Microsoft has notified event organisers and third party studios that it plans to host a press conference at Gamescom in August, CVG has learned.

Although it is not believed that a final date has been set, nor is there a complete schedule of what is to be shown, CVG understands that certain developers have already been briefed and that Microsoft will announce its plans shortly.

A spokesperson for the company said: "We're excited to be back at Gamescom this year but we're not announcing any further details on our plans at this time. Please stay tuned for more details!"

The one-hour media briefing will be the first of its kind that Microsoft has held in the event's history - and is another signal of its dedication to attain a better foothold in Europe.

Microsoft will now include a headset with Xbox One - report

Microsoft has reportedly made another change of policy for Xbox One - the console will now launch with a headset included.

Today's news of the headset's inclusion with Xbox One comes from a revised product specification for the console, as posted by Electronic Theatre. This was revealed by Gem, the official UK distributor for Microsoft Studios and Xbox products.

Microsoft previously stated that customers would have to buy a headset separately from the £429 console, with the reasoning given that you could use the included Kinect sensor to chat instead.

Hope to see Sunset Overdrive and Quantum Break gameplay, and some new stuff hopefully.

They should re-announce it. Maybe call it Xbox Two. But...

According to Myllyrinne, the game "builds on two core elements of what makes Remedy what it is". "We've taken a lot of the learnings about interactive storytelling from Alan Wake and we hope to raise the bar further," he said. "We've taken a lot of the learnings about cinematic combat and shooting mechanics from Max Payne to push those further. We're building on those for what will hopefully be the ultimate Remedy experience."

The game and TV show ship together as one cohesive package," Myllyrinne told the site, adding "the episodes of the TV show are interwoven with the episodes of the game. The storylines take place in the same location. Hypothetically you can watch one or play the other but you'll get so much more out of it if you combine them together."

Powering everything is the North Light engine, which is designed to deliver utmost fidelity in order to avoid embarrassing discrepancies between the live action stuff and in-game characters. "One of the first things we do is we take the actors to the dentists and take facial moulds," Myllyrinne continued. "Because it turns out teeth are different and if you place a generic set of teeth into faces that are visually accurate it morphs them into somebody else."

Xbox One created 'with advertising in mind'

Xbox Live advertising division staff say the Xbox One was built with ads in mind; advertisers to get limited access to Kinect features.

The Xbox One and its dashboard user interface were built with advertising in mind, key members of Microsoft’s UK Xbox Live Advertising team have told website StickTwiddlers on a recent visit to the company’s headquarters.

A two-hour discussion with the senior digital art director/user experience designer and technical account manager for Xbox Live advertising revealed that all advertising created for the platform must work with both a standard Xbox controller and the console’s mandatory Kinect camera system.

“With the new Xbox One, the technology and Kinect has improved a lot,” said the technical account manager for Xbox Live Advertising, “so that actually, the voice recognition, the way you speak to your Xbox, and the transition between gaming and watching TV is a lot smoother, and hopefully we can transpire that into advertising that we do.

“Xbox is moving more outside of the bedroom. We’re seeing much, much more people use it in living rooms where there is family, friends, there is lots going on, so there is a context of perceiving the content,” the senior digital art director/use experience designer said. “It’s not like when you’re at work, when you sit in front of a screen and your experience is very personal. But with Xbox, it’s lots of people in front of one big screen. They are playing or watching together, and advertising is being consumed in a totally different way.”

Microsoft hopes that the inclusion of Kinect with every Xbox One system will allow the company to better serve contextually relevant ads, and that integrating advertising material within content will make it less jarring.

“On Xbox, the ad is part of the actual experience, it’s not something that is outside. The only difference is that the advertisement we have is quite small and not disruptive, so people are not aware of clicking on the banners because they know this is a part of the whole experience on the dash,” the senior digital art director revealed. “So the users know that this is something that when they click on it, they won’t be hit by something crazy or something dangerous like on the web. Everything that lands there, we create."

Microsoft's advertising team believes the upcoming Xbox One will allow advertising to evolve in line with the platform's gaming content.

“It’s going to be an exciting transition, though, because the 360 console wasn't built with advertising in mind, it was more of an afterthought, so we've had to adapt to the technology and how we work to fit them in to the console,” said the Xbox Live advertising technical account manager.

Advertising will get way more aggressive, like what u see on Google or Facebook, everything personalized to what your habits are. Its not such a bad thing honestly, if it's stuff you like then what's to complain about

The future of gaming on the Xone.



:P

It has been growing on me, but I'm def getting Killer Instinct on launch now.

http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/j5zny0/killer-i...