Time for another contest. This time we are giving exclusive posters from the upcoming open world action adventure game Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, courtesy E-xpress Games.

So how do you get your hands on these awesome freebies? Just answer the following questions in the comments section below:
a. What relation does the protagonist of Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag share with Connor Kenway?
b. What is the name of the ship that Edward Kenway will captain?
c. What platforms is the gaming coming out on?

Contest ends Monday, October 28th, 2013.

Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag is due soon for current and next gen platforms.

It’s here! Pre- E3 conferences are about to begin and Microsoft is the first to go. Microsoft have a lot to prove and probably have a lot to gain, especially after the under whelming Xbox One reveal last month.

Microsoft have promised that they will be showing off more than 20 games, right from the moment the conference begins. Will we see a new Halo or a brand new Gears of War? Only time will tell.

The conference will begin in less than 30 minutes and you can check out the live stream from several websites:

You can check out conference at the official Xbox website. You can also check it out at GameSpot, IGN and GameTrailers.

You can also check the press conference via GameSpot on Twitch as well.

Are you excited by what Microsoft has in store for gamers?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

The Xbox One controller will be able to use it’s unique Infared LED that will allow Kinect to automatically recognize the players.

This new controller will be wireless and it has been enhanced with more than 40 technical and design innovations”, according to Microsoft. The new controller also includes “new impulse” technology that sends vibrations directly through the triggers.

The new Xbox One was announced earlier this morning. The reveal was pretty underwhelming according to our review of the reveal. You can read the full review here. Hopefully Microsoft will be able to put up a better show at E3 2013.

Let us know what you think of the new controller, how it looks like and if you’re looking forward to trying it out in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for more news and updates on Xbox One.

We have outlined it in the form of bullet points for easy reading:

Kinect:

-The FOV (field of view) is 60 percent better compared to it’s predecessor.

-Detection of fingers and gesture is a step up compared to previous version.

-There are multiple power states which means Kinect can turn on without being hard on your electricity bills.

Xbox One:

-The console features a flash cache that will help players to swap instantly between any two applications (example Games and Apps).

-There is a split in the operating systems, so that each process will have it’s own resources (examples Games will use one split and application will use one split).

-Each OS is rendering it’s own display and the 3rd OS allows quick swapping.

GPU and CPU:

-The GPU can do 768 operations per cycle.

-GPU won’t always load the texture to save loading. They call this Partially Resident texture.

-The CPU can do do 6 CPU operations on the 8 core CPU.

RAM:

-They did not revealed much information on the RAM but they did mentioned that 8GB of RAM helps in multi-tasking and memory bandwidth is important for graphics (so obvious).

Miscellaneous:

-Xbox one features 802.11a/b/g/n, HDMI and 4K input and output.

-It will also support 3D output.

Shortly after the Xbox One reveal, Wired has confirmed that Xbox One will block used games as previously rumored in the last few months. This is a significant hit to consumers who want to share games with their friends, buy used games and use renting games services.

Here is a quote from the Wired article regarding the confirmation of used games blocking:

Wired asked Microsoft if installation would be mandatory. “On the new Xbox, all game discs are installed to the HDD to play,” the company responded in an emailed statement. Sounds mandatory to us.

What follows naturally from this is that each disc would have to be tied to a unique Xbox Live account, else you could take a single disc and pass it between everyone you know and copy the game over and over. Since this is clearly not going to happen, each disc must then only install for a single owner.

Microsoft did say that if a disc was used with a second account, that owner would be given the option to pay a fee and install the game from the disc, which would then mean that the new account would also own the game and could play it without the disc.

This is a tremendous deal-breaker for major retailers such as Target, Best Buy and GameStop will now not be able to sell used games and profit from them anymore.

Let us know what you think of this situation and the rumor being true in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for more updates regarding Xbox One.

Enlighten is the lighting technology behind Battlefield 3, Need for Speed: The Run, Eve Online, Medal of Honor: Warfighter and the upcoming Dragon Age 3, XCOM: The Bureau, and Battlefield 4.

Enlighten is the lighting tech behind games like Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4.

“We are delighted to be working on Xbox One,” said Geomerics’ founder Dr. Chris Doran.

“The hardware is perfectly balanced for a next generation console and a huge step forward from the current generation. Real-time global illumination was a big deal for games running on the current generation of hardware, but it required developers to make some compromises. With Xbox One, those days are behind us. We can finally unleash the full power of Enlighten, and allow game developers working on Xbox One games to bring far deeper levels of dynamism and quality to game lighting. We cannot wait to see what developers produce with Enlighten.”

VP Sales Rob Precious added: “The amount of interest from developers for Xbox One is huge. The next few months are going to be very exciting for us. We have seen what developers have been producing on Xbox One and are looking forward to publishers revealing details of some of the titles we have been working on.”

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for our continued coverage on Xbox One.

This will give Xbox One game developers an advanced toolset required to achieve high quality visuals for their games.

“We offered assurances over two years ago that CryEngine 3 was ready for the next generation of consoles, and time has revealed that promise to be true,” said Carl Jones, Director of Global Business Development at Crytek. “As developers begin to create new games for Xbox One, our technology and unparalleled support will ensure CryEngine 3 users remain at the forefront of the industry now and well into the future.”

What do you guys think about this? Will we see a new Crysis game or will we Crytek’s Ryse getting announced for Xbox One soon? Let us know in the comments section below.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more news and updates.

Jorgensen stated that the newest NBA Live would “come out on Gen 4” which was a reference to the fourth generation of consoles (technically Microsoft’s third with the next Xbox). A concrete release date should show up in the coming weeks.

NBA Live has always been one of the EA’s odder sports titles. Rather than minting the money like Madden or FIFA, the company rebooted the series in mid-2010 with plans to release it as NBA Elite 11 in the fall. Afterwards, the game was canceled and shifted to EA Tiburon, which would begin work on NBA Live 13.

Unfortunately, that game was also canceled. EA later announced that the Live series would return in 2013.

However, Microsoft executive Aaron Greenberg recently stated on Major Nelson’s podcast (transcribed thanks to the folks at CVG) that the reveal itself would be split into two parts.

“The best way I can describe it is, we’re really gong to tell one story across two events. So we’re going to start on the 21st [of May] and really that’s about revealing the next Xbox platform and our vision for the future of games, the future of entertainment.”

There will also be a behind the scenes look into how the console was developed, though it’s possible that Microsoft could skip showing games altogether. Greenberg did promise that the E3 presentation would feature “tons of exclusives” however. He also hinted at a Holiday 2013 launch for the console.

Please note that the games in this list are backed up by articles reported in the last and the current year. So we are not listing these games just for the sake of it.

The Next Gen Forza:

It’s no secret that Turn 10 are working on the next iteration of the long running Forza series and they won’t find a better time than today to reveal it. Last week Sony and Polyphony Digital announced Gran Turismo 6 so it only makes sense to announce the next generation Forza for this holiday.

The official twitter account of Xbox also tweeted the following:

Dear @sean0fthedead, patience is virtue. Love, #XboxReveal

— Xbox (@Xbox) May 20, 2013

Plus earlier reports also indicate that reveal is on the cards tonight. It will be interesting to see whether the next Forza will have any Kinect functionality built in to it.

Ryse:

Announced way back at E3 2011, Crytek’s Ryse pits the player in the role of a Roman warrior. It was supposed to be released on the Xbox 360 but as we all know that never happened. We had earlier reported that Ryse may be a launch title for the next Xbox.

There possibly cannot be a better way to showcase the next generation Kinect along with Ryse. That will be a win-win situation for both Microsoft and Crytek.

The Next Gen Project Gotham Racing:

The Project Gotham Racing series has always been a launch title for the new Xbox in the past. We expect that it will be no different this time around.

A few weeks back we had reported that Lucid Games were teasing the next installment in the long running Project Gotham Racing series. They said: “So yeah, Mid-May will be interesting for the studio. We have some exciting updates coming. Stay tuned!”

Mid-May basically means today, the Xbox reveal.

Respawn Entertainment’s First Game:

There is a very strong rumor making it’s round that Respawn Entertainment’s first game will be a exclusive to the next Xbox. According to our reports, it will require constant internet connection and will be multiplayer centric.

However there are no reports on whether the game will be playable in offline mode or not. Microsoft will have one hell of a show if they show this game along with Call of Duty Ghosts.

Lionhead Studio’s Next Game:

The developers of a series that is going downhill ever since Fable 2 are apparently working on a next gen game for the new Xbox. This is apparently the next Peter Molyneux game according to a job listing posted a few months back.

This new game will be using latest graphics technologies like DX 11 and the brand new Unreal Engine 4.  Given that DX 11 does not run on the 360, it is obvious that the game is being developed for the next gen Xbox.

If Peter Molyneux does show up tonight, I hope he does not bore the audience/gamers with his philosophical thoughts.

Kinect Sports 3:

Yes, it’s a Kinect game. And yes, we want to bombarded with any more of those. But one way or another, it will be a way for Microsoft to show off the new Kienct – if there indeed is one – along with providing something for the casual audience to enjoy.

We dare say it’ll be a new spin on the typical mini-game and individual sports genre that Kinect Sports: Season One and Two provided for the Xbox 360. Other than that, not much more but maybe (just maybe) Microsoft and developer Rare, who has been handling the series, will surprise us.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.