Naked female models are so 2013 when it comes to music videos. In 2014, it's all about male models seductively eating sushi and busting out some sweet country line dance moves — at least in Kylie Minogue's SSION-directed video for "Sexercise." "I feel like Kylie has always been a forerunner of putting hot, nearly naked men in her videos," SSION's Cody Critcheloe told MTV News. "This is keeping in step with that lineage." "It was the first time that I ever got to shoot models before, which I really enjoyed, because they make anything look good," he added. "Even if they're sort of awkward, it always reads really well on camera. And they look good in anything." Critcheloe managed to push the limits of the model's poise, however. The video, which was made in collaboration with fashion video series "VFiles," features all manner of male models doing all manner of things in order to delight Miss Minogue. They do the laundry! They cuddle puppies! They line dance in chaps and brightly colored briefs! "I've sort of been obsessed with country line dancing recently — it's something I've been wanting to shoot, so it seemed like a good excuse to be able to use that," Critcheloe said. SSION's campy video was just one of a few made for Minogue's jam — the official video is a Bey-esque affair featuring the singer making exercise look way more fun than it is with a melange of ladies in spandex. Given the suggestive nature of the video, some fans were up in arms about the 45-year-old musician's recent effort. Critcheloe dismisses those concerns. "Everyone complains about everything," he said. "I just don't care. Honestly, I just don't. It wouldn't matter what she did. People are going to complain about it. "Ultimately she's a hot chick being hot with other hot chicks and there's really nothing offensive about that. Kylie will be a hot chick forever and always." source:mtv

When Freddie Gibbs first announced his split from Jeezy's CTE label, he said it wasn't personal. And maybe it wasn't then ... but things are clearly getting personal now. Gibbs has most recently declared he won't stop throwing shots at his former comrade until Jeezy responds to the disses. "I'mma stay on his punk ass till he say something about it. I'mma keep drilling his punk ass into the ground," Freddie told Grantland.com this week. Freddie Gibbs Can Write A 'Book's Worth' On Young Jeezy The Gary, Indiana MC recently linked with producer Madlib, and the duo dropped their collaborative Piñata LP. The soulful-yet-gangsta album is filled with a number of highlights, including the jaw-dropping "Real," where Gibbs takes aim at Jeezy. "I thought the world was at my feet when I linked up with Snow/ But I refused to be his flunky, so we don't kick it no mo'," he spits over the slow-rolling track. "No nuts, got the whole team lookin' weak/ Guess why they ran up on you at the BET?" he continues, referencing Jeezy's altercation with Rick Ross at the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards in Atlanta. Gibbs signed to Jeezy's CTE in 2011, but split from the label a year later. "I started seein' the fake and the empty promises and all of that stuff and I just didn't wanna be around that no more," he told MTV News last year. "It's tough meetin' your heroes sometimes and kickin' [it] with them because when they take that cape off, boy oh boy, under that cape, sometimes it's some scary lil' boy hidin' under that cape." Jeezy has yet to address any of Gibbs' comments, but the Baby Face Killa is staying on the offensive. "Nobody wanted to give me a record deal or any type of shot. Even Jeezy, he didn't wanna give me the opportunity that he promised me," Gibbs told Grantland. "It was like, damn, the industry totally was against me. But I know what I had in my brand and I know my fanbase, and just 'cause the record labels or Young Jeezy or some mothaf--kin' rapper tell me I can't do it, I'm not gonna not do it." source:mtv

Justin Bieber's back in the studio, and he's got the Instagram video to prove it. In the new clip, Bieber is seen dancing to a song that sure sounds like it was produced by DJ Mustard — at one point, you can hear his signature "Mustard on the beat ho!" drop, which also shows up on tracks like Tyga's "Rack City" and 2 Chainz's "I'm Different" — and, though it's sorta difficult to see (this studio apparently has more black lights than a '70s dorm room), he's definitely feeling it. A rep for Mustard could not be reached for comment by MTV News at press time. But to expound on his feelings about the new track, Bieber also attached a note to the video: "Girls be in the the club like OMG this is my song!!!!! LOL." LOL, indeed. In another Instavid, Bieber shouts out producer Soundz, and tells him to get to Toronto, ASAP, since "We're making bangers, bro!" There's still no word about when fans will get to hear said bangers, though in recent weeks, Bieber has been spending plenty of time in the studio — just this past weekend, he posted a video of a new song called "Life is Worth Living," which many speculated was about his on again, off again, back-on-again relationship with Selena Gomez. Last month, Bieber unveiled a new song called "Broken," which took aim at the critics that have hounded him since his DUI arrest in January. source:mtv

"American Idol" 's top 10 tackled songs from the top 10 on Wednesday, trying their hand at Billboard's biggest hits from 2011 to the present. Contestants took on songs from One Direction, Zedd and Avicii, and the performances ranged from strong (Malaya Watson) to extremely shaky (MK Nobilette). Malaya, Caleb Lead The Pack The last time Malaya Watson took on a Bruno Mars song, she landed in the bottom three. But Watson did Mars again on Wednesday and was on point, delivering a solid, heartfelt and emotional version of "When I Was Your Man." The judges were preoccupied with the song's gender specificity — Jennifer Lopez admitted, "I was ready to kind of hate on you" for the song choice — but Watson's sincerity shone through. "Well done for leaving it the way it was," Keith Urban told her. Caleb Johnson also stood out, taking on a powerhouse female singer — this time, Lady Gaga — for the second week in a row. Even though the band didn't match his fire, which is a problem with nearly every performance this year, his version of Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" was a winner, earning Johnson "an A for originality" from sourpuss judge Harry Connick Jr. Lopez wasn't as impressed, however, knocking Johnson for lacking feeling and "showing off vocally." On a singing competition, can you imagine that? One Direction, Hunter Hayes Get Covered One Direction got the "American Idol" treatment for the first time Wednesday when Alex Preston tried "Story of My Life" on for size. It was a good fit, and Preston's fears that he would upset the mighty Directioners were unfounded. Connick told him he's leading the pack with his artistry. C.J. Harris' version of Hunter Hayes' "Invisible" wasn't as good, and Harris continued to slide down into the dreaded middle-of-the-pack abyss. He was dinged hard for singing sharp, with Connick giving him a strict talk on how he's not staying in tune in his performances, like a teacher lecturing a student in front of the class. "Idol" Goes Electronic On a night of firsts for "Idol," Jena Irene, singing Zedd and Foxes' "Clarity," became the first "Idol" contestant to yell, "Everyone get those glowsticks up!" She was comfortable onstage and vocally on target, even if the band didn't match her, but the highlight of her performance came during her critique when Connick talked about attending Miami's Ultra Music Festival. We always knew Harry was a closet raver. Majesty Rose also took on a popular EDM song, but went in the other direction with Avicii's "Wake Me Up," singing it like a folk song and leaving the electronic elements out of it. The song was straightforward, possibly too much so, and Lopez harped on her for letting her fear after landing in last week's bottom three rattle her at the beginning of her performance. Sam, Dexter Stuck In Middle Sam Woolf, who also found himself facing elimination last week, closed the show with fun.'s "We Are Young," but he failed to break out of the box he's placed himself in. He still seems shy when he performs, as if he's afraid he's going to wake up his parents who are asleep in the next room. Dexter Roberts, meanwhile, has yet to prove he's anything more than Competent Country Guy, hand-delivering Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" just as you'd hear Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" on the radio or at any tailgate across America. You probably wouldn't want to face Roberts in a karaoke competition, but he has yet to show he's anything more than a mimic. MK, Jessica Fall Flat MK Nobilette, who last week gave perhaps the best performance of the season, fell flat on her face with her show-opening version of Pink's "Perfect." Some performers don't know what to do with their hands when they're onstage, but Nobilette's problem is she doesn't seem to know what to do with her hands, her arms, her legs or her feet, and the whole thing came off as incredibly, painfully awkward. Having been in the bottom three twice before, she may find herself out of luck this week. And Jessica Meuse has run out of goodwill. Her take on Foster the People's sly "Pumped Up Kicks" was lifeless, presented in the same monotone delivery she uses every week, and she missed the point of the song altogether. Meuse hasn't been in the bottom three yet, but that could change soon. One contestant goes home on Thursday (March 20). The results show will feature performances by Jennifer Lopez and Royal Teeth. What did you think of "Idol" on Wednesday? Who do you think is headed home? Let us know in the comments! source:mtv

We may finally have a firm release date for Ed Sheeran's eagerly anticipated second album. The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter posted a cryptic note to fans early Thursday morning (March 20) that seems to hint that he's about to blow up our spring. It was unclear at press time if that was the date for the album's first single or for the full release, but either way it means new Ed music, so that's something. In addition to that news, Sheerios were psyched to find out on Wednesday that Ed will appear on "Saturday Night Live" on April 12 as the musical guest alongside host Seth Rogen. He also promised to play some new music on the broadcast. Back in December, Sheeran told MTV News that after spending much of the year touring with pal Taylor Swift, he was excited about what an "energetic" hand
 she lent to the recording process. "Whenever I finished a song, I'd send it to her to get her opinion," he said. "She's heard all the songs and she's a good judge of what's good or not good." Sheeran hasn't released a track list for the album yet, but he did unveil the new song "Tenerife Sea" in October during a show at Madison Square Garden. He also recently showed Ryan Seacrest some new ink he got on his arm, a teddy bear tattoo on his bicep and one that read "Blood Stream," which is the name of a song on the as-yet-untitled release that he said he'd written about "120 songs" for. A spokesperson for Sheeran could not be reached for comment to confirm the album's release date. And, as awesome as it was, we're pretty sure that his unplugged version of Beyoncé's "Drunk In Love"
 won't make it onto the album. source:mtv

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Pawel Miechowski of 11 Bit Studios wants his upcoming game, This War of Mine, to challenge the way that games typically portray war by presenting it from the perspective of civilians who must survive from day to day in a war-torn city. When I met with him at the Game Developers Conference, he said to me, "You've seen the trailer, we have this Call of Duty feeling, and then bang, no, it's not about this, it's about the other side. We are breaking this scheme in the game itself as well." Miechowski took me through a brief demonstration of some of the game's mechanics, emphasizing that the struggles your group of civilians will have to deal with in the game are the real struggles civilians face in times of war. "Whatever gameplay mechanics are in the game," he said, "it's not our idea but our translation of the facts that we know about war as seen from the perspective of civilians. So for example, I think I saw it on GameSpot actually, in the comments section, that people were writing, 'This is pretty stupid. Why can a sniper hunt me in the night?' That's what we found out in the research. For example, in the siege of Sarajevo in the early '90s--the city was under siege for four years--people couldn't have left their buildings because snipers were hunting for people to keep the city under control. In the night, they were not able to do so as effectively, but still, they were doing it, and it was risky. Same situation when it comes to water, soap, such items. We perceive them as natural because we have them, like tap water, and we have stores. When there is war breaking out, you have nothing. You are left with only what you got and your knowledge and skills. So whatever you find in the game is a translation into game mechanics of the facts of how civilians [experience] war." I asked him if the siege of Sarajevo was a particular inspiration for This War of Mine, or if the game is set during any specific real-world conflict. He responded, "No, actually not. We've been looking at data of how it looks now in Syria, how it looked in Libya, how, yes, how it looked in Sarajevo, but the Yugoslavian wars are the best documented, but we want to deliver the message, and I hope the game does it well, that it could be any city; it could be your city. America is a great power--I hope it never happens--but if you are in such circumstances, you're going to behave similarly to all other civilians all around the world. You'd be doing the same things people do in Libya and Sarajevo. You're gonna be needing rainwater, you're gonna need a collector for the rainwater, you're gonna be trading water for food or for hygiene items because you will not have enough soap. You will probably need to stick to a group because on your own, you're not as effective as a group of people, because people support each other. This is the knowledge we found out, and the pattern is similar everywhere. So the same experience people have had in Syria, in Yugoslavia--moreover, because we're from Poland, which is a country that was struck by war many, many times, and I remember what my grandmother told me about her experiences during the war. She survived Nazi invasions and Soviet invasions, and her experiences were the same." When Miechowski launched the game, I was presented with a side view of a damaged structure with holes blasted in the walls. The visuals are black and white, and have the look of an animated hand-drawn sketch. I noticed that each of the three civilians residing in the structure had a talent listed under his or her name--"handyman," "sneaks quietly," "bargaining skills." Miechowski asked me to imagine myself and people I care about in such a grim situation. "You surely have some useful skills. Other people have different skills. I know it may sound funny, but since I'm a father, I wouldn't, in a terrible situation, be sending my family to fight for anything, I would do it. We translate this into the game." "The pattern, once again, is pretty much the same for any conflict, so this is why we don't want to say it's Sarajevo or Libya or Damascus; it could just be your city." Miechowski used supplies that his survivors had scavenged from the area to make a few items. "I already have enough wood or a piece of metal, so I can make a shovel. I can make a bed which I know I will need since they don't have one; they just sleep on the floor." Miechowski said that he was deliberately avoiding using the common term "crafting" for the process of constructing items from acquired supplies. "It implies a gaming mindset, and I'm trying to say that this form of art is telling you about how things look when war breaks out. You don't craft; you create things. You take a hammer and nails, and from the wood, you create a table." Civilians start the war in decent shape, but conditions grow increasingly dire as time passes. He moused over an item some might question the importance of in times of war and explained its value. "A moonshine still. Why? Because we found out that the most tradable item when war breaks out is [alcohol]." But he said that making booze, like making just about anything in the game, would not be easy. "First you need to find a collector and collect rainwater. Then you need to find or trade for a filter to filter your water. You need to find wood, pipes, and glass to create a distillery machine. You need yeast to create alcohol. And if you spend time on creating moonshine, you lose time for creating food. So everything will be balanced in a way forced by the situation of war." Night rolled around and he prepared to take one of his characters out on a scavenging run. The capacity of the character's backpack is limited, and he wanted to travel light, so he chose a lock pick and a shovel and ventured out into the night. As his scavenger arrived at another damaged building, Miechowski pointed out a clock on the screen and said that it's important to keep an eye on it and return home before sunrise. He also talked about the other people you might encounter while scavenging. "People may be aggressive toward you, so you can either run away, or you can decide to kill someone and rob him. How good morally it is, you will judge yourself." As he stepped into the building, a woman panicked and retreated to a back room. "If you meet someone who's not scared of you, maybe he or she will want to trade with you or join you. If you find a hungry man, you may decide, OK, I will feed you. If you feed a hungry man, it's more likely he's going to be your friend rather than your enemy. So he may want to join you, and then you decide, OK, join me, but then you will have to care for four people or five people or six people, so you need to balance." When it comes to weighing the cost versus the benefits of taking on new members of your group, Miechowski said, "What we found out doing the research from especially one particular interview is that when you make a decision, you can't see the consequences, but after 10 days, you'll see them." I asked him if the team making the game is conducting the research interviews themselves. "We have found a few people, yes, including one American who is a veteran of the battle of Fallujah. He's very anti-war after that event, and it's not up to me to judge why, but he saw a lot of civilians suffer during the conflict. Plus, yes, after the siege of Sarajevo, many people moved to Poland. And the pattern, once again, is pretty much the same for any conflict, so this is why we don't want to say it's Sarajevo or Libya or Damascus; it could just be your city." He mentioned the possibility of putting your own name and photo into the game for a survivor to make the experience feel more personal, which reminded me of how the Facebook connectivity option in the multiplayer for The Last of Us, which populates your camp with people from your Facebook friends list, made some players feel more invested in that experience. The game has a look reminiscent of an animated charcoal sketch. After rummaging around for a bit, his scavenger attracted some hostile attention, so he fled the scene and returned to the shelter, where he had the exhausted scavenger go to sleep and instructed a hungry civilian to eat. Miechowski said that as time passes, the conditions change, and you can find new items that let you create new things. "But there's only one goal," he said, "and that's just to survive." I asked him if he thought players would be receptive to an experience that is clearly not just about being fun but about being morally challenging. He replied, "If you play Papers, Please, on one hand, it's a very simple game. On the other, it's a very emotionally deep game. So I'm pretty convinced that we are not just talking about games but an art form." He mentioned how he saw people arguing in the comments sections of news stories about the game's announcement. "Some were going, 'Amazing concept.' And others were saying, 'No, I prefer just shooting people in the head.'" So he said that while perhaps not all gamers are receptive to games that are trying to confront meaningful issues in serious ways, there are those who are looking for games to do different things than they've traditionally done in the past. "I should try to think of what I do as a kind of art form, because why shouldn't I? In movies, in books, you're a spectator. This is the perfect media to talk about important things because they put you through the experience." source:gamespot

Battlefield and Titanfall publisher Electronic Arts has been named "Worst Company in America" two years running, but the company won't complete the three-peat. First-round voting is underway in The Consumerist's annual bracket challenge, and EA "lost" to Time Warner Cable by a narrow margin of 51.2% to 48.8%. The Consumerist called out Battlefield 4's rocky launch as a shortcoming for EA in the past year, as well as the release of Titanfall earlier this month. The latter point might raise some eyebrows, as Titanfall's release largely went off without a hitch. Whatever the case, EA will not take home the "Golden Poo" award this year. Halo and Xbox company Microsoft is also in the running this year for "Worst Company in America," but EA is the only company in the bracket that focuses exclusively on gaming. Of course, Microsoft has many other non-gaming divisions. source:gamespot

Ridiculous Fishing developer Vlambeer's latest game, Luftrausers, took two-and-a-half years to develop, but needed only 72 hours to become profitable. Vlambeer announced the news in a thank-you message posted on the company's official Twitter account. "Luftrausers just became profitable," Vlambeer said on March 21, just three days after the game's debut for PC and PlayStation Network on March 18. "It had a two-and-a-half year development cycle. We are super overwhelmed and thankful." By comparison, some big-budget AAA games never achieve profitability or can take months or longer to make back their development costs, as was the case with the Tomb Raider reboot. Of course, AAA games are normally built by 100 or more developers, while Vlambeer is a two-man studio consisting of Rami Ismail and Jan Willem Nijman. Luftrausers is a 2D, arcade-style air combat game where you fly around and lay waste to enemy planes. The game normally sells for $10, but Steam is running a promotion today where it's available for $9. For more, check out GameSpot's review. source:gamespot

May 15, 2012. Diablo III, a game millions had been waiting to play for over a decade, launches into immediate turmoil: overloaded login servers sour the experience into little more than waiting outside of the coolest party in town, only players had already spent $60 to get in. The problems took days to rectify, but the real damage came weeks later: with an economy that had to factor in a controversial auction house, people were bored of playing a game designed to never get boring. Blizzard Entertainment is one of the industry's most cherished developers. It does not--or did not, depending on how you see it--make bad games. As of February 2014, Diablo III has sold 15 million copies. But the general mood towards the game felt like one of bitterness, disappointment, and frustration. How do you solve a problem like Diablo III? "That's been a strange phenomenon," says Alex Mayberry on the morning before the launch of the game's transformative expansion, Reaper of Souls. I ask him what it's like to have Diablo 3 become so closely linked with such a feeling of dissatisfaction. "I don't know if it gets overemphasised. Who's our vocal minority, and what is that number? Even if it's only one percent, or two percent, that's a lot of people." Two percent of disappointed Diablo 3 owners is 280,000 people. That's a lot of angry commenters. "It's been hard to distinguish all the voices in that loud cacophony," Mayberry adds. Reaper of Souls launches tomorrow with new loot-dropping systems, a new Crusader class, a new level 70 cap, an Adventure Mode, and the removal of the controversial Auction House. Many of its mechanical changes have been folded back into the vanilla game as part of patch 2.0.1, but the general gist is that players will get more varied loot more often. The response, generally, has been optimistic. "It's nice to now see people reacting to the changes," Mayberry says, "and I think the changes are great." "We know we're in a good place with it because we ourselves are wanting to play it all the time," he added. "There's a lot of excitement, and we're waiting to see what people are going to say." Alex Mayberry Leading the charge on Reaper of Souls is Josh Mosqueira, who took over as game director in June 2013. Mayberry explained the effect that some of his decisions have had on the game. "Josh came in and really pushed for Adventure Mode and the dynamic difficulty system. Opening up the game. Jay [Wilson, former game director] was really focused on getting that Diablo experience down, and Josh's focus has been: how do we expand on it? We had to make some pretty major changes to do what Josh wanted to do, and it was kind of one of those things that, well, once we do this there's no going back. So there was some nervousness early on when we were first starting to develop it, but it came together really well." And what about Wilson, who was flooded with thousands upon thousands of furious comments following the release of Diablo III. "Josh worked very closely with Jay," says Mayberry. "I've known Jay for, well, I helped bring Jay to Blizzard, I've known him for 20 years. I think the fans like to create a rivalry somehow between those two. There's none whatsoever at all." Nobody at Blizzard will use words like mistake, error, or regret when it comes to Diablo III, but the message seems clear to me: the team has been quick to extol the virtues of what's changed, and has not really been seen to mourn for what has gone. "I know some of you feel we fell short of our promise to release the game 'when it's ready,'" wrote Wilson on Blizzard's forums when he announced he was stepping away from Diablo III at the start of 2013. "While we're not perfect, we try to make the best decisions we can with the information and knowledge we have at the time. That doesn't mean we always make the right decisions, but if we made a mistake then I feel we've made an exceptional effort to correct it." Only time will tell if Reaper of Souls will be accepted by those 280,000 vocal fans in a way that the original Diablo 3 was not. "It's hard to know where ideas originated and where they didn't," continues Mayberry. "I think Jay had the harder challenge of just getting Diablo 3 out, and that took a lot out of Jay, and I think for Josh, he's come in now and helped put that next layer on. I think together they've done a really great job." Reaper of Souls, with its procedurally generated adventure modes, intends to be that next layer. Mayberry says that the expansion makes the game feel more like a sandbox, and less like a directed experience that more closely apes the original games. "If you look at traditional Diablo--Diablo 1, Diablo II, the first incarnation of Diablo III, you're playing through that story narrative. That was the paradigm they created back then, and one of the challenges for making Diablo III was, 'What do we hold on to from previous games and what do we change?'" That focus on just the story campaign "made the game feel smaller than it should have," says Mayberry. "Because you're always being driven--go there, and now go there." Those who have been avoiding Diablo III because of its less-than-stellar loot variety might also find enough new loot to warrant another look. Items are now designed to synergise with one another, Mayberry explains, and there are way more combinations for interesting character builds. "I had something drop that, when I got a Massacre bonus, it caused gold to rain down. Then I found something else that boosted my gold drop by 35 percent or something, so that made even more gold. And then I got something that, when I picked up gold, depending on how much I picked up, would temporarily increase my toughness. So gold became a powerup for me! With my Wizard I would squeeze as many guys together as I could, burn them down, they'll all spit out gold and then I'd pick up the gold and my toughness, temporarily, would spike by hundreds of percent." Mayberry says that he feels like he's missing "half a game" if he now goes back to vanilla Diablo 3, but does that mean that players will have to shell out extra money to get the experience they deserve? "You don't have to. We made it so that you don't. Patch 2.0.1 is perfectly viable for anyone that doesn't want to buy it. But it would be a shame to not buy it, because we've added so much more to the game. And I feel like, you know, Reaper of Souls really pushes Diablo down the path it needs to go." And what is that path? What comes next for Diablo 3? Is it ladders and tournaments, a real PvP arena, or bringing these updates more regularly to the console versions of the game? "These are all things we're talking about now. We're not making definite plans yet. We have our first content plan figured out. First update. But after that, Josh really wants to wait and see what the community says. What the reaction is. There's a million different things we could start doing. We really want to see what, based on the players' reaction to Reaper of Souls, what should we do next. That's the approach we're taking right now." source:gamespot

According to Marc Whitten, who left his high-ranking post at Microsoft last week after nearly two decades with the company, now is a great time to own an Xbox One and the platform experience is only going to improve over time. "Part of what's awesome to me right now is I think you're starting to see what Xbox One can become," Whitten said during the latest episode of Major Nelson Radio. Recalling the conception of the Xbox One architecture, Whitten said the device was designed to accommodate many vast changes and updates over time. "So much for us was around, 'Hey, let's build this architecture that we could rev quickly, that we could add to, that was flexible, that would allow us to do more things and do more things quickly,'" he said. One way in which the Xbox One stands to become more feature-rich over time, Whitten said, is through its utilization of Microsoft's cloud functionality. This wasn't available on Xbox 360, he reminded us. "It's a great time to be on Xbox...and it's just beginning," Whitten said. "There's so many things. I can't wait to see where it goes from here." Earlier this month, Xbox director of product planning Albert Penello said there are "lots of cool things" coming to Xbox One. And before that, DayZ creator Dean Hall said after meeting with Microsoft to discuss a port of his zombie game, he said he was shown some "really interesting" Xbox One features that he was not permitted to discuss publicly. Microsoft has not laid out a roadmap of new features for Xbox One, but one possibility is a full-game streaming service similar to Sony's PlayStation Now, which Penello told GameSpot at PAX Prime is something that Microsoft's Azure cloud servers are capable of delivering. Microsoft also intends to one day bring back its ambitious Family Sharing plan for digital Xbox One games. On top of that, Microsoft plans to extend its Games with Gold service to Xbox One in the future. Whitten was hired by Microsoft right out of college in 1997 and worked on the Windows team before joining the Xbox division in 2000. He was involved with the launch of the original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and the Xbox Live platform. His last day at Microsoft was March 21 and he's now working as chief product officer at audio company Sonos. source:gamespot

[uPDATE] DiGiovanni tells the Xbox Wire that a MLG app for Xbox One will launch later this year. The original story is below. Major League Gaming today launched a dedicated streaming app on Xbox 360 that will allow users to watch live broadcasts of professional events--including this weekend's Call of Duty Championship--as well as original programming like the network's eSports Report show. "The MLG app for Xbox 360 brings our content directly to gaming fans on Xbox Live," MLG CEO and cofounder Sundance DiGiovanni said in a statement. DiGiovanni pointed out that MLG users watched 54 million hours of video content in 2013. He said he expects consumption of video content to "greatly increase" this year thanks to the arrival for the Xbox 360 app. "We continue to deliver content on Xbox that we know our audience craves and MLG's premium programming was something we saw a high demand for," Xbox marketing executive Yusuf Mehdi said. The MLG app is available today on Xbox 360 in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia. You'll need an Xbox Live Gold subscription ($60/year) to access the content. Below is a selection of MLG.tv programming that will be available through MLG app on Xbox 360. Call of Duty Championship presented by Xbox -- March 28-30 MLG's eSports Report -- airing Thursdays at 7pm EDT MLG Call of Duty Ghosts Pro League MLG Championship -- June 20-22 source:gamespot

A 19-year-old Utah man was arrested last week for wrecking his stepfather's motorcycle following an Xbox-related outburst. As reported by St. George News, Alec Young's stepfather returned home to find his son playing video games. He asked him to stop, gave him some time to do so, and went out to get the mail. When he returned, Alec was still playing and so he shut the console off himself. Then things took a turn for the worse. According to a police account of the incident, Young began screaming at his stepdad and threw two separate remotes at him. The stepfather then left the house and went across the street to call the police. At the same time, Young went outside and began to strike his stepfather's 2009 Custom Harley Davidson FLF with a knife, according to the report, which estimated the value of the bike at $40,000. The report goes on to explain that Young then got into his 2000 Nissan Maxima, backed out of the driveway, and proceeded to drive into the motorcycle "all the way into the wall of the garage." The motorcycle "sustained damage everywhere," the police report states. The bike's front forks, fender, frame, and gas tank were all bent, totaling around $25,000 in damages, it said. When approached by police, Young said he "acted out" by throwing the remotes at his stepfather, and then was "in rage" when he attacked the motorcycle. He also reportedly told police that he did not take his recommended doses of anti-anxiety and antidepressant medication. Young was charged with two class-B misdemeanors and a second-degree felony. His bail is $13,110, according to the booking information obtained by St. George News source:gamespot

Ouya has announced that in the coming weeks, the company will allow developers to choose if they want to release their games through a free-to-try or a paid model. Currently, all Ouya games must have free demos. In a blog post on the company's website, Ouya's Bob Mills said that a free-to-play model seemed like an "obvious" choice for the platform at launch last summer. However, though it was appealing to consumers who could try before they buy, the rule meant that developers needed to make a demo. For some developers, this was no doubt a hassle because the additional investment required to create a demo meant time away from building the entire game out. In some cases, some developers said that creating a demo didn't even make sense for the game they were making. Mills says that one of Ouya's main values is "empowering" developers by allowing them to have the freedom to choose to release their games however they want. Dropping the free demo requirement is a means to giving developers the freedom they desire, Mills says. "We're clearing another roadblock in the pathway to publishing on the TV, and that means more great games will make it to Ouya," Mills said. There are 721 games available on Ouya today, including Double Fine's The Cave and Final Fantasy III. The Ouya is available today for $99. Extra controllers cost $50. source:gamespot

The elf, the wizard, the warrior, and the valkyrie--a group of heroes joined by a common purpose. In my mind, Atari's 1985 arcade classic Gauntlet looms as the game that spawned the multiplayer, class-based fantasy hack-and-slash, a genre that has evolved over the years to give us games like Diablo and Path of Exile. At an event that took place during the Game Developers Conference, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment revealed a new Gauntlet, being made by Magicka developer Arrowhead Game Studios. Rather than incorporating elements like loot and inventory management that are common in the genre today, Arrowhead is trying to create a game reminiscent of the original Gauntlet, with a focus on speedy arcade action. For my playthrough of the brief demo, I selected the elf, whose standard arrow attack could be aimed and fired with the right stick. I could also fire an explosive arrow that damaged the target and other nearby enemies, and a precision-aimed arrow that took time to line up but presumably did increased damage, though these abilities were on a cooldown timer. The other classes similarly had standard attacks and special attacks; the warrior could spin around wildly for a short time, slicing enemies around him with his axe, and the valkyrie could thrust forward with her spear, piercing through enemies standing in her path. The gameplay moves fast and takes plenty of cues from the original Gauntlet. Keys need to be collected to open doors. Monster generators often appear that need to be destroyed to stop the enemy onslaught. You can't carry health items, though you can gobble up platters of food you find in the environment. However, you do have inventory slots for two relics, magical items you find in the dungeon that give you special abilities which, like your special attacks, are also on cooldown timers. I snagged the boots of speed at one point, which let me move and attack significantly faster for a short time, and another player grabbed a relic that let him freeze enemies around him. Shoot the monsters. Don't shoot the food. The section I played involved a bit of light puzzle-solving, requiring my fellow adventurers and me to find and carry items to a trio of pedestals to open a door, but the focus was squarely on movement and combat, and I made liberal use of my elf's evasive roll to try to stay away from enemy attacks and pick foes off from a distance. The finished game will combine prebuilt dungeon floors with procedurally generated floors, which game director Axel Lindberg said would help with pacing, shifting the emphasis between exploration, puzzle-solving, and action. When my fellow adventurers and I encountered a towering boss who appeared to be an undead warrior king, the demo came to an end, and although my fellow players and I had been cooperating all along, I took some pleasure in being acknowledged as the winner, the party's most valuable member. Gauntlet doesn't appear to be trying to reinvent the genre, but it may serve up some enjoyable, old-fashioned hack-and-slash action when it launches on Steam this summer. source:gamespot

[uPDATE] Ubisoft has issued a statement regarding Raynaud's comments. You can read the statement in full below. "Ubisoft is always excited about new hardware and platforms and creating innovative experiences. Lionel did mention a number at the GDC dinner, however, it was not a literal number that Ubisoft takes into consideration when looking at delivering game experiences and content for new platforms. In fact, the point he was making was that a number like that would be a leading indicator for growth and impact that could lead to success and adoption from the development community. While Ubisoft continues to work closely with all of our hardware partners, we have nothing new to share at this point in time in regard to these new VR opportunities." The original story is below. Might we one day see a new Assassin's Creed or Far Cry game that uses virtual reality technology? According to Ubisoft Vice President of Creative Lionel Raynaud, it's possible, but technology like Oculus Rift or Sony's just-announced Project Morpheus need to put up big numbers first. "VR would need to sell at least 1 million units to be viable for development," Raynaud said tonight in San Francisco during a roundtable interview attended by GameSpot. The Oculus Rift headset is currently available to developers only. Developer Oculus VR has made no indication as to when the consumer version will be ready or what it will cost at launch. Meanwhile, Sony's Project Morpheus--still a non-final prototype--was only just announced yesterday. Sony representatives said during a presentation last night that they want to release the headset as soon as possible and at the most affordable price point. source:gamespot

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson has said in a new interview that the challenge of working on a beloved IP like Star Wars is making sure you retain the spirit of the series. To that end, the publisher is looking to emulate the approach Warner Bros. took with its Batman Arkham games. "What Warner Bros. did with Batman was take the core roots of that IP and manifest that inside the walls of Gotham City and delivered an interactive experience that had real ties to what you would see in the films and what you had read in the comics, while having its own life because it could provide such deep and more immersive storylines," Wilson told Fortune. "When we look at the Star Wars properties that's how we're looking at it." Wilson also reiterated that EA is not interested in making a Star Wars game that replicates the story of any film in the series. EA signed a 10-year deal with Star Wars owner Disney in May 2013 that makes the Battlefield publisher the exclusive developer of "core" Star Wars games going forward. DICE is currently working on an all-new Star Wars: Battlefront game, while Dead Space studio Visceral Games is making an unspecified entry in the series. One of these games is rumored to be open-world. In addition to DICE and Visceral, BioWare continues to support free-to-play MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, meaning EA has a total of three main studios working on the Star Wars franchise right now. source:Gamespot

Microsoft has filed a trademark application for a new game called "Secrets and Treasure." The Xbox company filed the application with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on March 14. It's listed as "game software," but that's all there is to go on. We've reached out to Microsoft for clarification, though the company does not traditionally comment on government trademark filings such as this. Microsoft also owns secretsandtreasure.com, having registered the page in February 2014. Right now, the URL redirects you to a Bing search page. The company's E3 showing this summer will focus on games, with only a few appearances from Microsoft executives, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said last week. What does "Secrets and Treasure" sound like to you? An Xbox game...or maybe something for Windows Phones? source:gamespot

Starting next month, you might be able to rent a copy of Super Mario 3D World or Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag while you're out shopping for groceries. According to NeoGAF forum members, the website for rental service Redbox last night listed Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U games in its "coming soon" tab. Some of the games reportedly on offer are going to be Super Mario 3D World, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Super Luigi Bros. U, Lego City Undercover, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and Thief. The listings have since been removed. Of note, users are reporting that some Redbox locations around the country already offered Xbox One, PS4, and Wii U games. However, the rollout is now expected to widen to more markets. Currently, Redbox only offers Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii games for rental. Redbox is an American movie and video game rental company with more than 39,000 locations across the US, many of which are grocery stores. GameFly, which does not own and operate physical rental kiosks like Redbox does, already offers Xbox One, PS4, and Wii U games. source:gamespot

If you've ever wondered of what it would be like to be a bear, you're not far from finding out. Developer John Farjay's Kickstarter campaign for Bear Simulator crossed its $29,500 goal last night, meaning the FPB (First-Person Bear) game is going to become an (absurd) reality. Funding currently stands at $38,183 from 1,376 backers. "Explore stuff, eat stuff, be a bear!" is the game's official tagline. Farjay describes Bear Simulator as "like a mini Skyrim but you're a bear." He's building the game by himself at Farjay Studios. Farjay said recently released popular games like BioShock Infinite and Grand Theft Auto V fail to allow you to play as a bear, and he wants to fix this with Bear Simulator. "It's quite clear the fat cats in Washington with their stove top hats and contemporary jazz music don't want us playing as bears," he said. "It's about time to fight back against the tyranny." source:gamespot

Diablo III is currently in development for Xbox One in conjunction with the previously confirmed PlayStation 4 version, Blizzard Entertainment told Videogamer today. Lead producer Alex Mayberry said it "makes more sense" to develop the game for Xbox One and PS4 simultaneously, but he would not confirm if Diablo III is actually going to be released on Microsoft's new console. "I don't know where we are with Microsoft right now so I can't really comment on what that contract looks like," Mayberry said. "The point is we are developing for Xbox [One] and PS4 simultaneously. We hit those major platforms and then our goal as a development team is to make them run." Mayberry said because Blizzard created the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Diablo III simultaneously, the studio has demonstrated it knows how to work on two platforms at once. "That's just what we do. And then Blizzard and Microsoft can work out whatever they work out," he said, referencing the contract between the two companies. Diablo III's Reaper of Souls expansion launches tomorrow, March 25. Blizzard told GameSpot today that it expects the expansion's launch to be "pretty smooth." source:gamespot

Microsoft gave out white Xbox One units to developers who worked on the console, and now some ten of the special-edition systems have landed on popular auction site eBay. Bidding for the most "affordable" system starts at $1500 with a Buy It Now price of $2000. Other auctions include starting prices of $1700, $1800, $2000, $2600, $2700, and $3000. There's even one listing that includes a system and games like Forza 5 and Dead Rising 3 for around $3500. The special-edition white Xbox Ones are indeed rare. The only way you got one was if you worked at the Xbox team at Microsoft in the lead-up to launch. The company has no announced plans to sell the console publicly, so paying a premium is the only way to get one, at least for now. This isn't the first time a white Xbox One has been put up for auction on eBay. In November, Microsoft auctioned off a white console plus one year of Xbox Live and five games for charity. The console sold for $11,300 and all proceeds went to the Wounded Warrior Project. source:gamespot

If you forgot Rock Band developer Harmonix was working on an Xbox-exclusive music game called Fantasia: Music Evolved, now is a good time to remember. Disney Interactive and Harmonix today released new details about the game's multiplayer mode and confirmed five new tracks. Fantasia: Music Evolved's multiplayer mode supports up to two players who can either play cooperatively or go head-to-head. Players can collaborate to create versions of songs featuring new melodies and beats. You can learn more about the game's multiplayer mode in our new video featured embedded below. Harmonix also confirmed five new tracks for Fantasia: Music Evolved today. These are listed below. In all, the game features more than 30 tracks. David Bowie - "Ziggy Stardust" Antonin Dvorak - "Symphony No. 9 from the New World" Lorde -- “Royals” Nicki Minaj - "Super Bass" White Stripes - "Seven Nation Army" Finally, Disney and Harmonix revealed the a new interactive "discovery realm" for Fantasia: Music Evolved called The Hollow (above). This "mysterious forest environment" will "come to life" as you perform songs and interact with the world to add light, color, and characters to the scene. Fantasia: Music Evolved, which was inspired by Disney's classic animated film Fantasia, launches this year exclusively on Xbox 360 and Xbox One. source:gamespot

Blizzard has said it is confident that Diablo III: Reaper of Souls players will not be plagued by the same connectivity woes that affected the original game's launch back in 2012. "Here's the beautiful thing about this launch compared to [Diablo 3]: what people are playing right now is Reaper of Souls," said lead producer Alex Mayberry to GameSpot, referring to the game's recent 2.0.1 update. "It's just Reaper with Act V, and the Crusader class, and adventure mode turned off. But it's all live. It's running. It's been running for a few weeks now." When Diablo III launched on May 15, 2012 many players were left unable to play the game for days due to Blizzard's overloaded login servers. Blizzard eventually implemented a queueing system on the servers, easing the strain that caused the infamous Error 37 message. Please don't let this happen again. But the chances of this happening again are slim, says Mayberry. Touch wood. "So this launch is much more under control. We made sure to plan it out in such a way that players would be getting all the data and the code--if you've logged into Diablo 3 anytime in the last several weeks, you've downloaded it--and we gave it a good full month of time just to have the servers running." "We feel like everything's going to be pretty smooth," he added. Blizzard, meanwhile, has its own official statement on what to do if you end up in a queue: be patient. "Depending on how many people attempt to join the crusade against the Angel of Death on March 25, you may encounter a new message while playing: 'The Diablo III servers are busy.' Below this message, you should see a time estimate (if the estimate is <1 minute) as well as pulsating ellipses." "If you received this message, it means you're currently entering a game queue. Just be patient with the queue, and you'll be slaughtering reaper in Westmarch before you know it!" How many people are likely to try logging on tonight? Mayberry added that the game's player numbers have steadily increased since the 2.0.1 patch in February. "They've shot up in the last month or so. Since we put out patch 2.0.1 our numbers have gone up considerably, the number of people playing and returning to the game." "A lot of people are returning to the game. They are continuously climbing towards launch. A lot of people are coming back to see what we've changed," Mayberry added. "It's been fun to watch those numbers grow. It's given us a nice morale boost." Barring catastrophic server errors, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls launches for PC and Mac at various times tonight depending on where you live. Blizzard has posted a full list on its site. source:gamespot

The PlayStation 4 affords developers almost an unlimited memory budget, allowing them to create richly detailed and immersive worlds, according to Watch Dogs animation director Colin Graham. In an interview on the PlayStation Blog, the Ubisoft developer said it's always a pain point for his animation team to run out of memory, but this issue doesn't come up on PS4, he explained. "PS4 has really given us the platform to build a new type of game," Graham said. "It gave us a chance to dream. From an animation point of view, we're always running out of memory, especially when you start developing towards the end of a console generation, so PS4 allowed things like reduced animation compression and more variety in civilians." "From my point of view, it's a bit like working with an unlimited budget because we can't fill the memory budget on PS4," he added. "It's a really nice piece of hardware." Watch Dogs lead gameplay designer Danny Belanger also offered a round of praise for the technical prowess of the PS4. "The powerful technology helped us create a better simulation," Belanger said. "The water effects, the amount of people in the city, the quality of the lighting… it all brings us a step forward." source:gamespot