Monday, June 10, 2013

Insomniac's Sunset Overdrive is our first look at a cloud-infused Xbox One game



Insomniac is usually busy developing games for Sony hardware, but company head Ted Price hopped up on stage to reveal Sunset Overdrive. In development with Microsoft Studios, the title is billed as a "open world shooter where the experience can change every day." Though we're told gamers will be able to affect what happens in the world by using the cloud, we're still short on details regarding how that'll happen and what changes. For now, screenshots with hyper-stylized graphics and Mirror's Edge-like parkour will have to sate our curiosity.

Apple announces Anki Drive, an AI robotics app controlled through iOS Mobile





Apple is just starting its WWDC keynote this morning, but it's already announcing something quite interesting: a new company called Anki and its inaugural iOS app called Anki Drive, which centers around artificial intelligence and robotics. The name, which is Japanese for "memorize," features smart cars that are capable of driving themselves (although you can certainly take over at any time) and communicate with your iPhone using Bluetooth LE. These intelligent vehicles, when placed upon a printed race track, can sense the track up to 500 times a second. The iOS-exclusive game is available as a beta in the App Store today, which you'll need to sign up for -- the full release won't be coming until this fall -- and it's billed as a "video game in the real world." According to the developers, "the real fun is when you take control of these cars yourselves," which we can definitely attest to -- the WWDC demo cars had weapons, after all.

Minecraft coming to Xbox One with expanded multiplayer features HD





Minecraft is coming to Xbox One as a special edition with expanded multiplayer capabilities. The popular sandbox game will also be getting massively larger worlds, something that wasn't possible on the 360 thanks to its limited RAM. If there are any other new features or updates we'll have to wait a bit longer to find out, the title was mentioned only very quickly during Microsoft's E3 press event. But, we wouldn't worry about Mojang drastically altering the formula that has worked so well.

Follow our liveblog for all of the latest news from E3 2013.

Crytek's Ryse: Son of Rome demoed for Xbox One, available as launch title





With Microsoft's Xbox One hardware reveal out of the way, the company's shifting focus to its launch lineup. And here at E3, we got a first look at just what the One is capable of with Crytek's previously announced Ryse: Son of Rome. The game, an exclusive for the platform, lets players take control of a Roman General and features gameplay that'll have players slashing through hordes of warriors, engaging in Quick Time Events, all set in the Roman Empire. From what was demoed on stage, Ryse looks to be a technically impressive feat, showcasing impressive particle effects, lighting and a massive number of onscreen characters. It'll be available as an XBox One launch title, so if you're planning on a pre-order for MS' next-gen console, this is a future purchase worth considering.