The Xbox One may be receiving a major UI overhaul “soon,” as evidenced by a tweet by Xbox’s Program Director, Mike Ybarra. The My Apps and My Games sections of the Xbox One’s UI have long been subject to criticism by owners of the console. My Apps and My Games handle long lists of titles in such a way that the scroll bar gets longer as the number of titles installed increases. Large collections of games, especially those including a healthy library of XBLA titles, have always been a chore to navigate through on the Xbox One.

Many users have expressed criticism of this clunky UI element, but not much has changed while other parts of the interface have received substantial makeovers. Members of the Xbox One community have even gone to the extent of creating mockups to show Microsoft how My Apps and My Games could be tweaked to be more user-friendly.

Surprisingly, Xbox’s Program Head tweeted “Soon,” in reply to one such UI mockup. While this is clearly not an announcement, it’s likely that Microsoft has been listening to user feedback. A UI update may well be on the cards. We’ll keep you posted.

Star Wars First Assault was going to be a multiplayer Star Wars shooter, in development at LucasArts, to be used as a sort of testbed for the bigger Star Wars shooter that they would follow it up with- Star Wars Battlefront 3. Both games were ultimately canned, but while Battlefront 3 morphed into just Star Wars Battlefront, which is launching later this month, First Assault faded away into obscurity.

However now, Reddit user SumB1tchRaptor has pulled footage from a tech beta and posted it over on Reddit. The beta, he says, only contains the level you see in the video. Since it was a technical test, the player said he was unable to “spawn bots or add another player.”

It is a little saddening to see footage of all of these games that were under development at LucasArts- undoubtedly, Disney’s greatest sin when they took over the Star Wars brand was their gutting of LucasArts, and all of their projects.

Check out the footage for yourself below.

His study forecast that by 2017, digitally distributed games and gaming services will represent a 34 percent share of total games spend across the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The report also revealed that back in 2008, it was a mere 8 percent across the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Piers believes that publisher ambition to have their games digitally available is one of the reasons behind the increase. “Those titles that have already experimented with digital ‘day and date’ releases alongside boxed versions have enjoyed a small but growing digital share of total sales volume, but IHS predicts that by 2017 new releases could be enjoying up to 18% digital sales depending on geography,” he said in a press release sent to GamingBolt.

Piers also claims that the pricing model, discover-ability and accessibility of digital content will push digital sales. It’s no secret that both Sony and Microsoft are going digital in a big way with Gaikai and Azure cloud technology respectively. Valve has already seen great success with their digital distribution platform Steam, when they reached at all time high of 65 million users recently.

He further believes that “the shift to digital consumption coupled with lower up-front investment in console hardware design and custom components is expected to lay the foundation for stronger profitability for the platform holders across the next generation when compared to the PS3/Xbox 360 consoles.”

Interesting take. We will see how it pans out in the coming years.

The Heatwave DLC lets you purchase the fireproof suit and incendiary bullets crafting ability for one character at $.99 or for all three characters at $1.99. A small price to pay for fire, fire and more fire? You bet!

How to Survive is currently available for Xbox 360 and PC, with a PlayStation 3 and Wii U version due to arrive on November 5th via the PlayStation Network and Nintendo eShop respectively. Despite pitting you against the undead, the game also focuses on surviving in wild conditions and managing your food, shelter and supplies while crafting weapons to fend off said undead.

On their website, Undead Labs, the studio behind the excellent Xbox Live Arcade game State of Decay, have announced that the they have submitted the first piece of DLC for the game to Microsoft for certification; following the approval process, it can be released over Xbox Live Arcade.

The DLC, which is called Breakdown, is essentially complete, and is now going to go through a rigorous QA testing process: Undead Lab estimates that the pre-certification testing should be done by the end of next week, which is when the proper certification process will begin.

The full blog post is actually fascinating, as it seems to give a really different picture of working with Microsoft than recent developments (and comments by people like Jonathan Blow) have painted; the process, while long, seems to be one that Microsoft supports the developers through.

We’ll keep you posted on further developments regarding Breakdown, so stay tuned.

Remember the deadly red ring of death on the Xbox 360? Given that it literally killed off a ton of Xbox 360’s during its early years there may be doubts about Xbox One’s reliability. This obviously raises the question about what kind of warranty can players expect if the Xbox One gets struck by a similar issue.

Larry Hryb aka Major Nelson believes that consumers can expect higher levels of reliability from the Xbox One and they will receive the standard consumer electronics warranty for their Xbox One.

“Well certainly with the Xbox 360, we had some challenges at the launch. Once we identified that we took control of it. We wanted to do it right by our customers. Our customers are very important to us. With the Xbox One it is standard consumer electronics warranty. We are really excited about the reliability that folks will get out of the Xbox One. We had a lot of learning coming out of the Xbox 360 and we have put it in Xbox One. It has been in development for many, many years,” Larry said in an interview with Newegg Arcade.

He also confirmed that the Xbox One will not only support 4K resolution for entertainment media but also for gaming, but ultimately this will depend on the developers.

“Ye! We are really excited about that too. I am sure your audience knows that 4K is the next big thing. Xbox One is a home entertainment system that is built for future. It supports 4K gaming and entertainment. In fact we are shipping an HDMI cable that is 4K rated. So when you get your HDMI cable out of the box it is 4K rated. We are looking forward to bringing 4K capabilities to our consumers in the future, but it depends on the developers,” he added.

Xbox One is due on November 22nd in North America and United Kingdom.

It tells the tale of the moustachioed daemon-hunter Baron Dashforth who wants to reveal his life story on stage. He thus takes on the role as the lead actor in the “greatest show on earth”, tasked with keeping his audience happy while slapping, swatting and swiping enemies/jobbing actors in an elaborate stage show. It’s a vaudevillian tale – the game taking place in a vast theatre – with the audience displayed at the bottom of the screen, whooping and cheering with every bad guy you dispatch. Play with aplomb and the audience cheers, play safe and they will bay for your blood and boo you off, bringing down the curtain and ending your game.

Here’s the twist… there’s not a conventional health bar onscreen but an applause meter that shows how entertained the audience is. Chain a massive combo together and throw in a variety of strikes and they’ll go wild, but forget to counter incoming attacks and succumb to sucker blows and they’ll quickly tire of you and jeer.

"Diving into the main game, however, and you'll notice the rogue like factors right out of the date. You play as a piddly male or female warrior carrying a standard sword, mucking around in some pub."

Sporting a top hat and cane, Dashforth is a very dapper chap and keen to take on all manner of foes. Played alone Foul Play is great fun but team up with a friend as trusted sidekick Scampwick the chimney sweep either online or locally and things really improve. With a chum, you’re able to pull off special team takedowns and linking attacks, throw enemies towards one another and string together huge combo chains.

The gameplay is about as simple as it gets. Drum buttons to attack, launch enemies into the air and string combos together. A handy lightning bolt icon indicates when enemies are about to strike, giving you ample time to counter and parry. Get in the groove and you’ll sometimes be able to pull off a Showstopper move, which boosts the audience approval rating for a time limited time.

"Diving into the main game, however, and you'll notice the rogue like factors right out of the date. You play as a piddly male or female warrior carrying a standard sword, mucking around in some pub."

The 22 Acts take you on a trip through the highlights of the good Baron’s life, set across the globe in locations as varied as Cairo, Atlantis and London. Several challenges can be completed in each stage, such as finishing a section within a strict time limit or killing enemies in a certain order, all of which keeps you on your toes and makes the game a lot trickier. With the points and challenges come charms – little trinkets that are unlocked and add to your abilities, making life a little easier.

Besides the run-of-the-mill enemies, big bosses occasionally lumber on screen wielding huge weapons and requiring a large health bar to deplete before they’re vanquished.

Visually, everything looks suitably vintage and theatrical. Admittedly it’s a bit weird to see the shaky scenery constantly change as you wander across a never-ending scrolling stage while the audience remains static; an odd effect but to run the entire game on a stationary stage wouldn’t really have worked either. Despite this idiosyncrasy, the gameplay is solid albeit a little repetitive and buttonmashy.

There’s a nice instrumental soundtrack with an orchestral feel to it – but sadly there are no voiceovers, just lots of grunts and “ums” and “ers”, combined with plenty of pop up captions. It seems a bit of a shame.

No matter. Despite its repetitive nature, stepping into the shoes of the famous demonologist Dashforth to slap actors and stagehands is entertaining, especially when you’ve got a friend along for the ride. Offering several hours of gameplay, Foul Play is unique, charming and fun.

This game was reviewed on Xbox 360.

First impressions suggest that Red Fly Studio and Activision have been faithful to the comic books and TV shows; the turtles look the part and they certainly sound like they ought. As you wander round the levels they share banter and a few jokes about how much they like pizza or how best to dispatch enemies. It all seems very positive… Play on for a while, however, and the appeal starts to wane a little.

Set in New York, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael have to take on the Foot Clan and a horde of robots with lots of teeth! You see, everyone’s favourite roving red-headed reporter April O’Neal has been kidnapped and it’s up to the four pizza-loving reptiles to do their thing and get her back safely. As you reach various checkpoints, the story is advanced by way of cartoon cel cutscenes, providing a comic book effect complete with dialogue and trademark humour.

" The fact that each of the turtles has a very distinct personality is a nice touch too and echoes the TV show. Michelangelo is the joker and Raphael a little more gung ho, for example. "

OOTS is a third-person beat-em-up where you can play alone or with up to three friends via drop-in/drop-out co-op. The main campaign allows for up to four players online, or two if played locally. And when that’s done and dusted, the Challenge and Arcade modes should offer a bit more playability.

Playing solo, you can switch between the turtles by clicking the D-pad – each direction representing a different character. We all have our favourites, right? Raphael has always been my preference and I found myself steering him most of the time, powering up his abilities constantly to the detriment of his brothers. The fact that each of the turtles has a very distinct personality is a nice touch too and echoes the TV show. Michelangelo is the joker and Raphael a little more gung ho, for example. It is actually worthwhile switching between them too as they all have noticeably different weapons and special moves.

Navigating each level relies a little more on luck than judgement as the signposting is often inadequate. Mind, it is worth exploring a little, so you can collect pizza, energy drinks and concept art. Nevertheless, it is irritating. Even from the first stage, it can be tricky to know which direction to head in. Perched atop a building, you can see the bad guys you’ve got to defeat on the ground below – all you have to do is get to them. There I was jumping about, trying to leap over walls, or frantically pressing the A button in a futile attempt to open a door – but it was all in vain. It wasn’t until I caught a glimpse of a glowing ledge way over in the distance that denoted the correct path that I was finally able to kick some butt.

"Despite a modicum of help from my half-shelled compadres, this initial fight sequence seemed a bit of a slog and I found myself thoroughly outnumbered by hoods."

Despite a modicum of help from my half-shelled compadres, this initial fight sequence seemed a bit of a slog and I found myself thoroughly outnumbered by hoods. An occasional kick, with a sword-swiping follow up, then a counter and a few flips thrown in for good measure was the order of the day – over and over again. Early on in the game, it’s all very uninspiring.

Starting with some very basic moves, which see your chosen turtle jump, roll and run or kick and punch his way out of trouble, things seem pretty simple. The linear level designs and formulaic “kill a bunch of enemies and move onto next area to kill some more” gameplay is almost enough to get you reaching for the power off button. Give it a little time though, level up those abilities through the skill tree and things get a lot more interesting. With new moves unlocked, more powerful combos and team attacks, OOTS becomes an enjoyable experience – almost a guilty pleasure. It’s quite satisfying defeating an enemy by slamming your shell in his face or smashing him into the ground, and then there are the team moves that are unique to each turtle and provide some devastating finishing moves.

There are some basic puzzles along the way in the form of computer terminals that need hacking against a strict time limit. Some of these may prove a little tricky, but get stuck and you can simply quit out of the mini game and attempt it over and over until you get it right. Like the campaign itself, it’s really not that taxing.

"Still, if you can look past its many flaws, OOTS is fun when things get going. But with a price of £9.99 on XBLA, it’s a hefty sum for a fairly meagre package."

A few major gripes dampen the experience a little. All too frequently you’ll find yourself getting caught on scenery or being abandoned during a fight as your colleagues hang back minding their own business. The camera is quirky too, often difficult to control and sometimes downright daft, getting stuck at a certain angle and making movement tricky.

Still, if you can look past its many flaws, OOTS is fun when things get going. But with a price of £9.99 on XBLA, it’s a hefty sum for a fairly meagre package. You’re probably better off letting April try to save herself!

This game was reviewed on Xbox 360.

Developer CI Games has announced that its upcoming science fiction first person shooter, Alien Rage, is now up for pre-ordering on Steam; pre-ordering nets customers an exclusive 20% off on their total purchase from the base price.

Alien Rage is described as an ‘intense thru-the-gun’ FPS experience that sees players fight their way through swarms of enemy aliens in a grand total of fourteen different levels. The enemy AI is described as unforgiving, and the arsenal of weapons at the player’s disposal as unique and devastating.

Alien Rage is going to be available on PC via Steam on September 24. It will be playable on all computers running Windows Vista and higher. A release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 over the Xbox Live Arcade and PSN Store digital delivery platforms is also planned for later this Fall.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt, because we will have more coverage for you as the game nears its release, including a full, extensive review.

Ever since the reveal of Xbox One back in May, several well known developers have been critical of the path that Microsoft took with regards to its next generation console. We reported on multiple instances on how Jonathan Blow criticized Microsoft’s claim of increasing server capacity to 300,000 and how one off online activation of Xbox One is bad. We also reported that how Fuel Overdose developer was extremely frustrated at Microsoft’s indie policy and why he believes that they should ‘stop presenting themselves as indie-friendly.’

But with the recent announcement of ID@Xbox program, Microsoft seems to be welcoming indies with open arms. The director of the ID@Xbox program Chris Charla was asked how he feels when he sees well known developers Jonathan Blow criticizing Microsoft on twitter. He replied with the following:

“You know want? We love getting feedback and that’s the bottom line. We’re probably like a lot of companies, we love getting feedback from developers however they want to deliver it and we take it to heart. I would say all of Microsoft – the XBLA team and my new team, ID@Xbox, we want feedback and we want to always do better. Our goal is to lower friction for developers to get on the box,” he said in an interview with Edge.

And feedback is what exactly Microsoft have been working on. They reverted their draconian DRM policies, allowed used games to be played and as mentioned before, introduced the ID@Xbox program. However, it seems that Microsoft is simply following what Sony are doing and whether it will be able to actually garner the massive indie movement like Sony and the PS4 did remains to be seen.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.