What Microsoft brought to Gamescom
Only on Xbox One this holiday will gamers be able to create Car Clubs of up to 1,000 members on the stunning roads of southern Europe in “Forza Horizon 2,” dive into the mayhem of Sunset City in “Sunset Overdrive,” experience the beautiful coming-of-age story of “Ori and the Blind Forest,” relive the complete story of a legendary hero in “Halo: The Master Chief Collection,” jump into the “Halo 5: Guardians” Multiplayer Beta, and experience exclusive content like “Halo: Nightfall” through an new digital entertainment network – “The Halo Channel.”
Led by the announcement that “Rise of the Tomb Raider” from Crystal Dynamics will launch in holiday 2015, exclusively on Xbox, today’s briefing also featured highly-anticipated blockbusters like “Assassin’s Creed Unity,” “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare,” and “FIFA15,” all available this holiday, as well as the award-winning next-gen shooter “Evolve,” launching starting Feb. 10, 2015. The ID Xbox self-publishing program also made a splash, highlighting dozens of independent games on stage that are coming first to console on Xbox One, including “Space Engineers,” “SUPERHOT,” “The Escapists,” “Smite” and “Below.”
·Available for pre-order today, the Xbox One Limited Edition “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare” Bundle launches starting Nov. 3 for $499/£429.99/€499.99 ERP at select retailers, featuring a massive 1TB hard drive, custom console, controller and Limited Edition exoskeleton, plus a digital copy of the “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare” Day Zero Edition.
· Insomniac’s Ted Price unveiled the Xbox One Special Edition “Sunset Overdrive” Bundle, featuring a sleek white console and wireless controller, a digital copy of the game, and special Day One edition in-game items – all for $399/£349.99/€399.99 ERPstarting Oct. 28, available for pre-order today.
· An exclusive “FIFA15” bundle for fans in Europe was also announced including an Xbox One Console, Xbox One Controller, 14 Day Live Trial, HDMI Cable, Chat Headset, a digital token for “FIFA 15” and an Ultimate Team Legends Gold Pack, available for pre-order today, launching from Sept. 25 for £349.99/€399.99 ERPwhile stocks last. Ultimate Team Legends are available only on Xbox, and the Legends Gold Pack offers an increased chance in finding an ultra-rare Legendary player for your Ultimate Team. An Xbox 360 console bundle including “FIFA 15” will also be available in Europe starting Sept. 25 while stocks last.
Xbox also announced a host of new updates coming soon to Xbox One; these include new social features to make it easier for gamers to connect with their friends, and new ways to access their TV and entertainment throughout their home. In the Xbox One dashboard, a new Friends section is being introduced, making it easier to see what your friends on Xbox are up to right now, what games they play most, as well as a new Gamerscore leaderboard where you can see at a glance how you compare to your friends in earning Gamerscore for the month.
Markets that will receive the Xbox One Digital TV Tuner this autumn will also have the ability to stream their TV programs from their console to the Xbox SmartGlass app, allowing another person to use the TV to play games on Xbox One. Booting directly to TV and adding TV listings from cable and satellite apps to OneGuide are also coming. Lastly, we’re adding support for USB and DLNA to stream media to your Xbox One. Soon, Xbox One owners will be able to watch videos, listen to music, and browse photos from USB and DLNA with the most popular file formats, including Mpeg 2 TS, .MKV and animated gifs by the end of the year.
In response to customer feedback, Xbox also announced the ability to pre-order and pre-download games on Xbox One. Fans will be able to pre-order and pre-download “Forza Horizon 2” prior to its official release on Sept. 30 – this will also be available for “FIFA 15,” with more titles to come. Pre-order and pre-download gives gamers additional options for where they can purchase game content and the ability to purchase in their preferred format. This also enables the title to download ahead of availability, so gamers can begin playing immediately upon the release of the game..
