A recent rumour in this month’s issue of Xbox World Magazine states that Alan Wake 2 and Saints Row 4 are both in development for Microsoft’s next generation home console. Xbox World’s Insider column claims that “a number of Microsoft-friendly developers are hard at work on prepping next gen games.”

It then says that there could very well be a Remedy game, Alan Wake 2 to be precise, in development. “Could this be the reason why Remedy are so quiet about Alan Wake 2?”

Volition and THQ are also already planning a fourth Saints Row installment for the Xbox 720. “We’d have this pencilled in as an Xbox 720 title,” the column says.

The Xbox 720 has been in the rumours a lot lately. Earlier, a rumour suggested that Turn 10, Lionhead Studios and Rare are all working on Xbox 720 games, and an Xbox 720 logo was also spotted in Red Steel’s 2 trailer.

Stay tuned for more info.

UK magazine Xbox World 360 has claimed that Rare, Turn 10 and Lionhead Studios are all working on launch titles for Microsoft’s next generation home console.

Rare, developers of Xbox 360 titles like Kameo: Elements of Power and Perfect Dark Zero are working on a “mature” launch title for the Xbox 720. Forza Motorsport developers Turn 10, already having two games for the Xbox 360 and a third coming out in a few days, are also working on something, and so are Fable developers Lionhead Studios.

Some time ago, 2K boss Christoph Hartmann said that Microsoft and Sony are testing waters with Kinect and Move, and that these peripherals will be main controllers and will ship with the consoles next generation. “I don’t think they are avoiding doing another machine but testing the water,” he said. ““Rather than coming out and saying ‘this is our console now,’ I think they are playing around and seeing what they can do.”

About a month and a half ago, Microsoft said that Xbox 720’s release date could coincide with Xbox 360’s life cycle.

Activision’s former executive vice president of publishing, Robin Kaminsky believes the current generation of gaming is lacking innovation, and the next generation of consoles is needed desperately.

The market, she wrote in an opinion piece for IndustryGamers, “is in trouble”.

“Many believe digital sales and the economy are the core drives of the decline. I believe a lack of innovation – actual stagnation in game development – is the real culprit,” Kaminsky wrote.

“For traditional games to grow, I believe a new generation of consoles is needed, consoles with real innovation and the resulting onslaught of new IP and innovative gameplay. Ideally these consoles will bring a breakthrough on how games are played or what kind of game experience can be delivered.

“It cannot be just bigger, more complex games or yet higher definition graphics,” she added. “The industry, both traditional publishers and the console makers themselves, need something different in the next cycle… In an industry where new, innovative and fun is key there is no future in more of the same.

“The next generation of consoles and games should recognize that consumers are mobile and active, value the player regardless of where and when they play, consider short and long play sessions, optimize both hardcore and casual games, embrace button/controller led play and new interfaces, enable content to evolve so games are dynamic not static, encourage alternative payment approaches like free to play, that drive more users to try the game, alongside the traditional buy it to play model, drive increasingly social and community driven experiences, and perhaps even allow play across devices regardless of manufacturer or form factor.”

This is not an official logo, it is a prototype.

Xbox Europe boss Chris Lewis says the release of Microsoft’s third home console could overlap with the Xbox 360’s long before planned out 10 year life cycle.

We think we’re a little over halfway with the life cycle of the console, but that’s not to say there won’t be an overlap,” he told Metro. “I’m not going to announce specifically or talk about timing.

“But you could imagine there could be overlap, it depends. We’re not being specific about the next generation at this stage. We’re very fixated on what we’re doing right now and the success we’re enjoying.”

So… 2014, maybe? Couldn’t be before that, surely. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim director Todd Howard believes the Xbox 720/3 and the PS3 won’t be here next year, neither will they be here in 2013.  In an interview with gaming mag PS3M, when he was asked when the successors to the HD twins will be here, Todd Howard said he thought “consumers are happy” with what they have right now.

“I think it’s going to be a while still, I really do. I think consumers are happy with the current ones, there’s a lot you can do with them,” he said. “So I don’t think it’s coming next year or the year after.”

When he was asked about his earlier comments of thinking of releasing Skyrim on next gen consoles, he said: “We want [Skyrim] to be fresh. We don’t want it to feel, visually or technically, ‘Oh this is Fallout 3’ or ‘this is Oblivion’ And if we couldn’t do that we would have waited.”

Stay tuned to GB for more info.

We recently had a look at some interesting design possibilities for Xbox 3, which is often referred to as the Xbox 720. Of course, many people would have a lot of rumours, speculations and maybe even some inside information on the aforementioned Xbox 720, especially since it has been five years since the release of the Xbox 360, and while it still has not lost steam, with Kinect, the Xbox 360 S and so many other games coming out for the system, a next generation member in the Xbox family has to be around the corner.

So let us have a look at what we want from the Xbox 3, what it can do to improve upon the Xbox 360, and what new features it can incorporate to completely trounce the competition.

I See You!

We all know by now that Microsoft’s very recent motion sensing camera add-on to their Xbox 360 console, Kinect- contrary to our initial thoughts of the accessory- is a great device. We would definitely like Kinect, or whatever its next gen model will be called a couple of years down the line, to be incorporated in the Xbox 720, not as an add-on, but as a main controller. Of course, it would suck real bad if Kinect was the only controller, so I guess an option to switch back to normal controls would be really good.

And please, add more languages for the Kinect to support.

Online Reform

Xbox Live is an awesome online service, having a great interface, brilliant community, amazing content (exclusive or not) and some really interesting features. While PSN is also very up to the mark by now, it is, still, playing catch-up with Live. Even Live, though, has some glaring flaws, some that are so sever that they can turn gamers off it forever. The most noticeable and angering flaw is that it is a paid service, which makes you feel as if Microsoft is sucking all money out of you. This will obviously make many feel that PSN is a much better service, since it offers almost the same quality of services and at no price at all. The first thing that we want changed about XBL is that it should not be paid anymore, and so, there should be no Gold or Silver memberships, just an XBL membership. The other thing is that Facebook, Twitter, NetFlix, ESPN coverage etc etc should all be in-built, and not seperate, paid (again, argh) pleasures.

The most major addition, of all, would be an internet browser, perhaps. The PS3 has given tough competition to the 360 this generation, and it having an internet browser, something that MS’ home console lacks, obviously works in its favour. Having a proper, full fledged, non-hanging browser in the Xbox 3 would be wonderful.

It’s A Whole New World We Live In!

(Pokemon Company, don’t sue me).

Sandbox, baby.

Ok, hear me out here, this might be too perplex to convey via text, and some of you might not like my idea here. But just read carefully. Some (only some) of you might have played PlayStation Home. Imagine that, with a level of freedom that replicates real life in almost every way, and beats the sandbox of games like even Oblivion and GTA. Imagine that you have to earn money via jobs, that you have to buy cars and apartments from the money you earn. Imagine that this truly is a life simulator, in every sense of the phrase. Now integrate this with every mechanic of the Xbox 360. The Xbox 3 will need no dashboard. When the system is turned on, the players will start in their apartment, with a computer which you can use to play the disc currently inside the console, or do other stuff that you would do from your typical Dashboard. All the other stuff you do, like earning money, doing jobs and other stuff would earn you Achievement Points, and Achievements for this life sim would be updated everytime you went online.

Whenever you would be online, your neighboring apartments would be housed by the friends you have added on XBL, and others, who if you want to add, can simply interact with them and add them if they are online. Demos and videos and other stuff that we usually buy from the marketplace would be bought from CD-stores.

This idea might seem absurd to a lot of you, I know that, but this can make buying the Xbox 3 worth a lot of money, in my view.

Whatever I Want, I Achieve

The Achievement system of the Xbox 360 is night flawless, and is possibly the best thing about the entire Xbox 360 system. The problem is that, in the past few years, the Trophy system of the PS3 has come very close to toppling the Achievements’ supremacy. The question- will Microsoft try something new with the Achievements next generation? Will they incorporate an RPG style leveling up system, or something more detailed? And if they will, how will they support the Achievements of the Xbox 360? I suspect that they will simply combine their system and Sony’s system, such that a specific number of points will increase your level by 1, and upon reaching specific levels, you would be awarded something special. We do not completely know yet, so we’ll just have to wait and watch.

]]> https://gamingbolt.com/our-expectations-from-xbox-3/feed 12 14430 https://gamingbolt.com/amazing-xbox-720-designs-which-one-would-you-want-to-be-real https://gamingbolt.com/amazing-xbox-720-designs-which-one-would-you-want-to-be-real#comments Sun, 17 Oct 2010 16:41:57 +0000 http://gamingbolt.com/?p=12222 Note: Please click to image to see it in a pop up and use back-next button to navigate through them.

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Microsoft’s Xbox 360 completes 5 years this November. Time flies, doesn’t it? Sooner or later Microsoft will reveal the Xbox 3 or the Xbox 720. But we just don’t know when. It was confirmed back in 2007 by the then head of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business division; Peter Moore that new console can come out, depending on what kind of CPUs will be available on the market in 2011-2012.
There have been numerous Xbox 720/Xbox 3/Xbox handheld designs designs by various people around the world.  We can’t say for sure whether the next release will be a console or a handheld but we have collected 10 awesome designs for your viewing. If you have something to add please mention them in the comments sections below.
For Image 2, Source and for image 1, source.

“Anything they can add to revive and pique interest in the games until we have another clash of the titans in two years time,” Reeves said.

When he was asked to elaborate on his comments, he said, “Two to three years, I reckon so. I don’t have any inside information. All the first-parties have got to be working on something.

“The tricky thing is when do you put a stake in the ground on technology? That’s the problem,” he continued.

NOTE: This image has nothing to do with the article, we just like the phrase.

“You can be waiting a few extra months to implement something, but you’ve got to set a date to go with a certain chip at a certain point otherwise you’re going to miss the key milestones.”

Predictions that Kinect may not succeed have been running around wild, and the PlayStation Move may not even survive the competition, if what the analysts say is true. The life-cycle of the PS3 and Xbox 360 might have to be cut short by about a year or two, which means what David Reeves here says might actually be true!