Gran Turismo’s not the only game venturing into Hollywood, folks. Today at its Gamescom 2013 presser, Sony announced that it’s teaming up with Ubisoft to produce a movie based upon the forthcoming next-gen game Watch Dogs. Sony Pictures will be collaborating with the publisher to make it happen, but unfortunately, other details about the movie are scarce, but we’re sure the when, where, who and how will be revealed eventually. Stay tuned.
We knew that Sony’s Music Unlimited would be available on the PlayStation 4 on day one. What we didn’t know, was that the company would be bringing a number of much-requested features to the streaming music app on its next-gen console. For one, you’ll finally be able to listen to music while you play games — a feature that was not only much-requested, but its absence was something of a head-scratcher. There are also new quick controls, which you can bring up by hitting the PS Home button, no matter where you are in the UI. So, even if you’re not actually in the Music Unlimited app, you’ll still be able to skip and pause tracks with just a couple of quick button presses.
I share, you share, we all share video game video — or, at least, that’s the promise of the rapidly encroaching next generation of consoles. With Twitch now officially joining Sony’s PS4 as an additional livestreaming partner, gamers will have one more option (the other being Ustream) to broadcast gameplay when they press that Share button. The announcement, made at this year’s Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, positions Twitch advantageously on both Sony and Microsoft’s warring black boxes as an inbuilt app, although the similarities may end there. As Matthew DiPietro, Twitch’s VP of Marketing, explained to us, “The product itself and the feature set that will actually be available on both of the consoles is still a little bit up in the air because they’re actively being produced right now… but the key sort of feature set is clear.” So crucial elements like video broadcast and viewing, picture-in-picture and audio capture — all basic functions currently enjoyed by the service’s 600,000-strong user base — will be de facto at launch.
But does that mean Day One or when the app launches? “Most likely for PS4 that’s Day One and we’re working on that for Xbox One,” DiPietro said, so there’s no guarantee. But he was able to elaborate a little more on how search will work when the service goes live, adding that “[Discovery] will be a very similar experience to the Twitch website and Twitch mobile applications. You can browse by game, by channel [and] we’re exploring ways to explore by genre.” You’d think, then, that the ability to filter video via your friends list would also make the cut, but that sorting feature’s not something users can expect initially. Rather, it’s something DiPietro said could come at a later date.
It’s clear that Twitch’s UI across both PS4 and Xbox One is still a work in progress, or “squishy” as DiPietro obliquely put it. But what’s not clear is how users will select and launch the app, or if they’ll even be able to set Twitch sharing as default — he couldn’t say more. And while Twitch is essentially free to use, it remains to be seen whether or not console access to its video sharing service will be put behind a pay wall à la PS Plus or Xbox Gold. “That’s entirely up to Sony,” he said, and by Sony’s own very public E3 promise, a remote possibility. Although, as Microsoft’s recently proven again and again, you can never say never.
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Remember those rumors about Sony making a movie based upon the famed Gran Turismo racing games? Well, today at Gamescom 2013, Sony has officially announced that said film project is in the works. Unfortunately, Sony’s not telling us anything about the story itself (other than fast cars being featured), but we do know it’ll be a “full length feature film.” Kazunori Yamauchi, Polyphony Digital head is helping make it along with filmmakers Mike de Luca and Dana Brunetti. When will their masterpiece be ready for theaters? We don’t know. What we do know, however, is that the latest iteration of the Gran Turismo gaming series, GT 6 will be making its debut on December 6th of this year.
While Microsoft continues to trip over itself in the lead up to Xbox One, Sony’s PlayStation 4 message is staying on target and sailing straight into gamers’ good graces. And, after an undisputed win at E3 this year, there’s little doubt Gamescom 2013 will slow Sony’s roll, instead giving the company yet another opportunity to increase its already positive mindshare and deliver on next-gen promises (PS Vita Remote Play, anyone?).
So, what can we expect from Sony’s center stage spectacle today? The company will probably dive a bit deeper into the particulars of its indie strategy and, hopefully, announce a hard date on that PS4 holiday release — which is what most of us care about, anyway. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. So, hang tight, we’ll be back with the blow-by-blow (and every gloriously awkward corporate potshot) right here at 9AM PST / 12PM EST.
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.
Haven’t got your fill of all things next generation? Well, stay tuned because Gamescom 2013 promises to shed a little more light on the coming console war and we’re bringing the news to you live. While Microsoft’s shied away from throwing a full blown presser here in Cologne, Germany, rival Sony’s still got some PlayStation 4 (and Vita) secrets to share with the world at 10AM PST / 1PM EST today. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: Electronic Arts is also doing it up properly for this Euro-centric industry tradeshow, hosting its own live event at 7AM PST / 10AM EST. You can catch all the news as it happens at the times below.
The Xbox One will have 23 games for you to play at launch this November. Everything from biggies like Battlefield 4 and Watch Dogs to adorable little wonders like Peggle 2. There are also a smattering of Kinect games in there, from Just Dance to Zumba Fitness. We’ve got the full list of all the games just below.
The Xbox One retail box will act as a dev kit, allowing developers and gamers alike to play in-progress code…but not at launch, apparently. That news comes from today’s Microsoft event at Gamescom 2013, where Microsoft detailed its ID@Xbox program. After an approval process, indie devs will receive to dev kits free of cost from Microsoft — the program is Microsoft’s first phase of a multi-tiered approach to self-publishing on its Xbox One. Xbox VP Marc Whitten explained Microsoft’s approach to Engadget in a recent interview:
“It’s more of a timeframe thing. The vision of how the service and the console work together, how your console can be a dev kit, is a core part of the vision. It’s how we built a ton of the architecture. But moving from a low-scale — a small number of developers — to a large scale, there’s just more work to do there.”
Whitten wouldn’t give an exact timing on when Xbox One retail consoles will get development kit functionality. We’ll keep putting the question to him and Microsoft as the year goes on.
Microsoft announced a new Xbox One program this morning titled “Independent Developers @ Xbox,” an internal initiative aimed at speeding the game publishing process for independent developers on Xbox One. The program enables indie devs to work with Microsoft directly on digitally publishing to Xbox One — after an application approval process, Microsoft offers approved developers two free development kits and access to its Xbox One toolset (Kinect, Cloud, etc.). The application process costs nothing, nor do game updates, and Microsoft’s handling the pricing structure. Xbox VP Marc Whitten tells Engadget that the process for approval is quick.
“Our goal is to be incredibly responsive,” Whitten said. As for an exact turnaround time or deadline (like Apple’s coveted two-week iOS approval window), Whitten wouldn’t budge. “We’re very motivated to go quickly, and our goal is to go as quickly as possible,” he said. The same thing goes for the dev kits reaching approved devs; no hard deadline beyond “as soon as possible.” When devs are approved and able to publish, they’ll become “registered Xbox One developers,” and thus able to self-publishing games on Microsoft’s next game console. Approval also grants access to a variety of Xbox Live functionality, from Achievements to online multiplayer; developers will also gain access to the Kinect and SmartGlass functions. Priority for initial applications is being offered “to independent game developers who have a proven track record of shipping games on console, PC, mobile or tablet.” Longtime Xbox Live evangelist Chris Charla is heading up the program.
The application process begins today (right here) and the first approvals start this fall. As for the plan to make every Xbox One a dev kit … that’s still in the works, but not ready for the Xbox One launch.
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