1. 4K resolution displays

Stunning visuals are always a crowd pleaser, and graphical improvements tend to be the first thing the average consumer recognises when comparing two hardware generations side by side.

Most recently Yahoo reported that PS4 will support ultra HD '4K Resolution' displays. 4K resolution is the term used in digital cinematography to broadly describe a resolution (pixel count) of around 4000 pixels horizontally on a display. This is similar to 'Ultra HD', or 'Quad Full High Definition' (QFHD), which at 3840x2160, is exactly double today's full HD resolution of 1920x1080.

With 3D failing to take off as the next big thing, Sony and the rest of the big players in the TV industry are looking for a new way to get consumers to upgrade their sets. Given that Sony's already selling 4K Blu-ray players, similar support for games and movies on PS4 seems highly likely.

2. Platform Ubiquity

Next gen consoles will allow players to engage with content in new, increasingly imaginative and convenient ways. PS3 Remote Play using PSP was an early step in this direction, but things will only accelerate in this direction with Wii U, PS4 and Xbox 720.

Users will be able to begin playing games and watching movies at home on one device before leaving the house and resuming them on another, or vice versa. Secondary devices will make experiences more immersive by delivering companion content using tech like SmartGlass, and serve as remote controls for your home console, whether it's the Wii U GamePad, your Vita or your mobile phone in the case of SmartGlass.

A new PC-based development environment for PS4 should also enable more companies to take advantage of initiatives like PS3-Vita Cross Buy, which let you buy a piece of software on console and get a free digital version for handhelds.

3. Enhanced communication

Online gaming is a great way to keep up with friends without having to ever leave the comfort of your own sofa, Kinect Video is an interesting feature, and the integration of social media platforms on consoles is nothing new, but next gen consoles should make great advances in the communications space.

Earlier this month a Microsoft job ad revealed that the "next gen Xbox" will support Skype. The potential to make or receive free phone calls on your console is an appealing one, particularly if it means you can simultaneously play games, eradicating the need to juggle your mobile phone or telephone receiver with your controller.

The Wii U will also go in this direction, allowing customers to make video conference calls with their devices.

4. Digital dominance

The brick-and-mortar games retail business will not survive another ten years, the executive vice president of EA Games recently told CVG. While the next generation of consoles are highly likely to support physical media formats, that doesn't mean the digital revolution isn't already in full flow, and day-and-date digital game releases are likely to become as mandatory as DLC in the next few years.

That said, sales figures for downloadable triple A games on console won't match sales of physical products until digital prices are more reasonable. We can't think of any reason why New Super Mario Bros. 2 costs £10 more to buy from the eShop than it does from GAME for £29.99 (games on PSN and Xbox Live's Games of Demand are also regularly overpriced).

Sony also has the possibility of opening up a games streaming service with its newly acquired Gaikai tech.

5. Subscription options

Microsoft has been trialling a console subscription model in the States, where customers pay $99 upfront for a new Xbox 360 bundled with Kinect and a two year Xbox Live Gold account, and are subsequently charged $14.99 for the following 24 months.

We've heard from a well placed Sony executive that the company thought about introducing such a model for the PS3's launch, and think it would make sense for the platform holders to roll it out from the offset of the next generation. The model locks buyers into the concept of upgrading at the end of their contract, when they can pick up the latest iteration of the current hardware offering. It has worked for Apple with iPhone and iPad, so there certainly is potential for consoles to do the same.

The subscription model also allows the platform holders to sell their high-power machines at a low deposit RRP, meaning that the huge investment required to make these machines won't be reflected in such exorbitant product costs. The PS3 suffered tremendously when it launched at $599, but a subscription model would likely cut that price down by more than half.

Image credit: Telegraph, Digital Trends

Valves new game adds, new grenades, polish you would expect for valve and a few upgrades to one of the best games for the pc ever.

From: http://www.computera...m/homepage.php?

By: Mike Rose

Valve's latest FPS does not redefine nor ruin the acclaimed series.

This is it, then - the next chapter in one of the greatest first-person multiplayer shooter franchises the PC has to offer, now with added console support.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tries to emerge from the meteor-sized shadows of the original 2000 Counter-Strike and the 2004 Source follow-up. It aims to satisfy the (often vocal) CS community, while also pulling in as many casual players as possible.

It's fair to say that developers Hidden Path and Valve have, to some extent, have succumbed to peer pressure in trying to fulfil these goals.

This could have been an altogether new experience in the Counter-Strike collection. It is not. Global Offensive is the same step-up that Counter-Strike Source was from the original 1.6 version. This is not a fully fledged sequel with oodles of new content and dozens of never-seen-before elements. This is Counter-Strike: Source with new visuals and gameplay tweaks.

Not that everyone will find this worthy of complaint. This is, after all, exactly what many CS enthusiasts wanted; the result of Valve expertly observing calls from its community and acting on them. The result, ultimately, should be more fittingly named Counter-Strike: Source Redux. It is mash-up of everything that CS has always stood for, but with additional elements that allow new players to enter the fray with less fear of being manhandled by veteran players.

If you are such a potential new player, Counter-Strike in a nutshell is this: Two teams vie for control of an enclosed game space. The terrorists will seek to plant a bomb in designated areas, while the counter-terrorists seek to thwart such plans. This is all done with guns and grenades.

If you're a big Call of Duty fan, it is likely that Counter-Strike will not sit well with you as much as you expect - at least at first. This is a famously merciless, harsh environment where you can be assassinated before you've even had time to fire off your weapon. Fire fights are usually over within seconds, and the old 'spray and pray' tactic simply does not work.

Counter-Strike makes you work to enjoy the content, and you'll have to put many hours of play into it before enjoying the feeling of conquering it.

Weapons are a huge part of the series too, with CS:GO not an exception. Each round provides a cash sum based on your previous performance, and with this you can purchase armour, projectiles and weapons. Firearms range from standard assault rifles to shotguns and sniper rifles, and you'll want to experiment with each one to see which works best.

What makes Counter-Strike such a popular series - and what will no doubt make CS:GO the next big PC shooter - is the thrill of the ego chase. As you die, often continuously, the frustration is outweighed by an aspiration to do better. In a game where success is pinned on attention to detail, death often triggers an internal failure analysis that the player will mull over while waiting for a new session to load. It becomes a spiral of egging yourself on to do better - and if you become a good player, the game becomes a stage for you to parade your skills.

Global Offensive builds on the CS series by going through a significant checklist presented by its community and marking off as many points as possible. Gun game as its own separate mode? Check. Competitive capabilities built in? Check. Map balancing here and there? Check, check, check.

As a result, there are numerous upgrades that will adjust gameplay while also making accessibility far better. The wide range of grenades, for example, will likely make play more tactical - laying down incendiary grenades will thwart rushes, while decoys, which fake gunfire and fool radar points, are brilliant tools for messing with the minds of established players.

The actual core shooting will be a huge talking point for many months to come. It has been tinkered slightly and gives weapons a noticeably floaty feel, which doesn't sit well to begin with. We eventually found ourselves enamoured by it, and the impact of hits add a real tactile distinction to play.

It's what doesn't work, however, that is most notable. Regular mode has no new maps added to it, while all the new guns seem somewhat cosmetic. Global Offensive has also removed some of its middling weapons such as the MP5, essentially pushing even more players to stick with the AK and the M4. Sometimes it gives the impression that there is in fact less valuable content than in previous CS releases.

If one assumed this was Counter-Strike Source with a visual mod installed, there would often be little to shake that impression.

There's also now a split between casual and competitive servers - however, many players aren't yet aware of the differences, mainly because the distinction isn't made obvious enough. It becomes even more confusing if you join a community server with all hosts of mods installed on it, which have perhaps taken casual mode, turned friendly fire on and essentially made it as close to Source as possible.

At times, arranging games in Competitive Mode feels like a chore. Joining a five-on-five war is simple enough, but attempt to lobby up with a group of friends and join a game, and you'll often hit a snag. Myself and a few others tried to find a competitive game with no luck, simply being told that no servers were currently available.

When you finally do join, it works fine, but the wait and work required to find a game seems like a drawback. We eventually gave up and resorted to using IRC to find matches, as we would with Source.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is not the key evolution point that we were hoping for, and the response from the community often reflects this view. On many occasions, other players used phrases such as "same old" to us.

This is elementally Counter-Strike Source with some fine-tuning under the bonnet, and Valve appears to have acknowledged this with the reasonable RRP attached to it.

And yet the core DNA of the game has not lost its appeal. This is still a glorious experience that sets a benchmark for all multiplayer shooters. Valve's objective with Global Offensive was to draw together the active communities of both the Source and trusty 1.6 edition. It clearly has a good chance.

The verdict

SCORE

8.0

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a great introduction to the renowned shooter series, but veterans may feel there simply isn't enough new material here to justify the encore.

CVG UK<p>

UPPERS

• Layers of polish typical of a Valve game
  
• Nails the 'just one more go' multiplayer hook
  
• New range of grenades are a blast
  

DOWNERS

• Don't expect too much more than Counter-Strike Source Deluxe
  
• Arranging matches in Competitive mode is a chore
  
• Er... where's my MP5
  

From: http://www.gameinformer.com/

By: Jack Gardner

Thousands are set to descend on Raleigh, North Carolina for the biggest North American eSports event of the summer. The Championship will feature a total prize pool of nearly $215,000.

MLG expects thousands to flock to their summer championship at the Greater Raleigh Convention Center and millions more to watch the online streams. From the amount of content they are putting out for the Summer Championship, I wouldn't be surprised if they shattered their previous attendance/viewership records. The main events will be the StarCraft II, Mortal Kombat, Soul Calibur V, and League of Legends tournaments.

StarCraft II fans can expect to see previous champions Taeja, Marine King, and Violet going up against hundreds of prospective summer champions for the $25,000 first place prize. There will be four streams for StarCraft II matches cast by Day[9], Apollo, djWheat, TotalBiscuit, Mr Bitter, Rotterdam, Rob Simpson, Tim Frazier (Robin), Axeltoss, Kibbelz, Clutch, and Adebisi (observer).

Mortal Kombat and Soul Calibur V each have a first place prize of $16,700 and will feature the likes of DetroitBalln, CDjr, Keev_, Kayane, LostProvidence, Pig of the Hut, among others. Each fighting game will have one dedicated stream cast by Tom Brady for Mortal Kombat, Bibulus forSoul Calibur V, and hosted by Juicebox Abel.

League of Legends will have the largest prize money with $40,000 given to the winning team. Twelve teams will be competing for honor and riches including Curse and Dignitas. Two streams of the competition will be cast by Dan Dinh, Optimus Tom, Deman, Monte Cristo, Jaws, and Jatt.

In addition to all of that eSports goodness, there will also be several other awesome events occurring. Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft II World Championship Series North American Finals will have a separate stage and competition area. Players will be competing for $60,000 and the chance to represent their countries at the Battle.net World Championship in Shanghai November 17-18. Some of the players to watch will be Scarlett, ViBE, and MajOr, winners of the Canada, US, and Mexico Finals, respectively.

There will be two exhibition tournaments of Virtua Fighter 5 and Skullgirls each with $2,000 prize pools. The exhibitions will be held Friday through Saturday.

For more information on attending or viewing the MLG Summer Championship, click here.

Also, MLG has been kind enough to provide me with a few HD codes that can be used to view the event in HD without ads and with full access to all streams. Tweet at me, @Riverboatjack, with #MLGRaleigh for a chance to win one of the codes!

Tune in August 24-26 to watch the action go down in Raleigh.

The eye-opening 56-page document which outlines Microsoft's next-generation console master-plan is not a fake, a well-placed studio source has told CVG.

(Lots more information here, 7 pages on the 720) http://www.computera...-the-next-xbox/

The leaked cache of information details Microsoft's hardware strategy for the so-calledXbox 720, exposing technological advances such as two Kinect sensors and "groundbreaking" Kinect Glasses tech. A full CVG examination of the document can be found here.

However, a studio developer currently collaborating on an Xbox 720 project said the finer details of the document should be approached with caution.

"It's genuine but should not be considered totally reliable," the person claimed, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"A lot of what you see in there ties with design docs here and other studios working with Microsoft. Some of the hardware specs are... odd, completely not what we're looking at, and there are other things in there (haptic controller?!) that I haven't heard about."

Microsoft has declined to comment but has issued CVG the following statement.

"We understand there is great interest and anticipation for what comes next for Xbox and we are lucky to have customers who are so passionate about the platform. Today, there has never been a better time to own an Xbox 360 console. We have found new ways to extend the console lifecycle by introducing controller-free experiences with Kinect and we've re-invented the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships. We are continually thinking about the future of the platform and when we have something to share, we will."

CVG's full examination of the Xbox 720 document reveals a number of key technologies and advances, including dual-Kinect sensors, "groundbreaking Kinect Glasses", and a unified media hub that records TV as games are being played.

You can read the CVG examination here.

http://www.computera...ne-cvg-sources/

Bethesda's surprise gift of public sign-ups for Skyrim's Dawnguard beta on Xbox Live won't be the last such offering, production director Ashley Cheng told G4 in a brief chat at E3 2012. "Any future DLC we do have, there's going to be a private beta," he said, nodding to the lessons learned from the rocky PlayStation 3 Skyrim release and the subsequent request for fans to send in their save files.

"We started doing these betas with Steam, [which] has the ability to take some of your content or your patch and put it behind a beta wall. People can then opt in."

"We've been getting tremendous feedback, mostly because we've been adding features to our title updates and our patches. Quite frankly, the game is so big that it's virtually impossible for us to test against all possible scenarios. What you might have done, what you might have had, what you might have crafted," Cheng continued. "And we thought, what if we did it with our DLC."

The Xbox 360 console turned out to be the perfect platform for this plan, thanks to Microsoft's pre-existing framework for download codes. In this case, the codes are just being activated early and Bethesda will give them out to those accepted into the beta. Those people will then also be granted access to a private forum where they'll be able to give feedback on any glaring balance issues or bugs. Patches can then be authored and pushed live while the beta is still in progress.

we'll basically fix anything we have to and then it goes live.

"It's the full DLC. If we don't find anything wrong, we're just going to turn it on for everybody. So all of the people who make it into the beta, they actually own the [DLC]. They don't have to buy it," Cheng added. "It's tremendous, and Microsoft is fully on board with it."

As mentioned above, the idea grew out of Skyrim's PS3 launch and the issues that players ran into with that version of the game. "That was the lesson we learned: our fans are going to help us out with this, because the game is so big," Cheng said. "Any future DLC we do have, there's going to be a private beta."

http://www.g4tv.com/...any-future-dlc/

My name is Twinreaper. I am a Generation 1 (old old school) modder and programmer with a rich heritage that stretches back beyond Halo 1, and stretches into every halo title produced, except Halo Wars. I was around at the ground floor when we were all starting to plan and build the now "Halo Community". I have participated in many posts, threads and websites around the internet. I hold a lot of credibility within my people and communities. I pull no punches and always tell you how it is. As a first step, I want to formally and officially apologize to anyone I may have insulted, looked down on, or made feel bad in the past. It was not my intention and in hind-sight I admit that my path was wrong. Now, my reason for this post...

Over the years I have seen this community evolve and in ways devolve. When I first came to Halo and started to build lifelong friendships, the community was still in it's infancy. People were still trying to figure out where they stood and what halo meant to them and to the people who shared their love for it as a whole. As with any community over time, is has been through many changes and many many troubling times. These troubling times have now become the present day "Halo Community" in which we all participate. While Halo may be a great title and have some great people that are a part of it, this community alone over the last 5 years, has declined into the "basement" of the gaming world.

Gamer Communities the internet over, now laugh at us and mock us at every turn. Once a great pillar of the gaming world, we are now shunned and left with no credibility or solid backing by anyone...even our own franchise. No one takes this community seriously anymore. No one wants to listen to anything we have to say. Now yes, there are certain times in the case of Reach TU, where the devs did give us a listen....but beyond that mostly what we speak of and talk about in terms of goals and game ideas is lost on deaf ears. SO you may be thinking to yourself, "You have no idea what you are talking about". Rest assured I know completely all too well in which I speak in terms of the community.

Anyone who would go to various websites around the net, could plainly see how divided and segregated we have allowed ourselves to become. Because of the fragile nature of a community with various sub-cultures, we lost our main goal. Our main goal used to be a simple fun gaming experience in which we all participated, respected one another, and worked towards making the gaming experience a great one, for all walks of life and gaming preferences. Now, we have sub-cultures who would rather shun, insult, ignore and plain out despise any other sub-culture whom does not share the same views. This is dangerous! This alone is why Halo is failing as a community and a franchise. We have lost ourselves amongst the years of gameplay and interactions resulting their of.

In order for this community to continue to grow and prosper, we need to begin to heal our current wounds and come to a great communal understanding. Regardless of whether you are a "Hardcore", "Casual", "MLG", "Fun", "Modder", "Noob" or part of any other sub-culture, you must realize this now.....we need to come together and put aside our past judgments and hangups that we have with each other. There are a great many threads here at 343i that are a shining example of everything I have spoken about. But one thing remains clear and front center...WE NEED TO FACILITATE A CHANGE!!!!!!!

I personally am stepping forward to promote and lead this change. Moving forward....You want 343i to take us seriously? You want 343i to listen to this community and really give us great things? You want to be part of something big, and not just a bystander? Do you love your game and community enough to change? I do! And that is why I am officially calling for all gaming sub-cultures of Halo to start trying better to get along. we need to come together and work together properly if we are to survive into something that can once again be the role model and top of the food chain in terms of gaming communities. I don't want us to dwell and further spiral down into a nothingness from which we can never return.

It does not matter if you like competitive play, if you casually play, or if you just like to have fun. There is no good reason why any of us have to continue to be jerks towards each other simply because we do not see eye to eye of gaming styles and title decisions. Halo is what united us, and it must be Halo that continues to keep us together. Shed off any misconceptions or hard feelings about title updates, title mechanics, gaming cultures, personal feelings, and help start getting this community back on track. No gaming company wants to try to even begin to listen to a community that is virtually broken. Help fix it now, and you may very well help to facilitate and change in the community and the game itself!

No more will intolerance towards sub-cultures be tolerated. We must learn to work together, not bicker back and fourth about what "Halo really is", or "What a Halo game really is". halo means different things to many people, and must be respected as such. Please join with me now my fellow community members, and help to spark a change in the way we view each other and the game in general. Do not allow fear or unsettling feelings prevent you from becoming better towards the community and yourself. Join with me and say "We wont take it anymore, we are Halo HEAR US ROAR!!!!!"

If this post has spoken to anyone at all at any level, then I feel good about what I have started and what I have done. I sincerely hope that these words can start to facilitate the change and help change the state of things. In the end isn't that what we all want? To get along and have a great gaming experience? I thank you for your time in reading this, and if you have a similar goal or desire to see the community once again become the king of the gaming world, please sign a comment in the post and show your support!!!! Thank you all once again, and good gaming to you all!

- Twinreaper

So why not check it out! It is still in its teething stages so needs help from you! Whether this is from subscribing, or just watching the videos, it all helps

Have a look, here:

http://www.youtube.c...r/343iCommunity

Luke

here an official post by support on xbox.com. POST

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THIS IS A QUICK POST AND SHOULD BE DELETED AFTER THE ISSUE IS OVER

IF YOUR GAMERSCORE IS GONE OR IT SAYS YOU HAVE NO GAMES PLAYED PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PLAY GAMES AS YOU COULD LOSE YOUR GAMERSCORE PERMANENTLY

We've created a gamertag just for this forum, reasoning behind this, a gamertag that will list all members who is online, whos not, what there playing.

Want to find members to game with, chat with, or even challenge the staff to a game? well it should all be here.

Dont bother clogging up your friends list with loads of people, have 1 gamertag on your friends list, that will show everyone.

Hopefully this will work out okay, I use a similar one for Gears of War, and it works a treat. so lets see how it goes.

All you have to do is send a friend request to the gamertag 'Forum 343i' we'll accept it then you can check the friends list on the gamertag to see who is online.

That gamertag again is Forum 343i

As you can see, we are down to one member in the News Group because the other two have moved to something better..(hmmm I wonder) anyways, so I have been assigned the job to find at least one new member of the community to join the News Group. In order to apply you must:

1. Be an active member on the site

2. Write a 200 word detailed review of you favorite game

3. Explain why you want the job and why you deserve it

4. You must write atleast 5 good posts a day that aren't just random things.

All entries will be sent to me via PM and then the rest of the staff and I will decide who shall get the position(s)

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! GET STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!