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July 19, 2013
I was pleasantly surprised as I watched the new Assassins' Creed: Black Flag gameplay video. The video features 7 minutes of gameplay footage as a narrator explains to the viewer what there is to be done in the new upcoming Assassins' Creed.
Personally I've been getting quite bored of the franchise, and when Ubisoft announced that they had plans to release a new AC game yearly, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. AC began as a series that was new and refreshing, but we saw that trying to reuse the same gameplay mechanics again and again just didn't work, even if the stories were quite compelling.
I was quite happy to see that the new Black Flag game actually looked quite good in this new gameplay video.
The gameplay shows off plenty of features involved with the high seas. We already know that the new game is pirate themed, but you may be surprised to see just how much of the game actually involves pirate shenanigans. In AC4: Black Flag, players will have their own
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July 09, 2013
After hearing about the specifics on hardware for the next gen consoles, and learning that the PlayStation 4 has a very promising 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, many have discussed whether games on the PlayStation 4 will have differences to their Xbox One counterparts.
One game that has been involved hotly in this topic is Watch_Dogs, a new open-world game by Ubisoft that looks absolutely incredible.
Ubisoft have addressed many gamer's curiosities this week though, stating that "The Xbox One is a powerful platform, as of now we do not foresee a major difference in on screen result between the PS4 and the Xbox One. Obviously we are still working on pushing the game on these new consoles, we are still doing R&D."
"This said, the platforms have some specificity that we are leveraging. For example, we are making use of the touchpad on the DualShock 4."
The developers behind Watch_Dogs seem to be very
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July 08, 2013
If you don't want to spend extra money on a headset after buying the Xbox One, you'll be happy to know that the Kinect will also back up as an alternative to the microphone/headset.
There's no official word on the quality of the Kinect microphone, and you'll have to listen to players through your TV unless you have a pair of compatible headphones when using the Kinect for voice chat.
The Kinect does include a 'wide array' of microphones though, so it'd be surprising if the call quality received from the Kinect was poor.
The official Xbox One is always up for grabs for those that don't like the openness of the Kinect microphone and TV speaker combo, and there are also many alternatives for better audio quality including headset models from Turtle Beach specifically designed for the Xbox One.
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July 07, 2013
You may be wondering just what kind of accessories you may get when purchasing the new PlayStation 4. We already know that the Xbox One won't have an included headset, but whilst we were pretty sure the PlayStation 4 will, there's still no hard evidence on what we'll actually receive in the box.
Luckily, a rumor has spread showing just exactly what will be within the PlayStation launch bundle, and whilst it hasn't been officially confirmed, it certainly looks like the real deal.
The photo (shown above) manages to include the PS4 console, a dualshock 4 controller, a power cable, an HDMI lead, a USB charging cable, and of course the headset and instruction leaflet.
The headset is just a small in-ear headset that looks and feels a lot like the kind you'd get with a mobile phone- so whilst Sony did include a headset, I wouldn't blame you if you decided to buy a more comfortable headset instead.
The headset does seem to be
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July 06, 2013
Unlike the Xbox 360, the Xbox One won't come with a headset, and you'll also have to separately buy other accessories if you want to get the most out of your Xbox One experience.
At launch, they'll be a few accessories available to you. Firstly, and probably the most needed accessory for those who want to be able to taunt the other team from the comfort of their sofa, is of course a headset.
The official Xbox One headset looks a lot like the current Xbox 360 headset- It has one thin headband that goes around the circumference of your head and then a simple microphone branching out from one side. The volume and mute buttons have been moved down to the port where the microphone will plug into the controller.
Alternatively, you could bag yourself a Turtle Beach headset- at launch Turtle Beach will have The EarForce XO Seven and the EarForce XO Four. Both headsets are of a much better quality than the Xbox One headset and they both include a decent
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June 26, 2013
Destiny will have different graphics for different platforms according to Harold Ryan, Bungie's president.
He didn't state what that meant between each platform, but it's obviously clear that the older generation consoles, the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, will have worse graphics than newer generation Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
He didn't state whether there would be any difference between the PS4 and Xbox One, and instead said "We're not committing right now to any specific platform features. The great thing for us with timing is that we were making a new engine, and then two new consoles were coming out, which led us to invest more into making the new engine for it.
"There are a whole bunch of great opportunities for us to go after, like full player experiences, etc. We're investigating all of those and building the core experience of Destiny, which will be similar across all the platforms. The graphics are different,
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June 23, 2013
There's always a lot of tension between companies when they are competing to make the better product, and this certainly is the case when considering Microsoft and Sony. They were the first most noticeable company to have a 'war' between each other, drawing fans on either side of the battle as each side would try and explain why their favorite beat the other in every way possible.
The tension was present leading up to this year's E3 as well, but it seems like Sony is currently jumping in joy because of Microsoft and their decisions made for their new console.
Head of Sony Worldwide Studios Software Product Development, Scott Rohde, commented on the situation, saying that their team were 'running up and down the aisles' when they heard about the price difference between the cheaper PlayStation 4 and the more expensive Xbox One.
Rohde went onto saying "Absolutely great. It was an amazing feeling. Absolutely. We went nuts. We
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June 10, 2013
Whilst you should always take an analyst's word with a pinch of salt, their estimates on prices are usually well thought out. Investment firm Wedbush Morgan has made some comments on the pricing and production costs of both next-gen consoles, with Michael Pachter, analyst for the company, stating that the PlayStation 4 will retail in the United States for $349.
He also stated that the Xbox One could retail for $399, and that production costs for each individual Xbox is $325. The PlayStation 4 is also similarly priced with a production cost of $275.
If these stats are true, there's no denying that these prices are quite fair on the customer considering the high production costs, however, Michael Pachter has been wrong in the past, like many analysts.
Pachter also talked about possible subscription methods for the Xbox. This would make sense - Microsoft has already tried such plans for the Xbox 360 in the US.
"We believe