Lizard Squad members apprehended by authorities
Like millions of other Xbox gamers, you may have had trouble logging onto Xbox Live during Christmas. That’s because both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network were victimized by DDoS attacks that took them offline, but authorities may be closing in on the parties responsible.
YLE reported last week that a supposed member of Lizard Squad, the group claiming responsibility for the attacks, had been apprehended by Finnish authorities. A 17-year old identified only as “Ryan” was brought in for questioning, but Chief Inspector Tero Muurman of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation has since stated that Ryan was not detained, only questioned about his possible involvement.
During his questioning, Ryan denied direct involvement in the attack, claiming to only be a spokesperson for Lizard Squad. He played the part during an interview with Sky News in which he said the actual team of attackers consisted of only one or two individuals.
Although Ryan said the group may contain members younger than the age of 20, one of them may be 22-year old Vinnie Omari, who The Daily Dot reports was arrested by UK authorities on December 29 in connection to the DDoS attacks. Omari was later released on bail, with no formal charges having yet been filed. Omari told the Dot that a forensics team was pouring over his “Xbox one, phones, laptops, computer USBs, etc.”
11 years ago
The Banner Saga 2 coming to Xbox One in 2015 *updated*
Update: Versus Evil has confirmed to XBLA Fans that the first Banner Saga game will be arriving for Xbox One sometime in Q1 or Q2 of 2015.
Original Story: Created …
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11 years ago
Holiday price drop pushing Xbox One sales to new heights
In the eight months immediately following the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launches in November of 2013, Sony, riding high on major public relations victories over Microsoft, led next-gen console sales by a supposed margin of nearly two to one. Despite selling at a pace much quicker than the last-gen-market-leading Xbox 360 did during the same point in its life cycle, the Xbox One was lagging far behind the PlayStation 4 in market share.
So Microsoft made some changes.
Executives Don Mattrick and Marc Whitten left the company. Phil Spencer took over as the head of the Xbox team. Kinect was unbundled from the console. Larger multimedia initiatives were cut entirely or made ancillary in favor of a focus on gaming first and foremost. Finally, the Xbox One’s price was temporarily (for the holidays) dropped to $350 with a $60 retail game bundled in.
Those maneuvers seem to be paying off, as data reporting firm InfoScout found that the Xbox One enjoyed a Black Friday sales lead of 22 percent over the PlayStation 4, according to data compiled from more than 180,000 sales receipts. InfoScout followed up by conducting a survey of 350 consumers who purchased a console on Black Friday, and found that 71 percent of Xbox One buyers cited cost as a major influence on their purchase. Comparatively, just 48 percent of PlayStation 4 buyers surveyed indicated that price played a major role in their purchase decision.
11 years ago
Thomas Was Alone review (Xbox One)
Thomas Was Alone was developed by Mike Bithell and published on Xbox One by Curve Studios. It was released on November 21, 2014 for $10.99. A copy was provided by Curve for review purposes.
Thomas Was Alone is a game that released at precisely the right time in history. Originally debuting on PC in 2012 before finding its way to Xbox One, Thomas Was Alone perfectly captures today’s zeitgeist. Using nothing more than colored squares and rectangles that are seen and heard about but rarely heard from, developer Mike Bithell has assembled one of gaming’s most interesting and diverse casts of playable characters.
In Thomas Was Alone you play as artificial intelligences that have, as the result of a glitch in an experimental lab, become self-aware. Yes, this is a setup similar to ones we’ve seen countless times in popular media, but Bithell has breathed new life into it. AI Thomas, represented on screen by a red rectangle, is companionless and confused upon achieving self-awareness. He starts moving “up and to the right,” as the game’s delightful narrator makes a point of frequently noting, in a desperate bid to find friends and answers. It’s not long before Thomas begins encountering both, and he and his new friends endeavor to reach the awe-inspiring “fountain of wisdom” (internet connection). The staggering amount of information Thomas sees there convinces him that the AIs must work in sync towards the goal of escaping the system and entering the greater world beyond. Each AI is different in appearance and ability, and the way they learn to accept this diversity and use it to their advantage is nothing short of inspiring.
11 years ago
Remastered Resident Evil coming to Xbox January 20
Capcom has announced that its second remastered Resident Evil endeavor will release on Xbox 360 and Xbox One on January 20 for $19.99. Its retouched version of the game that essentially invented the survival-horror genre will simultaneously release on PC and PlayStation platforms.
Fans of the series, which Capcom says has sold over 62 million units to date, will recall that Resident Evil first released in 1996 for the original PlayStation, and that a remake arrived for the GameCube six years later. The 2015 release will feature resolutions and textures that have been “significantly upgraded” from the GameCube release. The next-gen version will run in 1080p and all versions will feature 5.1 surround sound. Capcom is also giving players the ability to switch back and forth between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios.
That’s not the only new toggling option, either; Capcom is including a couple toggles that affect gameplay. The first offers the ability to swap between the original game’s infamous “tank” controls and a more contemporary control scheme. To further cater to modern-day gamers who may be approaching Resident Evil for the first time, Capcom is creating a new “Very Easy” gameplay mode. This difficulty level will be available in addition to all of the original ones.
11 years ago
Microsoft went through 200 Xbox One controller prototypes
On the surface, the Xbox One controller isn’t too different from its Xbox 360 predecessor: four face buttons, two triggers, a pair of bumpers, a couple of analog sticks, a d-pad, the Xbox Guide button and start and back button facsimiles. So designing it was probably a fairly simple task for Microsoft, right? Not exactly.
Carl Ledbetter is the man who led the team of 35 responsible for designing the Xbox One and its controller over a three-year period. In an interview with MCV, Ledbetter revealed that the console’s gamepad went through 200 prototypes that were tested by 1,100 people over a period of 500 hours.
“Nobody says anything about the little things on the hardware,” Ledbetter said. “If somebody is using the controller and after 30 minutes is saying ‘my hands are starting to hurt,’ then that’s a fail. But if after 30 minutes all they’re thinking about is the game, then we’re doing okay.”
Though most gamers and reporters have named rival Sony’s DualShock 4 as the new gold standard for gamepads, Microsoft’s Xbox One controller has been warmly received as well. Small but important changes from the 360 pad have resulted in an already comfortable design feeling even more satisfying in gamers’ hands. Complaints about aches and pains after 30 minutes of playing time have been virtually non-existent, making the design a success by Ledbetter’s standards.
11 years ago
Ori and the Blind Forest delayed into 2015
Ori and the Blind the Forest has been delayed into early 2015 on Xbox One and late 2015 on Xbox Live Arcade, developer Moon Studios has announced. Moon was …
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11 years ago
Telltale reveals first Game of Thrones trailer and returning actors from the HBO show
Four of the stars of HBO’s Game of Thrones will reprise their roles in the upcoming first episode of Telltale Games’ video game adaptation, Telltale has announced alongside the release of a new trailer.
Peter Dinklage, Lena Heady, Natalie Dormer and Ramsay Snow will voice Tyrion Lannister, Cersei Lannister, Margaery Tyrell and Iwan Rheon, respectively. Additional cast members will join them in subsequent episodes.
The first Game of Thrones episode, Iron From Ice, is still without a firm release date but is scheduled to arrive before the end of the year. Five more episodes following House Forrester behind the scenes of seasons three, four and five of the HBO program will follow.
Fans recently got their first look at the game thanks to some leaked screenshots, but now you can view it in action after the break.
11 years ago
Never Alone review (Xbox One)
Never Alone was developed by Upper One Games and E-Line Media and published by E-Line Media. It was released on November 18, 2014 for $14.99 on Xbox One. A copy was provided for review purposes.
Do you remember the arrival of the first tightly crafted indie Xbox sidescroller that disproved the notion that a Big Developer with a Big Budget was needed to create games of the highest quality? Neither do I, and that’s because it’s an event guilty of such unrestrained reproduction that it’s hard to recall its inaugural occurrence. Was it the release of Limbo? Mark of the Ninja? Braid? Something else? Regardless of what game kicked off this most welcome — even if now slightly clichéd — trend, it’s seemed apparent since its announcement that Never Alone would be the next game to continue the movement.
Its pretty graphics, intriguing setting and story aspiring to teach players something new caused many to think that Never Alone would be the next big little game. Maybe that’s an unfair burden to have placed on it. Maybe gamers should have instead anticipated only a game that would deftly introduce them to a culture that was heretofore both underrepresented and misrepresented in popular media. Certainly Never Alone does just that, offering a glimpse at the Iñupiat people’s ways that’s worth seeing. But while Upper One Games and E-Line Media have wonderfully succeeded in educating their audience, they’ve come up disappointingly short in entertaining it.
11 years ago
Kalimba (née Project Totem) gets December release date and new trailer
Project Totem, the puzzle-platformer from Press Play, has been renamed Kalimba and is coming to Xbox One on December 17, the developer has announced. A new trailer showing the formerly titular totems platforming across various color-coded stages was released alongside the announcement.
Kalimba, which features both single-player and a co-op modes, has players controlling living totems that are stacked on top of each other to form poles. Creative Director Asger Strandby calls the co-op mode a “friendship tester.” XBLA Fans can speak to that point; our preview recounts some of the difficulties the team had in coordinating with each other to overcome the game’s obstacles. Shouting at your co-op partner is an inevitability.
Each totem pole piece is a different color, which is more of a design choice than it is an aesthetic one. Each stage in Kalimba‘s three worlds is filled with colored barriers that can only be passed through by a totem of the same hue. To progress through the game, players need to stack and align their totems so that each one is set to pass through barriers with their corresponding colors. Check the trailer after the jump to see this mechanic in action.
Players start with a limited number of totem pieces, but they’re given more to work with as they move deeper into the game and come closer to rescuing the island of Kalimba from an evil shaman.