Yes that is correct, the new name of the next generation XBOX is called the XBOX ONE. Sure it has been over 7 years since XBOX was put out the pasture, but it still reeks of Apple and their latest iPad fiasco. Moving one from that, Microsoft held a press conference today to showcase the new system and all of its fancy new features. Most of which were not video game related. Microsoft confirmed many analysts speculation on the direction they are heading in next generation and that is to be an all in one set top box. A single entertainment hub for your living room. The majority of the conference was spent on the new features of the new Kinect camera and sensor that will now come with every system and be required to be in use to turn on the system and more specifically how XBOX ONE will navigate and “enhance” TV and movie watching. To sum it up, think of everything TVii does on the Wii U already, now replace that navigation with split screen sharing on the TV or using Smartglass apps on tablets and phones. About the only really impressive aspect of it was just how fast switching between games, TV, and music is with the new hardware. It is lighting fast to be sure, enough to probably make Iwata cry, but as a gamer, I already have multiple devices to watch TV, Listen to musis, and most importantly play video games at the same time. Speaking of TV, Microsoft also announced a partnership with Steven Spielberg on bringing a Halo TV series to life next year.

Actual Games

As for the actual games shown we got the announcement of Forza 5 from Microsoft, Fifa, Madden, NBA Live, and UFC from EA using their new EA Ignite engine/service. Also announced was Quantum Break from Remedy which ironically enough looks exactly like a game from developer Quantum Dream. Full of pretentious acting and all! Activision ended the presentation with a behind the scenes look at Call of Duty: Ghosts. The first next gen Call of Duty game and how beautiful the visuals will be. Also new is dynamic levels that have unique hazards that can happen as well as customizable soldier character models. This is neat, but not something that can’t already be done on current hardware. They are at least committed to 60 fps which at least puts it ahead of Killzone in my book. Microsoft also announced that there would be 15 exclusive games for XBOX ONE in the first 12 months and 8 of those would be brand new IPs.

What Microsoft Didn’t Tell You Directly

While the system is going to be a beast with 8GB of RAM for memory and an 8 core CPU, Microsoft is also pushing cloud gaming hard with this system. In fact in later interviews, Microsoft was encouraging developers to use cloud computing to actually use and load game data to the player rather then use the system hardware. To accomplish all this expanded internet reliance they plan to update the XBOX server count from 30,000 to 300,000. A huge increase but one that will be necessary if they wish to accomplish the amount of data sharing and transferring they envision to. So what is the bad news? For starters the internal 500GB harddrive can not be replaced. Unlike the Wii U’s open platform supporting up to 3TB of external memory. Because of changes in hardware partners internally, the XBOX ONE will NOT play 360 games or any of the XBLA games you own. Games also are tied to systems and accounts. Each game comes with an activation code that locks it to your system and user account. All games MUST be installed on your harddrive to play, after which the blu ray disc becomes more or less useless. Microsoft intends to detail a system in which you can still trade in and purchase used games at a later date, but the more important question remains if you will still be able to play your games if your internet connection is down. Microsoft Studios Corporate VP Phil Spencer stated that your XBOX ONE would need to go online at least once a day when questioned in regards to single player gaming. Also add to the fact that you will absolutely NEED an internet connection to activate and install your game with its activation code and you have a system that simply cannot function without connecting to the internet. It seems Microsoft has learned almost nothing from EA and Activision’s woes. Sure they have purchased a LOT of servers, but that only covers their end, and server farms can still go down. This also seriously pulls into question the future of the competitive fighting game scene with a console so dedicated to internet connectivity. Hell, if developers are pushed into using cloud services to render game code, then you are pretty much guaranteed to need a constant internet connection. Welcome to the wonderful world of DRM. A world that I, as a gamer want no part of. As it stands now, I will never purchase an XBOX ONE for myself. You can still expect coverage and reviews of its titles from me, but as an individual the whole thing feels anti-consumer. That isn’t even beginning to cover other concerns such as the Kinect being required to be plugged in to work, and how the current Kinect requires a lot of open floor space to work. Which would make this a nightmare of a console to use in bedrooms and dorm rooms. You know, where most of Call of Duty matches are played? Enough about me though, what do you feel about the new XBOX ONE? Does it excite or frighten you? Are you ready to jump in? Or are you sticking with Sony and/or Nintendo?

As for the rest of the direct, it was entirely about games you already know about and have had release dates. Except The Wonderful 101, that got a release date of September 15. Just a mere ten months after the console launched! Damn that is a big ass launch window. You can check it all out for yourself here, but just know that the real info and games you actually want to see is not coming till closer to E3.

Just like Unlimited, Unmasked will only release on the Wii U and 3DS, no word on a PC version this time. As you would probably guess, Unmasked is a version of Scribblenauts that incorporates all those trademarked characters and settings that were previously unusable in other Scribblenauts games. I would be telling a lie if I said the whole thing doesn’t feel a little dirty and commercialized. Part of the charm of not having any attatchments to owned characters was that it forced you to be creative with your objectives. Since including Mario and Zelda characters in Unlimited though, it seems the floodgates are open now and you will be retrieving stars from Gotham City, Metropolis, and everywhere in between. I guess a new Wii U exclusive is better then no Wii U exclusive for Nintendo, but seriously, can they really go a whole console generation with only Ubisoft and WBIE backing for third party games?

At a recent event in London, Sony decided to celebrate the series 15th aniversary in style by announcing Gran Turismo 6. The most shocking part of all was of course the fact that it is a PS3 game and NOT a PS4 title like you would probably expect. While a new Gran Turismo probably would be a great way to get consumers to jump onto the next console, its also hard to ignore the large user base the PS3 struggled its whole life to build up. While I have never been a fan of the series, I also don’t deny that it is one of the best in its league for simulation racing titles. If the Delorean is in this game again I may take notice.

Pandora’s Tower is an entirely fixed camera experience. Highly reminiscent of the original Devil May Cry, because of this the requirement for a second analog stick for camera is gone. This works well in the games favor, as the nunchuk combo with the remote is actually the preferred method of play here, but you can still opt to use the classic controller which is nice. While it wont wow anyone visually, it is nice to see an action game such as this with as dark of a plotline not become canvas of grey and brown. In fact the title is quite colorful and the day and night cycle also play into the entire lighting and color tone of the game. The artstyle is also very striking, though still firmly rooted in Japanese anime sensibilities. May not be for everyone, but at least its very detailed and doesn’t look cheap at any point.

The soundtrack is pretty awesome as well, it basically starts with a very epic, almost greek opera like theme and runs with it. The only real downside is that the majority of your time spent in the towers progressing and solving puzzles results in you hearing many of the same tunes over and over and mostly the low key ones. Still when the cutscenes or boss battles kick in, the game loves to let you know it with some fantastic and stirring pieces. Voice acting is based entirely off the European dub by Nintendo here. Even the British translations of English are kept intact. Not sure what if any of translating XSEED actually had to do for this one, but hey just be glad its here and with a sweet reversible cover!

Pandora’s Tower on the surface level appears to be a simplified hack and slash with a time limit, but get past that and you will find a ton of hidden depth to the games design. You play as Aeron who must trek into 13 abandoned towers that are now crawling with monsters. Your job is to find and slay the masters of each tower and rip their flesh to feed to Elena before she becomes permanently transformed into a giant pulsating blob monster. Flesh is a PC term for beating heart, and if you’re a sick and twisted individual like me, you will get enjoyment in watching a formally vegetarian girl have to choke down slabs of gooey meat. As mentioned before there is a time limit, the longer Elena goes without beast flesh, the closer she comes to mutating into a monster herself. While the end goal is to defeat the masters of each tower, you can also find chunks of flesh from bigger enemies that occupy the towers as well. Each tower is basically a dungeon like those found in a Legend of Zelda title. Instead of just finding the boss key, each tower has a certain number of chains locking the door to the masters lair. Your first priority is to find the rooms that have the base of each chain and destroy them. This is where the timing aspect really comes into play, the design of the towers is built in a way that after destroying one or two chains, you probably need to head back to your home to stave off the curse for a while longer before heading back to face the master. You can of course do this at any time, and each tower is riddled with shortcuts. Because you can reset the clock any time you acquire beast flesh, the limit never really seems to be a nuisance and actually serves to break the title up into nice chunks of gameplay.

Combat in the game initially consists of using your sword. As you explore deeper into the towers you will come across different weapon types that might be faster and hit less or slower and hit harder. There is a combo system in place that is dependent on perfectly timed button presses and a charge combo as well, but it is far from Devil May Cry. It is much closer in reality to a Castlevania style, speaking of which you also always have access to a magic chain. The chain is used with the targeting reticule of the remote and the B trigger. The chain can be used in combat to wrap up enemies, bind them together, spin them around, or toss them into each other. Outside of combat you will use the chain to grapple to far away ledges, pull levers, collect objects, and swing over gaps like Indiana Jones. This adds a small element of platforming to the title, though the timing of jumping from swings can get really annoying sometimes.

Outside of combat, puzzle solving, and managing the time limit on the curse you will also notice the game has a loot and crafting system. Hidden in nooks and crannies, boxes and treasure chests, and dropped from enemies are all kinds of items. Some of these items are money, others are used in a crafting system made to improve your armor or upgrade your weapons. Not only does improving weapons increase their attack power, but leveling up a weapon also opens up longer combo strings. Drop rate are not a random occurrence all the time either. The theme of a tower indicates what kind of item you are likely to find, as well as time of day will also affect what you come across. You can also come across files and books that flesh out the backstory to the title, as well as files that need to be translated by Elena. There is also a repair system in place, as long falls and severe hits from large enemies can break carried items. Repairs are a good use of money, as well as buying some quick healing items. You can also buy gifts to give Elena which can be used to customize your home. Also on that note is an entire affection system that works very similar to the dating and marriage system in a Harvest Moon title. Talking to Elena, as well as keeping her from transforming all work to improve your relationship meter which is shown on the left of the screen while at home. of course giving gifts is a surefire way to her heart. Because much of the games story is a personal tale between Aeron and Elena, the status of your affection meter plays into which of the six possible game endings you get. Luckily there is a new game plus after you finish the title, and playing again unlocks a host of locked rooms that are inaccessible in each tower on your first playthrough.

As I said, tons of hidden depth to the title. The real question is whether or not it is any fun? I would say yes for the most part, but this also is not a game for everyone. If you love the dungeons of a Zelda game then you will likely really dig this title. It might be misleading to call it a dungeon crawler, as that usually implies a lot of grinding and random turn based encounters. However this is a action RPG and while there is a level system, it never feels like a chore or grindfest. The story is definitely unique and much like Vagrant Story, hides a lot of context of a small tale in a much larger world. In fact I would say Pandora’s Tower is very much the Vagrant Story of the Wii. A unique, very different action RPG that releases at the end of the systems life, but one that hides a lot of depth and story behind a simple premise. If you enjoy titles with lots of romance, colorful locations, and lots of puzzle solving with hacking and slashing you will enjoy Pandora’s Tower a lot. If you’re a real core gamer, you owe it to yourself to see the rainfall through to the end and complete the trilogy of first party RPGs that Nintendo wanted almost nothing to do with.

Final Verdict GIFT

Pandora’s Tower sends the Wii off with a bang. A wholly original action RPG that presents plenty of unique ideas, but is just a tad rough around the edges. While not a perfect game, those who clamor for originality and new IPs would do well to pick up the title, and everyone else should at least find a place on their shelf whether purchased on its own, or given as a gift. Pandora’s Tower is a great bookend to a console with an incredible library of games.

For some strange reason Microsoft never refuted these rumors and instead pushed back its original reveal date in late April to late May. Today they decided not to issue a press release or statement, but an internal email memos to employees of the company clarifying the issue. According to Arstechnica, the email is quoted as saying:

“Durango [the codename for the next Xbox] is designed to deliver the future of entertainment while engineered to be tolerant of today’s Internet.” It continues, “There are a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection, and those should ‘just work’ regardless of their current connection status. Those include, but are not limited to: playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game.”

Why they didn’t tell this to public to begin with is already confusing, but the fact they had to clarify it to their own workforce is truly even more bizarre. Either they have been keeping such a veil of secrecy over this only a select few actually know the truth, or they have been monitoring the horrendous backlash of such an inane idea that they decided to take action and nip this outlandish oversight in the bud early. I’m betting on the latter, but the good news is I can finally look forward to new XBOX announcements. As had the rumors proven to be true, I would never in my life, ever have purchased such a product.

Personally speaking I’m more excited for that “other” open world game sequel. You know the one that knows its a video game and values fun above everything else.

Image courtesy of neogaf

Even more peculiar is the fact that Nintendo has decided to not host a general press conference at E3 this year. While this sounds like Nintendo is giving up initially, the reasoning again is somewhat sound. Because of the success of the Nintendo Direct events as well as the large number of different parties that attend a press conference, Nintendo has decided to instead spread out its information at E3. Consumers just want information on games, which they will get through Nintendo Directs, and investors and shareholders want data and stats, which they will get at privately held events. It could honestly be more of a win then you think. No longer will chunks of Press Conferences be wasted on stupid graphs and pie charts and instead everyone gets what they want separately. I kinda like this move, however some of the wording behind the E3 plans does seem a bit confusing as to when and how this information is going to be distributed. Nintendo has been running an effective system for some time now, I would hate to miss opportunities for coverage due to confusion and miscommunication.

It is hard to still ignore the elephant in the room. The Wii U has sold terribly, and the 3DS has slowed down in NA and Europe. Iwata even stated they do not expect sales to start picking up until July, when Pikmin 3 is released in Japan. While America will have to wait till August. 1. Pikmin 3 isn’t going to move consoles no matter what you think. 2. This still reeks of Nintendo focusing on Japan and wondering why the rest of the world isn’t the same. In other good news, the Miiverse is now available online through web browsers and will launch by the end of the year for the 3DS. Not sure what, if any impact it will have on the Wii U, but at least Nintendo is branching out a bit… The next couple of months are going to be interesting indeed.

Today the wait is finally over and IGN gets the scoop on the master returning to his craft and subsequently making Capcom look like a bunch of buffoons in the process. The Evil Within is the English name for the third person survival horror game, which will be called Psycho Break in Japan. The title stars two investigators who arrive at a town after a mass murder incident. The main character you play is named Sebastian and after arriving at the scene you are attacked and knocked out. Upon regaining consciousness you find yourself trapped in a town overrun with monsters, now you must fight to survive and escape the ever increasing horrors and as you do you will start to notice distortions where objects, items, doors, and even walls can transform around you into hellish creatures. Sprinkling some Eternal Darkness on this Silent Hill set up with a Resident Evil camera and control scheme. Enemies can kill you easily and you will have to use wits and reflexes to avoid them. Ammo will be scarce for firearms and instead you will have to also rely on creating traps to fight the monsters. The developers want to start with a tense beginning and continue to build the tension and anxiety in the player throughout the course of the game. Added to all this will be a sense of being hunted by another foe.

If this sounds awesome, its because it is. A teaser trailer was uploaded by IGN today, but it is entirely live action footage and not real gameplay. However, IGN will have hands on impressions on Monday so check out the trailer in the meantime and get hyped, the stain of Resident Evil 6 will soon be washed away forever by the only man capable of such a feat, Mr. Shinji Mikami himself.