It’s been a busy week on TXH with a load of decent Xbox news releasing near enough every day.
Possibly the biggest of the week came early on, with word that the Gears of War franchise had been sold by Epic Games to Microsoft Studios. As one of the Xbox 360’s most loved series, Gears holds a firm place in the heart of Xbox owners and the news that it would now be very unlikely ever to hit competitors consoles was welcomed. The acquisition also means that the chance of seeing a new Gears game popping up on Xbox One has highly increased and we can only sit back patiently to see what MS and the new devs Black Tusk Studios manage to come up with.
Midweek saw a couple of shooters come to prominence. Firstly, the much anticipated Onslaught DLC was released for Call of Duty Ghosts. Bringing four new maps to the COD masses, as well as the first instalment of the Extinction mode four-part episodic narrative, ‘Episode 1: Nightfall’, the Onslaught DLC will be something each and every COD player will want to get involved with asap. Alongside this, Rekoil: Liberator was released onto the Xbox Live Arcade. A highly balanced run and gunner, Rekoil features 10 maps, 7 different game modes and no less than 40 weapons in a multiplayer only fast paced shooter. We’ll have a review for it up on TXH in the next few days but early signs are it could be something to look out for.
We also heard this small rumour regarding a white Xbox One console. Whilst Microsoft have remained tight-lipped over the matter, it will no doubt become a highly sought after machine if it does eventually see the light of day. 1TB of storage has also been a much requested upgrade and there’s word that we may see a new console with a larger storage capacity nearer the end of 2014…..or maybe even without a disk drive?
Xbox apps are currently a little hit or miss. Some are great, whilst others really do seem like a waste of time. Another addition to the over growing app list will soon be that of the GoPro Channel. To be available on both Xbox 360 (in the spring) and then Xbox One (some time in the summer), the GoPro app will bring some of the worlds greatest videos, and some pretty rubbish ones too, direct into your living room. If it’s good enough for Felix Baumgartner then it’s good enough for us!
And then finally we had the announcement with regards to Februarys Games With Gold promotional scheme. Bringing all Xbox Live Gold members two free games a month, the Games With Gold scheme is a great way to pick up, for free, those games that didn’t quite warrant a purchase upon first release. This month, we see Dead Island stripped of its price tag until the 15th Feb, with Toy Soldiers Cold War going free from the 16th onwards. Make sure you jump onboard and get Dead Island downloaded right now.
As usual, we’ll catch you again next week but in the meantime, why not follow us on Twitter, check out our G+ and Facebook pages or subscribe to our ever flourishing YouTube channel.
