Xbox

The Xbox One Comes Out on November 22

After a morning filled with speculation and buzz, we finally know when we’re getting Microsoft’s next-generation video game console. The Xbox One is scheduled to hit store shelves on November 22, with a previously announced price of $500. Previous rumors ran the gamut, pegging the date as early as November 8, though the smart money…

New screenshots for the next Adventure Time The isometric dungeon crawler Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!, slated to hit PC, Xbox 360, PS3, 3DS and Wii U in November, has a lovely new set of shots starring Finn, Jake, the Ice King, and Lumpy Space Princess. Check ’em out below.

Oh, The Many Ways You’ll Kill Zombies On Xbox One

Dead Rising 3 is one of the Xbox One’s best-looking launch games, but most of what I’d seen of it so far looked far too drab and “serious” for a series as delightfully weird as Dead Rising. That said, this new gameplay trailer has me much more interested. In two minutes, we get to watch…

The Xbox Infinity Could Have Been A Microsoft Fake-Out

Remember when people thought the Xbox One was called the Xbox Infinity? Turns out that actually was one of the names “in the running” at Microsoft for the console’s final branding. In an interview with Forbes, Albert Penello, Senior Director of Marketing and Planning for Xbox, said “The name Xbox Infinity was in the running,…

The Xbox One Is Now In “Full Production”, CPU Got A Little Faster

The launch of the next generation just got a little more real. Speaking at the Citi Global Technology Conference, and noted by GeekWire, Xbox’s Yusef Mehdi told attendees that Microsoft is now in “full production”. Which means right now, as you read this, somewhere in China, thousands of Xbox One consoles are rolling off the…

XCOM Isn’t Any Easier in Enemy Within, but It Is More Thrilling

You’d think being given not one, but two hulking mecha-soldiers, for whom cover is a moot point because they can’t use it, would at least reduce the relentless battlefield tension that distinguishes XCOM. It doesn’t. When you can’t take cover (but you can provide it), and you have a flamethrower, a re-usable super punch, a…

The Xbox One’s Reinvention Of Watching TV And Sports Will Start Slowly

The Xbox One’s reinvention of television, both hyped and heckled for months, will begin with a baby step, if a recent demonstration of the November console’s impact on live sports broadcasts is any indication. At a fancy rented loft in Manhattan last week, Microsoft reps showed me the incremental progress they are making with the…

Xbox Facebook Account Smokes Whatever James Franco’s Been Smoking

Zelda? Not a Microsoft franchise, as I’m sure you know. Not that that stops the official Xbox Facebook account from telling you all about it…and also James Franco. For some reason! This sort of thing isn’t quite an isolated incident—before, the Xbox UK account has posted about The Last of Us. That’s also not a…

Xbox One’s External Storage Not Ready For Launch

Good news reminder: the Xbox One supports external storage. Bad news update: the Xbox One won’t support that feature at launch. While announcing the capability at E3 back in June, consoles released in November won’t let you plug in an external drive, Microsoft’s Larry Hryb explaining in a podcast that “the team is working on…

Here’s A Look At A Fun Brawler That Also Features Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows has a few notable features. Fun dialogue, a name that’s way too long, and fun multiplayer beat-em-up gameplay. TMNT: Out Of The Shadows is out now on Xbox Live Arcade and personal computers via Steam for $14.99, and it’ll be on PS3 in September. Watch Us Play…

Gearbox working on two next-gen titles. At their PAX Prime panel this afternoon Gearbox announced that they are working on two brand new IPs for the next generation of consoles. No word so far on what those might look like. The news comes as a surprise to no one. It’s just a matter of time…

Borderlands 2 DLC imminent. T.K. Baha’s Bloody Harvest Headhunter Pack, the new DLC for Borderlands 2 that Gearbox announced a while back, will release in October with plans for more Headhunter packs to follow. Still no word on pricing, but we do know that it won’t be part of the season pass.

Let’s Visit Some of the Beautiful Locations in the Next Final Fantasy

Square-Enix has just released no less than five trailers showcasing the locations of Lightning Returns. For a world that’s about to be destroyed, there’s quite a lot of amazing sights to be seen—so let’s dive in! Up above you can see the bustling streets of Yusnaan, the City of Revelry. Here are the Wildlands, dotted…

The Only Reason I Still Own An Original Xbox

Every girl I date seriously must eventually pass a trial. It happens at a certain point in every relationship I have; by then she basically knows what she’s getting with me, including my tendency to get weirdly obsessed with things. The bands Titus Andronicus and Belle & Sebastian, for one thing, or Game of Thrones.…

Xbox One TV Features Might Not Require Gold Subscription After All

It’s no secret that Microsoft’s messaging surrounding the Xbox One has been convoluted, and it seems even the company’s own representatives don’t quite have a grasp on all the console’s features and policies. But some of the TV-related features that Microsoft previously said will require an Xbox Live Gold subscription might not after all. The…

Foul Play Battles its Demons in a Crowd-Pleasing Way

A daemonologist, a chimney sweep, a stage play in Victorian England. Foul Play could have taken its inspiration from any number of sources. In fact, a music video from 1996 is largely how developer Mediatonic ended up with these themes on this type of game, a sidescrolling beat-em-up coming to Xbox Live in mid-September. “We…

XCOM‘s Big Fall Expansion In Glorious, Robo-Punching Action

This November, Kotaku game-of-the-year-winner XCOM: Enemy Unknown is getting its first substantial expansion, Enemy Within. It’ll feature a bunch of new abilities, weapons, enemies, and other changes. It sounds really good With this new trailer, we can see that it looks pretty good, too. Mech soldiers, genetically enhanced soldiers, the new “Mechtoid” enemy, as well…

Xbox vs. PAX Pox: Looks like Microsoft took Fahey’s hygiene primer yesterday to heart, bundling Xbox-branded hand sanitizer with its display models to do its part in the fight against con crud. We haven’t seen any PlayStation Purell yet.

A Rare, Fascinating Look Behind The Scenes Of The Next Final Fantasy

Square Enix, in an effort to both educate and entertain fans, has released the first episode of what is going to be a web documentary series chronicling the making of Lightning Returns, the upcoming sequel to Final Fantasy XIII-2 Narrated by Lightning’s voice actress, Ali Hillis, the introductory episode of “Inside the Square” focuses on…

Assassin’s Creed IV‘s Blackbeard Is Scarier In Real Life

If you thought Blackbeard intimidating in the trailers for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, wait until you see actor Mark Bonnar doing his voice. I peed a little. I spied Bonnar once before in a two-part episode of Doctor Who (2011’s “The Almost People” and “The Rebel Flesh”), and he didn’t strike me as particularly…