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It was announced today by Bungie that they had set the release date for Destiny for September 9th 2014. Below is an excerpt from the Bungie Weekly Update for 12/6/2013 and a news article from the site. Relevance of the Date The date falls almost 9 months to the day from this day.It is the 9th day of the 9th month of the year.This is a Tuesday in the second week of the month. There will be a full moon on that date. There appears to be no relevance with the date other than that unless there is some 'in house' reasoning for selecting it. It falls well before the shopping period for the Holidays and after the summer break for schools. Update excerpt This week, we set that date in stone: September 9th, 2014. In an interview with the community back in 2001, Jason Jones once lamented the inexorable tick of the clock. More recently, he reminded our studio just how valuable the coming months will be, and challenged the team to make every second of Destiny development count. It’s an exciting time to be at Bungie. The stage is set, and we’re going to make these moments matter. We believe Destiny will be worth the wait, and we’re anxious for the chance to prove it to you. News Article Since then, Destiny has continued to reveal its promise. Every new build brings us closer to our original vision. With those goals in sight, we intend to use every moment from now until the release of the game to ensure that Destiny lives up to your expectations, and our own. Today, in partnership with Activision, we are proud to announce that the worldwide launch of Destiny will happen on September 9th. Accordingly, the Destiny Beta will kick off in the summer of 2014, available first on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. The early support and enthusiasm for Destiny has been inspiring and humbling. We believe this is the right decision for our game, our studio, and our passionate community. Thank you for coming along with us on this adventure. See you starside. This post has been promoted to an article

The Xbox One exclusive Titanfall has turned a lot of heads and is one of the most anticipated games for the console. The futuristic First Person Shooter is set to release on March 11th, of 2014. Check out the video IGN posted on the reasons they are excited for the new exclusive. 8 Reasons Why We're Excited for Titanfall "From jetpack mobility to the Smart Pistol, here are eight reasons why IGN staff members are excited to get their hands on Respawn's shooter." - IGN Video from: IGN

In an article posted Tuesday 3rd Sep 2013 on CVG, Microsoft spokesperson Larry (Major Nelson) Hryd was responding to suggestions that "Microsoft has rushed the console to market". Major Nelson said on Reddit: 'The Xbox One program has been in development for years, so calling it 'Rushed' is incorrect.' " This statement, along with many others, made by Microsoft about features, ease of use and having learned from the promises made of the XBOX 360 prior it's to release are now being seen in the light of day. Where the XBOX One's Upload Studio, Skydrive and more initial launch titles are noticeable strengths over Sony's PS4, the numerous problems with features, non user friendly interface and lack of some functions promised during it's preview are adding up. One of the most highly anticipated and heavily promoted feature of live streaming via Twitch was not present as promised by Microsoft. The service will not be available until sometime in 2014. James Orry of videogamer.com stated that, "This means Xbox One will be missing one of the most talked about and praised feature of the PS4.". This was not reported until just before launch after tens of thousands of gamer's had already pre ordered the console. Additionally the XBOX One's functions are almost all apps, which according to Edge-Online staff, "take too long to load, don’t offer the functionality that Xbox Live was built on, and are, inexplicably, badly handled by the OS." This sentiment is felt by many as you have to go through layers of commands to access information or functions that were previously available with one touch on the 360. The use of apps will make it much easier for MS to perform updates, but Edge noted that, "Xbox One’s debut user experience is stuttering, clunky, and a serious challenge to Xbox Live’s long-held status as the premier console service." . The best way to describe the XBOX One's current issue with the using the app system was given by Tom Phillips of eurogamer.net. He noted that "The company has already stated that the Xbox One interface is just its first version and, like the Xbox 360, it will be refreshed throughout the console's lifespan. But the console's operating system seems aimed towards further homogenisation with Windows 8, and away from successful Xbox 360 features such as the Guide button. And this is where things run into problems. Rather than having the system's features laid out in the Guide's single, simple interface, core pieces are now spread across separate apps. You must now return to the Home screen to individually load these features (your Friends list, Achievements, system settings) or snap these features using Kinect voice commands (although this doesn't work with everything)." Tom went on further to say, "Even within these apps, previously easy-to-reach features are now hard to find. Want to see which of your friends are online? You now need to load the Friends app, select "Friends" and click through to the system's confusing list of your acquaintances. Small green dots indicate who's actually online and who's not. This used to be on the Guide button, but was also part of the core desktop - accessible with a simple click of the right bumper. The Guide could also be used to view recent met players - a feature which has been removed entirely. It's a shame, as it makes Microsoft's much-lauded player ratings system pretty much impossible to use without it." Hopefully MS will consider making the necessary 'updates' to improve user interface and ease of use in very near future. Looking closer at the numerous articles, and even a new website that has been created to highlight the long list of issues with the new console, a number of them to show why so many feel it was rushed to market. Among them are party chat, which is plagued by connection problems between the various games, it's default settings and being forced out of party chat when beginning multiplayer on games like"Ryse - Son of Rome. Ryan King of NowGamer.com reported that, "There are a lot of issues with the new party system, such as not being able to manually invite individual friends to games while other friends are present in a party and problems with party chat (one example: party chat is set to off by default). One specific example of how the new party system has change things: Killer Instinct only allows two-man parties to play, so if you’re in a mixed party with others playing Forza or Battlefield, you can’t then play Killer Instinct while in that party. Partying up and getting into games worked well on Xbox 360 and it’s difficult to see what Microsoft was attempting with this new system, which seems restrictive without any real benefit." Another problem being noted with communication on the new platform is that when using Skype players are reporting their conversations, some of which may be private, are being heard in match making. Additionally the use of Skype and Upload Studio are also, "temporarily banning users who swear while using Skype and Upload Studio on Xbox One. Multiple users have taken to Reddit and the Xbox One forums after finding themselves locked out of the apps, presumably after submitting content - Either uploading gameplay streams or using Skype to make a private call - which included profanity. Based on the photo above, posted by Twitter user named Connor, the Xbox One tells banned users to 'choose something else to play... Because of their past behavior.' " , as reported by Michael Epstein of EscapistMagazine.com. Connor was given access back within 24 hours after having to contact XBOX support to rectify the issue. Though this matter is not a 'bug' in the system of the XBOX One, users may want to check their content settings which may be causing this to occur. Party chat is a widely used and integral part of using the XBOX Live service and having these type of issues clearly show that MS did not spend the time needed to ensure the communication system and the Skype interface would work properly. "Running home to momma" is being seen as another big problem when, "certain games tend to crash to Xbox Home and you can’t relaunch those games without rebooting the entire console. There are a number of different theories for why this happens – Xbox One running out of RAM thanks to games and apps not sharing the RAM well is the most popular theory – but Battlefield 4 is the game where the problem seems to be most frequent. NBA 2K14, Call Of Duty: Ghosts, Dead Rising 3 and Madden NFL 25 have also been reported to cause the issue.". Epstein goes on to note that, "You can’t quickly access your Friends List while in-game as quickly as you could on Xbox 360 and you can’t see a list of people you have recently played. There’s no ‘join session in progress’ option anymore. You can’t auto sign-in to your profile. There are no notifications when friends come online. Perhaps understandable given the longterm view of there being up to 1,000 friends but there should be some way for friends to be labelled ‘favourite’ and have notifications for them. Combined with the unwieldy nature of the new party system, it all combines for an unintuitive system that users have to learn. Compared to the simplicity of the Xbox 360’s party system, it feels like a step back." The ability to see the battery life of your controller or viewing remaining hard drive storage space is not available, voice messages are gone, using an external USB for storage or reading media is gone, you can't play music in the background during games, there's no option for custom backgrounds, no avatar store, etc. etc. For a complete list of missing, problematic or desired features you can visit xboxfeedback.com for viewing the extensive list or add to it yourself. Though this site appears to have gotten Microsofts Major Nelson's attention, based on this comment: "It was even spotted by Microsoft mouthpiece Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, who commented to say that its suggestions had been passed on to the relevant people.", stated Tom Phillips of eurogamer.net .......... it is speaks volumes that players felt compelled to create a web site in order to get Microsoft to pay attention to the issues they are having and features they expected to return or want. Larry Hryb made this announcement on Reddit. "I had a meeting today about much of this and I can say that things will get better. I can't offer a timeline of a list of what will be addressed first, but we are aware of the issue and things will get better." One reporter made light of the comment saying it sounded like something a politician would say! How long it will take MS to address these issues is yet to be seen. We have heard these promise of lessons learned and quick fixes before. Placing products on the market without proper testing, applying unwanted features or allowing project staff time to polish or finish promised specific features is a becoming a hallmark of MS products and those of it's game studio. The XBOX One should be a gaming console first and foremost and respect it's consumers by offering finished products. Trying to be the "everything box" appears to have caused the core use of what an XBOX was originally created for, gaming, to suffer. It would be scary to see what problems would have occurred with the infamous "DRM" feature they were forced to abandon (at least for now) following a major out cry from the community had it been implemented. The gaming community bought into XBOX Live, the XBOX consoles and exclusive titles in the past which has allowed Microsoft to make a proverbial gold mine from all of their related gaming interests. There should have been more respect given the consumers who have helped build their gaming interests. The money would have still been there. They should not chased the release of the PS4 and kept to their own schedule. Most of us are here in this forum because of our love for the Halo series and the community that surrounds, or used to surround it. Though gamer's in general face the same issues members here are with the XBOX One, it is especially tangible to Halo players when we see another product from MS that is placed on the market, much like Halo 4 was from Microsoft Studios, without being finished or properly tested and has taken so long to get it close to what was promised. Halo 4's issues drove many long term fans away from the franchise which also may happen to XBOX Live and XBOX One console users if timely fixes are not applied now. Even though Microsoft is planning on improving and tweaking the dashboard in the coming months, with a larger update, codenamed "Threshold" , planned in the spring 2015, the time to address the problems was before launch. Fun Fact The use of the term "Threshold" is a reference to the planet the first Halo ring orbited in the original game in the series, Halo Combat Evolved. View full article

Microsoft's gaming studio Lift London has confirmed that there will be three new games they are developing will be shown in the "not too distant future". Lift London's studio head Lee Schuneman spoke with OXM, he said "We've got a high bar for innovation" he also said "We have three cool titles in development that we'll reveal very soon". Nothing is really known about these three new titles other than they are free to play and will likely follow in the footsteps of Remedy's Quantum Break OXM stated, which is another upcoming exclusive title for the Xbox. Further talking with OXM Lee Schuneman pointed out the need "to build universes that will grow with the audience and follow them unto any device that they own" this does suggest to hint at cross platforming but how much of it will be implemented has not been clarified at this moment. That's all we know of what Lift London and Microsoft Studios have up their sleeves but more info will arise in the near future. View full article

Infinity Wards 'Call of Duty' series is so closely tied to the XBOX that when it was realized Microsoft's newest console could not support 1080p directly it was seen as a big discrepancy between the XBOX One and PS 4 consoles. Mark Rubin, executive producer at Infinity Ward explains the reasons to interviewer Wesley Yin-Poole of Eurogamer.net. Here is some insight from an earlier article. "If there is something about the Xbox One hardware that's to blame, it is the way it allocates memory resources", Rubin suggests. Microsoft's console reserves 10 per cent of GPU time for its operating system. As Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter describes it, features such as Kinect skeletal tracking account for "precious resources that are inaccessible to game developers". Rubin discusses this issue, and more, in the below interview. Xbox One Resolutiongate: Call of Duty: Ghosts dev Infinity Ward responds Original Article by: Wesley Yin-Poole Eurogamer.net Creating a next-gen launch title sounds like a nightmare. Can you explain exactly the challenges you faced? Mark Rubin: It is for our engineers, especially. Fortunately, both Xbox One and PS4 are very much like PC, more so than the last generation. That helped enormously. If the systems had their very peculiar architecture, like they did in current gen, this would have been a different conversation. But because of that the development this time around it was significantly easier. I have experienced the current-gen launch. I was at Infinity Ward for COD 2. When we launched it was just PC and Xbox 360, but that was our first console, period. There was a lot to learn leading up, but that was just one console, when all it was was PC and that new console. And that was an interesting challenge. So to do PC, current-gen two SKUs and next-gen two SKUs, was a massive challenge. Working with the theoretical hardware would have been a disaster if... honestly, the hardest thing to deal with is not the architecture. It's the OS (operating system) of the systems. That's the thing that comes on the latest. The Xbox One's OS on their box versus the Sony OS, becomes the hardest. All the SDKs and stuff you have to work with - that's the stuff that changes, not the hardware itself. What about the operating systems, exactly, is the problem? Mark Rubin: There's stuff in the console's OS that interacts with the game. So, for instance, voice chat is often supported by the hardware manufacturer rather than the software, and you're just using their channel. When that stuff is changing - because they're developing it on their side - and the resources they're using are changing - your, from a game design standpoint, challenge is with trying to make enough room for those resources to be used but at the same time use as much resources as possible. One of the greatest challenges the engineers have to deal with is memory management, or thread management. There are X number of threads in your CPUs. Where in those threads is the stuff that's Microsoft or Sony? Where does it fall? How does it work? We don't have the SDKs for those features yet, and then they come in and you go, okay, well it needs 3MB of RAM - oh, crap, we only allocated two! You can't just take a MB from anywhere. It's not like there's just tonnes of it just laying there. You have to pull it from something else. And now you have to balance that somewhere. It becomes a massive change internally for our entire engine, if they add a few MB to the amount of resources they need, or if they require all their processes to be on one thread. If it's not multi-threaded then we have to put it on one thread. Now we have to find space on one thread, where that can live, that it's not creating a traffic jam on that thread. Sometimes we have to be like, okay, we have to move all this stuff over to a different thread and then put that in to that thread, just to manage traffic. That's what engineers are often doing: managing the traffic of CPU threads and memory and where that's going, allocating memory, what kind of memory is it? Is it dynamic? Sometimes what has to happen is we have to allocate the 3MB straight off the bat and just say, these 3MB, specifically, these actual memory addresses, have to be used for this. They can't be used anywhere else. Whereas dynamic, it's like, okay, I need 3MB but it doesn't matter where those 3MB come from. So all that stuff can change on the fly. And you're trying to develop your system to match with that, and it's two systems, now, not just one: Sony and Xbox. That creates a massive engineering nightmare. Wow. It sounds harder than I realised. Is all that you've just described the reason the Xbox One version is native 720p and the PS4 version is native 1080p? Mark Rubin: In a way. I don't know if I can point to one particular cause. Early on, we didn't know where exactly the resolution of anything would fall because we didn't have hardware or the software to support it. We tried to focus in on 1080p, and if we felt like we were on borderline of performance somewhere... We tried to make the best decision for each platform that gives you the best-looking game we could get and maintains that 60 frames a second. There's no specific, oh, well, the VO chat on Xbox took up so much resources that we couldn't do 1080p native. There's no definitive one to one per se cause and effect. It's just an overall thing. We took each system individually and said, 'okay, let's make the best game for each system.' I think both look great. Some people might notice if they had them right next to each other. Some people might not. The Xbox One is 1080p output, it's just upscaled hardware wise. It was a late decision, too. That call wasn't made until a month ago. Put me in your shoes when you were told this was going to be the case. I assume your engineering team explains to you this is the way it has to be. How did you guys react internally? Could Microsoft engineers not have helped? Mark Rubin: It's not a thing, like pointing to the day he came and said... It wasn't like that. It's a long process. And we're always working with both platforms. There were Microsoft engineers there throughout development. They were always there. There wasn't an event, per se. There wasn't a meeting. It was just something that developed over time. Everybody was involved. Obviously the PR guys, when they found out, when they were told, that was more of an event than the devs sitting at work working on it. So you'd have to ask them. What everyone will ask is whether this is the result of the Xbox One simply not being as powerful as the PS4, and you're doing your best with the hardware you have, or whether for future versions you may be able to get the Xbox One version running natively at 1080p? Mark Rubin: It's very possible we can get it to native 1080p. I mean I've seen it working at 1080p native. It's just we couldn't get the frame rate in the neighbourhood we wanted it to be. And it wasn't a lack of effort. It wasn't that it was like last minute. We had the theoretical hardware for a long time. That's the thing you get pretty quickly and that doesn't change dramatically. It was more about resource allocation. The resource allocation is different on the consoles. That huge web of tangled resources, whether it's threads-based or if it's GPU threads or if it's memory - whatever it is - optimisation is something that could go theoretically on forever. I definitely see slash hope both platforms will look way better the next time we get a chance at it. As an obvious analogy - and if people are not sure about this it's pretty simple - look at Call of Duty 2 versus COD 4. It was a massive leap forward in graphics, and that's just because it takes time to get through this. First launch, first time at bat at a new console is a challenging one. That's just the way it is. For people fearful one system is more powerful than the other or vice versa, it's a long game. View full article

Microsoft has been sending out emails to selected customers giving away free digital copies of Killer Instinct for the Xbox One for when it launches on November 22nd. The emailed said "You're a fan of ours and we're a fan of yours.Thank you for your dedication to Xbox. We want to show you our appreciation, so we're giving you Killer Instinct." Some have been told that this offer is not legitimate but it has been confirmed that it is on the Xbox Support twitter account. It hasn't been clear what exactly Xbox gamers need to do or to have done to be awarded this freebie but Xbox Supported has stated, "We've selected a bunch of our Xbox fans for their support and as a celebration for the upcoming Xbox One," They also said, "We don't have any specifics on that other than that some users have received a gift." "We considered a variety of things like Gamerscore, Live tenure and other factors in markets where Xbox One is available." Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-11-06-microsoft-is-emailing-select-gamers-with-free-xbox-one-killer-instinct-offer View full article

The Official Microsoft Store has released a brief overview of the plot for Halo 5, here's what it says: "Master Chief continues his hero's quest. Halo for Xbox One takes the now-legendary saga to new heights and is one of the most anticipated games for the new console. In possession of a mysterious data chip, Petty Officer John-117, aka Master Chief, confronts a new battery of challenges and tests in a Herculean effort to stay alive in a galaxy where sentient life is mercilessly hunted. Pre-order the next chapter in the wildly popular Halo series designed exclusively for Xbox One." According to this, that data chip we saw in the trailer isn't Cortana's, as most people thought. What / Whom is that chip containing? Why must Master Chief take these "challenges"? Is sentient life hunted by the Flood? I would appreciate posting your thoughts Source: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Halo-for-Xbox-One/productID.286029500 [it says it's currently anavailable, maybe they released the info by accident?]

Microsoft has opened the way for independent developers to use the ID@Xbox program to potentially become a registered XBOX One developer. This type of program is similar to Bugie's Aerospace project that launched back in 2011. The difference here is the ability to produce games directly for a console, given you have a proven record of shipping games for console, PC, phone or tablet use. Here is the story as it originally appeared in eurogamer.net. Microsoft unveils Xbox One indie developer self-publishing program By Wesley Yin-Poole Microsoft has unveiled its Xbox One indie developer self-publishing program. Microsoft said it met with more than 50 developers to learn what they wanted from a self-publishing program, and ID@Xbox, as it's known, is the result. Under the new rules, each registered developer will receive two development kits at no cost, and developers will have access to the full power of the console, cloud services, Kinect and the Xbox Live toolset, which includes Xbox SmartGlass, multiplayer, Achievements and Gamerscore, among other things. Applications to the ID@Xbox Program will be accepted from 20th August at www.xbox.com/id. If a developer is accepted, it will become a registered Xbox One developer. Microsoft said this status will be granted "with priority" to independent game developers "who have a proven track record of shipping games on console, PC, mobile or tablet", suggesting Microsoft has stopped short of creating a true open platform in the vein of the App Store. Crucially, there are no application fees, and as with Xbox 360, there are no fees for certification or title updates. Developers will also benefit from a global support team, headed up by ID@Xbox director Chris Charla. Charla's brief is to maintain personal communication with developers. Community managers will provide quick responses to submissions, and a number of events are planned to explain how the process will work. A chief concern among indie devs is how their games will be discovered by gamers who use the Xbox One. Microsoft said all games are located together on the Xbox One Store, and "rich search scenarios" using voice through Kinect will enable easy discoverability. Trending will showcase what friends and the community are playing, Recommendations will bring forward new games based on what you like to play, Spotlight showcases Editor Picks and, with the Xbox One's Game DVR and Upload feature, new games will be found as gamers capture and share videos. Developers will also be able to create special events out of Achievements and Challenges. The initial phase of the program will begin this autumn, but longer term Microsoft plans to enable any Xbox One console to be used as a development kit for self-publishing purposes. "This means that any hobbyist with a great game idea can make it come to life on Xbox One," Microsoft said. "We know Xbox fans will fall in love with the quality and diversity of games on our platform," Marc Whitten, Xbox Chief Product Officer, said. "We are committed to ID@Xbox and are fully invested in helping independent developers succeed on Xbox One." Microsoft EMEA boss Phil Harrison added: "I am really looking forward to the diversity and creativity of games that will come to Xbox One through the ID@Xbox program. We've worked with the community of developers to craft a platform that helps creators self-publish on Xbox One - irrespective of their size or location." One indie developer already convinced by Microsoft's new initiative is SpyParty creator Chris Hecker: "I'm really excited that Microsoft has listened to feedback from developers and created this program," he said. "As an independent developer, I want SpyParty to be available to as many players as possible, and it feels like Microsoft is interested in not only removing roadblocks for indies to get their games on Xbox One, but they're also genuinely interested in finding ways to bring new and innovative indie games to their platform to help games reach their potential as an art and entertainment form." View full article

Microsoft has announced that Xbox.com's PC market place will be shut down next week an article from PC Gamer has reported. Microsoft has announced this on their games for windows facebook page, they told users they will no longer be able to purchase PC games from the marketplace but can still use games they have already purchased. “As part of the upcoming Xbox 360 system update, Microsoft Points will be retired, and the Xbox.com PC marketplace will be closed as of August 22, 2013. We encourage you to spend your Microsoft Points balance prior to this change. Although you will not be able to purchase new games, you can continue to enjoy previously purchased content by downloading them through the Games for Windows LIVE client software as usual." For those who have been planning to purchase any games from the PC market place get them quick as there is only 6 day's until the market place is shut down. View full article

Microsoft's Xbox chief Marc Whitten posted on xbox.com that a digital sharing system will be coming to Xbox One called "Home Gold". Not long after E3 Microsoft reversed a lot of their policies after a high amount of negative feed back from their fan base one of the features they removed was family sharing, a feature that allowed an Xbox One user to access games from their friends library if they chose to share it with them. Well Microsoft seems to be bringing this feature or a similar feature to the Xbox One which will allow users to access a friends game library from their account. Slashgear article. Home Gold was hinted at earlier this year at E3, and now we have the full details. Although called Home Gold, the feature isn’t necessarily limited to one’s physical home, but instead is applicable to those who are using the Xbox One with the Live Gold subscriber. At the subscriber’s home, the Xbox One console can be setup to enable Live Gold features to other residents regardless of whether the subscriber is logged in to his or her account. Elsewhere, the subscriber can log into their account on a different console (such as at a friend’s house) and extend those same Live Gold features to the other users. Benefits of this include multi-player gaming and access to the entertainment apps. For the gamer’s primary (home) Xbox One, Home Gold is extended to an unlimited number of gamers. Elsewhere, those using the console will have access to the Gold features while the subscriber is logged in. Home Gold aside, Microsoft also detailed the sharing of digital games, which is available amongst the users in one’s home. A single library can harbor games purchased by multiple users, and those users can then log in and play one of those games, even if the original buyer isn’t logged into his or her account. Buying a game on a different Xbox One while signed in will result in the game being made available on the gamer’s own console, and a gamer’s digital downloads can be played on a friend’s console by signing in. The statement also specifies that most of the digital games don’t require the gamer to be connected to the Internet, but that the “experience” is better if one is. IGN video. View full article

In an effort to help gamer's understand the XBOX One's capabilities and what some actual features are Marc Whitten, Chief XBOX ONE platform architect, answers some questions posed by Ryan McCaffrey, IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews and Xbox Guru-in-Chief. Below is a current IGN article that highlights a series of questions and their answers. Ask Microsoft Anything About Xbox One Answers on Microsoft's new console, straight from the horse's mouth! Soure: I GN As the Xbox One gets closer to its November launch, many questions remain about how the console works and what it can do. So we reached out to Microsoft and asked them if they could definitively clarify some of these things. They obliged, and so we'll be bringing you a handful of Ask Microsoft Anything answers each Monday at 2pm PDT/5pm EDT. Bookmark this page, as we'll update this article so that all the answers live in one easy-to-find place. Oh, and if you've got a question for Microsoft about the Xbox One, send it to our Podcast Unlocked team at [email protected] and we'll make sure Microsoft sees it! Are Xbox 360 Avatars transferring over? If so will any changes be made to them? MARC WHITTEN, CHIEF XBOX ONE PLATFORM ARCHITECT: They are – your avatar will be on the system at launch and in fact, you’ll have some new options, including the ability to do full-body HD gamerpics. By the way, we should actually talk more about gamerpics too. We’ve moved from the 64x64 gamerpics on Xbox 360 to a full 1080p. They are beautiful, and you are going to see some really cool hero moments, like when you login to see personalized views of your games and other content. Can you clarify how will Xbox Live Arcade work on Xbox One? Or if it will exist at all? WHITTEN: Sure – there is no difference between games in the store – games are games are games! You’ll find them in the same pivots (most popular, new, etc.) and we’ll be highlighting them in our dashboard experience. And of course – like all of your digital games content – you can play them on any Xbox One, and anyone can play them on your Xbox One. Will the Game DVR capture at the source resolution? i.e. will Forza 5 clips capture at 1080p and 60fps? And where can Game DVR clips be uploaded to? WHITTEN: Game DVR captures beautiful clips at 720p 30fps. The first thing you’ll see with our game DVR is the integration of our Upload service on the console. This service allows you to manage, edit, and share your content. Your clips are stored in the cloud. Also, you’ll see games making “magic moment” videos of your gameplay based on the game DVR functionality – all seamlessly integrated. You’ll be able to see these clips in the Xbox One Guide, in your own game DVR collection, and when you are looking at gamercards on the system. You’ll also see games take advantage of this platform capability and do interesting things to integrate captured game footage into the game experience itself. Can you earn two sets of Achievements for the same game (i.e. Playing Call of Duty Ghosts on Xbox 360 and on Xbox One)? WHITTEN: Every game has its own set of achievements, so if you’re playing Call of Duty: Ghosts on Xbox 360 and on Xbox One, you can earn a separate set of Gamerscore in each game. But on the Xbox One version, you’re getting a much richer set of features, such as seeing your achievements progress on the Xbox One console, being able to unlock new achievements throughout the year, and earning real prizes inside and outside of the game. Xbox One also enables a new concept of challenges, where games will be offering special time-based opportunities to earn various goals and collect the rewards. More info on challenges can be found on Major Nelson's blog here. View full article

IGN News I'm sure many remember Microsoft's less-than-flawless reveal of their new console, the Xbox One, a couple months ago, and again at E3. It's apparent lack of core gaming features and iteration of many TV/DVR integration features gave the impression that the X1 was no more of a gaming console than a DVR. Sony fans laughed. Xbox fans cried. And Nintendo fans did whatever Nintendo fans do. The new Xbox was fell drastically in popularity, being outsold in preorders to Sony's PS4 10:1 or more. The main problems included the requirement of daily internet access for the console to keep games up to date and deter hacking. It was announced not backwards compatible with Xbox and Xbox 360 games. The hard drive was internal and rather small in capacity, considering games require installation on the X1, so many complained that running out of storage without means of upgrading the hard drive may be impossible. Microsoft allowed developers to integrate single-use game codes (kind of like the Cerberus service for Mass Effect 2 or Multiplayer for BFBC2) so games could not be resold. And most importantly (to me, anyway) was that the internal hardware was notably inferior to Sony's PS4, and yet cost $100 more. Yes, the Xbox One was falling way short of expectation in more ways than I can remember, and Microsoft's Xbox division took a hit when it's president, Don Mattrick, resigned and was replaced by a person with no gaming background. Personally, I thought this to be the fall of Xbox. But three months later, it may have risen again. A couple days after confirming mandatory internet access intervals, Microsoft rejected their new DRM policy and fell back on one resembling the Xbox 360, which worked fine anyway. Personally, this was a selling point for me because I do not get internet service for about 4 months per year. It was also at this point that Xbox One sales finally started competing with Playstation 4. I figured that Microsoft would stop there, at least until after release, to see consumer response of their still rather lacking console. But (thankfully) they didn't. Not too much later did they announce that the Kinect sensor no longer needed to be active or even plugged in to play. I also noticed that the hard drive could now be accessed externally, which makes me believe, though not confirmed, that the hard drive may be replaceable. Microsoft developers will no longer use single-use codes, so games can be resold, and cool extra features such as in-game DVR recording, cloud-based processing (for those lucky enough to have great internet service), reputation preservation (to save and tranfer each player's hard-earned gamerscore), Second screen integration via Xbox Smartglass application for most mobile devices and Windows 8 OS, Blu-Ray disc drive, and many entertainment center integration features have shined light on the potential of the Xbox One, which began outselling PS4 at most main retailers. As of late, Microsoft has, yet again, updated the hardware of their new console by slightly overclocking the consoles 8 core AMD CPU, improving the base clock speed from 8.00MHz to 8.53MHz. They also upgraded the GPU to accomodate. Unfortunately, the Xbox One is still not backwards compatible, but that is not really Microsoft's fault because they had to change to a core architecture that offers best performance and simplest coding for developers, and Xbox and Xbox 360 games are not compatible with this architecture (they made the right choice changing to an architecture the best suits their future than degrading quality to hold on to the past). The console still requires game installation for reasons unbeknownst to me. Xbox Live is still not free, but I do not think Microsoft is raising the price for the service. The console does need to access the internet at least once before use, probably to register the console and update, etc. The console is also still slightly inferior to PS4 in clock speed and in RAM (Playstation 4's 8GB of DDR5 will offer better loading times and reduced graphical latency than the X1's conventional 8GB DDR3) and is still more expensive, but those who know how business works know that Microsoft follows a 'Closed Console' business model when selling consoles, meaning they actually lose a little money by producing consoles (because there is more than $500 of third-party computer equipment in the Xbox One) and try to make up losses in game sales, which is why games are so expensive, why console exclusives exist, and why used game sales hurt console manufacturers. Considering that Microsoft is also trying to appeal to non-gamers as well with TV integration features, Microsoft has to make up for those few who buy the console without games. Add in the rather advanced Kinect sensor, and $500 does not sound too appalling. Moral of the story: for the best gaming experience, Sony's Playstation 4 is technically the superior console. However, if you like Xbox and are not ready to give up on Xbox exclusives we've grown to love to avoid a poor gaming experience, the new Xbox One, in my opinion, is now a console worth buying. Thanks for putting up with my novel-esque post! P.S.: Excited about Halo 5? Liked the E3 teaser but hate watching it in poor, E3 recording quality? TRY THIS!

Microsoft will offering unlimited cloud storage for the Xbox one a MaximunPC article states.The news came out of PAX Australia, here is what a Microsoft rep said about it. "Xbox Live offers Xbox One unlimited storage space in the cloud for all Xbox Live members to store numerous types of Xbox Live content, including your profile, games, Achievements and entertainment. This content is stored and saved in the cloud so you can automatically access it anywhere, anytime, no matter where you are." With the change of policies such as removing the used games restrictions the Xbox one has slowly but surely been getting back on track and with another positive announcement it will certainly help improve it's reputation a bit more. View full article

According to an article published yesterday regarding the potential return of 'Family Sharing' Microsoft states it's removal was based off of consumer feedback for other features they needed to make room for and not because of the mindset "...we're going to take our toys and go home", as offered by Xbox One chief product officer Marc Whitten. Read the full article below from videogamer.com. Xbox One Family Sharing will return if consumers want it, says Microsoft Publish Date 15/07/2013 - 12:32pm GMT+1 The feature was removed when Microsoft did a U-turn on its Xbox One policies. When Microsoft pulled a complete reversal on its Xbox One policies, one of the casualties was the much-anticipated Family Sharing feature. But the feature may well return at a later date if consumers want it, Xbox One chief product officer Marc Whitten has told IGN. "If it's something that people are really excited about and want, we're going to make sure that we find the right way to bring it back," Whitten said. He continued: "We believe really strongly in how you build a great experience on Xbox One for me as an individual, but also for my family. Family Sharing is a great example of how you do that with content. I think you're going to see us, both with examples like that and with other things, keep pushing on how that's something great. An example is some of the stuff we're doing with what we announced around Gold, where other people in the house get the advantages of Gold when I'm a Gold member. You're going to see us continue to push in those areas." Family Sharing allowed users to share their game library with a group of 10 friends and family, and was one of few Xbox One features which had people excited. Regarding the decision to remove it, Whitten said it was a matter of making room for the other features consumers were asking for. "We took some feedback and realised there was some stuff we needed to add to the program," he said. "To add it to the program, we had to make room, just from a pure engineering perspective, to be able to get that work done. So taking Family Sharing out of the launch window was not about 'we're going to take our toys and go home' or something like that. It was just sort of the logistics of 'how do we get this very, very clear request that people really want, that choice, and how do we make sure we can do an excellent job of that, get to launch, and then be able to build a bunch of great features?'" Whitten concluded: "You know, if there's anything I think that Xbox 360 has proven, it's that we're super committed to this constant cycle of improving the experience and the software, and it's what we've been doing for 360 for the past seven years, and it's certainly where we're going to go with Xbox One." Xbox One releases in November. View full article