343 shows off Halo 3 on Xbox One, "really impressed" by quality of original assets

It's a "testament" to Bungie's talent, says producer


Combat Evolved might have started the avalanche, but for my money, Halo 3 is the greatest of Bungie's Halo games across Xbox and Xbox 360. Alas, the Master Chief Collection's remaster hasn't gotten much attention to date - 343 has placed the emphasis firmly on Halo 2 Anniversary instead. That changed yesterday when senior producer Dennis Ries treated OXM to a behind-closed-doors screening of an excerpt from Halo 3's campaign.


I can't show you the video itself yet, I'm afraid - filming wasn't allowed during the presentation - but I can tell you that Halo 3 on Xbox One looks like... Halo 3, but smoother and crisper. Ries promised that you'll "feel the difference" with a pad in your hand, but conceded that Bungie's original is already very pretty without further enhancement.

"One thing we noticed immediately as we started to get this up and running on the Xbox One is how good the assets look," he said. "It really is a testament to how well Bungie made the game back in the day.

"There are very high resolution assets, but they didn't shine through as much as they do now. The Xbox 360 just didn't have that processing power that the Xbox One does. So we're really impressed and happy with what we've been seeing and playing."

In particular, Ries noted that "the water, and a lot of the lighting and stuff really shine [in 1080p]. So we're very impressed, and we can't wait for people to play the game and see the progress it's made."


Halo 3 on Xbox One will be functionally identical to the Xbox 360 game, with one key difference - it and all the other games in the Collection will use Halo 2's player ranking system for multiplayer.


http://www.totalxbox.com/

Ubisoft is "ready to take risks" with Assassin's Creed - "we are very flexible"

"When we see an opportunity we'll be the first to jump on it."

Ubisoft has a Grand Plan all pegged out for Assassin's Creed, but according to Unity's senior producer Vincent Pontbriand, the publisher is willing and able to change should the right creative and commercial opportunities arise.


"We are very flexible," he told me at Gamescom last week. "We do plan ahead, we do have a long-term plan, but when we see an opportunity we'll be the first to jump on it. We're ready to take risks - that's what I love about it."


Last year's Assassin's Creed 4 is a case in point, Pontbriand explained - it came about because fans reacted so well to the third game's naval sections. This also bought the Unity team an extra year to work on their own game, which is more in line with the structure and mechanics of Assassin's Creed 2.

"Starting with Brotherhood, we realised that this brand had tremendous potential, so we branched off the core team - some of the core members started working on AC3, and then other guys went onto work on Revelations," he recalled. "The only surprise was Black Flag - that was partly planning and partly opportunistic, when we realised with internal testing that the naval battles were very fun, with AC3 we said they should just do an entire game about that.

"And because we followed up and used that opportunity, and it gave us an extra year to work on Unity. And our mandate was clear, our technology was starting to work, our ambitions were big, so we said 'OK, one more year will be just right to make it happen'."

Different teams within Ubisoft Montreal are free to bring their own ideas to the table, he went on - there's no hard-and-fast rulebook as to how each game should play out. "Again, this is about being very flexible. Although we do have brand guidelines, each team is free to introduce stuff, to challenge some of the fundamentals, and have the brand altogether evolve in different directions. So we had to also steer some of the stuff we wanted to do, because the previous games were not going in the same directions."


http://www.totalxbox.com/

Survival horror title Outlast for Xbox One now on Xbox store

Costs £15.99 / US$19.99 / AU$26.95

Like a creature rising from the depths of your own psychological hell, indie survival horror title Outlast has appeared out of nowhere and is now available to buy on the Xbox Store.

Previously only available on PC and PS4, Outlast pits you as journalist Miles Upshur, who breaks into the Mount Massive Asylum and discovers what the release blurb calls "a terrifying line between science and religion, nature and something else entirely". Developed by Canadian outfit Red Barrels, Outlast is a first-person affair that game designer and Red Barrels co-founder Philipe Morin describes as containing "intense violence, gore, graphic sexual content, and strong language". As sister site CVG notes, various critics reckon it's a pretty good thing.

Great news. What's odd is that it breaks Microsoft's platform parity agreement that stipulates a game must be released on Xbox at the same time as other platforms. Nor were Red Barrels on the first list of confirmed ID@Xbox developers. However, Microsoft's director of ID@Xbox program, Chris Charla, said developers concerned about the clause "should email me!"

You can put your cash on Outlast right now, but you won't be able to play it until June 24.

http://www.totalxbox.com/

Nintendo Hopes to Share 2D and 3D Metroid News "in the Near Future"

A new Metroid game wasn't announced at E3 this week, but it sounds as if one (or more) are, at the very least, being considered.

Nintendo is well aware of fans' desire to see both 2D and 3D Metroid games in the future. In fact, it's hoping to share news regarding both styles "in the near future," according to Nintendo's Shinya Takahashi.

In an interview with Kotaku, the subject of a new Metroid was brought up. Shigeru Miyamoto responded by saying, "The original creators of Metroid and the director who was the director of the Metroid Prime games who worked under me when I was producing those both now work for Mr. Takahashi, so you'll have to ask him."

Takahashi then shared some tantalizing information: "So it has been a while since we released the last one and we're having discussions internally about what we can do next. So at this point we have two different types of Metroid games. We have the Prime style of Metroid game and we have the more traditional style of Metroid game. We feel that we do need to take care of both of these styles of play. And the hope is that at some point in the near future we'll be able to share something about them."

Many gamers expected a new Metroid to be unveiled at E3 this week when Nintendo scheduled a lengthy event to announce a 3DS game on Wednesday night. Instead, we learned that game would be a new IP, which proved to be Code Name: STEAM, a strategy game from Fire Emblem and Advance Wars developer Intelligent Systems. Metroid wasn't seen at all during E3, unless you count Samus appearing in Super Smash Bros.

The most recent game in the Metroid series was 2010's Metroid: Other M, the Team Ninja-developed action game for Wii that many fans bemoaned for its treatment of Samus' character. Prior to that, it was Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in 2007. In other words, the series has been mostly quiet for much of the last decade--which is exactly how long it's been since the last 2D Metroid game (Metroid: Zero Mission for Game Boy Advance) was released.

To many, a new Metroid seems like an obvious way to drum up excitement for the Wii U, which has struggled since its launch in November 2012. One thing we do know about the next Metroid is that series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto is unlikely to be involved; after working on Tomodachi Life, he said earlier this year that he isn't interested in returning to traditional games.

http://www.gamespot.com/

The first artworks for Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox One

I've got a couple of Tomb Raider stories in the works. To begin with, here are the first three artworks for Rise of the Tomb Raider, a sequel to 2013's origin story, in which the still rather traumatised Lara Croft must explore a Lost City and contend with a mysterious group of assassins. Oh, and at least one bear. Hey, it's better than fighting a T-Rex, right?

Out in holiday 2015, the game will appear on Xbox One but not Xbox 360. Lara is once again voiced by Camilla Luddington, who will "take character performance to new heights as Lara pushes herself beyond human limits and is confronted with what it means to become a hero". Beyond that, we're in the dark. Much like Lara, then. What do you think of the announcement trailer?

http://www.totalxbox.com/

Rise Of The Tomb Raider Coming Holiday 2015 (article and trailer)

New instalment in Tomb Raider franchise debuts during Microsoft conference, but no exclusivity announced.

Rise Of The Tomb Raider, a sequel to last year's Tomb Raider reboot, has made its debut during Microsoft's E3 press conference with a holiday 2015 release date. While Microsoft made the reveal, no platform exclusivity was announced.

The debut took the form of a new trailer, which showed Lara speaking to a psychiatrist while reminiscing about some of her latest adventures. Falling off a cliff, flares, and a sweet crossbow all featured in the trailer.

Lara's previous adventure, Tomb Raider, was released in 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, an updated version for the Xbox One and PS4, was released earlier this year.

http://www.gamespot.com/

Happy Wars coming to Xbox One

Toylogic's free-to-play tactical RPG Happy Wars is coming to Xbox One. This new version will include a host of new characters and gameplay elements, although the details of these extra elements have yet to be revealed.

The original game hit Xbox Live Arcade in 2012. We liked aspects of it, but felt it was a little superficial on the whole. Perhaps this new version will add a bit of depth.


More to follow. Check out our Xbox at E3 hub for all the news as it happens, and watch the Xbox conference itself here.


http://www.totalxbox.com/