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November 14, 2015
The new Xbox One experience has now been released across all internet-connected Xbox One consoles. The new update brings a completely new UI redesign and adds a few new features onto the console software as well.
The most talked about feature of the Xbox One experience is of course the backwards compatibility feature. Backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 titles is now possible and for the most part it works very smoothly with all backwards compatible games.
In the new UI you'll get a new Xbox Home that is very simple to use. Within the new Xbox Home you are able to share achievements and game clips to friends within seconds. Finding out what your friends are playing has become more convenient as well. For the most part, everything has become more connected, more social and more streamlined.
The Xbox Dashboard button has been reworked too - you're now given a game guide that can be accessed from within any game or app, or even from the home screen. The new dashboard
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October 30, 2015
In the past Turn 10 has released themed vehicles to support other game releases, but the last time this happened was when Halo 4 was released and a Warthog was added to Forza Motorsport. Recently, Turn 10 released a new update for Forza Motorsport 6 and it added some new vehicles to the game.
Like previously mentioned, the new vehicles being added to Forza Motorsport 6 are hemed. The new vehicles have a Fallout 4 theme - that's not to say that these vehicles are actually from Fallout 4, but their designs are very Fallout-esque.
So far only one vehicle has been added to Forza Motorsport 6 - this vehicle is the 1956 Ford F100 and it has a Fallout style paint job. The second vehicle has not yet been released and screenshots of this have not been shown yet either. Fortunately, Turn 10 did mention that the second vehicle will be the Chryslus Rocket 69 coupe and it should be available in Forza Motorsport 6 "soon."
Whilst you can't drive any cars in Fallout 4, you will be
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October 26, 2015
After the very poor launch of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, it's no surprise that the community's trust for 343 Industries has been a bit strained. Thankfully, Halo 5 Guardians released this week with relatively no troubles at all. Thanks to the beta events and the pre-release leading up to the full game release on October 27, there were no major server issues on day one.
Whilst there were a few server hiccups here and there, for the most part Halo 5 Guardians has been silky smooth on matchmaking. The same can be said for the rest of the game too - Halo 5 Guardians has a very sleek 60fps that is seen everywhere in the game. Resolution is 1080p at it's highest, but sometimes it is downscaled to ensure that the 60fps frame cap stays consistent at all times.
The matchmaking service has been working fine all week and the new Spartan CSR ranking system is working just as expected. Every single playlist has been playing out fine, including modes in Warzone and Arena.
For
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October 24, 2015
Be warned, there could be some potential story spoilers in this article.
Xbox Achievements has managed to get their hands on the entire achievements list for Fallout 4 ahead of it's launch on November 10. Whilst the list only applies to the Xbox One achievements, the PlayStation 4 Trophies are expected to be very similar.
Below, the achievements have been listed. Interestingly, there are only level achievements up to level 50, despite there being no level cap.
+ War Never Changes - Enter The Wasteland
+ When Freedom Calls - Complete "When Freedom Calls"
+ Unlikely Valentine - Complete "Unlikely Valentine"
+ Reunions - Complete "Reunions"
+ Dangerous Minds - Complete "Dangerous Minds"
+ Hunter/Hunted - Complete "Hunter/Hunted"
+ The Molecular Level - Complete "The Molecular Level"
+ The Nuclear Option - Complete "The Nuclear Option"
+ Institutionalized - Complete "Institutionalized"
+ Mankind-Redefined -
October 20, 2015
Microsoft announced the backwards compatibility features of the Xbox One earlier in 2015 but it's taken a long time for the company to perfect the feature. This week, Microsoft announced that the patch that will include backwards compatibility for some Xbox 360 games will be released on November 12.
Although the backwards compatibility for Xbox One won't allow all Xbox 360 games to be compatible, if a developer or publisher of an Xbox 360 game gives Microsoft permission, it's likely that it will be added to the supported backwards compatible game library eventually.
Upon the release of the November 12 patch there will already be a large number of Xbox 360 games that players will be able to play on their Xbox One.
Below, a list of some of the currently announced games has been posted. This is only a small list, but it includes some of the more popular options.
+ Halo: Reach
+ Mass Effect
+ Perfect Dark Zero
+ Gears of War Series
+ Fable -
October 16, 2015
The entire Halo 5 soundtrack has recently been put up online by 343 Industries. The new soundtrack can be listened to on 343's official Soundcloud page. In the past 343 has used Soundcloud to share other Halo 5 promotional content, so it's quite the surprise to see the full soundtrack go up online for free.
Most of the tracks have never been played before, whilst some of the more familiar sounds, such as the composition of Halo Canticles, may be recognized by some Halo 5 fans. In previous Halo games, the name to be remembered for Halo soundtracks was Marty O' Donnell, but this time round Kazuma Jinnouchi has been given the steering wheel. Jinnouchi has been renowned for other compositions, including the soundtrack for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Even though the full Halo 5 soundtrack can be listened to for free on Soundcloud, the same soundtrack can be purchased in physical format on Amazon for $23. The soundtrack is available in physical CD and in Vinyl.
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October 14, 2015
343 Industries has just released a bunch of details about the upcoming matchmaking system for Halo 5. In the newly released information, 343 explained how penalties will work for bad behavior and how the new ranking system will work.
Players who repeatedly follow any of the following behaviors will be given temporary cooldowns which will prevent them from playing online matchmaking.
+ Quitting matches
+ Betrayals or team killing
+ Idling (AFK)
+ Intentional suicides
+ Excessive disconnectsThe ranking system in Halo 5 has taken an interesting redesign. Players will first have to play placement matches. Once they have 10 wins under their belt, they will be given a rank. There will be a number of different ranks including Bronze, Gold, Platinum, Onyx and Champion.
Each rank will have a number of tiers within and once a player reaches Onyx and Champion the tiers will be replaced with a MMR score, which will be their leaderboard
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October 11, 2015
Rockstar has just released a brand new trailer for GTA Online which shows off a new expansion heading to the streets of Los Santos. The new GTA Online expansion will be available for all players at no charge, but unlike previous content expansions, it will be adding some major game adjustments, especially to the way customizing player vehicles works.
The new update is called GTA Online: Lowriders and it will be released for PC, PS4 and Xbox One on October 20th. In the update, a new customs shop will open downtown called Benny's Original Motor Works. Players will also be able to head to a new website in-game that will include a number of new customizable vehicles.
Some of the new vehicles will feature new functions that can be accessed from the player interaction menu. These functions include the ability to open up the vehicle doors, hood and trunk, switch on the engine and flash your lights.
The new Lowriders update will also add some new content to GTA Online, including
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October 01, 2015
The October lineup for Xbox Live Games with Gold has finally been revealed. Major Nelson has posted up all of the games that will be available for free throughout October. Check out the list below.
Xbox One - Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Xbox One - The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season
Xbox 360 - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
Xbox 360 - The Walking Dead: The Complete First SeasonFrom October 1st to October 31st, Xbox One players will be able to get their hands on Valiant Hearts: The Great War. This is easily the least known title on this month's lineup but doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, Valiant Hearts has received amazing awards and scores across the board, thanks to it's mesmerizing story and challenging puzzle aspects.
The next Xbox One title will be available starting October 16th and will be up for free till November 15th. This title is of course The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season. If you don't know this game by now, you probably
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September 28, 2015
Over the weekend, thousands of players were invited to try out the closed beta for Rainbow Six: Siege, the upcoming tactical shooter from Ubisoft. The beta started on Thursday after the pre-beta technical test ended and it continued to early on Monday morning.
A lot of players have been very impressed with Rainbow Six: Siege, which seems to wonderfully blend inspiration from a wide range of different titles. There's no doubt that Siege really does feel like it's own game in it's own right, despite having some game modes and game mechanics similar to Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Battlefield and even Arma 3.
For the most part, the beta went by smoothly, although the beginning did have a few issues. A lot of players did complain about the inability to pre-load the beta and in the first few hours, server issues were fairly common. Past the launch of the beta, most players managed to play without any complaints.
Surprisingly Rainbow Six: Siege managed to run smoothly on