Xbox One will be region-locked, Microsoft confirms

The Xbox one is going be region locked, Mircosoft has confirmed this. Region locks restrict the use of software and digital services to specific continent, for example if you purchased your Xbox one in the UK it will not work in the US.

Need for Speed:Rivals races onto consoles

A new Need for Speed game is under development for current and next gen consoles. This new game is currently being developed by Ghost Games and Criterion Games. Ghost games is a new studio created by EA (located in Sweden). Criterion Games have had past success with need for speed titles such as Need for Speed:Most Wanted and Need for Speed:Hot Pursuit. They have also had huge success with their own Burnout series.

This game is being developed for multiple consoles (PS4,Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360) with a PC version in the works. Unfortunately for most gamers there is no Wii U version in development due to the frostbite 3 engine not running very well on this platform.

In this new game Ferrari vehicles will be returning. The ability to play as the police also seems to be making a comeback. This feature was last seen in Need For Speed:Hot Pursuit. These developers are adding a new online feature called "alldrive" this will enable players to enter and leave their friends worlds seamlessly. This game will try to be an open and co-operative experience similar to how autolog worked on Need for Speed :Most Wanted.

Microsoft announce return of a Rare IP

In an interview with Polygon microsofts Phil Spencer has announced that Rare will be showing a brand new game at E3 from one of their known IP's. Recently Microsoft renewed the trademark for killer instinct this has led many to believe that the game will be a sequel but Chances are its kinect sports one (im hoping for banjo and kazooie 3).

Microsoft gives indie devs the shaft.

In an interview with Shacknews Microsoft have confirmed that they are continuing to shaft indie developers. This means that only indie devs with a publisher can put games onto the Xbox live market place. They were using this  in the past with the xbox 360 and it was a bit of a pain.
This is a problem because Indie devs do not have publishers. Microsoft offer to publish the game but you know what they are like. You probably have to sell your soul or something.

In other news: Sony and Nintendo get a load more indie games onto their eshops.

Xbox One Reveal Event

Considering yesterday was the Xbox one reveal event i thought it should be the first thing i should cover.

It has quite a bit of coverage however i feel that it does not express the views of gamers as a whole. 

Many gamers seemed dissapointed with the many new features that have been announced for the new Xbox. They feel that it has been aimed at a more casual user base which love watching TV while skyping. 

New stuff highlights

This new console has many features that have not been seen before:

- It is able to record gameplay. This can be very useful for all of the famous youtubers out there. However i feel that this could mean a storm of 10 year old kids could reach the internet :(.

- It also has many different features such as voice controls and motion controls using the brand new kinect. This kinect device is able to perform many different tasks ranging from turning on the xbox (by saying "xbox on") to washing your dishes (not really). They have not confirmed if saying "xbox off" works yet. I am going to test this as soon as a relative purchases one. Will keep you updated :).

New partnership

They also announced some new launch titles such as Forza 5 and another Fifa football rehash. There is also an announced partnership with EA. This did not work out well with Nintendo (apart from the 3 games they released). Maybe this is the reason EA bailed on Nintendo? Many gamers feel that EA partnering with any company is a bad idea. They seem to want to enforce micro transactions. This has had mostly bad reception on their core titles (dead space 3 anyone...). They also announced there will be 8 new IPs at launch for this new console.

Prepare yo wallets

Xbox live gold shall return (yayyyyyyyy) which is still pay to play however no price has yet been revealed. This is a shame really because Sony and Nintendo offer many of the services for free. Microsoft have also decided to limit the amount of second hand games from being sold (and from playing games round your mates house :( ". When purchasing  second hand games you need to reactivate it using the online store because games are linked to your gamertag. There are not many details available for this yet. Microsoft are very hush hush about it.

Casuals Ahoy

Overall the new Xbox seems more focused on casuals than the First Wii console with the heavy inclusion of kinect, TV watching and sports. Many core gamers feel that they will miss out  however this will not be an issue as Activision and infinity ward have came to the rescue with the brand new collahduty title (DLC hits xbox live first as usual). This game boasts a brand new engine with all new visuals and next gen graphics (compared to the sega game gear maybe?)

The future

This reveal was quite interesting however there are many things that can be improved on at E3. Hopefully they will change the consoles look. I swear i have an old VHS player in the attic that looks exactly the same. At E3 they will also have tougher challenge from Sony and Nintendo. Sony will be showing its console which will look immense (and by that i mean it'll be as big as your house => see PS3 at launch). They will also be bring many blockbuster titles to the table. Nintendo will also be at E3 in force hoping to limit the amount of Xbox ones sold. bring on Pikmin 3!