Also: OneGuide for more regions, Xbox Gold hub, new SmartGlass features.
The next Xbox One update will add support for external hard drives, a real name option for Gamertags and a new hub section for Xbox Gold offers, Microsoft has announced. It'll be available in June.
"He is coming.".
Well, it could be a new kind of billing software, but I doubt the source code for a countdown site about billing software would include the keywords "Xbox360" and "XboxOne". Or, for that matter, feature an audio sample that sounds like a submarine's heartbeat. To say nothing of the background picture, which looks a bit like Magneto's helmet. Or the ominous phrase: "He is coming."
Say hello to Chrono Rider, a 16 bit homage from Korion Studios.
Spaced-out dogs in space suits. Jetpack sequences that involve bouncing off asteroids. QTE battles in which you beat up frogs dressed like mafia goons. The ability to destroy blocks with a plasma pistol. Ferris wheels. Riding a horse against the sunset. XP. Time travel. A dinosaur with a cape. Co-op with a puma. Mechs. There's something for everything in Chrono Rider, the first game from Korion Studios, especially if you're a fan of the sort of cross-genre lunacy that characterises the great RPGs of the 16-bit era.
"We still don't have a functioning game.".
Rome wasn't built in a day, and it may take longer than a year to reduce New York to a twitching, highly contagious ruin. Speaking to Gamereactor, the same anonymous Ubisoft Massive developer who predicted that the game would miss its 2014 release slot has suggested that a summer 2015 release may be too much to hope for, too.
Studio working on "a very well known and highly popular AAA title with next gen technology".
UK developer Splash Damage, creator of Enemy Territory and Brink, is looking for fresh minions to fill its ranks and help it create a new game for PC and next gen consoles.
Be water, my friend.
I always find it a little weird when games or ads or films feature a digitally rendered version of a star who's no longer with us, but this new EA Sports UFC trailer is pretty respectful of its focus, the martial arts legend Bruce Lee, who's appearing in the game as a pre-order bonus.
"The new platforms are much, much more similar to work with than what we're used to.".
Arguing over resolution seems like something that belongs in the schoolyard, but why do we buy new hardware if not to cram more pixels and graphics onto our flat screens? Andreas Ojerfors, senior gameplay designer from MachineGames reckons that the argument is moot, as both next-gen consoles are easier to work with compared to their last-gen predecessors.
"Breaking embargos is not prophesy. Nor does it require any particular skill or insight.".
Halo franchise development director Frank O'Connor has a bone to pick with the internet's healthy population of self-styled "insiders", including the infamous/venerated CBOAT. In a brief but pithy aside on NeoGAF, O'Connor criticised the practice of leaking embargoed information, suggesting that it causes trouble for developers and isn't really of benefit to players.
Leaked image shows telltale dashboard notification.
Is your Xbox One hard drive a neutron-star-esque, ultra-compacted mass of game data, threatening to explode - or worse, disappear into the folds of spacetime - at any second? Don't despair, the long-awaited Xbox One external hard drive support appears to be in the offing.
Don't just kill your enemies. Terrorise them.
I'll admit to mixed feelings about Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, a revenge tale from Warner Bros Interactive and Monolith for Xbox One and Xbox 360, that takes place just prior to the events of Lord of the Rings.
Official app gets sidelined.
Among the many and varied features of the official Skype app for Xbox One, being able to use the Snap function with it was not one. Until today. Now you can far more effectively ignore the people you're talking to in favour of brutal future-combat or an episode of Hoarders. Hooray!
Ace Combat, Armored Core, Enslaved, Tales of Vesperia and more discounted.
Good grief, how did I miss the advent of a Power Rangers game for Kinect? As a lapsed Mighty Morphin' fanboy, I'd have been all over that like a hideous skin disease. You, on the other hand, should probably save your emotions and pennies for Enslaved, Eternal Sonata, Beautiful Katamari and Soul Calibur 5, among other better-known and regarded Namco titles - they're up to 75% off for Gold subscribers from today till Tuesday 27th May.
Chief-themed textures, worlds, interface and items on the way.
Minecraft Xbox 360 update 16 is upon us! That's an undeserved exclamation mark, actually - this is one of those boring, serviceable bug fix updates, noteworthy only for turning up some amusing bug anecdotes, such as wolves turning invisible when they sit down. Would any real-life wolf experts like to comment on the likelihood of that one? I guess you could pass it off as natural camouflage.
Next-gen remasters would collect together Halos 1-4.
We know there's a Halo announcement coming at E3 this year. We also know that 343 are busying themselves with Halo 5: Guardians. Everybody up to speed? Right, here's a report from Engadget which claims that the first four Halo games are in the process of being upgraded and collected together for Xbox One. Show-offs.
Nearly 20 people let go from the studio, including long term employees.
Microsoft-owned studio Rare will lose senior staff as part of a change to "development process and methodology", including programmer Chris Sutherland and designer Gavin Price, who have worked on Banjo-Kazooie titles and more over the last 20 and 15 years respectively.
The question is, what?.
Microsoft is going to Do a Thing at E3, a Thing that has never been Done. Major Nelson says so. "It's going to be the first time this has ever been done at E3," he observes in a podcast picked up by Gamespot, sealing the deal with a whispered "ever". Bate thy breath, internet.
Quantum Break has "just hit full production".
Lionhead's online co-op spin-off Fable Legends will have a "huge presence at E3". So sayeth John Needham, studio head and boss of Microsoft's European publishing team, who also reckons it's "one of the most beautiful games on the platform right now." Watch out, Crytek.
Team 17's long-running strategy sim migrates to new consoles.
Worms Battlegrounds - the umpteenth game from Team 17 about subterranean wiggly things and their explosive habits - will hit Xbox One on 30th May, via the ID@Xbox program. Let's all celebrate with a gameplay trailer and some feature deets.
After the main course comes the desert.
After years of use exclusively as a backdrop for po-faced shooters and news reports with John Sergeant in them, it's nice to see the humble desert environment in something a little more flamboyant. In its latest release of screenshots over various social networks, Bioware has revealed Dragon Age: Inquisition's Western Approach location.
Fixes for party chat, Game DVR audio and future system updates.
Hold onto your Mondays, everyone, Microsoft has released its latest Xbox One system update.
