Microsoft’s Major Nelson confirmed that FIFA 14 would be free to all pre-orders of the Xbox One in Europe. As an additional incentive, FIFA 14’s Ultimate Team Legends feature will only be available on the Microsoft console. For those interested, EA will reveal the full roster of legends later.
In other Gamescom news, Microsoft made a number of announcements to entice gamers (and developers) to their console. They published the full list of launch titles that will be available for the Xbox One, which has 23 entries. Fable Legends, a four-person co-op game with heavy use of SmartGlass was revealed. Microsoft and Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy’s The Division would have exclusive content, although there wasn’t much specific to say about it. For all the Call of Duty fans, Infinity Ward said that Call of Duty: Ghosts on Xbox One would use the Xbox Live Cloud service to host dedicated multiplayer servers.
Finally, Microsoft issued some details of their indie games program, called ID@Xbox. It will offer free Xbox One development kits to developers and an easier path to publication. Unlike the current Indie Games Marketplace on the Xbox 360, the ID@XBox program will offer many of the bells and whistles that big-money blockbuster titles get.
Games that come through this program will be able to access the exact same features as any other large game company on Xbox One: Achievements, Gamerscore, Kinect, Xbox SmartGlass, Xbox cloud services and more. What’s also exciting is that these games will be available in the exact same marketplace (Xbox One Store) as every other game on Xbox One, making discovery for players easier by using all the curation and discovery tools that Xbox One will offer, including Spotlight, Trending, Recommendations and great social discovery with features like Game DVR and Upload.
Unfortunately, a launch date for the Xbox One was not announced despite heavy speculation that Microsoft should have a firm date set by now.
The video above features Microsoft’s Major Nelson explaining the Xbox One’s new controller and touting the innovations in it. It’s important to PC gamers as well as Xbox fans because the new hardware will likely become the PC’s standard controller when it hits store shelves. Microsoft told CVG that they are working on software to make the Xbox One controller work seamlessly on PC and backwards compatible with older games.
“We know people want to use the Xbox One controller on their PC, and we do too – we expect to have the functionality available in 2014.”
The Xbox 360 controller has been the default choice on PC for a few years now. Putting software in Windows that automatically detected and configured the Xbox 360 wired controller once you plugged it in was probably the greatest thing they did for PC gaming.
As Kotaku reports, the designers and engineers in the Xbox Accessories department experiment with hundreds of ideas. Miniature speakers, a tiny screen, touchpads, even a special smell dispersal unit, were tried and rejected. What they ended with is a controller that hopefully improves on the 360’s flaws, but doesn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken.
Microsoft’s Xbox One will allow digital game sharing with the Home Gold program. Marc Whitten, Chief Product Officer, posted the announcement that clarifies game sharing and the Home Gold system. Digital games and media purchased on your Xbox One can be played by anyone who signs in on your console with their gamertag. An “unlimited” number of people can create accounts on your Home console and benefit from your Gold membership while they use your hardware, including multiplayer gaming. Additionally, the accounts will remain separate for recommendations and friends lists.
With Xbox One everyone in your home has a personalized account, which will enable powerful and personal experiences, and that’s one of the reasons why we wanted to create Home Gold. It means that your account and your gamertag are truly yours. You don’t have to share your gamertag for multiplayer gaming with others in your home, or see recommendations for your kid’s cartoons next to the recommended first-person shooter for you. It also means that you can introduce new games and enjoy multiplayer with friends while they are at your house. Last but not least, it also means that when you buy one Xbox Live Gold membership, multiple people can enjoy the best benefits of Xbox Live Gold on your Xbox One at no additional charge.
On the Xbox 360, multiple people in a household can share digital games on a console, but must purchase separate Gold subscriptions for multiplayer gaming. Microsoft used to offer a Gold Family Pack but this program was discontinued in March.
Competition is a great thing. Microsoft’s Major Nelson just posted an unboxing video and revealed that a mono headset will come in the box with every new Xbox One console. This includes the regular version and not just the limited Day One edition.
Previously, Microsoft had said that the headset would only be sold separately and that gamers should use the included Kinect device to chat if they didn’t want to purchase the headset. This was un unpopular move to many console gamers since the Xbox 360 came with a pack-in headset and Sony said their PS4 would come with a hadset as well.
An optional adapter will still need to be purchased should someone wish to use an older 360 model headset with their Xbox One because the proprietary connectors have been changed on the new console.
Microsoft confirmed via Twitter that there will be an adapter solution for gamers that want to use their Xbox 360 headsets with the Xbox One. Microsoft product planning manager Alberto Penello tweeted the news after he was asked if there was any plan to allow current “hi-end” gaming headsets on the new console. Penello later clarified that the adapter would be sold separately.
The Xbox One Chat Headset uses a proprietary connection exclusive to the console and does not come with the base hardware. It is sold separately for $24.99. Microsoft has explained the lack of a pack-in headset by saying that the Kinect sensor can be used to communicate.
Each Xbox One includes the new Kinect sensor, with highly sensitive multi-array microphones designed to enable voice inputs and chat as a system-level capability, both in-game and with Skype and other experiences.
Sony’s PS4 will ship with a headset in the box. It’s also been confirmed that the console will allow gamers to use any Bluetooth headset for communication, so frugal folks will be able to continue yelling into whatever they’re yelling into now.
Yesterday’s news that Microsoft will allow indie developers to self-publish on the Xbox One came as good news to gamers. Microsoft’s previous policies of not allowing self-publishing and charging to host game updates were major roadblocks for small studios. With both policies apparently being reversed, Microsoft looks to be trying recapture some of the magic from the early days of the Xbox 360 when it seemed to be a haven for indie developers.
Joystiq asked some developers for their reaction to the news and they expressed cautious optimism. Most seem to be taking a wait-and-see attitude. Peter Bartholow, CEO of Lab Zero Games, said that he’d “need to see the final details to really know one way or another” while Rami Ismail of Vlambeer said that he would “have to wait until Gamescom to hear all the details” to make any decisions. Gaijin Games wanted to “do a little more research into the specifics” before committing to the platform.
Engadget spoke to Retro City Rampage developer Brian Provinciano who was less positive about Microsoft’s indie game policy changes.
After my experience working with them to release on Xbox 360, I have no interest in even buying an Xbox One, let alone developing for it. The policy changes are great, but they don’t undo the experience I had. I’m not ready to forget what I went through. Working with Microsoft was the unhappiest point of my career. Policies are one thing, but developer relations are another.
Although Micorosft said they will have more details of the path to self-publishing at Gamescom in August, Marc Whitten did confirm to Kotaku that the system won’t be ready for the console’s launch, but hopes to have it set within the first year. The ability to change a retail Xbox One into a dev kit via an online update will also come later.
Meanwhile, Sony continues to woo indie developers. While a PS4 dev kit normally costs $2500, sources speaking to Polygon said that Sony is letting developers borrow them for up to a year for free. Additionally, Develop reports that Sony Europe will host a quarterly indie developer event at their London offices.
There have been rumors for a few days now that Microsoft was going to announce a change to their indie game strategy for the Xbox One. The lack of a pathway to self-publishing had been a point of criticism with both gamers and developers because Sony made it a point to embrace indies on the PS4 during and after E3. GameInformer posted a report based on anonymous sources earlier, but Polygon got the official confirmation that Microsoft is going to offer a way for developers without publisher sponsorship to get their games on the Xbox One.
“Our vision is that every person can be a creator,” Marc Whitten, corporate vice president at Xbox said in a statement. “That every Xbox One can be used for development. That every game and experience can take advantage of all of the features of Xbox One and Xbox LIVE. This means self-publishing. This means Kinect, the cloud, achievements. This means great discoverability on Xbox LIVE. We’ll have more details on the program and the timeline at Gamescom in August.”
One of the points in the GameInformer article was that any Xbox One could be turned into a debug console via an online code update. The statement from Whitten would seem to support that rumor.
The one thing gamers are in agreement about regarding the Xbox One is how much they love Kinect being sold with every console and required for the full TV surfing experience. Who doesn’t like waving at their TV to change channels instead of pushing a button on the remote? Microsoft is giving gamers a legitimate reason to love the all-seeing-eye of Kinect by officially confirming to Polygon that 25-digit codes could be a thing of the past.
“As confirmed by Marc Whitten on Twitter, Kinect on Xbox One will allow our customers to redeem QR codes and confirm digital game downloads,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Polygon. “The technological advancements of Kinect for Xbox One allows for a much deeper integration on our platform and we’re excited to share more about new Kinect capabilities in the coming months.”
The original Tweet from VP of Xbox Live, Marc Whitten, was in response to a Reddit comment about letting gamers use Kinect to scan codes instead of fumbling with long sequences of numbers to redeem tokens on the Xbox 360. Hooray for Kinect!
QR codes are those crazy squares on ads that your smartphone owning friends scan to get more ads. Theoretically, you could use QR codes with the Xbox One for more than just making gamers’ lives easier. You could, for example, have QR codes on a product that gamers could hold up to Kinect to enable a more dyanamic ad on the TV. Hooray Kinect?
Since all of your Xbox One game licenses are tied to your account, what happens if you get banned from your account as part of a disciplinary action? Losing multiplayer access is punishment enough, but losing access to all the games tied to your account would be a bit much. It’s no surprise that Microsoft doesn’t seem to know what happens any more than the average gamer yet. Recently, the official Xbox Support on Twitter gave an alarming reply to someone that asked about the effects of an account ban.
If your account is banned, you also forfeit the licenses to any games that have licenses tied to it as listed in the ToU.
It’s not the answer we wanted to see, but at least it’s a clear answer. Unfortunately, Microsoft’s Major Nelson, answered the same question quite differently when asked during E3 in this Reddit interview.
Chloe Dykstra: “If someone is banned, whether their fault or not, will they lose access to the games they purchased?”
Major Nelson: “Absolutely not. You will always have access to the games you’ve purchased. Absolutely not.”
Chloe Dykstra: “Yay!”
Major Nelson: “Yay? Really? Come on! You had to expect that.”
Major Nelson is right. You should expect that, but as we’ve seen in the past with other companies, account bans with game licenses tied to them can sometimes lead to all sorts of unintended consequences.
Military troops are just like civilians. They use videogames to relax and compete with each other while overseas or on active deployment. In the few days since Microsoft clarified some of their restrictive policies for the Xbox One, some military personnel have made their thoughts clear on the matter. They don’t like it. Because the Xbox One must phone home at least once every 24 hours, or any time a game needs to be authenticated, it’s going to be difficult to use while deployed to areas with unreliable internet connections, like some barracks or on ships. Additionally, the Xbox One is restricted for use in only the areas of the world listed in the officially supported countries leaving out whole military bases.
The Army Times asked Microsoft about workarounds to these policies for service members, but the response was unhelpful.
“I don’t have additional details to share and can’t speculate on workarounds at this time,” wrote Xbox rep Danica Stickel in an emailed response to questions, repeating the suggestion that troops could just use the 360 instead.
“Although we’re very excited about Xbox One, we remain dedicated to Xbox 360 now and for years to come. In fact, we are expecting some of the greatest blockbusters of 2013 and 2014 to come out on Xbox 360.”
Stickel advised The Army Times that there is good news for the troops. Since their Xbox One content is tied to their Live account, as long as they activate a game in their home country, they’ll be able to play it anywhere afterwards. Of course, this presumes that the player can connect the Xbox One to the internet every 24 hours after activating the content.
One of the things that Microsoft got right with their Xbox 360 system is the little popup and sound of getting an Achievement. Love them or hate them, that indicator is a direct ping to the human need for immediate positive feedback. The Xbox One will change the Achievement system a bit. Major Nelson and Cierra McDonald, the Xbox Live Achievement Service Program Director, explained some of the details.
The new system will have Achievements and Challenges. Achievements will work much like they do now. Games will come with a list of goals that you can complete in-game to get the Pavlovian ding and some points added to your Gamerscore. You can attempt to fulfill an Achievement at any time because they don’t officially expire. (Ha! Just try to get those multiplayer Achievements for Perfect Dark Zero now!) The new wrinkle is that Xbox One programs outside of games, like music and video apps, can also have Achievements. App-based Achievements will not have Gamerscore points.
Challenges are new. They are time-limited. Developers and publishers can add or subtract them at will, like a weekend event challenge, or a themed goal based on a hot new internet meme. Challenges can’t have Gamerscore, but they can unlock other rewards.
– Challenges are time based.
– Challenges do not give out Gamerscore.
– Challenges may cross titles, but achievements cannot.
– Challenges can be unlocked by the community.
An Achievement activity feed will also be a part of the Xbox One Dashboard to keep you up to date on what your friends are accomplishing and what new Challenges are being offered.
Microsoft’s E3 kickoff presentation aired live today and it was filled with hyperbole, buzzwords, and CG trailers. Presenters assured the audience that the games shown were only possible using the “unique Xbox One architecture” regardless of whether the product was multiplatform or not. Everything was anchored with the Power of the Cloud ™ which seemed to be the most popular phrase.
True to their word, there was no TV talk. Instead, everyone got a snootful of next-gen trailers. Games shown included a new Killer Instinct, Ryse, Quantum Break, Forza 5, Spark, Dead Rising 3, and Battlefield 4. Almost everything shown was tied to the cloud somehow, used Smartglass, Kinect, and had protaganists with grim and determined faces.
The obligatory E3 Halo trailer was shown. Master Chief had a snazzy torn cloak and I imagine his face looked grim and determined as he looked at something appropriately alien-looking.
Some gameplay from Respawn’s Xbox exclusive, Titanfall, was shown. It had mechs and parkour. And explosions, of course. Imagine Call of Duty with giant robots.
We did get one solid detail that we needed to know. Xbox One will launch for $499 in November.
