Welcome to our weekly ICYMI for Xbox news!
We're also giving away a copy of Star Wars Battlefront to one lucky commenter! Simply leave a reply and join the discussion for a chance to win.
We'll still be posting major Xbox announcements in the main feed. However, I'll be collecting some of the more nuanced news, rumors and talking points into one handy post every weekend. You can also rely on this weekly column to keep up to date with all the latest game releases too.
So without further ado, here's the latest edition of This Week in Xbox One News.
Rumor: Red Dead Redemption sequel teased by former Rockstar developer
During a recent reddit Q&A session, a former Rockstar employee hinted that the studio's next launch will be a sequel to one of the greatest Western-style video games ever made: Red Dead Redemption.
When Danny Ross was asked to provide some "real news" on the next Rockstar game, he gave a coded response that can only point to "Red Dead Redemption 2", given the first letters of each word, followed by the number.
..."Really? Dumbass. Really? Two."...
While the sequel is unlikely to be called Red Dead Redemption 2 (since RDR is itself a sequel to 2004's Red Dead Revolver), it ranks high on the list of franchises Rockstar will be looking at in the wake of GTAV's ridiculous success. Rockstar need look no further than the Xbox One's backwards compatibility UserVoice page for evidence that fans would enjoy a sequel, given that the Xbox 360 version ranks third.
Fresh Xbox One backwards compatible games will be announced on a monthly basis
Speaking to Xbox platform lead Mike Ybarra, he stated that Microsoft plans to release new Xbox backwards compatible games on a "regular cadence", although the details had yet to be worked out. It seems that team Xbox now knows how frequently they'll be able to add new titles to the backwards compatibility list, following these comments from Phil Spencer on Twitter:
..."We will announce news monthly, don't have a specific date for each month's list."...
We know that the Bioshock series, Halo Reach, Halo Wars, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Skate 3 are slated for a future backwards compatibility update, whether or not they'll all make it into the next patch remains to be seen. As always, head over to the Xbox UserVoice page to vote for your favourite titles, or you could just dump your votes on Mass Effect 2 and 3 for my sake. Please?
ID@Xbox's Ago Simonetta comments on the so-called "indiepocalypse"
In a recent interview with MCV, ID@Xbox's European head Ago Simonetta discussed the "indiepocalypse", an idea that's risen to prominence among devs who aren't attached to big publishers or budgets. The indiepocalypse refers to the difficulty independent outfits are facing when trying to take a slice of the ever-expanding game industry pie, given the sheer avalanche of competing releases. You could argue that 2015 is a recent example of difficult competition, where even incredible, big-budget games like Rise of the Tomb Raider found themselves overshadowed.
Ago said that the situation is being looked at from the wrong angle, stating that developers should change their attitudes towards measuring success.
..."I was with a studio recently whose definition of success was the ability to be creative. They don't need an enormous number of downloads to be successful as far as they're concerned. We need to be much more mature and look at what's happening in a very positive way. Sure, in any other business not everyone can be a winner. But saying there's an apocalypse is looking at the wrong angle."......"I'm a glass half full kind of guy. It excites me that my daughter at six-and-a-half years old is able to use Game Maker or one of those tools to create her first game. It's much faster and less frustrating, with less of a learning curve than I went through."......"Developing games is a business, and in business there are companies that will succeed and ones that will fail. What excites me is that there are more people looking at making games. Some people go travelling before university; some spend their gap year developing a game. It's a commercial endeavour, but also it's a creative effort, and a lot of people don't measure success the same way a commercial team will."...
Microsoft are always keen to sign up new developers to their ID@Xbox program, which provides tools and support for small teams to get their games out into the market. Microsoft's indie program is unique, as it also allows developers to publish their Xbox games to the Windows Store for PC - with Stealth Inc 2 recently becoming the first.
Remedy's Thomas Puha hails Quantum Break's cinematics ahead of a new trailer premiere at next week's Game Awards
The Xbox One exclusive Quantum Break is shaping up quite nicely according to Remedy's Thomas Puha. Having seen Quantum Break running live on Xbox One dev kits a few times already, I feel fairly safe to take his recent tweets as accurate:
..."The cinematics in #QuantumBreak are looking f***ing stunning. Work is ongoing every day and the lighting especially is amazing."......"We are putting on the finishing lighting touches. Holy s**t does that make a difference. Rest of the game looks gorgeous too, no worries :D"......"Well, nothing we have shown so far has been finished. Especially the cinematics. Sure, lot of work has gone into demos but still"...
If you're not ready to take Remedy's PR head's comments as gospel, we should be receiving a brand new trailer this week on Thursday 3rd December, courtesy of The Game Awards. Xbox marketing lead Aaron Greenberg tweeted the news earlier today:
..."Excited to have a @QuantumBreak world premiere & other #XboxOne games next week @thegameawards "...
Quantum Break is one of Microsoft's 2016 heavy-weights for next year's Xbox efforts. The game tasks the player to prevent the end of time, following a catastrophic physics experiment. As a result of the failed experiment, the game's protagonist, Jack Joyce, has powerful time manipulation tools that can be called upon at will to complement the game's action-packed third-person shooting. I only wish I could borrow some of his powers to make April come faster.
Quantum Break launches on April 5th, 2016, exclusively for Xbox One.
Metal Gear Solid V's nuclear disarmament ending is accessible in-game, and here's how
Not long after Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain's launch, keen data-miners discovered swathes of cut content from the finished product, including hints of an entire extra chapter. One of the data-mined sequences pertains to nuclear disarmament, which occurs somewhere between MGSV: TPP and Metal Gear 1 in the timeline. You can check out the "ending" here, but naturally, beware the spoilers. Since this scene seemed readily complete, fans have been wondering for some time just how this scene can be unlocked, if at all.
After teasing that MGSV had more to offer than was readily apparent, Konami has now detailed in full (via GameSpot) how players can unlock this additional cut-scene.
- You must have completed Mission 31.
- You must not own or be currently developing a nuclear weapon. If you have any nukes in stock, you must dismantle them.
- Certain conditions related to nuclear proliferation must be met on the regional server for your corresponding gaming platform (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC (Steam)).
- All nuclear weapons on the regional server corresponding to your console or platform must have been dismantled. In other words, the amount of nukes on your platform's server must be equal to 0.
Once the community reaches the above conditions, the cut-scene will trigger on your next trip to Mother Base. If someone in your regional server begins developing nuclear weapons again, the cut-scene can be re-triggered by clearing them out once more.
MGSV: TPP was an incredibly successful title, despite widely reported turmoil between Konami and the game's director, Hideo Kojima. There's a significant amount of doubt the series can continue without Hideo Kojima at the helm, but Konami has repeatedly stated their intention to develop future Metal Gear Solid titles. We'll just have to wait and see.
Get a taste for the destruction you can find in Just Cause 3 with this latest gameplay trailer
Just Cause 3 lands next week and promises to ramp up the scale, destruction and chaos of its predecessors - and if this trailer is anything to go off, they just might be on to something.
Following the events of Just Cause 2, Rico Rodriguez returns to his homeland of Medici, a fictional island nation, to find it under the dictatorial control of General Di Ravello. You'll guide Rico on an over-the-top journey of large-scale action, complete with massive explosions, a vast arsenal of weapons, military vehicles and Rico's signature grappling hook.
Just Cause 3 launches on December 1st for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
Chivalry: Medieval Warfare runs at 30 FPS on Xbox One, compared to the PS4's 60 FPS
Parity is a touchy subject in the current console war. While the situation has improved for the Xbox One - thanks to SDK updates - various multi-platform games run at a lower resolution on our favourite console.
Up until now, every single multi-platform game I can think of prioritises frame rate over resolution. For example, Star Wars Battlefront runs at 720p on Xbox One vs. the PS4's 900p, Rainbow Six Siege runs at 1080p on PS4 vs. the Xbox One's 900p - but both titles maintain frame rates across both consoles. The differences in resolution are hard to discern with the naked eye, particularly if you're, you know, actually playing and enjoying the game. Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, however, has opted for a different approach.
Despite being a multiplayer focused action title, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare decided to slash the Xbox One version's frame rate in half, rather than reduce the resolution - confirmed during an interview between Torn Banner Studios and WCCFTech (via GamingBolt). The reduction in frame rate will not only negatively impact the Xbox One version's gameplay but opting to reduce the frame rate over the resolution will contrast it far more starkly against its PS4 counterpart.
Personally, I think this design choice is utterly ludicrous, and I can't imagine it'll go down well with any Xbox fan who has been looking forward to the title. What do you think? Would you prefer a hit in resolution or frame rate? Let us know below.
Giveaway - Star Wars Battlefront for Xbox One!
From this week, we'll be giving one lucky member of our community a free Xbox One game as part of our weekly Xbox news round-ups. To enter, simply join in the discussion in the comments below. Any commenter is eligible and will be selected at random. Check back tomorrow to see if you won, and make sure you have a valid email attached to your Windows Central account for us to contact you to arrange shipment of the prize!
The winner was Keith Wallace! Congrats!
ICYMI - Some of Windows Central's biggest Xbox articles of the week
- Microsoft Chatpad review: A small, sleek keyboard for Xbox One & Windows 10
- Xbox One among top selling electronics during Black Friday
- Triple Turtle Beach gaming headset review: Recon 50, PX24, Stealth 450
- Rainbow Six: Siege open beta test finally begins after a one-day delay
- UK's PC World has a Windows 10 tablet with controllers to play streaming Xbox One games
- Don't expect your third-party Xbox One play and charge kits to work with the Elite Controller
- Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 3 out for PC, Xbox One and Xbox 360
- The Xbox 360 is 10 years old today, while the Xbox One celebrates its 2nd birthday
- Minor Xbox One system update will roll out today with no new features
- Gems of War review: A free to play puzzle-RPG for Xbox One and Steam
New Xbox One game releases for the week ending November 29th, 2015
Handball 16 - Sports & Recreation - Eko Software / Bigben Interactive
"All 62 official teams from the four biggest European leagues in the first next-generation handball simulation! Enjoy an improved and intuitive system with nearly 30 tactics for attacking and defending. Take full advantage of the Handball 16 experience thanks to its fluid gameplay and next-generation graphics for even more immersion and realism."
Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 3: The Last Place You Look - Action & Adventure - Tell Tale Games
"Episode three of a five-part episodic game series set in the world of Minecraft."
And that's a wrap!
This week, I've been in the process of moving house - so I've been getting some serious Xbox withdrawals. What have you guys been playing? What do you think of this week's Xbox news? Join the discussion for a chance to win Star Wars Battlefront!
