The Growth of Twitch

When Twitch.tv branched off from the less focused Justin.tv back in 2011, it was predominantly used for eSports and general broadcasts. Now, in the year 2014, every John, Dick and Harry has a stream up showing off their gameplay for their favourite titles.

For streamers, the challenge is to make their channel stand out from the hefty crowd, and with Twitch playing host to around 1 million unique broadcasters a month during 2014, getting noticed is no easy feat. Streaming is a very competitive business and it takes a lot of effort and guile to keep the audience engaged and the viewership growing.

It’s usually a fresh idea that gets an audience growing but the vast amount of broadcasters it’s hard to be noticed. A good recent example of playing outside the box was “TwitchPlaysPokemon”. The channel allowed gamers to watch a full playthrough of Pokemon Red by inputting commands into the stream chat. It took 16 long days of sporadic commands, from 120,000 users, to finally beat the Elite Four but it became a thought provoking experiment for many (even those that didn’t take part). 

The three most popular games on Twitch are, and have been for a long time, League of Legends, Starcraft II and Dota 2. These are all cornerstones of competitive PC gaming so it’s hardly surprising that the output reflect the games popularity. However, the launch of the current console generation has seen many PlayStation 4 and Xbox One exclusives taking a seat at the table. Because broadcasting can be particularly casual it’s easy to grab a few viewers or to see how a game plays before picking it up yourself – it’s more difficult to make it into the big time. Most serious Twitch channels are expressed through Twitter as well as Facebook and Reddit. The PlayStation and Xbox One crowds have added 1 million additional broadcasters to these numbers so we can only expect for the volume of channels to get even bigger. 
Personally, I don’t think streaming works as a substitution to playing games but rather an addition to make gaming even more fund.

Streams like TheJustinFlynn has over 70,000 followers and is one of the most prominent success stories to come out of the medium. In fact broadcaster Justine Flynn, an aspiring Pokemon X and Y pro has used Twitch to teach others the mechanics of the title and its deep battle systems. It’s not being used to make him a better player, but also his audience.

Another well-known channel ManVsGame, from Jayson Love, now has 140,000 Twitch followers that watch him beat particularly difficult games. His stream has seen him conquer the Dead Space series, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and, more recently, Outlast on its highest setting. It sounds like every gamers dream to play games and to make them fun but, and Jayson shows this, you need a certain amount of charisma to keep the crowds entertained – and therefore coming back for more.

The more Internet traffic shown to Twitch, the more views and channels are bound to come up. Rajakaru Games are now streaming – not excessively – as are many other publications. It’s a great concept that has made the founders a whole lot of money, and many more gamers very, very happy.

Do you stream? Do you watch Twitch? If so please let us know your thoughts below. In fact, if you have an aversion to Twitch please also let us know why.

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EA Access Announced

On 29^th July EA announced a new service for Xbox One that will give subscribers access to multiple triple A games for $4.99 (or £3.99 in the UK) a month.

Titled EA Access, this service is being rolled out today in a beta format for a limited number of players (including me). The beta will initial give subscribers unlimited access to FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, Peggle 2 and Battlefield 4 with more titles to come in the next few months.

Additionally, EA Access members will receive 10 per cent off most EA games and DLC downloaded on the console too. Sony have been quick to judge the offerings as “expensive” but it looks like a good opportunity for certain users (families or those who would rather try a few games on the cheap)

Another benefit to the service is that its members will be able to play trials of upcoming games up to five days prior to their launch. So far the list of games this will include are: Madden NFL 15, NHL 15, FIFA 15, NBA LIVE 15 and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Your progress from these trials will also carry over into the full game upon release which makes this package even more exciting for some users.

EA Access memberships will be available over Xbox Live or at retail via Amazon, GameStop and EB Games (US only). There are currently no high street stores announced for Europe but its probably that Game will be the UK’s offerer.

It’s worth noting that the games you download will only be available while your subscription lasts.

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Content Announced for the Destiny Final Release

The Destiny beta for the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360 is now finished, but the Bungie Community Manager David “DeeJ” Dague has been answering some questions about what will be included when the 9th September global release comes around. 

On a recent 2old2play livestream, Deej confirmed that each planet will have one location to explore when the game launches - much like the section of Russia we saw during the last couple of weeks.

“We’re calling them destinations. You go to Mars, you go to the moon, you go to Venus, you’ve got Earth,” DeeJ explained.

“We’ve revealed everything that you’ll explore in the first version of the game,” he continued. “You’ll be [going to] Earth. Your story takes you from the wastes of the Cosmodrome, which was essentially our Cape Canaveral of the Golden Age. It’s where we launched off as a global society, where we rushed out into the solar system to colonise and use what the Traveller gave us.”

Even though there’s only one area to explore per location, the beta showed that there is a large amount of area to cover on Earth alone. As most of you are aware parts of Old Russia were blocked off by barriers or by Fallen and Hive enemies that were "immune" to combat or much higher than the level 8 cap of the beta. In the brief 2-hour period that the Moon was made available in the beta on Saturday night we were able to explore deep into the Hellmouth for almost an hour before hitting these same barriers so we're very excited about what is included within these "sandboxes".

In all, there are seven different “destinations” in Destiny for players to explore — the Earth, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and The Reef (a part of the asteroid belt), plus the Crucible multiplayer maps. DeeJ also confirmed that the areas seen in the Crucible maps for Mars and Venus during the beta will be part of the regular destinations for the single/coop section of the game as well.

It's also be found, by Reddit user DestinyDB, through data mining some more information about the missions and destinations. This is by no means everything, or at least we don't believe it is, but even so it's a lot of information and therefore missions to take part in (and remember there are also "harder" versions of most assignments too).

Warning: The below could be considered spoilers so avoid direct eye contact for safety if you're worried....

Earth Story Missions
Old Russia, Earth – The cradle of humanity – a world of ancient glory, waiting to be retaken.
A Guardian Rises (level 1)
Restoration (levels 2, 5)
The Dark Within (levels 3, 6)
The Warmind (levels 4, 7)
The Last Array (levels 5, 8)
Earth Story Challenges
The Queen’s Wrath (Kill Order; level 24)

Earth Strikes
Nightfall: The Devils’ Lair (levels 22, 26, 28)
The Devils’ Lair (levels 6, 8)

Moon Story Missions
Oceans of Storms – An ancient evil stirs beneath the shattered surface of our moon.
The Dark Beyond (levels 6, 9)
The Sword of Crota (levels 7, 10)
The World’s Grave (levels 7, 10)
Shrine of Oryx (levels 8, 11)
Chamber of Night (levels 8, 11)

Moon Strikes
Nightfall: The Summoning Pits (levels 22, 26, 28)
The Summoning Pits (level 12)

The Reef Story Missions
The Reef, Asteroid Belt – Dare to strike a bargain with the ruthless Queen.
The Awoken (level 10)
A Key Awaits (level 12)

Venus Story Missions
Ishtar Sink – The jungles of Venus conceal great treasures – and terrible power.
A Stranger’s Call (levels 10, 12)
Ishtar Collective (levels 10, 12)
The Archive (levels 11, 13)
Scourge of Winter (levels 11, 13)
Eye of a Gate Lord (levels 12, 14)

Venus Strikes
Nightfall: The Nexus (levels 22, 26, 28)
Nightfall: Winter’s Run (levels 22, 26, 28)
The Nexus (level 14)
Winter’s Run (level 14)

Mars Story Missions
Meridian Bay – In the sandswept carcass of a lost city, dark forces gather for war.
Exclusion Zone (levels 15, 17)
The Garden’s Spire (levels 16, 18)
A Rising Tide (levels 17, 19)
The Buried City (levels 17, 19)
The Black Garden (levels 18, 20)

Mars Strikes
Nightfall: Cerberus Vae III (levels 22, 26, 28)
Cerberus Vae III (level 18)
Dust Palace (level 18)

Confirmed Crucible Maps
Earth
Twilight Gap
Rusted Lands
Exodus Blue
Moon
First Light
The Anomaly
Mars
Bastion
Firebase Delphi
Blind Watch
Venus
Asylum
Shores of Time
Mercury
The Burning Shrine

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Game with Gold - August 2014

Microsoft’s free game offerings for Xbox LIVE Gold members as part of the Games with Gold promotion has regularly been criticised when compared to Sony’s PS Plus options. Thankfully, for Xbox owners, it seems like August may be the month which changes that.

Starting 1st August we'll see two new games for 360 gamers and an additional two for Xbox One owners.

The free offerings for the Xbox One will continue the trend of the next-gen consoles solely receiving downloadable titles for now. The library of retail releases for both consoles is not yet large enough to support giving them away yet.

For Xbox One you'll see Strike Force Zero after two weeks of Crimson Dragon. 

The last generation will see Dishonoured first followed by Motocross Madness.

It looks like we're all in for a treat, especially if you never got the Bethesda action game the first time round (because it's great). The entirety of the Rajakaru team loved the Gothic setting and the fantastic combat system - this is definitely the game to download this month. 

What do you think of August’s selection of free games for the Xbox One and Xbox 360? Has Microsoft upped its game? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Destiny Beta Overview

The Destiny Beta is now opened to everyone and the Rajakaru team have been playing through the content over the past few days (none of us own PlayStation consoles so we’re a bit behind). The application gives, in most cases, gamers the first chance to see a generous slice of Bungie’s long awaited sci-fi FPS since they left Halo to 343 Industries.

I’ve now played about 10 hours exploring the Cosmodrome and have taken part in everything the beta has to offer – as such I felt it would be good for you all to see a rundown of what is being offered this week. Which, by the way, is now open to everyone – no codes necessary.

After choosing whether to play as a Titan, Warlock or Hunter (see Fighter, Rogue and Wizard) you’re going to be treated to an introduction session of how to play and what to pay attention to. There are also three options on race but as far as we can tell this is aesthetic only. The opening cinematic is quickly followed by an introduction to your new AI Ghost; voiced by the fantastic Peter Dinklage. Whom, for those that care, is far from the terrible audio many had lead me to believe.

You get to run through a section of the game that, if you’ve seen the video, will be very familiar. After discovering your ‘ride’ for the beta zones you’ve shipped offer to the traveller and it’s hub before being allowed to explore in the PvE sandbox (which fantastically doesn’t include any loading screens despite a substantial offering).

In fact you’ll get 4 full story missions that introduce the different enemies scattered through the lands, a handful of flavoursome weapons and even the Sparrow hover-bike to zip around on. The foes come in various different sizes and the Fallen are the first to be introduced. The Dregs are similar to Halo’s Grunts, easy to take down, while their counterparts the Vandals put up a fight similar to that of Jackels. There are also some tougher foes which can be linked to Elites and Brutes.

After a while you’ll also get treated to the Hive – a bit like the Flood, again from Halo (can you see where I’m going here?). They aren’t nearly as annoying but again come in forms that are easy to take down and go up to Elite standards.  Finally, and for the life of me I can’t remember at what point, you’ll also come up against Shanks that are little floating robots; they only take a few shots to go down but they can be nimble and catch you from a vertical height too.

The Hive and the Fallen aren’t the best of friends and you’ll often see firefights between the two parties. Each race has a specific set of ‘special’ enemies too which you’ll see sporadically through the story missions and also in free-roam (where short missions and bounties are optional).

Between missions you’ll be able to explore The Tower, Destiny’s central hub that acts as a place to buy upgrade, make friends and exchange glimmer – the in game currency – for new armour and emblems.

Probably the most enjoyable section of the beta, for me, was the Devil’s Lair Strike mission. If you’re lucky enough to get up to a suitable level this quest is designed for cooperative gameplay and clocks in at around 20-30 minutes in length. You’ll fight against various enemies in large volumes and a lack of communication will end in failure (grab some like-minded friends). This is, I believe, the only chance you’ll get to face off with a Devil Walker (a Fallen tank).

When that’s all said and done you’ll be able to start again with another character or explore the Cosmodrome some more. Some areas are impossible to traverse (with immune enemies to ensure you don’t get outside the available areas) but you’re almost never stuck for options. If you can see if, generally, you can go there. You’ll see other player, fight in momentary one-off tasks, and find new weapons and armour to try out. The beta peaks at level 8, which took me around 4 hours to reach but that didn’t stop my drive to continue playing one bit.

You’ll also get one PvP section at level five carefully titled, The Crucible. This is a three flag conquest style game-mode with teams of 6 facing off. There is only one mode but the beta does come with four very aesthetically distinct maps.

Unfortunately there isn’t any news yet on whether you can transfer progress into the final game – due for release globally in September – but if you’re playing at 9pm GMT on Saturday night then you can expect something cool to be handed out to you when the final release comes around (no news on what this is though)

The beta closed on 27^th July so you all have a few days to enjoy it.

Let us know what you’ve thought of it, or leave us a question, in the comments section below.


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You can follow Richard on Twitter by clicking here.
You can follow Rajakaru Games on Twitter by clicking here.

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Crysis has a Crisis

Crysis, the first-person shooter series made by Crytek, should be fortunate it doesn’t have a third-person perspective. And we should be forever grateful for that too.

Why? Because this is what happens when you mess with the perspective of video games. It’s a little terrifying and certainly lets us know that we should stop playing around with finished titles. As it’s an FPS, there isn’t any head on show, so you’d never see this mind bending acid trip otherwise.

You're never supposed to see any of this.

 

You can follow Richard on Twitter by clicking here.
You can follow Rajakaru Games on Twitter by clicking here.

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The Overview - Microsofts E3 Press Conference

For those of you that didn’t read through our Live Blog during the Microsoft E3 Presser we have completed a full overview below.

After last years’ knockout blow from Sony, Microsoft really needed to get something on the table that would put the ball – or at least some of it – back in their court.

This year they went to great lengths to provide clarification over the console itself as well as the shape of the landscape for the next 12 months.  Microsoft’s presentation pitched the Xbox One very cleanly as a next-generation games machine, with barely a mention of sports, TV, or Kinect to be found. The future is games, Microsoft told us.

Microsoft opened their briefing via Phil Spencer and the first gameplay showing from Sledgehammer games and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, It was spectacular and opened the show with an explosive bang. On the big screen, the demo was heady enough to feel like a scripted ride through a futuristic city landscape and the CGI opening blended carefully into the FPS action. Frantic and theatrical, this showcased COD exactly how the game should be played – just watch the trailer below.

 

 

The serious gaming tones continued for the next 20 minutes as we got treated to Forza Horizon 2, Assassin’s Creed: Unity and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Evolve brought the crowd back into live with its now fabled 4v1 hashtag all over the place. Blending the legendary gameplay that made the Left for Dead series so popular, this sci-fi spectacle pits for human FPS tacticians against a team of monster – and a big day giant that is player by another (again see the trailer below).

 

So Microsoft were off to a good start but we didn’t see much that we hadn’t really been anticipating. Sunset Overdrive came in next, and showed off some more of its wacky, colourful opportunities. Insomniac are great, and have been for a very long time, so this has been perking the Rajakaru ears ever since it was announced. And, as if you need the reminder, it’s an Xbox One exclusive – and we heard this several times during its 5 minutes slot.

 

Funnily enough a DLC opportunity probably made the most internet noise with the announcement of Dead Rising 3’s new bolt on. Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha, mouthful as it is, brought a great opportunity to Konami again. Taking a play out of the Blood Dragon playbook this content was made available immediate (so quickly that I downloaded it before the Project Spark trailer hit).

Our next stop, Fable Legends, in a demo from Lionhead that didn’t quite hit its mark, if only because the promises of all the fun we’ll have in the game seemed overly earnest in contrast with what we were seeing onscreen. Yes, it’s a slight quip that I’ll probably regret later but it didn’t hit the right notes for me personally. See for yourself, below, but I hope come release date that I am proven wrong, as it’s a great franchise for the publisher.

 

 

The next section I missed, due to train pick up’s, but I’ve since seen Ori and the Blind Forest. Its an intriguing platformer that shows we can’t hold just Sony to the dream like titles. This is the sort of game that rarely features at Microsoft’s pressers, and it’s nice to see the publisher showing a commitment to this sort of creativity amongst the gun-toting fare and safe-bet sequels.

Perhaps the least surprising but most satisfying announcement came next in the form of Halo: The Master Chief collection. We saw glimpses of Halo 5: Guardians (again in CGI format) but we still came away with something to look forward to this year from within the rings sci-fi shooter. Firstly, Guardians will have a beta in December but the real action was in the collection mentioned previously. Holding the full anniversary edition of Halo: Combat Evolved, a fresh next-gen anniversary for Halo 2, plus the original offerings (beefed to 1080p and 60fps) of Halo 3 and 4. This set will feature 100 maps, countless game modes and enough to keep even the longest serving Master Chief in fully fledged action until the next ‘original’ instalment hits. Trailer below again for your perusal.

 

 

There were a couple of blockbuster wins for Microsoft, too. The debut trailer of Rise of the Tomb Raider, some Witcher 3: Wild Hunt gameplay and a genuinely impressive look at The Division were all welcome, but it was the announcement of a re-imagined Phantom Dust and Xbox One exclusive Scalebound from Platinum Games that are really worth talking about as these are new IPs for the console.

 

NB - There is a playlist in here if any of you are interested for all the games listed in this article.

 

Certainly, it’s nice to see Microsoft signing on the bottom line of a third-party exclusive contract; they’re an old-fashioned thing, and increasingly rare. A Platinum Games title alone is a big win for the publisher, let alone one featuring monster hunting and dragon slaying. Plus the CGI trailer gave us a look at what we can expect even though we don’t know the exact gameplay opportunities.

Microsoft ended their conference not with humbled talky section of yesteryear but with a goodwill gesture to fans that Crackdown would be returning. It’s been four whole years since Crackdown 2, which didn’t sell as well as its predecessor, but it’s a welcome change of landscape to say the least.

All in all, the American superpower gave all the fans a swansong for all their misdemeanours last year. It was an assured briefing with a clear message behind it, and what's more, it felt like the executive committee behind the console were finally starting to listen to us, the import people, their fans. There was absolutely no focus on “entertainment” offerings, no vague features and rightly no straight up apologies. This was about the next 24 months and Microsoft have a plan to kick Sony right where it hurts – in the new landscape of games.

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Microsoft's E3 Media Briefing - The Rajakaru Xbox Live Feed

So it’s that time of the year again, E3 is here! 

Sadly the event kicks off while most of you are busy at work, doing homework or getting on with your lives. As such us lovely people here a Rajakaru Games have decided that we will bring you all the goings on in one friendly live feed. It’ll certainly be something to behold and once the event is finished we’ll fill this bad boy up with trailers and gameplay videos (if we get any). So without further ado lets get ready for the show (4:00pm Pre-Briefing will begin). 

(Brought to you by Richard @somemannoplan)

 

 

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Xbox One: The Rajakaru Game List

Earlier this year, Sony published a list of the 100+ games available on the PlayStation in 2014. While Microsoft has not released a similar list of its own for the Xbox One, we've searched out and listed below everything that we can for Microsoft’s Xbox One too.

Of course, this list is subject to change as games are delayed or announced (E3 is tonight)

Available:

• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - April 29
• Child of Light - April 30
• Kinect Sports Rivals - April 8
• The Lego Movie Video Game - February 8
• Lego: The Hobbit - April 8
• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - March 18
• Murdered: Soul Suspect - June 3
• Nutjitsu - May 8
• Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare - February 25
• Rayman Legends - February 18
• Strider - February 19
• Strike Suit Zero - April 8
• Super Time Force - May 14
• Thief - February 25
• Titanfall - March 11
• Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition - January 28
• Trials Fusion - April 18
• Watch Dogs - May 27
• Wolfenstein: The New Order - May 20
• Worms Battlegrounds - June 3

Upcoming:

• Alien: Isolation - October 7
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - November 4
• Destiny - September 9
• Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition - August 19
• Dragon Age: Inquisition - October 7
• EA Sports UFC - June 17
• The Elder Scrolls Online - November 2014
• The Evil Within - October 21
• Evolve - October 21
• Far Cry 4 - November 18
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - October 7
• Madden NFL 15 - August 26
• Skylanders: Trap Team - October 5
• Sniper Elite 3 - July 1
• Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark - June 24
• WWE 2K15 - October 28

TBC:

• 1001 Spikes
• LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
• Assassin's Creed Unity
• Aztez
• Below
• Calibre 10 Racing Series
• Castlestorm
• Chariot
• Chuck's Challenge 3D
• Contrast
• Defense Grid 2
• Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved
• Disney Infinity -- Marvel Super Heroes
• Divekick Addition Edition
• The Elder Scrolls Online
• Forced
• Forza Horizon 2
• Guacamelee
• Gunscape
• Habitat
• Hyper Light Drifter
• Kickbeat
• The Last Tinker
• Minecraft
• NHL 15
• Pinball FX2
• Project Cars
• Project Spark
• RBI Baseball 14
• Riptide GP2
• Roundabout
• Shadow Warrior
• Sunset Overdrive
• The Crew
• The Golf Club
• Wulverblade

Rumoured:

• Dance Central sequel
• Halo 1-4 Collection

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Game with Gold - June (Xbox One offerings begin)

Dark Souls is the game currently being offered as part of Xbox’s Games With Gold promotion, which is now celebrating its one-year anniversary by adding an extra free Xbox 360 game to its usual allotment of two. The two other free games for June will be Charlie Murder, a beat-em-up released last August, and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, the most recent version of the fighting game. Both will become available on 16^th June (as Dark Souls ends 15^th).

That means you’ll make roughly £40.00 if you download all three.

In better news, Microsoft also recently revealed that “Games with Gold” has come to Xbox One. Starting this month, Games With Gold will begin bringing "subscription-based access to free games" to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. The kick off saw the announcements of Halo: Spartan Assault and Max: The Curse of Brotherhood. As is the case with PlayStation Plus' Instant Game Collection offerings, you’ll only be able to access the free Games With Gold on Xbox One if you have an active Gold membership. 

Still that’s five free games from Microsoft this month. Great stuff!

 

 

 

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Watch Dogs Review: Hack-a-lacking

I’m going to break this review down into a single questions – it’s the one on everybody’s lips – “Is Watch Dogs as good as the hype suggests?”

 

Frankly its neither the tragic failure some expected nor the introduction to a 'proper' next-gen others craved, Watch Dogs is instead best thought of as an open-world sandbox: Chicago Edition. As with other titles from the publisher – Far Cry and Assassin's Creed being the obvious examples – it is almost compulsively appealing, thanks to Ubisoft Montreal's tried and true onslaught of collectibles, missions, sidequests and other bite-sized reward loops.

 

The gameplay is as fluid as the best parts of Assassin’s Creed where the systems complement the player rather than hindering them. I’ve played around 20 hours of the title so far, and honestly haven’t made it to the end, so feel I am in a strong position to tell you that I haven’t been bored yet. Sadly, I haven’t been thrilled very often either.

Watch Dogs is set in a fairly large, populated, sandbox but doesn’t catch the intrigue of Creed or the appeal of Far Cry – instead feeling like the love child of GTA and Driver. Critically the title is let down by not feeling like a living “breathing” world. NPC’s walk the streets but seem, largely, like robots out for a stroll in a world they don’t really understand. Thankfully, this is somewhat saved by the titles focus on giant corporations and social inequality; which the world does very well to diversify in its five moderately different districts.

Probably the strangest element, and the one most people are interesting in, is the fact the Hacking plays a relatively small part in the proceedings. The morally dubious activities undertaken by Aiden are a stark contrast to the main storyline and the abuse of power he deals with in it. The interface for interacting with the city is exciting, at first, but quickly fall’s foul of Watch Dogs own marketing features. You’ll blow out lights, hack road signs and lift bridges but it never gets any more involved than that. It’s like the bonus perks of GTA with a little but more spice added in.

At some points you’ll hack the bank accounts of the very people you are looking to “help”. It’s a strange decision that’s made worse by the fact that every action has a negative quality to it and it makes Aiden less enjoyable to play as.

Watch Dogs does take a lot of pointers from Ubisoft’s other titles and fills the world with many enjoyable activities for the player to enjoy outside of the main quest. Side-missions and activities are fun to complete and are the right length that they don’t get boring before you get to try something else new. The only nuance to this is the relatively samey main quests as the drive/hack/escape dynamic can only last so long without feeling repetitive.

The online portions of the game work exceptionally well. The hacking and tracking gameplay is interesting but can get a tad tedious when you are on the receiving end for any length of time. Patience is a virtue here and sometime just playing the “waiting game” holds more than its fair share of rewards. It also has a nice twist on the Assassins Creed multiplayer ideas and if you are a fan of that set-up then you’ll certainly find a lot to enjoy here.

In practice the game works: it’s fundamentally interesting, at times looks amazing (especially the water effect on the next gen system), has good shooting/cover gameplay and AI that seems to learn your movements. The problem with it is that we have seen most, if not all of, this before. It hits the high benchmark we expect from AAA titles but it doesn’t push the boundaries in any directions.

6/10. Good, but not Great!

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The Kinect U-Turn

So, the mandatory Kinect is no more, Microsoft have once again made a U-Turn on its original next-gen plan. Kinect has gone from being an integral component to an optional peripheral. Like most other Xbox One gamers I haven’t even used the Kinect for much more than showing off (and the odd dashboard navigation when my controllers have run out of battery.

That being said – it is a good piece of hardware and holds far more potential than the original ever did (both in accuracy and speed).

For Microsoft this solves many problems: the price differential with PlayStation 4 has now been addressed, while internal resources dedicated to Kinect processing can now be returned to game developers.

However, on the flipside, the original vision for Xbox One as a multi-faceted all-in-one entertainment system as well as a games machine now lies in a much less coordinated manner than ever – unless this was always the plan (which we doubt).

Kinect was at the heart of everything that made Xbox One different and without it we're left with a machine that offers pretty much the exact same proposition as PS4. In fact, it’s a horrible chance of pace for a company that always stripped its rivals in the race for innovation. Just two years ago Sony were doing everything they could to match their American counterparts but now it seems that the more Xbox changes, the closer it becomes to the PlayStation design choices from launch.

This week's announcements are all about levelling the playing field with Sony. The price is the same, Games with Gold moves closer into alignment with PlayStation Plus, while non-gaming services are also like-for-like thanks to the removal of the almost criminal payment requirements that saw users charged for the privilege of using Internet Explorer, Skype and even non-Microsoft services like YouTube and Netflix.

Here at Rajakaru Games we appreciate that Microsoft is finally listening.

This market repositioning was a must for our beloved console. Microsoft’s vision for an entertainment system certainly wasn’t a bad decision in principle but the implementation and demand for this hardware was misplaced.

Kinect is the main gateway to the media functions of the Xbox One and without it the hardware looks more like the set-top boxes it was trying to replace rather than the state of the art ideas that it hasn’t fully realised.

Statistics showed that for many users, the Xbox 360 was being utilised more for media streaming than it was for actual gameplay. This was the main reason for the strategy they tried desperately to maximise but unfortunately the impact didn’t really take off.

We've seen Oculus Rift, we've experienced Sony's Project Morpheus prototype but we've still not seen Microsoft's 'Fortaliza' hardware. Envisaged as a Kinect-powered augmented reality concept, Microsoft saw it as the penultimate stepping stone in console technology before the cloud took over, rendering new client-side hardware obsolete. These industry changes and innovations certainly mean we can expect some new gameplay styles over the course of this console lifecycle and, you never know, Microsoft might just U-Turn again.

The good news for Microsoft is that games and content will always trump hardware spec. This week’s Halo 5 tease was short on details but at least re-introduced a key title with an immense level of anticipation alongside it, and the E3 line-up should be strong. Beyond that we understand that Microsoft isn't done with the cloud, and that games are being built around Azure that go beyond the utilisation's we've seen thus far.  

We definitely won't see a total rethink of the Xbox One system, but at least the focus will be where it should have been from day one - on the games.

 

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Halo: The Master Chief Collections - Is It Real?

Fresh off the heels of the Halo 5: Guardians announcement earlier this week, we have some more news about the sci-fi shooter franchise. [Please take this with a pinch of salt]

It has been widely suggested that Microsoft will release Halo: The Master Chief collection for Xbox One later this year and now a new report from Engadget claims this is truly the case.

The Master Chief collection will include Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4 in a repackaged high definition pack. It currently looks like Halo3: ODST and Halo: Reach won’t make the cut and this doesn’t seem strange considering the main protagonist of the collection didn’t feature.

Engadget suggests that Saber Interactive would be the developer, given its previous work on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition for Xbox 360.

To add fire to the flames the report ties into Microsoft’s pledge that the Halo journey on Xbox One would begin in 214. This November also marks the 10 year anniversary for Halo 2, which has again be rumoured for the HD treatment ever since the original title obtained an HD remake in 2011.

During the Halo 5: Guardians announcement last week, 343 Industries' Frank O'Connor also emphasised the developer's previous statement that the journey towards Halo 5 in 2015 would begin this year, and that another announcement was seemingly on the way.

Engadget's report reinforces the claims of a NeoGAF poster from February this year who appeared to leak Microsoft's Xbox One-related plans for the future.

The poster said Halo 2 Anniversary Edition would launch in two forms: a Collector's Edition with Halo 5 beta access and a War Collection, which includes all of the above as well as Xbox One ports of Halo 3 and Halo 4.

Looking over the web we cannot find any confirmation or comments from Microsoft about this “announcement”. With E3 just a few short weeks away we can certainly expect confirmation then if nothing comes out before. It wouldn’t be completely outrageous to expect at least some form of Halo to hit stores this year – though we will need to hear something official to know what that will contain.

As massive Halo fans here at Rajakaru Games we certainly hope Master Chiefs next outing – or remake - is coming sooner than the Christmas build up next year. 

Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Halo 5: Guardians Officially Announced

Microsoft has officially announced Halo 5: Guardians for Xbox One and said that it will, as expected, debut next year.

Halo 5: Guardians is described as a “massive and exciting project” by 343 Industries, who went on to say “the next instalment in the legendary sage of the Master Chief”.

The most exciting news is that it will be the first Halo game to run at a native  60 FPS and utilise dedicated servers.

Microsoft also released one image to accompany the announcement. We can expect to hear more at E3 but we have already been told that the Spartan shown below is a completely new addition to the series (and not Cortana as I had been marking out for).

So that's Halo 5: Guardians summed up, but 343 also spoke cryptically about the “journey” we're all about to go on. “That journey definitely begins in 2014 with a giant leap, rather than one small step”.

Whatever could it mean? Some sort of beta? Or perhaps they is talking about the Halo 2 Anniversary edition that has been rumoured over the last few months - after all, Halo 2 will be 10 years old this November. Alternatively there is talk of a Master Chief remake which will feature the aforementioned Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4 for next gen.

 

A mystery, then, but one we won't have to wait long to solve.

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Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire 3DS Remakes Announced

Nintendo has today announced Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, remakes of their 2003 GBA adventures, will be coming to the 3DS in November.

The decision to remake Ruby and Sapphire isn't surprising seeing as their predecessors Pokemon Red and Blue, as well as Pokemon Gold and Silver, have already received the revamp treatment.

Set in the region of Hoenn, they will introduce a new location for the 3DS system as well as - I'm obviously speculating here - featuring the new mechanics that have made the series so popular in recent years.

Nintendo's decision to cling to a known winner is a good one, especially as they have posted their third consecutive annual operating loss. However, on a stronger note the last 3DS offerings, Pokemon X and Y, sold 12.26 million copies worldwide which makes them the biggest selling titles on the device.

No doubt we will hear more of these remakes during Nintendo's E3 broadcast next month.

Perhaps more significant is the wording "EXPLORE A DRAMATIC NEW WORLD!" within the trailer. We may be reading too far into it but does this mean we'll get extra content with the titles? Only time will tell.

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Rajakaru Review - The Xbox One "Six Months On"

The Xbox 360 that exists in 2014 bears very little resemblance to the console that Microsoft launched in 2005. It’s so different, in fact, that it helps to think of the company’s new Xbox One as an evolution, not of the original Xbox 360 but of the one that exists today.

Over the eight-year lifetime, the Xbox 360 underwent radical transformations. In 2008, the "New Xbox Experience" delivered an entirely new interface, customizable player Avatars, eight-player party chat and Netflix streaming, a first for video game consoles. In 2010, the first iteration of Kinect and the platform’s voice and gesture controls redefined the 360 once again. Microsoft were always at the forefront of the innovations that defined the generation and actually initiated many of the ideas that Sony took forward too.

Their focus on entertainment never diminished the Xbox 360's gaming offerings either. Between first-party titles like Halo, third party console exclusives like Left 4 Dead and timed titles like Oblivion, the Xbox 360 was never wanting for the best options everywhere. In fact the Xbox Live Arcade program also generated top titles like Castle Crashers, Limbo and Braid – turning them into household names.

But there was a sense that the Xbox 360's greater aspirations as a mainstream portal for entertainment were restrained by hardware created before our current age of streaming video, tablets and smartphones. And this is the direction Microsoft have taken forward with the Xbox One.

Yes, when you look at it now, the Xbox One looks similar and holds familiar features but the whole experience if more fluid and functional than ever before. Despite its recognisable elements and concepts, the Xbox One still manages a genuine sense of wonder, all without losing sight of the strong gaming foundation the Xbox was built on. 

Hardware & Design

The nicest description we could manage for the Xbox One's new sleek design is "clean" — there's no crappy coating colour – Microsoft have designed the hardware to sit under the TV and to look like its supposed to be there for the long term.

The console lacks the profile and space-saving considerations of the PlayStation 4 — or even the original Xbox 360 but holds its own against set top boxes and TV hardware.  Even the Kinect 2.0 is bigger than the original sensor but the output and recognition is cleaner and more effective than ever before. Sadly, and I can’t spin this as a positive, the old power brick makes an unwelcome return.

The console is exceptionally quiet, and it runs relatively cool at all times. But if you’re looking for aesthetic subtlety, this is not the console for you. However, given the Xbox 360's notorious reliability problems, it's a little reassuring that the Xbox One was given so much room to breathe.

Like the PS4, the Xbox One has gone digital-only with its audio and video — you'll only find HDMI and optical audio ports. For network connectivity, Microsoft has added a gigabit Ethernet port and connects to wireless networks at 5GHz.

Probably the most disappointing area is the requirement to install all games to the hard drive which, although large, can still cause an issue as a single game can occupy as much as 50 GB — and that's before any DLC, expansions, or major title updates.

Lastly, unlike the Xbox 360, the Xbox One has a Blu-ray drive, meaning those of you with a soft spot for physical media won't need to keep a second device around. That drive is partnered with the a 500 GB internal hard drive, where all games are installed (so 10-15 games is about all you’ll get). Microsoft has however added a patch to support external storage post launch, a significant improvement from the expensive proprietary storage options available on Xbox 360.

 

Controller

Microsoft had the unenviable task of redesigning something that nobody thought was broken. The Xbox 360 controller was universally praised, so it shouldn't be surprising that the Xbox One controller is familiar. Improvements have been made to the triggers, which now feature rumble motors; the D-pad, which is now a cross; and the thumbsticks are now smaller and more accurate. It's a more comfortable controller – which we at Rajakaru didn’t think was possible – has a good amount of weight, and a great texture that makes it feel like a premium offering compared to the slippery Xbox 360 counterpart.

Thankfully the Xbox One controller features a more recessed space for the battery, as opposed to the large bump found on the back of the Xbox 360's controller. Additionally you won't spend a lot of time worrying about batteries. We have been able to play for over 15 hours before fully depleting a charge on our controllers. There are some nice features that coordinate with the Kinect system to monitor its use. When you put the controller down to watch a movie, it enters a low-power state. It’s a smart way of extending the utility of Kinect in a practical way.

The Xbox One also supports the Wi-Fi Direct standard for, well, direct wireless connections between devices. This kind of connection eliminates your wireless router from the equation, reducing latency and speeding up transfer speeds — which Microsoft is using for the Xbox One's new, improved version of SmartGlass (discussed later).

Interface

I, personally, don’t feel like a lot needs to be explained here. The interface is very similar to the Xbox 360 but reduces the multiple routes to locate individual titles and content. The coloured tiles are easier to navigate than the multiple cluttered pages that made up the Xbox 360's dashboard, and there's a clear, easy-to-understand hierarchy.

The Xbox One’s “out-of-the-box” interface wasn’t as clear as it is today but the various options are now much easier to track. The various patches have shown that Microsoft are listening to the users and making changes that we, as players, feel are important improvements.

My favourite addition by far, though, is the ability to skip entering codes for pre-order bonuses, DLC or other game downloads. Instead you can scan QR codes with the Kinect. It's fast and convenient, but makes the task of doing so on our Xbox 360s much more annoying than we had ever found it before.

The motion gestures and voice recognition is clear and easy to use. Obviously there is still an issue with other noises in the room but this was always an expected nuisance. Facial recognition ensures automatic login and profile changes on the fly which are nice, if not overly useful, features. It feels futuristic and cool in a way that little else about the new consoles does.

 

Xbox Live

Microsoft has every intention of making the Xbox One the centrepiece of your living-room entertainment experience. XBL has always been the big competitive advantage for Microsoft but Sony has made some headway with their improvements to the PlayStation Network.

Microsoft are trying to keep ahead though with their new television integration and One Guide feature as an augmentation to your existing cable or satellite provider. Navigating to TV shows and movies can now be controlled via voice commands — i.e., "Xbox, watch HBO" — which seems like something out of Minority Report. These voice commands also justify the TV functionality of the console, making it so that the only time you'd have to pick up your TV remote is to watch things you have on your recordings list.

Each application works much like you mobile phone and its seamless to jump from game to TV and back again. It can quickly be linked to the obvious want to put the Xbox One at the centre of everyone’s living room experience. Plus Twitch is now up and running so you can watch that too.

Skype on Xbox One has the potential to be huge. Kinect's ability to find speakers in a room and focus the camera on them is really neat. And answering a call with voice commands is pleasantly simple. Skype will run "under" games or other apps, allowing you to continue chat via the Kinect mic or the Xbox One headset while performing other tasks.

All of this depends on the system's seamless suspension of in-progress games and apps. This makes swapping between functions of the Xbox One a pleasure, rather than a chore.

It's worth mentioning that every app on Xbox One – except Skype “currently” – can also be snapped to the right side of the screen in a mini window, either by pressing the menu button on the app, or saying "Xbox, snap [app name]. Also not essential but worth noting is the fact that the Internet Explorer app is quicker than my 2011 Dell Laptop which, doesn’t mean it’s excellent, but is certainly suitably efficient at what it means to do.

Word of warning; all Xbox One consoles must be updated as soon as they're turned on for the first time. And all new games are the same. Once you have installed your updates though the actually inputs are much quicker and better calibrated than the Xbox 360. You recover your Xbox Live profiles in no time at all and you can switch your Kinect hardware off or on in seconds.

Microsoft makes it very clear from the start that it wants you to take your Xbox One profile with you. If you have an Xbox One, say, in another room you'd only need to walk into that room, have it recognise your face and it will sign you straight in (as long as you have recovered your gamertag there  before. Cloud saves on games work in the same way so you can pick up your Assassins Creed IV game exactly where you left it.

SmartGlass

The Smartglass feature for titles has been a small part of the Xbox 360 system for some time but is coming on leaps and bounds since hitting the Xbox One. Several announced titles will include this feature including “The Division” and “Fable Anniversary”. It is so easy to set up that it’s almost not worth missing the app on your Android, Windows Phone or iOS device.

Communication between your second-screen device and the Xbox One is significantly faster than with the original SmartGlass app. This is because the app connects directly to your console and not via the Xbox Live servers first. There's almost no perceptible latency between actions on one and the results on the other. This bodes well for potential second-screen implementation in games — immediate response could make your tablet device a viable alternative method of control.

 

 

Games

Let’s start with the bad news first: The Xbox One's hefty line-up of exclusive titles, at launch, wasn’t without some considerable misses. Crimson Dragon is a disappointing follow-through on its potential as a successor to Panzer Dragoon. LocoCycle is best summed up as rubbish with its amateur gameplay and racist overview. In face I think these games are so bad that I won’t even give them a score below. All the other titles however will get a brief but scored listing:

·         Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag                           9/10
·         Battlefield 4                                                          8/10
·         Call of Duty: Ghosts                                             7/10
·         Dead Rising 3                                                       7/10
·         Fifa 14                                                                   8/10
·         Forza Motorsport 5                                               9/10
·         Killer Instincts                                                      7/10
·         Kinect Sports Rivals                                             7/10
·         Lego Marvel Super Heroes                                   9/10
·         Maddan NFL 25                                                    6/10
·         Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes                     7/10
·         NBA 2K14                                                            4/10
·         NBA Live 14                                                         8/10
·         Need for Speed: Rivals                                          7/10
·         Plants vs. Zombie: Garden Warfare                      6/10
·         Rayman Legends                                                   8/10
·         Ryse: Son of Rome                                                6/10
·         Thief                                                                      7/10
·         Titanfall                                                                 9/10
·         Trials Fusion                                                         8/10
·         Zoo Tycoon                                                           7/10

AVERAGE – 7.3/10

There are however some very good titles available to date. Dead Rising 3 is technically impressive and a fun playground, but suffers from bad writing and uninventive controls. Titanfall, although not a launch title, has become almost as big a success story as any of the other FPS games vying for the Call of Duty crown. Thief has the atmosphere derived from a dark, smoky London but lacks gameplay mechanics to make the title last longer than one playthrough. Zoo Tycoon is a flawed but compelling game with a surprising amount of depth. Killer Instinct is a pretty decent reboot for the long-dormant franchise, despite some trepidation about its business model. And Forza Motorsport 5 is the best of the bunch, a strong evolution for the series despite a reduced number of tracks and cars.

The Xbox One is a hundred dollars more than its direct competition, and several third-party games run in lower resolution than they do on the PS4 which has concerned some. However, Sony hasn’t invested in other areas like Microsoft. If the PS4 is a Video Games system then the Xbox One is an entertainment hub.

Conclusion

Microsoft has insisted it has the software gamers want. But it's also maintained that this generation is about more than that. It's repeatedly outlined a vision for a console based around entertainment, apps and connected experiences, tied together by Kinect, which has been met with apprehension by the enthusiast audience.

To be clear, Kinect isn’t a fully realised product yet. The gesture supports are functional but the gaming inputs are lacking to say the least. The application store is also missing some big titles like HBO Go and Sky Sports but the television functionality impresses me greatly.

The integration of the system has been well constructed and the foundations have been set to keep the company, and the console, moving in the direction of the market. Yes, Sony may be ahead in sales right now but the Xbox One is already scoping an audience for a virtual reality market that Sony just won’t be able to compete with.

E3 this year may be more important than last, with rumours galore already hitting the Internet. Microsoft are being expected to announce many new AAA titles (like Halo 5) as well as their VR offering which should make for an interesting next 12 months. And that’s not even stating the remaining releases this year.

The Xbox One is an impressive marriage of software and hardware that raises the bar in terms of what we expect from a living-room machine. Looking forward more than it looks back, the Xbox One feels like it's from the future.

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