Xbox One - Dynamic Achievements

Earlier this week at a round table meeting following the reveal of the Xbox One, hardware leads from Microsoft mentioned how the fluid, cloud-based nature of the new console opens the door for games and experiences to evolve over time, including Achievements themselves. They cited the Skyrim's "Arrow in the Knee" meme as an example of how this evolution could happen. On the Xbox One, Bethesda could have gone into the game and specifically...

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A Change to Microsoft Points

With the announcement of the Xbox One this week came the announcement that the long used digital current, Microsoft Points, could be replaced. Sources close to the Microsoft planners believe the decision has been to replace these awkward funds into credit, debit and gift cards following the launch of the Xbox One. In fact, according to The Verge, the currency change could be formally announced at E3 in June. As I’m sure you are aware gift...

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Are we ready for 'The Next Generation'?

We are coming closer and closer to the next generation of gaming with the Playstation 4 already shown off and the announcement of the next Microsoft console, Xbox One, coming earlier this week. The gears are starting to sputter as we reach what could potentially be the biggest console war of this generation. The thing is – are we really ready for a new set of consoles? Across the globe people can easily make the argument that our economy is...

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Xbox Reveal - 21/05/2013 #XboxReveal (Xbox One)

The Next Xbox is due to be revealed tonight at 6:00pm UK time.... In the lead up I will be giving a rundown of the news as well as regular updates both on here and via my Twitter Feed (@somemanwithplan - remember there's no 'a') Obviously comment below if you want to get involved..... ________________________________________________________________________________ 19:02 - Xbox Reveal is over...... Good Job Microsoft (blew Sony out of the water) 19:01...

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List of Next -Xbox Games

After completing a list of announced PlayStation 4 titles and with the Xbox announcement less than a week away I thought it was time to rundown the speculated Xbox 720 (or whatever the hell it will be called) games. I’ll update this following the reveal event tonight…. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag Assassin's Creed 4 is coming to "next-gen consoles," and has already been confirmed for Sony’s next piece of hardware. Similar to other titles...

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EA Cancel Online Passes

Online Passes have always been a controversial attempt by publishers to encourage new game sales by locking online-centric content from used copies. This has been aggressively argued against by gamers and retailers alike and it’s no surprise that someone would listen. The most interesting thing is that it’s a major player too – Electronic Arts. The publisher behind FIfa, Battlefield, Mass Effect and more will be ‘discontinuing’ it’s Online...

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CoroCoro Pokemon X & Y - Update

Another day, another CoroCoro update for Pokémon X and Y. This time we have confirmation of the speculated game location and a few interesting new monsters and features. As I speculated when the first trailer was released, it is indeed set in an alternative version of France. The scans - courtesy of Serebii – which you can see below, reveal that the name of the new region is called Karos, and Miare City is its version of Paris. It confirms...

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Replaying Video Games

Every single gamer as a favourite game, heck even a favourite franchise, but that doesn’t mean you’ll always reply that particular game. In fact my personal opinion is that a game is only enjoyed fully during the first playthrough, particularly as I am a fan of narrative and a twist never works properly the second time. There is one exception to this rule; and that is BioShock. I can play this over and over due to its pleasing aesthetics and interesting characters...

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EA Signs on for Star Wars

EA announced this week a deal with Disney to publish future Star Wars games. As announced the two companies have established a “multi-year exclusive agreement to develop and publish globally under the franchise”. This will allow DICE and Visceral the production of new games, joining the BioWare team which already develops for the franchise since it’s time with the KOTOR series. Frank Gibeau, the Labels president at EA, stated that these...

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Achievement Whore....

Back in 2005 the Xbox 360 released with critical acclaim and, undeniably the most popular feature of the current generation, Achievements. An additive meta-game tied into each and every title released for the console these became such a phenomenon that Sony jumped onto the bandwagon in 2008 by introducing a trophy system. This innovation granted many players a reason to replay through games hunting out the most difficult challenges. Anyway...

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Addressing the Xbox 'Always Online' Rumour

Off the back of the Microsoft hardware announcement today I thought it would be a good opportunity to really look into the ever popular internet rumour of an always online system. I believe that the next system will simply be call ‘Xbox’ and although many people have given the rumour heat there are several key reasons why Microsoft may want to implement this option – although obviously we won’t know until the announcement. If this rumour is...

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Microsofts Next - Xbox Annoucement Dated

After weeks of rumours, Microsoft have finally confirmed that it will be holding an event on Tuesday, 21st May to unveil its next-generation Xbox, commonly referred to as Durango or Xbox 720. The event will take place at the company's Redmond, Washington campus. An official blog post was released with Microsoft saying that the event will "mark the beginning of a new generation of games, TV, and entertainment," and will come accompanied with...

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Sequel Announced for Zelda 'A Link to the Past'

It doesn’t come around often, so a sequel being released for one of the greatest game of all time instantly becomes a viral sensation. Luckily for us – last week sparked one such day and since then the Big N has blown our minds by posting various videos and even letting some select sites play the damn thing. The sequel is based around the SNES masterpieces The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Part – and is one game I have probably played, start...

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