive 4J Studios beginning work on the next round of updates for Minecraft Xbox 360 and Minecraft Xbox One. What to expect? Well, let's just say we're horse with excitement. If you don't own the game already, you should probably pony up right now, or you'll look like a real donkey. By all means mule it over.
Albert Penello's team is "aware" of feature's popularity, has plans for it.
Xbox Live Avatars may be an increasingly endangered species, tucked into the back of the Xbox One's interface rather than displayed proudly on the dashboard, as is the case on Xbox 360, but they aren't out for the count just yet. Speaking to OXM at Gamescom, Microsoft's Albert Penello hinted that ideas for additional Avatar functionality are "on the list".
Disable guards using your own vomit, because why not?.
It's official: throwing up on stuff is the new poison dart. As I wrote on first laying eyes on Styx: Master of Shadows, the game holds promise not because it's particularly original, but because it reinvents old stealth and assassination mechanics in ways that suit the protagonist, a grotty goblin rogue with a thirst for magical amber. This extends to disabling enemies indirectly. Spotted a water source or plate of fruit? Consider gobbing in it, to weaken any guards who might stop for a bit of refreshment.
"We want a market where there's huge variety and great games sell really well.".
If you're thinking of making a videogame, ID@Xbox is here for you - whether you bring it to Xbox One straight off the bat or not. That's according to the self-publishing program's director Chris Charla, who spoke to OXM about Microsoft's indie commitments in a feature assembled by the honourable Joe of Skrebels, published in the latest issue of our magazine.
Mike Bithell's reputation-making adventure comes to a real console, finally.
Curve Studios has announced an Xbox One version of Thomas Was Alone, Mike Bithell's "minimalist game about friendship and jumping and bouncing and anti-gravity", narrated by Danny Wallace - Dundee's greatest son, and the voice of Shaun Hastings from Assassin's Creed. It'll launch in November 2014, for #163;6.99 or $9.99 US.
"If it was just this wicked party with cake and beer, I think everybody would make garbage.".
As Dr Martin Luther King once put it, "the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Or, as Capybara co-founder Nathan Vella would prefer, "if it was just this wicked party with cake and beer, I think everybody would make garbage, everybody would make boring trite things nobody wants to play."
