Xbox Newsbeat – 30 January 2015
Great Deals with February Games with Gold
Including #IDARB on Xbox One and both Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and Sniper Elite V2 on Xbox 360
With February’s Games with Gold, Xbox One gamers get It Draws a Red Box(otherwise known as #IDARB) – an offbeat, crowdsourced multiplayer action game, and Xbox 360 gamers get treated to two awesome titles; Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, an emotional, atmospheric puzzle platformer, and Sniper Elite V2, a pulse-pounding third-person shooter. As usual, all games are available for a limited time. * #IDARB ($19.95 AUD): Available from Feb. 1 – 28 on Xbox One
* Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons ($14.95 AUD): Available from Feb. 1 – 15 on Xbox 360
* Sniper Elite V2 ($49.95 AUD): Available from Feb. 16 – 28 on Xbox 360
#IDARB is a stunning conglomeration of game types built into one title. Part platformer, part hockey, part fighting game, and part party game, #IDARB features tight controls and a frenetic, eight-player local co-op core that makes it a blast to play offline or online. The game was built based on suggestions that developer Other Ocean Interactive received from fans on Twitter, and includes some truly unique game options, including the ability to make your own music, characters, and spectator interaction with real-time games via social media! One of the most exciting things about the game is that it’s ever-changing, and the developer has promised to continue adding new content, characters, and even gameplay elements over the course of #IDARB’s life cycle.
For Xbox 360 enthusiasts, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is a powerfully emotional tale of two young men struggling to save their father’s life in a medieval fantasy world. They must work together to overcome obstacles of the physical and magical variety – facing down angry giants, insane cultists, and a town seemingly frozen by snow in an instant. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons presents a vibrant world, which the titular characters discover just as surely as they discover how powerful the bond between siblings can really be.
Additionally, Xbox 360 gamers get another fantastic title. Sniper Elite V2 is a third-person shooter that places you at the midst of World War II, trying to put an end to Germany’s V-2 rocket program with nothing but your wits and your handy sniper rifle. Stealth and a steady trigger finger are what counts here, although a bevy of items and upgrades transform the game from a simple stealth shooter to an open-ended adventure. Sniper Elite V2 also features a robust cooperative multiplayer mode that sees players working together, which adds a lot of extra depth to the game. Check out the full details on our Games with Gold program, and make sure you get in on the action while you can. * Titles are available as free downloads for a limited time, for qualifying paid Xbox Live Gold members in all markets where Xbox Live is available. See Major Nelson’s blog for additional details.
For more information on the latest Games with Gold offering and a range of media assets, visit the Xbox Wire.
Go Behind the Scenes with Forza Motorsport 6 and the Ford GT
World-exclusive video takes you behind the scenes of the all-new Ford GT
Last week, Forza and Ford rocked the gaming and automotive worlds with the ultimate one-two punch: the announcements of Forza Motorsport 6 and the all-new Ford GT, both of which were unveiled at the North American International Auto Show. This pair of announcements comes at an auspicious time; 2015 marks the ten-year anniversary of the Forza Motorsport series and, next year, Ford will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its win at Le Mans, where Ford GT cars finished in first, second, and third position – a feat that has since become the stuff of motorsports legends. This world-exclusive video will take you behind the scenes of the all-new Ford GT. You’ll hear from the Ford designers and engineers as they discuss the inspirations for the GT, and you’ll learn about the decisions that earned the team this year’s prestigious EyesOn Design prize, the official design award for the North American International Auto Show. In addition, you’ll hear how the partnership between Ford and Forza Motorsport will let a brand new audience of car fans experience the Ford GT for the very first time in Forza Motorsport 6.
For the full video and all the latest Forza Motorsport news, visit the Xbox Wire.
Xbox on Windows Feature Summary for the January build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview
Featuring profile and friend information, home screen, messages and greater control over your notifications and alerts
In 2015, the Xbox team will be working hard to deliver a first-class gaming experience on Windows 10, just as we have on consoles. As with Xbox One, we want you, our fans, to help shape the Xbox on Windows product and experiences. Our plans are to ship regular Xbox app releases that deliver new functionality by making changes based on your feedback. With the initial preview release of the Xbox app, the team has focused on ‘the basics’, including supporting high resolution desktop monitors, keyboard and mouse input, and will continue to add new functionality until we finally ship the Xbox on Windows application and experiences later this year. With Xbox on Windows, we’re giving you more ways than ever to connect and play with your friends, wherever you go. There is a lot more work for the team to do, but here are some of the features that you can check out with the initial preview release of the Xbox app in the January build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview:
- Your Profile – provides you quick access to your Xbox profile and recent activity and achievements. With the initial preview build, you can see your Gamerscore, recent Activity, Achievements, Following lists and Game Clips.
- Activity – provides detailed information on your last game played and also allows you to post updates to your Activity Feed.
- Achievements – allows you to browse all of the games you have recently played across all platforms and see how you are doing on Achievements.
- Following – displays your Friends and also enables you to see games that you are following. You can “Follow” a game by clicking on the Follow button on the game details page.
- Game Clips – provides you access to your recorded game clips
- Home – the Xbox app home page will provide you quick access to your Recently Played games, your friends and their online status and an Activity Feed of recent events, game clips, etc.
- Recently Played – you can see your recently played games, along with your gamer score and achievements earned across all platforms, you can also filter this list down to Xbox One and eventually other devices. When you click on a game, you bring up the Game Hub – where you can see your Gamerscore, Achievement status, Time played and Game clips for a particular game. Additionally, this is where you can choose to “Follow” a game.
- Friends –you can see your friends across devices and search and find new friends. Additionally, you can go the profile page for your friends and followers and view their recent activity, achievements, friends, games they follow and game clips.
- People you might know – the new Xbox app on Windows 10 provides you with a list of people that you might want to add to your Friends list, for example people that are Following you.
- VIPs on Xbox – You can now also choose to follow key gamers and content creators across the Xbox Live community, such as Clip Creators and Popular Broadcasters.
- Activity Feed – you can view your activity feed and post text, like and comment on your friends’ recent achievements and Game clips. In this version of preview build, the sharing functionality is not yet enabled.
- Messages – Users can view messages from other users and system messages / notifications.
- Settings – Within settings, you can see the current Version number of the Xbox on Windows app, and choose to Sign out from the app. Additionally, you can turn on/off the following items:
- Live tile – choose to display # of friends online, unread messages and activity alerts on the Xbox app tile on the Windows 10 Start menu
- Notifications – for the following items:
- Favourite online – Notify me when my favourite friends are online
- Twitch broadcast started – Notify me when my favourite friends start broadcasting
- Message – Notify me when I get a new message
Stay tuned for more updates from the Xbox team on the features coming to Windows 10 in the coming months. If you haven’t yet signed up for the Windows Insider program, start here.
For a full video preview and all the latest Windows 10 news for Xbox, visit the Xbox Wire.
Xbox announces more entertainment features in Australia
OneGuide live for preview program users and TV Tuner coming in March 2015
Since launch, it’s been our vision to bring more entertainment features and enable live TV through Xbox One. This week, Xbox was pleased to announce the arrival of the public preview of OneGuide enabling Xbox One users to experience premium live TV features on Xbox One.
OneGuide provides an enhanced TV watching experience, enabling the combination of live, free-to-air, television with apps and other great features of the Xbox One. OneGuide can be navigated using the controller or Kinect Voice* and allows users to personalise how and when TV is watched.
Some key features of OneGuide include:
- Favourite Channels in OneGuide: Create your own personal favourites in OneGuide so you can more quickly choose what you want to watch.
- Channel Tuning by Voice: OneGuide allows you to call out your favourite TV channel by name and start watching it instantly*.
- TV Listings in the OneGuide: Navigate TV listings using the controller or with Kinect Voice* control – e.g. say “Xbox show guide, what’s on Channel 7?” – to quickly navigate directly to that channel’s listings for free-to-air TV. Listings are available in both full screen and mini-guide, with the option of parental controls.
- TV Playback in Snap Mode: You can now watch TV using the Snap mode, watching TV on the side and leaving the main screen for games, Skype, or other applications.
- OneGuide on SmartGlass: You will have access to the OneGuide listings on the new Xbox One SmartGlass Beta app with the ability to change channels on your TV. You can download this app from the marketplace or store on your mobile device.
- TV On Demand: TV listings in OneGuide will indicate which shows are available on demand from video apps.
As part of Xbox’s commitment to bring more entertainment features to the Xbox One for consumers, Xbox Australia will be launching the Xbox One Digital TV Tuner in March 2015.
The Xbox One Digital TV Tuner is the best way to view free-to-air, HD-quality** TV, on the Xbox One. It will provide Xbox One users in Australia with an over-the-air digital terrestrial TV experience through a USB-attached TV tuner, an alternative to accessing TV content from a free-to-air box connected through the HDMI-In port. One feature of the new digital TV Tuner, is the streaming of TV across a home network to a smartphone or tablet using the Xbox One SmartGlass app, allowing you to pause, rewind and fast forward TV. The feature also allows users to watch TV on a device within your home and game on the Xbox console simultaneously.
The Xbox One Digital TV Tuner will retail at $39.95 AUD and will be available to pre-order from the Microsoft store and other retailers starting today.
OneGuide and the TV Tuner are the latest features that Xbox is adding to provide the most innovative and comprehensive entertainment experience in Australian living rooms. Complementing existing features such as voice control*, DLNA streaming, Live TV Pass-through, 3D Blu-Ray, biometric sign-in, control of other devices via IR Blasting, Snap and SmartGlass to name but a few.
For media assets and further information please visit the Xbox Wire.
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