This week in rumors
If youre bouncing off the walls over a prospective Halo 5 release this year, you could be getting all bruised and battered for nothing. That is if the voice of Master Chief has truly let slip on to something he shouldn't have. Dry your eyes though--there are happier rumors this week, including something that might cheer up Halo hopefuls.
Plus, Microsoft looks to be preparing an alternative way for you to pause your movie without having to bark voice commands at a hard-of-hearing Kinect, PS4s are reportedly suffering from amnesia, Microsoft has apparently developed a keen interest in rapper NAS and one developer attempts to explain why so many Xbox One titles only manage native 720p. Yeah, were still talking about that. It's rumor round-up time.
Hate voice controls? Heres an Xbox One Media Remote
The Rumor: The image above is apparently the first ever glimpse of an unannounced Xbox One Media remote. According to a leak via Amazon Canada, itll hit shop shelves in North America on March 4 for $24.99CA (or around $22.74 US). The listing was swiftly removed, but the cat, it seems, is firmly out of the bag.
Our Take: Amazon makes a habit of prematurely leaking games and products, so wed consider this leak a safe bet. The remote looks to only do basic functions for movie playback and menu navigation--presumably for those who dont get along with the voice-operated Kinect system. And its good news for those who were disappointed in the Xbox 360 being incompatible with the new console.
PS4 bug deletes digital games randomly
The Rumor: According to various Reddit accounts, a small number of PS4s are suffering from a bug that randomly deletes digitally-downloaded games from the consoles hard drive. One report suggests that the glitch, which deleted a copy of Killzone Shadow Fall from the system, occurs at random and leaves behind no error codes. Thankfully, save files are allegedly left intact.
Our Take: If this is a genuine issue it must be an extremely isolated one, since weve not encountered any such problem nor heard of it before recent online claims (if you have, let us know in the comments). The good news is, with save files allegedly unaffected and the ability to redownload PS Store purchases an unlimited number of times, such a bug would prove little more than a minor inconvenience.
Halo 5 delayed to 2015, Halo 2 remake inbound
The Rumor: Halo 5 wont make its 2014 release window, according to Master Chief voice actor Steve Downes, who may or may not be chained up in a Microsoft dungeon right now for speaking out of turn. "I think you may be ahead of yourself on Halo 5," he said to Gamezone. "I wouldn't expect anything until 2015. What you can look forward to this year is an anniversary edition of Halo 2." And bam... just like that he also corroborates the heavily tipped Halo 2 Anniversary rumor.
Our Take: Whoopsie, Mr. Downes. Whoopsie indeed. Wed have thought that, having been the voice of Microsofts biggest gaming icon since 2001, Downes would have had a firm grasp of such things as, yknow, honoring non-disclosure agreements and stuff. Anyhow, no Halo 5 this year is disappointing if true, but were actually excited to see Halo 2 make a return.
Why Xbox One might struggle with 1080p...
The Rumor: Yes, its the resolution wars again. According to Sniper Elite 3 senior producer Jean-Baptiste Bolcato, the Xbox Ones inability to match PS4 in the resolution depart is down to RAM--more specifically its small 32MBs of eSRAM. "Part of the problem is that it's just a little bit too small to output 1080p within that size. It's such a small size within there that we can't do everything in 1080p with that little buffer of super-fast RAM, he told GamingBolt. "It means you have to do it in chunks or using tricks, tiling it and so on. PS3 was harder to program for than the Xbox 360. Now it seems like everything has reversed.
Our Take: Xbox One has 8GBs of RAM just like PS4, but PS4s RAM is super-fast GDDR5 memory, whereas Xbox Ones RAM is significantly slower DDR3. To remedy this, the Xbox contains an addition 32MB of super-fast eSRAM to act as a high-speed bridge or buffer. Let's be honest--were not programmers, but it seems the limited size of this fast eSRAM is proving a unique challenge for game makers. Still, developer Turn10 got a lush Forza 5 running in native 1080p at 60FPS. If they can do it...
Rapper NAS the focus of new Xbox documentary
The Rumor: A Deadline report claims that Microsoft's Xbox Entertainment Studios arm is working on a new TV series, titled Street Dreams, that will focus on the story of rap superstar NAS. Jonathan Levine, whose previous works include the movies The Wackness, 50/50, Warm Bodies and All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, is said to be writing and directing the show.
Our Take: Its perhaps not the first thing we expected to see coming from Xbox Entertainment Studios--an arm of Microsoft formed to create original television programming for the Xbox platform. Itll be interesting to see what Microsoft makes of its new TV venture in the coming years. That is so long as it doesnt become another endless stream of garbage reality shows.
God of War 2 directors new game is a long way off
The Rumor: You wont be seeing the latest work of God of War 2 director Cory Barlog for some time yet, according to fellow Sony Santa Monica staff member Shane Liesegang. Barlog quit Sony Santa Monica in 2007 after finishing God of War 2, only to rejoin the studio in August 2013 to work on a new unannounced project. Speaking via Twitter, Liesegang told Sony fans Barlogs new project is not even close to 75 per cent completion.
Our Take: What Barlog is working on is anyones guess, but with promises of something big, we cant help but be excited. "What am I working on, you ask? Good question," said Barlog when he rejoined Sony. "Sadly, I cannot tell you...yet. But I can say that it is freaking huge, and it will live up to the standards that I helped establish here at Santa Monica Studios." Bring it.
Whats your take?
Does your PS4 just forget games? Do you need a third way to control your Xbox Ones media playback? Are you excited for Halo 2 Anniversary or are you throwing your toys out of the cot over a possible Halo 5 delay? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Want more? GamesRadar's David Houghton ponders, If Halo 5 misses 2014, will Titanfall really be enough? And Henry Gilbert asks, Does it matter that the PS4 outsold the Xbox One in January (by a lot)?
