Xbox One

[TracerBullet]

Re: Xbox 720

Microsoft apparently has some new games in the works:

An employee at Microsoft Studios says that he is hard at work on four unannounced intellectual properties for the company, which makes us wonder what Microsoft has in store for the next generation.

The employee in question is Jonathan Browne, a senior product manager/planner at Microsoft Studios. His LinkedIn profile says, "I have been the primary product manager on four unannounced new IP and have been a key contributor to bringing these IP from the very early concept phase through green light to production." Browne has worked with the SSX and Army of Two franchises, among others.

Link

[ubernoob]

Re: Xbox 720

Unfortunately I think at least 2 of those are probably kinect-related.

That being said, I don't have much faith in those 4 IPs. Black Tusk studios is a microsoft-owned studio, run by and filled with ex-EA developers.

If Microsoft-owned and ex-EA developers doesn't make me wary, nothing in gaming does.

[jmood88]

Re: Xbox 720

EA has never lacked for talent, their problem has been that the business people meddle too much in the development of games.

[TracerBullet]

Re: Xbox 720

I don't know, I feel like Microsoft actually realizes they need exclusives when a console launches. They probably don't have Halo this year, and they are letting Gears finish off on the 360 this year. I think they know they needs something bigger than Kinect games for a system launch.

[jmood88]

Re: Xbox 720

Apparently, they've been buying up studios and putting studios together for the past few years so we'll probably see what they've been working on at E3. And as much as I can't stand the Kinect games we have now, seeing the stuff that non-gaming people have done with Kinect and after hearing about the improvements they've made to the camera, I'm excited to see what they're going to do.

[ubernoob]

Re: Xbox 720

EA has never lacked for talent, their problem has been that the business people meddle too much in the development of games.

Talent, no. Direction and implementation, yes. Their focus has shifted a bit in recent years, but they were known as the evil empire in gaming for a reason. They bought successful IPs and bastardized them in a rush (see: Ultima VIII and Ultima IX)

I don't have faith at all in anything related to EA Development. The games they have published (but not developed) would be a different story.

[jmood88]

Re: Xbox 720

I don't have much faith in them either, I'm just saying a studio made up of ex-EA people isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[woz411]

Re: Xbox 720

yah. No thanks MS... I dont want to be forced to have the Kinect plugged in every time i use it

[Flawless]

Re: Xbox 720

Yep, Microsoft has quietly opened a handful of new studios the past 2-3 years, and judging by job listings have more than 4 new IPs in the works internally and are working with external developers on exclusives too.

They have been hiring like crazy internally at Redmond to the point that it's easy to suspect a new team is being built. Designer positions have been filled by various devs from the likes of Irrational, Naughty Dog, Rockstar, and Sucker Punch.

Thanks to TheOddOne on NeoGaf who has been digging all this up in this thread.

Lionhead making MMO-like new IP RPG for next Xbox - report

"Opportunity to work on MMO like title for next generation consoles. AAA game and budget!" the post reads.

"This is to assist in the development of a major brand new IP that is being targeted for the future generation of platforms and will be an RPG based game with a radical new take on how co-operative and multiplayer gameplay feeds into the experience, while blending online and single-player into one complete experience."

There's mention of a "complex progression system, multiple routes through the campaign, and an MMO like multiplayer experience that will affect the outcome of the player experience, and many other attributes surrounding their profile (such as the environment and the outcome of certain actions)".

Rare hiring for "multiple AAA future console releases"

The listing says the candidate will ideally have experience in the action/adventure or FPS genres.

Game Design Director-IEB-Microsoft Studios

Microsoft Studios is looking for a talented, motivated, and experienced Design Director (also called Creative Director in many companies) with proven creative and leadership ability to work with external developers on Microsoft’s core titles (including shooters, RPGs, action/adventure, etc.). The Design Director’s mission is to support our experienced development partner’s creative vision and to ensure that the product’s ultimate quality is “first-party” -a wonderful experience only possible via the partnership between Microsoft and the developer.

Producer, Senior-IEB-Microsoft Studios-Core Games Publishing (814001) Job

The success of Xbox has been built upon the portfolio of core games from Microsoft Studios. The Core Games Publishing team’s charter is to partner with the best developers in the world to create the next great core franchises for this generation and future generations of Xbox.

Producer, Senior-IEB-Microsoft Studios (822553) Job

Microsoft Studios is looking for a Senior Producer to drive the future of gaming through a hybrid of AAA core games and service-based experiences, technology, and business models. You will work with AAA external game developers and an internal team of top-notch, experienced, cross-discipline employees in Microsoft’s Xbox organization.

Game Producer-IEB-Microsoft Studios (819768) Job

Microsoft Studios is looking for a Producer to work on the publishing-side of Gears of War and other core AAA games made by our top-tier external development partners.

You will work closely with a Senior Producer and an experienced cross-discipline leads team at Microsoft Studios and with world-class game companies to create innovative and successful interactive entertainment experiences. Executing on a game’s vision takes many traits, including teamwork, leadership and a dedication to excellence.

Lead Producer-IEB-Microsoft Studios (819258)

Microsoft Studios is looking for a Lead Producer to work on the publishing-side of core AAA games made by our top-tier external development partners like Epic.

Senior Producer - Microsoft Studios - Soho Productions Job

Our latest innovations include unique 2-way television experiences that are only possible when watching TV on our platforms. We are reinventing television. We're fun. We're social. We're interactive. And we are growing!

Press Play

Press Play is an award winning game development based in central Copenhagen. Since 2006 we have already brought more than twenty games to multiple platforms for clients, publishers and ourselves. Following the acquisition in June 2012 by Microsoft we are ready for new adventures and it is our modest goal to make the best games in the world!
We love the new and different, we love game mechanics and fun stories and we love combining them all in our titles. In 2010 we released the IGF winning Max & the Magic Marker, followed by last year’s Tentacles. We have few new games in development ready for release 2013 and we are currently looking to expand our strong team.

Formerly MGS Vancouver, now Black Tusk.





Rumored to have horror and puzzle elements too.


MGS Victoria

The software giant is launching Microsoft Studios Victoria at the beginning of 2012, with an eye to hiring 50 to 60 people in its first year. Heading up the new operation will be industry veteran and long-time Victoria resident Christopher Robertson.

Microsoft to grow Victoria base

Chris Robertson, technical director of the Victoria office, said: "We will be continuing our growth plans in the fall. We have space for 40 to 50 people on each floor." The company will use the top two floors for the first year or two and will sublease other space.

Ultimately, Microsoft could have about 150 staff in Victoria, he said.

[Flawless]

Re: Xbox 720

VGLeaks: Durango Display Planes

Today we present another Durango GPU custom feature shown in our first exclusive article: the display planes.

The Durango GPU supports three independent display planes, which are conceptually similar to three separate front buffers. The display planes have an implied order. The bottom plane is combined with the middle plane using the middle plane’s alpha channel as an interpolation factor. The result of this operation is combined with the top plane using the top plane’s alpha channel as an interpolation factor. Blending occurs at 10-bit fixed-point precision. The following diagram illustrates the sequence of operations.



The three display planes are independent in the following ways, among others:

They can have different resolutions.
They can have different precisions (bits per channel) and formats (float or fixed).
They can have different color spaces (RGB or YCbCr, linear or sRGB).

Each display plane can consist of up to four image rectangles, covering different parts of the screen. The use of multiple screen rectangles can reduce memory and bandwidth consumption when a layer contains blank or occluded areas.

The display hardware contains three different instances of various image processing components, one per display plane, including:

A hardware scaler.
A color space converter.
A border cropper.
A data type converter.

Using these components, the GPU converts all three display planes to a common output profile before combining them.

The bottom and middle display planes are reserved for the running title. A typical use of these two planes is to render the game world at a fixed title-specified resolution, while rendering the UI at the native resolution of the connected display, as communicated over HDMI. In this way, the title keeps the benefits of high-quality hardware rescaling, without losing the pixel-accuracy and sharpness of the interface. The GPU does not require that all three display planes be updated at the same frequency. For instance, the title might decide to render the world at 60 Hz and the UI at 30 Hz, or vice-versa. The hardware also does not require the display planes to be the same size from one frame to the next.

The system reserves the top display plane for itself, which effectively decouples system rendering from title rendering. This decoupling removes certain output constraints that exist on the Xbox 360. For example, on Durango the system can update at a steady frame rate even when the title does not. The system can also render at a lower or higher resolution than the title, or with different color settings.

[ubernoob]

Re: Xbox 720

Any game kinect based will be gimmick based = no thank you.

That being said, Microsoft has some good developers on hand - I just don't trust Black Tusk.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Hmmmmm..I maybe be staying away...I want concrete from MS first

Sent from my Windows Phone 8X by HTC using Board Express

[woz411]

Re: Xbox 720

that will be beyond pointless to have to have the kinect plugged in 24/7

[p_rushing]

Re: Xbox 720

that will be beyond pointless to have to have the kinect plugged in 24/7

For you yes, for Microsoft it will be worth lots of money ... targeted advertising and ability to charge you for the # of people in a room.

I hope they get sued for filming minors though to stop that. If they get to film you, Live better be free, plus you get free games.

[23]

That's just silly if true.absolutely no sense in that...i don't care what kind of marketing they're up to, nobody is asking for this..that doesn't benefit me one bit

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