Will cost €399, listing now pulled.
I know what you're thinking: what better way to celebrate the launch of Sunset Overdrive, Xbox One's most colourful game, than with a €399 console bundle that includes the fabled piano white Xbox One, hitherto exclusive to Microsoft employees? It's like a Muller Corner, sort of.
"However we don't know when it will work.".
Mojang is thinking about adding support for player-owned, customisable servers to Minecraft Xbox One, the developer's Daniel Kaplan has told OXM. This would allow players to set up their own online worlds, which invited players could then explore in their absence. The developer says it has yet to put any concrete plans in motion, however.
Join our very own Aoife for a video overview.
There's just a week or two to go till Gamescom kicks off in Cologne, Germany. It's Europe's own version of the E3 Expo - notable for its higher quantities of Sauerkraut and lower quantities of sunshine. Aoife and I will be covering the event for OXM. Aoife will also join Microsoft's Graeme "AceyBongos" Boyd and Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb on camera to present a variety of Microsoft briefings, at which we can expect "big surprises".
And a Modern Warfare map reimagined as a reality death show.
People give Activision no end of stick for Call of Duty's DLC packs, but you know what? When the developers pull out the stops, the result is usually a tidy selection of the weird and the wonderful. The fourth and final add-on for Call of Duty: Ghosts, for instance, features a map on which killstreaks conjure up a blizzard and a demonic whirlwind. There's also a map where you have to dodge speeding minecarts, and a map based on Modern Warfare's Shipment, which has been transformed into a reality TV show with randomised terrain elements such as turrets and supply drops.
Lead character will be human but other playable races are being considered.
A transcript of BioWare's ComicCon 2014 Mass Effect presentation is now online, care of Nerd Appropriate. It's hardly jam-packed with revelations, but there are some interesting tit-bits. New races, for instance, and the possibility of vehicle customisation.
"Can I get one chicken chow mein, some prawn toast and an unplanned psychic cataclysm, please?".
People ringing without Caller ID are annoying as it is - it's usually a charity asking for some money you've drunkenly promised them, or some kind of bailiff. It's worst, however, when their continued calling not only leads to a lightning strike decimating your phone, but also ruining the delicious East Asian meal you were enjoying. Bioware has noted this injustice, and made a short documentary on the subject, disguising this as a teaser for its Gamescom-bound new IP, which we're pretty certain is called Shadow Realms.
Three maps for $10 or #163;7.
Titanfall's Frontier's Edge DLC is available now for $9.99 US or #163;7.99 on the Xbox One Marketplace, with other regional prices to follow. It contains three new maps - Dig Site, Haven and Export - and will release on Xbox 360 at a later date.
Who are or what is the Seraphim?.
As I wrote in a blog a couple of years ago, I do love a good conspiracy theory. Bungie's space opera Destiny appears to be absolutely riddled with the blighters, though its overarching plot is a bit anodyne for my tastes. For instance: did you know that there's a hidden area in the beta called the Seraphim Vault? What's all that about then, Mr Dinklage?
Who you gonna call? The undertaker, weakling.
As I wrote elsewhere on the site earlier today, October is shaping up to be a traumatic month for my wallet - it's full to the brim with tasty releases, such as Alien: Isolation and Sunset Overdrive. In this regard, Monolith's Shadow of Mordor has rather let me down. I was counting on it to be fairly unenticing, going by the developer's previous stab at a Rings 'em up. But every trailer I see makes me want it more, even the trailers that are narrated by robots.
F1 2014 coming in October, untitled Xbox One game to follow.
If you're a fan of onomatopoeia like "zoom", "screech" or "crunch", be still your booming heart, as the next year or so will probably have us covering up our pitiful lack of driving knowledge with funny asides where we describe noises. Codemasters has not only announced that F1 2014 is on its way on 17th October, but a brand new Xbox One edition will arrive early next year.
Plus, the latest on Minecraft Xbox One, GTA 5 Xbox One and much more.
Riddle me this: what's papery, full of The Hottest Gaming News and covered with pictures of alien dogs, robots, harpoon launchers and jetpacks? The latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine in the UK, of course, for which we've produced six different covers - one for each Hunter and Monster class confirmed to appear in 2K and Turtle Rock's beastly, beautiful Evolve, one of the most original, entertaining co-op shooters we've played in years.
Microsoft to nuke it from orbit.
Here's what the latest Xbox Live service alert does say: "Thanks for your patience during this time. We'll provide an update for you as soon as we can." And here's what it doesn't, but should, say: "Brethren! There has been a Great Disturbance in the Farce, but our Mighty Creator-Engineers have taken up their Pistons of Ineffability, and will shortly wreak a terrible vengeance on the instigators of this offence." Sigh, QA representatives just don't seem to put their hearts into things these days.
Out in October, rumoured to star a Templar.
This year's rumoured last-gen-only Assassin's Creed endeavour appears to be titled Assassin's Creed: Rogue - the game has been listed for October release (via Google Cache, Gematsu) by online retailer World of Games.
Zombie novelist J.L. Bourne could be involved.
Undead Labs is working on more than just State of Decay. Aside from multiple unannounced titles for Microsoft Studios, the developer will reveal a brand new game on Monday. It isn't being published by Microsoft (though it may still appear on Microsoft consoles) and doesn't feature zombies, making the title quite the departure.
Newly created Deep Silver Dambuster Studios to take on development duties.
Crytek - which has seen a world of financial troubles over the last few months if rumours are to be believed - has sold the rights and all associated assets of the Homefront IP to publisher Deep Silver. In turn, Deep Silver has created a new studio - based in Nottingham - to continue work on developing Homefront: The Revolution.
13 Chinese developers now working on a mixture of "new IP and fan-favourite games" for the console.
The Xbox One will launch in China on 23rd September, Microsoft has announced, and will ship with two free games and free access to Xbox Gold through March 2015. As the NewsWire and Reuters are at pains to point out, it'll be the first foreign-made console to go on sale in the world's third biggest gaming market.
Sixty Second Shooter prime developer breaks down the price of self-publishing.
Blimey, making and publishing a game is not cheap. Sixty Second Shooter Prime developer Jamie Fristrom has provided a breakdown of his expenditure in getting the game onto Xbox One via his blog, and the numbers are eye-opening.
"Well, you can't fit one of those massive levels into memory, right?".
The folk of RPGSite have posted a rollickin' good interview with BioWare's Mike Laidlaw about Dragon Age: Inquisition, which includes thoughts on the Xbox 360 version of the game and how the developer's modifications will benefit EA and DICE's all-purpose Frostbite engine.
The bad news: it's only been confirmed for China at present.
"Huzzah! An MMO PC-port confirmed for Xbox One!" I hear you exclaim. Indeed; though approach with caution, brave traveller, as the news comes with a number of caveats. First, it has thus far only been confirmed for Xbox One's Chinese market as a launch title for the region in September. Actually, that's kind of the only caveat until we hear more.
"Please keep sounding off.".
In theory, betas exist so that developers can test out all of a game's core features prior to a final round of iteration and tweaking. In practice, the emphasis seems often to be on putting servers through their paces, rather than making alterations to things like level design, combat mechanics and so forth. Just how much can Bungie reasonably change, then, at this stage in Destiny's production schedule? Well, there appears at least to be scope to fiddle around with voice chat.
