Tag Archives: gdce2013

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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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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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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Wrapping up Gamescom 2013 with Engadget and Joystiq (video)

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There are still a few more days of Gamescom 2013 coverage coming to you from both us and our sister site Joystiq, but we're out of the thick of it and almost into the public days. Those are the days when nearly 300,000 people descend on quaint and historic Cologne, Germany for the largest public gaming event on the planet. It's pretty serious business! There's a campground and everything.

Anyway, we've gathered up a quartet of editors to tackle the past few days of big news: the PlayStation 4's launch date, Microsoft's Xbox One indie push, and EA's love for all things FIFA. Join us below for a casual look into the the latest major game industry event in video form.

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Sony at Gamescom 2013: the story so far

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Sony at Gamescom 2013 the story so far

Miss our liveblog of Sony's Gamescom press conference yesterday, or the wealth of news we've covered on all things PlayStation? Well, we forgive you. After all, there's a whole lot to digest. Now, chances are they'll be more Sony tidbits appearing as the German gaming event runs its course, but for now we've collected, compiled and condensed everything we've learned in one handy place: right after the break.

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Escape for Google Glass brings casual gaming to explorers (hands-on)

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Escape for Google Glass is casual gaming for Explorers

You know what's not new? Android games. You know what is new? Games for Google Glass. There has been the odd attempt so far, but french-based game developer AMA is porting one of its bonafide titles over to the small screen for real. Escape! is a simple puzzler, the sort that we're all familiar with on our phones, that is being squeezed into the wearable format. While games on the hardware might be something of an inevitability, we managed to get our eyes inside a pair to take a better look for ourselves. Head past the break to see how it worked out.

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Here are the PlayStation 4’s 33 ‘launch window’ games, from Knack to Minecraft

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Between the PlayStation 4's November 15th launch at retail and December 31st, Sony claims 33 games will be available. That includes heavy hitters like Knack, Watch Dogs, Minecraft and Battlefield 4, as well as smaller properties like N++ and Contrast. We've dropped the full list just after the break for your perusal / approval. Now all we need to know is when Rime is coming out!

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Source: Sony (PDF)

Call of Duty: Ghosts PS4 upgrades will run $10, says Activision

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'Call of Duty Ghosts' PS3 to PS4 upgrades will run $10, says Activision

During its Gamescon 2013 event, Sony said that upgrades for Playstation 4 games would come at a "significantly discounted price," though it didn't offer any details or actual numbers. Now, Activision has said that Call of Duty: Ghosts will cost $10 to upgrade from the PS3 to the PS4, mirroring a similar deal from retailer GameStop for the Xbox One. Based on Sony's statement, such discounts might be coming for other lynchpin titles for the new console for a limited time period, as well. Meanwhile, if you can't wait the ten days between the game's November 5th PS3 launch and the Playstation 4's November 15th US release, hit the PR after the break.

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