"We are currently working with our partner to get this issue resolved.".
Xbox Live has a case of the technical hiccups this morning. According to the official status page, you may have difficulty buying downloadable items for both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. This appears to apply particularly to would-be owners of Battlefield 4's China Rising DLC, which launched yesterday.
"We're investigating this issue and will provide updates as quickly as possible".
Battlefield 4 hasn't had the smoothest of rides since its launch last month. And just when things were starting to calm down, its new China Rising DLC seems to have triggered a whole new batch of problems on pretty much every platform going.
343's Jessica Shea opts for a mix of cute and combative.
I thought I'd save this one for the end of the day, because it's rather long. And bizarre. Team Dakota recently had 343's community manager Jessica Shea over to sample Project Spark, the user-friendly game creation toolset for Xbox 360, Xbox One and Windows 8.
Xbox One exclusive to bear all at Spike VGX show.
Weary of the Xbox One's launch line-up already? Champing of the bit for more news of the console's 2014 offerings, and in particular Respawn's hysterically well-received Titanfall? You should probably tune into the Spike VGX Awards on 7th December, then - there's something in the wind, something "big". Titanic, even.
"A universe of possibilities".
During Alfred Hitchcock's later years, he made a conscious decision to put his director cameos earlier and earlier into the films he made, saying that he didn't want people to miss the movie whilst they were busy looking out for him. I'm going to go ahead and speculate that that's exactly the reason Team Dakota put one of their adorably weird squirrels a mere 24 seconds into this new intro video to their upcoming game Project Spark.
But unable to commit to a date just yet.
Microsoft's PR superhero Larry "Unconfirmed Military History" Hryb has taken to Reddit to address complaints about the Xbox One's party system, which some regard as a step back from the options on Xbox 360. There's not much to share, just yet, but you can rest assured that the manufacturer plans to update this aspect of the console in time.
Grab a Saint or go to Sera as an early Christmas present to yourself.
Damn it Xbox 360, I wish I knew how to quit you. I've got all these shiny new toys, and yet you're sitting there wistfully underneath my TV with all these games I've yet to play. And then you go and reduce the prices for those games. There's certainly some life in you yet, even if I've downgraded you to my HDMI 2 port.
"We've got a high bar for innovation.".
Remember the four new games in development at Microsoft's new Lift London studio, the ones that will apparently "redefine what triple-A represents"? You can expect to lay eyes on three of them in the not too distant future.
"The Phantom Pain has enormous volume," says Kojima.
Speaking to Famitsu magazine (via Siliconera), Kojima touched on why the decision was made to split Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes into two separate games.
Microsoft warns against making use of hidden devkit options.
Here's something we didn't cover in yesterday's piece on frequently asked Xbox One questions - how to turn your retail console into a development kit (or at least, start the process off) with a simple string of button inputs. Microsoft strongly advises that you refrain from doing this, however. It could brick your console.
Stricter ratings force Fenix to be replaced by Spartans.
Who'd win in a fight between Marcus Fenix and a squad of Spartan soldiers? We may never know. They've been scattered to all corners of the earth, and never the twain shall meet. What I mean to say by that is, after switching Dead Rising 2 with Resident Evil: Code Veronica a few months ago, Microsoft Japan is making another change to their Games With Gold offering.
Frontier's animal-pampering sim comes to current gen.
Not jumped ship to the Xbox One yet? You can also pick up certain of its launch games on Xbox 360, among them the moderately fantabulous Zoo Tycoon from Frontier Developments, for which there is now a current gen demo on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
Out tomorrow, offers new enemies and "exotic" Challenge maps.
Dunna dunna dunna dunna dunna dunna dunna dunna BATMAN Arkham Origins DLC pack Initiation now has a trailer, in which a cape-less and bearded Bruce Wayne goes toe to toe, knee to head with a bunch of rowdy ninjas. Out tomorrow, the pack adds a new set of Challenge maps and is the story of Bruce's training under Kirigi - master of mystical putdowns, like "you've come a long way to be defeated by your inner demons".
"We have so much to do.".
Once upon a time, photorealism was the games industry's one true God, but it seems the nearer we stray to a representation that's indistinguishable from reality, and the more cash we explode into space in the process, the less exciting the results can be. Where's the sense in trying to fit the known world inside a television, it might be argued, when you can playfully deviate from that world in the vein of an Okami or even a Halo?
Create your own multiplayer events in GTA Online very soon, by the looks of things.
A YouTube user, LiveUnknownHacks, who claims to be the same person as the individual who outed DLC audio files extracted from GTA's recent Beach Bum update, has posted a series of videos that seem to prove a GTA Online content creation tool is already up and running in the game's files.
Buy three 9/10 games for just over #163;10.
Thought the seasonal sales rush was over? You thought wrong, cupcake. To celebrate Cyber Monday - a holiday created by retailers to prop up digital sales, would you believe - Microsoft has taken a dirty great axe to a small but extremely high-quality selection of Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade titles. Fancy a copy of credible Game of the Generation contender Dark Souls for under #163;4? You've come to the right place.
Keep your friends close, your blunt instruments closer.
The Walking Dead Season Two has already confirmed Clementine for the starring role, but it turns out that she won't be alone. To begin with, at least. Warning, spoilers for the end of Season One follow, so don't read on unless you're up to date.
Hourly deals from now till 7pm UK time.
Quick! You've only got 20 minutes or so to buy a cheap copy of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag Buccaneer Edition from GAME. It's on sale for #163;39.99 - 50% off - and includes an Edward Kenway figurine, art book, soundtrack disc, two lithographs and bonus in-game content. There's more to follow later today.
Marcus down for a copy as Games with Gold Fenixes the price.
When I was just a little COG, I asked my Xbox, what will I be? Will I fight the Locust, in the first part, of the Gears Trilogy? On Sera, Sera. Don't let the Krill go and kill me. And now it can be yours for free. Oh, hurrah, hurrah!
Footage to be shown December 7th at annual games award ceremony.
Of all the Xbox One exclusives, the one proving the most elusive so far is Remedy's Quantum Break. We've had teases, musings from head-honcho Sam Lake and even a chat about the folks responsible for the facial animation, but we're still yet to see exactly how the game plays.
