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The Origins Of Infamous

Ben Hanson — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Amidst our coverage of the upcoming Infamous Second Son, we thought that it would be interesting to look back on the creation of the original game in the ongoing series. As a stand-out new IP on the Playstation 3 and a studio-changing game for the talented team at Sucker Punch Productions, Infamous' three years of development is a lot to cover in one video. The team shed light on their other pitches to Sony after they finished the Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves (one of which has a familiar name), the challenges of development, and what the studio learned from its release.

Watch the video below to learn from studio co-founder Brian Fleming and game director Nate Fox about the spark behind the Infamous franchise.

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To learn more about the future of the Infamous series, click on the banner below to learn more about Infamous Second Son.

Your Xbox One Headquarters - All The Stories Under One Roof

Mike Futter — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:05:00 GMT

The live stream might be over, but we're still rolling out new information over the course of the day. Here are all of our stories on the Xbox One reveal:

Analysis:

Rumor Vs Reality: The Truth About The Xbox One

What We Don't Know About The Xbox One

Don't Panic: The Gamer's Guide To The Xbox One Reveal

Interviews and Reader Discussions:

Interview With Xbox One's Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten

Reader Discussion: Xbox One Or PlayStation 4?

Hardware:

Reader Discussion: What Do You Think The Name Of The New Xbox Will Be?

The Name Of The Next Xbox Is...

Microsoft Shows Off Its New System Xbox One

Microsoft Reveals Xbox One System Specs

New Kinect Drives Xbox One's Interface

Meet The New Xbox One Controller

Hands On With Xbox One's New Controller

Xbox One Not Backward Compatible

Microsoft UK: Xbox One Won't Work Without Kinect

Xbox Hardware Evolution Chart (Spec comparison of Xbox, 360, One)

The Tech Spec Test: Xbox One Vs. PlayStation 4

Designing The Xbox One (with quotes from the designers)

Microsoft Going All-In With Kinect

Microsoft’s Bold OS Approach

Conflicting Stories Emerge On Xbox One's Connection Needs

Games and Media:

The Official List of Confirmed Xbox One Games

Forza Motorsport 5 Burning Rubber on Xbox One

Microsoft and 343 Industries Partner With Steven Spielberg For Live-Action Halo Television Series

Xbox Live To Offer " Game DVR," Dynamic Achievements

Your Achievements Will Transfer To Xbox One, Can Be Added Post-Release

Remedy Announces Quantum Break For Xbox One

First Images Emerge Of Quantum Break

EA Sports Announces Next-Gen Versions of FIFA, Madden, UFC, And NBA Live

EA Sports Ignite Engine Shown Wasn't Gameplay

Activision Shows Off Call Of Duty: Ghost's Next-gen Graphics

Call Of Duty Ghost DLC Timed Exclusive to Xbox One

Working With In-Development Hardware A "White-Knuckle Ride" Says Activision's Eric Hirschberg

Microsoft Confirms Mandatory Game Installation, Talks 'Always Online,' Has Plan For Used

Microsoft’s Gaming On The Cloud

Xbox Live Matchmaking Evolves With Xbox One

Microsoft Promises 'Historic' Franchise Reappearance From Rare At E3

Xbox One Won't Separate Games Into Live Arcade, Indie, And Retail Categories

Sorry, Indies, You'll Still Need A Publisher For Xbox Live

Crytek's Ryse Confirmed For Xbox One, CryEngine 3 Already Running On System

Services:

Microsoft Announces Xbox One Live TV Feature

Xbox One And Cable TV

Xbox One Is Your TV Guide

ESPN And Xbox One

Group Skype Calling Coming To Xbox One

Microsoft & Xbox One Partners With NFL

Microsoft Confirms Xbox One Friends Lists Will Allow Up To 1000 People

Be sure to also check out all of our retrospective coverage on the Xbox and Xbox 360:

Microsoft: First-Party, Next Generation

The Best And Worst Games Of The Xbox And Xbox 360 Launch Lineups

Microsoft's Hits and Misses With The Xbox 360 Hardware

The Complete History Of Xbox Live (Abridged)

The Best Of The Kinect

What Xbox Franchises Should Return On The Next Xbox?

Don't Panic: The Gamer's Guide To The Xbox One Reveal

Mike Futter — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:54:00 GMT

Sit down. Grab a paper bag. Breathe slow and deep. It's going to be ok. Yesterday's Xbox One reveal offered a lot of information about Microsoft's vision for next generation, but it also left us with a lot of questions. In less than one month, a lot of those holes are going to be filled in.

Here's what we do know. The Xbox One is designed to be a convergence device that brings together existing television service with games. Kinect 2.0 is critical to the system and will supposedly respond better to voice commands and track gestures with more precision. The idea is to create as seamless an experience across entertainment media.

Yesterday's presentation was about setting the tone for how Microsoft plans to take over the living room. It was about raw capabilities of the hardware, and from a multimedia, non-core gamer perspective, the execution can be considered a success.

We knew in advance we wouldn't be seeing a lot of games. The EA Sports presentation was only impressive in that we learned about the next generation Ignite engine. Quantum Break from Remedy evidenced new exclusive IP and was enough of a tease to garner interest for more information at E3. Call of Duty was on display for the strength of the time-limited exclusivity partnership and the contrast between current generation power and the capabilities of the new hardware. Every title we saw had a purpose for being on that stage, and that wasn't first and foremost to wow gamers.

Microsoft announced that it plans to release 15 exclusive titles in the first 12 months. That's an enormous number, especially if many strive for the core audience like Quantum Break and Ryse will. Had that been it, core gamers would have walked away underwhelmed, but interested in hearing more at E3.

But Microsoft made a significant mistake, failing to keep key personnel on message. In interviews, executives each had different answers to straightforward questions. Conflicting reports bounced back and forth among outlets on two key issues: secondhand games and the Xbox One's connectivity needs. Every time a new comment was made, PR had to sweep up.

Yesterday's tone became about Microsoft's lack of clarity instead of the potential of the hardware. It shifted from excitement about E3's pending game reveals to angst about ownership of those inevitable purchases. The "always online" controversy should have been put to bed once and for all (or at least avoided), and instead it was brought back to the surface. In short, it was a PR stumble that marred the presentation.

Thankfully for Microsoft, E3 is less than three weeks away. The Xbox One will take the stage first on Monday, June 10, and we've been promised that the presentation is heavily weighted toward games (which will mark a nice change from the past three years). Microsoft has 18 days to decide how it wants to explain software ownership, the secondary market, which functions (if any) require Xbox Live "check ins," and how frequently users need to connect.

All is not lost, and anyone who believes it is after just this first bit of information is selling Microsoft's market dominance here in the United States very short. News coming out of E3 is going to fill in the picture for all three platform holders. Let's take a deep breath and give it three weeks before we pronounce anyone dead.

Interview With Xbox One's Chief Product Officer Marc Whitten

Ben Hanson — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:16:00 GMT

Game Informer visited Microsoft's campus weeks ago for an early look at the next Xbox console. The day after the company explained the Xbox One, we had some follow-up questions for the console's chief product officer Marc Whitten. Game Informer's senior features editor Matt Helgeson sat down with Whitten and received some further clarification on the new console's unique architecture, television implementation, operating systems, used game capabilities, the redesigned d-pad, and more.

Watch the video to learn all about the Xbox One from one of the system's lead designers.

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Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.

The Official List Of Confirmed Xbox One Games

Matt Bertz — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:07:00 GMT

Now that Microsoft took the veil off the Xbox One, we can get to the meat of the next-generation experience – games. Here is the list of titles we know are confirmed or suspected to be coming to the Xbox One:

Xbox One Exclusives

Forza Motorsport 5 – Microsoft Studios/Turn 10

Quantum Break – Microsoft Studios/Remedy Entertainment

Ryse - Crytek

Multi-Platform Games

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag – Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal

Battlefield 4 – Electronic Arts/DICE

Call of Duty: Ghosts – Activision/Infinity Ward

Destiny – Activision/Bungie

FIFA 14 – EA Sports/EA Canada

Madden NFL 25 – EA Sports/EA Tiburon

NBA Live – EA Sports/EA Tiburon

Thief – Square Enix/Eidos Montreal

UFC – EA Sports/EA Canada

Watch Dogs – Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal

Next-Gen Games Unconfirmed For Xbox One

The Evil Within – Bethesda/Tango Gameworks

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – CD Project Red

Wolfenstein The New Order – Bethesda/Machine Games

That's what we know so far – expect a deluge of additional titles as we move into E3 season. We will update this story with new additions as they are announced.

Visit our Xbox Reveal Headquarters for complete coverage of today's news.