Hasta La Gadget!

As one of the big three third-party publishers working on next-gen games, Electronic Arts is understandably making a big push at its annual Gamescom press event. Per usual, we’ll be on the ground bringing you an enthralling liveblog straight from Cologne, Germany. Keep your eyes locked to this post and your browser refreshing feverishly, as the goings get going at 10AM EST.

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While Gamescom is still technically yet to begin, the Microsoft tanks have already arrived in Cologne. We’ve already been gifted with some details about new titles, but we also managed to get a little more intimate with the new Kinect. You know, the one you there’s been all that fuss about. But if you do plan on using it, skidaddle past the break to see more about how it works.

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Microsoft listed off a list of titles coming to Xbox One back at E3, but it’s Gamescom time, folks, and that means we get to find out about quite a few more games coming to the console. As of August 19th, the number of Xbox One games has grown to 50, with titles that should appeal to almost any kind of gamer. Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and FIFA 14 will be coming with exclusive Xbox content, joined by 19 other titles that are exclusive to Xbox or will be arriving first exclusively to Microsoft’s console. Joining exclusives we already knew about like Killer Instinct and Forza Motorsport 5, are Powerstar Golf, Sunset Overdrive and D4, among others. Naturally, there’s a whole host of other games coming to the One as well, but we’ll let you peruse the full list over at the source link, so head on down to see what gaming goodness awaits in your next-gen future.

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Source: Xbox Wire

Gamescom 2013: the year that games strike back? Okay, maybe not, but this is a huge year for the world’s biggest game show — to the tune of 250,000 attendees in the days the event is open to the public. Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One are getting their last big showing before going up for sale this holiday, and it sounds like we’ll get final launch dates for both consoles. Beyond that…well, we’ve got a video co-anchored by Joystiq reviews editor Richard Mitchell. Weigh in with your own expectations and gawk at our goofy mugs in video form just below!

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Microsoft’s attempt to reinvigorate its aging Age of Empires game franchise most recently resulted in a free-to-play game distributed on the company’s (now shuttered) Games for Windows Live service. The game, Age of Empires Online, launched as a free title with two civilizations available to play as; any additional civilizations (initially) cost $20 apiece, a hefty price despite the amount of content therein (30ish hours per civilization). Longtime AOE fans, understandably, reacted negatively to the game’s business model, which took the content previously offered in full from older AOE games and broke it up into an a la carte, F2P title.

As Microsoft AOEO executive producer Kevin Perry told a crowd of GDC Europe attendees this morning in a panel titled “F2P the Wrong Way: Age of Empires Online,” the game outright “wasn’t ready for launch” when it arrived in Summer 2011. Though Perry ran through a variety of ways that his team helped to fix AOEO‘s course, he brought up one particularly interesting factor: Valve’s Steam game service. When the game hit Steam in March 2012, the game’s DAU (daily active users) spiked by more than three times — a larger bump than any other change by far, including new content (as seen in the above image).

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft

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