Top Story
Next-gen about immersion, not visuals
The next-generation consoles will focus more on immersion rather than prettier visuals, according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer.
Since we already have “almost lifelike graphics today,” the big difference will be the ability to eliminate loading times and stream content like models, textures and animations to create bigger, more varied and seamless environments.
Leap forward: “I think we’re at a point now … that the deltas will be smaller from a visual impact, or that feature X was never possible before and now it is.” He admits that this might not be the great leap forward many gamers expect, but “when you take that and you mix it with a very high frame rate, solid frame rate, very little latency in input,” then the improvements add up to enable new and different experiences.
Xbox All Access: Another big change is Microsoft’s new Xbox All Access service which “matches a model customers use for many other devices they buy.” All Access is similar to the way purchases stay with users when they upgrade their phones, and Xbox Series X will introduce such a model, as well as an annual subscription model.
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
Which studio was formed by the team who developed Minerva’s Den?
- Fullbright
- The Chinese Room
- Galactic Cafe
- Superflat Games
The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today’s issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.
Daily Fact
Hellraiser fell short of God’s grace
Super 3D Noah’s Ark for Super Nintendo wasn’t always about loading up an Ark before God can get his wrath on. The project was originally quite the opposite of biblical: A Hellraiser videogame.
Wisdom Tree had licensed the Hellraiser IP for $50,000, but they ran into problems with the cost of the cartridges: They needed a special co-processor to run the Wolfenstein 3D-alike they had planned, which would bump the price to around $100 per unit.
Even including the extra horsepower, they couldn’t work around the palette limitations of the SNES. In short: Their suffering was legendary, and so they turned to the Lord almighty for help.
Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today’s fact.
Ken Levine On BioShock
Ken Levine is done with Bioshock
BioShock creator Ken Levine confirmed that he is not involved in any new game in the Bioshock series during a Gamelab Live panel.
“…I’m working on my own thing,” said Levine. He wrote and directed BioShock and BioShock: Infinite, while BioShock 2 was handled by a different team. In other words, the series was never completely bound by his personal vision.
Moving on: “I think I sort of said what I wanted to say about it, so I wanted to do something a little different,” he continued. He could not reveal what Levine’s new studio Ghost Story Games are working on. “I can’t really talk about the new game but there’s some weird shit in it,” he said. “I think if you don’t have people saying, ‘that sounds a little insane’, you haven’t gone close enough to the edge.”
Crazy design: “…the great stuff exists on the edge of ‘over the top’”, he mused, and added that “sometimes you’ve got to push past the point and make something outrageous and ridiculous, then pull it back.” If you don’t go a little crazy then you’ll “never know where that boundary is…” Ghost Story Games first project is apparently a first-person sci-fi game.
