Playdate: We're livestreaming 'Forza Horizon 2' on Xbox One! (Update: it's over!)

Welcome, ladygeeks and gentlenerds, to the new era of gaming. The one where you get to watch, and comment, as other people livestream gameplay from next-gen consoles. Because games! They're fun!
What do you do when there's many hundreds of horsepower under your foot? Bounce on the pedal and put the devil to the floor, naturally. And that's just what Microsoft's latest racer allows you to do. We're talking about Forza Horizon 2 on Xbox One, of course. The game that lets you live out nearly any auto-fantasy you might have, so long as it includes picturesque European landscapes, pristine cliff sides and electronic dance music. We're just kidding on the last part -- you can totally turn the radio off. Join us right here at 7:00 p.m. Eastern / 4:00 p.m. Pacific as we bring you a taste of what you can expect from the open-world arcade racer when it hits store shelves (or your console) next week.

Microsoft's new accessories include a wired Xbox One controller for PC gaming!!

If yesterday was Microsoft's day for announcing big news (read: a $2.5 billion acquisition), today is the day it moves on to less pressing topics. The company's hardware team just unveiled a few new accessories, including a wired Xbox One controller for PC gaming, and a portable Bluetooth keyboard that can pair with three different devices at once. Starting with the controller, this is basically the same one that already ships with the Xbox. In fact, because it comes with a battery pack in the box, you could use it wirelessly with the Xbone, in case you need a second controller. Heck, even the price is the same, at $60. The only difference? It includes a USB cable, allowing you to play on a Windows PC. Unfortunately, for now, at least, the controller can't be used wirelessly with a PC. Then again, the last-gen Xbox 360 controller started as wired-only, but later got a dongle, allowing you to use it wirelessly with Windows machines. So maybe Microsoft will follow a similar timetable with the Xbone.

xbox live

 

The most advanced multiplayer.

Play games like Titanfall and Halo with your friends on a network powered by over 300,000 servers for maximum performance. Cloud-hosted multiplayer helps eliminate lag and cheating. And on Xbox One, find new challengers who fit your skill and style with Smart Match.*

Find the perfect match.

Smart Match on Xbox One finds you new challengers who fit your skill and style, using intelligent algorithms. And the community-powered reputation systems helps identify cheats and annoying people to keep them out of your games.*

Never miss a moment.

You no longer have to wait in lobbies while a match is found. Feel free to play a game, watch TV, or listen to music while we find your perfect match. Then you can jump in instantly.

PS4 launches in Japan, Xbox One gets price drop and Titanfall bundle

Three months after the PS4 launched in North America, it has launched in its home country of Japan. The PlayStation brand has a huge presence in Japan, whereas the Xbox brand does not. The PS4 already had a comfortable sales lead, but with the Xbox One not impacting Japan, that PS4 sales numbers are going to eclipse Microsoft’s box. To combat this, Microsoft has dropped the price of the Xbox One, and included the flagship title Titanfall.

Oddly, the Japan launch appears to be a different affair than the North American launch we all survived back in November. Instead of frantic gamers running between Best Buys and GameStops on release morning, many Japanese gamers lined up to receive pre-order tickets which allowed them to go home and come back at release. Back in October, pre-order stock almost immediately sold out, however, reports suggest that the Japanese retail stock didn’t do the same upon the February 22 release. Reportedly, the PS4 still sold quickly, and used the weekend to deplete its stock. Now, Sony is already restocking units — and they’re still selling. Hard numbers have not yet been released, but it’s safe to assume that the PS4′s sales lead on the Xbox One has significantly grown since last week. In fact, Microsoft appears to have responded to the Japanese launch by releasing a new Titanfallbundle and dropping the price.

Unfortunately, the price drop — from £430 to £400, what amounts to about $50 – and bundle are only currently slated for the UK market, but it wouldn’t be surprising if that’s simply a testing ground for a similar price drop and bundle to release stateside. While a $450 Xbox One, Kinect, and Titanfall package is still not as cheap as the $400 PS4, the $50 pill should be easier for gamers to swallow considering the console comes with a Kinect and what is essentially the only flagship (semi) exclusive available at this time. The cheaper bundle releases this Friday.

So, while we don’t have hard numbers just yet — expect them to be disclosed soon — it’s safe to say the PS4 just gained an even larger lead over the Xbox One. Regardless of your console preference, more sales for one or the other not only means there will be a larger online community to game with, but it paints a picture for the portion of the populace that has yet to commit to a console. If the PS4 is painted as the better purchase due to the higher sales figures, then that will only snowball the sales, causing more people to assume the PS4 is the better choice. However, if Microsoft can replicate the UK price drop and bundle, the PS4′s popularity may not have a large enough effect to offset the Xbox One’s “free” game and fancy voice-control camera.

PS4 hits 6 million consoles sold, 13.7 million games; Xbox One still only around 4 million

Bolstered by opening week sales in Japan, Sony has announced that the PlayStation 4 has sold six million units worldwide. Perhaps more importantly, Sony also says that 13.7 million PS4 games have been sold — an attach rate of almost 2.3 games per console — with Killzone: Shadow Fall leading the pack with 2.1 million units sold. The exact number of Xbox Ones sold is unknown, but it’s probably just under four million.

In an official blog post this morning, Sony took the opportunity to offload a bunch of impressive statistics. Six million units sold worldwide. 13.7 million games sold. 90% of PS4s are online — producing 3.6 million live broadcasts, 56 million spectate sessions, and 100 million social shares (via the DualShock 4′s Share button). Apparently 20% of all daily broadcasters on Twitch since January 1 have been PS4 gamers.

Sony also announced today that the PS4 had sold 370,000 units in Japan, in its first week of sales. This is obviously small fry compared tothe one million PS4s sold in the first 24 hours in the US — but do remember that Japan only has around a third of the population of the US. A better comparison is the UK, which has around half the population of Japan, where around 250,000 PS4s were sold in the opening weekend. This still makes Japan’s opening week look weak — though it’s worth pointing out that the PS3 didn’t sell very well in Japan early on, either. The Wii sold around the same number of units in its first week in Japan, and it went on to be a huge success. (The PS2 was the first and last console to truly explode the Japanese market.)

With 2.1 million units sold, Killzone: Shadow Fall is obviously doing its job as a platform exclusive. It will be interesting to see if the Xbox One’s first big exclusive,. Titanfall, which is released next week, can drive a significant increase in console sales. Though, a week later, the PS4 will get its next big exclusive: Infamous: Second Son. The release dates for other big PS4 and Xbox One exclusives haven’t yet been announced, but they are expected to play a fairly big role in deciding who ultimately sells more consoles. Microsoft might also close the widening sales gap if it released the Xbox One in some more markets — and, of course, if its price was cut to directly compete with the PS4.

6 Reasons To Buy A PlayStation 3 Instead Of An Xbox 360

If you still don’t have a current generation video game console, you may want to consider the PlayStation 3 over the Xbox 360. Here’s why.

When it comes to console gaming, it’s close to a toss-up between Sony‘s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft‘s Xbox 360. If you’re a serious Nintendo fan, the Wii makes sense. For most gamers, however, the Wii is not a serious enough piece of hardware. The Wii U may change that, but questions linger as to whether the Wii U will be left in the dust by its next-gen competitors, and what that means for the Wii U game lineup.

Looking at just this generation hardware, assuming you’re still in the market for a new console, should you buy a PS3 or an Xbox 360? I have both, and both are great machines, but in the end the PS3 is the better buy.

While I do think the Xbox 360 controller is better for first-person-shooters, the PS3 controller is just as good (if not better) for just about everything else.

And while the Xbox Live metro-style aesthetic is nice to look at, it’s no more functional than the PS3′s UI and nowhere near as simple to use (at least until you figure it out.)

Forbes’s David Ewalt had a great story recently on Microsoft’s success with the Xbox 360, and there’s reason to believe this success will continue, at least in North America, with its next-gen successor. But that success doesn’t mean its the best choice for either hardcore or casual gamers.

Here are five reasons the PS3 is ultimately the better choice (for most of you.

1. The PlayStation Network is free. Sure, sometimes the PSN goes down or is taken down by hackers, a problem Microsoft has done a better job avoiding, but Xbox Live Gold will cost you $50 a year. That’s $50 more than you’ll pay to play online games on the PSN.

As Paul Tassi notes, if you’re paying for Xbox Live it’s not like you get a discount on Netflix or Hulu or any other app. You’re just paying twice. Fifty bucks a year isn’t a make-or-break deal, but it’s enough to buy an extra game per year ad infinitum.

If the Xbox 720 costs the same per year as the 360 does, and the PS4 maintains its free PSN access, then the next-gen decision will be just as easy to make.

2. The PS3 has a Blu-ray drive. If you’re like me and my family, most of your media these days is streaming. Still, especially for animated movies likeHow to Train Your Dragon and anything from Pixar, as well as other big-screen flicks like The Avengers or The Dark Knight series, the Blu-ray can make a big difference, both in terms of visuals and sound.

It also means there’s more room per disc for PS3 titles over Xbox 360 titles, allowing for somewhat noticeable improvements in graphics on PS3 versions of many games, and – perhaps even more importantly – allowing each title to fit on one disc. There are few things more annoying than having to stand up and switch out an Xb0x 360 disc in the middle of a game.

Next Page: Exclusive titles, controllers, and Kinect.

LittleBigPlanet Karting will have Move wheel support

3. The PS3 has better exclusive titles. Unless you’re a big fan of Halo orGears of War, PlayStation 3 simply has better Sony exclusives than the Xbox 360.

I’m not a big Uncharted fan, but if you like Indiana Jones-style cinematic games, you can’t do much better than the Naughty Dog’s adventure franchise.God of War may be stretching itself a bit thin at this point, but the action-Greek-myth hack-and-slash title is still a big draw.

From Software’s Demon’s Souls is, quite frankly, reason enough all by its lonesome to choose the PlayStation 3 over the competition.

Other exclusives include the LittleBigPlanet franchise, including the upcoming Karting installment, as well asPSN games like The Unfinished Swan, which is one of the most intriguing looking titles I’ve seen in a while.

Meanwhile, many popular titles like Call of Duty are cross-platform, and many Xbox exclusives are also available on PC (though not nearly enough – seriously, why isn’t every Halo game a PC title as well?)

4. The PlayStation 3 controller is rechargeable. Never underestimate how truly irritating batteries can be. I own Dark Souls on Xbox 360, and in the middle of a serious boss fight (Smough and Ornstein) my controller died.

This was my first attempt at the boss, and I’d summoned an NPC and another player to help me in the battle. Just as we entered and began doing battle my character froze up. I clicked madly at the buttons, watching my life drain before my eyes, unable to block, roll, run or fight. Then the message box appeared, saying that my controller was no longer connected.

Had this been a PS3 game I could have, theoretically, leaped from the couch, bounded across the living room, plugged the controller into the console and saved my life. Since it was Xbox 360 I didn’t even try. I would have had to find the batteries, first of all, if we even had any. Sure, it was my fault for letting the controller die, but there’s something to be said for a rechargeable controller in terms of convenience, especially for lazy oblivious people like myself.

Random question: In a fight, could the Kinect beat up the Pixar lamp?

5. The Kinect isn’t ready for the big leagues. Naturally, you don’t need to buy a Kinect or any other motion-gimmick-hardware, but the Kinect does seem to occupy an overly-large parcel of psychological real estate at Microsoft. There’s a plethora of new Kinect titles, and very few top-notch new Xbox 360 exclusives hitting the market these days. Is Microsoft placing too many eggs in its Kinect basket? If so, it’s worrisome.

For one thing, the Kinect is not nearly what it’s cracked out to be. We’ve played mostly demos for the Kinect, but it’s been a really frustrating experience for both us and our five-year-old. It constantly drops players and is about as far from precise as you can get.

Don’t get me wrong – the concept is fantastic, and some of the games are fun, especially for kids. I imagine a future generation of Kinect may be a good selling point for the Xbox 360/720/etc. but this time around, I’d worry more about Microsoft and Xbox 360 developers paying too much attention to a device that’s only half-ready, neglecting non-motion-controller games in the process.

6. Last, but not least, is the PS Vita, Sony’s latest and greatest hand-held gaming device. The world may be moving toward mobile, but the PS Vita is a really impressive gaming machine that can connect directly to your PS3. If you want hand-held games, Microsoft still has some serious catching up to do. If you go with a Vita, you’ll be better off pairing it with a PS3 than an Xbox 360.

~

What do you think? Outside of a handful of good Xbox 360 exclusives, is there anything else that makes that console better than Sony’s PS3? Did I miss any compelling reasons to buy the PS3 over the Xbox 360?

Final thought: Better still, build yourself a gaming PC. Sure, not every title will make it to PC, but you’ll have a much wider array of indie titles to choose from, as well as mods and customizations that make consoles pale in comparison. Still better: buy all three because, you know, you’re made out of money, right?

Assassin's Creed 5 main character image leaked?

An image has leaked showing what some believe to be the main character for Assassin's Creed 5. The image is a leaked photo reportedly taken at Ubisoft Montreal.

The poster (courtesy of Gamespace) shows an as yet unseen Assassin holding what could be a hidden blade however gamers have already taken to the forums to speculate as to whether it is in fact a revolver.

Whilst Ubisoft has ruled out the prospect of feudel Japan or ancient Egypt there is still wide speculation that the next Assassin's Creed game could be set in Victorian London or indeed Revolutionary France.

A revolver would certainly support the idea of Victorian London however Ubisoft is staying silent on the matter so for now we'll have to rely on the image above and hearsay.

In a recent interview with Edge Magazine Ubisoft confirmed that Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag had been built for Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 then ported to next-gen, whereas its latest venture Watch Dogs had been built for next-gen first.

This could suggest that Ubisoft is looking to create Assassin's Creed 5 exclusively for Xbox One and Sony PS4, of course that's just speculation.

Wolfenstein: The New Order and Doom 4 beta get release date

Bethesda has today announced that Wolfenstein: The New Order has a UK release date of 23rd May on Xbox One, PS4, PC and older consoles.

The company has also revealed that those who pre-order the game will get exclusive access to Doom beta, seemingly confirming that Doom 4 is very much in development.

Little else is mentioned about the as yet unannounced Doom game except that those who pre-order Wolfenstein will be given a key code which when entered will then give them access to Doom beta when it launches.

Wolfenstein: The New Order is set in a fantasy version of our world where Nazi Germany won the Second World War using mysteriously advanced technology.

The game takes place in the 60s just as the resistance movement is beginning to gain pace. Your mission is to travel across Europe taking down the Nazi regime, of course how will be revealed in the game.

PS4 sales hit 5.3 million ahead of Japan launch, while Xbox One sits pretty at 3.6 million

Sony, after announcing which the Dsi 4 ended up being out-selling the Xbox live 1 nearly two-to-one in January, offers verified so it offers distributed more than 5. 3 zillion PS4s in between the release on Nov 15 and also Feb . 8. This Xbox live 1, in comparison, had distributed 3 zillion devices from the stop associated with 2013. This can be prior to PS4 roll-outs in the household country associated with Asia, also; the moment that comes about on Feb . twenty two we can anticipate the PS4 for you to tremendous increase a step forward before Xbox live 1.

By far the most useful facts simply looks as we tally in place both the natural revenue figures and also the two-to-one tidbit, however. We all don’t offer an current revenue number coming from Microsof company — and so, by the end associated with 2013, Sony had distributed 4. only two zillion PS4s, and also Microsof company had distributed 3 zillion Xbox live Types. And then, in January, the PS4 “nearly doubled” the revenue with the Xbox live 1, dealing with 5. 3 zillion devices by means of Feb . 8. In the event many of us function in the opposite direction, which means the Xbox live 1 simply distributed about six-hundred, 000 devices in between January 1 and also Feb . 8, while PS4 distributed 1. 1 zillion devices.

Titanfall beta only runs at 792p, Xbox One fails to deliver 1080p for major release

The folks over at Respawn Entertainment are ramping up for a large-scale beta of Titanfall this week, and the excitement is palpable across the internet. In many ways, this game will serve as the Xbox One’s first major release, and could potentially close the sales gap with the PS4. Unfortunately, the Xbox One’s hardware limitations mean that the visuals aren’t quite as next-gen as we’d like. The beta is confirmed to be running natively at 792p, and it seems unlikely that the final version of the game will be capable of running natively at 1080p on Microsoft’s console.

Respawn Entertainment’s Abbie Heppe recently confirmed the beta’s oddball native resolution, and the reactions have been mixed. On one hand, this is good news. Rumors were spreading that Titanfall could end up running at 720p, so this is a step up. On the other hand, the dream of running at 1080p on the Xbox One seems dead at this point. Even with the 53Mhz GPU bump and additional power gained by disabling the Kinect’s video features, a make-or-break game like Titanfall still can’t achieve 1080p.

Xbox Fun: Xbox One to get massive price cut, 1TB hard drive, report says

So, what does Microsoft have up its sleeve for the Xbox One? Will we see a bigger hard drive, or maybe a cheaper disc-free model? With the PS4 taking the early lead in sales, Microsoft is definitely going to need to react in some way, especially considering the PS4 is set for a mammoth release next month in its home country of Japan. Thanks to a huge dump of leaked information, we might already know what to expect out of Redmond in 2014.

Over at NeoGAF, a user going by the name “ntkrnl” revealed a number of interesting detailsregarding Microsoft’s plans for the Xbox One. This anonymous source revealed countless information on big titles like Halo 2: Anniversary Edition, a new Forza Horizon installment, and the next Gears of War game. More importantly, some information also surfaced about the console itself

Microsoft to boost Xbox One GPU performance by making Kinect optional

The Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 have a lot in common when it comes to hardware. In fact, the specs are almost identical, save for the GPU where the PS4 holds the clear advantage. When these consoles were still the “next generation,” it was debatable how much impact that difference would have. Now that the next gen has become the current one, Sony looks to be in a very good place — some of the cross-platform launch titles look better and are running at higher frame rates on the PS4. Microsoft is reportedly swinging into action with a patch to give the Xbox One’s graphics a little boost at the expense of Kinect.
At the heart of both the PS4 and Xbox One is a semi-custom AMD APU. This 28nm part features an 8-core Jaguar CPU and a Radeon 7000-series GPU. The Xbox’s GPU is similar to the Bonaire core from the Radeon HD 7790, an entry-level PC graphics processor. The PS4, meanwhile, is rocking the mid-range Pitcairn core like you’d find in a Radeon HD 7870. Even though the Xbox One GPU is clocked a little higher, it can’t keep up with the PS4 in terms of raw power.
To make matters worse, game developers working on the Xbox One are coding with one hand tied behind their backs. Microsoft requires that all games reserve 10% of the GPU’s capacity for the Kinect, even if the game doesn’t use it. That’s split up into 8% for the Kinect video features and 2% for Kinect voice. In an effort to give a boost to its console, Microsoft is expected to issue a system patch that removes the requirement that games save that 8% for Kinect video.
By reducing the horsepower dedicated to Kinect, Microsoft might be able to realize frame rate improvements immediately after the system is patched. In one recent embarrassment, the frame rate of the new Tomb Raider title was found to be only 30 fps on the Xbox, but 60 fps on the PS4. This is something that an 8% bump in GPU power could help with.
Since frame rate is an average measurement, the Xbox One might only be hitting 20 frames for a short time when heavily taxed, but could shoot up to 40 or 50 fps when there’s less going on. Those times when the frame rate drops will stand out because it gets close to the edge of what our brains perceive as fluid movement. The PS4, way up there at a 60fps average has considerably more breathing room. Even squeezing just 8% more out of the GPU could help the Xbox keep the frame rate out of the danger zone.