Category Archives: News

IDL NEWS – The Catching Up Week, and Windows 10

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Hi again! If you’re back reading this, it means I’m a decent blogger, right? I’ll add it to my resume!

So this week will be a combination of new news and old news as I start my catch-up from the past two weeks. While I was gone, I published a Top 10 Xbox 360 list and published a new short story. As well as started the run-down for Gamescom 2015. I’ll be adding new articles to that page as I get to it.

That said, the rest of the week should be the usual: News, New Games and Deals, What I’m Playing, possibly a review, and achievements.

Rise of the Tomb Raider Exclusivity
Square Enix has announced that the console exclusivity for Rise of the Tomb Raider would last one year. The Steam/ PC release would be early 2016, and the PS4 version likely available holiday 2016. No exact dates were revealed.

World of Tanks
Released on the Xbox One on July 28th, World of Tanks supports cross-platform play between the Xbox One and 360. Additionally, the Xbox One version features enhanced graphics and battle damage, and a new PVE mode for newer players. It’s free-to-play, so I’ll be providing my opinions of the Xbox One version when I jump in.

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Xbox’s Reverse Streaming
More on the Window’s 10 features and impressions later on, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed that Microsoft is currently looking into making it possible for Xbox One owners to stream PC games to their console now that the infrastructure is in place to do the opposite. This functionality would eliminate the need for a Steam Box.

New Battlefield Game in 2016?
EA has confirmed that a new Battlefield game will be released next year. EA has confirmed that a first-person-shooter over the next few years will be one of the core titles. Battlefield Hardline was released earlier in the year, and Star Wars Battlefront is late this year. I still haven’t completed Battlefield Hardline  but I hope to soon, to remove it from my ever-growing list of incomplete games.

Star Wars Battlefront News
A new multiplayer mode has been confirmed for Battlefront, in Blast, which will give the players smaller, close-quarters encounters instead of the featured large-scale battles.

10 versus 10 team deathmatch face-off between Imperials and Rebel forces. Winning team is the first to reach 100 kills or lead the way after 10 minutes. Maps won’t be scaled down version of the regular modes, but specifically designed close-quarters maps taking place within interiors of several key settings.

Destiny’s Dreadnaught
The Dreadnaught is a brand new playable environment coming with the next Destiny expansion, The Taken King. The Dreadnaught is the home of the Hive enemy class. It will proved the setting  for the upcoming campaign missions as well as Patrol and public events too. The new strike and strike boss, Darkblade, will be fought aboard the Dreadnaught. Expect more destiny news as we approach the September release.

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I upgraded to Windows 10 when I came back, and so far I’m really impressed. It has a cleaner interface, and improved navigation, especially for tablets (which I use primarily). Now I haven’t used it to its full potential, and never will, but the Xbox App was the most important feature to me, and it’s incredible.

It has a very impressive feature set and works seamlessly with the Xbox One in the same room. It’s more robust than the smart glass app, and supports Xbox parties and game DVR. The last feature I tried was the Xbox Streaming, and with a Xbox controller wired in, it nearly works seamless. A little graphics loss, to be expected, but it did glitch out when I tried plugging in headphones to the tablet. Could be a hardware issues, so I’ll have to look into it further.

The Xbox app drops you into the Home screen when you log in. This looks similar to the Xbox One home, where it shows you the activity feed and friends list on the right. It will also show you your current party, last played game, and menus for customization, Achievements and friend options.

On the right is your menu: Home, My Games, Messages, Activity Alerts, Achievements, Game DVR, Store, OneGuide, Connecting to the Xbox One and Settings.

It’s not 100% polished yet, but it’s very impressive already with more TV DVR options in the future.

Tomorrow, I’ll continue with the news catch-up, new game releases, game deals and Games with Gold discussion.

-iRogan

Gamescom 2015: Cologne, Germany – Xbox Press Conference

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MICROSOFT Gamescom 2015 Media Briefing:

August 4th, 2015 – 7am.

-Press conference starts with a highlight reel trailer featuring Rise of the Tomb Raider, Halo 5 Guardians, Forza Motorsport 6, and Gears of War – with the tag line: “Jump in”.

-From Microsoft’s Headquarters in Germany, Gregor Bieler takes the stage and thanks publishers and fans alike for attending the show, and announces that Gamescom 2015 kicks off with the Microsoft Press Briefing here in Cologne, Germany. Says thank-you and announces the head speaker, Phil Spencer.

-Phil Spencer takes the stage and reaffirms that Microsoft and the Xbox Team are committed to delivering the games that fans want to play, on the devices we want to play them on, whether we are an Xbox Gamer, a PC gamer, or both. Microsoft has the most anticipated games, and best hardware, accessories, and social environments, with Xbox Live.

rareware-4e26145007227RARE Replay

-Phil Spencer announces that the Rare complication, RARE Replay is available today. The game showcases three decades of hit games and iconic franchises across multiple platforms. The compilation is a testament to the studio and heritage of their games.

-Phil Spencer reiterates that 2015 has been and will continue to be the best line up in the history of Xbox with a growing investment in first party franchises like: Fable, Gears of War, Tomb Raider, Forza Motorsport, and Halo.

Quantum Break

-An Xbox One Exclusive trailer starts: Shawn Ashmore, Aidan Gillen and Dominic Managhan. This is Quantum Break.

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-Gameplay reveal showing a warehouse facility, with the hero, Shawn Ashmore’s character, being flanked by enemy soldier. Gameplay  shows area time freezes, directed time freeze bombs, sped up attacks and navigation. Gorgeous cinematic gunplay.

-Gameplay against enemies that also have the time changing ability, and can move within the frozen zones. All world objects are affected by gunplay, and move realistically, but in slow-motion. The whole area warps and shifts while in the frozen zones. Time lapse gameplay and time puzzles are mentioned.

-Sam Lake, Remedy Director takes the stage to discuss Quantum Break. Remedy has always made cinematic story-driven action games. Quantum Break breaks into new territory with a game and a live-action TV show fused together. Shawn Ashmore takes the stage to discuss the show. The game is about the heroes, and the show is about the villains. Quick TV trailer showing Aiden Gillen’s bad guy character. Release date: April 5th, 2016.

Crackdown 3

Crackdown+3+Teaser+Art-Dave Jones – Reagent Games Director comes to the stage to discuss Crackdown 3.

-Jones discusses the massive new city,  and the new vision for the game. A development video is shown, showing some behind the scenes development, the new city, and how everything is connected. Jones announces that the new online multiplayer modes with showcase 100% destructible environments.

Scalebound

– Hideki Kamiya, PlatinumGames, takes the stage. Game Director for Scalebound. Kamiya announces that Scalebound is the largest open-world game that PlatinumGames has ever built. Gameplay trailer:

scalebound

-Demo starts with the hero flying in on a huge dragon, and then unceremoniously dumped off. Snarky talk from the hero to his dragon. Sword play and bow and arrow gameplay are shown, and dragon attacks are at the command of the player. Hero takes out a few enemy garrisons with the help from the dragon.

-Dragon bounds off through some trees and then a huge monster shows up. The hero has a dragon arm, and can take on a scaled, armoured form to fight large monsters. Hero and Dragon take on the monster with aerial sword attacks and large mines with explosive bow and arrow gameplay.

-Demo ends with the announcement that the game will support 4 player co-op. Release Holiday 2016.

-Xbox Platform Hardware time. Free-to-air HD Television will soon support DVR to record live TV. Through the Xbox TV Guide, you can select a show, and record an episode or series. Supports Instant-On to schedule recordings. Once recorded, shows can be streamed to a supporting Windows 10 device, or can be downloaded onto a Windows 10 device to take on the go. From a Windows 10 device, you can also schedule recordings away from home. Subscription free, coming early 2016.

-Xbox Chat Pad available soon. Has audio controls similar to the Xbox controller media adapter, and has 2 programmable buttons as well. Chat pad also has the microphone adapter plug-in.

-Backwards Compatible available for everyone November 2015. All Games With Gold will be backwards compatible available at launch.

-Shannon Loftis – Head of Xbox Publishing takes the stage to discuss Killer Instinct and cross-platform play. Season 3 kicks off March 2016 and will support cross-platform with Window’s 10 devices, and will support all fight sticks. In conjunction with RARE Replay, Rash from Battletoads is available now in Killer Instinct as a playable fighter.

ID@XBOX

-Chris Charla, ID@ Xbox head comes to the stage to discuss some of the new indie titles coming soon. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a cross-play 2.5D side-scrolling action game with heavy RPG elements. City: Skyline will makes its console debut on the Xbox One, as well as Train Simulator. A new Worms game, titled W.M.D will be released by Team17, and goes back to its 2D animated days.

-Two new games for Xbox Preview were announced. First: Sheltered, available for Preview today, and ARK: Survival Evolved will be available for Preview this holiday. We Happy Few – super creepy game from Compulsion Games was also announced for Preview.

-More hardware and engineering stuff. Jasmine Lawrence hits the stage to discuss more Windows 10. Windows 10 supports DirectX 12 and it’s built into the architecture to support game developers. A tech-demo from the Final Fantasy team is shown, highlighting refraction and bloom light effects, time lapses, hair and face design, textures and hair opacity, and field of view.

-Windows 10 will support game DVR similar to the Xbox One, without any addition software or hardware. Announce the Xbox App, and she discusses Cloud Saves that work cross-platform. Cross-buy and cross-play both supported on Xbox and Windows 10. And streaming Xbox One over to a Windows 10 PC on the same network.

-Director of the Windows 10 version of Minecraft came out to discuss the game a bit, and announce his own new game – Cobalt. A 2D side-scrolling shooting game that has couch multiplayer.

lfihx3yuplrl4pibk0ujDark Souls III

-New trailer showing some of the new locations and enemies for Dark Souls III – From Software. Release is in 2016.

Homefront: The Revolution

-This is the game that has me the most excited, as I loved the story of the first. C.J from Dambusters Studios hits the stage to show off the new open-world Homefront game. Trailer shows a child reach the stage and to prepare a speech thanking the glorious republic of Korea and the Korean People’s Army. The game is an open-world shooter, and we play the role of the resistance. Following the events of the first game with North Korea invading the United States and takes over.

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-The trailer and gameplay showcases guerrilla warfare. Multiplayer beta available first on the Xbox One this Winter. Single player campaign gameplay reveal:

-First person shooter. Demo starts on a motorcycle driving through the open world. Lots of ramps to drive over. Definitely a makeshift revolution town supporting lots of maneuverability. Player reaches an enemy checkpoint and brings out the RC bomb car to blow up the blockade ahead. Demo shows on-the-fly weapon modification where you can add or remove scopes, or silencers.

-Capturing areas and checkpoints unlocks new support in the region, and reveal hideouts and weapons caches. Game looks awesome.

FIFA 16 & EA ACCESS

-Quick promotion for the upcoming FIFA title which now supports the Woman’s National Teams. Promoting the FIFA Ultimate Team mode which supports FIFA Legends, and the benefits of being an EA Access subscriber.

h5-secondary-teaser-thumbnail-542x305-b415c449330045f7bbb09db7cb6caab7Halo 5: Guardians – Multiplayer

-Halo 5 Guardians promotion time, focusing on Multiplayer and eSports. Two of the Halo shoutcasters hit the stage to discuss the making of the multiplayer, the 2 new modes, and new abilities. While testing the multiplayer, the top USA team and the top Europe team were brought in to test of the new game and play a series of competitive matches. The last round replay was shown:

-Arena Mode for eSports – 4 V 4. Playing Capture the Flag on the new Coliseum map. Primarily magnum pistol use. Flag juggling has returned.

-Josh Holmes, Executive Produce from 343 Industries hits the stage and announces the new Halo World Championship eSports tournament with a grand prize of 1 million dollars.

–Just Cause 3‘s new destructive gameplay trailer is shown next. Dec 1st release date. The game is starting to look quite enticing with the new abilities. Might have to pick it up after all.

Forza Motorsport 6

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-Forza time, as Turn 10’s head hits the stage and states that 2015 is the 10 year anniversary of the Forza franchise.

-Forza Motorsport 6 will have 450 cars supporting full cockpit view, full damage and customization. 26 world famous destinations and 24 player online races supporting dedicated servers.

-The new career mode supports night-time racing and real world rain physics. 1080P, 60FPS.

-Quick Germany based trailer for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege. Release is Oct 13th.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

-Brian Horton – Crystal Dynamics – hits the stage to discuss Rise of the Tomb Raider. The open-level design and traversal space is 3x larger than any locations in prior Tomb Raider games.

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-New gameplay trailer shows Lara sneaking up on a team of mercenaries in the middle of a stormy night. The gameplay shows swimming take-downs, aerial take-downs off shacks, and new distraction techniques by throwing cans and bottles.

-New double arrow kills and poison arrows. And a new crafting mechanic is introduced. Similar to The Last of Us, you can build little nails bombs from a car, or molotov cocktail.

-Brian Horton comes back and says that the new guerrilla combat encourages experimentation and choice. The game also has a heavy focus on tombs. Release Nov 13th, 2015.

-Phil Spencer comes back to the stage to close up the show. 2015 has the best lineup of Xbox games in the history of Xbox, with some greats to close out the year: Halo 5, Tomb Raider, Gears of War Ultimate Edition, Fable Legends, Forza Motorsport 6, Gigantic, and RARE Replay. And 2016 is only looking better with some new exclusives: Killer Instinct Season 3, Gears of War 4, Crackdown 3, Scalebound, Sea of Thieves, Quantum Break, and ReCore.

-One last announcement…

Halo Wars 2

-Bonnie Ross, head of 343 Industries hits the stage to thank all the fans for their passion and support. She states that Halo 5 is not the only Halo game that continues the story, as there’s another story that needs to continue, one highly requested by fans: Available on the Xbox One and on Windows 10 in the Fall of 2016 – Halo Wars 2.

Quick sizzle reel to wrap up the show.

-iRogan.

IDL NEWS – Backwards Compatibility, Call of Duty, and Definitive Islands

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Oh that mid-week lull . . . probably makes news much more dull?

So, as I pointed out yesterday, the summer months are not very interesting when it comes to video game news and releases. September is where the fun is at, but until then, aside from my hibernation holidays, it’s easiest to just keep the head down, and plug away at those games that sit atop the uncompleted list. Sigh. There’s just so many 😥

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Multiplayer Beta

The multiplayer beta for COD BLOPS III kicks off on the Playstation 4 first, as announced earlier in this year’s at E3. Starting Aug 19 and ends Aug 23. It will then migrate to the PC and Xbox One on Aug 26 till Aug 30. Available for all those who pre-ordered the game.

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Xbox Backwards Compatibility

Speaking of Call of Duty and Black Ops, Black Ops II is currently the most requested Xbox 360 game to come to the Xbox One via backwards compatibility. Red Dead Redemption now sits in 2nd place. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Halo: Reach, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Gears of War 3, Fallout 3, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Mass Effect 3 round off the top ten.

Black Ops II remains on my shelf unopened. If it’s the first game to be made available, it will be the first game I play. Deal? Deal.

Definitive Dead Island?

According to recent info, and following a growing trend, it appears that Dead Island might be the next game to get the remake/re-release treatment over to the current-gen hardware by way of a Definitive Edition. Blegh.

Speaking of islands, tomorrow will be my last day posting live news for the next little while. I’ll be rounding off the week with an article tomorrow, on my current playlist of things getting played. No review, or Achievements either, as I actually haven’t played anything this week. Sad face.

BUT! I’ve been working hard, and I’ve prepared some stuff for next week, to at least keep the posts flowing, while I’m away. Hopefully you’ll like it.

And then shortly after, I’ll return. Hopefully nothing exciting happens while I’m away. I’d hate to miss it.

-iRogan

IDL NEWS – New Games and Deals, and The Top Games to Round of the Year

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I don’t get paid on Tuesday, lest I’d be ruined come Wednesday.

New games today, and Xbox Spotlight deals. There’s also a nice list at the bottom, of the notable games still to be excited for this year. What a great year we’ve had already!

I should’ve titled this “What I Will Be Playing”.

New Games – July 21:

Zombie Army Trilogy (Xbox One, PS4) – Sniper Elite was a pretty fun game, and the first two Zombie Army games were originally released as DLC for 2013’s Sniper Elite V2. I might pick this up and play in co-op with Illestrader.

These aren't the dead you're looking for.

These aren’t the dead you’re looking for.

F1 2015 (Xbox One, PS4) – Another F1 game by Codemasters. I found these titles to be too much simulation for me, and not fun. Pass on the right. Into a wall.

Journey (PS4) – The lovely award winning PS3 indie title has finally made it;s way to the PS4.

They said I could become anything, so I became a shooting star.

They said I could become anything, so I became a shooting star.

Game of Thrones: Episode Five – A Nest of Vipers (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One) – I have the full TellTale Games game pack, which includes all the games, and subsequent episodes. I’ll wait for Episode 6 to be released before starting the story.

Hatoful Boyfriend (PS4, PS Vita) – You are a human, who lives in a cave, and falls in love with birds? Or human birds? I dunno?

Deals With Gold Spotlight Sale

Xbox One
Forza Horizon 2 and Forza Motorsport 5 Bundle 35%
Forza Motorsport 5 Car Pass Add-on 50%
The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited Editions 33%
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood 25%
DARK SOULS II: Scholar of the First Sin 40%
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 25%

Forza Horizons 2 was a great game and Forza Motorsport 5 was fun, if not limited. I’m not always a fan of simulation racers. And I have the physical copy of Wolfenstein: The Old Blood on its way. So expect opinions on that soon. The New Order was fantastic. I should do a replay and iReview of that one.

Xbox 360 (lots of sales this week. I’ve included the notables – all great)
Max Payne 3 75%
L.A. Noire 75%
Red Dead Redemption 75%
Midnight Club: LA 75%
Bully Scholarship Ed. 75%
Forza Horizon 50%
Enslaved 75%

Top Games Still To Be Released This Year

Rare Replay – Aug 4: Announced this year at E3, the Rare Replay is a 30 game collection of all the classics, coming to the Xbox One. There are also 10,000 achievements points available.

Dishonored: Definitive Edition – Aug 25: Enhanced visuals and including all the DLC. Great if you haven’t played it, but I’d have to see the videos to see if the visual upgrade is enough to justify a 2nd copy. Maybe I’ll just replay the 360 version for free when its backwards compatible.

Gears of War Ultimate Edition – Aug 25: A remastered version of the original game that kicked off the franchise. A game night staple.

Mad Max – Sept 1: Open-world post-apocalyptic survival game based in the universe that is Mad Max.

Metal Gear Solid V – Sept 1: I’ve talked about this game a lot already, and I really don’t think I can say anymore. Just that I can’t wait.

Destiny: The Taken King – Sept 15: The next chapter in the Destiny Saga. Comes as a stand-alone as well which includes the previous full release and 2 expansions. New maps and modes, new missions and strikes, subclasses, gear, items and a Raid.

Rainbow Six: Siege – Oct 13: Intense first-person shooter in the Tom Clancy Rainbow Six world. Infiltration and hostage extract modes look incredible and tense. Back to the one-life gameplay style. Online only competitive games scare me away, as I’ve learned with Evolve. But from a co-op Terrorist Hunt mode perspective, I’ll pick it up.

Assassins’s Creed Syndicate – Oct 23: The next game in the Assassin’s series.

Halo 5: Guardians – Oct 27: Sold. Obviously. Another game night staple is the Halo franchise. Now that ODST is out for the MCC, and the game is finally stable, I’ll do a review.

Need For Speed – Nov 3: How many times has the Need for Speed franchise been rebooted now? The E3 impressions looked incredible, and it’s going back to the nocturnal open world, focusing on the street life and car customization.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 – Nov 6: Another annual title that I’m usually a few years behind on. Just finished Ghosts for crying out loud. Didn’t try Black Ops 2 either. And still haven’t gotten to Advanced Soldier. Woops

Rise of the Tomb Raider – Nov 10: Loved the first reboot, and I’m super excited for the sequel.

Star Wars Battlefront – Nov 17: First impressions at E3 show promise. The online-only direction might be a deal breaker, but the co-op missions show promise. Obviously more info has to be seen, but I’ll get first impressions through EA Access.

Just Cause 3 – Dec 1: I’m holding out on this one for now. No co-op is a huge bummer, and I quickly grew bored of Just Cause 2.

Hitman – December 8: New entry in the franchise, simply titled Hitman. Very interested as the last one was a huge improvement for the franchise in my opinion, and now with the online presence and unique one-time contracts . . . definitively appealing.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some more news, and What i’M Playing.

-iRogan

IDL NEWS – Hideo Kojima :'(, Duke Nukem, and Xbox Streaming

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Hooray for Mondays, hooray for inconsistency.

Today in the news we’ll talk about Hideo Kojima’s downward spiral of sadness, Dead Island 2 woes, Duke Nukem, and Xbox Streaming.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about the new games of the week and Tuesday’s deals, and then the remainder of the week is dedicated to What i’m Playing, an iReview, and achievement stuffs. Next week I’ll be starting a 2 week offline break, but I will have a Xbox 360 daily feature planned to be posted while I’m away, and a short story that takes place in Titanfall.

Newandexcitingthings. Yay!

So, onward and upwards!

Kojima, Kojima, Kojima! Konami, Too. 😥

So, the web of intrigue that is Konami vs Kojima continues to unravel. Godzilla and the Kaiju couldn’t make this more interesting.

The latest news in the deteriorating relationship has the publisher, Konami, removing Hideo Kojima’s name, creator of Metal Gear Solid, from the Phantom Pain’s box art. The Kojima Productions logo has also been removed.

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The story also got a unique twist when an internet light was shone on a specific mission in The Ground Zeroes, that might have alluded to Kojima knowing he was on his way out, earlier last year.

A mission in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes set players the task of deleting the logos of Metal Gear games directed by Hideo Kojima.

As spotted by GamesRadar, the Déjà Vu mission requires you to use a UV light to erase the logos of all games crafted under Kojima. If you’re successful, the following message appears:

301999d095b9cfdb34cbcc459ac6e39dde306fb3.png__1917x983_q85_crop_upscale-720x369

There’s also a personal voice message, seemingly from Kojima, thanking the player for “all [their] support”.

Kojima is the man!

Yager Gone from Dead Island 2 – Mutual Parting

Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager has officially been removed from Dead Island 2 project. This troubled game has seen problems with delays, and now developers parting ways. Publisher, Deep Silver, stated that they will be sharing more information at a later date, but reports show that this was a mutual parting, a difference in opinions towards the game’s progress.

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Dead Island 1 developer Techland released their other open-world zombie game Dying Light earlier this year, making me wonder, is a Dead Island sequel even necessary at this point?

Gearbox’s Duke Nukem Plan

Randy Pitchford, of Gearbox, has stated that concept development has been started for Duke Nukem, but it might not be Gearbox working on it as they’re busy. They’re are looking into bringing in the correct developer and working alongside them.

“I did not acquire the franchise merely so we could all experience Duke Nukem Forever. That was the toll to pay to give Duke a chance. That said, I liked that game,” he said.

Xbox One Game Streaming

Microsoft is moving the Xbox One game streaming feature out of the Preview Phase into full release. With an Xbox One and and a Windows 10 machine, we will now be able to stream our console through to the machine using the Xbox App. I’ll post more info and hands-on when Windows 10 is released later this month. I’m excited for this feature, and all it really requires is a wired Xbox One/360 controller, Xbox One, and a PC.

So there’s the important stuff out of the way.

New Games and Deals tomorrow, and we’ll discuss So Many Me, and this week’s Xbox sales. Then more on Titanfall, Arkham Knight, maybe an iReview and then Achievement stuff to wrap up the week.

As I mentioned at the start, I’ll be offline for two weeks starting Friday, but I hope to be posting a daily article about the top 5 Xbox 360 games, and a new short story, with the Titanfall setting. I’ll just be missing the news. Sad face.

-iRogan