"We think gamers are looking for more tactical choice and depth in their games," says Visceral.
Battlefield: Hardline might smell like the usual game of soldiers dressed up as a game of cops and robbers, but creative director Ian Milham is adamant that Visceral's first proper stab at Battlefield will stand apart from competitors. The single player, for instance, won't be about whacking moles. Is that "mole" as in espionage, Milham?
Why aren't we talking about this game again?.
To answer the question in the subheadline: probably because it's a game from Focus Home Interactive, hardly the best-known and most celebrated of publishers. Developer Cyanide isn't a household name either, thanks to a hit-and-miss portfolio that includes stinky dungeon sim Impire and the pleasantly counter-intuitive Of Orcs and Men. Still, solid-looking gameplay footage cures a multitude of ills, and there's a whole 15 minutes of it below.
Chris Charla talks up unannounced additions to ID@Xbox roster.
With the Japanese release of Xbox One just around the corner, we've already seen Microsoft putting a little more effort into the famously Xbox-resistant market than usual. Exclusive hands-on events, specialised apps, even new games at launch all promise a neat experience for Japanese buyers. But will all this make a difference where previous consoles have struggled?
Fewer murders, more risk of hernias, free T-shirt.
Silly old people often tell us videogames teach us nothing - that we're all just burning intellectual energy that might otherwise be spent planting trees or harvesting mortgages from limestone cave systems. The difficulty with countering this line of thought is that many of the skills one might acquire from a videogame have fairly, er, specialised real-world applications.
200 people laid off, Halo: Nightfall and Quantum Break unaffected.
Microsoft has announced that it will close Xbox Entertainment Studios as part a massive series of layoffs designed to ensure "a robust Xbox business". While the manufacturer has yet to confirm exactly which projects are affected, this presumably means that the majority of the Xbox Originals TV shows Microsoft announced in April won't happen.
QuakeCon 2014 reveals why you should get your ass to Mars.
DOOM 4 is dead, long live DOOM. During QuakeCon 2014, held in Dallas, id revealed that its venerable shooter will drop the '4' from the end of its name for the upcoming revival that's only coming to new consoles, but will include double jumping and jetpacks.
"We are very competitive about what we're doing," says Karl-Magnus Troedsson.
At this point in time, I'd say just shipping a Star Wars: Battlefront game is a landmark achievement - the series has been dogged by disaster since Battlefront 2 blasted out of hyperspace back in 2005. DICE, however, wants to go a lot further with 2015's Xbox One reboot. The studio is out to create nothing less than the finest exercise in Star Warring ever to stuff the Death Star's sewage disposal pipe full of proton torpedoes.
Now you can literally fire about 10 shells in under a minute.
10 seconds is an eternity in Call of Duty time, but in tank years, it's barely even perceptible. Tanks won't be rushed, gentlemen. They are noble beasts, creatures of dignity. Also, they're made of really old bits of really heavy metal.
Port "wasn't a priority" but certainly isn't out of the question.
Joe's off sick today, which is why he isn't writing this news piece about the possibility of a new skateboarding game on Xbox One, which is why this news piece doesn't consist entirely of exclamation marks and crude ASCII pictures of bottles of champagne. Speaking to GamingBolt, Roll7 has suggested that an Xbox One version of its acclaimed board 'em up OlliOlli is very much up for consideration.
How to get access, hard drive requirements and what to expect.
Destiny's beta hits Xbox One and Xbox 360 on 23rd July, at 10am PDT, 6pm UK time and 3am Sydney time. Are you read for lift-off, Guardian? Because if you're not, here's a little round-up of need-to-know Destiny beta details. I'll add fo as it arrives.
343 hosting "dedicated panels" at San Diego Comic Con.
Halo fans rejoice - it seems you don't have too much longer to wait for new info on two of the franchise's upcoming projects - Halo: Nightfall and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Microsoft also reports "solid growth" in Xbox 360 sales.
Sales of the Xbox One have more than doubled in the US, says Microsoft, after the $399 console bundle option launched to the public last month on 9th June. That's the SKU being sold without a Kinect, if you recall.
Is there room in your life for a three-character action-RPG with procedurally generated levels?.
Chilean developer ACE's Abyss Odyssey is available now on Xbox Live Marketplace. Only just heard of it? You're not alone, I suspect, but what the game lacks in publicity, it appears to make up for in flair and ingenuity.
New customers at Dealfisher get Xbox One launch games for less.
Hark, the siren song of a price cut. Rakuten retailer Dealfisher will sell you a copy of Call of Duty: Ghosts on Xbox One for $5.99 with free shipping, providing you're a new customer. Madden NFL 25, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and Battlefield 4 are also on offer for $9.99, $9.99 and $14.99 respectively.
Gearbox tries to reinvent the genre Borderlands conquered.
So I've just gotten round to watching the trailer for Gearbox's new IP Battleborn, having skimmed it while writing up the announcement release at Develop last week. Turns out the game is Avatar by way of Disney Infinity, endowed with enough esoteric weaponry to put even Borderlands out of commission. Ready for some Actual Gameplay Details? Pull up a chair, then.
New Texture pack hits the Marketplace.
If, like Joe, you're moist with anticipation for interactive Hanna-Barbera homage Cuphead (one of several promising ID@Xbox titles Microsoft unveiled at E3), Minecraft Xbox 360's latest Texture Pack could be worth a peek. It transforms the game into a retro cartoon show, complete with falling pianos, Wily Coyote-esque dogs and painted-on tunnels.
But Kinect-only games are a tough sell.
Save for Rare Ltd, no other developer has thrown more weight behind Kinect than Frontier Developments, creator of Kinectimals, Kinect Disneyland Adventures and the recent Zoo Tycoon reboot for Xbox One. Studio founder and CEO David Braben remains enthusiastic about the peripheral, despite Microsoft's recent decision to sell certain Xbox One SKUs without it, though he's not convinced that Kinect-only games have a future.
At last, a pad that's invisible when held up to a bush.
Fancy buying a new special edition Xbox One pad and headset? You'll need to find them first. Like the insidiously drifting alligator and/or the crouching tiger, the Armed Forces edition controller is indistinguishable from its native woodland surroundings while motionless. Seems a bit of a shame that it's designed for use in a living room. Is your living room full of privet hedges and jungle ferns? Because it's not too late to plant some, you know - the new gear won't go on sale till October.
We're going deeper underground.
Crown of the Sunken King, the first of three planned DLC packs for Dark Souls 2, is set to launch next week on 22nd July. In anticipation, From Software has released a generous selection of new screenshots for your delectation.
Wildfire pits four firefighters against a sentient lump of flame.
That piercing wail? That's just the klaxon we've set up to go off every time somebody announces a new Kinect game - poor thing's been gathering dust. Of course, it could also be the sound of the sirens at your local firestation, warning you that a sentient fireball is now eating the neighbourhood. By strange coincidence, this is also the premise for Wildfire, a new ID@Xbox title outed by Twitter user ID_Upload.
