Thursday, June 16, 2016
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Forza Horizon 3 Coming September 27
We’ve known for a while that Microsoft was planning on announcing a new Forza. It was announced earlier this year that the Lamborghini Centenario would be the cover car, but aside from some massive leaks, details for the game were scarce until Microsoft’s official announcement during their E3 conference this year.
Now the game has a name, and a release date. As it turns out, the game is actually Forza Horizon 3, and it will be available for Xbox One and PC starting on September 27. Yes, it will be supporting Microsoft’s new Play Anywhere initiative, and it will also sport some multiplayer co-op.
Now we’ve got details on different versions of Forza Horizon 3 you can pre-order, ranging from $59.99 to $99.99 for the Ultimate Edition. Pre-ordering the standard version of the game will net you 2 car packs for the game, the Forza Horizon 2 Rockstar Car Pack, and the Forza Motorsports 6 Meguiar’s Car Pack.
The other versions of the game will of course give you access to more DLC, which includes a few car packs depending on which version of the game you decide to pick up.
Microsoft also revealed a trailer for the game, which you can check out up top.
Forza Horizon 3 Coming September 27
Monday, June 13, 2016
Microsoft Confirms New Xbox One Hardware, Xbox One S and Project Scorpio On the Way
Microsoft has been dealing with a lot of leaks leading up to E3, but as it turns out, the two biggest seem to have become a reality. Microsoft will be releasing a sleeker version of the Xbox One, called the Xbox One S.
The Xbox One S is pretty much what you’d expect; it’s smaller, lighter, and it comes with a few minor improvements. It’s a smaller, (arguably) cheaper version of current Xbox One consoles. The version of Xbox One S that was shown off at the beginning of Microsoft’s conference will retail for $299 with a release date of August, and, apparently, not include a controller. That kind of defeats the purpose of picking up the new and better version of an existing console, no?
That wasn’t the only new piece of hardware that Microsoft announced, though. As rumored, they were in fact working on an upgrade that would allow for better compatibility with virtual reality and 4K. Even the name Project Scorpio stuck, which is odd given manufacturer’s tendencies to develop consoles under code names.
Likewise, the specifications for Scorpio matched what earlier reports had revealed. During the press conference Microsoft referred to it as “the most powerful console ever”. It will run at 6 teraflops, and feature a new GPU with increased power and speed.
A number of developers appeared in a clip beforehand talking about Project Scorpio, including Todd Howard, who teased virtual reality support for the console.
While Xbox One S will be available in August, Project Scorpio is shooting for a Holiday 2017 release. Microsoft promises all consoles will be able to run games on equal footing, but only time will tell whether or not they’ll hold to that.
Are you thinking about picking up one of the new Xbox One consoles? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to stay tuned to SGO for more news from E3 2016.
Microsoft Confirms New Xbox One Hardware, Xbox One S and Project Scorpio On the Way
Microsoft Announces Arena on Xbox Live With EA Backing
During Microsoft’s press conference this morning, they announced a new initiative to bring competitive gaming to a whole new level for Xbox One. That initiative is a platform called Arena on Xbox One, and it’s designed to enable players to find video game tournaments. Through the platform, you’ll be able to register and spectate, and compete.
Smite and World of Tanks were both name dropped as games that will be supported through the platform, but perhaps the most important inclusion is a partnership with EA that bring their titles to the platform.
Currently, only FIFA is confirmed to support the platform, but it’s likely that other EA franchises will follow. Madden has quickly risen to become one of the flagship eSports titles for EA Sports, so it seems likely to follow at some point, perhaps if Arena on Xbox Live is deemed to be successful.
With the rapid growth in popularity that eSports has been showing lately, particularly for sports games like NBA 2K16 which recently wrapped up a major tournament in the form of Road to the Finals.
Madden is also no stranger to tournaments, with the Madden 16 Championship currently in progress here in Los Angeles during EA Play, and will wrap up tomorrow. As for when and if we’ll see it hit Arena on Xbox Live? Who knows.
What games would you like to see make it to Arena on Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to stay tuned to SGO for more E3 news.
Microsoft Announces Arena on Xbox Live With EA Backing
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Madden 17 Connected Franchise Mode New Features Detailed
With Madden NFL 17, EA Sports is bringing big changes to the franchise mode. The four biggest changes center around new franchise options including Play The Moments, Big Decisions, Gameplanning, and features that were added by community request.
Play The Moments
If you choose PTM, Madden sims the game until it detects a key moment, it then prompts you to jump in and play (or you can skip it). According to EA, you can switch modes throughout the game if you want.
The PTMs show up in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams.
PTMs can be simmed at three different speeds; normal play-by-play, super fast, or by community request, slowing the game down and letting players watch each play unfold on the field using the broadcast camera.
Gameplanning
Winning bronze, silver, or gold medals will determine what XP and in-game boosts your players get in that week’s game.
Big Decisions
The big decisions aim to give players important decisions that they have to consider throughout the season and the week to week.
Season goals encompass things like whether or not to play slightly injured players. For example, if a player has a broken hand, do you play them that week or give them time to heal? Their injury effects their stats as well.
Most of the Big Decisions seem to be centered around things you were already keeping an eye on including cutting players, spending XP, and the aforementioned player trades.
Around the League score ticker
The game will now display a ticker at the bottom showing you whats going on around the league.
Full Player Editing
The commissioner of a league gets the power to customize nearly everything about every player in the game. Everything means everything, player looks, ratings, traits, contract info. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in Cloud leagues, we expect there’ll be some shady commissioners out there.
Dynamic Development Trait
Regression feedback
Player Card Improvements
The new player cards shows your player’s progession history, where the XP came from, when ratings have been impacted, how the player ranks within the league and more.
Uproxx also published an interview today with Chris White on the subject, where he spoke on some of the changes coming to Connected Franchise Mode this year. One of the big questions from the interview deals with Game Planning, and whether or not it will react to players getting injured.
“You have the Game Plan, but you also have three focus players that you can choose each week as well … it defaults to your three highest rated rookies, but you can switch those out at any point of the season if you want to focus on your backups when your players get injured, you have that option as well,” White said in the interview.
Rather than shoehorning a rookie into a game, you can draft a rookie and develop them. “You focus players, You really get that choice each week about how you want to focus your players. So in your case, yeah, a rookie wide receiver, a second-year wide receiver, I’m sure a lot of Bucs fans are going to be and Titans fans are going to be focused on their second-year quarterbacks, trying to make sure that they develop quickly. So those are definitely strategies that people will play. Get those guys into starting caliber players.”
On whether or not players will still decline a winning team with enough years and money would be addressed, White says that the default will be a fair offer. Sometimes, players will come back and ask for more or accept it outright. But there’s a small chance he might decline you.
“If he comes back and he tells you that he wants more money and then the next week you don’t give him more money, he may walk at that point too … that whole system has been tuned so that it’s a little more realistic and gives you that choice.”
For full details on what Madden NFL 17 is getting in the updated franchise modes, check out the EA sports blogs on the subject. We’ll be checking the game out, so we should have more content for you this week!
What do you think of the changes coming to CFM this year? Let us know in the comments or on social media, and be sure to stay tuned to SGO for more Madden news.
Madden 17 Connected Franchise Mode New Features Detailed
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)