Xbox Newsbeat 16 January 2015
Forza Motorsport 6 Is Coming – Starring the All-new Ford GT!
Nothing better than getting your heart racing to start the New Year
The New Year may have just begun but already there is major news to announce for the Forza world: Forza Motorsport 6 is coming! This week, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Microsoft and Turn 10 Studios officially announced Forza Motorsport 6, which is in development and will be arriving exclusively on Xbox One. The news came alongside the announcement of the worldwide debut of the all-new Ford GT, which will serve as the cover car for Forza Motorsport 6. In addition, Ford’s performance vehicle line-up will appear in Forza Motorsport 6. This includes the GT, Shelby GT350 Mustang, and the F-150 Raptor, debuted by Ford earlier today at the auto show.
As First in Forza vehicles, Forza fans will have the opportunity to drive these cars when they debut in Forza 6. “Just as Ford has pushed the boundaries of car technology in GT, Forza Motorsport 6 will embrace that spirit of innovation as our most technically advanced racing simulation to date, offering a fun and realistic automotive experience for both car lovers and gamers,” said Dan Greenawalt, creative director at Turn 10 Studios. “We’re excited to unveil gameplay at E3 in June.” The announcement of Forza Motorsport 6 kicks off 2015 and the ten-year anniversary of the Forza Motorsport series. This year promises to be the busiest and biggest in Forza history and we’ll have much more to say about Forza 6 and more of our exciting plans in the future. Stay tuned to www.forzamotorsport.net and the official Forza Hub app on Xbox One for all the latest news!
For everything Forza and the latest news on Forza 6, please visit the Xbox Wire.
Xbox One February system update: Game hubs and TV updates now in preview
More great updates for the Xbox One – let’s check out what’s in store for February
Thanks to the Xbox community, we’re back in action early this year, kicking off 2015 with another system update preview release on Xbox One. Last year, we added hundreds of features on Xbox One — we can’t wait to share more with you this year and hear what you think on Xbox Feedback! This month, we’re bringing members of our Preview program a peek at how we hope to bring the Xbox community even closer together through an all-new feature called game hubs. Your friends, game creators, community managers, and other fans like you can now more easily meet, talk, share content, and play their favourite games. Also, we’re adding more tile transparency for custom backgrounds and a handful of updates to live TV. Starting today, members of the Xbox One preview program will get to check out these new features first:
- Game hubs – New in preview this month, game hubs are the go-to centres for all sorts of interesting content around your favourite games. Every Xbox One game will have a game hub where you can see which of your friends are playing the game, compete with your friends in game leaderboards, dive into the coolest game clips and game broadcasts, and follow the game’s VIPs and top players. To get to the game hub for your favourite game, find a game in your pins, recently played list, or My games and apps, then press the Menu button and select View game hub. You can also search for any game in the Xbox Store and click on the game hub tile from the game’s store page.
- Custom backgrounds and tile transparency – We listened to your feedback and added additional tile transparency to the Home tiles to make your background images more visible. As a reminder, to set a custom background, go to Settings > My Xbox> My background. Note: some items can’t be made transparent due to usage rights/restrictions for certain images.
- TV updates – We’re releasing a lot of updates to the live TV experience and features are being released to additional countries in preview this month:
- OneGuide for the Netherlands – Support for OneGuide will continue in preview for the Netherlands and the missing channels for the Netherlands OneGuide listings will become available over the next few weeks.
- TV trending in OneGuide – As you scan the detailed OneGuide TV listings, you can see which shows are trending by a “Trending on Xbox” note and associated icon. Xbox – live TV trending is based on the number of Xbox One owners currently watching that show in each country, pulled from anonymous data collected at a national level. Currently, Xbox TV trending is available to all members in the U.S., UK and Canada.
- Live TV trending (new countries) – France, Germany, Brazil and Mexico will begin seeing live TV trending data in Xbox OneGuide.
- Improved control of TVs, set-top boxes and audio/video receivers – Xbox One will work even better with more devices. This month’s preview release contains updates to the IR blasting database for new models and addresses issues reported by our fan community.
- “Trick play” with Xbox One Digital TV Tuner – Preview members with the Xbox One Digital TV Tuner in supported countries (UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) will now be able to see video frames when fast-forwarding or rewinding paused TV on your Xbox One consoles.
- Live TV streaming on Windows Phone and Android – We are continuing the preview of live TV streaming on Windows Phone and Android devices for Xbox One Digital TV Tuner owners in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
We’re excited to start the New Year off on the right foot by continuing our commitment to making Xbox One the best place to play. Let us know what you think of this month’s preview and stay tuned for more news on Xbox One system updates.
For all the latest news and updates for the Xbox One, please visit the Xbox Wire.
What’s in Week 3 of the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta?
The last leg of the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta
Next week marks the last leg of the ongoing Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta, which wraps up on Sunday, January 18 PST. As the third week of the beta dawns, 343 Industries is introducing the all-new Strongholds mode (playable on Regret and Empire), as well as Pegasus, the new map created with an early version of Forge customization tools and voted into the beta by fans this past week. They’ve also loaded even more weapons – including the Sniper Rifle, Energy Sword and the legendary Prophet’s Bane making a return.
Fan favourite the Rocket Launcher is also making its Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta debut! And as with weeks past, you will still be able to battle it out in Slayer mode on Truth, and Breakout mode – which was introduced in week 2 – returns on the Crossfire and Trench maps. Building off the strengths of team-based Slayer mode, Strongholds features three control zones placed around the map that your team will need to control in order to dominate the enemy. But take note! Only the team that controls two Stronghold zones can score points: the first team to score 100 points, wins the match. Try to control all three zones and you’ll be spread too thin, so your team will need to strategize and stick together to hold the combination of two Strongholds that establish map control!
Pegasus, the winner of the fan vote over Orion, features long sightlines, perfect for marksman weapons. Holding down the raised area with the Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher or Light Rifle gives a team excellent presence, and the ability to lock down huge swathes of the map. However, this spot is vulnerable to grenades and flanking routes that the opposing team should use to retake the high ground. We hope you continue to enjoy your time in the multiplayer beta. As always, stay tuned to the Halo Channel for all the latest Halo 5: Guardians updates – and keep an eye on Xbox Wire for more updates as we move ever closer to the Halo 5: Guardians release later this year!
In addition to the Halo Channel, for all the latest Halo news on Xbox, check out the Xbox Wire.
Pre-Order and Pre-Download Evolve on Xbox One Starting Today
Two Evolve game bundles are available for pre-order globally now!
Do you run solo as a giant monster or hunt the beast with your friends? That’s the question you’ll need to start thinking about today when you pre-order and pre-download 2K and Turtle Rock Studios’ upcoming asymmetric shooter Evolve. To celebrate the launch of the game, the following two Evolve game bundles are available for pre-order globally, starting today, through the Xbox Store online or on your console:
- Xbox One Evolve Pre-Order Edition, available starting today for $99.95, includes the standard game, plus a Monster Expansion Pack, Team C and Wraith.
- Xbox One Evolve Deluxe Edition, available starting today for $126.45, includes the standard game, plus a Season Pass, a Monster Expansion Pack, Team C, and Wraith.
Starting today, anyone with Xbox Live Gold can also begin to pre-load the Evolve Xbox One Open Beta so that they’re ready to begin playing the moment the servers come online January 15. As a refresher, the beta will be open to anyone with an Xbox Live Gold account and will feature two playable monsters (Goliath and Kraken), eight hunters and 12 playable maps. In addition, beginning on Saturday, February 17, beta players will get the exclusive chance to go hands-on with Evacuation mode. And don’t forget, any hunter or monster characters gamers unlock during the beta will carry over to their game when Evolve launches on February 10.
In addition to the Halo Channel, for all the latest Halo news on Xbox, check out the Xbox Wire.
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