We're all in tenterhooks over here at Engadget HQ waiting for the imminent arrival of the next Xbox. As we wait for the event to start though, Microsoft has unveiled a live stream where you can see the revealing for yourself. So once you've schooled yourself on all the rumors, come back at 1pm ET to watch the embedded stream below and keep an eye on our liveblog to see if any of them are proven right.
Filed under: Microsoft
Source: Xbox Reveal
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
It's been eight years since Microsoft and Sony announced new consoles, and tastes have changed considerably. Back then, new gaming gear was launched at E3, or using Elijah Wood-fronted MTV specials, but this time around Microsoft is pitching a tent on its Redmond campus for the world's media to huddle under. With less than 24 hours before the next Xbox is revealed, it's high time we sifted through the leaks, rumors and prognostications to see what we know, or at least, what we think we know about a little box called "Durango."
It's been eight years since Microsoft and Sony announced new consoles, and tastes have changed considerably. Back then, new gaming gear was launched at E3, or using Elijah Wood-fronted MTV specials, but this time around Microsoft is pitching a tent on its Redmond campus for the world's media to huddle under. With less than 24 hours before the next Xbox is revealed, it's high time we sifted through the leaks, rumors and prognostications to see what we know, or at least, what we think we know about a little box called "Durango."
Upcoming third-person action game Watch Dogs is set in a near-future environment modeled on Chicago, a city that's overseen by computers that can be manipulated. And while the game has some instances of fantastical hacking perpetrated by main character Aiden Pearce, Ubisoft's creative team is also working with security firm Kaspersky Lab to bring an air of realism to the game's hacking themes.
"They have really hardcore experts there on hacking. We send them some of our designs and we ask them [for] feedback on it, and it's interesting to see what gets back," Ubisoft Montreal senior producer Dominic Guay told our sister site, Joystiq. "Sometimes they say, 'Yeah, that's possible, but change that word,' or, 'That's not the way it works.'" Check out the full piece right here.
Along with a new Assassin's Creed game, Ubisoft is bringing Watch Dogs to next-gen consoles this year (as well as current-gen and PC), leading its next-gen push.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD
Source: Joystiq
Like Punxsutawney Phil's shadowgazing, we can rightfully expect a new Call of Duty game to be announced annually and available at the holidays. Also like our groundhog friend, the only annual questions we must ask are in the details -- what is this year's Call of Duty about, and who's making it? It turns out that this year's Duty development, unsurprisingly, falls on Infinity Ward's shoulders -- the folks who created the much lauded Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare -- and it's named "Call of Duty: Ghosts." The first-person shooter is arriving on a whole mess of platforms this November 5th, including Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, but also PlayStation 4 and the next Xbox -- given that we don't know release dates for the PlayStation 4 and the next Xbox, it stands to reason that Ghosts will arrive on a different date for those platforms. It's also likely we'll see a handheld version on Nintendo's 3DS made by someone other than Infinity Ward, but we've got no direct word on that just yet. More ambiguous, Nintendo's Wii U isn't listed, but it stands to reason it'll head that way as well (the last series entry, Black Ops 2, got a Wii U version).
The "Ghosts" in the title references ... well, we're not entirely sure. Previous CoD games featured a character named "Ghost" fairly prominently, though the plurality indicates a game about more than one individual. Infinity Ward head Mark Rubin calls Ghosts "a new sub-brand" in the CoD franchise, and it's getting a new (unnamed) game engine to boot -- another indicator that previous characters aren't involved. We're holding out hope that the often overserious, dramatic tone of previous CoD games is being completely thrown out in favor of a goofy game about hunting ghosts. The bullets pass right through their ethereal form! Run for your life! We'll hear more about Call of Duty: Ghosts at Microsoft's big next-gen console unveiling on May 21st, so hold tight. The first teaser video is just below the jump.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo
Source: YouTube
What many suspected was coming has indeed happened: Microsoft just confirmed an upcoming Xbox event on May 21st, which we expect to be focused on the company's next-gen Xbox console (informally codenamed Durango). The company isn't diving into specifics at this stage, but the event is taking place on its own Xbox campus and should offer a "real taste of the future," according to Xbox Live programming director Larry Hryb. Don't worry too much that Microsoft will completely upstage E3, which happens just a few weeks later -- Hryb also promises that his firm will "continue the conversation" at the show, focusing attention on its game lineup. Players will have a chance to stream the event through both Microsoft's services (including Xbox Live) and Spike TV, but you can be sure we'll be on the ground to share the news first-hand.
Ben Gilbert contributed to this report.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
Source: Major Nelson
The Xbox 360 successor may not support Xbox 360 game discs, according to a Bloomberg report. The issue arises from the as-yet-unannounced console's chip, which allegedly comes from AMD and, like the PlayStation 4, uses x86 architecture (like a PC). Resultantly, backwards compatibility would have to be handled on a software level through emulation, as game discs won't play (like with Microsof't last console). Today's report, which cites unidentified "people with knowledge of the matter," reflects earlier rumors of the next Xbox -- codenamed "Durango" and / or "Kryptos" -- containing AMD's "Jaguar" SoC. The chip design is intended for laptops and tablets, allowing the chipset to push the maximum amount of power without employing too much wattage.
Earlier this year, specs for the retail version of the next Xbox were said to be as follows: a 64-bit D3D11.x 800MHz GPU, an 8-core 1.6GHz 4MB L2 CPU, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB of on-board memory, USB 3.0, HDMI-out, and an optical drive for 50GB discs. It's unclear if the reported specs have changed since then, but we'll likely find out in the near future as Microsoft's expected to detail its next game console ahead of this year's E3 gaming conference in early June.
[Image credit: Kotaku]
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft, AMD
Source: Bloomberg
This year's Battlefield series entry -- Battlefield 4 -- is headed to PCs this fall. The game wasn't given other platforms, but logic dictates it'll arrive on the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 successor. Apparently, since only Sony's next-gen console is a known quantity and Microsoft's staying mum, EA isn't sharing other platforms yet (but hey, it's probably PlayStation 4 and the next Xbox). The game's being built on the latest iteration of DICE's Frostbite engine, though no other details were given about the engine just yet.
Like previous Battlefield entries, EA-owned Swedish game studio DICE is at the helm, and Battlefield 4 remains planted in current times (unlike the pseudo-future of Call of Duty's latest entry, Black Ops 2). A beta for the game will go live some time this fall, and folks who bought last year's Medal of Honor: Warfighter are automatically part of said beta. We'll have more info as EA offers it up, but color us not surprised if Battlefield 4 makes a reprise appearance at Microsoft's still undated Xbox 360 successor unveiling.
Update: EA also released a 17-minute gameplay demo of the game's prologue section, played on a PC. It features a squad of four soldiers on the run from Russian spec-ops militants in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. You'll find it just beyond the break.
Update 2: Per a listing on EA's digital store, Battlefield 4 is headed to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in addition to the PC. PlayStation 4 is curiously missing, as is mention of Microsoft's next-gen game console.
The Assassin's Creed video game series -- beyond its trademark murderous historical fiction -- is known for arriving in annual installments. 2013 is no exception, with French publisher Ubisoft recently revealing Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, a pirate-centric next entry in the long-running franchise. Unlike last year's game, which took players through the American Revolution as a half-British / half-Native American named Connor, AC4: Black Flag puts you in his grandfather's swashbuckling boots as Edward Kenway of The Caribbean. Kenway's the captain of a pirate vessel known as "The Jackdaw," which promises a new twist in the AC series: open-world naval combat. While the last series entry teased naval combat, Black Flag is built around that gameplay; AC4 also borrows from recent Ubisoft highlight Far Cry 3, with Kenway battling sharks below water while diving for booty (a takeoff on the hunting found in that game, as well as in the last AC entry).
Of course, the conceit of the AC series has always been that you're a modern man named Desmond Miles, a member of the ancient Assassin's Guild, and that you're experiencing your assassin lineage through a machine called the "Animus" in order to save the world. That story line led Desmond through a variety of eras in previous games, ending with the American Revolution in Assassin's Creed 3. Without spoiling that game's final moments, it's safe to say that Desmond isn't joining the cast in Black Flag; rather, you're simply a modern day Templar (the long-running rivals of the assassins) searching for more secrets about the enemy. Ubisoft reps wouldn't tell us much about how the modern day will play into the new game's story, but did admit that it'll play a major role.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo
