Tag Archives: gamescom2013

Gamescom 2013: a recap of the week’s news

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It's true -- we already gave Gamescom 2013 a quick wrap up, but now that the sun has finally set on the show's public days, it's time to look back on the past week and sift through the madness. Upon closing the Koelnmesse's doors, Gamescom announced the show's final numbers: over the course of five days 340,000 visitors from from 88 countries marched across 140,000 square meters of exhibition space. That's a 23 percent leap in attendance over the previous year, and it's hardly a surprise: the event was host to over 400 world premier announcements and gave many attendees their first look at Microsoft and Sony's next generation consoles. Combined with the more humble announcements that came out of GDC Europe, it turned out to be a pretty fantastic week for gaming. Read on for a breakdown of our time in Cologne, a look at the Gamescom 2013 show floor and a group chat between Joystiq and Engadget editors on the show's biggest announcements.

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Call of Duty: Ghosts head Mark Rubin on creating six different versions of the same game (video)

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Call of Duty Ghosts head Mark Rubin on creating six different version of the same game

Call of Duty: Ghosts executive producer Mark Rubin has a lot on his plate. In just two months, he's heading up the launch of one of the (if not the) biggest titles on two next-gen game consoles, not to mention the four other platforms it's landing on. He's got his team at Infinity Ward to manage, as well as the teams at several other studios that are assisting in the development process. And on top of all that, the two big next-gen versions of Call of Duty: Ghosts are headed to hardware that "literally just started showing up" at his company's offices. Rubin explained as much to Engadget in an interview this past week at Gamescom 2013.

"Trying to design for something that you theoretically know about but don't physically have is an amazing challenge," he said. Beyond the stress and manpower required to produce so many versions of a single game, it's expensive. "It's required us to bring in a lot more resources than we had planned on in the beginning," Rubin added. And that's money that Infinity Ward's parent company, Activision, won't make up until the next year's Call of Duty game, when the "transition" period between console generations crests and enough gamers move to new game systems.

Head past the break for the full extent of what that means for Ghosts and the Call of Duty franchise moving forward, and why Rubin's "hopeful" for the rarely spoken about Wii U version.

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EA COO Peter Moore: ‘We don’t ship a game at EA that is offline’ (video)

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EA COO Peter Moore 'We don't ship a game at EA that is offline just doesn't happen'

Electronic Arts is a mainstay in the game industry. From early days on the PC, pre-game consoles, to its current role as one of the world's largest game companies, the EA name's been synonymous with gaming. To stay in such a position, the publisher's had to adapt to changing trends in gaming, as games moved from home PCs to game consoles, and now to the internet. The next console generation is no exception, with EA promising two of its largest franchises -- Battlefield and FIFA -- for the launch of both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this holiday. And that's to say nothing of EA's investment in a nascent game studio composed of the people responsible for the Call of Duty franchise, Respawn Entertainment -- a pretty major coup considering that those folks previously worked at EA's main competitor, Activision.

It's with all this in mind that we sat down to speak with EA Chief Operations Officer Peter Moore at Gamescom 2013, not long after Moore held press attention captive in an hour-long presentation. He said his company's current dedication to online functionality in its games is unmatched: "We don't ship a game at EA that is offline," he told us, an echo of his competition's claims about the next generation of game consoles. Head below the break for a lengthy discussion with Moore on all things gaming in 2013.

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Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg on how Destiny was ‘born modern’ and why social connectivity will define the next-gen

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Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg on how Destiny was 'born modern' and why social connectivity will define the nextgen

Successive generations of console gaming have been, historically, defined by improvements in graphics. But Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg envisions a different future for the coming next-gen of gaming and it's all about connectivity. As he told our own Ben Gilbert at Gamescom 2013 this week, "The same way that Xbox Live and PlayStation Network led to the big trend in this generation being multiplayer games, I think that some sort of connectivity and social amplification of games is probably something you'll see a lot of creative activity around [in the next-gen]." Hirshberg offered up Destiny, Bungie's upcoming hybrid FPS / persistent world game as a prime example of this trend, and referred to the title as being "born modern" -- a video game and social network rolled into one.

Hirshberg's aware that not all gamers are ready to jump ship from the current console generation. Which is why his company decided to invest in a new engine for Call of Duty: Ghosts to maximize the beauty of its visuals and audio, but still make it a multiplatform, cross-generational title. Activision's even partnering up with retailers to offer gamers incentives (in the form of a minimal upgrade fee) to make the next-gen leap should they initially purchase the PS3 or Xbox 360 version.

As for where forward-facing virtual reality hardware like the Oculus Rift fits in, Hirshberg wasn't as optimistic. He's used the VR headset before, but primarily views it as a non-additive layer for gaming that's better enjoyed in "small doses" due to its intensity.

For our full interview with Hirshberg and all his thoughts on the next-gen of gaming, click on past the break.

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Xbox at Gamescom 2013: a focus on games big and small

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The launch of a new game console is a fairly unique event in this industry. Unlike a smartphone or tablet, you don't see a new one released every year, or even every five years, and you likely don't have to worry about it feeling outdated a few months after you buy one. This year, we're getting two, with Microsoft and Sony jockeying for position to be the choice of gamers this holiday season. We saw that sparring at E3 earlier this summer, and it was again on display at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, where Sony made news with a release date for the PlayStation 4, among other things.

We didn't get a date for the Xbox One from Microsoft, but the company did have plenty of other things to announce and show off. Read on for a recap -- or a refresher, as the case may be.

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Ubisoft isn’t afraid of mobile gaming, sees a bright future in Wii U and Oculus Rift

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Ubisoft's Alain Corre

Ubisoft's Alain Corre isn't worried about the rise in mobile gaming. On the contrary, Corre, who heads up the company's overseas operations, seems to welcome the uptick in iOS and Android gamers and not resignedly, either. "What we like in mobile gaming is that it's bringing a lot of new people to games," he told us. "Which for us is very good because it's a teaching thing and... at one point, some of them will feel a bit limited with the scope of mobile games and they'll want to experience something different in gaming." Whether it's the limitations of the casual genre or outright boredom, Corre's confident a chunk of these new gaming converts will seek out home console or PC experiences. Something more along the lines of a Watch Dogs or Assassin's Creed, perhaps. And with the advent of the next-gen, the timing for this gaming initiation couldn't be better for Ubisoft.

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Project Spark lets you build the game, add character with Kinect (eyes-on)

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Project Spark lets you build the game, add character with Kinect eyes on

Here at Gamescom -- as you might expect -- you're gonna see a lot of games. Not all of them are finished, but even the beta versions come with complex worlds, and shiny new physics engines. Amongst all of these creations, jostling for our attention, was something a little different. Something we heard about back at E3 initially, and something we've been itching to see in action ever since -- Project Spark. We made sure we got to have a look at how it works, and some of the new features. So, click past the break if you want to know too.

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Xbox VP Phil Harrison: ‘I hope we do have to deal with tens of thousands of games’

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Xbox corporate VP Phil Harrison 'I hope we do have to deal with tens of thousands of games'

Microsoft Xbox corporate VP Phil Harrison isn't worried that making publishing open on Xbox One will flood the console's storefront with junk. In fact, he welcomes the impending flood. "I hope we have to deal with tens of thousands of games," Harrison told Engadget in an interview this week during Gamescom 2013.

Harrison and co. unveiled the Xbox One's indie-friendly publishing approach this week, dubbed "ID@Xbox" or Independent Developers @ Xbox, which allows game makers to self-publish on the upcoming next-gen console. After a short approval process, small studios or individual game creators can make their game available digitally via the Xbox Live Marketplace. "That will demonstrate that our platform is a really attractive place for creators to build games for," Harrison added, in reference to dealing with a flood of indie content potentially hitting the Xbox One. "We will measure success by whether new and exciting experiences come to our platform."

Head past the break for the full interview with Harrison, where we cover everything from his inauspicious gaming origins (he started developing games at 14!) to the future of Xbox One.

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Oculus Rift’s Palmer Luckey and Nate Mitchell talk VR as a platform, the new Share program

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Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One may be the big next-gen stars at this year's Gamescom, but Oculus Rift is here as well, continuing to draw our adoration with news of a developer portal called Share. The portal facilitates easy distribution and cataloging of apps for current Oculus Rift dev kits, essentially centralizing the software world of the Rift in one convenient place. Company co-founder and Rift creator Palmer Luckey told us during GDC Europe this week that Share is just the tip of the iceberg -- a precursor to the future consumer portal of VR applications that'll exist alongside the eventual consumer model of the VR headset.

He and product VP Nate Mitchell sat down with us for a candid interview, touching on everything from the future of Share, to VR as a platform (and the challenges therein), to why mobile is the next space to watch for virtual reality (seriously!). Head past the break for the full video...and for a peek into the future of gaming's most innovative product in, well, maybe ever?

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Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida takes a quick tour through the PS4 dashboard (video)

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Just in case you missed it during Sony's Gamescom 2013 presentation (and our live coverage), the company kicked things off in a fresh way, letting the PlayStation 4 experience do all of the talking. No words were necessary as Mr. @yosp himself, SCE prez Shuhei Yoshida, casually sat in a chair flipping through the new UI and loading up a quick game of Killzone Shadow Fall. Whether you have loved or loved to hate the PS3's XMB, this nearly three minute-long demo should fill in many blanks about what life will be like if you pick up one of Sony's $399 boxes on or about November 15th. Check out the video embedded after the break plus a list of launch window games while you weigh the pros and cons of pre-ordering.

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Source: Shuhei Yoshida (Twitter)