Microsoft shows off ‘Halo 5,’ ‘Minecraft’ and promises backward compatibility for Xbox 360

by Stone Marshall | Jun 19, 2015 | Minecraft News | 0 comments

Microsoft catered to core gamers in a big way Monday, announcing that it will make the back-catalog of Xbox 360 games available for the Xbox One.

A huge cheer went up from the crowd at Microsoft’s Los Angeles news conference at the announcement, which has been a top fan request since the Xbox One first came out. According to executives onstage, Xbox 360 titles should show up automatically in users’ libraries and no one will have to pay for games that they already own.

Executives showed off a brief demo of someone playing “Mass Effect” on the Xbox One and using its features such as directing the console to take a screenshot using only your voice. The compatability function is coming this holiday season.

The company also showed off a new Xbox elite controller, which lets players swap out parts such as the thumbsticks and also lets you remap the buttons on the controller to suit your needs. It works on PCs and Xbox One; Microsoft is making serious effort to marry PC and console gaming.

Of course, most of the show was all about games. Microsoft ran through several of its announcements in quick succession. First up was “Halo 5 Guardians,” in which the company revealed players can control two squads. In the multiplayer mode, there can be as many as 24 players altogether, and the game has a playable demo at the Los Angeles show.

That kicked off a string of announcements and demonstrations of Xbox games including “Gears of War 4,” “Rise of the Tomb Raider,” “Forza 6,” “Dark Souls III” and a version of  “Minecraft” specifically made for its augmented reality headset, the Hololens.

Screens projecting what the block-based building game looked like through the Hololens showed that players can call up virtual worlds onto tabletops and manipulate them at whatever scale they wish. For example, you could zoom out to take a top-level view of a city you’ve built or lean forward to peer into the rooms of your virtual buildings.

The company also announced that it’s working with Valve on its virtual reality headset, the Vive, on the heels of announcing a partnership with Oculus. That puts it on even stronger footing to compete with Sony’s Project Morpheus headset, which the Japanese firm is expected to showcase in its own news conference late Monday.

Microsoft shows off ‘Halo 5,’ ‘Minecraft’ and promises backward compatibility for Xbox 360

HoloLens is amazing, but that Minecraft demo was misleading

by Stone Marshall | Jun 19, 2015 | Minecraft News | 0 comments

Microsoft demoed a version of Minecraft during its press conference by shooting footage through the Hololens hardware connected to a camera.

The result was a magical look at the future of augmented reality, and the internet all but exploded when the footage was released. You can watch below.

The demo was legitimately amazing, and Microsoft is proving themselves to be the king of augmented reality. The hardware and software needed to deliver high-quality virtual reality is quickly maturing but according to many people I’ve spoken with in the development community, augmented reality is a tangled mess of unsolved problems that may prove much harder to fix than virtual reality.

Microsoft deserves a ton of credit for creating this technology and showing onstage that it is, in fact, real.

All that being said, you may need to rein in the hype-train just a bit. That demo was incredibly misleading.

What is HoloLens?

HoloLens is a self-contained piece of equipment that paints the world around you with what appear to be holograms. You can see and interact with virtual objects as if they were real. Imagine a technology that allowed you to cover a wall with a virtual screen, or create three-dimensional objects out of thin air to manipulate in real time.

The videos all show a version of reality that seems to wrap around the viewer, covering your field of view with the augmented reality display. The illusion seems to be complete; you can surround yourself with holograms!

The reality is a bit more limited. This is a hands-on report of what it’s actually like to use the technology from our sister publication, The Verge.

That video is interesting in general, but take a look at this visualization of the actual field of view in the current HoloLens hardware.

This field of view issue is brought up in nearly every hands-on with the hardware, and we were able to check out the hardware at E3.

“The virtual screen was about the size of a deck of cards if you held it in front of your eyes with your arm half-extended,” our own Brian Crecente wrote. “It sounds small, and in some cases, including once you first put it on, it looks small. But once you get into the experience of playing a game with it, the size issue seems to fade away.”

Crecente didn’t have a big problem with the field of view, but almost every other write-up of the technology also brought up the tiny field of view.

“The one disappointment for me in trying HoloLens was that the field of view was very limited,” TechCrunch stated. “This was not a totally immersive experience because objects would get cut off long before you would naturally expect them to drop out of sight. Some of the writers who saw Microsoft’s first demo told me that they felt the viewing angle on these new devices was smaller than during the first demo. I can’t verify that, though.”

Compare these reports and the image above with the videos Microsoft have released.

Here’s another write-up from TechRadar. “The biggest issue with HoloLens’ holographic viewing is the holograph is limited to what amounts to the size of a large monitor in front of you,” the site reported. “You can see the edges of the virtual space where the hologram lives (which are basically the edges of the inner HoloLens frames), and looking outside that space, or moving too close into it, cuts the the hologram off or makes it disappear completely.”

The illusion of HoloLens isn’t nearly as effective as the E3 demo and promotional videos would have you believe, although this is a technology that will be constantly updated before it’s released to the public. For now though, what Microsoft is selling on video doesn’t quite exist in the real world.

That’s not saying the technology isn’t impressive. “It was captivating to stand at the edge of a table and watch a diminutive square-headed figure, sharp in its precision and color, ride a minecart down a steep hill and out of my view,” Crecente wrote in his preview of Minecraft. “I was also able to pull the world up by its trees and rocky landscape, peering into the underworld of the map and then use my finger and voice to mark a target.”

It’s fine to get excited, our collective jaws dropped when we watched the Minecraft demo as well. Microsoft is clearly leading the charge with what’s possible in augmented reality, and the company is solving very complicated problems better than anyone else today.

But it’s also important to realize the current state of the technology isn’t nearly as effective as Microsoft would have you believe.

HoloLens is amazing, but that Minecraft demo was misleading

Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s Story Could Deviate from the Original

by Stone Marshall | Jun 18, 2015 | Minecraft News | 0 comments

The Final Fantasy VII Remake, announced at Sony’s E3 press conference, could deviate from its source material.

When asked if the remake, in development for PlayStation 4, will follow the Final Fantasy VII narrative exactly or feature new elements, director Tetsuya Nomura gave GameSpot an ambiguous answer.

“We’ve announced an HD port version on the PlayStation 4, and then we have the remake coming to PS4,” Nomura said through a translator. “You’ll have this extremely, very, very pretty FFVII existing on the same plane. We feel that if that happens, it’s like, why have the same exact game?

“We think that if a game is on a certain platform and that platform becomes obsolete, then we’d recommend playing the new port version,” he added.

Currently, all we know about the Final Fantasy VII Remake is that it is now in production with key members of the original game’s staff on board, including producer Yoshinori Kitase and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima. Other developer details are unknown.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s Story Could Deviate from the Original

E3 2015: Xbox thrills with Lara Croft, Halo 5 and holographic Minecraft

by Stone Marshall | Jun 18, 2015 | Minecraft News | 0 comments

Minecraft is coming to the real world – and in 3D. Just don’t hold your breath.

Microsoft delivered a convincing press briefing at E3 2015, revealing a muscular line-up of exclusive titles and features.

The show was stolen by the appearance of Minecraft on the company’s Hololens augmented reality (AR) hardware. On stage, Microsoft Studios manager Saxs Persson, showed how the block-building game can use the forthcoming device, which overlays computer graphics onto the real world to create a tabletop Minecraft landscape that players can model and interact with, through voice and touch commands.

No release date was given for the tech or the game, but Microsoft made clear it has big plans for both mixed and virtual reality. Corporate vice president and Hololens head Kudo Tsunoda also announced that the company would be working with Valve, co-developer of the HTV Vive virtual reality headset, to make Windows 10 the de facto platform for virtual reality (VR) technologies on the PC. With this and the recent announcement that the Oculus Rift VR headset would be shipping with an Xbox One controller (together with the ability to play Xbox One games streamed via PC), it seems Microsoft is making a land grab for both the VR and AR sectors, while competitor Sony concentrates on its own virtual reality technology project, Morpheus.
Xbox E3 Rise of the Tomb Raider
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Rise of the Tomb Raider artwork at Xbox’s press conference at E3. Photograph: Michael Nelson/EPA

Away from futuristic immersion platforms, Microsoft revealed a generous range of new titles, showing footage from Halo 5, Forza Motorsport 6 and Gears of War 4, as well as the latest Lara Croft adventure, Rise of the Tomb Raider, which will appear first on Xbox One this winter, getting an as-yet unknown headstart on PS4. From Software’s Dark Souls III, another much-anticipated sequel, was also shown for the first time, with a spring 2016 release date.
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As anticipated, legendary UK studio Rare revealed its latest title, Sea of Thieves, a typically bright and brash multiplayer pirating adventure, described by studio head Craig Duncan as “By far the most ambitious game that Rare has ever created.” Rare also has a collection of 30 of its classic titles such as Perfect Dark and Conker’s Bad Fur Day coming to Xbox One.

Elsewhere, Dean Hall, creator of cult open-world zombie title Day Z, popped up to show his latest project, Ion, an intriguing adventure based around deep space colonisation. Recore, a new title from Japanese game design legend Keiji Inafune and the team behind sci-fi classic Metroid Prime, is due in Spring 2016, and features two of this year’s seemingly on-trend elements: a female protagonist and a dog companion.

There were some key service announcements too, not least limited backward compatibility with the Xbox 360. Classic titles will start showing up on Xbox One’s online store soon, but players who own the original versions will be able to download the digital versions for free. Xbox chief Phil Spencer showed the original Mass Effect running on Xbox One, where classic titles will be supported by new features like screenshot sharing and game streaming.

Microsoft is also launching the Xbox One Preview service which allows players to download and try incomplete games before they are published. The concept is similar to Early Access on the PC games platform Steam. Players will be able to trial each game for free, then decide whether to commit to a purchase. Two titles Elite: Dangerous and Long Dark are already available and more are coming throughout the year.

A large range of independent titles were shown to add some relief from a lot of shooting and explosions. Steve Gaynor of Fullbright showed its follow up to critically acclaimed exploration game Gone Home with Tacoma, and there was also a brief look at the fascinating Beyond Eyes, an adventure following a blind girl who must use touch to navigate the environment.

It was a strong confident showing, then, with popular glances backward and some interesting platform exclusives. It will be up to Sony, holding its press conference later in the day, to up the ante, especially on exclusive titles. For the last two years the fight between Xbox One and PlayStation 4 has been built largely on technical differences and promise. Now, with plenty of titles looking to fully explore the capabilities of both sets of hardware, the real console war begins.

E3 2015: Xbox thrills with Lara Croft, Halo 5 and holographic Minecraft

Microsoft is building a special version of Minecraft for HoloLens

by Stone Marshall | Jun 17, 2015 | Minecraft News | 0 comments

We got a closer look at Microsoft’s HoloLens during Build in April, but the company is showing off the gaming aspects of its headset today. Microsoft has built a new version of Minecraft specifically for its HoloLens headset. You can play with a controller as you’d expect, and create or explore worlds using holograms you create with voice or gestures. Microsoft’s demonstration at E3 today involved a full Minecraft universe running on a table thanks to the HoloLens headset, and it was very similar to the experience the company revealed back in January.

The audience seemed impressed, and the demo kept the hologram perfectly positioned on the table while the presenter walked around and interacted with Minecraft objects freely. Most of those interactions were enabled by voice, but the demo also involved Microsoft’s “air tap” gesture where you raise your index finger and tap down. Those might not be great ways to control a game, but sitting immersed in a world of Minecraft around your living room while you avoid critters with a controller sounds like it could be a lot of fun. Microsoft is planning to share more about its Minecraft plans at Minecon in July.

Minecraft for HoloLens E3 2015 photos

Microsoft is building a special version of Minecraft for HoloLens

No Wii U? You can now play Splatoon in Minecraft

by Stone Marshall | Jun 17, 2015 | Minecraft News | 0 comments

As a PC-only gamer, I feel an occasional twinge when a bunch of people I know are all playing the same console game. Forced to endure tweet after tweet about Destiny, for example, leaves me feeling left out. I never got to experience the horror of PT, and it sounds like I never will. The most recent example is Splatoon, the Wii U game. Everyone seems to be having fun with it except me. Poor me!

All is not lost, however. Creative block wizard SethBling has created a version of Splatoon you can play in Minecraft.

Strictly speaking, this isn’t a mod. It’s a map and a very clever use of Minecraft’s command blocks. But, hey, it’s a fun creation, and I’m sure it took quite some time and effort, so I’m gonna say it counts for this week’s column. I appreciate a custom game that only requires me to join a server to play it, and it’s a nice excuse to revisit Minecraft, something I rarely find the time to do these days.

I have to admit, despite hearing so much about Splatoon, I don’t really know how it works or what it is because most tweets about it can be summed up thusly: OMG SPLATOON!!! However, after watching SethBling’s introductory video, I get the gist of it. Two teams compete to cover a map with their team’s colored ink.

There are a few different weapons available in SethBling’s Splatoon that you can choose from before the round begins. There’s the Splattershot, which lets you rapid-fire ink blobs. There’s the Splat Charger, which acts like a long-range bow. And, there’s the Splat Roller, which paints a stripe in front of you as you run around. You can also transform yourself into a squid, which lets you slip through the map more quickly, and even climb walls if they’ve been painted in your team’s ink.

The Splatoon map is meant for 4v4 matches, but it can support larger groups, and most of the sessions I’ve joined have had around 10 to 15 people.

As for how to actually play, you can download the map and install it on any server running Minecraft 1.8. You can also simply search for a server that is hosting it and join, as I did. Now, if someone could just bring the Uncharted series to Minecraft, I’d be all set.

No Wii U? You can now play Splatoon in Minecraft