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All Articles: Xbox One
Thief 4 confirmed for PC, PS4, other next-generation consoles
Thief 4 is dead… but say hello to Thief. Game Informer has revealed that the rebranded reboot of the stealth series will grace the cover of its April 2013 issue. The magazine also confirmed the Eidos Montreal-developed game will be released for the PC, PS4, and “other next-generation platforms” (such as the unannounced Xbox 720) in 2014.
Our April cover story is a world-exclusive look at this next-generation stealth title. Series hero Garrett returns to the Gothic, industrial metropolis known simply as the City to steal any and everything that will make him richer. Unfortunately, the City is broiling with social tension as it is ravaged by a plague and lorded over by a political tyrant known as the Baron. In order to survive his adventures, Garrett will have to pay attention to his environment and make use of the many possible paths through each of the game’s levels.
We’ll have to ask Square Enix to be sure, but it sounds like the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Thief 4 have gone up in smoke.
Rumor: Xbox 720/Durango reveal scheduled for April
That didn’t take long. CVG is reporting that they’ve heard from “inside sources” within the development community and the word is that Microsoft will unveil their next-generation system, the Xbox 720/Durango, at a one-night-only media event in April.
Lending further credence to these sources, a poster on NeoGAF has unearthed a domain registration for XboxEvent.com. The domain was registered by Eventcore, an event management company that lists Microsoft among its clients.
If true, it’s great that we’ll learn more about the next Xbox sooner rather than later. But what happened to the specialness of E3? Does anyone else miss when E3 was special? Because I sure do.
EA plans to release 10-15 next-gen games during console transition period
Blake Jorgensen, the Chief Financial Officer at Electronic Arts, told the crowd at this year’s Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference that EA plans to have 10-15 next-generation games ready to go during the PS3-Xbox 360/PS4-Xbox 720 “transition period.”
But don’t worry, if you don’t plan on purchasing a next-generation console (for whatever reason), Jorgensen confirmed that the majority of EA’s output would be available on “generation-three” consoles (that’s the PS3 and Xbox 360) because they’re a slave to the sports schedules:
“An important thing to remember is that next-gen consoles will most likely not be backwards compatible,” [Jorgensen] explained. “And if you [play] multiplayer on a game, you’ll most likely not be able to play with someone on a different generation. And so if you’re a FIFA player, and the soccer season’s starting in August, and all your friends are playing FIFA, you’re going to want to be on the same box that they’re on.”
Further details of these 10-15 titles were unavailable, but we know for a fact that EA internal studios DICE and Criterion are hard at work on next-generation games.
[Source: Polygon]
GameStop says 60% of customers will skip next-gen consoles that block used games
Rob Lloyd, GameStop’s Chief Financial Officer, has some strong for any consolemaker considering a used game lockout system for their next-generation console.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Lloyd told the assembled crowd that the retailer recently conducted a poll of their customers and found that 60% would refuse to purchase a console that disallowed used games. Someone who says that consumers demand to be able to play used games, who also happens to be the CFO of GameStop, can be considered a bit of a biased source. But something tells me their research doesn’t stray too far from reality.
“Consumers want the ability to play pre-owned games, they want portability in their games; they want to play physical games. And to not have those things would be a substantial reason for them not to purchase a new console,” Lloyd said.
He was also quoted as saying, “Sony has said publicly that they don’t intend to block used games on its next console.” That’s news to me, but I’d like to believe it’s true.
Hopefully we’ll find out next Wednesday.
[Source: VG247]
Just Stop! Sony and Microsoft Will NOT Block Used Games in Their Next-Gen Consoles
When the Internet decides to collectively believe something that’s just not true, we have to cry out… Just Stop! This is what’s making a Warp Zoned editor rip his computer from the wall in frustration today…
Even though Sony’s February 20th presentation is still officially known as “Meeting 2013,” and unofficially as their “See the Future” event, the gaming populace is resolute in its belief that the PlayStation 4/Orbis will be unveiled to the public on that Wednesday evening. Actually, I have a hard time disagreeing with the hive mind of the Internet on this one. The PS4 reveal is but a fortnight away, I’m sure of it. But the drones of the Internet have also decreed that Sony will include some kind of nefarious scheme within the PS4 that’ll disable used games on the system.
No! Just Stop! YOU. ARE. WRONG. (more…)
Rumor: Project Gotham Racing 5 in the works for Xbox 720 at Lucid Games
I have a feeling this Xbox 720 “logo” is going to get a lot of work over the next few months.
STFU and Play has posted a rumor that claims Lucid Games (a development house made up of former Bizarre Creations and Criterion staff members) is hard at work on Project Gotham Racing 5 for the Xbox 720/Durango.
Bizarre Creations created the PGR series back on the original Xbox and a new entry has been rumored to be in development ever since Activision scooped up Bizarre in 2007.
Interestingly enough, a search of Lucid Games’ website reveals a mystery project known as “Sky Light” that carries the tagline “Road Opens 2013.”
This lines up nicely with STFU and Play’s assertion that Project Gotham Racing 5 will be a launch title for the Xbox 720/Durango, which is rumored to launch in Fall 2013.
More Xbox 720 rumors: Blu-ray discs, no used games, Kinect V2 compatible
As Sony steams towards their February 20 announcement of the “Future of PlayStation,” new rumors have emerged about Microsoft’s next-generation offering, the Xbox 720/Durango.
According to Edge, an anonymous tipster has revealed a laundry list of details concerning Microsoft’s next system:
- The system’s internals will include an AMD eight-core x64 1.6GHz CPU, a D3D11.x 800MHz graphics card, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and a hard drive of unspecified size.
- Games will ship on 50GB Blu-ray discs.
- Each game will also ship with an activation code, locking out used game sales without some kind of re-authorization code.
The tipster also said that Microsoft plans to launch a “new, more reliably responsive” Kinect sensor alongside the Xbox 720/Durango.
Diablo III is “up and running” on consoles; still no official announcement
Oh Blizzard, you’re such a tease!
Speaking to Polygon, Blizzard’s Rob Pardo has confirmed that the developer has a version of Diablo III “up and running” on console hardware. But, he reiterated, the company is still not ready to officially announce it.
“We’re still kind of exploring it,” said Pardo. “We’ve got builds up and running on it. We’re hoping to get it far enough along where we can make it an official project, but we’re not quite ready to release stuff about it, but it’s looking pretty cool.”
I realize Blizzard wants to ensure a console version of Diablo III can live up to its PC predecessor before they officially announce it or post screenshots or give it a release date, but come on, this is getting ridiculous.